Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1990

Year: 1990
Film: Home Alone
Box Office Gross: $285,761,243
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars for best Score and Original Song, "Somewhere in My Memory" (which I don't actually remember)
Actors:Macaulay Culkin, John Heard, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern

First, I was amazed when I made the list of the top grossing movies in the US for the past 20 years that there was a holiday movie on the list, so I saved it. I'm also nearly finished with this series, so I'll do a wrap-up before the end of the year. Since it's been 18 years, I'm not sure there are many people who don't know the plot of Home Alone, but I know some of my fellow movie bloggers are actually under 18 years old or thereabouts, so I will stop being ageist and give a bit of a summary. Basically, Kevin McCallister (Culkin), 8 years old, is being a brat when lots of his family descends on his house at Christmas en route to a vacation in Paris. Inadvertently, Kevin is left behind when the family leaves. However, Kevin's street has been targeted by two theives who plan to break into all the houses while the families are away for Christmas. Kevin overhears their plans and decides to defend his home. Much of the hilarity ensues as Kevin sets up all kinds of booby traps around his house (ice steps, hot doorknobs, a bb gun, a blow torch, ornaments on the floor, glue, spiders, everything). The story I find funnier 18 years later is Catherine O'Hara's determined attempt to get home to her son as fast as possible rather than waiting the two days until a direct flight is actually available. She pairs up with the late John Candy and his polka band to drive across the Midwest. I just like her line when arguing with the airline lady and insisting her quest must be possible. "No, no, no, no. It's Christmas, the season of perpetual hope." Here's hoping you're still hopeful for Christmas.

Twofer Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1995 and 1992

Year: 1995
Film: Toy Story
Box Office Gross: $191,773,049
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars (before Best Animated Feature was a category) including winning an award for Special Achievement for a feature length computer animated film
Actors:Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger

This movie holds up even though computer animation has made leaps and bounds since this movie was completed. It was an innovative concept as a script even before we were awed by the new techniques behind animation which most people only notice when they're bad, not that they're amazingly new. I just read that Joss Whedon helped write the screenplay, which was nominated for an Oscar which, with Finding Nemo, are the only animated films nominated for best original screenplay. The characters they created were iconic toys, but given voices that seemed totally appropriate (wouldn't you assume that Mr. Potato Head spoke like Don Rickles?) and then sent on an adventure to return to the little boy who loves them. It's a great story, and deserves the accolades heaped upon it. This description of Buzz Lightyear sums it up for me.



Year: 1992
Film: Aladdin
Box Office Gross: $217,350,219
Awards: Nominated for 5 Oscars (before Best Animated Feature was a category) including winning 2 awards for Original Score and Best Original Song for "A Whole New World"
Actors: Scott Weingner, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, and Gilbert Gottfried

Aladdin was the first movie I saw in the theater more than once. I think I actually saw it 5 times in the theater (back when movies cost $2 for kids) I liked it so much. Robin Williams' comedy as the genie was terrific and started the trend of big stars voicing characters in animated movies. I'm not sure this movie holds up as well for grown-ups because I've only seen it once since I was a kid, and most of the other animated movies I love I still watch. I'm still surprised this movie was the highest grossing for 1992, even over Batman Returns (the one with Penguin and Catwoman), Home Alone 2, and Lethal Weapon 3. Okay, maybe I'm not surprised.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2002

Year: 2002
Film: Spider-Man
Box Office Gross: $403,706,375
Awards: Nominated for visual effects and sound
Actors:Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Willem Defoe, J. K. Simmons,

The first Spider-Man tells the story originated in the comics, with Peter Parker (Maguire) becoming Spider-Man and fighting the Green Goblin (Defoe). Everyone knows the story so I won't fully elaborate here. Instead, I'll whine about what I don't like about the entire Spider-man series. Mostly the acting is fine, the special effects are good, though often overwhelming the story. The first film has a cohesive story, they have background on most of the characters (Green Goblin used to be Norman Osborn who made weapons, Parker is trying to figure out what it means to be Spider-Man "With great power, comes great responsibility", etc.). The story was well established and well written. The successive films lost a lot of that, and thus the acting suffered. Without a great story, even terrific actors like Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) can't make the movie better. I like movies based on comic books but this series never really grabbed me.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Review: 2004

