Category Archives: Jack_Poessiger
New Jack City: Thanksgiving Weekend Sets Box Office Records
Hollywood just gave theater owners an early Christmas present… The biggest Thanksgiving moviegoing weekend—EVER – a 30% increase over 2011’s turkey days. Box offices around North America registered a record setting $290 million in ticket sales. Topping the onslaught at … Continue reading
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Jack Goes Confidential: Spielberg Reveals Tumultuous Final Months Of ‘LINCOLN’
Abraham Lincoln was the president you only thought you knew… In the new bio-pic LINCOLN, director Steven Spielberg bequeaths a rare humanity upon this nation’s 16th president. Specifically on the last four months of his life which were difficult ones … Continue reading
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Jack Goes Confidential: Zemeckis, Washington Deliver Turbulent ‘FLIGHT!’
The action-thriller FLIGHT has a lot going for it… Of course there’s Denzel Washington but I’ll get to him in a bit. A lot of credit for this top notch nailbiter goes to a major talent behind the camera – … Continue reading
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New Jack City: It’s True! It’s True!—Well Maybe?
U.S. citizens remain some of the most sexually repressed in the world… At least outwardly. Ever notice that when a sexual topic comes up people’s voices drop to a hushed tone? For that matter, some of our most common sexual … Continue reading
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Jack Goes Confidential: ‘ARGO’ — A White Knuckle Nailbiter
ARGO is the most exciting motion picture I’ve seen this year… That’s really quite remarkable considering the story’s outcome is now public record—hence there’s no reason to hide any spoilers. In 1979, after the United States granted amnesty to the … Continue reading
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New Jack City: TV Anchor’s Weighty Dilemma
Heard the one about the plus sized news anchor in Wisconsin? Her’s the deal. Jennifer Livingston of WKBT-TV in LaCrosse received a private communique from a viewer criticizing her for her weighty look on TV. A message that her husband, … Continue reading
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Jack Goes Confidential: Neeson Back at Butt Kicking—Action Moves to Istanbul
Four years ago the big surprise movie hit was TAKEN in which C.I.A. operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) rescued his daughter Kim from kidnappers in Paris… In TAKEN 2, the action moves to Istanbul, Turkey where an Albanian clan boss … Continue reading
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New Jack City: Dickinson Theatres CEO Ron Horton Goes One-On-One
You’ve probably seen, read or heard various news accounts about Dickinson Theatres difficulties these past couple days…. Some were correct or partially right, unfortunately many were based on hearsay, speculation and downright false information.
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Jack Goes Confidential: Phoenix + Hoffman = Sure Oscar Bait For THE MASTER
Talk about a pleasant surprise… Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson‘s controversial, unsettling yet enthralling religious cult study drama THE MASTER opened last weekend in New York and Los Angeles and promptly set house records. The film expands its runs this weekend … Continue reading
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Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Killer Joe’ Takes Trailer-Trash Completely Over the Top
I had heard about KILLER JOE but didn’t give it much thought until receiving a press screening invite the other day at the Alamo Drafthouse… What would I be in for? WOW! Where do I BEGIN? KILLER JOE is … Continue reading
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New Jack City: Movie Midnight Shows—Do They Have a Future?
Will the recent midnight movie massacre at Cinemark‘s suburban Aurora theater bring to an end the popular practice of kicking off big movies at 12:01 a.m.? I don’t think so. In checking this Thursday’s—actually Friday morning showtimes—it looks like many … Continue reading
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New Jack City: The Dark Knight Rises Above Tragedy
The big question in movie industry circles is if and how the Aurora theater tragedy would effect this summer’s most anticipated movie… To be honest, numbers have not been easy to come by. The major box office reporting services are … Continue reading
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New Jack City: What’s Next in Airline Travel—Pay Per Pee At 35,000 Feet?
With the latest hint by the airline industry being it will introduce yet another add-on fee, it’s always fun to check on Europe’s largest discount carrier RYANAIR to see what its brain trust is up to…
That’s because a bunch of today’s most irritating fees were originated by RYANAIR and made it across the pond and were adopted by America’s major airlines.
But before we go there, here’s what could become North America’s latest passenger squeeze play.
