Movies! 8/7/15 Plus More Stuff I Watched!

Last week Tom Cruise disposed of Ant-Man at the top of the leaderboard.  It's time now for another Marvel superhero movie to challenge Mission: Impossible, though this is actually from Fox so it's not part of the "cinematic universe" though it might combine with the X-Men cinematic universe if it does well enough.  I'm of course talking about the "controversial" "Fantasic Four" reboot.  The controversy being that Johnny Storm (Human Torch) is black and his sister Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) is white!  OMG, let's all riot like it's the fucking 50s even though, hello, we've had a mixed-race president since 2008.

Personally I think the first real "Fantastic Four" movie (not counting the 1994 one) got a bad rap because it came out at the wrong time.  It came out in about 2005 on the heels of "Spider-Man 2" and "Batman Begins" which were heavier movies whereas it was a lot lighter in tone.  If they were releasing that now on the heels of "Ant-Man" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" it would probably play better.

Instead this version is I guess supposed to be darker, which is not a pun about Human Torch's skin color.  It takes from the Ultimate version, which they put on sale before the movie so I got a chance to read it.  Did you ever realize that the Fantastic Four can represent the four main elements?  Human Torch is obviously fire and the Thing is Earth, then you have to stretch (pun intended) so that Mr. Fantastic equals water and Invisible Woman is Air, like she vanished into thin air!  I hadn't really thought of that before.  Though in the comics it's kind of lame how Ben Grimm just happens to show up when they're testing this dimensional portal dealie to get turned into Thing.  And why was Johnny Storm at a school for geniuses?  Just because his dad taught there and his sister went there?  Nepotism! I guess it's better than the old version where they flew into space to beat the commies and were changed by "cosmic rays."

Anyway, I'll probably watch it at some point.  I'm a little behind on movie watching.  I still haven't watched "Ant-Man" yet.

It'll be interesting to see the reaction to the new Fantastic Four.  No matter what, get ready for a lot of "fantastic" puns.  If it's successful then, "A Fantastic Debut!"  Or if it fails then, "Fantastic Four is Anything But!"  Just like "Ant-Man" had to have all the size-related puns because media people are hacks.

For little kids you can also go watch "Shaun the Sheep."  It's by the people who made that "Wallace and Grommet" show in the UK.  I'm sure my nieces are clamoring to watch that...not. (90s burn!)

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And here's some stuff I watched:

Cake:  Jennifer Aniston is a woman suffering from chronic pain after an incident that was all too easy to figure out.  She becomes obsessed with a woman in her support group who committed suicide.  That and obtaining pain medication.  It was good but like I said the whole tragic incident that laid her low was pretty easy to figure out. At least there are no instances where they have to change camera angles so she can get naked.  (3/5)

Cemetery Junction:  Ricky Gervais co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in this coming-of-age drama about three friends in early 70s England.  One is just starting out selling life insurance and dreams of settling down.  Another works in a factory and picks a lot of fights.  Their geeky third friend works at the train station.  They all want to get out or at least think they do.  Most of this was pretty good but not to be too spoilery it's a little too happy of an ending.  It reminded me of "Garden State" which I liked except for the ending where they kiss in the airport because that's a Hollywood ending, not a real life ending.  This suffers from the same problem.  And I probably should mention that just because Ricky Gervais is in it does not mean it's a funny movie, OK? (3/5)

Road Hard:  Comedian Adam Corrolla basically plays himself as a washed-up stand-up comic who used to be on a mencentric show with another comic who became a successful late night talk show host.  I'm not sure what the real Adam Corrolla does but his character in this goes around the country to various gigs, most of which kind of suck.  Though if he thinks flying to all these cities and staying at 3-star hotels is bad, he should have done my road trip last fall.  Anyway, he does a few things trying to get off the road and in the process meets a chick and falls in love.  It's kind of like "Up in the Air" only without the depressing twist at the end.  Still, like the previous movie it's a little too happy.  The most annoying part was the credits go on for like 10 minutes because of the Kickstarter contributors who have to be thanked.  I mean the list was as long as the phone book for a small city.  I guess we have to get used to that, huh?  (3/5)

These Final Hours:  This is kind of like a shorter, Australian version of "The Road" or "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World."  Basically Earth is in the process of being destroyed and so this Australian guy decides to go find his old girlfriend.  In the process he sees a couple of scumbags abduct a little girl and decides to save her.  Then they go on the road to find her dad, though the Australian guy is mostly just looking to ditch the girl.  It's pretty good for a low-budget type movie.  It begs that old question of what you would do if it were your last day on Earth.  (3/5)

The Homesman:  This is a Western starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hillary Swank.  Swank is the spinster who has to transport three women who have lost their minds from a plains town to Iowa so they can be taken to the loony bin.  Before she leaves, Swank finds Tommy Lee Jones with a noose around his neck after he ran afoul of some people in town.  She frees him so he can help her transport the crazy women.  Of course along the way they run into trouble like Native Americans and a hunter who wants to take one of the crazy women and a hotel owner who refuses them service.  3/4 through the movie one of the main characters dies, which is kind of depressing.  Overall if you like modern Westerns that aren't a bunch of gunfights this is a good addition.  (3/5)

Plastic Galaxy:  This is a documentary on the creation of Kenner's Star Wars action figures from 1978-1985, with a little about the new batch in 1997.  I mostly enjoyed it, especially when they talked to people from Kenner back then about how the toys were made and some of the ideas they had that never got made.  Less interesting was talking to the collectors.  I guess it's because as a child of the 80s I grew up with the toys so I don't need to hear some other person saying the same stuff I already felt.   Anyway, it was interesting how no one thought Star Wars had a chance so Hasbro, Mattel, and other big toy companies passed on buying the rights back in 1976.  Not even Kenner thought the movie would succeed the way it did so they didn't even have figures ready until 1978.  They did have an ingenious idea where for XMas in 1977 you could buy an empty box for a playset and then send in a card to get a set of figures when they were available.  That would be easier now with the Internet.  Unfortunately for Kenner Lucas stopped making movies for 20 years so after the 1985 set bombed the Star Wars line was pretty well done until the mid-90s with the first batch of He-Man looking toys.  Seriously, Luke looked Ahh-nold Schwarzeneggger; it was ridiculous!  If you played with Star Wars figures in the 70s/80s then you should totally watch this! (2.5/5)

The Zero Theorem:  I put this on one night expressly because I thought it'd be really boring and put me to sleep.  I think I had that idea because I confused Terry Gilliam with Terrence Malick.  It wasn't really boring, just weird.  In a strange "Blade Runner"-type future Christoph Waltz works at some company processing data which for some reason requires pedaling like a bike and using what looks like a big video game control pad.  He's kind of agoraphobic and wants to stay home to wait for "his call" so finally Management (ie Matt Damon looking like that Tim Gunn guy I think it is from Project Runway) assigns him to work at home on "the zero theorem" which is...you got me.  It's like supposed to prove that everything equals 0 or something.  To help him keep working Management assigns him a hooker who takes him to kind of a holodeck and so on and so forth.  I don't know what the whole point was, but I'm sure Tony Laplume would think it's brilliant. (And I guess he did on his blog back in February, though with his reviews it's hard to tell sometimes.)  (2/5)

