Kinematoscope

Shocking box office news this weekend, as it appears that effective marketing, good reviews, and positive word-of-mouth can lead to success as District 9 wins with an estimated $37 Million. I'm glad to see it do well (and hopefully I'll see it soon myself), though I'm kind of sick of reviews that all essentially make the point "Somehow a so-called 'science-fiction' film has actually delivered a powerful message about human behavior! Who'da thunk it?" There are no genres, people. Just good and bad. Get that through your heads.

The Time Traveler's Wife, which somehow cost $9 mil more than District 9 to make, opened third with $19 mil, behind a rapidly plummeting G. I. Joe at number 2. Elsewhere The Goods open meagerly, and Ponyo averaged a decent amount on fewer than 1,000 screens, though something tells me it won't approach its $183 overseas gross here in the states. And we finally, as a planet, have spent more on tickets for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince than on Transformers 2: Shia Labeouf Is Even Twitchier, thankfully.

That's really all I got this morning. Countdown entries coming up this week are Good Will Hunting and Bonnie and Clyde, plus the third Harry Potter movie on Friday!

If you're bored in the meantime, all four seasons of "ALF" are now available on hulu.com. You're welcome.