Is it any surprise that Indiana Jones 4 – The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – made the top of the box office list this past weekend? It took in an enormous weekend gross of $126M ($151M if you include Thursday’s early previews). That’s more than the movies in spots #2-10 combined. And that’s despite the horrible reviews it has been garnering. Even had there been any other large films up against Indy 4, I still think it’d in number #1.

1. [-] Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
2. [1] The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
3. [2] Iron Man.
4. [3] What Happens in Vegas.
5. [4] Speed Racer.
6. [6] Baby Mama.
7. [5] Made of Honor.
8. [7] Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
9. [8] Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
10. [10] The Visitor.

Compared to last week, only Indy Jones 4 is new, pushing out The Forbidden Kingdom.

Given that there is only one blockbuster this coming weekend – Sex and the City – Indy 4 is probably going to stay at the top of the box office charts for another weekend. At least until Get Smart (Jun 20th), though Kung Fu Panda (Jun 6th) might displace it too.

Here is Filmzee’s box office top 10 list for the weekend starting Fri May 16, 2008. Titles in bold link to either a preview page on this site, a review at Film Pundits, or a profile page at IMDB. Numbers in brackets represent the previous week’s rank. (A hyphen, “-”, means a movie just opened. A tilde, “~”, means that the movie opened before this past weekend but was not in the top 10 the previous week.)

1. [-] The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Ben Barnes.
2. [1] Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard.
3. [3] What Happens in Vegas… Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher.
4. [2] Speed Racer. Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon.
5. [4] Made of Honor. Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan.
6. [5] Baby Mama. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler.
7. [6] Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader.
8. [7] Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. John Cho, Kal Penn.
9. [8] The Forbidden Kingdom. Jackie Chan, Jet Li.
10. [~] The Visitor. Richard Jenkins.

The only wide release in North America this past weekend was the second movie in The Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian. This was a movie I’d been waiting a long time for, based on how wonderful the first Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – was. This movie had way too much battle and not enough story and character development – a thought that Richard Roeper and his guest echoed on Ebert & Roeper. Visually, it’s appealing, but way too long given it’s lack of story.

Once again, now that we’re in summer blockbuster season, everything else that opened last Friday was in limited release, and the small-city I live in isn’t showing any of those releases yet.

These are the movies opening this weekend, from Thur May 1, 2008, onwards. (Some cities received early previews of certain movies in the list.) Note: links for Friday Preview posts will no longer go to preview pages on this site. Instead, they go to IMDB, where you can find far more information. (Just click on the bolded movie titles.) Links to reviews will be added here later. To see the poster for a movie, click on the thumbnail. (A poster image will be floated on this page.)

1. Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard. PG-13; 126 min; Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller. Directed by Jon Favreau; written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, with characters by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber.

2. Made of Honor. Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan. PG-13; 101 min; Comedy, Romance. Directed by Paul Weiland; written by Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry.

3. Mister Lonely [limited]. Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, Werner Herzog, Anita Pallenberg, David Blaine. 14A (Canada), unranked in the USA; 112 min; Comedy, Drama. Directed by Harmony Korine; written by Avi and Harmony Korine.

4. Redbelt [limited]. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer. R; 99 min; Action, Drama. Written and directed by David Mamet.

5. Son of Rambow [limited]. Bill Milner. PG-13; 96 min; Comedy, Drama. Written and directed by Garth Jennings.

Iron Man was actually one of my faves when I was a kid, but I was hesitant about how a film adaptation would be. It looks a lot better in the trailers than I thought it might, and the gadgets look like a lot of fun. Of course, don’t know how the story is without seeing it. Does anyone not think Iron Man will be top of the box office for this weekend?

Certainly it won’t be Made of Honor. There’s just something so insulting when Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) asks Tom (Patrick Dempsey) to be her maid of honor. Does this girl not have any female friends? Do women hate her? Is she so dense that she hasn’t any clue whatsoever that Tom likes her? Or is he such a loser that he has never revealed any of his feelings to her? What right does he have to ruin her impending marriage? Is Michelle Monaghan even lead material? Who gave this lovely girl such an unflattering hairstyle for this movie? Do I even give a crap enough to see this contrived-looking movie? Will I ever shut up? It might not be #1 this weekend, but unfortunately it’ll probably be in the top 5, thanks to all the people fooled into going to see it.

As you can see from the list above, it’s blockbuster season and oddly enough, there are fewer wide releases than earlier this year. I live in a small town, so I won’t be able to see any of the limited releases for quite some time. That leaves very little to watch this weekend, except to catch up on recent theatrical releases that I missed. On my to-do list this weekend are Iron Man, 21, Deception, Nim’s Island and Horton Hears a Who, with short reviews to follow soon after.