Java Heat:  Hacky review headline:  'Java Heat' Has None!  It's a pretty boring action movie about terrorists in Indonesia who kidnap the sultan's daughter for some reason.  An ex-Marine and a local cop have to track them down, like "Rush Hour" without being funny.  A lot of it is just boring and the action is mostly cliche.  It stars Kellan Lutz from that lame Hercules movie that didn't star The Rock.  Mickey Rourke wears bad clothes and mumbles a lot as the bad guy.  I guess his comeback after "The Wrestler" is officially over now. (1/5)

Wet Hot American Summer:  I kept seeing ads for the new prequel series so I thought I'd watch the original movie.  It wasn't really that funny.  I just can't watch anything about summer camp unless it involves a serial killer slaughtering everyone.  That certainly would have improved it. (1/5)

Eraserhead:  This is a David Lynch movie so you know it's got to be weird.  Ostensibly it's about a guy who knocks up a girl who gives birth to a very weird-looking baby.  The closest example I can think of is like a miniature ET.  When the woman takes off, the guy is left alone with the "baby" and then a lot of trippy stuff ensues before he does what probably any of us would have done.  As far as David Lynch goes, it's one of those where I think critics just pretend to get it so they can feel superior to the rest of us who have no fucking clue what's going on in his movies. (2/5)

Noah:  As a non-religious person I had no interest in watching this but finally I was bored and so put it on Netflix.  I really didn't miss much.  The way it starts out with magic stones, swords, and rock giants made me think this was a Bible story if it had been written by L. Ron Hubbard.  It has been a while since I read the Bible, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything about rock giants helping Noah construct the Ark. Once the rest of civilization gets wiped away it gets awkward as Noah decides he has to kill his daughter-in-law's baby once it's born to ensure that Man dies.  But I'm sure it's not a spoiler to say he doesn't because well otherwise there'd be none of us here, right?  Though like Adam and Eve it's creepy to think we're all descendants of eons of inbreeding.  Anyway, like Darren Arronovsky's "The Fountain" you kind of have to wonder if any studio execs ever bothered watching the dailies and wondered, WTF?  How a piece of shit like this gets out the door is beyond me. (-5/5)

Bojack Horseman:  Netflix kept advertising this on Crackle so I decided to watch this show.  It's kind of weird.  It takes place in a world with anamorphic animals, you know animals who are like people but still animals.  Anyway, the titular character is a horse who starred in a 90s Full House-type show and is now a has-been.  From the premise of the show you'd think it would be a really goofy funny show, but oddly it isn't.  It's actually more of a dramedy than a comedy as Bojack struggles with his many demons as he attempts his comeback by hiring a Vietnamese human woman to ghostwrite his memoirs.  It just seems odd that someone would think up a cartoon with animal characters and then decide that this show should tackle like serious issues and stuff.  I'm just not sure how to take that.  But hell I did binge all 25 episodes (2 12-episode seasons and 1 XMas special) in three days so I can't say I hated it either. (3/5)

Impastor:  While I was watching Seinfeld reruns they kept advertising this new show on TV Land so I decided to watch it on Hulu.  It stars Michael Rosenbaum, formerly Lex Luthor on "Smallville;" it's still weird to see him with hair, but unlike Corey Stoll on "The Strain" I think his is real.  He's a small-time grifter  named Buddy who is going to jump to his death to escape some guys after him and because his girlfriend dumped him.  But this gay pastor on his way to start a new job tries to talk him out of it and in the process slips to his death.  So Buddy decides to seize the opportunity to steal the guy's identity as a Lutheran pastor in a small town.  Which of course he's not the small town pastor type, and definitely not gay, so it's kind of awkward.  It's pretty decent so far though there are only 3 episodes.  And it gives you a whole new use for cantaloupe; think "American Pie." (3/5)

The Brink:  This is on HBO and I think the first season is done so now I can watch the whole thing.  Anyway, it's kind of a modern "Dr. Strangelove" mixed with "Homeland" where a crazy general takes over Pakistan and claims US drones are spreading electromagnetic rays to de-man Pakistanis.  Jack Black is a low-level staffer at the American embassy who gets captures but ends up as a go-between with the Pakistani general's half-brother in charge of their secret service and the secretary of state played by Tim Robbins.  The third part of the show involves a couple of Navy pilots on a carrier, one who has two kids with a woman back home and has gotten a woman on the ship pregnant while also dealing uppers to people on board.  Which is all fine but the parts where they're flying around are ludicrous.  First off, the only two-seat Hornet fighter-bombers are trainers.  Second, you don't send planes like that by themselves on missions.  And there are specially-equipped reconnaissance planes so you wouldn't have an ordinary fighter doing that.  F**king Google it creators of the show!  That aside it's funny 4 episodes in and shows just how ludicrous geopolitical theater can be. (3/5)

Pro Tips From Authors Anonymous

This post is being simulcast today on the Indie Writers Monthly blog.

Recently I watched an indie mockumentary called "Authors Anonymous" that follows a writing critique group.  When it comes to writing a lot of movies still get it wrong, which is surprising because movies are written by, you know, writers who should know better than to have a character mailing their 2,000-page opus in a box to a publisher and getting a big contract.  This movie gets the writing game far righter than most.  Here are some tips on what to do and what not to do gleaned from the movie:

1.  Actually Finish Something:  Chris Klein plays Henry, the literary writer of the group who worships Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc.  (A popular writing movie trope is that everyone always worships Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and pretty much everyone else before 1950.  What about Updike or Vonnegut or the many authors since then?)  For most of the movie he's suffering from writer's block in finishing his great opus Pizza to Go.  It's only after some tumultuous events with the group that he finally gets the gumption to finish the book.  And this being a movie of course it succeeds.

2.  Don't Flog One Thing Forever:  Collette is another member of the group, who's been working on her steamy romance novel Nyet, Not Yet forever, despite that no one wants to publish it.  She finally barges into a literary agent's office with her guru, who's taken a vow of silence.  But instead of getting her book published, she becomes co-author of a book featuring the guru.  So hey she'll be a published author!  (Sort of.)

3.  How to Not Net an Agent by Creative Means:  Collette's husband is an optometrist, who considers himself the leader of the group.  When a literary agent (Mike from "Breaking Bad") comes in to get his eyes checked, the optometrist replaces the traditional eye test with a page of his wife's manuscript.  Instead of piquing the agent's interest, he just gets annoyed and leaves.

