‘Oblivion’ won the box office in its opening weekend, with ticket sales worth approximately $38.2 million. Tom Cruise’s sci-fi thriller took in $13.3 million on opening day Friday and $14.9 million on the following day reported the Globe and Mail. The PG-13 movie is not Cruise’s first opening weekend gross of above $25 million; previously, ‘Minority Report’ brought in $35 million, ‘Interview With The Vampire’, $36 million, ‘Mission: Impossible’, $45 million, ‘Mission: Impossible II’, $57 million, ‘Mission: Impossible III’, $47 million, and ‘War Of The Worlds’, $64 million. Also in the Top 5 this week are: ’42′, ‘The Croods’, ‘Scary Movie V’, and ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’.

The adventure movie also stars Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Melissa Leo. It takes place in the year 2077, sixty years after an alien attack destroyed half of the moon, ruining Earth’s ability to support life. Cruise plays the main protagonist Jack Harper (Technician #49), who along with the communications officer Victoria, played by Riseborough, is among the very few humans to remain on the planet, with the rest of the survivors located at a massive space station called the Tet. Victoria maintains contact with Sally, her commander on the Tet, played by Melissa Leo to receive daily tasks. The storyline takes a turn for the worse once a spaceship, the Odyssey, crashes nearby and Jack discovers that drones were programmed to kill humans.

Coming in second at the box office was Brian Helgeland’s ’42′, a biographical sports drama about the life of baseball player Jackie Robinson. The biopic continued its successful run, bringing in $18 million this weekend with an overall domestic gross total of $54.1 million after two weeks in the box office. The number three slot was ‘The Croods’ with a $9.5 million gross, bringing its total to $154.9 million. ‘Scary Movie 5′ and ‘GI Joe: Retaliation’ are at numbers four and five respectively, while Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper’s latest film, ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ just missed the Top 5 after expanding nationwide from 514 theaters into 1,542 theaters. Approximate ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US theatres, according to Hollywood.com can be seen below. 

‘Oblivion’ is a great sci-fi film full of persuasive characters, dramatic tension, and a strong plot with a few unexpected twists. The movie’s director Joseph Kosinski (‘Tron: Legacy’) was successfully able to combine visual and narrative elements to produce an engaging yet emotional addition to the genre. The film opened in roughly 35 countries including France, Sweden, Argentina, and the United Kingdom, bringing in nearly $112 million worldwide. The head of distribution for Universal, Nikki Rocco said, “He’s a global star; people love Tom Cruise. If you put him in the right vehicle, they love him even better.”

Next weekend, the main competition for the top spot will be ‘Pain and Gain’ and ‘The Big Wedding’ just before Summer 2013 kicks off with ‘Iron Man 3′.

Image credit: Oblivion UK via Facebook

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In Toonari Post’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ review, the plot, actors, and their characters were examined. All of these elements were able to come together through careful writing and masterful directing that brings honor to filmmaking as well as storytelling. Another aspect that makes ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ so amazing is how it integrates comic book and graphic novel storylines in a way that pays homage to past writers of Batman and takes its own creative spin on their work.

One of the most excellent things about ‘Rises’ is that it incorporates storylines from the Batman comics. “Knightfall,” a comic series written in 1993, is an intense story in which Bane learns Batman’s identity and breaks his spine, leaving him paralyzed for an extended period of time. ‘Rises’ also includes elements of anarchy from the 1999 comic “No Man’s Land” where an earthquake leaves Gotham cut off from the mainland and the city erupts into chaos.

Another aspect the film adapts is that Bane and Ra’s al Ghul are connected because in the comics “Bane of the Demon,” after Batman refuses to marry Talia, Ra’s daughter, Ra’s seeks out Bane instead to continue his quest to dominate the world in order to save it. Ra’s recognizes the same power and discipline in Bane that he formerly saw in Bruce, but he notices Bane is willing to kill and sacrifice innocent lives in order to achieve the League of Shadows’ ultimate goal of world peace. ‘Rises’ cleverly plays on the dynamic between Ra’s and Bane as well as Ra’s and Bruce to make them foils of each other.