According to USA TODAY the newest gotcha could be a fee of up to $20 for the privilege to be among the first persons to exit the aircraft upon arrival at the gate.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘To Rome with Love’—Woody’s Tribute To Eternal City
I’m not the biggest Woody Allen, fan but I don’t think I’ve missed a single one of his films in his long career…
For example, I enjoyed his earlier movies more than what came later. Movie like ANNIE HALL, BANANAS, EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, MANHATTAN and BULLETS OVER BROADWAY.
After those, I kinda lost interest but I still watched them.
The turnaround came with Allen’s later films like VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA in 2008 and again with last year’s wistful MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, in which Allen did not appear. Instead he concentrated his talents strictly behind the camera.
Allen’s latest is called TO ROME WITH LOVE and it opens in Kansas City today.
New Jack City: Don’t Knock Film Factory Economics 101, The Amazing Spider-Man
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One of the biggest complaints about Hollywood concerns its never ending sequels and reboots…
But can you blame the studios?
Franchises are the bread and butter of the Industry. Beloved characters targeting younger moviegoers while at the same time capitalizing on the nostalgia factor of older ones. And with tightening production dollars, the franchise sequels and/or reboots become ever more important in the marketplace.
Case in point THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!
As The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out in a piece about Sony (Columbia) Pictures, "A (Spider-Man) reboot was a way to escape the spiral of diminishing returns.
Jack Goes Confidential: Web-Slinging Andrew Garfield Wows as ‘AMAZING SPIDER-MAN’
I’ll be perfectly honest, attending THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN didn’t rank very high on my excitement meter…
After all, this was not a sequel or prequel, but rather a completely recast reboot of director Sam Raimi‘s original.
And only 10 years after Tobey Maguire first flew.
But guess what? I was pleasantly surprised as this fresh approach to cross breeding genetics put more emphasis on Peter Parker’s back story as the webbed one.
New Jack City: Hot Times On The Big Screen
Seth MacFarlane‘s raunchy TED beat expectations by over $20 million in ticket sales this weekend!
By grossing an estimated $54.1 million in North American theaters, the talking-dirty teddy laffer has become the best-ever opening of an original R-rated comedy. By comparison TED bested THE HANGOVER by $9.1 million which had held the record with a $45 million dollar opening during the summer of 2009.
And when it comes to word of mouth—which will keep TED around for a while—the hit comedy has scored an impressive A- Cinemascore.
Speaking of scoring…
Jack Goes Confidential: Wes Anderson Scores With Stylistic ‘Moonrise Kingdom’
If you’re into Wes Anderson films then we know what you’ll be doing this weekend.
Going to see MOONRISE KINGDOM, of course…
Don’t know who Anderson is?
He’s the filmmaker of such cult favorites as RUSHMORE, BOTTLE ROCKET, THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS.
Anderson’s latest cinematic offering is MOONRISE KINGDOM, a comedic drama set on an island off the coast of New England during the summer of 1965.
The story tells of two 12 year olds—a Khaki scout and an island girl—who make a secret pact and run away together into the wilderness of the place. And now the local authorities turn the place upside down to get the kids.
Sounds kinda dull, doesn’t it?
Jack Goes Confidential: Wise-Ass ‘TED’ Is Foul-Mouthed Hilarious
Family Guy’s Seth MacFarland finally gets his crack at the big screen and he doesn’t disappoint…
With TED MacFarland gets to push the envelope way beyond the TV limits and be totally politically incorrect.
TED tells of Mark Wahlberg as a kid and his magic Christmas wish that turned into a true miracle. His beloved teddy bear coming to life and becoming sort of a major child star sensation—even making an appearance with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. Wahlberg and Ted were going to be buddies for life.
Therein lies the problem.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Magic Mike’ Dishes Sex, Drugs & G-String Beefcake
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Talk about having your dessert up front…
The women members of our screening audience were squealing with delight at almost the very first scene of MAGIC MIKE.
Why?
Because a naked Channing Tatum was rolling out of bed showing off his firm naked arse to their delight. Welcome to Warner Brothers low-brow, summer beefcake serving of MAGIC MIKE, a film that takes us into the sordid world of male strippers and operates on the premise of:
"You’ve got to deal with what you’ve got."