4.  How to Net an Agent by Creative Means:  By contrast Henry gets his novel in the hands of the same agent through a different method.  When he goes to clean the agent's carpets for his day job, he offers the agent 10% off if he'll read the first ten pages.  The agent agrees and likes what he sees, so he asks for more.  The difference between 3 & 4 is one is just pushing something the agent doesn't want on them while the other offers a reward.  Pro Tip:  Agents like money.  So really the optometrist should have offered free glasses if the agent would read his wife's book.

5.  Don't Revise Indefinitely:  One character worships Charles Bukowski (as do I) and wants to be a great writer like him.  The problem is he's only written 3 pages in like 3 years!  At one group session he turns in the same pages but claims it's completely different because he's changed one word.  Revision is great, but 3 years is a bit too much.  And I definitely don't think Bukowski put that much effort into it.

6.  Be Discreet When Researching:  Bukowski boy also has this habit of eavesdropping on people's conversations to write down interesting stuff.  The problem is he's completely not subtle about it.  This leads to trouble with a couple of women he's been spying on.  So if you're going to do that, be more subtle.  Or be like the NSA and just listen to phone conversations from thousands of miles away.

7.  Avoid Vanity Presses:  Dennis Farina plays an older guy who worships Tom Clancy.  He finally decides to self-publish his novel Roaring Lion with a vanity press called "U R the Publisher."   Except the books he gets back are formatted terribly.  The front cover features a tiny dog instead of a lion and the back text is in Chinese!  Of course if you do it yourself through CreateSpace or Lulu you avoid those problems.

8.  Know Your Audience:  After getting his books, Dennis Farina sets up a book signing at his girlfriend's hardware store.  This of course does not go well.  Watching it I shook my head and thought, "Why doesn't he sell them at like a VFW?"  I mean he was a Marine and he's selling a military-themed  book, so why not go to where other like-minded individuals will be located?  It's like how if I were not such a Grumpy Bulldog I'd try to have book signings for my superhero books at comic book stores and try to sell them at sci-fi conventions.  If you're going to sell books in person, try to sell them where people who might be interested in them might actually be.

9.  Keep a Recording Device Handy:  An annoying habit the optometrist has is keeping a tape recorder around for ideas of stories or characters.  The problem is that he never actually writes any of these ideas into books, which kind of goes back to my first tip.  Still, it's a good idea if you're forgetful because there's nothing worse than thinking of a story or title or something and then forgetting it later, because then it will haunt you for hours.  Or you can use a blog.  Idea for a novel:  a secret agent who's a bulldog mascot!   I'll call it Agent Double-Oh K9!

I like my wet food shaken, not stirred.

10.  Hook Up With a Famous Author:  There's one famous author who's Henry's idol, but at a book signing the author ends up hooking up with ditzy blond Hannah, who also has a book being published.  When it comes time for her book signing, the famous author has a lot of his friends show up, so it's far more successful than Dennis Farina's.  Of course it might be difficult for you to hook up with JK Rowling or Stephen King or someone like that, but keep your options open!

11.  Be Super Cute:  As mentioned in #10, Hannah is a ditzy blond in the group.  Throughout the movie she's challenged to think of a famous author and it's pretty clear the closest to a book she's probably read is TV Guide.  But she's the one who gets the big publishing deal for her novel Sleeping on the Moon.  Jealous group members suggest she got the deal because she's hot.  Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I will say not many people who look like me get mega book deals.  Now of course if you're like me it's kind of hard to actually apply this tip, but do your best.  I mean, what could it hurt?

For more tips, you can watch the movie on Netflix, Redbox, or On Demand or whatever.

Box Office Blitz Final Results!

Here we go with the final round of Box Office Blitz.  Who won and who lost?  Let's find out!

The top 3 movies this weekend were:

1. The Hobbit 2 $31.5M 
2. Anchorman 2 $26.7M
3. Frozen $19.6M

Frozen beat out American Hustle by just $500,000 which radically changes the scoring.

First off, some controversy with the Sacko matchup between:
#5 Maurice Mitchell &
#8 Briane Pagel

Neither one made any picks before the cutoff date.  So on Saturday I sent a Tweet to both and the first one to comment won 7th place.  That turns out to be Briane.  Which means Maurice wins the Sacko by default.  In this case, not the two sweetest words in the English language.

Next, the pointless matchup between me and David Walston

David picked:
1. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues $41M
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug $34M.
3. American Hustle $24M

That's 100 for Anchorman 2 and 100 for Hobbit 2 and 0 for American Hustle.  Which is 200 points

I picked:

1. The Hobbit 2 $40M
2. Anchorman 2 $35M
3. American Hustle $20M

That's 200 for Hobbit 2, 300 for Anchorman 2, and 0 for American Hustle.  Which is 500 points.

I win!  Which means I move from 6th place to 5th place...oooh.

Next the 3rd place game between #1 Rusty Webb and #7 Michael Offutt
Michael picked:
1) Anchorman at $49 million
2) Desolation of Smaug at $35 million
3) American Hustle at $25 million 

That's either 200 points

Rusty picked:
Anchorman 2 $35 mil
Hobbit 2 $25 mil
American Hustle $15 mil

Also either 200.  Neither one got any movies right.  Michael is closer on the Hobbit, so I guess he wins

Finally the championship between #3 Chris Dilloway and #4 Andrew Leon
Andrew picked:
1. Anchorman 2: $39m
2. Hobbit: DoS: $32m
3. American Hustle: $20m

Which is 200 points

Chris picked:
Hobbit: $32m
Anchorman 2: $26m
American Hustle: $18m

That's 500  points.

Chris is the champion!  So a Dilloway won, just not me.

Here are the final playoff standings then:

1. Chris Dilloway
2. Andrew Leon
3. Michael Offutt
4. Rusty Webb
5. P.T. Dilloway
6. David Walston
7. Briane Pagel
8. Maurice Mitchell

Congrats to the winners and thanks everyone for playing.  As is traditional with the NCAA tourney here's One Shining Moment, the 2010 version that briefly shows my avatar Blue II.

Box Office Blitz Season 2 Finals!

At last after about a 23-week odyssey we have reached the final week for season 2 of Box Office Blitz.  Regular season victor Rusty Webb was dethroned last week by Andrew Leon while Chris Dilloway narrowly defeated the Cinderella team in Michael Offutt.  Who will be crowned the ultimate Box Office Blitz champion?

To make things more interesting we have a couple of new movies this week celebrating 70s culture--as if anyone should want to.  I'm one of those rare guys who hated the original "Anchorman."  It felt like it went on forever even though it was only 90 minutes.  The old boy-against-girl story was so shopworn too.  The previews for this second one make it seem even worse, so obviously I won't be seeing it.  Meanwhile I'm sure I'll watch "American Hustle" on DVD at some point, though watching 70s movies is such a chore because the clothes, hair, cars, and just about everything else sucks so much.

There's also Disney propaganda and some corny movie with talking dinosaurs.

Anyway, to recap here are the matchups this week.

