Other Crap

Daily Box Office for Friday, January 19, 2007

Stomp the Yard and Night at the Museum held on to the #1 and #2 positions, as The Hitcher disappointed. Pan's Labyrinth did well in its expansion, reaching #1 in the average per screen and #7 overall. I finally got into Pan's Labyrinth yesterday, although I had to go very late at night because the earlier ones were again sold out. It is a very impressive movie. A caution: I know it is ostensibly a fairy tale, but you probably don't want to take your kids. You definitely don't want to take any young children, because it includes some explicit gore and also shows children being harmed physically! Apart from that, see it if you have any interest at all in a Spanish-language film. I haven't seen Eastwood's Japanese-language Iwo Jima film, but it must really be a helluva film if it beat this for "Best Foreign Language Film" at the Golden Globes.

It was the year of the Spanish-speaking director. You could almost make up a perfectly credible list of Best Picture nominees this year just from their work: Babel, Children of Men, Volver, Pan's Labyrinth. Volver's director (Almodovar) is Spanish, the other three directors are Mexican. It is possible that none of the four will be nominated for "best picture," particularly since the last two are in Spanish, but that list can be compared without embarrassment to any other four 2006 films you can name.