Additionally, Selina Kyle is accompanied by a young woman who may or may not be her best friend from the “Batman: Year One” comics, Holly Robinson. The small references to these comics and characters show that Christopher Nolan understands the mythos that helps make Batman one of the most notable and incredible heroes to date.

‘Rises’ also draws inspiration from Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” because of its character arc for Bruce Wayne. In ‘Rises’, Bruce has to overcome the physical limits of his body as well as the psychological problems he has developed after the death of Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent, both of whom were dear friends.

As Alfred points out, Bruce never returned to being himself after Rachel died because he thought she never got a chance to move on and so he felt that he had no future without her. After Alfred reveals that Rachel had chosen Harvey over him before she died, Bruce is motivated to come out of retirement and pick up the cape and cowl once again, thus forcing him to rise above his own limitations as well as the obstacles presented by Gotham’s criminal underbelly.

In fact, the rise theme is woven into the story with all of the characters as they are forced to become even better than they ever thought they could be in order to save Gotham City. For instance, Detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becomes an unofficial apprentice to Bruce not long after he returns to being Batman.

As the film progresses, he begins to see that the path of a Gotham City detective may not be right for him because of the limited power they have when it comes to saving the city. The decision to imply that Det. Blake would take his place as Gotham’s new savior is even more surprising as Nolan has stated before that he did not have any interest in including Dick Grayson, aka Robin, in his movies.

He even gives a clever nod to the name while still creating a unique character who has bits and pieces of Dick Grayson, the original Robin, in him. Blake’s involvement in the story has a similar tone to a recent run in the Batman comics where Nightwing takes up the cape and cowl as Bruce Wayne has gone missing.

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ shows that it is possible to create a deeply moving story with respect to the comic books as well as original creative vision. Everyone involved in this film, from start to finish, has outdone themselves. ‘Rises’ is a worthy ending to an incredible trilogy that will never be forgotten.

Image Courtesy of   The Dark Knight Rises

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The epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, hit theaters midnight of July 20, 2012. Teeming masses of fans stood in line for hours waiting to step into the theater and finish the amazing story that started with ‘Batman Begins’ (2005), continued with ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008), and finished with ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’

Expectations are high and well deserved as the previous films have been hailed as some of the greatest comic book hero movies of all time, to say nothing of two of the greatest films of all time. Fortunately, ‘Rises’ does not disappoint as it is a powerful, moving, bold tale that will resonate with fans and moviegoers for years to come.

Spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution.

‘Rises’ begins with the introduction of the merciless mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) kidnapping a nuclear physicist from a plane overseas. It then cuts to Gotham City celebrating Harvey Dent Day and reveals that it has been eight years since the death of Dent and the disappearance of Batman, who took the blame in order to place the city on the path to peace. Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) delivers a speech that reveals he is still wracked with guilt for allowing Batman to take the fall for Dent’s murder but is still hesitant to reveal to the people that Dent was not as perfect as he seemed.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a recluse and has a limp due to his inactivity and former injuries from when he was Batman. While taking in his dinner, Bruce bumps into a maid stealing his mother’s pearls as well as a copy of his fingerprints. She escapes and he is intrigued by both her crime and her personality so he starts researching her background. He discovers that she is Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a cat burglar and master thief, and decides to finally leave his mansion in search of why she stole his fingerprints.

Selina had been paid by the owner of another major company to steal the fingerprints as part of a plan to take over Wayne Enterprises. Her client tries to kill her to tie up loose ends, but she lures the police to the location by kidnapping a congressman and escapes custody. Selina had also been searching for a program called Clean Slate, which has the ability to wipe a person’s record clean so that they could start over, but she is told it does not exist. Frustrated, she continues working in Gotham’s criminal underbelly as she has heard of Bane’s reckoning for the city and wants to stay out of his path.

Bruce reconnects with Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and newcomer Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) to try and rebuild the company, which suffered massive losses due to a failed project years ago. He enlists Tate to help him use an energy source Wayne Tech created and they pitch it to the board, hoping to reinvigorate profits at Wayne Enterprises.