The championship game is:

#3 Chris Dilloway vs.
#4 Andrew Leon

The 3rd Place Game is:
#1 Rusty Webb vs.
#7 Michael Offutt

Now for the matchup that means almost nothing:
#2 David Walston vs.
#6 P.T. Dilloway

And bringing up the rear is the Sacko Bowl featuring:
#5 Maurice Mitchell vs.
#8 Briane Pagel

Here are the brackets so you can see how we got here:

Here are the movies to choose from this week:

• Anchorman 2*
• American Hustle*
• Dallas Buyer's Club
• Delivery Man
• Frozen
• Gravity
• Homefront
• Last Vegas
• Out of the Furnace
• Philomena 
• Saving Mr. Banks* (Who is Mr. Banks?)
• The Book Thief
• The Christmas Candle 
• The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Thor: The Dark World
• Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas 
• Walking With Dinosaurs*

My picks to ensure I stay in my cozy 6th place hole are:

1. The Hobbit 2 $40M
2. Anchorman 2 $35M
3. American Hustle $20M

Now you make your final picks in the comments.  On Monday night we'll learn who wins!

Box Office Blitz Playoffs Round 2 Results!

Unlike a lot of weeks, this week there was only one trifecta.  Can you guess who got it?  I'll wait...

It was ME!  Since I only won one week of Round 2 and that was week 15, I'm going to take a minute to savor this...

OK, I think that about does it.  The results this weekend were:

1. The Hobbit 2 $73.6M
2. Frozen $22.6M
3. Madea XMas $16M

We'll do my matchup first since I already ruined that.

In the battle between me and Maurice Mitchell, I picked:

1. The Hobbit 2:  The Search for More Money $80M
2. Frozen $25M
3. Tyler Perry's Wearing a Fat Suit Again $15M 

Which as I said is a trifecta for 900 points

Whereas Maurice picked:
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smuag: $76 million.
2. Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas $49 million
3. Hunger Games: Catching Fire $11 mil.

That's 200 for the Hobbit and 100 for Madea for 300 points.

So I go on to the 5th place game while it's the Sacko Bowl for Maurice.

And to complete the loser's bracket we have #2 David vs. #8 Briane

David picked:
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug $80M
2.Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas $27M
3. Frozen $19M

That's 200 for Hobbit and 100 each for Madea and Frozen for 400 total

Briane picked:
1. The Hobbit: $75 million.
2. Madea's Christmas $50 million
3. Hunger Games $10 mil.

That's 200 for the Hobbit and 100 for Madea for 300 total

So David will play me next week while Briane faces Maurice in the Sacko Bowl

As for the winner's bracket we have

#1 Rusty vs. #4 Andrew

Andrew picked:
1. Desolation of Smaug: $72m
2. That Tyler Perry Christmas thing: $28m
3. Frozen: $18m

That's 200 for Hobbit, 100 for the other 2 for 400 total

Rusty picked:
Hobbit 2: $70 mil
Madea's Christmas $30 mil
Frozen $20 mil

Also 400 total.  But Andrew's Price is Right bidding skills paid off as he's closer to the Hobbit without going over.  That means he moves on to the championship.

Who will he face?  Either #3 Chris Dilloway or #7 Michael Offutt, the Butler Bulldog of this tourney.

Chris picked:
Hobbit pt2 - $83m
madea - $22m
Frozen - $18m

For 400 points

Michael picked:
1) The Hobbit: $85 million
2) Tyler Perry's A Madea's Christmas $35 million
3) Frozen $18 million

Also 400 points.  They both went way over but Chris went less way over, so he moves on.

Here's how the final week shapes up:

The Championship Game:

#3 Chris Dilloway vs.
#4 Andrew Leon

(Loser gets 2nd place.)

Third Place Game:

#1 Rusty Webb vs.
#7 Michael Offutt

(Loser gets 4th Place.)

Fifth Place Game:
#2 David Walston vs.
#6 P.T. Dilloway

(Loser [me] gets 6th place.)

Sacko Bowl:
#5 Maurice Mitchell vs.
#8 Briane Pagel

Loser gets the Sacko and the winner gets 7th place. 

Good luck everyone!

Box Office Blitz Playoffs Round 2!

Round 1 featured one upset with Michael Offutt knocking off #2 seed David Walston.  Can Michael continue his Cinderella run all the way to the top?  Don't ask me; I'm not a bloody psychic.

The rules remain the same; only the matchups have changed.

In the winner's bracket this week we have:

#1 Rusty Carl vs.
#4 Andrew Leon
(It's just like when Kirk and Spock had to fight that duel in Star Trek)

and then

#3 Chris Dilloway vs.
#7 Michael Offutt
(This is the opposite of the other matchup)

And for the rest of us the matchups are:

#2 David Walston vs.
#8 Briane Pagel

and then

#5 Maurice Mitchell vs.
#6 P.T. Dilloway
(I'd talk some smack here but given my track record that's not a good idea.)

Ding, ding, ding, the fight's on!

Here are the movies to choose from this week:

• Dallas Buyer's Club
• Delivery Man
• Ender's Game
• Free Birds
• Frozen
• Genius on Hold*
• Go for Sisters*
• Gravity
• Homefront
• Jackass: Bad Grandpa
• Last Vegas
• Out of the Furnace
• Philomena
• The Best Man Holiday 
• The Book Thief
• The Christmas Candle 
• The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug*
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Thor: The Dark World
• Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas*

 My picks that will totally crush Maurice's (not) are:

1. The Hobbit 2:  The Search for More Money $80M
2. Frozen $25M
3. Tyler Perry's Wearing a Fat Suit Again $15M

Now make your picks in the comments!

Box Office Blitz Playoff Results Round 1

Here we go with the first round of the playoffs.  Read Friday's post if you want a recap of the rules.  The gist is they're pretty much the same.

The top 3 movies of last weekend were:

1. Frozen $31.6M
2. Hunger Games 2 $26.1M
3. Out of the Furnace $5.2M

The first matchup between #1 Rusty and #8 Briane was essentially a bye week for Rusty because Briane has been sidelined with health issues recently.  (If you could, send some good vibes Briane's way.)

Rusty picked:
Frozen $35 mil
Catching Fire $32 mil
Out of the Furnace - $8 mil

That's a trifecta for 900 points, which is more than enough to advance him to the next round.

Now we get to some real matchups.
#2 David Walston vs. #7 Michael Offutt

David picked:
1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $34M
2.Frozen $32M
3. Out of the Furnace $7M

That's 100 points for Hunger Games and Frozen and 400 for Out of the Furnace for 600 total

Michael Offutt picked:
1) Frozen $34 million
2) The Hunger Games Catching Fire $30 million
3) Out of the Furnace $10 million.

That's a trifecta for 900 points.  Which means Michael gets the upset win!

Next up we have the Dilloway Bowl between #3 Chris Dilloway and #6 P.T. Dilloway
Chris picked:
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $46m
Frozen $32m
Out of the Furnace $7 mil

That's 600 points

I picked:

1.  Hunger Games 2 $35M
2.  Frozen $30M
3.  Thor 2 $6M

 That's a mere 200 for me.  So Big Brother moves on to the next round.

