SPIN FACTOR^® - The HSX Blog

Walt Disney has released the full trailer to Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time [PRSIA].  A voice-over by Gemma Atherton [GATHE] attempts to explain the story over action sequences filled with special effects.  Since it's from the same crew that brought us the Pirates of the Carribbean sequels, Prince of Persia looks to be a two hour excuse to create shot after shot of special effects that try to top each previous shot of special effects with an overwrought story...

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For the second weekend in a row, moviegoers made Paramount's Shutter Island [SHISL] the top destination at the box office.  The thriller earned an estimated $22.2 million to push its total over $75 million. 

Warner Bros.' comedy Cop Out [2COPS] took the silver medal with a $18.6 million debut.  The opening is the highest ever for Kevin Smith [KSMIT], who directed a film he didn't not script for the first time.

Overture's The Crazies [CRAZI] scored a respectable $16.5 million for the...

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Two new R-rated contenders enter the multiplex to take on the reigning R-rated box office champion.  Cop Out [2COPS] is the first movie directed by Kevin Smith [KSMIT] not also written by Kevin Smith, though you wouldn’t have known from the marketing campaign had it not been for “Fatgate”.   Action hero Bruce Willis [BWILL] buddies up with comedian Tracey Morgan [TMORG] in an action comedy that’s heavy on infantile behaviors and penis jokes. The film was previously titled A Couple of Dicks...

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DreamWorks Animation has unleashed the full trailer to the 3D adventure How to Train Your Dragon [HTRYD] and looks to be borrowing a page from Avatar.   The boy tames a dragon and leads the Vikings in battle just as Jake Sully tamed the giant Pterodactylus Banshee to lead the Na'Vi in battle.

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While the teaser focused on the origins of Freddy Krueger, the full trailer for New Line's horror remake A Nightmare on Elm Street [NELMS] show the pretty faces who will be haunted by the living nightmare monster including Rooney Mara [RMARA], Katie Cassidy [KCASS], Thomas Dekker [TDEKK] and Kellan Lutz [KLUTZ].   Oh, was that Aaron Yoo [AYOO] on the computer?  Is he the first guy killed by both Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th remake as well as Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare by Elm...

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Thrillers and comedies have been the normal order of the day at the weekend box office.  For those looking for something more sensitive and deeper, then the dramatic-romance The Yellow Handkerchief [YHNKR] could be a good choice.  William Hurt [WHURT] and Maria Bello [MBELL] star in the remake of a Japanese feature.

Hurt plays Brett who comes out of prison in post-Katrina Louisiana.  He joins a girl named Martine played by Kristin Stewart [KSTEW] and a young man named Gordy played by Eddie...

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The full trailer to Sony's remake of the underdog classic The Karate Kid [KFKID] doesn't differ much from the teaser except for 30 more seconds of people practicing Kung Fu.  That's Kung Fu, not Karate, a difference which Sony still doesn't bother to explain in the trailer.  We also get more footage of the final Kung Fu competition, though unfortunately neither "sweep the leg" nor "get him a body bag" are heard.

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Audiences got scared into theaters this post holiday weekend.  The dynamic duo of Martin Scorsese [MSCOR] and Leonardo DiCaprio [LDACP] did it one more time with Shutter Island [SHISL].  DiCaprio played a U.S. Marshal assigned to look for a female murderer who escaped from an insane asylum.  When a storm cuts off communication on the island and other inmates escape, confusion and danger loom.  The well-received thriller brought in $40.2 million from 2,991 theaters.  It is a career best...

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The sole new wide release this weekend is the R-rated thriller Shutter Island [SHISL] featuring the fourth collaboration between director Martin Scorsese [MSCOR] and Leonardo DiCaprio [LDCAP].   Originally set for release last fall, Shutter Island was pushed back by Paramount to fill out their 2010 slate after their banner year in 2009.  The thriller seems better positioned as a mainstream movie anyway than the typical Scorsese-directed awards contender.  The marketing and trailers have...

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If you haven’t recovered from the frothiness of the past holiday weekend, then two indie films can help clean your movie-going palate this weekend.  Happy Tears [HPYTR] and The Good Guy [GDGUY] are both released by Roadside Attractions but each offers a slice of human drama for different age groups. 

Happy Tears is a family drama starring Demi Moore [DMOOR] and Parker Posey [PPOSE] as a pair of bickering sisters.  When their 72-year-old father falls ill in their native Pittsburgh, Laura and...

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