Technical issues rear their ugly head this week, from the lack of a babysitter when it came time to record the show to problems with Thomas’s Skype feed this week. We soldier on and talk about the killer box office take for The Lorax, offer up a review of Project X, talk about the deaths of Davy Jones and Ralph McQuarrie, and analyze what did and didn’t work for this year’s Oscar... 

Part of looking at movies does involve the business side of show business. We try to have a little fun with it, as each week Tim makes his predictions as to how movies will perform at the Box Office. Then, on Sundays, we look at how Tim’s predictions fared. Earlier this week, Tim made his predictions for the week. He was running a bit late, and part of the reason I questioned his picks so heavily... 

Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, is destined to be the best movie I didn’t like all year. The film is demanding, simultaneously excessive and restrained. Each scene is carefully paced, sculpted not with dialog but with extended, quiet observation. It’s a Quentin Tarantino film with half the running time on mute. It is a rare feat where facial expression, emotion... 

You’ve heard Tim make his weekly predictions on our podcast, guessing how the box office numbers are going to play out as we discuss each week’s estimates. Now we’re putting them down in text just to see how good Tim’s track record winds up. Tune in each week as we compare Tim’s predictions against the actual numbers from the box office weekend, as Tim takes on the Box... 

We get another barrage of movies this weekend, some of which look promising and others that look like filler between the summer and fall seasons. Regardless, it looks like this weekend’s releases are more about very focused tastes than movies with widespread appeal. First up is another Ryan Gosling movie for 2011: Drive. The trailer makes this look like a ramped down version of The Transporter, only...