And finally we have #4 Andrew Leon vs. #5 Maurice Mitchell

Andrew picked:

1. Frozen -- $32m
2. Catching Fire -- $30m
3. Out of the Furnace -- $6m

That's a trifecta for 900 points

Maurice picked:
1. Frozen $35 mil
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $32 mil
3. Out of the Furnace $7 mil

Also a trifecta for 900 points!

But Andrew picked Frozen closer than Maurice so by a whisker he moves on to the next round.

Because I'm lazy and don't feel like rearranging the brackets all the time we'll do this NCAA basketball style.  That means next week for Round 2's winner's tourney we have:

As for us losers it'll be:

Get ready for Round 2 beginning on Friday!

Box Office Blitz Playoffs: Round 1

The regular season of season 2 has finished, with Rusty coming out on top.  But now we begin the playoffs to determine who will be the last one standing for the title of Box Office Blitz Season 2 Champion!

The scoring process will work the same as it did in the regular season, like this:
100 points per movie you guess right
100 points if you guess the top grossing movie right
200 points if you guess the 2nd top grossing movie right
300 points if you guess the 3rd top grossing movie right

In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by who is closest (higher or lower) to the top movie's gross.  If that is a tie, then we move to the #2 movie and if that's a tie we move to the #3 movie.  In the unlikely event someone is still tied I'll have to come up with some kind of overtime.

There will not be a 300 point bonus for the winner because there's really no point to it.

Instead of everyone competing against everyone, for the first round of the playoffs all eight players pair off based on their position at the end of the regular season.  Here are the matchups for Round 1:

Whoever gets the most points in each matchup advances to Round 2 while the loser will play for nothing but pride next week in the loser's bracket.  The points earned are not cumulative, so next week everyone goes back to 0.

With all of that now as clear as mud, here's the list of movies out in the theaters this week:

• 12 Years a Slave
• Black Nativity
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Dallas Buyer's Club
• Delivery Man
• Ender's Game
• Free Birds
• Frozen
• Gravity
• Homefront
• Jackass: Bad Grandpa
• Last Vegas
• Out of the Furnace*
• Philomena
• The Best Man Holiday 
• The Book Thief
• The Christmas Candle
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Thor: The Dark World

For my matchup I will pick:

1.  Hunger Games 2 $35M
2.  Frozen $30M
3.  Thor 2 $6M

And now you make your picks in the comments.  I'll wait until Monday night to tally the scores so I can use the Actuals.  That way we don't have any reversals later on.

Good luck--for everyone except Chris.

Black Friday

If you're looking for this week's Box Office Blitz, it posted on Tuesday.  Make your picks now if you haven't already!

And enjoy your shopping today.  Here's my thought on the subject:

Grumpy Trip > Grumpy Cat

Box Office Blitz Week 20

It's the penultimate week of the regular season.  Rusty sits firmly in control of first place, but most other positions are still pretty fluid.  The good thing for everyone is this is another week where you're guaranteed 200 points unless you're a complete idiot.  The #1 movie will obviously be that one about a fascist government that has almost unlimited power and yet is completely unable to kill a 16-year-old girl.  You'd think such a totalitarian government would have access to the world's best assassins, who could easily kill a girl whose only skills are shooting arrows and pining over Abercrombie and Fitch models.  But then I suppose they commit the classic comic book/Bond movie villain mistake of instead of simply killing the hero they try to kill her in some elaborate scheme.  Instead of sharks with lasers they decide on a Super Hunger Games and other such nonsense.  At least in Star Wars you could say the Empire had a hard time finding Luke Skywalker; these bozos know where Katniss lives (they even give her a house!) and still can't figure out how to kill her.  Anyway, this is why I never read books #2 and #3, because they sounded dumb.

Oh yeah and there's some dumb Vince Vaughn "comedy" playing.  Though I think a movie about Vince Vaughn fathering 500 kids should be labeled as horror.  I mean is there anyone you would less want to be the father of 500 kids?  Adam Sandler maybe.  Justin Bieber.  That guy in charge of North Korea. Feel free to weigh in on that.

Anyway, here's the list of movies from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release)

• 12 Years a Slave
• About Time
• All is Lost
• Blue is the Warmest Color* (It sounds like French lesbian porn, but it's French so it's "art")
• Captain Phillips
• Carrie
• Charlie Countryman
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Dallas Buyer's Club*
• Delivery Man*
• Ender's Game
• Free Birds
• Gravity
• Jackass: Bad Grandpa
• Last Vegas
• Rush
• The Best Man Holiday
• The Counselor
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire*
• Thor: The Dark World

 And I'll pick

1. Hunger Games 2 $100M
2. Thor 2 $18M
3. Best Man Holiday $15M

You make your picks in the comments.  And a bonus 100 points to anyone who knows the significance of today's date other than the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination.

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!

Box Office Blitz Week 19 Results!

You know if I'd predicted that "Thor 2" would nearly get beaten by "Best Man Holiday" at the box office you'd probably have thought I was certifiable.  But that's what almost happened this weekend!  Granted Thor 2 still won with almost $40M but makes me think Marvel might get just a teensy worried that it dropped like 55% without much serious competition.  Yup, this is the beginning of the end for Marvel's superhero movie dominance.  (Probably not.)

The surprising totals were:
Thor 2: $38.5
Best Man Holiday $30.6
Last Vegas $8.9

Here were my picks:

1. Thor 2 $50M
2. Bad Grandpa $10M
3. Best Man Holiday $8M

Predictably I finally picked Bad Grandpa and now it's a no show.  Jackass indeed.  Anyway that's 200 for Thor 2 and 100 for Best Man for 300 total.

David Walston picked:
1. Thor: The Dark World $40M
2.The Best Man Holiday $14M
3. Last Vegas $8M

That's a trifecta!  900 points

Michael Offutt picked:
1) Thor $40 M
2) Last Vegas $20 million
3) Bad Grandpa $10 million

That's 200 for Thor and 100 for Last Vegas for 300 total

Andrew Leon picked:
1. Thor 2: $42m
2. Best Man Holiday: $18m
3. Free Birds: $8m

That's 200 for Thor and 300 for Best Man for 500 total

Rusty picked:
Thor 2 - $35 mil
Best Man Holiday - $22 mil
Last Vegas $10 mil

That's also a trifecta for 900 points.

Briane Pagel picked:
1. Thor 2: Asgard Boogaloo: $55 mil.
2. Free Birds: $10 mil.
3. Charlie Countryman: $9 mil.

That's 200 for Thor 2

Chris Dilloway picked:
Thor 2 - $37m
Best Man - $33m
Free Birds - $10m

That's also 500 points.

David is closer than Rusty on Thor 2 so he gets the 300 bonus points...for now.  If the actuals tip it Rusty's way I'll let you know on Tuesday.

