Open Bar: March 10
The Open Bar is a convivial and open floor for all readers of Anomalous Material to discuss anything and everything they want all week starting every Thursday evening. Feel free to chime in or introduce new topics of discussion.
The Open Bar Soundtrack
Announcement
- You have probably noticed a couple of them who have already written a few posts. We have 3 new writers: Max, Sam and Paolo. I will leave it to them to post a little comment about themselves ah. Get to know them in the comments!
- Don’t forget that we are giving away 3 pairs of Fandango movie tickets at the end of the month! The more you comment, the more likely you are to win.
- There wasn’t a LAMB column last month due to the Oscars festivities. However, I will be back this month. For now, you can read one of my previous post on LAMB: Three Things That Make Me Click Away From Your (Movie) Blog
- If you are participating in the AM Movie Fantasy League, check out this week’s update
- Have a great weekend and don’t forget to turn your clock forward on Sunday!
US Box Office Openings and Estimates
- Battle Los Angeles (Columbia): $35 million/$94 million
- Red Riding Hood (Warner Bros): $18.5 million/$48 million
- Mars Needs Mom (Disney): $18 million/$50 million
Links
- Ten books that should be adapted to the big screen (Flix Chatter)
- Vote on the Miyazaki Madness tournament! (Go See Talk)
- 8 Great female movie characters (Split Reel)
- Sebastian and the Mad Hatter discuss 80′s classic Say Anything (The Dark of the Matinee)
- You probably already Red’s early take on the 2012 Oscars, Dan chimes in with his own (The King Bulletin)
- Kai ranks his top 10 alien movies (The List)
- Darren takes a look at possible villains for Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot (The m0vie blog)
A Few Potential Topics of Discussion
- What are your plans for this weekend?
- What movies are you planning to see?
- Any thoughts on current events?
- Your favorite songs of the moment?
- What books are you reading right now?
- What’s else is on your mind?
55 Comments
Hey, the bar is open again!
Well firstly, thanks for the shout out Castor!
Your estimation on Battle L.A. seems pretty high, but who knows the buzz is pretty good on this one and critical reviews probably not going to make much dent. I’m curious about it but probably won’t see it in the theater.
Was hoping to see Jane Eyre this weekend, but unfortunately it’s not open until 3/25 here in our neck of the woods
Still have Miller’s Crossing at home, haven’t got around to watching it from last weekend.
Ahah well I own it in the fantasy league so I’m estimating a couple millions above industry expectation
Well I hope it does win box office, it probably will unless those Twi-hards decide to swarm the theaters to see RRH.
I hope the twilight hordes will manifest themselves this weekend since I have red riding hood in the fantasy league!
Very funny
“Sony’s ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Heads Towards $38 Million Opening”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/battle-los-angeles-easily-tops-167002
@ Ruth: Doesn’t look like I was overestimating ahah
I was really surprised when I found out that Gary Oldman is in Red Riding Hood … It’s just .. no.
I’m for sure ‘swarming’ to see Battle LA. I’ve never been this excited about an action film before.
Thanks for the shoutoutttt!
I still want to see Battle LA despite the middling reviews, although it probably won’t on opening weekend
What?!? I had no idea he was in it, either. Oy…
Might be working on other guest posts if anyone’s looking for one.
Lot of movies I’ve been putting off for like a week now. Gonna be catching up big time this weekend.
As for books, currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes, I didn’t read it in high school. No, I haven’t seen the movie yet.
We always welcome guest posts from you Anna
You are welcome to write a guest post for my site too. I am trying to do the same thing. I just wrote on for The Lingerie Addict about Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Butterfield 8.
As for To Kill a Mockingbird, it is one of the best movies ever made. The movie is a pretty good adaptation of the book. Gregory Peck said it was the role he was most proud of. Let me know what you think when you are finished reading & watching.
Anna! I just read the book and saw the movie for the first time last summer. I never did get around to writing reviews though, typical me!
I located a copy of Celine et Julie vont en bateau–not easy to find, so I’m very pleased. I’ve watched the first bit. It’s…weird…
Going to see the Midnight Showing of RED RIDING HOOD! CANNOT WAIT! I smell the first Best Picture nominee of the year! Gotta support my Co-producer Joel! …………only joking. Sorry Joel.
