Let’s Talk Movies! #31: Pandas, Zombies, Male Models, Superheroes, Greeks and…Caesar!

[Jay42]

I couldn't remember the sequel names for the life of me!

I blanked on X-Men and the Spider-Man movies until the last minute. My right hand is a little hard to type with at the moment so I was a little scared I wasn't going to be able to type fast enough but I managed.

 

[Wyliefan]

I saw Hail, Caesar! tonight and was disappointed. It could have been great -- there's lots of clever and funny stuff in it (Alden Ehrenreich is going to be a star, mark my words). But there's no real overarching story holding it all together -- Josh Brolin's storyline, which is supposed to do it, just doesn't -- and most of the characters are about an inch deep. It's not a movie, it's a bunch of little skits. Which is fine if you feel like seeing a bunch of little skits. But if you wanted a plot with some actual tension and something at stake, you'll be disappointed. Even though the situations could have been really interesting, I couldn't get invested enough to care.

And Channing Tatum's tap dancing was SO not like Gene Kelly's. He passed muster on a superficial level, by which I mean he did all the steps accurately and even executed a graceful leap or two. But there was no fire, no energy, no build to a finish. The dance just sort of . . . happened. As I said earlier, I'm not a Tatum fan, but even I expected him to do better than that.

 

[PeterG]

Alessandro Nivola double feature:

Mansfield Park and Janie Jones. I liked both, but I'd say Mansfield Park was more enjoyable. I believe the posters at imdb.com have trashed the movie for the liberties taken with the book in regards to the film's script. It seems weird to hear these kinds of complains because a movie version will always be an adaptation. You can never really compare a movie to the book it was based on because the book is a complete and finished work...there's never a reason to duplicate it. A movie is making something new from the idea of a book. Plus a movie can never represent a book, there just isn't time. Anyway, I found Mansfield Park to be very watchable. I think maybe I had seen it before as some of it triggered a memory for me, but I guess I saw it enough years ago for it to feel new again as well. I loved all the performances, lots of great actors other than Nivola, including Jonny Lee Miller, James Purefoy, Hugh Bonneville and Embeth Davidtz (not a name you might recognize, but click on her name for her google images page). And Frances O'Connor as the lead was wonderful, I'm surprised she hasn't had move high-profile roles since making this 1999 film.

Janie Jones was great as well, but I'd say the script wasn't quite as strong as Mansfield Park. Nicole to see Alessandro Nivola in a period movie and then a contemporary one. He did quite well in both types of movies. But I'd say Abigail Breslin stole this movie from Nivola, she is a great actress. The story is a bit of a downer, so it was a little tough to watch at times, but worth it. Frances Fisher, Frank Whaley and Elisabeth Shue all have roles in this movie as well, but their parts are tiny and not really worthy of their talents. Guess you gotta take work when you can get it? Either that, or they loved the project and didn't care about the size of their roles. They all do get a chance to shine, even if very briefly.

Another great performance that stands out in my mind was Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People. I wonder what happened to Timothy as he's faded off the radar.

Timothy Hutton is starring is currently on ABC's brilliant tv series, "American Crime". The cast is extraordinary and he's holding his own amongst a group of powerhouse actors. I can't recommend this show enough!!

...'Titanic' wasn't trash either; it wasn't a great movie but a highly entertaining one. Not worthy of a BP Oscar, IMO. I was hoping that LA confidential would win.

I definitely feel Titanic is a great movie. But I loooove big-screen popcorn movies. Love, love, LOVE them!!! I saw Titanic a few years ago when it was re-released and I enjoyed it, but it didn't have the same impact as the first time I saw it. My first viewing was on Christmas Day in the biggest movie theatre and I have ever been in. Packed house and everybody was awestruck by it. Brilliant film-making as far as I'm concerned. I think the second viewing I didn't have the same reaction because I kept waiting for "this scene" and then "that scene", so maybe I was impatient and built up each moment and my excitement overcame me! But I'm glad I got to see it twice on the big screen. This wasn't on my best films of all time list, but I think I'll add it to the "fun" section I've started at the end of the list.

 

[Xela M]

Well if you like all clichés in the history of film-making to be put into one big movie, add a terrible script and bad casting to it and voilà- out comes Titanic.