Here are the updated totals:

	Box Office Blitz
	Scoreboard
	Season 2
		19	Total
1	Rusty Carl	900	12900
2	David Walton	1200	11600
3	Chris Dilloway	500	10700
4	Andrew Leon	500	9400
5	Maurice Mitchell	0	9100
6	PT Dilloway	300	9000
7	Michael Offutt	300	6400
8	Briane Pagel	200	5900
9	PK Hrezo	0	600
		3900	75600

Andrew Leon moves into 4th place and just 100 points separate me and Maurice from 5th place.  The magic number for Rusty is 1101 points to clinch first place.  Of course that's only if David got 1200 points each of the next two weeks.

Box Office Blitz Week 19

It came as a surprise to no one that Thor 2 hammered the competition last weekend.  And I would fully expect that to continue up until the 22nd when the mighty Thor is slain by an ordinary girl with a bow and arrow.  I'm sure Loki will enjoy that.

And so without further ado here we go into the 3rd to last week of Box Office Blitz.  Basically as I said with the results on Tuesday, Rusty has all but locked it up.  He'd basically have to not play the next 3 weeks (or get 0 points) while David or Chris got a trifecta all three weeks.  It's possible, but not bloody likely.  Still David and Chris are battling for the 2nd and 3rd place prizes.  Meanwhile, Maurice, Andrew, and I are jockeying for playoff position, not that seeding will probably matter a whole lot; there is no home field/court/ice advantage in Box Office Blitz.  And of course Michael and Briane are fighting to avoid the dreaded Sacko for last place.

Anyway, here's the list of movies from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release)

• 12 Years a Slave
• About Time
• All is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Carrie
• Charlie Countryman*
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Diana
• Ender's Game
• Escape Plan
• Free Birds
• Great Expectations
• Gravity
• Jackass: Bad Grandpa
• Last Vegas
• Prisoners
• Pulling Strings
• Rush
• The Best Man Holiday*
• The Counselor
• The Invertible Defeat of Mister & Pete
• Thor: The Dark World

 And I'll pick

1. Thor 2 $50M
2. Bad Grandpa $10M
3. Best Man Holiday $8M

Best Man Holiday would probably do a lot better if it were called "Tyler Perry's Best Man Holiday" although that would make it sound like Tyler Perry were on a best man holiday, whatever that is.  I can't keep up with all that hip new slang, dadgumit.

Missing You Blogfest & Box Office Blitz Week 18

Today is Andrew Leon's Missing You Blogfest where you're supposed to talk about a blogger or two who you've been missing.  So here's a roll call of blogs that haven't been updated in a while:

A Simple Writing Machine - on hiatus now for over a year!  I reckon he ain't coming back.
Blogging Chasness - idle for over 3 months now.  I follow him on Facebook because he has some neat photos.

Lisa M Potts - Almost 2 years and counting.  I knew her from a writing message board.  She was one of two occasional readers of my Wordpress blog its first year.  I still see her around Goodreads sometimes.
The Interrupted Writer - Almost 7 months now.  Also knew him from a writing message board.  His book A Heart Lies Within Us was good.

It's always sad how people can disappear from your online life so much easier than your offline one.  It's like when a morning news show or radio show changes people and you never hear anything about it, just one day you turn it on and there's different people there and you think, What the Hell?  By the same token a blog might update steadily for a while and then POOF it just stops for one reason or another.

If you got one go pour a 40 on the curb for those blogs that have fallen.

And now it's time for Box Office Blitz!  You're pretty much guaranteed 200 points this week unless you're a complete idiot and don't know what #1 will be this week.  Here's a hint:  it's a movie about a Norse god with a hammer.  I know that doesn't really narrow it down, does it?  You'll just have to strain your brain to figure it out.  I'm sure my sisters will be first in line to see it.  I'm not much of a Thor fan myself.  He's probably my third-favorite Avenger behind Captain America and Iron Man but just ahead of the Hulk who especially in the movies is pretty much a one-note character, which is probably why his movie franchise failed twice.  A Norse god fighting evil in the 21st Century seems a little goofy to me.  Given all the weird shit I do in the Scarlet Knight series that's probably saying something.

Anyway, here's the list of movies from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release)

12 Years a Slave*
About Time*
All is Lost*
Captain Phillips
Carrie
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Diana*
Ender's Game
Escape Plan
Free Birds
Great Expectations*
Gravity
Jackass: Bad Grandpa
Last Vegas
Prisoners
Pulling Strings*
Rush
The Counselor
The Invertible Defeat of Mister & Pete*
Thor: The Dark World*

 And I'll pick

1. Thor 2 (duh) $85M
2. Ender's Game $12M
3. Bad Grandpa $10M

I'd look for movies like "12 Years a Slave" to pick up as awards season kicks in but obviously it's going to get crushed by Thor, which is already #1 in the rest of the world.  I honestly can't tell you much about the rest of those new movies except Mister & Pete, which I saw a preview for.  Again it's another that might get more traffic if it gets some award nominations.  BTW, an odd fact is the theater I use to get my lists from still shows pretty much a full slate of "Despicable Me 2" despite that it was released back in July!  That is staying power.

And now you can make your picks in the comments!

Box Office Blitz Week 17

First off, today being November 1, it's the start of stupid Nano and also the start of the 2nd Annual Flash Fiction Fest.  None of my stories post until November 25, but there will be some other good flash fiction stories to occupy you for a few minutes when you should probably be working or something.  In theory you should be able to buy the whole collection, if not today then in the near future.

The Scarlet Knight, protecting my bedroom window from evildoers

In other news, the Scarlet Knight action figures are finally completed!  I've had the swords since August but was lazy in getting around to painting them.  Well the one at the far right I didn't bother to paint because it was already silver.  The gold one ideally should be yellow to match her cape and boots and stuff but I didn't have any yellow paint left so I dunked the blade into a bottle of gold paint.  Likewise I dunked the little figure's overly big sword into a bottle of silver paint, which created kind of a mess necessitating repainting parts of the red armor.

But for better or worse all three figures now have a Sword of Justice they can use to fight the villains of my superhero collection, which at this point is limited to Bane and Sinestro.  She could easily defeat Bane since the sword would cut him up like a Thanksgiving turkey, but Sinestro can fly into space and such, so she might have a tough time bringing him down.  Of the three figures I like the original yellow one the best, except I wish I hadn't cut the cape off of her, not realizing I could have just popped her head off to get to the cape.  She does have the best sword though.