Hey! The Twilight Hordes will make Red Riding the first box office surprise this season!!! I you have any shame in your body you make sure to take your entire family to it this weekend. hahaha
Ahaha Joel, you are going to need a whole lot of people to turn out with that 10% Rotten Tomatoes score. Damn, that’s terrible.
I was actually hoping Red Riding would be good. I thought after the 2nd trailer it might not have been Twilight with werewolves, but unfortunately it seems i was mistaken
I am gonna learn to use Excel this weekend while watching the cross country vc competitions in Lahti Finland even though super stars Marcus Hellner and Petter Northug wont be racing.
If I catch a movie its possibly Black Swan that finally has had its Swedish release! Wow did that take long or what??? Their distributor certainly don’t have any right to wine about piracy!
Wow, it took that long! Let us know what you think once you finally see it.
Yeah its insane! It was the same with the fighter they have both been out on piracy sites on DVD rips before they reached our cinemas and the distributors have the guts to whine about piracy (its very common in Sweden).
Joel, I can’t wait to hear what you thought of it.
I’m hoping to at least see Rango or The Adjustment Bureau this weekend, if not both, and Battle: Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future. That said I’ll be spending all of Sunday at PAX East in Boston with an out-of-town friend, with whom I’ll be hanging out all of Saturday with my wife. PAX should be a blast– I know it was last year!– so I’ve at least got that to look forward to. I don’t know what it says about the event, though, that I’m looking forward to seeing one of the aforementioned movies almost as much (or what it says about my excitement for those movies!).
Yea I hope to check out at least one of those movies this weekend, started this year’s blockbuster crop with a dud, haven’t seen anything yet.
Cedar Rapids made for a nice start to 2011, for me at least. Let’s see if the season can keep up the momentum!
Aha…Open Bar is open again
I have no plan to see any movie this weekend … the problem with movie tax is still not clear yet, no new movies in cinema
I really want to see Paul. I wonder will this problem be over soon so that I can see Battle Los Angeles in big screen instead of in 21inch tv screen through a pirate DVD.
The list of post from other blogs look interesting, I will try to read them this weekend.
I’m sorry to hear that Nov… man I hope they rectify that situation soon, this tax thing is all very silly.
I hope so to. I miss going to a cinema
Yea! Open Bar is back. Well, tomorrow I’m going to finish the final part of “Carlos” by Olivier Assayas. Work on a review on that and then watch Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” as I’m trying to catch up on some 2010 releases that I’ve missed.
Heard some good things about the Ghost Writer but I have so many movies that need to be seen I doubt I will ever be able to catch up with that one…
Thanks for the mention above Castor. I’m extremely happy to be writing for Anomalous Material, it’s such a great environment, filled with passionate moviegoers. I’m also looking forward to continuing my writing on this wonderful site and I hope everyone has enjoyed my posts thus far.
For this weekend:
“Battle: LA”
&
“Rango” or “Red Riding Hood”
Review of “Mars Needs Moms” tomorrow, I went to the early screening last Saturday morning (hint: not so good).
I hope to see all of you around!
- Sam Fragoso
I might catch Rango this weekend (need to ensure that Mars Need Moms does not do well in the game since I dropped it). Also, think I might give Southland Tales another try. Could not get through it the first time I say it years ago. Time permitting I might also sneak in either Inside Job or Waiting for Superman.
Both very good documentaries … “Inside Job” is better. Mainly because there have been enough articles to show that a lot of the information and statistics in “Waiting for Superman” are false .. really a shame. I truly endorsed the picture when it came out. I was devastated to find those articles months later.
Ahaha yea make sure to picket your movie theater’s queue and sway people to see Battle Los Angeles instead of Mars Needs Mom
Open Bar, what a great idea.
Just watched the 1st episode of “Camelot” the other day, so that piqued my interest into re-reading Bernard Cornwell’s “The Warlord Chronicles” 3 books on the Arthur mythos. The 1st being “The Winter King”.
Well, hiya there.
This has been my first week writing for Anomalous Material, and thus far it’s been a little surreal. My article on feminism has received over a hundred comments in a little over 5 days, which is something quite new. Before this, I wrote my own blog called Thoughts From Under a Hat (http://thoughtsfromunderahat.blogspot.com), at which I was lucky to get a single comment on anything I posted.
