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Leon Russell RIP, Robert Vaughn RIP, Arrival   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, November 14, 2016 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

VERY BUSY WEEKEND, but I have a few items for you...

LEON RUSSELL, renowned multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who collaborated with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones and Elton John over the course of 50 years in the music industry, died Sunday. He was 74.  As a member of Phil Spector's "Wrecking Crew," Russell played keyboards on tracks like the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High."  Most don't know he also played on Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night."  Of his solo work, Russell is likely best known for "A Song For You."

ROBERT VAUGHN, an actor best known as the secret agent Napoleon Solo in The Man from UNCLE, has died aged 83.  I'll probably remember him more from Bullitt and The Magnificent Seven; he was the last living member of the latter group.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Doctor Strange repeated atop the chart with 43MM, on a 49 percent drop which may be better than expected (compared with Thor 2, also a Nov. release); the sorcerer has taken in 492MM worldwide, which is probably right at the brink of profitability.  Trolls places with 25MM, likely a beneficiary of the Veteran's Day school holiday; it is about 60 percent of the way to profit.  The debut of Arrival showed with 24MM, far above the 16-18MM most had projected, and deservedly so (see below).  Almost Christmas took the fourth slot with 15.6MM against a 17MM budget, and seems likely to profit if it shows legs through the holiday season.  Hacksaw Ridge rounded out the Top Five with 10.8MM on a leggy 29 percent drop that may have also been related to the Vets' day weekend.

ARRIVAL:  You've all seen the aliens-come-to-Earth movie, right? War of the Worlds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, and so forth.  You have not seen Arrival. And if you do -- as you should -- you may well think you're watching one of those movies until it fully reveals itself.  There is a twist of sorts here that makes you start re-evaluating everything you have just seen, while changing the story into something different and moving in ways that defy your expectations entering the theater.  Amy Adams is usually good in everything, and she's terrific here, while Jeremy Renner does the understanted thing he does at his best, but for which there was no room in the Marvel movies or American Hustle (his last film with Adams, iirc).  I do not know whether Arrival is the best movie of the year, but it's in the team photo for the best I've seen this year.

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