Meanwhile, I'm even worse at fantasy football than I am at this game.  My team is 3-5 at the halfway point.  Last week the Grumpy Bulldogs suffered their most humiliating defeat yet.  My opponent apparently hasn't been paying attention and thus had 4 of 9 positions on bye weeks.  So I think it's going to be a cakewalk.  It was--for him!  His 5 positions trounced my 9 positions quite handily.  Even though he only had 5/9 of his lineup, the ones who played averaged a whopping 19 points while my puny lineup averaged about 9 points.  Reuben Randle of the Giants may as well have been on a bye week as he caught 0 passes for 0 yards.  How is that even possible?  Briane Pagel definitely got the better of me when I offered him Maurice Jones-Drew and Joique Bell for Atlanta running back Jacquizz Rodgers.  Jones-Drew had been sucking all year but of course that week he got 11 points and Bell got like 12 points while Rodgers got a pathetic 1.9.  Basically I am the Matt Millen of fantasy football personnel management.  I don't blame myself entirely, though.  It's the players who let me down by not playing consistently.  I mean let's face it one week even a star player like Aaron Rodgers might get 25 points and the next week he'll completely suck and net only 12; how am I supposed to know when he's going to turn it on?  Or then you get those guys like Jones-Drew who'll be practically comatose for 7 weeks and then have a monster week--of course after I cut or trade or bench them.  And you'll get a guy like Joseph Fauria on the Lions who'll get 3 TDs in one game and catch maybe 1 pass the rest of the year.  Gawd it's annoying.  A character on FXX's "The League" had a great rant about this situation in this week's episode.

By comparison Box Office Blitz is a bit easier.  I mean movies aren't usually as inconsistent as football players.  Especially now that we're getting into the second blockbuster period of the year with "Ender's Game," "Thor 2," "The Hunger Games 2," and "The Hobbit 2" plus whatever other crap is coming out around Christmas.

So when you complain how much this sucks, just remember that it could be worse.

Now then, it's time for the list of the week's offerings at my local megaplex.  (* Means it's a new release)

• Bad Grandpa
• Baggage Claim
• Captain Phillips
• Carrie
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Ender's Game*
• Escape Plan
• Free Birds*
• Gravity
• Last Vegas*
• Lee Daniels's The Butler
• Prisoners
• Runner, Runner
• Rush
• The Counselor
• The Family

I will pick:

1. Ender's Game $60M
2. Free Birds $30M
3. Gravity $18M

 And now you make your picks in the comments.  Good luck!

Box Office Blitz Week 16 Results

Because I can't start writing until November 1 for stupid Nano, I was bored this Saturday.  So I decided to go watch a movie.  What's annoying is it's almost Halloween and yet the only horror movie playing for the most part is the Carrie remake.  I already saw the original so I don't see any reason to go watch that.  Hollywood really dropped the ball here by scheduling all their horror movies for July-September.

Instead I saw Runner Runner.  It was OK but definitely not worth $10.25.  It would've been better with a stronger actor than Justin Timberlake in the lead role.  I don't even know anymore; who is a 30-ish actor they could have used instead?  It was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, who probably would have fit the role about 5 years ago.  Of course I couldn't help watching Affleck and trying to picture a Batsuit on him.  Except he's evil in this one.  Anyway, it was kind of "Wall Street" only set in Costa Rica and with online gaming instead of stocks...so it's not much like "Wall Street."  Really online gaming seems like the dumbest thing ever.  How can anyone think they're really going to win money from some foreign website?  Probably the same people who think a Nigerian prince will pay them millions.

Anyway, the same morons who watched old comedians fall down in "Grown Ups 2" instead of watching monsters fight robots in "Pacific Rim" went to watch "Bad Grandpa."  Seriously, you paid $10 or more for what's essentially an episode of "Candid Camera?"  Yeesh.  Inexplicably the budget was $15M.  Is latex makeup that expensive?

The results were:
Bad Grandpa $32M
Gravity $20.3M
Capt Phillips $11.8M

I foolishly picked:

1. Gravity $25M
2. The Counselor $20M
3. Captain Phillips $10M

I get 100 for Gravity and 400 for Cpt Phillips for 500 total.

David Walston picked:
1. Bad Grandpa $30M
2. Gravity $21M
3. Captain Phillips $11M

That's a trifecta for 900 points.

Maurice Mitchell picked:
1. Gravity $24M
2. The Counselor $21M
3. Captain Phillips $11M

That's also 100 for Gravity and 400 for Cpt Phillips for 500 total.

Chris Dilloway picked:
GRANDPA $29
GRAVITY $20
COUNSELOR $12

That's 200 for Bad Grandpa and 300 for Gravity for 500 total

Briane Pagel picked:
1. Captain Phillip: $20 mil
2. Gravity: $19 mil
3. The Counselor $18 mil.

That's 100 for Cpt Phillips and 300 for Gravity for 400 total.

Andrew Leon picked:
1. Bad Grandpa -- $31m
2. Gravity -- $24m
3. The Counselor -- $15m

That's 200 for Grandpa and 300 for Gravity for 500 total.

Rusty Webb picked:
Grandpa $30 mil
Gravity $25 mil
Cap'n Phillips $10 mil

That's also a trifecta.

Rusty and David tied on Grandpa but David is closer on Gravity so he wins the round for 300 bonus points.

No changes in the standings this week:

	Box Office Blitz
	Scoreboard
		16	Total
1	Rusty Carl	900	10900
2	David Walton	1200	10000
3	Chris Dilloway	500	9100
4	Maurice Mitchell	500	8800
5	Andrew Leon	500	8400
6	PT Dilloway	500	8200
7	Briane Pagel	400	5400
8	Michael Offutt	0	4900
9	PK Hrezo	0	600
		4500	66300

Box Office Blitz Week 16

Next week begins the last month of the regular season of Box Office Blitz.  Thanks to people forgetting to play (or going to Disney in Rusty's case) the standings have tightened up a little bit.  Which means everyone needs to step up with their A game.  And you know, actually play the game.  That sort of helps.

Last week I saw "Gravity" finally and really enjoyed it.  It was just the second movie I've watched in 3D.  Fake IMAX 3D even because it seemed like the kind of movie where that would be worthwhile.  And it was because you get all that debris flying at you and stuff.  I'm sure the visuals are even better when you aren't wearing the glasses over glasses.  Despite some inaccuracies--like having a space shuttle, what is this, 2011?--I thought it was a really good story of a woman's struggle for survival.  More than that it was about Sandra Bullock's character finding her courage to live whereas even before the space mission she had apparently been just been going through the motions of living.  I'd give it a 4/5 and I wouldn't be surprised if Bullock gets nominated for an Oscar.  But she won't win because there was a preview for a Meryl Streep movie and she by default gets handed the Oscar for anything she does.  Anyway, if you haven't seen "Gravity" yet I'd recommend seeing it in the theater so you can get that whole 3D experience.  Unless you have one of them fancy 3D TVs.

Now then, it's time for the list of Week 15's offerings at my local megaplex.  (* Means it's a new release)

• Bad Grandpa* (if you pay $10 to watch this in a theater you need kicked in the crotch)
• Baggage Claim
• Captain Phillips
• Carrie
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Escape Plan
• Gravity
• I'm in Love With a Church Girl
• Lee Daniels's The Butler
• Machete Kills
• Prisoners
• Runner, Runner
• Rush
• The Counselor*
• The Family
• The Fifth Estate

I will pick:

1. Gravity $25M
2. The Counselor $20M
3. Captain Phillips $10M

 And now you make your picks in the comments.  Good luck!

