Director: Jeff Nichols
Running Time: 130 mins
Certificate: 12
Release Date: September 2nd 2013
Director Jeff Nichols impressed many with his film Take Shelter and has got a lot more critical acclaim for Mud. Part Huckleberry Finn, a little bit dark fairy tale, and with more than splash of Southern Gothic and Whistle Down The Wind thrown in, it’s an absorbing film even if it likes to take its time doing anything.
Ellis (Tye Sheridan) is a young teen who lives with his parents on a houseboat in Arkansas. The river is his father’s life, although his mother is on the verge of packing up and leaving. Along with his friend, Neckbone (Jacob Loflan), Ellis heads off to find a boat that’s gotten stuck in a tree during a flood. They want to make the vessel theirs but they discover it’s being used by a man called Mud (Matthew McConaughey) as somewhere to sleep. [Read more…]
US audiences couldn’t get enough of movies over the Memorial Day holiday, but the box office came down to earth with a bump this weekend. While Fast & Furious 6 held onto the number 1 spot, it dropped nearly 65% from its opening to take $34.5 million. The Hangover Part II also dropped 60% in its second weekend, with $15.9 million and a sixth place finish.
Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, many box office watchers thought it would be a close race between Hangover Part III and Fast & Furious 6 as to who would come out on top. In the end, it’s the latter that streaked away, with $120 million in its first four days in US cinemas.
When the summer comes around, all the big action movies head for cinemas, causing pretty much every other movie to run for cover (largely because there aren’t many cinema screens left). As a result, Star Trek Into Darkness was the only new entrant into the US box office top 10, taking $84 million since its opening last Thursday.
There’s been a fair amount of uncertainty about how well The Great Gatsby would do, with some wondering whether there was room for it in the usually action-heavy summer release schedule. However it’s done far better than many expected, taking $51 million in its first weekend at the US box office.
The money men at Disney/Marvel will be rubbing their hands in glee this morning, as if they were worried about the hundreds of millions they’ve already poured into the post-Avengers movies, Iron Man 3 has resolutely proved audiences are keen to continue watching the superhero adventures.