I was forced to see it several times by various friends and everytime I found it as painful as the first.

 

[Xela M]

I haven't seen it in many years, but I remember really liking Tender Mercies. It seemed like it was supposed to be a quiet movie.

But what actually happens? There are so many different things they could have explored - his alcoholism, the broken career, the mean ex-wife, the daughter, the new family etc etc. All those things could have added up to some drama in the vein of "Walk the Line" (which I liked very much). Instead, nothing at all happens in this film and everyone and everything is so sugary sweet it can give you toothache.

 

[Wyliefan]

Timothy Hutton is starring is currently on ABC's brilliant tv series, "American Crime". The cast is extraordinary and he's holding his own amongst a group of powerhouse actors. I can't recommend this show enough!!

I must check that out sometime. I love Hutton. He's done some brilliant work on TV -- he was great in Leverage, and before that he was absolutely perfect as Archie Goodwin on A&E's Nero Wolfe series. I still mourn that show.

 

[manhn]

I too loved Titanic. Besides the spectacle, I loved its genuine, earnest quality. I appreciate this film more now after years and years of of all these bromancey, quirky, sardonic, way-too-clever movies these days. Everyone is an anti-hero. It's all so complex--bleh.

I preferred LA Confidential that year, but my life went on.

Not everything can be The Revenant.

 

[agalisgv]

Not everything can be The Revenant.

Thank goodness

 

[cygnus]

ITA.

And, well, despite his minor role in Suffragette, I've noticed Ben Whishaw has been in several movies I've really liked/loved in the past years (Cloud Atlas, The Lobster, and..the Danish Girl haha). He was already great in Perfume, but he's aged well. And doesn't he remind you of Stéphane Lambiel sometimes?!

He was wonderful in Bright Star , which came out a couple of years ago- one of my favourite movies. If you like costume dramas, (or Romantic poets) I highly recommend it.

 

[Artemis@BC]

I loved Bright Star. But my favourite Ben Whishaw performance was in the BBC series The Hour. It's about a TV news magazine program (pioneering that format) during the cold war era -- so in addition to the gripping news stories of the time there are also a lot of behind-the-scenes pressures going on to shape the news to the government's agenda. Co-stars the equally fabulous Romola Garai, as well as Anna Chancellor and Dominic West.

 

[PeterG]

Well if you like all clichés in the history of film-making to be put into one big movie, add a terrible script and bad casting to it and voilà- out comes Titanic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...and cheeseburgers are bad for me. But they taste SO GOOD!!!!

I was forced to see it several times by various friends...

When will charges be laid?

 

[watchthis!!]

Movie news.

Kathryn Bigelow & Mark Boal Making a Film on Detroit's Race Riots
http://www.firstshowing.net/2016/kathryn-bigelow-mark-boal-making-a-film-on-detroits-race-riots/

Bigelow is of course the director behind Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker. Earlier directing gigs of Bigelow include Strange Days (Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett) and the original Point Break (Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves).


Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Team for Musical Comedy
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/channing-tatum-joseph-gordon-levitt-862288

The two have worked together multiple times before and this movie will be co-produced by Marc Platt who produced the musical Wicked. The idea for this movie comes from Gordon-Levitt and Michael Bacall, who has worked with both actors in previous movies.


Watch: 5-Minute Supercut Highlights ‘Actors Acting Opposite Themselves’
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-5-minute-supercut-highlights-actors-acting-opposite-themselves-20160205

Mike Myers, Jeremy Irons and Lindsay Lohan are my faves. 


Top 5 Movies to Watch in Theaters in February 2016
http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/movies-february-2016.php

Witches, westerns and wars!

 

[Artemis@BC]

I watched What We Did on Our Holiday last night. What a delightful film. Great performances by all the grownups (David Tennant, Rosamund Pike, and Billy Connolly), but the kids really steal the show -- and I find most child film performances annoying in the extreme. And the script balances the comedy with the pathos & poignancy extremely well. Plus there's the splendid Highlands backdrop.

Oddly enough, it was not the first time I've seen a film that strongly features

Spoiler

grandchildren doing a Viking funeral for their dead grandfather. The sleeper Rocket Gibraltar from 1988 also had that storyline. I wonder if this film knew of the other's existence.

The ending was perhaps wrapped up a little too neatly and quickly, but that's a minor flaw and didn't spoil anything.

 

[PeterG]

Aw heck...

A Brief History of Swearing in Movies

"This line was known to be followed by audible gasps from theatre audiences". Anybody want to guess what line of dialogue (or which movie it came from) which got this reaction?

Oh, and since I'm quizzing you:

Who was the first A-list actor/actress to swear on the big screen? Which swear word(s) did he use?

Which actor/actress broke the record for the most uses of the word "f***" on the big screen. For which film?

Which character or movie finished a line of expletives with "Barbra Streisand!!!"?

 

[Vash01]

Saw Hail Cesar! Today. Disappointing. I liked the trailer much better. It has its funny moments, but overall it dragged IMO. A lot of stars but each has just a couple of scenes. Some scenes go on and on. I had higher expectations of the Coen brothers. There are some well done scenes but the movie as a whole didn't impress me.

 

[Wyliefan]

Who was the first A-list actor/actress to swear on the big screen? Which swear word(s) did he use?

I'm guessing Clark Gable with "I don't give a damn"? (Unless maybe it was someone in a pre-code . . . )

 

[Xela M]

Which actor/actress broke the record for the most uses of the word "f***" on the big screen. For which film?

Leo Di Caprio for Wolf of Wall Street?

 

[peibeck]

I watched "What Happened Miss Simone" about the tumultuous life of Nina Simone last night on Netflix. I have always enjoyed her music and knew about some of her troubles, but certainly not to the depth they are depicted in his documentary. Highly recommended if you like her music, but it's definitely very dark.

 

[Jay42]

I never realised just how dark Chicken Run is. I mean I was 13 when it came out but for some reason it took me re-watching it tonight for the first time in years to realise just how dark it is. I know that seems strange but at the age of 13 I hadn't even registered how many of the heroes/heroines in Disney movies only had one parent for a variety of reasons. Let alone that I should have clued in that all the chickens in Chicken Run were going to die if they didn't escape.

I was a very sheltered child for someone who spent so much time watching John Wayne movies growing up.

 

[Artemis@BC]

^ My nephew was about 8 when it came out. He was visiting that summer and I wanted to take him, but he was too scared.

I, however, have seen it at least 3 times and absolutely love it. One of my favourite animated films of all time. "The chickens are revolting!"

 

[Kasey]

Which character or movie finished a line of expletives with "Barbra Streisand!!!"?

I'm guessing this one to be "In and Out" and the line being Joan Cusack? Although I don't think it was a whole line of expletives, but definately a "F*** Barbra Streisand!" was in there

 

[Jay42]

^ My nephew was about 8 when it came out. He was visiting that summer and I wanted to take him, but he was too scared.

I, however, have seen it at least 3 times and absolutely love it. One of my favourite animated films of all time. "The chickens are revolting!"

I definitely enjoyed it. I've just found I'm being continually reminded of how oblivious I was when I was younger. Chicken Run is definitely not the first movie I've watched as an adult and realised that I had missed a lot of what was actually happening in the movie just because I was too young or my parents hadn't explained certain things to me yet.

 

[PeterG]

Hmm. If you were to pit George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson, Jonah Hill, Dolph Lundgren, Clancy Brown, Frances McDormand, Christopher Lambert and Fisher Stevens against a panda bear…who do you think would win?

Weekend Domestic Chart for February 5th, 2016

Kung Fu Panda made over 21 million while Hail Ceasar! made just over 11 million. It appears that Hail Ceasar put all it’s good stuff into the movie trailer…

Star Wars and The Revenant came in third and fourth with two debuts at #5 (The Choice) and #6 (Pride and Prejudice Versus Zombies). These two movies made six and five million respectively and only managing $2,300 and $1,817 per theatre. I expect both will disappear from theatres fairly quickly, so if you want to see either on the big screen, now might be the time to do it.

