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On this week’s Frot, Alison Stevenson returns from LA where she recently moved to pursue her dream of becoming a Palindrome Android, and we talk Killer Joe (briefly), Armond White calling Samuel L. Jackson an Uncle Tom, Jodie Foster’s Golden Globes speech, Dredd 3D, whether there’s more than one good Michael Crichton movie, and of course answer all your questions about relationships and poop. Alison shares the story that led up to her crying during a preview for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I’ve got time-stamped notes after the jump courtesy of Adam.

IMPORTANT USER PARTICIPATION: What would you like to hear on the best-of 2012 Frotcast? Tell us in the comments.

UPCOMING SHOWS: I’ll be doing comedy at Milk Bar on January 29th as part of SF Sketchfest, and February 27th at the Hollywood Improv.

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Email us at frotcast@gmail.com. Voicemail us at 415.275.0030. Follow me on Twitter. Follow Alison Stevenson on Twitter. Follow Ben on Twitter. Follow Bret on Twitter. Fan us on Facebook.
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Not Pictured: His Frankenweenie. Sorry. I guess that headline’s a little misleading.

It’s a new year, and there’s plenty of new DVDs to discuss. Yes there’s Dredd and Frankenweenie, but there’s so much more. Almost all of this week’s offerings are movies you’ve never heard of starring people you have -assuming you’ve heard of people like Michael Weston and David Morse. Even if you don’t know those names, there’s films with Nicolas Cage, Gary Oldman, Kurt Russell, Anne Heche, Martin Sheen, Dakota Fanning, and Melissa Leo. We’ve got flicks about football players and priests, terminal cancer patients and musicians, lesbians and fast-food workers.  There’s ghouls and witches, and WWII soldiers.  There’s even a movie all about guns, girls, and gambling!

The DVDs:
Dredd
Frankenweenie
House At The End Of The Street
Hit & Run
Stolen
Guns, Girls, And Gambling
Touchback
That’s What She Said
Stella Days
Now Is Good
Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best
Collaborator
Compliance
Excuse Me For Living
Jack & Diane
Ghoul
Hansel & Gretel
Pathfinders: In The Company Of Strangers
The Wise Kids
A Dangerous Place

Streaming: Check out your choices here.

Want to know which flick’s all about guns, girls, and gambling?  Continue reading.  At least one of these films features time travel.  The only way to know which one (or ones) is to continue reading. Of course you can skip straight to the Netflix streaming suggestions by clicking the link above, but then you’d be breaking that New Year’s resolution you made about reading more things more often, and nobody wants to give up on their resolutions yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Forbes just released their list of the year’s 10 biggest flops (defining loss here as a percentage of budget, rather than total loss), which you can see below. The year is almost over, so there aren’t many films left that can out-bomb these bombs. All that’s left are Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, Twilight, Red Dawn, Rise of the Guardians, Silver Linings Playbook, Hitchcock, Killing Them Softly, Lay the Favorite, Playing for Keeps, The Hobbit, Hyde Park on the Hudson, The Guilt Trip, Zero Dark Thirty, Jack Reacher, Les Mis, Django, and Promised Land. Phew, okay, that’s actually a lot. But I believe in you, Red Dawn.

We used data from Box Office Mojo to see which films earned the smallest percentage of their budgets at the box office. Keep in mind that to begin to even imagine breaking even a film needs to earn at least twice its production budget at the box office. These 10 films didn’t come close. [Cloud Atlas is still in theaters, so it doesn't technically count yet, but I included it anyway.]

1. “The Oogieloves,” (Box office: $1 million; production budget: $20 million)

2. “A Thousand Words,” (Box office: $20 million; production budget: $40 million)/ “Cloud Atlas” (Box office: $24 million; production budget: $100 million)

3. “Dredd” (Box office: $28 million; production budget: $50 million)

4. “Big Miracle” (Box office: $25 million: production budget: $40 million)

5. “Wanderlust” (Box office: $21 million; production budget: $30 million)

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Aw, don't ever change, sad business man stock photos. This one is practically a short story. (Shutterstock)

Is it time to panic yet? Last week I told you about

According to studio estimates, House at the End of The Street [gratuitous picture of Jennifer Lawrence's cleavage included] and End of Watch are tied with $13 million, while Trouble with the Curve isn’t far behind and could ultimately move up to the top spot. Without any break-out hit, the Top 12 earned an estimated $76.6 million this weekend, which is off a whopping 28 percent from the same frame last year.

House at the End of the Street topped recent “House” horror movies Dream House ($8.1 million) and Silent House ($6.7 million), but was a bit behind Last House on the Left ($14.1 million). The audience skewed young (70 percent under 25) and female (61 percent), and it was also predominantly Latino (52 percent). They gave the movie a “B” CinemaScore.

Seriously, there are enough other crappy horror movies with “house” in the title to be a basis for comparison? Gee, I can’t imagine why people weren’t rushing away from their flat screens in a hurry to buy seven-dollar popcorn for that one. Hey, but what about Dredd 3D? Wasn’t that one actually good?

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"HEY! I wasn't done judging yet, but this isn't helping your cause!"

In Theaters Everywhere: Dredd 3D, House at the End of the Street, End of Watch, Trouble with the Curve

FilmDrunk Suggests: Flip a coin for Dredd 3D (which Vince really liked) and End of Watch, which I think looks fantastic. Dredd 3D is my Sunday Movie Day movie of choice for this week, though, because Karl Urban is my bro. Did You Know: Between Urban and my undying love for Rosamund Pike, DOOM is watchable? It’s true.

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