Year: 2004
Film: Shrek 2
Box Office Gross: $436,471,036
Awards: Oscar nomination for Animated Feature and Best Original Song "Accidentally in Love"
Actors:Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese

This is was the highest grossing sequel until The Dark Knight came along breaking all kinds of records. It expands the story of the original Shrek, our green, ornery ogre who has fallen in love and married the Princess Fiona who is also an ogre. Now they have to return to the Kingdom of Far, Far, Away to see her parents. They're of course shocked that their daughter is an ogre and married to Shrek. The King (John Cleese) hires Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to get rid of Shrek and of course they become friends. However, the real Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) still wants to be Fiona's husband and works with the Fairy Godmother (the brilliant Jennifer Saunders from AbFab) to get rid of Shrek. Lots of hilarity ensues, I think Puss is terrific, the swashbuckling kitty who uses his cuteness to win fights when he knows he's losing. Ultimately, this movie didn't really do much more than the first one. The first was incredibly original, riffing on traditional fairy tale characters and ideas. This one does take that a little further with the new characters, but not a lot further. A good sequel, but not a fantastic stand alone movie.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1996

Year: 1996
Film: Independence Day
Box Office Gross: $306,124,059
Awards: 1 Oscar for visual effects
Actors: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsh, Harry Connick, Jr., Jeff Bridges, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner

This is one of my favorite blockbusters, and definitely my favorite Will Smith movie. He was still new as a leading actor, moving away from his TV fame, and still rising as a rap/R&B star (It was a little before Jiggy became a household word, and before it stopped being one). The movie starts with all the communication systems going crazy, our heroic President (Pullman) trying to figure things out, but still doesn't make sense. Jeff Goldblum figures out what's going on, and tries to get to the White House with his father (Judd Hirsh) because his ex-wife works for the President. With the help of Captain Steven Hiller (Smith), they try to attack the large circular UFOs, fail miserably, and have to find another method to get them away. Smith figures out how to fight one of the individual UFOs (smaller little units part of the big ones), and captures it. This reveals that this has happened before (yet another hypothesis of what happened at Area 51) and now that they've returned, the machines are working again and maybe they can fly the old ship into the mother ship and detroy everything. Writing this, it seems even more preposterous than actually watching it. It all makes a little bit of sense in context (with the realm of sci-fi anyway). There's a lot of humor throughout, even while you're unsure who will survive. Lots of people don't, but of course our hero prevails. I still like it, and even with the 12 years since, the technology they use hasn't made it particularly dated yet, though it might someday. Oh yeah, and the whole thing occurs from July 2-4, hence Independence Day! Below, this is one of my favorite scenes - listening to Will Smith yell at the alien.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2000

Year: 2000
Film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Box Office Gross: $260,031,035
Awards: 1 Oscar for makeup, nominated for 2 others
Actors: Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, Directed by Ron Howard

I was really surprised that this movie took in the most money for 2000. It was up against quite a few movies that entered our culture and were of much higher quality even for being blockbusters than The Grinch. The next 6 highest grossing films in 2000 included: Castaway, M:I 2, Gladiator, What Women Want, The Perfect Storm, and Meet the Parents. Each of these films is better and more worth watching again than The Grinch. Bringing the classic Dr. Seuss Christmas story to live-action rather than the wonderful cartoon would have been an incredible challenge, but extending it by using material from neither the book nor the cartoon was really the downfall. Jim Carrey was terrific, over the top, and scary but actually transforming within that huge costume to become lovable at the end. The rest of the story was more than a little silly, beyond being childish. It was boring for adults and a little creepy for kids. The sets, props, and costumes were also over the top, glitzy, contrived to look like their frozen literary counterparts rather than creating a flowing real world version of Who-ville. Overall, I didn't like this movie and don't seek it out at Christmas, though I'll watch the cartoon nearly every year.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1993

