By Bill Bonfanti on 1/30/2009 4:19 PM

It’s become sort of a tradition of mine to predict who will win American Idol every year based on the audition rounds alone. I’ve had a pretty impressive track record so far. Here is a list of my picks from prior seasons with the exception of season 1. I didn’t start watching season 1 until the top 10 and at that point, it didn’t take a genius to realize Kelly Clarkson was going to win. That being said, my picks in past seasons were:

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/30/2009 2:30 PM

This weekend audiences are offered 3 new choices at the multiplex; an action thriller, the fourth horror thriller in as many weeks and a romantic comedy that hope to counter program the Super Bowl.

Liam Neeson stars in Taken as a former government operative who is forced out of retirement to rescue his abducted daughter. Neeson has had quite a career, but he is usually relegated to supporting roles, so his box office prowess is largely untested. However, Taken should perform fairly well over the weekend as there really is no competition and it has been sometime since there has been a straight up action flick at the box office. Look for Taken to take $20M out of the box office this weekend.

The Uninvited is a horror thriller about two teenage girls that suspect their soon to be step mother played by Elizabeth Banks is really a psychotic killer. Is it me or is Elizabeth Banks the hardest...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/29/2009 1:12 PM

Another week, another amazing episode of Lost. This week’s episode “Jughead” was unique in that it didn’t feature one appearance by the Oceanic Six or Ben Linus and it was still riveting and that my friends is part of what makes Lost so special. This week we learned quite a bit and for once I wasn’t sitting there at the end of the show with more questions than I had an hour earlier. So what did we learn?

Let’s begin with the characters that are still on the island being hurled through time and space. Following Daniel Faraday and company as they travel further and further into the past is one hell of a roller coaster ride. For most of the show, the Losties were on the island in the early 1950’s. We saw the others being led by Richard Alpert, looking the same age he always does. What is his deal? It...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/28/2009 4:02 PM

With the Academy Award ceremony in less than a month, I thought it would be a good time to predict which movies will walk away with the little gold, bald guy. Leading the pack with 13 nominations, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would seem like the front runner, but it is not. Button will probably receive quite a few Oscars, but not many in the major awards category. The film to watch out for is clearly Slumdog Millionaire with its 10 nods and major momentum from other award wins including the top prizes at SAG, The Producers Guild and The Golden Globes. Let’s take a look category by category.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/26/2009 2:36 PM

Kevin James enjoyed a second weekend at the top of the box office with his first leading role as Paul Blart: Mall Cop narrowly beating Underworld: Rise of the Lychans. Brendan Fraser’s latest adventure flick, Inkheart, stumbled out of the gates opening in seventh place and this weekend also saw a major surge for award winner Slumdog Millionaire and a minor one for multiple Academy Award nominee The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

Paul Blart: Mall Cop had a great second weekend dropping a slim 33% to gross $21.5M, right in line with my $19M forecast. This brings its total up to an impressive $64.8M. Mall Cop should end its run in the vicinity of $110M, making James a bankable leading man in this genre and possibly a future as the King of Screens.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/22/2009 5:38 PM

It is the morning after the brilliant but mind boggling season 5 premier of Lost and I’m trying to make some sense of it all. I’ve known for quite some time now that the island was some sort of time travel device (organism?), but trying to figure out how it all fits together is making me dizzy.

Let’s start with the Oceanic Six. First up Sayid. When we last saw him, he was working for Ben as an assassin, eliminating Charles Widmore's men one by one for two reasons. One is to keep his friends both on and off the island safe. The other is to avenge the death of his beloved Nadia, who (according to Ben) was murdered by Widmore. So why is Sayid now so distrustful of Ben? Why does he tell Hurley not to believe a word that comes out of Ben’s mouth? There can only be one explanation. Sayid must learn that Widmore...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/22/2009 2:53 PM

The January box office seems like it should slow down after 3 terrific weekends including the record setting Martin Luther King frame, but it’s not going to. Sure, I don’t believe any movies will gross over $20M, but with 2 new releases and a couple of films expanding into more theatres, amid Oscar nominations, expect it to be a good weekend for studios.

First up is Underworld: Rise of the Lychans, the third movie in the vampire/werewolf franchise. However this one is a prequel and doesn’t feature the star of the previous 2, Kate Beckinsale. Seeing the beautiful Kate kick ass in tight black leather definitely helped the box office on the first 2 movies and the lack of her presence will certainly hurt Rise of the Lychans. Underworld: Evolutions...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/21/2009 5:15 PM

Can you feel it? There is a tingle in the air. A feeling of electricity. The television landscape is about to change for the infinitely better. That’s right… the season 5 premier of Lost is tonight! I couldn’t be more excited. Lost is the best television series in history, but it is more than that. It is an epic story that transcends all mediums. This is the best ride I’ve ever been on. I’m more excited than Homer Simpson in a donut factory. More excited than Ryan Seacrest in front of his mirror. More excited than David Duchovny at a whore house. Well… maybe not the last one… but still, I’m extremely excited.

I just finished re-watching season 4 last night (I timed it out perfectly) and even knowing what is going to happen, the show is endlessly entertaining. After watching the season again, I can say...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/21/2009 3:06 PM

    Hello all, Anders again. As I promised you last time young Bill is alive and well. Unfortunately, there were some complications delivering his family of kidney stones, none survived. However the good news is that they are made of calcium and you can get your fix from a gallon of milk. I guess the executives at FILMGO liked my last blog (or they fear that if I don't get to air my gripes I may  become homicidal ) and have invited me to return (again they are heavily medicated ) . Now I know that my last blog was about super hero flicks, and at the risk of being redundant this blog is kind of in the same realm. Hey write what you know, they say (I know a lot of other things too... sports, politics, marriage, etc. but this is a film site). Well, that being said let's get to the point.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/19/2009 2:25 PM

Thank you Entertainment Weekly for validating what I’ve been saying for more than twenty years… Ghostbusters is the funniest movie of all time. In the current issue, on stands now, EW lists the 25 best comedies from the past 25 years and that’s right… Ghostbusters is #1! I know I get way too excited about things like this, but I can’t help it. I’ve been defending Ghostbusters as the funniest movie ever for as long as I can remember. It is a very rare occasion indeed that someone agrees with me on this. In light of EW’s list, I’ve been inspired to list my Top 10 funniest comedies of all time. Here’s the list…

1-      Ghostbusters – No surprise to anyone who knows me or read the opening paragraph to this blog, but this is the funniest movie of all time. I’ve seen this movie more times than I can remember...

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