Not long afterwards, Bane arrives in Gotham and Commissioner Gordon attempts to raid his lair in the sewers, but is badly injured and hospital ridden. After visiting Gordon in the hospital, Bruce is further motivated to put the cape and cowl back on to stop Bane. However, his bad knees and worn out body become his undoing and Bane defeats him, snapping one of his vertebrae in a vicious fight. Bane then sends Bruce to a prison deep underground in another country where he claimed to have escaped and tells Bruce that he will destroy Gotham as he is the apprentice of the late Ra’s al Ghul.

Bane returns to Gotham and engineers Wayne Enterprises’ energy source into a nuclear weapon. He and his army trap the city’s policemen underground and enforce martial law on the city. He then releases the inmates at Blackgate prison to “reclaim” the city. The only people left to stop him are a beat cop Gordon recruits to be a detective named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Selina Kyle, and a handful of officers.

Upon seeing the destruction of his city, Bruce tries his best to recover from his back injury but is only successful when he realizes that fear of death is instrumental to overcoming his obstacles. He escapes the prison and returns to Gotham, enlisting Det. Blake and Selina to help him take back the city and stop the bomb from detonating.

As expected of the Nolan Batman films, the acting is superb. Particular mention goes to Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. Most people had reservations about her casting as she is still a young woman, but she pulls off the sophistication, strength, beauty, and poise that characterize Selina Kyle. Her chemistry with Bruce Wayne is absolutely fantastic as the two do not hesitate to test each other’s wits all while sharing steamy sexual tension.

Christian Bale also brings his A-game as Bruce Wayne, who is completely battered and broken over the course of the film, but eventually finds the strength to carry on for the city he loves. His conviction and pain drive the story and make it truly unforgettable.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Det. Blake is also a welcome addition to the Batman canon because of his quick wits, unflinching loyalty to both Batman and the city, and his dedication to saving lives. His story is by far the most surprising as it was downplayed in the trailers and yet ends up being instrumental to the overall story.

Overall, it is a monumental film that no one should pass up. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ has effectively woven several amazing stories together with phenomenal actors, a dedicated director, and a fantastic production team to make one of the best superhero films of all time. See it. You won’t regret it.

Grade: 5/5

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When animals and humans work together there is much that can be accomplished. This is exactly what transpires in Dolphin’s Tale, a film about a true story about a brave dolphin. It is based on a true story about a group of compassionate strangers who bonded together to save this dolphins life.

Swimming free is a dolphin without a care in the world until one day she is caught in a crab trap that is fatal for her existence and as a result loses her tail. She is rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital where she is given the name Winter. Although she has been rescued there is a long way to go and now she is in the biggest battle she must fight for her life.

The fight is just beginning, without a tail her survival is very dim. In order to save Winter’s life it’s going to take the expertise of a dedicated marine biologist, the ingenuity of a brilliant prosthetics doctor and the devotion of a young boy who all must work together in saving Winter’s life. This will not only save Winter’s life but also help countless others around the world.

Winter is a dolphin that has been a source of perseverance, hope and courage to millions of people both able and disabled who have been touched by her remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation. Winter’s real home is at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. Dolphin’s Tale was filmed on location at the aquarium in Clearwater, Fla.

The motto for the aquarium is “rescue, rehabilitate and return,” which really sums up what this movie is all about. The movie will be released in 3-D in September. It stars Harry Konnick Jr, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Kris Kristoffson and Cozi Zuehlsdorff as the young boy who rescues the dolphin.

The movie is directed by Martin Charles Smith, a former actor from films like The Buddy Holly Story and American Graffiti, though he is best known for his role as agent Wallace in The Untouchables. It really does have a great cast including fantastic performances by Konnick Jnr and Freeman who seem to always deliver something special no matter what role he plays.

There have been movies about handicapped people overcoming odds, which have truly been inspirational. There have been movies in which people develop special relationships with animals, which have also been very popular with children and adults alike. There have also been many family movies over the years that have entertained us.

The great thing about this film is that it incorporates all three genres into one amazing film. It also does this in 3D which is sure to again be popular with audiences of all ages. The inspiration behind the movie is no dolphin has ever lost its tail and lived. This is definantly a movie that will grip and touch the hearts of viewers.

The audience will walk away having hope and inspiration, as it is a movie about miracles. Any person who loves to see animals free and happy will absolutely love this film.

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