Year: 1993
Film: Jurassic Park
Box Office Gross: $356,784,000
Awards: 3 Oscars for sound, effects editing and visual effects
Actors: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Sir Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, and Wayne Knight

In the true spirit of Spielberg, Jurassic Park was full of wonder, mystery, lots of special effects and a fantastic story that has become part of our culture. I know I'd never heard the cry of the velociraptor before this movie. As for background: Two paleobiologists (one studying plants, the other dinosaurs - Dern and Neill, respectively) are brought to authenticate a new theme park on an island. Attenborough brings them, along with a mathematician (Goldblum) and his own grandchildren to check out the "fully automated" island now covered in dinosaurs. With a bit of scientific hand waving, we find out you can now grow your own dinosaurs and they'll be available as a tourist attraction. However, of course things go horribly wrong and our heroes have to save everyone (although Newman doesn't make it thanks to the little bitty spitting dino) and use their knowledge of what the dinosaurs might have been like to escape and survive. It's got awesome special effects and the wonder that that characters experience seeing a field of dinosaurs holds up every time I see the movie. The terrifying dino-hide and seek scenes scared the bejeezus out of me in the theater in my teens not knowing who would escape and who the dinosaurs would eat. It's great for kids (not little ones, but most kids can be entertained rather than scared) and was a lot of fun rewatching over the years. There are a lot of scenes I enjoy, but my favorite still has to be watching Neill lay against a triceratops and feel her breathe in and out. You really got the sense that these jaded biologists were finding the wonder again. I never saw the sequels, or read the books of sequels. I'm happy in my ignorance that all ended fine and the dinosaurs lived happily ever after on their island alone.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2003

Year: 2003
Film: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Box Office Gross: $377,019,252
Awards: 11 Oscars, Best Picture, Best Director for Jackson, and many others, all technical
Actors: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortenson, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Miranda Otto, and many many more.

I'll fully admit that I enjoy the sci-fi/fantasy genre immensely. I read "The Hobbit" when I was pretty young and then right after college when I moved to Africa, I read the rest of the trilogy. I loved the final book in the series and other than the first hour of the first film, I like Return of the King the best too. I like it because, like most fantasy fiction, it can be taken or left at many levels. There are so many subplots throughout that listing them would probably make someone lash out saying I'd missed one. So I'll go with what I found most interesting rewatching it yesterday. The use of light and dark throughout really helps viewers understand the entire tone of the film. If you're not sure where someone sits on the spectrum of helpful or evil, their wardrobe, the lighting and often the music will help you out. I know I'm oversimplifying it, but it really struck me this time around, so I'm going with it. Given that the two major bad guys in the movie have virtually the same name (Sauron and Saruman - c'mon Tolkein, gimme a break), and many of the other names are so similar it's hard to keep track of exactly who fits in where. The places even sound the same - Mordor, Gondor, Rohan, etc. So I found the light and dark throughout to be really helpful in tracking the progress of the movie. It's a wonderful film with lots of well conceived action sequences that bring the diversity of Middle Earth to life much better than my imagination did when I read the words. Most of the acting is just fine for what it needs to be, with Sean Astin giving a wonderful performance as the loyal partner of Frodo. Plus, Orlando Bloom has never really been hotter than he was as an elf. Sorry guys, but that's the real reason any girl agrees to see this movie more than once. This trilogy will definitely be held up as a standard for all future mega-movies.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1998

Year: 1998
Film: Saving Private Ryan
Box Office Gross: $216,119,491
Awards: 5 Oscars, Best Director for Spielberg, also sound, sound editing, editing, cinematography,
Actors: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, and lots of cameos

