Okay, so this last trailer puts Myst- oh I'm sorry, Jennifer Lawrence sans makeup, front and center as the undoubted leader of the X-Men after Charles gets kidnapped and Magneto looks to be brainwashed by Apocalypse or something. Fantastic. Mystique always was the most interesting character in these new X-Men movies, especially out of her suit/makeup. Wait, what's that? She's incredibly dull, emotionless, and they're only doing this because Jennifer Lawrence plays her? Right. That's what I thought. You see Wolverine's claw in the last second of this trailer, and the rest of it makes me wish he was just starring in it again as the lead.
BOX OFFICE 4/22-4/24: 'Jungle Book' Crushes 'Huntsman: Winter's War'
Well, that was uneventful. Disney's The Jungle Book easily bested the new release of the week, a prequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman, which opened to a mere 20 million, nothing compared to Jungle Book's second weekend haul of 60 million, as it declined just 41 percent for a 10-day total of 191 million. Looks like this will become Disney's second 300 million grosser of the year and it's only April. Huntsman's opening is quite a bomb, considering the budget was at least 115 million, so count that one as yet another non-opener for Chris Hemsworth, outside the Thor movies.
Meanwhile, Barbershop: The Next Cut held pretty well, falling just 46 percent for a new 36 million total, and Zootopia took in another 6 million, bringing its own total to 316 million and a staggering 907 million worldwide. It remains to be seen if it can cross that billion mark, but it's now the third biggest Disney release ever, behind Frozen and The Lion King. Rounding out the top five was The Boss, which sits at 49 million for Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone.
Top 5:
- The Jungle Book- 60.8 million
- The Huntsman: Winter's War- 20.1 million
- Barbershop: The Next Cut- 10.8 million
- Zootopia- 6.6 million
- The Boss- 6.1 million
In limited release, Susan Sarandon's The Meddler opened to an okay 15k PTA, while Tom Hank's A Hologram For a King (has anyone even heard of this movie??) debuted with 1 million on 401 screens. It's sad when you see movies starring big names like Sarandon and Hanks being forced into tiny limited release where hardly anyone will ever see them, isn't it? Next week it's the Key and Peele comedy Keanu against Julia Roberts in Mother's Day (I also just heard that film existed about a week ago, but hey, at least it's opening in wide release). Expect Jungle Book to stay on top before Civil War opens on May 6th.
REVIEW: "The Jungle Book" (2016) Neel Sethi, Bill Murray. Dir. Jon Favreau
Disney's annual live-action remake of one of their classic animated films continues with a new version of The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau and essentially an animated film itself, aside from the human Mowgli, played by Neel Sethi, who's asked to act alongside virtually nothing for the entire running time.
As an exercise in visual achievement, this film is tops. All of the animals and backgrounds are CG-rendered and flawless at that, leaving the most you can get out of this as a viewer the absolute wonder of the stunning and realistically rendered images. The sweeping jungle is filled with a spectrum of colorful detail that transports you thoroughly inside the habitat. But as to everything else this movie has to offer, I can't really praise it to the heavens. It of course has one foot set in the 1967 beloved cartoon version, which means it pulls the nostalgia strings by evoking pieces of George Bruns' iconic score (just hearing those notes over the opening titles will make you want to go back and watch the original), and the Sherman Brothers' beloved songs "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You." (Fun fact: the Oscar-nominated "Bare Necessities" actually lost Best Song to "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle (!)- I guess handing last year's win to Sam Smith's Bond song may not have been the absolute worst in the history of the category).
But the movie wants to yank on those chains without morphing into a full musical, so the scenes in which it resurrects those songs feel obligatory and half-hearted, especially the King Louie sequence, which aside from the spectacle of Louie himself (voiced by Christopher Walken and this time depicted as a gargantuan, dinosaur-esque creature of mythic proportions), really isn't handled all that well and feels awkward in its lurch toward full blown "let's just burst into song" territory.
The story is structured in a way that follows similar beats to the original. You know it well- Mowgli is a man-cub raised by wolves in the jungle until the day that Shere Khan (intimidatingly voiced by Idris Elba) decides to make him his next human prey, before he can turn into a menacing, full grown man who plays with fire. So the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and new bear friend Baloo (Bill Murray) escort Mowgli through the jungle and save him from near fatal encounters, etc., etc. There's nothing too surprising or below the surface involved here, and frankly, the animals' interactions with Mowgli are hindered by the just below mediocre acting abilities of the 11-year-old Sethi. It's more convincing when you see them talking with each other. Favreau does a nice job moving the action along, and kids will probably go for this in droves, but the humor and the character relationships of the old movie are starkly missing from this one. It's a nice effort that in the end just doesn't amount to much overall. Except for those amazing visuals, of course.
* * 1/2
Movie of the Day: "Princess Mononoke" (1997)
Happy Earth Day, everyone! This is a holiday that's often overlooked or forgotten by most people, so I thought I'd recommend something special for it, and this 1997 film by the great Hayao Miyazaki is one that at its core, is about protecting the earth from the ruin caused by humans. There's a lot of great stuff here- another fierce heroine in the Miyazaki canon, plus a mix of adventure, action, romance and with plenty of gods and spirits thrown in as well, but the underlying message of it all couldn't be clearer. Take a look at this one on the day that should be dedicated to the preservation of our natural resources. It's an emotional and moving film that should convince anyone by the end of it, if you're not already.