Box Office Blitz Week 15

[Announcement:  You can download a FREE ARC of my Scarlet Knight prequel novel Sisterhood from Smashwords--limited time only!  The limited time being how long it takes me to get around to editing it.  First I have to do the second Girl Power story. It's called an ARC because I haven't really edited it yet so there are probably typos and stuff.  Anyway, it's Halloween and if you like witches, especially a witch who's armed with a crossbow to kill demons, then go download it!]

Last week I introduced the playoff system.  No one really commented on it.  I hadn't decided what prizes to give away for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place yet.  Then I was thinking that since this involves movies, why not award movies?  Only buying one movie for someone would be kind of lame, so why not 10 movies?

To rent, of course.  So the first place winner would get 10 free Redbox DVD rentals.  And second place gets 5 free Redbox rentals.  And third place gets a $5 Amazon gift card because Redbox doesn't have anything lower than 5 rentals.  I assume since there are Redbox machines all over that whoever wins will be able to find one near them.

And now it's time for Box Office Blitz Week 15!

Here's the list from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release):

• ACOD*
• Baggage Claim
• Captain Phillips
• Carrie* 
• Chinese Zodiac*
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Don Jon
• Elysium 
• Escape Plan*
• I'm in Love With a Church Girl*
• Gravity
• Insidious 2 
• Instructions Not Included 
• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• Machete Kills
• Prisoners
• Riddick
• Romeo & Juliet
• Runner, Runner
• Rush
• The Family 
• The Fifth Estate*

And my picks will be: 

1. Gravity $30M
2. Carrie $25M
3. Captain Phillips $15M 

Now make your picks in the comments!

Box Office Blitz Week 14!

OK, guys, I got to thinking of a way of spicing up the end of this season:  Playoffs!

Because really fantasy football has playoffs in the last 3 weeks of the regular football season, so why shouldn't Box Office Blitz have playoffs?  I went and designed a bracket for what the tournament would look like using the current rankings to determine the seeding, though obviously that might change:

Take note that in the last week while Rusty and David would be playing for the championship, Maurice and Chris would be playing to determine who gets 3rd place, like the bronze medal game in the Olympics.  The loser between Rusty and David would be awarded second place while obviously the winner gets first place.

But that's only half of the tournament!  After the first round of 8 it would split into 2 tournaments.  There would be the winner's tournament and the Sacko tournament to determine who is the worst of the worst.  The Sacko tournament would look like this:

(The last week would also feature a largely pointless matchup between me and Andrew to determine 5th and 6th place.)

The diagrams are just assuming there are no upsets.  In theory you could have Rusty in first place get upset in the first week and end up winning the Sacko and Michael in 8th place winning the whole thing.  That doesn't seem fair, does it?  Which is why I figure what I'd do is award the promised prizes at the end of the regular season and then there can be special prizes for the playoff winners.  I would prefer prizes that are not as valuable because I am not made of money, goddammit.

Besides what the prizes should be I'm not sure about the seeding, whether I should do like the NHL and reseed it each week so that the highest seed is always facing the lowest seed or do it NCAA basketball style where the brackets are fixed.  Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Looking at the calendar I think I'd start this December 6th and end it the weekend starting December 20th so that way we don't run into the holidays.  Which means the regular season would wrap up November 29th, Thanksgiving weekend.  (If I think of it I'll try to post the last week that Tuesday so everyone can get their picks in before the holiday.)  Meaning there are but 8 weeks left in the regular season!  Better step up your game.

And now it's time for Box Office Blitz Week 14!

Here's the list from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release):

• Baggage Claim
• Blue Jasmine
• Captain Phillips*
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Don Jon
• Elysium 
• Gravity
• Insidious 2 
• Instructions Not Included 
• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• Machete Kills*
• Metallica Through the Never
• One Direction: This is Us
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
• Prisoners
• Riddick
• Romeo & Juliet* (Is this new or just a reissue?)
• Runner, Runner
• Rush
• The Family
• We're the Millers

And my picks will be: 

1. Gravity $30M
2. Captain Phillips $15M 
3. Cloudy Meatballs 2 $13M

Now make your picks in the comments!  And here's a terrible joke for you:  if Wilson the volleyball from the Tom Hanks movie Castaway married Tom Hanks's character in Captain Phillips, his married name would be Wilson Phillips!

Box Office blitz Week 13

We've reached what's more or less the halfway point of Season 2.  Some people seem a little cloudy on the rules of the game, so here's the whole spiel again taken from the week 1 post.

The object of the game is to pick the top 3 highest-grossing movies at the box office over a given weekend.  (For holiday weekends the weekend still only includes Friday-Sunday.)  The best way to win is to get the movies in the right order as extra points will be given for those.  I've decided to try a graduated scoring system that works in a top-down fashion, or sort of like a pyramid.
 
For each movie you guess correctly in the top 3 you get 100 points.  The graduated system affects the bonus you get for putting them in the right order.  It breaks down as follows:
 
If you guess the #1 movie correctly you get 100 bonus points. If you guess the #2 movie correctly you get 200 bonus points. If you guess the #3 movie correctly you get 300 bonus points.
 
The reason to do it this way is most weeks you can guess the #1 movie pretty easily.  (This is not one of those weeks.)  From what I've observed, it's much more difficult to pick the #3 movie as there are more options for that. 
 
Even if you don't guess the #1 or #2 movies correctly you'd still get the bonus if you pick the correct #3 movie.
 
If there's a tie, the winner is determined by closest to actual (over or under) dollar value of the #1 movie.  In the unlikely event there's still a tie then we move to the #2 movie and so on.  And if in some weird twist there's still a tie then I guess I'd flip a coin or something.  The important thing is to remember to put dollar values for your picks because no dollar value means you're guessing $0 and will certainly be outbid.
 
The winner of the round gets a 300 point bonus.  This is dialed back a little in the hopes of keeping things a little closer and thus to maintain people's interest.
 
Picks should be made by 6am EST on Saturday.  Any picks after that will not be accepted.  The results will be tallied on Sunday afternoon.
 
The winner of Season 2 gets $25 as a gift card or cash through Paypal or whatever.  Second place receives $15 and third place receives $10.  Participants after that receive a free ebook from my imprint Planet 99 Publishing.  If you don't have an ereader then you just get a hearty thanks for playing. 


And now here's the list from my local megaplex (* denotes a new release):

• 2 Guns  
• Baggage Claim
• Battle of the Year
• Blue Jasmine
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Don Jon
• Elysium 
• Gravity*
• Insidious 2 
• Instructions Not Included 
• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• Metallica Through the Never*
• One Direction: This is Us
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
• Prisoners
• Riddick
• Runner, Runner*
• Rush
• The Family
• We're the Millers

And my picks will be: 

1. Gravity $30M
2. Cloudy Meatballs 2 $25M
3. Runner, Runner $10M 

Now make your picks in the comments!