I have a lot of respect for both Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for using their enormous influence to bring attention to parts of our global history that might be forgotten as the original participants are no longer around to remind us. That said, it doesn't always make the greatest of movies (though some amazing documentaries). The first time I saw the beginning of Saving Private Ryan I was amazed, saddened, shocked, awed and about a dozen other emotions. Since that first viewing I usually fast forward to after the beach is stormed. It's just not something I can appreciate over and over. However, the rest of the movie is wonderfully rewatchable. Tom Hanks leads a small group of guys to find a guy named Private James Francis Ryan whose 3 brothers have been killed and thus he qualifies for discharge. There's lots of dialogue between smallish action sequences as the group makes their way across France to find Ryan. Ed Burns and Adam Goldberg are really terrific arguing the films main point that all lives are sacred, thus sending a bunch of guys through enemy territory to find one guy isn't a good idea. There's a fantastic scene that gets me every time when Hanks' crew is looking through a huge bag of dog-tags to find out if Ryan has already been killed. They're looking through them very abstractly commenting on the condition of them. However, a long line of troops is walking by and you can see it in their eyes the massive amount of death in the pile of tags. Giovanni Ribisi realizes what is going on and grabs them all and asks for some dignity. It makes me cry most of the time. The whole movie ends with an incredible (and pretty long) climax where Hanks' crew joins up with Ryan's to defend one of the last bridges still standing. They set up an elaborate defense and all kinds of action goes on simultaneously with the group translator (Jeremy Davies - recently of Lost) ferrying ammunition between all the scenes. It's just amazing. With Tom Hanks' final words to Damon being "Earn this" I also usually cry, but it's a pretty amazing moment. This is a terrific movie that can be rewatched due to its incredible dialogue throughout and all kinds of historical references that make more sense to me every time I see it.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2007

Year: 2007
Film: Spiderman 3
Box Office Gross: $336,530,303
Awards: Not so much
Actors: Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace

This is a cheat because I haven't seen much lately, but this is last year's review of Spiderman 3.

I want to say I was sucked in to seeing Spiderman 3 by the advertising, but really I just wanted to go prove my point that the Spiderman franchise was a big mistake after the first one. However, I was wrong. This is a great action movie that redeemed all the faults of #2. There are awesome action sequences that, for a change, don't go on for 10 minutes without dialogue or humor. There's terrific CGI that is probably incredibly cutting edge, but is done so appropriately and creatively that you don't think about CGI or special effects, you just think "I wish I'd been there to see that". And in a break with it's predecessors, it doesn't feel like you're watching a comic book. And best of all, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously - which is good for a plot dependent on a creature that lands from outer space and a villain created by "demolecularization". There are half a dozen moments that you're not sure should be funny, but they are anyway. Toby Maguire doing his evil dance is probably supposed to be just a moment showing the change in his personality, but it's pretty hysterical, and very well choreographed - very much invoking Jim Carrey in The Mask. And so as not to spoil the end, but since it's a pretty terrific ending sequence (again peppered with funny dialogue and humor, rather than 30 minutes of CGI and Spidey swinging around), let's just say that you'll be satisfied with who dies and who lives. It's a huge improvement over the last one, and a good movie in it's own right.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1991

Year: 1991
Film: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Box Office Gross: $204,843,350
Awards: Won 4 Academy Awards for effects, make-up and sound
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