Here's the trailer for the dubbed U.S. version, but as always, I'd strongly recommend the original Japanese with subtitles, if you can find it:
New Trailer for 'Independence Day: Resurgence' Reunites Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman
This also teams up Goldblum with Liam Hemsworth as the pilots this time around, which I'd say is a serious downgrade from the Will Smith/Goldlbum combo. Seriously, I'm surprised Will Smith didn't come back for this one, since it's practically a guaranteed hit based on 90's nostalgia, Jurassic World-style. Now it looks like they may have killed him off. And also, can I just say that despite his looks, Liam Hemsworth is black hole of charisma, and the sappy romance with Pullman's daughter looks like it was yanked straight from Armageddon.
Prince 1958-2016
This one hurts, guys. Prince Rogers Nelson was found dead in his Minneapolis home today at the way too young age of 57. Like David Bowie, Prince's death is way too big to overlook on a movie site, and besides his incredible and legendary music career, he did have an impact in films as well. When Purple Rain was out in 1984, he was the first artist since The Beatles to hold the number one film, album and single on the charts at the same time. He even won an Oscar in 1985 for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain. Besides starring as The Kid in that 80's classic, he also directed and starred in Under the Cherry Moon, Sign o' the Times and Graffiti Bridge. But of course, what can I even say about his music that everyone doesn't already know? An icon, an innovator, a musical genius, an amazing guitar player...he basically did it all. He made the most of this thing called life, that's for sure.
Prince's Oscar Win:
Purple Rain Trailer:
Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart Star in Woody Allen's 'Cafe Society'
I've almost gotten to the point where I've basically written off Woody Allen. Even one that I kinda liked, like Blue Jasmine, had some serious shortcomings that only grew more prominent and annoying in my mind as I thought about it. But is it me or does this one look a little more lively than his most recent offerings? The costumes look good at least. I don't know, maybe I'm being fooled again. This movie is opening the Cannes film festival in a couple weeks though, so maybe there's something there. Too bad I basically despise the leads.
Michael Keaton Stars as McDonald's Visionary in 'The Founder'
Looks a bit like a typical biopic kinda thing, but what else can you expect from John Lee Hancock, director of such bland dreck as The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks? Also not a great sign is the fact that this movie was moved from a fall release date to early August. Weinstein usually knows the goods when he has it, and he seems to think this one doesn't. Still nice to see this career comeback streak for Michael Keaton rolling on though.
Matt Damon Returns as 'Jason Bourne' in Full Trailer
Well, it looks like a Bourne movie. That's about all I can say about this trailer, aside from the Vegas chase scene, which does look pretty cool. The thing about the Bourne movies is that when they were originally coming out, the Greengrass style of frenetic, hardcore action filmmaking was so revolutionary that it took hold of the genre immediately and every action movie in its wake was somewhat ripping it off. So now, all these years later, it's no longer as different as it once felt. But Greengrass is still a great director, so if anyone can pull off a good one, it's him. We'll see. I also don't really buy Alicia Vikander in the role of CIA agent or whatever it is she's playing here. The first three cast character actors Chris Cooper, Joan Allen and David Straithairn in those parts- people who looked and seemed like government officials if nothing else. But the baby-faced, lovely Vikander? Yeah, not so much.
Emily Blunt Turns On the Waterworks for 'The Girl on the Train'
Speaking of blah, this adaptation of the bestselling thriller looks an awful lot like Gone Girl, which I understand the book was as well. Not convinced this will be any good, especially coming from director Tate Taylor, the guy who helmed The Help and Get On Up. Also, I gotta be honest- I don't know what it is about Emily Blunt, but she's never really struck me as having much screen presence or charisma. Can't see her carrying a movie like this.
Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt Lead the New 'Magnificent Seven' Trailer
This isn't one of those untouchable classics that can't be remade or anything, but this new one looks kinda blah, if you ask me. Maybe I just hate it when people attach new music to period settings to make it look "cooler" for younger audiences. Hopefully it works, since westerns don't really get made at all anymore.
BOX OFFICE 4/15-4/17: 'The Jungle Book' Wows With 103 Million
Okay, so people knew Disney's live-action Jungle Book was probably going to be big, but early estimates ended up rising from 70 to 88 to now coming in with 103 million over the weekend, which is pretty amazing...although these days it's really starting to feel like old news when a big movie takes in 100 million on opening weekend, isn't it? It's the second highest April opening ever, next to last year's Fast and Furious movie. Interestingly, it's the second live action Disney movie to open over 100 million, as Alice in Wonderland did it back in 2010. The movie got great reviews and an "A" Cinemascore though, and will have strong legs going forward, as the family choice for audiences. It's already made 291 million worldwide, with particular success in India, as it's now the highest grossing Disney release in history there.
Barbershop: The Next Cut, opened in second with 20 million, which is almost exactly how much the original made back in 2002, while Kevin Costner's Criminal bombed and didn't even crack the top five. The Boss fell 57 percent for third and has now grossed 40 million, while BvS took another steep hit and came in with 9 million, bringing its new total to 310 million. Zootopia rounded out the top five with 8 million and now sits at 307 million and is closing in on 900 million globally, with Japan still to come to see if it can make it over a billion, as the year's highest grossing movie worldwide.
Top 5:
- The Jungle Book- 103 million
- Barbershop: The Next Cut- 20.2 million
- The Boss- 10.2 million
- Batman v Superman- 9 million
- Zootopia- 8.2 million
In limited release, John Carney's Sing Street opened to a 13k PTA and 68k overall on five screens, while Don Cheadle's Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead expanded to 47 screens and earned 212k for 635k so far. Next week it's The Huntsman: Winter's War in wide release, with Susan Sarandon's The Meddler opening in limited. See you guys then.
