Brooklyn has had a steady roll through the fall film festivals, being rapturously received at Toronto and New York, following its debut in Sundance last January. It's been so well-received in fact, that I now think the film is a heavy Oscar contender in both Actress and Picture, especially given that it's backed by Fox Searchlight, a studio with plenty of awards success behind it. I've always loved the soulful Saoirse Ronan, so it makes me happy to see her going on to adult success after having had her first nomination as a child for 2007's Atonement. This is one of the films I can't wait to see in November.
Movie of the Day: "Dracula" (1931)
I've dedicated this month to monster movies over in the October movie page, but there are still so many from the Hollywood golden age, that I'm also deeming this week the celebration of classic movie monsters in general. So we start with the 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula- a movie that to be quite honest, isn't as good as Frankenstein, but still an essential, for Lugosi's "Children of the Night" speech alone. Lugosi was considered the Master of Horror, and this was the first time he played the vampire, as a seductive, charming, gentleman of the night basically, who can't see his reflection, turns into a vampire bat and ensnares young women with the taste of his blood- this was the beginning of the "vampire as alluring sexual predator" metaphor that continues to this day, since the silent Nosferatu couldn't exactly play on the attractiveness of the freaky Max Schreck's features. This one is so iconic that even the slight staginess of the production from the early sound era shouldn't hinder you from checking it out.
Original 1931 Trailer:
BOX OFFICE 10/09-10/11: 'The Martian' Stays on Top While 'Pan' and 'The Walk' Bomb
A great hold this week for The Martian, which fell a scant 37 percent to earn another 37 million- its domestic total is already at 108 million, with reaching 200 million a strong and likely possibility. Meanwhile, the 150 million dollar WB movie Pan was a total flop, bringing in just 15 million, below even the soft expectations of 20 million. The movie was also panned by critics (couldn't resist, sorry) , sitting at 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which means this one joins Tomorrowland and Fantastic Four as one of the biggest bombs of the year. Looks like no one is interested in a live action Peter Pan story, no matter what you do with it.
Hotel Transylvania 2 held onto the family crowd with second place and 20 million, while the Robert Zemeckis film The Walk was a total wipeout, making just 3.7 million after its pathetic IMAX start last week. It didn't even make the top five. I guess another topic no one's interested in is a guy walking on a wire (although I do recommend the amazing documentary about the story from 2008, Man on Wire) . The Intern and Sicario rounded out the top five, with The Intern especially holding well to become a kind of sleeper hit, nearly crossing 50 million so far.
Top 5:
- The Martian- 37 million
- Hotel Transylvania 2- 20.3 million
- Pan- 15.5 million
- The Intern- 8.7 million
- Sicario- 7.4 million
In limited release, the big news was the smashing start of Steve Jobs, which opened on 4 screens to a stunning 590k, a 133k per screen average, easily the best PTA of the year, but also the 15th best of all time- wow. It'll be interesting, as always, to see how it expands (it's set to go wide on the 23rd), but it looks very promising so far for the sure to be heavy Oscar contender. Next week we have the wide release of the new Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies, along with the Guillermo del Toro ghost story Crimson Peak, and the limited openings of Cate Blanchett's Truth and Brie Larson's potential Oscar player Room. See you all then!
Peter Sarsgaard Redoes the Stanley Milgram Experiment in 'Experimenter' Trailer
I grow more and more amazed every day by the sheer amount of movies that look perfectly interesting and with fairly big name actors that are going straight to video on demand instead of getting a theatrical release. This is what they mean when they say that the adult audience has moved to television- when a movie like this, with Winona Ryder and Peter Sarsgaard about the Stanley Milgram experiments can't even get distribution, hope for film audiences really is dwindling. Look for it October 16th.
Red Band Trailer for John Hillcoat's New Thriller 'Triple 9'
An all star cast gets violent for Australian director John Hillcoat, whose movies The Proposition and Lawless were pretty much known mostly for their violence. But hey, we see Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winsley, Aaron Paul and Anthony Mackie here, so he assembled himself quite an ensemble. It's coming out in February.
An All Star Cast Spoofs 1950's Hollywood in the Coen Brothers 'Hail, Caesar!'
The humorous Coens are back, which I guess explains why this movie is coming out in February of next year. The Coen Brothers are usually in the Oscar race when they have a film out, but I guess their comedies, as great as they can be, never really make it into consideration. Still, this looks pretty awesome and very Coen, as many of today's stars take on impressions of 50's Hollywood actors in a kind of neo-noir screwball comedy, it looks like. Can't wait.
Lizzie Bennett Takes On the Apocalypse in 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'
The aesthetic matches many of the shots, sets and costumes from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, but a new wrinkle is added when zombies attack the 19th century heroine and her pals. Based on a famed graphic novel and with Cinderella's Lily James as Elizabeth, this one should bring in devoted Austen fans who want to see the iconic story spoofed, although zombies in general just feels SO overdone lately.
Kurt Russell and Patrick Wilson Star in Western 'Bone Tomahawk'
This looks pretty intense. Kurt Russell is grizzled and older, but still cool as ever in the trailer for what looks like a pretty violent western, something they don't make a lot of anymore. Of course, that means it's coming out in a limited release only, so look for this one on October 23rd.
John Williams to Receive the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award
Jaws, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Harry Potter...it's astonishing the number of iconic music scores John Williams has created, and now he's being honored with the American Film Institute's life achievement award, the first composer ever to receive it. And it makes perfect sense, when you look at all he's done- even Home Alone has an iconic theme, for pete's sake. There's no better composer to receive the first AFI honor than this man.
Here's a sampling of some of William's best work. You probably know them all by heart.
War Breaks Out in Final 'Hunger Games' Trailer
I actually thought that fanvideo looking thing was the final Mockingjay trailer a couple weeks ago, but here's a more official one. I don't know what to say about it, except that thank god it's finally over. Maybe this whole awful genre will subside now with it.
The Dinos Finally Speak in New Trailer for 'The Good Dinosaur'
For anyone who might have been fooled by the teasers for this movie into thinking that it was going to be another WALL-E or something (I wasn't), this is your wake-up call that it's really supposed to be another Ice Age. I personally don't think this looks very good, despite being from Pixar (is anyone else bothered by the bright, neon colored look of these dinosaurs?), but it'll probably be big hit anyway, since it's coming out at Thanksgiving and the family audience is always starved for entertainment.
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Magic Mike XXL" (2015)
I didn't actually get around to doing a full review of the Magic Mike sequel this summer, but you'll be surprised to hear that it's actually a pretty fun time- maybe even a tad better than the first one. It lost none of the semi-serious tone of the original movie, but it did leave behind the pointless love interest and depressing drug subplot, which was a wise move, and simply allowed the movie to give people what they wanted to see in the first place- hot guys stripping for the ladies, and Channing Tatum in several well-choreographed dance sequences, showing once again that he could maybe be this generation's Gene Kelly if he wanted to. Dude's a good dancer. I enjoyed Magic Mike XXL in exactly the way the movie wants you to- and that's a pretty good time for any of us girls.
Trailer:
