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Show have their vioggatelph LOS ANGELES — Ina tight race over the Presidents Day weekend, Paul Walker and his “Eight Below” team of sled dogspulled aheadof the spoof comedy “Date Movie”to claim the box office crown. The family film about eight dogs struggling to survive on their ownin Antarctica debuted at the top spot with a four-day total of $25 million compared to “Date Movie’s” $22.3 million, accordingto early estimates by Exhibitor Relations, tracks box office receipts daily. It appears the long weekend madeall the differencein ticket sales. Friday-Saturday-Sunday numbers were muchcloser, with “Eight Below” ($19.9 million) barely edging out “Date Movie” ($19 million). Perhaps it’s because family-friendly films dominated the boxoffice. Last week’s king, “The Pink Panther” only dropped to third place, while “Curious George” swung down onespot to fourth LARRY HORRICKS/New Line Productions Teresa Gazelle (Vera Farmiga) with her mob husband, Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker), are in danger from the Mobin “Running Scared.” ‘True grime — Zap2it.com. Box Office ‘Compiled by Exhibitor Relations Co and ‘Nielsen EDI Inc. for last Friday-Sunday. Cops and mobsters clash in deeply icky thriller DAILY HERALD Word to mybrother,a seribe filmhead and frequent at screenings, who pointed out that the end titles for “Running Scared” don't properly attribute its screenplay. “Written and directed Wayne Kramer,” we'retold. Directed, maybe. But “written” is too sophisticated a. wordto describe what’s been done here. More accurate, as Anders suggested, if the script credit were to read “adapted by Wayne Kramerfrom the word(rhymes with duck).” After about 15 seconds, you'll be stunned into nervous laughterat the likes of, “(Duck) me, he’s a cop! A (ducking) cop! (Brother- ducker)!” Or, “(mpiety)! That's (profanity)in’ (bovine byproduct). rieniyt After another 15 seconds, your ears will fall off. By the time that two hours have gone by, a tendril of smokeis all that will left of your boty abovethe be ae yeah, don’t take the kids tosee this one. Paul Walker, rotating 180 degrees from the wholesome persona he deployed in ane Below,” stars as Joey a twoit Mob flunky whose | most importantjob is to ditch wopus used to commit oreplot of “Running Scared” hinges on a snubnosed, chrome-plated .38 that Joey dispatches with lessthan 100 percent efficiency. That's bad newsfor his bosses and worse newsfor our “hero,” who spends the next 18 hours tracking downthe incriminating sidearm andgetting himself into and out of one sticky Situation after another. Most of these situations are literally sticky, as in blood literally sticks to everything in them.I mean, violence is one thing. The content of this mov- ie isn’t remotely encompassed by terms like bloodshed, gore, or eventotal carnage. You win,that’s gross, I’m appalled.I’ll throw uplater. In fairness,it must be ac- knowledged that Krameris a fine director of actors. Chazz Palminteri, playing a dirty cop, hasn’t been this good in years; Walker, mostly noted for his blondness and perfect teeth, may neverbe this good again. (Then again,it’s only Paul Walker.Just try to keep a straight face for the scene that showsJoey’s reaction to the theft of his cherry red Mustang convertible.) And despite the frequent visual clutter of swooshes and zooms, stutters and skips, the film has a degree ofstylistic verve. Kramer'sloveof the grittily violent films of Sam Peckinpah has been widely reported — throw out its absurd ending and most of “Running Scared”is at least Peckinpah- . “Eight Below,” Disney, Review @ Running Scared Director: Wayne Kramer Cast: Paul Walker, Vera Farmiga, Cameron Bright, Chazz Palminteri Runningtime: 2 hrs., 2 min. Rating: R for pervasive strong brutalviolence and language, sexuality and drug content Location: OpensFriday in theaters everywhere esque. lot ofit is also just plain sick, There's black humor, and then there's poortaste, and then there's vile rubbish, and then there's putting a 10-yearold at the mercy of a creepy upper middle class couple whose hobbyis so abominable I can't even hint at whatit is. This is éntertainment? Stop the world,I want to get off. $24,968,601, 3,066 locations, $8,144 average, $24,968,601, one week. 2. “Date Movie,” Fox, $21,812,384, 2,896 locations, $7,532 average, $21,812,384, one week. 4. “Curious G jeorge,” Universal, $15,367,950, 2,572locations, $5,975 average, snes 265,two weeks. 5. “Final 3,” New Line, ineseast 2,880 locations, $4,006 average, $37,253,197, two weeks. 6.“Firewall,” Wamer Bros., $10,382,241, 2,840 locations, $3,656 average, $28,700,754, two weeks. 7. “Freedomland,” Sony, ay 2,361 locations, $2,841 avers $6,707,111, one week. 8. “When Stranger Calls,” Sony Screen Gems,$5,824,394, 2,629locations, $2,215 average,$42,102,350, three weeks. 9. “Big Momma's House 2,” Fox, $5,574,090, 2,039locations, $2,734 average, $62,459,610,four weeks. 10. McPhee,” Universal, $5,102,555, 2,001locations, $2,550 average, $39,251,465,four weeks. oe e 9002 ‘EZ Auenugay ‘Aepsunyy ‘pjesay Ajeg Cody Clark with $15.3 million. Sophomoreruns of“Final Destination 3” and “Firewall” also hungin there, while the only otherfilm that opened in widerelease, the Samuel Jackson/Julianne Moore drama “Freedomland,” madea seventh-placefinish. |