Two of the movies that were supposedly released last week didn’t appear anywhere on the box office chart: Misconduct (with Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins) and All Roads Lead to Rome (with Sarah Jessica Parker and Paz Vega). Weird to see their movies not even getting a limited release…

Movies that make big revenue jumps from last week include:

Nothing, really! Well…The Lady In The Van jumped +18…

Box office thresholds passed/reached:

900 million - Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
50 million –Kung Fu Panda 3

 

[Japanfan]

Star Wars and The Revenant came in third and fourth with two debuts at #5 (The Choice) and #6 (Pride and Prejudice Versus Zombies). These two movies made six and five million respectively and only managing $2,300 and $1,817 per theatre. I expect both will disappear from theatres fairly quickly, so if you want to see either on the big screen, now might be the time to do it.

I read a funny review of The Revenant that said: "Man wants revenge, man gets revenge. In between we get a reprieve when Leonardo Di Capprio gets mauled by a bear"

 

[CantALoop]

How the f*ck is Hail Caesar considered a comedy? I don't remember the last time I nearly fell asleep during a movie, but I closed my eyes from boredom at least three times.

Saw Hail Cesar! Today. Disappointing. I liked the trailer much better. It has its funny moments, but overall it dragged IMO..

Totally agree, I thought the trailer looked great, but it was so incredibly boring to watch Hollywood wax nostalgia for over half the movie for a hastily wrapped up and anemic ending. What's crazy is that I think all the actors were great in their roles, but their characters were written shallow, and the dialogue and pacing were slow and uneven.

Seriously, Hail Caesar is Hollywood grabbing its ankles, bending over, and pleasuring itself...and manages to be boring while doing so.

 

[Artemis@BC]

I haven't seen such a big gap between critic and audience scores on RT for ages. Hail, Caesar! currently has 80% critic, 48% audience. Wowser!

I know I'm just going to have to see it for myself to decide, but am leaning more and more toward waiting to get it free from the library on DVD ...

 

[CantALoop]

Even then, I wouldn't recommend it. Even you saw it offered for free on Netflix or on an airplane, I would suggest that you not waste your time watching Hail, Caesar! It's that disappointing.

If you do go see it in the theater and you're utterly bored by the first half like we were, don't make the same mistake we did by sitting there and toughing it out hoping it gets better...because it doesn't. Be unashamed to demand a refund for this one.

EDIT: After reading the positive reviews, I have to say that I did get the symbolism of the Immaculate Conception, Last Supper, and Jesus' ascent into Heaven. However, I don't think that symbolism alone and being "meta" gives a movie a free pass to be plodding and horribly constructed. If you really do like picking apart and doing deep analyses of movies, then this might be worth your time...just don't expect to be entertained or have a lot of laughs.

 

[made_in_canada]

I was looking forward to seeing Hail, Caesar but given what I've heard I'll maybe wait until I don't have to pay for it

I watched Straight Outta Compton last night. I usually have a hard time sticking with long movies but not this one. Very well done.

 

[PeterG]

Some box office stuff...

We were talking about movies making back money through revenues other than box office. (How box office revenue doesn't always mean whether a movie was a flop or not.) Most movies I looked at stats for didn't show much for DVD sales...movies that flopped originally, but became popular due to video and DVD release. I think the first Austin Powers and Zoolander are examples of this. (I did check two sites to get info for them, but neither listed video sales.) Anyway, I eventually just decided to start at the top and checked out Avatar:

Domestic Box Office - $760,507,625
International Box Office - $2,023,411,357

Worldwide Box Office - $2,783,918,982

Home Market Performance

Domestic DVD Sales - $231,152,314
Domestic Blu-ray Sales - $160,183,717

Total Domestic Video Sales - $391,336,031

Those are (of course) ginormous numbers for video sales. Not that Avatar needed big video sales to make back it's money, though!

Another interesting chart I found shows how important international box office is now compared to how a movie performs in North America:

All Time Box Office - Worldwide Grosses

The first movie on this list that made more in North American than it did internationally is The Dark Knight, way down at #24. It made 53.2% of it's revenue from North America. Of the movies higher on the list, the movie that made the greatest percentage of it's revenue from international box office is Transformers: Age of Extinction at #15, which made 77.8% internationally. Or $245.4 in North America, versus $858.6 internationally. For me, it's getting stranger and stranger for people to refer to some movies as flops when they don't do well in North America. My guess is the industry doesn't care too much about how a movie performs here in North America. But if it flops overseas...then there's a problem!

 

[Buzz]

I think Star Wars international earnings was hurt by the low $US or else if would have overtaken Titanic already.