1. Baby Mama. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler.
2. Deal [limited]. Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, Charles Durning,
   Jennifer Tilly, and numerous professional poker players including
   Isabelle Mercier, Chris Moneymaker, and Joe Hachem. By the way, Maria Mason is not related to Marsha Mason, as far as I can tell.
3. Deception. Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor.
4. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris.
5. Rogue [limited]. Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington.
6. Roman de gare [NYC]. Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon.
7. Standard Operating Procedure [NYC].
8. Then She Found Me [NYC]. Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler.

Information, posters, and video clips for each movie can be found below. Click on a poster to see a larger version floated (no browser change).

Baby Mama

Film: Baby Mama.
Release: Wide.
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Comedy.
Director: Michael McCullers.
Writer: Michael McCullers.
Cast: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin, Maura Tierney, Holland Taylor, with appearances by other Saturday Night Live cast members.
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 96 min.
Notes: Tina Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a high-ranking business woman who wants to have a baby. Problem is, she has no significant other and fertility seems a bit wonky. She pays big bucks for a surrogate mother, Angie Ostrowski, played by Amy Poehler, and the hilarity begins.
Trailer:

Deal

Film: Deal.
Release: Limited.
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Comedy, Drama.
Director: Gil Cates Jr.
Writer: Gil Cates Jr., Mark Weinstock.
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, Charles Durning, Jennifer Tilly, and numerous professional poker players including Isabelle Mercier, Chris Moneymaker, and Joe Hachem.
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 86 min.
Notes: Poker has been a controversial topic in the U.S. for the last couple of years, but with 21 and The Grand out recently, and now Deal, gambling seems like a safe subject for movies again. Except have you ever watched poker on TV? I love the game and I even can’t stand watching. What’s going to make me go to see a movie about it? This one is about a mentor, Burt Reynolds, against his student – a college student. But besides the appearances by numerous professional poker players, there’s no one here I’d go see in a movie theater except Shannon Elizabeth – and she’s only in it for a few minutes.
Trailer:

Deception

Film: Deception.
Release: Wide.
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Action, Drama, Thriller.
Director: Marcel Langenegger.
Writer: Mark Bomback.
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams, Bruce Altman, Andrew Ginsburg, Charlotte Rampling, Natasha Henstridge.
Rating: R
Runtime: 108 min.
Notes: In the trailers at least, Hugh Jackman looks terrifying as a deceiver who gets a new friend, Ewan McGregor into trouble. McGregor becomes a suspect in a number of crimes including a multi-million dollar heist.
Trailer:

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Film: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
Release: Wide.
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Adventure, Comedy.
Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg.
Writer: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg.
Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Corddry, Beverly D’Angelo.
Rating: R
Runtime: 102 min (USA).
Notes: This movie just seems wrong in so many ways. But I’m guessing it’s going to appeal to appeal to several groups: teens, stoners, fans of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and possibly fans of Neil Patrick Harris – who plays himself in a cameo and is as much of a prick here as he seems to be lately in most of his roles. But buried in the gutter/ toilet humor and behind that haze of pot smoke is a social and political message. (Warning: seeing it sober might cause brain damage.)
Trailer:

Rogue

Film: Rogue.
Release: Limited.
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Action, Adventure, Horror, Thrilller.
Director: Greg Mclean.
Writer: Greg Mclean.
Cast: Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington.
Rating: R
Runtime: 92 min.
Notes: Rogue actually opened last November in Australia and is in limited release in North America. Now, haven’t movies about giant man-eating crocs already been done? I’m not sure what sets this apart other than that it’s in Australia. Or I could be wrong. Maybe you should see it after watching Harold and Kumar 2.
Trailer:

Roman de gare

Film: Roman de gare.
Release: Limited [NYC].
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Drama.
Director: Claude Lelouch.
Writer: Claude Lelouch (adaptation, screenplay), Pierre Uytterhoeven (adaptation).
Cast: Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon.
Rating: R
Runtime: 103 min.
Notes: Roman de gare was released in France, in late June of 2007. In this murder thriller, a writer seeks inspiration for her next novel.
Trailer:

Standard Operating Procedure

Film: Standard Operating Procedure.
Release: Limited [NYC].
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Documentary.
Director: Errol Morris.
Writer: n/a
Cast: Christopher Bradley, Sarah Denning, Joshua Feinman.
Rating: R
Runtime: 118 min.
Notes: Remember photos published of suspected male terrorists stripped naked, with uniformed male and female U.S. solidiers laughing and posing? In this documentary, Errol Morris explores the supposed injustices at Abu Ghraib by U.S. forces.
Trailer:

