Remember that tie for the box office weekend title? It transformed.

As expected, the tie at the top of the Fourth of July weekend box office was broken when studio accountants sharpened their pencils.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen won the weekend when real ticket sales were counted, according to Variety.com. Well, not exactly real but whatever was reported or sorted by studio number crunchers. Kind of like a blind auction bid. Enough people are expecting a headline Monday morning that Sunday estimates count most in a news cycle, and enough people liked the tie situation T-minus-2 and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs created.

But it didn't hold up. The Transformers flick reported $42.3 million grossed domestically to hold the No. 1 spot. The Ice Age flick ponied up $41.7 when its Sunday bluff was called. Both films are officially below the $42.5 million total estimated Sunday, so both studios were fibbing.

DriveInMovie.com shows Florida still among the top states for a fading summer pastime

My connection to, and affection for, drive-in theaters is well-known. I think I heard the "Let's all go to the lobby" jingle at the same instant that Mom and Dad's canoodling in their home behind the former Midway Drive-In in Tarpon Springs led to the blessed union of egg and sperm that led to me.

It sounds much more romantic when they tell the story.

Anyway, this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly suggests several summer-related Web sites to browse, including DriveInMovie.com, the most up-to-date online survey of U.S. outdoor theaters that I've seen. Just click on any state on the home page and you'll find a brisk history of drive-ins there, followed by a list of locations, most of them marked with the ominous distinction "dark" to show they're closed now.

I hear from people all the time that, with the current economic situation, piling the family into the car for a night under the stars watching movie stars would be a great escape. People should've thought of that sooner, before being seduced by megaplex creature comforts and home video setups that choked most of the life from drive-ins.

Here are a few of the "did you knows" that DriveInMovie.com tells us about the Sunshine State:

* Florida was one of the first states to have a drive-in, in Miami in 1938. The next year, another was built in Jacksonville and the rush was on.

* By 1955, Florida boasted more than 150 drive-in theaters.

* By 1979, that number had declined to around 115 drive-ins, a slower rate of attrition than most states.

* Currently 94 percent of those Florida drive-ins are closed for business. The site lists 10 across the state still in operation, including Tampa's Fun-Lan, the Ruskin D-I and the Joy Lan in Dade City (that my dad also operated in the early 1960s).

Good site, great memories. 

It's a good day to be a Black Devil Doll (NSFW, or play, for that matter)

My dad would be so proud of me, if I planned it this way.

As the son of a former movie showman, I haven't done anything this weird to boost ticket sales for a movie since I was 5 years old, wearing a sandwich board and dressed as a clown to promote Toby Tyler at the old Pasco Theater in Dade City. But tonight at Beach Theatre, I figure that Black Devil Doll owes me a cut of the box office.

Check out the final chapter in this sicko saga (but that's what they say about all gore series that go on too long) and, if you dare, the trailer for Black Devil Doll. Serious warning: THIS TRAILER IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Just in case you're late to this particular party, check out the blog post that started it all -- including 89, most of them nasty and juvenile enough to confirm any knee jerk notions of the people getting off on Black Devil Doll. Then listen to my podcast interview with HorrorFans.com host Mike Olsson on the subject at this link. That should get you caught up. Or maybe make you throw up.

Better late than never: More than a baseball movie, 'Sugar' scores

Once in a while the liquid dynamics of independent film distribution cause problems for our deadlines. Such was the case three weeks ago when a review of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's excellent baseball drama Sugar appeared in Weekend. The problem was, the Tampa Bay date was delayed after deadline, causing confusion among readers who contacted me looking for its location.

Now comes word that Sugar is opening Friday, exclusively at AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa. It's worth the trip, if you can make it. I promised the readers who called/messaged that I'd include it in the top 5 list in Weekend when it's scheduled, to let them know. But I also want to post the review here, since we won't run it again in print. Enjoy.

Like most sports movies, Sugar ends with a game. Not the typical big game with everything on the line and slo-mo heroics. We don’t even know the score. I get the feeling that such a baseball game, played by Latin American immigrants on a field of broken professional dreams, inspired Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to create Sugar, a character study that’s fiction yet feels as genuine -- sometimes as dry -- as a documentary.

Much of that realness is due to Algenis Perez Soto’s impressively natural acting debut as Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a hot pitching prospect from the Dominican Republic. Soto obviously has baseball skills, along with an impassive face revealing more than it seems. He’s an alluring actor to watch for those quiet revelations. Soto effortlessly encourages our hopes for a happy ending.

Sugar’s quest for major league stardom is presented in three acts: hailed as a hometown hero on the cusp of breaking the poverty cycle, confused by American culture when he joins a minor league team, and rocked by a steady decline of faith in his abilities and the system exploiting them.

That climactic game features players with the same experiences, bonded by baseball and the better life in the United States that it gave them. Boden and Fleck, who created 2006’s indie hit Half Nelson, find an equally intense love of the game in Iowa, where Sugar plays for a minor league team. Struggling with the language and customs, he receives sincere support from Midwesterners taking in ballplayers as boarders during the season.

Several possibly cliched situations arise; a trace of racism, a cross-cultural flirtation, a costly injury. Boden and Fleck dodge the easy choices, making Sugar a rare movie giving few clues about where it’s going. The movie needs some trimming, and it wouldn’t hurt for something conventional to happen along its ambling way. Regardless, this is one of 2009’s most interesting and original films so far. A-

Flashback: Critics log, stardate 11.18.94

Getting back in gear with Weekend stuff, especially reviewing the new Star Trek movie that Princess Di and special guest star Steve Spears saw Saturday.

Too bad it wasn't in IMAX but I thought it was 3-D for a minute, when the movie started and Spears' heart burst from his chest with excitement. Between the spray and his gurgling drool, it was like sitting in the splatter zone of a Gallagher show. The guy takes his Trek seriously.

I don't, and we're using that yin-yang for a sidebar in Weekend, in which I note from a virtual neophyte's p.o.v. what makes me know Star Trek is the real deal, and why it isn't from Spears' vastly superior geekish point of view. It'll make sense. It did when we plotted it over a pitcher of sangria and burritos afterward.

Which got me thinking back to Nov. 18, 1994, when I only had about 18 months on this job, and I was forced to admit to a world of Trekkers that my opinion of the Kirk-Picard collision in Star Trek: Generations wasn't the most informed.

As you'll read later this week, I've come a long way in my appreciation of the franchise -- mostly on Saturday.

But I remember it as if were only yesterday ... (dream-water camera effect, twinkly piano music):

"Trekkers forgive me, for I have sinned.

This is not an easy confession. Unbelievable, perhaps, considering the list of motion pictures I've seen in 30 years of serious movie-watching.

Not one of them has been a Star Trek flick.

Never caught a glimpse of V'ger, Khan or those whales the Enterprise crew saved in part 4. Can't guess if Mr. Spock is certainly dead or sequel-dead. And the only episode of the original series I recall sitting through was The Trouble with Tribbles in reruns after hearing so much about it. You could fit my combined experience with The Next Generation into one episode, with extra room for commercials.

Nothing personal. Just not much of a sci-fi devotee, and I've never liked joining any conspiratorial clique after everybody else.

Like anyone who follows pop culture, I'm familiar with the characters and general themes. Even attended a minor-league Trek convention as a favor to my wife, who is a fan. I don't begrudge Trekkers for their commitment, but my attention quickly wanders when they start dissecting each episode as if it were the Koran.

So, if you're looking for an expert's opinion of Star Trek: Generations, the seventh film voyage of the Enterprise, better subscribe to the Internet. If you want to know if this is a worthwhile movie experience for the masses, not merely an elaborate inside joke among Trekkers, you're on the right page."

Yes, I typed "subscribe to the Internet." But, hey, it was 1994.

Hal Ashby: Don't know the name? His films are familiar

This year's Sarasota Film Festival, running Friday through April 5, offers a retrospective of the films of Hal Ashby, the least-known of the film school generation that changed Hollywood in the 1970's, and one of the best. The other members of that group -- Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich among them -- would likely agree.

Unlike those guys, Ashby never did many interviews extolling their own virtues. He was a hippie in Hollywood, a scraggly-haired dude in dark glasses and tee shirts who liked his drugs.His masterful output in the 70's dwindled in the next decade due to his habits and being ornery. Ashby died in 1988 of liver and colon cancer.

Nick Dawson, a 28-year-old Scotsman, read Peter Biskind's book about that era, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, and was struck by the references to Ashby. He sought a more detailed biography and found none had been published. "I figured if I wanted to read a book about him, I'd have to write it myself," Dawson told me during a telephone interview.

Dawson's book, Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel, makes him a perfect choice to moderate the Ashby tributes in Sarasota.

Sunday in our Latitudes section (and earlier on tampabay.com), I'll have more on Ashby with Dawson and Jon Voight, who won an Oscar in Ashby's Coming Home.

For now, enjoy Dawson's comments on the seven films from the 70's that will be shown at the Sarasota festival, before Ashby gets a posthumous career achievement award on April 4. See how many you know (or cheat with the IMDb links provided), perhaps without knowing the mercurial genius behind them:

The Landlord (1970) -- "It’s a remarkably assured and audacious debut. Some aspects are incredibly experimental and daring. It’s surreal but has this internal logic making it work perfectly."

Harold and Maude (1971) – "People forget what a flop it was, initially, and the way it was mistreated by Paramount when first released. It’s a testament to the film, and moviegoers generally, that the film connected with audiences and created this dialogue about big issues like life and death."

The Last Detail (1973) – "This and Shampoo are fascinating because of the partnership with (screenwriter) Robert Towne that led to some of his most accomplished work. They come from two different perspectives: Towne is an unemotional, almost analytical writer (who) didn’t engage emotionally with the characters, and Ashby was really a humanist. The way Ashby interprets Towne’s vision is fascinating."

Shampoo (1975) – "The weird thing is that it was a period piece when it was made. It was already a time capsule movie; conceived in 1968 then Warren Beatty and Towne took seven years to make it. In a sense it’s dated because it’s looking back and criticizing a generation that went wrong, made by members of that generation with a jaded perspective."

Bound for Glory (1976) – "(Ashby) spoke several times about his spiritual understand of Woody Guthrie. It’s a very personal film. Guthrie is someone who left home young, worked on railroads, slept on the road and had no money. Ashby was knd of that hobo character the same way Woody Guthrie was."

Coming Home (1978) – "A delicate subject that nobody wanted to touch. United Artists made it only because the persistence of people who were creatively involved, and their willingness to defer their salaries. Again, you see Ashby’s ability to turn a story about ideas and a sensitive political situation, and make it a human story."

Being There (1979) – "Before production, people were saying it was a one-joke movie; how are you going to make this work? But it works so beautifully because Ashby doesn’t treat it as a joke. The film is unquestionably a comedy but it’s an engaging story with satirical ideas in it. It’s a film that has remained relevant with a sly depiction of American politics."

What's your fave suburban movie nightmare?

You'll never catch Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet raising their kids in the suburbs, judging by their movie choices over the past few years. He directed the Oscar winning American Beauty and now Revolutionary Road (opening Friday), two scathing indictments of picket-fence living. She stars in Revolutionary Road and two years ago played a similarly dissatisfied suburban housewife in Little Children.

Maybe they have a point. Sometimes the only things scarier than a home's devaluation are the next-door neighbors. Especially in movies where good and bad dreams come true.

Here's a partial list of neighborhood nightmares in the movies, ranked from mere irritations to flat-out terror. Any of these situations could make a homeowner plop a For Sale sign in the yard. Feel free to add your suggestions.

Revolutionary Road -Young marrieds (Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio) are smug about their life together when not loudly arguing about it. Good fences make good neighbors but this couple calls for a tall brick wall.

Neighbors - The couple next door to Earl Keese (John Belushi) are a freeloading boor (Dan Aykroyd) and his nymphomaniac wife (Cathy Moriarty). Oh well, you take the good with the bad.

In the Bedroom - Raising a teenage boy is tough enough. Sic the sexy neighbor (Marisa Tomei) on him, with her psycho ex-husband close behind and there will be blood.

Lakeview Terrace - "Look, hon, our new home is next door to a policeman, so we'll be safe. Uh, oh, he looks a lot like Samuel L. Jackson when he's mad."

American Beauty - Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a pot head in severely arrested development, his wife (Annette Bening) is having an affair, their daughter hangs around with the creepy son of an ex-Marine (Chris Cooper) next door who's a closeted gay with anger issues. Can't wait for the block party.

The 'Burbs - Nothing ruins a neighborhood faster than a cannibal cult moving in down the street. Unless it's the paranoid residents (Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern) believing that rumor is true. 

Little Children - It's Revolutionary Road with more happening including a pedophile (Jackie Earle Haley) trying to go straight, a gung-ho former cop harassing him, and hot laundry-room sex. Even a playground swing set gets stained by the luridness.

Disturbia -Being under house arrest is a bummer for Shia LaBeouf, especially with a serial killer living next door. Sure, the movie rips-off Rear Window but moving the voyeuristic, amateur detective to the suburbs is a smart update.

Poltergeist - I'll take my chances with killers and killjoys next door. But tell me that my subdivision is built on a cursed burial ground and I'm out of there. Lousy TV reception, too.

(Image from MGM/UA)

 

My Razzies ballot arrived today

I've covered the Oscars and Spirit Awards in L.A. but neither was as much fun as attending the Golden Raspberry (or Razzies) awards (twice), the annual celebration of the year's worst that Hollywood shoveled into theaters.

One year was when Showgirls swept the balloting for worst picture, actress, screenplay, etc. Director Paul Verhoeven showed up as a good sport, accepting the dubious honors and cheap-o statuettes. I missed the years that Bill Cosby (Leonard, Part 6) and Halle Berry (Catwoman) surprised everyone by personally picking up their awards. The show always features cleverly edited film clips, live comedy entertainment and the snarkiest categories and nominations imaginable.

This year's nomination ballot (from which the final list of nominees will be determined) is no exception. You can find the full list and past winners/losers at the Razzies link above, but here are some examples, (one retitled by Razzies organizers for full humiliation effect):

WORST PICTURE: The combo of Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans (two movies, one badly beaten dead horse); The Day the Earth Blowed Up Real Good; High School Musical 3: Senior Year; The Hottie and the Nottie; Uwe Boll's In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale AND Boll's Postal; Rambo; Meet Dave; Speed Racer; Witless Protection and The Happening.

WORST SCREEN COUPLE (always one of my favorites, and these are the Razzies' descriptions): Any combination of Two Happy-Faced, Empty-Headed, Two-Left-Footed Teens in High School Musical 3; Uwe Boll and Any Actor, Camera or Screenplay; Any Two Non-Singers/Dancers Singing and Dancing in Mamma Mia!; Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in What Happens in Vegas; Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore in The Hottie and the Nottie; Kate Hudson and either Dane Cook (My Best Friend's Girl) or Matthew McConaughey (Fool's Gold); Larry the Cable Guy and Jenny McCarthy in Witless Protection; Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave; Al Pacino and either his I-slept-on-it wrong hair or his bright orange man-tan in 88 Minutes; Keanu Reeves and any Earthling Dense Enough to Listen to Him in The Day the Earth Blowed Up Real Good; Sylvester Stallone and either his supersonic crossbow or his supersonic ego in Rambo; and Mark Wahlberg and either Zooey Deschanel (The Happening) or Mila Kunis (Max Payne).

And in the special category of WORST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT, as the ballot describes them:

Uwe Boll (Germany's answer to Ed Wood; Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer (Date Movie, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, ad nauseum); Madonna (Retired Movie Star, Immaterial Girl and our Awl-Time Female Champ); Keanu Reeves ("Dude, Where's My Talent?"); and Sylvester Stallone (a.k.a.GRAMPO, Our Awl-Time Male or Female Champ).

The nomination ballot is due back in L.A. by Jan. 10. Final nominations will be announced shortly thereafter, and the Razzies will be presented on Feb. 21, the day before the Oscars show.

(image from razzies.com)

The Express runs off-track after Times story

You never know when a story will make a splash somewhere else. Or at least a little ripple.

My recent interview with Dick Easterly and Patrick Whelan -- two members of Syracuse University's 1958 national championship football team -- ended up making them temporary media stars. Easterly and Whelan took offense at dramatic liberties taken in The Express, the biography of their late teammate, Ernie Davis.

Davis was the first African-American recipient of the Heisman Trophy, a landmark for racial equality, but apparently didn't face the kind of bigoted backlash the movie depicts. An early death by leukemia before Davis could play in the NFL was one factual aspect of his life that the movie shortchanged.

One sequence Easterly and Whelan strongly disputed involves a Syracuse game at West Virginia where fans and players shower the team with racial epithets and garbage. Due in part to the Times story getting around, even the governor of West Virginia is demanding an apology from the film's producers.

The day after the interview ran in the Times, I got a call from a West Virginia reporter asking for help contacting Easterly and Whelan. No problem. Today I got message from the men, marveling at being contacted by nearly a dozen media outlets including USA Today and a Wall Street Journal blogger, who were nice enough to mention and link to the Times article. ESPN interviewed Easterly. Even Bob Costas raised the subject on his HBO show while interviewing former Syracuse great Jim Brown, who served as technical adviser for The Express.

Easterly said from the start that The Express was really more about Brown than Davis, with regard to the racial angles in the script.

Anyway, Easterly and Whelan called to thank me for getting out the accurate story about Davis, his relationship with head coach Ben Schwartzwalder and racial themes raised by the movie. They've been contacted by other alumni who wanted to pass along the same.

My pleasure, folks.

What are the worst remake mistakes?

Anyone preferring Gus Van Sant's version of Psycho over Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 original probably should just move along.

But if you can't stomach the idea of anyone remaking The Birds, Footloose or (Lee Marvin forbid) The Dirty Dozen, keep reading.

Elsewhere on tampabay.com (or maybe Etc, Page 2B in print), you'll find my list of five movie remakes that worked, and five others that had no business seeing the light of day. There are reasons why some reboots don't work and others do, that are included in the article.

But I'd like to know which remakes YOU think offer the best reasons to outlaw cameras and shutter the film schools. What do you say?