This movie is iconic in so many ways, at least in my mind. "Hasta la vista, baby" was so common when I was in middle school. And Linda Hamilton's totally ripped arms paved the way for all skinny, muscular women. Also, if I remember correctly the CGI technology was really cutting edge at the time, and for the most part still stands up as unique and innovative. The liquid metal bad guy was a wholly new character that has been mocked, repeated, and parodied many times. Anyway, Terminator 2 is more of the story of John Connor and the Terminator series from the future. It's a battle between humans and technology, but trying to alter the future by changing the past. John Connor sends back in time a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) to protect his teenage self. Sarah Connor has been locked up in a mental hospital because she kept telling people about the first Terminator (who tried to kill John) and the future of computers taking over the world. The new Terminator returns and he meets up with John (Furlong, in the only terrific role he ever played) and vows to protect him. They break Sarah out of the hospital and try to change the future by stopping the computer guy who invents all the bad computers. I'm sure there's some sort of time-travel paradox going on, but they don't explain it, and those problems make my head hurt. They spend a lot of time being chased by the bad Terminator 1000 (Patrick), the liquid mental guy. The chase scenes are pretty standard for an action movie, but the little nuances are pretty great - like the hubcap-like injuries the T-1000 gets, and the fact that they use mack trucks to chase each other as if they're sports cars. The final scene in the factory with lots of molten metal and sparks and such is very Die Hard-esque. I still like this movie, and even like the TV version of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The acting is not terrific throughout, but it's definitely perfect for the movie it's trying to create.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2001

Year: 2001

Film: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Box Office Gross: $317, 557, 891

Awards: Nominated for 3 Academy Awards

Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane

Five of the top 50 highest grossing movies are the Harry Potter series, but only one was the highest grossing movie of its year. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first in the series and the highest grossing. I doubt there are any people who haven't seen the movie, or read the book, or at least know who Harry Potter is, but I like writing so here it goes. Harry Potter is an eleven-year-old, orphaned British boy who lives a fairly tortured existence with his aunt, uncle and cousin. On his birthday letters start arriving that freak out his family such that they run away to a cabin. The cabin door is knocked down and Hagrid, a half-giant, appears to wish Harry a happy birthday and make sure he received his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is of course a wizard. He arrives at school to find out his whole life is known to all wizards as he managed to survive an attack from the worst wizard ever - Lord Voldemort. Harry meets friends, Ron Weasley (Grint) and Hermione Granger (Watson) and they learn magic and attempt to survive Voldemort's return.

I love the Harry Potter books, and the movies do a terrific job of capturing the spirit of the world of Harry Potter. The first one has the optimism and hope that the first book is about, and as the books got darker as Harry grows up and the danger increases. There is of course debate about the two Dumbledores - Richard Harris (for the first 2 movies) and Michael Gambon (for 3-7). I think Harris captured the older grandfatherly role of Dumbledore better, but I'm not sure Harris could have pulled off the powerful wizard Dumbledore needs to be in later books, so perhaps its a fortunate coincidence that Gambon was able to take over the role. I think these movies won't be the epitome of film making that perhaps the LOTR series will be, or even the genre changing that the Star Wars movies are, but they're wonderful family movies that will definitely stand the test of time. Which of the 5 so far is your favorite movie? I love the 3rd one, Prisoner of Azkaban, with Gary Oldman as Sirius Black!

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1994

Year: 1994
Film: Forrest Gump
Box Office Gross: $ 329,691,196
Awards: 6 Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
Actors: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Sally Field, Gary Sinise, and Haley Joel Osment

In 1994, I was in high school and many of the historical references in Forrest Gump went right past me. It's one of the reasons it holds up so well. It doesn't spend much time carefully explaining historical events, but rather explores how they affected or were affected by a single person. So as you learn more about history yourself, Forrest provides another glimpse at something you didn't notice before. It starts in the early 1950s, with a young Elvis Presley staying at Forrest's mother's boarding house and learning his signature move from Forrest dancing with leg braces. With the help of his best friend Jenny, Forrest navigates high school, and even college since he could run really fast on the football field. After college he joins up to fight in the war in Vietnam, and given that he only does what people tell him to do, he fits right in. He knows right from wrong and saves a whole bunch of people, including his CO, Lt. Dan (Sinise). There are a lot of effects where Forrest gets to meet with various president's too, from JFK, Johnson, and Nixon. Since social niceties escape Forrest, he doesn't notice much about them other than they're "nice young men". During his stint in the Army, Forrest meets Benjamin Beuford Blue "Bubba". Bubba teaches Forrest all about shrimping. And even though Bubba doesn't survive the war, Forrest goes into the shrimping business with Lt. Dan. Through all his adventures, Forrest thinks about Jenny. Finally, Jenny calls to Forrest to come see her and they end up together raising their son.

