Tim Martens

CHICAGO – 2012 continues its trend for the fourth straight weekend with another new film coming in at number one. In a month of all sorts of new releases, “The Grey” is the fourth different film to win the box office on its opening weekend.

CHICAGO – Just under five years ago, Katherine Heigl became a decently known actress in the film world for her role as Alison in the Judd Apatow film “Knocked Up.” After having been in the show “Grey’s Anatomy” for a few years, Heigl had finally broke into the world of cinema, and seemed to have a decent amount of comedy acting skills.

CHICAGO – The Sundance film festival has been in full swing for the better part of the last week, and word keeps coming in about films that have been picked up for distribution by studios. The newest add to the list is the contemporary comedy “For a Good Time, Call…,” which was picked up by Focus Features.

CHICAGO – While some television fans (including myself) continue to mourn the absence of “Community” from the NBC lineup, the network has announced that they have picked up not one…not two…but ten new pilots, eight of which are listed as comedies. The list of new shows has some known names attached to them as well, including Jason Ritter and Roseanne Barr.

CHICAGO – Apparently, Spike Lee is upset with Hollywood. And if you didn’t know, he made it loud and clear at a Q&A after the first screening ever of his new film “Red Hook Summer,” which premiered Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The film, which received mixed remarks on Twitter from the audience in attendance, was made by Lee completely independent of a studio.

CHICAGO – In the heat of award season, with critically praised movies getting most of the buzz in Hollywood, it is sometimes easy to forget some of the films currently in theaters. But while the Golden Globes took place last weekend and Academy Award nominations come out in two days, “Underworld: Awakening” was the winner at the weekend box office.

CHICAGO – Last week, we gave you a list of the top ten video games of 2011. With a list that included “Arkham City,” “Dead Space 2,” “Portal 2,” “Skyrim,” and “Uncarted 3” 2011 definitely had some highlights, but, as mentioned in the previous article, 2011 will not go down as one of the greatest years in game history. There were some very fine games, but overall, games seemed to be lacking a bit…at least compared to 2010.

CHICAGO - The British Academy Film Award Nominations were released today, and the silent film “The Artist” led the way with 12 nominations. Keeping its impressive award season going, “The Artist” picked up nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

CHICAGO – The morning after the Golden Globes came with big news in the world of film editing. The American Cinema Editors, the guild group for editors in American cinema, announced the nominees for the 62nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards.

CHICAGO – In a battle between action/thriller and Disney/animation, Mark Wahlberg’s new film “Contraband” came out on top. Battling all weekend against the 3D re-release of “Beauty and the Beast 3D,” “Contraband” was able to come in at number one after earning an estimated $24.1 million in its first weekend in theaters.