The Playlist

Box Office: 'Iron Man 3' Continues To Speed Towards $1 Billion Worldwide, 'Gatsby' Does 'Great'

By Gabe Toro
|
May 12, 2013 12:00 PM
|
4 Comments

Box Office

Big business, big business: the actors behind "The Avengers" were smart to pick a week where "Iron Man 3" was making cash hand over fist to air out their salary grievances. The stats are pure gonzo for the third installment in the robot-man series, with the picture smashing expectations worldwide as it cruises towards a cool billion. By the end of this weekend, it will have eclipsed the domestic results of any non-"Iron Man" Marvel film aside from "The Avengers," though globally it's already the biggest of all Marvel superhero films behind last summer's billion dollar superhero team-up.

More:

Review: Race And Class Issues Clash With Lowbrow Comedy In 'Peeples'

By Gabe Toro
|
May 8, 2013 6:01 PM
|
2 Comments

Reviews

You’d be forgiven if you expected Tyler Perry to influence a large chunk of “Peeples,” the latest film to carry his name like a neon sign promising broad comedy and aggressive but dubious morality. Even the beginning seems to hum with the predictable rhythms of Perry’s multi-movie empire, with a dark screen soundtracked to the purr of a man’s voice introducing a particularly holy gospel tune. It’s a clever strategy for writer-director Tina Gordon Chism, who soon reveals that this is comic actor Craig Robinson, crooning to a classroom filled with children about the need to avoid urinating on others. At once, you’re assured that this film is going to explore places Perry normally wouldn’t dare… and surely places maybe you wouldn’t seek either.

More:

Tyler Perry's Alex Cross Will Get Cross Again In 'Double Cross'

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
October 17, 2012 11:03 PM
|
2 Comments

News

Somebody's feeling confident. With "Alex Cross" currently sitting at a Rotten Tomatoes score of 30% and 35 over at Metacritic, you might think that the attempt to relaunch the character of Alex Cross -- played previously by Morgan Freeman in "Kiss The Girls" and "Along Came A Spider" -- would be a failure (read our review here). But if Tyler Perry fans have proven anything, it's that they show up regardless of critics, and frankly, so do audiences who have managed to make the ludicriously awful "Taken 2" number one at the box office for two straight weeks. So get ready for more Perry.

More:

Don't Ever Cross Alex Cross: The 10 Most Awful Movie Poster Taglines

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
October 17, 2012 12:16 PM
|
16 Comments

Features

This week marks the less-than-eagerly awaited release of "Alex Cross," which sees inexplicably popular drag artist Tyler Perry take up the mantle of the titular police psychologist played by Morgan Freeman in "Kiss The Girls" and "Along Came A Spider." There are many amusing/baffling things about the film, but perhaps first among them is the poster tagline: "Don't Ever Cross Alex Cross." Presumably thought up by a frazzled intern during a toilet break after alternatives like 'Don't Make Alex Cross Cross," "You're Across From A. Cross" and "Cross Alex Cross Alex Cross Cross Cross," it'll be impressive if anything dumber appears on a movie poster this year.

More:

Review: 'Alex Cross' Is Cliché, Action Movie Finger Paint

By Drew Taylor
|
October 17, 2012 8:45 AM
|
6 Comments

Reviews

Apparently the Alex Cross character, originated by best-selling author James Patterson in an unending series of pulp novels, and brought to the screen twice before (in a pair of forgettable, moodily-lit Morgan Freeman thrillers), is a bankable enough property to re-launch a large-ish franchise around, because that's what the good folks at Summit have just done. The hook, this time, is that it's something of a prequel, just titled "Alex Cross," and that its star is Tyler Perry, who has made a fortune for himself starring in, writing and directing his very own movies. The problem is that Tyler Perry the actor is just as hammy and unfocused as Tyler Perry the filmmaker, and that "Alex Cross" is more boring than your average weeknight procedural, except much longer, dumber and more violent.

More:

Watch: Over-Dramatic Threats Abound From Tyler Perry & Matthew Fox In 7 Clips From 'Alex Cross'

By Charlie Schmidlin
|
October 15, 2012 3:39 PM
|
6 Comments

News

While the prospect of multi-hyphenate Tyler Perry gearing up for a lead detective role in “Alex Cross” initially perked the interest of some, it was the first look at Matthew Fox playing the film's bulked-up burst of insanity that really showed some promise, and now a rush of seven clips from the crime franchise reboot have arrived to drum up anticipation further.

More:

Watch: It's Madea Vs. A Freaky Looking Matthew Fox In First Trailer For 'Alex Cross'

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
June 26, 2012 8:02 AM
|
8 Comments

News

He's put away the wigs and oversized floral dresses, and now Tyler Perry wants you to consider him as a Serious Actor. And we'd love to, but unfortunately "Alex Cross" unintentionally looks like a parody of the cat-and-mouse crime thriller.

More:

Weekend Box Office: 'Fast Five' Starts Off Summer With $83 Million Weekend

By Gabe Toro
|
May 1, 2011 5:21 AM
|
27 Comments

Hooray for Hollywood, or something. The 2011 box office finally snapped out of its doldrums with more reheated crap, “Fast Five” opening to a spectacular-for-Universal $83 million. The car blockbuster’s weekend surpasses “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” as the biggest opening weekend in Universal history, and with spectacular overseas results, the film is poised to do upwards of $400-$500 million globally, topping the $353 worldwide take of “Fast And Furious,” the last film in the series.

Weekend Box Office: 'Rio' Defeats 'Madea' Before The Summer Onslaught Begins

By Gabe Toro
|
April 24, 2011 4:56 AM
|
3 Comments

Hollywood doesn’t really recognize the seasons as clearly as you. Which is why even though you’re in school, summer begins in May, and even though you still have a full month of spring, that period usually closes in Hollywood around this time every year. In 2011, “summer” is beginning even earlier with next week’s release of “Fast Five,” sure to be the year’s biggest opener, which means that “Rio” effectively gets its licks in before the hot season begins, scoring a second straight weekend at #1 with a $26 million take.

Tyler Perry Starts Fight With Real Filmmaker, Says Spike Lee Should 'Go Straight To Hell'

By Gabe Toro
|
April 20, 2011 2:10 AM
|
42 Comments

"Spike can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, ‘This is a coon; this is a buffoon.' I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies. This is what he said: ‘You vote by what you see,' as if black people don't know what they want to see."

More: