August 27th, 2020
The top five of this week’s DEG Watched at Home chart is identical to last week, right down to the order. This means The Tax Collector remains in first place for the third week in a row. There are quite a few new releases making appearances lower down the chart though.
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December 18th, 2017
Game of Thrones is one of the biggest TV shows of all time. It was considered a hit right away with an average viewership of just over 2.5 million during its fourth season. Its most recent season had an average viewership over four times that. It holds the record for most Emmy wins by a scripted show at 38. (This past season wasn’t eligible for this year’s Emmys because it started too late in the year, but I suspect it will earn a ton of nominations next year.) However, there is bad news, as season eight, the final season, won’t begin airing until 2019. Will season seven leave viewers aching for more? Or has the show finally started to show its age?
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October 18th, 2017
It is one of those weeks. There’s a massive release coming out, which has scared away nearly all of the competition, so it is a really shallow week. Fortunately, that huge release is Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is not only one of the biggest hits of the year, it is also one of the reviewed. It isn’t the only contender for Pick of the Week, but the Blu-ray Combo Pack wins that honor.
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August 18th, 2017
It isn’t a particularly busy week for the art-house and VOD market, but there are several films that are earning good, even great reviews. California Typewriter, Marjorie Prime, Patti Cake$, and Dave Made a Maze are all worth checking out and that’s not the entire list.
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March 13th, 2016
Season Six of Game of Thrones starts on the 24th of April. Still a full month away. On the other hand, Season Five comes out this week and to celebrate we have a Contest and a review. How was Season Five compared to the previous seasons? Is it still engaging? Or now that the show is running out of source material to pull from, is it starting to show cracks?
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February 1st, 2016
As expected, January was dominated by holdovers with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Revenant leading the way. That's not to say there were no new releases that did well, as Ride Along 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 were hits with moviegoers. Looking forward, there is only one film that looks like a sure hit, Deadpool. There's a slim chance it could be a surprise $200 million hit. There's a much better chance it will be the only $100 million hit. Conversely, last February started with a $100 million hit coming out, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, while there were two other $100 million movies to come out that month, Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Looks like 2016 is going to lose in the year-over-year comparison.
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May 24th, 2015
It has been a horrendously busy week at work, so much so that I just got a chance to watch the few TV shows I bother to watch on a weekly basis. I still haven't had a chance to watch the season finale of Modern Family or this week's episode of iZombie, but I finally got a chance to see the most recent episode of Game of Thrones. I know I'm late to the party, but I would like to talk about the show's most controversial scene of the season and tropes.
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October 24th, 2014
Last weekend, Birdman opened with Oscar-worthy reviews and it wasn't the only film that was expected to be a hit at the box office. This weekend, there are no such films. CitizenFour and Force Majeure are both earning Oscar buzz, but one's a documentary and the other is a foreign-language film, so neither are likely to expand significantly. This leaves Laggies as the film with the loudest buzz, even if its reviews suggest it might not thrive in limited release.
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July 28th, 2014
The Other Woman is the second film called The Other Woman that I've reviewed. That film was melodramatic and mediocre. I really doubt this film with be melodramatic, but will it be better than merely mediocre?
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May 5th, 2013
January is generally a terrible time of the year to release a movie. Not only are people still dealing with Christmas shopping bills, but there will be several Oscar contenders and holiday blockbusters that are still going strong. Because of this, January tends to be filled with bad films that struggle just to become midlevel hits. Mama opened in the middle of the month and earned enough during its opening weekend to cover its production budget. Worldwide, it managed $130 million on just a $15 million budget. Unless it cost an unreasonable amount to market, it has already broken even. Will it be an ever bigger hit on the home market?
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February 19th, 2013
Game of Thrones was one of the biggest new shows of 2011 and the second season was given the green light, and a larger budget, a mere two days after the series premiere. This turned out to be a wise choice, because the ratings for season two were even greater than they were for season one. But was this due to just hype? Or did the quality of the show increase as well? And is the DVD or the Blu-ray Combo Pack as good as the first time around?
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January 1st, 2013
December ended on a positive note with 2012 topping 2011 with a week to spare. Hopefully this will translate into strong box office numbers going forward. There are several January releases that actually look very interesting, but you always have to ask, if the films are as good as they look, why are they opening in January? The biggest hit on this list will likely not be a January release, but a limited release from December that is expanding wide in January. Zero Dark Thirty opened in limited release the Wednesday before Christmas and right away it got off to an incredible start. If it can turn some of its Awards Season nominations into wins, which seems very likely at this point, it should be the biggest hit of January. If it can earn some major Oscars, then it might crack $100 million. Unfortunately, no other film on this release list is likely to come close to the $100 million mark. Last January was unseasonably strong with three films opening with $20 million or more and four films finishing with $50 million or more. It is possible that none of the new releases will reach those relatively weak standards.
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