This was an incredibly creatively done movie that doesn't really try to judge history, but show funny intersections that might have happened. The performance by Hanks (one year after Philadelphia won him his first Oscar) is terrific. He's consistently innocent, polite, informative, loyal, and non-judgemental. The Oscar nominated score gets me every time. I love the intro and conclusion of the movie following the feather with the great music by Alan Silvestri. This is also one of the best soundtracks ever. It's strange to look back at 1994 and see that Forrest Gump competed with The Shawshank Redemption (No. 2 on IMDB's top 250) and Pulp Fiction (No. 5) with Forrest only making it to No. 51. Forrest Gump only outgrossed another 1994 movie, The Lion King, by $1million. It just goes to show how high-class 1994 was. The catch-phrases from this movie have also held up pretty well, "Run, Forrest, Run" and "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates" are pretty common around my house. Also, the Bubba Gump Shrimp company is now a franchised seafood restaurant. Not sure what that says about the movie itself, but the movie's definitely ingrained into our consciousness.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2005

Year: 2005
Film: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Box Office Gross: $380,262,555
Awards: Hayden Christensen won a Razzie for worst supporting performance
Actors: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz



I didn't intend to review 2005 and 2006 back to back, but this year's movie was on TV in the past week and I was able to tape it rather than review from memory. The movie that linked the new Star Wars trilogy with the old was hugely anticipated, as it was hopefully going to show how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. It starts with Obi-wan and Anakin trying to rescue the Chancellor and defeat General Grievous (a coughing robot leader). They do rescue the Chancellor, but Anakin is told to kill Count Dooku rather than prosecute him. Anakin starts to go over to the dark side and follow more and more of Chancellor Palpatine's (Darth Sidious) evil plans. Of course along the way we find out that Anakin's secret marriage to Padme has produced a child (children). They can't tell anyone or Anakin will get in trouble with the Jedi Council and Padme might get kicked out of the senate. Unfortunately, Anakin keeps having nightmares that Padme dies in childbirth and becomes obsessed with finding enough power to prevent that from happening, all leading to becoming Darth Sidious' apprentice and being known as Darth Vader. He has to initiate killing all the Jedi to remove the threat to the Republic. He kills lots of kids and eventually has to fight Obi-wan to the death, and he nearly dies in a lava field. The Emperor saves him, and gives him new arms and legs and such and the breathing mask that made him the Darth Vader we all know and love.

Overall, this movie doesn't disappoint as part of the series. It's leaps and bounds better than Episode 1, and though it doesn't quite reach the level of the original trilogy, it's close. The major problem I have with it is still Hayden Christensan. He's a dreadful actor throughout the movie. He doesn't play either the loving husband and future father nor the power hungry Sith with anything approaching real emotion. Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits do a good job with occasionally schticky dialogue. Natalie Portman also suffers trying to act opposite Christensen and it makes her emotion seem overdone. Oh well, it was still a good movie and worth watching. There's a moment where a robot kicks R2D@ and he falls over. It's just a tiny little scene, but cracks me up every time.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2006

Year: 2006

Film: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Box Office Gross: $423,032,628

Awards: Oscar and BAFTA (Best Achievement in Visual Effects), People's Choice, Teen Choice,

Actors: Johnny Depp, Kiera Knightly, Orlando Bloom, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Nighy, Stellan Starsgaard, Tom Hollander

In the second week of this feature I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the highest grossing film (in the U.S. - clarification that I'm only using U.S. highest grossing, rather than global gross). I loved the first in this series, Curse of the Black Pearl, and was really excited for both the second and third installments. However, rewatching Dead Man's Chest was a little disappointing. It's just not as much fun as the first one. We meet up with our main characters as Knightly's wedding to Bloom is destroyed and they are arrested for trying to help Depp's iconic Jack Sparrow (sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow) escape from prison. In exchange for their freedom they have to track Jack down and retrieve the compass he carries and bring it back to the Dutch East India Company who are trying to rid the seas of pirates. They find Jack, but he's trying to remove a curse put on him by Davey Jones (Nighy). He's trying to find Davey Jones' heart. This involves looking for a key to unlock the chest that holds it, then finding the chest. Meanwhile Davey Jones is trying to kill Jack with the Kraken (a mythical octopus type sea creature that can destroy ships). They chase around for quite a while and ultimately we find out Jack has been sent to hell of a sort by jumping into the mouth of the Kraken to save the other ships. The rest of them mourn his loss with the crazy sorceress lady in the marshes. And in the last seconds Captain Barbossa returns and they all swear to get Jack back At World's End. There's also a subplot where Bloom is trying to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Skarsgaard) from servitude to Davey Jones. Confusing and distracting for most of it, but building up for the final film. There was just too much set up in this film and not enough humor and careful plot direction. I liked it, and expect it grossed the most in 2006 because the first film was so good, and this continued the characters in a respectable, if not superior, way. Definitely didn't hold up to the high standard the first one did upon rewatching.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews

I'm always fascinated by which movies did well at the box office, and which ones only barely made it. Also, the stats the papers produce about how this year's box office totals compare to last year or the year before always seem a little fishy. So to combat this, I thought I would look at them a little differently. Each week I'll review the top grossing film of a particular year from the last 20 years. These are based on the year the film was released, and not necessarily the year all the money was made since a lot of movies are released at the end of the calendar year and make most of their money in the following year. It seems appropriate to start with the highest grossing film of all time, which was also the highest grossing film of 1997: Titanic.

Year: 1997

Film: Titanic

Box Office Gross: $600,799,824

Awards: 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Director (1998)

Actors: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton

I saw this movie with my college roommate, and we both cried, and then we went home and she cried for hours like her best friend had died. While time has proven that this movie is too long, overly dramatic, and induces mocking and parody more often than praise 10 years after its release, it was still a movie that moved millions and introduced epic scale movie-making to a new generation. Just in case there are a few of you who don't remember or actually missed this movie, I'll recap, with spoilers! It's the story of Rose Dawson, nee DeWitt Bukater, a 90-year-old woman who sees a program on TV about Bill Paxton scavenging the "Titanic" wreckage. She goes to the scavenging ship and starts to tell the story of how she happens to be wearing an enormous blue diamond in a drawing the night "Titanic" sank. The rest of the film is in flashback, where we see a young society debutant Rose (brilliant Kate Winslet at only 22) boarding the ship with her controlling mother (Frances Fisher) and semi-crazy fiance (Billy Zane). She's calm, collected, perfectly dressed, and later we learn sick to death of it all. When she tries to escape all her perfect life will force her to do by jumping overboard, she meets Jack (DiCaprio) a happy-go-lucky artist who won his trip on "Titanic" in a poker game. They fall in love, Jack shows her what it means to be free (doesn't it mean having nothing left to lose?) and she pulls away from her rich, privileged life, ultimately having Jack sketch her naked with the diamond. However, getting in the way of their plans to run away and be free, "Titanic" hits the iceberg and starts to sink. Catastrophe ensues, Rose's fiance gets Jack locked up for stealing, so Rose has to brave the waters to save him, and then they don't make it on the life boats in time, but somehow survive the sinking. However, when the boats come back to look for survivors floating in the freezing water only Rose is still alive - Jack gave up the ghost to save her. It's a heartbreaking movie that you already know will end poorly given the setting, but it's still a classic. There's a lot of heavy acting, dramatic realizations, excessive effects and staging, but overall it's still a classic and has made more money than any other film by a lot. So to start off the Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews, I give you Titanic.