I really like it here so far. People are open for new ideas and seem genuinely exited to watch good movies.
Gee, this weekend… I just saw Tropa de Elite 2, which was really really good (it’s like Cicade de Deus meets Goodfellas, I might write a review soon). My other plans are to watch Jesus Camp, Rocky (yep, haven’t seen it yet), The Exorcist and the second Twilight movie. I have a friend with whom I have a sort of deal: first I show her a “classic” horror movie, then she shows me a Twilight movie and we compare which is more disturbing. Last week was The Fly and the first Twilight, about which I wrote such a friendly review.
Ah good to hear you enjoyed Tropa de Elite 2, I really quite liked the first one and might give the sequel a shot.
Yeah, I was surprised how incredibly subtle the story and the politics in it were presented. Especially with a title like that.
Thanks for the plug Castor. Voting is in full swing and the first round closes on Sunday;)
Really pumped for Battle LA! Hoping it has that D9 level of gritty realism with a good story to boot. Trailers were AWESOME but we’ve been fooled before:(
No problem Marc
Great idea for a tournament.
I plan to see Rango and The Adjustment Bureau this weekend. I received Amelia from Netflix, I tried to watch it, but a few minutes of Hilary Swank and I am sending back.
I hate to admit it but Hilary Swank does that to me too!
I like shots of tequila, please. Oh no, it’s not this kind of bar. (caveat, I actually have never drunk tequila).
Hi guys and thanks for inviting me to the family, Castor. I’m Paolo, I have my daily blog on http://okinawaassault.wordpress.com/. My little secret is that I watch whatever’s on TV, which in this case is Good Night and Good Luck. Also on the watch possibilities is The Adjustment Bureau and Limitless. Excited.
Oh, and I just reviewed Battle: LA for AM. Hope my Imperial Cinema course didn’t make my post seem crazy.
Happy to meet you all again in Open Bar. This week I gonna see the movie “Pi”. After that going for beach with Family. What about Castor and other friends on this weekend
I am sorry Mani! I think Pi was crappy! Wish you wouldn’t waste two hours on it.
I hope to watch Rango sometime this weekend and maybe catch either Battle LA or The Adjustment Bureau next week! On DVD, I just watched Jackass 3 last night and I will be timing my Netflix so I can receive The Fighter on Tuesday.
I have seen several posts on various movie sites about the casting of The Hunger Games movie. Like the casting of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, it is one of biggest roles for a young actress to come along in years.
Have any of you read the book? Who do you think should play the role of Katniss Everdeen?
I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Hunger Games is on my list after Never Let Me Go and Water for Elephants.
Castor, I have a question for you. First, I’m so happy the open bar is back because I love hearing what everyone is up to. One of my blog chores this weekend was to create a Facebook fan page for Colleenie’s Couch, but I don’t see a category that seems like it matches. What did you set up AM as?
I’ve been watching a lot of movies at home lately. This weekend I watched Howl and Inside Job. I actually need to stop watching movies and start writing!
I went to a self publishing workshop on Friday. I’m thinking of a book of essays about movies.
Colleen, you should go with “Brand or Product”, there is a “website” option in that menu. I hear you about watching a little less, and writing a lot more
I’ve seen quite a lot of new movies but you wouldn’t know from the number of reviews I write… 
Thanks Castor for your help. I’m going to be working on it this week and hopefully get it loaded up. I almost feel like I have to ban myself from watching anything right now just to catch up!
Shit, I missed it this week.
Hey Guys, Its been awhile. Life has been way busier than I ever knew possible. But I thought it would be fun to mirror the NCAA Basketball tournament with a Best Film of All Time Tournament. I thought that some of you might like to participate and have your say. So if you would like to vote, I put up the first play-in matchup tonight and a second will be released around 9. You can check out the first one here, http://thegoodlifemedia.com/2011/03/15/the-good-life-presents-best-film-of-all-time-tournament/
Also, I hope to have a couple features up on here soon. I expect to be around much more now…sorry for my disappearance. Hope all is well with everyone. Looking forward to being back around.
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