Tag Archives: Jack Poessiger
New Jack City: Here Today — Gone Tomorrow (Germany) — And Now Back
Been missing my movie reviews of late? Or maybe those ever-so-meaningful insights to be found on NEW JACK CITY? Well, fear not! JACK GOES CONFIDENTIAL’s coverage of the big screen returns next week, appropriately enough with the movie SEX TAPE. So why the … Continue reading
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Tagged Bitburger, Jack Poessiger, Sex Tape, TRansformers 4, World Cup
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Hearne: There Ain’t No Cure for the Lowdown, Missing Newspaper, Driveway Blues
Remember my Kansas City Star story a couple days back? The one where a newspaper staffer talked about all the cancellations the Star has been getting from people upset with not just the quantity and quality of their newspapers but the difficulties they’ve … Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Christopher Nolan’s Batman Finale Explodes onto Record 11,000 Screens
It’s hard to describe the final chapter in Christopher Nolan‘s three part saga of Batman without giving away the juice—which I won’t do…
So consider this more of an impression than a review of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.
The story picks up eight years after the menacing actions of 2008’s THE DARK KNIGHT. Bruce Wayne/Batman has been out of sight in a self imposed exile, vilified as an enemy of Gotham City and still bearing the blame for the death of Harvey Dent.
But when an underground terrorist cell raises its ugly head in the metropolis, creating chaos and anarchy, our caped hero is persuaded back into action and ultimately bringing Christopher Nolan’s three part saga with twists, turns and turmoil to its conclusion….so to speak.
New Jack City: Southwest to Make Minneapolis Affordable
Have you tried booking a non-stop flight to Minneapolis lately?
The cost is ridiculous. Around $748 round trip. But then the Twin Cities have always been an expensive destination for air travelers from Kansas City. NORTHWEST AIRLINES pretty well owned the market and had the only non-stops between the the two cities.
Then along came K.C.’s short lived VANGUARD AIRLINES.
Oh how prices dropped when Vanguard start offering non-stop service to Minneapolism but that didn’t last long.
New Jack City: Free TV Is Costing You
First HEARST CORPORATION plays hardball with TIME WARNER CABLE over cable fees in 11 markets…
In Kansas City the cord was cut last with KMBC-TV, KCWE-TV and ME-TV.
Next Viacom shut out DIRECT TV customers for channels that include Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, The Daily Show and Dora The Explorer.
Even DISH NETWORK got into the fray when AMC‘S popular Breaking Bad among other shows became no-shows.
Here’s my take on the standoff.
I don’t have a problem with cable networks taking hard stands over fees they charge cable or dish systems if those networks only outlets are pay providers.
New Jack City: Jack’s Mid-Summer Movie Scorecard
It was an air-conditioned, summer night’s dream by the movie studios…
At the start of summer the studios were braced for what was anticipated to be one of the biggest movie box offices ever. However to date that dream has been more of a nightmare as they’ve watched one multi million dollar investment after another go down in flames.
Now as we enter the week of summer’s most anticipated movie—Christopher Nolan‘s THE DARK KNIGHT RISES—here’s my list of the season’s hits, misses, bombs and surprises—thus far.
But before we examine the summer scorecard thus far, let me predict THE DARK KNIGHT RISES upcoming three day boxoffice gross.
New Jack City: Cable TV War Erupts in Kansas City
So you woke up this morning, congratulations!
You turned on the coffeemaker, went to the bathroom and then turned on the TV for your morning fix of ABC-TV’s Good Morning America or whatever.
However if you’re a Time Warner Cable customer all you got—and are still getting at the time of this writing—is some Hallmark Channel movie fluff.
So you kicked your TV, threw the remote against the wall and bitched about the heartwarming family story being shown where GMA was to be.
What the hell is going on?
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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."
New Jack City: Apple Store – Love It Or (Eventually) Leave It
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"ARMY OF FANS FINDS WORKING IN APPLE STORES A LETDOWN" Sunday’s New York Times front page shouted.
Quite an intro to a 2-1/2 page cover story.
The crux of the paper’s findings:
About 30,000 of Apple’s 43,000 employees work in the company’s 327 glitzy global stores that gross more money per square foot than any other U.S. retailer.
Many of its associates are huge fans of the company’s superior products. Like Jordan Golson of the Salem, NH store who sold about $750,000 worth of computers and related accessories during a three month stretch last year.
You’d think Golson was rolling in commissions, right?
Wrong!
He was taking down a measly $11.25 an hour or about 25 grand a year.
New Jack City: ‘BRAVE’-You Can’t Keep A Good Pixar Adventure Down
The movie industry kept a close watch on Pixar this weekend…
Would the animation studio continue its flawless streak or would its 13th production be the first to not only fail to open in first place at the boxoffice but bomb altogether?
Well, the results are in and Pixar’s winning streak remains unbroken!
BRAVE’s estimated opening weekend domestic ticket sales were $66.7 million and its audience’s CinemaScore an "A" rating. The demos were 57% female and 43% male.
New Jack City: Hollywood Figures It Out…from Kansas City
If I told you Hollywood’s major studios turn to Kansas City for information and insights about their latest movies you’d probably think I was nuts…
Well they do, and I’m not!
THE BOX OFFICE ANALYST, LLC here performs important services that only a handful of similar companies provide—worldwide. Think of it as an analytical think tank that its movie making clients draw to shepherd their movies through the jigsaw puzzle of film distribution.
New Jack City: Hollywood’s ‘Bible’ Slams Sandler’s TragiComedy
The showbiz rag VARIETY is still considered by the movie Industry as the Hollywood’s bible…
And it went out of its way Thursday to slam Adam Sandler‘s latest cinematic offering. The trade topped its review of THAT’S MY BOY with the following headline:
"Adam Sandler’s raunchiest star vehicle in years is a work of relentless vulgarity and staggering moral idiocy. All in all, it could have been worse."
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Rock Of Ages’-Don’t Stop Believing
When it comes to movie musicals, ROCK OF AGES is terrific…
It ranks right up there with past Broadway-to-screen adaptations like GREASE, HAIRSPRAY and MAMMA-MIA.
But let me be perfectly honest, there’ll be two camps of moviegoers. Those who’ll love it and the group that’ll hate it. No inbetweeners, no way!
For the record, our advance screening audience fell into the first category.
Like the above mentioned past hits, ROCK OF AGES storyline is a simple one. It’s 1987 as small town Oklahoma girl Julianne Hough meets city boy Diego Boneta while pursuing their Hollywood dreams on the Sunset Strip. Along the way they fall into the world of the Bourbon Room, a rock club allegedly based on the legendary Whisky A Go Go.