Then She Found Me

Film: Then She Found Me.
Release: Limited [NYC].
Opening: Apr 25, 2008.
Category: Comedy, Drama, Romance.
Director: Helen Hunt.
Writer: Alice Arlen, Victor Levin, and Helen Hunt, based on a novel by Elinor Lipman.
Cast: Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler. Matthew Broderick.
Rating: R
Runtime: 100 min.
Notes: I’m a big fan of Helen Hunt, so I can’t wait until this is in wide release. Then She Found Me is a slice-of-life drama about a teacher who has to deal with a number of personal traumas in her life, while trying to find herself, and also finding her mother. This is her debut as a movie director (though she did direct three episodes of the Mad About You TV comedy series), so I’m willing to give this amazing actress some leeway.
Trailer:

Film: 88 Minutes.
Release: Wide.
Category: Crime, Drama, Thriller.
Opening: Fri Apr 18, 2008.
Director: Jon Avnet.
Writer: Gary Scott Thompson.
Cast: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Benjamin McKenzie.
Rating: R
Runtime: 108 min.
Notes: Al Pacino is one of my all-time favorite actors. No matter what movie he’s in, even if it’s not a solid script, he gives it his all. That alone guarantees, at least for me, that I’m going to enjoy the movie. Now, take a movie like 88 Minutes, where Pacino’s character starts off getting an ominous phone call saying he only has 88 minutes to live. That sounds exciting, and the trailers are enough to get me in a theater, but other buzz says that it’s a movie full of clichés.
Trailer:

Film: Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Release: Wide.
Category: Comedy, Romance.
Opening: Fri Apr 18, 2008.
Director: Nicholas Stoller.
Writer: Jason Segel.
Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, William Baldwin, Jason Bateman.
Rating: R
Runtime: 112 min.
Notes: The trailers for this one have been playing nonstop on TV and in theatres, but it really looks like a load of fun. Judd Apatow – whose name you have to look up if you don’t know him – is producing, and writing and lead credit (as well as bare behind exposure) goes to Jason Segel. Segel plays the big doofus Marshall Eriksen on the incredible TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Segel also appeared in another Apatow film, Knocked Up. Apatow has had his named attached to a lot of thoughtful comedies as of late.
Trailer:

Film: The Forbidden Kingdom.
Release: Wide.
Category: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy.
Opening: Fri Apr 18, 2008.
Director: Rob Minkoff.
Writer: John Fusco.
Cast: Jackie Chan, Jet Li. Bingbing Li.
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 113 min.
Notes: Martial arts fans are very likely salivating, eager to see this movie. Not only has Jet Li thankfully not honored his promise to stop doing these types of movies, he has teamed up with another fave veteran, Jackie Chan. So it really doesn’t matter that this movie is about a bunch of warriors – and an american teen – who are forced to team up to free the Monkey king. It’s about Chan and Li and them laying down ass kickings. Everything else is incidental.
Trailer:

Film: Pathology.
Release: Wide.
Category: Crime, Horror, Thriller.
Opening: Fri Apr 18, 2008.
Director: Marc Schoelermann.
Writer: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor. (Both wrote and directed the Jason Statham/ Amy Smart guy movie vehicle Crank.)
Cast: Alyssa Milano, Milo Ventimiglia, Keir O’Donnell.
Rating: R
Runtime: 93 min.
Notes: I’ve had a long-time crush on Alyssa Milano, but I know very little about this horror/ thriller. That includes most of the rest of the cast. (But as a fan of this type of movie, I plan to see it anyway.) Its IMDB page says its about a bunch of medical students trying to commit the perfect murder, as part of a game. I guess they slept through the class on the Hippocratic Oath.
Trailer:

Film: The Life Before Her Eyes.
Release: Limited.
Category: Drama, Thriller.
Opening: Fri Apr 18, 2008.
Director: Vadim Perelman.
Writer: Emil Stern, based on the novel by Laura Kasischke.
Cast: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood.
Rating: R
Runtime: 90 min.
Notes: This movie centers on Uma Thurman’s character, Diana, showing in her life two different time periods: present, and fifteen years earlier, before she loses her best friend. There are references to a Columbine-like incident, as well as other tragedies. (Ayn Rand fans take note: Director Vadim Perelman is writing and directing Atlas Shrugged, which releases sometime this year and reputedly stars both Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.)
Trailer: