This Week in Australian Cinemas

I haven't done this for a few weeks. I'm not sure why. I just haven't. Although, can I just point out that one of my favourite and most researchable sites Movie Marshal has somehow disappeared from the world wide web. Visiting the link in the sidebar merely takes you to a place where you can purchase the URL. Sad. It was invaluable for my Australian box-office needs. Frowny faces all round.


The Black Dahlia, 2006, dir. de Palma
Oh lordy, was this movie SPECIAL! I mean, it's rare that you see a movie that is flawless (and I do mean flawless) in everything from costumes, art direction, cinematography, sound, choreography and then fails on every single other count of creative drive and acting. I mean, pretty much every performance here is laughably bad (except for three ladies in small roles: Fiona Shaw, Rose McGowen and Mia Kirshner as the Black Dahlia herself) and De Palma doesn't seem to have any idea as to what he's doing most of the time. It was truly a devine experience of stupendous absurdity. Seriously though, whatever movie Fiona, Rose and Mia think they're in is quite possibly this generation's Citizen Kane.

The Descent, 2005, dir. Marshall
All I have to say is: IT'S ABOUT TIME, DICKHEAD! Seriously, this has been out for some long the UK (in 2005!) and was released in the US a few months back. For whatever reason, they felt fit to release it now, which was nice of them wasn't it? I really wanna see this movie. The fact that it's directed by Neil Marshall (who previously made the rare quality werewolf movie Dog Soldiers) is a good indication of it's quality. Oh, and the line on the poster "the scariest movie since Alien" gets me pumped cause y'all know - that movie scared the bejesus outta me!

The Light [L'Équipier], 2004, dir. Lioret
Umm... it's a French movie, set in a Polish lighthouse. It looked intriguing when David and Margaret reviewed it on At the Movies, but unfortunately seems a little too small and light to even consider until DVD. It was nominated for a few Cesar awards including Best Actor (Philippe Torreton) and Supporting Actress (Emilie Dequenne)

Deck the Halls, 2006, dir. Whitesell
For all of those people who always dreamed that that episode of Home Improvement or this episode or this episode or this episode would be extended to 95 minutes and have Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick in the leads. Deck the Halls also reminds me of that silly Christmas with the Kranks from a few years back (which I toyed with seeing purely because it had Jamie Lee Curtis, alas, I resisted because of the stench of - hello again - Tim Allen from Home Improvement.

Catch a Fire, 2006, dir. Noyce
Poor Phillip Noyce. He's apprently made a good movie yet nobody cared. I must say, Apartheid is not one of my favourite movie themes and it [the movie] generally doesn't look that thrilling (Tim Robbins looks embarassing). Maybe I'll catch up with it on DVD. Noyce, however, should be used to this. His Rabbit-Proof Fence was shamefully ignored outside of Australia.

The Caiman [Il Caimano], 2006, dir. Moretti
Umm... Nanni Moretti? If you're a fan I suppose this is for you, but I've never seen any of his flicks and, I'm being blunt here, I ain't gonna rectify that now.

Oh, and lastly, a little movie called Borat goes into national release.

BOX OFFICE
1. The Prestige (1)
2. Borat (1 - Preview Screenings)
3. Jackass Number Two (2)
4. The Santa Clause 3 (1)
5. Saw 3 (5)
6. A Good Year (2)
7. The Departed (6)
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (1)
9. Little Miss Sunshine (6)
10. The Wrong Man (2)

The Prestige debuts at #1 here with identical numbers to the US ($1.4mil here, $14mil in the US = identical). Probably will stay on for a while because of Hugh Jackman and the fact that the other 2006 Magician movie The Illusionist hasn't been released here (and won't be til 2007, obviously). Borat scores a great debut in a week of preview screenings. Borat didn't however top the earnings of The Devil Wears Prada when it debuted in preview screenings around the country (and Borat was on more screens too) - Prada, by the way, is still at #12 and has made over $16mil, which is phenomenal. Truly astonishing.

A Good Year has made over $2mil because of blanket trailering at cinemas (seriously, I saw that trailer about 10 times) and Russell Crowe's status. Still, it's quite pathetic. The Departed crossed the $10mil mark, Texas flops ($287,000 on debut - ouch) and you can see the rest.

As I mentioned Movie Marshall doesn't seem to exist anymore so I can only provide the top 10 and nothing else (MM provided the top 20 with extensive details). It's majorly sad.