This looks a little like the inverse of 1967's Wait Until Dark, the movie where a blind Audrey Hepburn is preyed upon by criminals. This time the blind guy is a badass who mows down the home invaders. Looks like B-movie stuff, but might be kinda fun. It's coming out August 26th.
New Trailer for 'The Light Between Oceans'
I thought this looked melodramatic before, and this new peek at it confirms that tenfold, but who knows, maybe the acting will be good enough to save it. Sometimes people like a good tearjerker, and everyone in this looks great, from Fassbender and Vikander to the always overlooked Rachel Weisz. Maybe this will turn out to be something after all.
BOX OFFICE 5/13-5/15: 'Captain America' Dominates Again; 'Money Monster' So-So
Unsurprisingly, Civil War held on to the top spot at the box office this weekend, falling about 59 percent to 72 million, which brings its domestic total to 295 million, already past both previous Captain America films. But, since it's really another Avengers movie anyway, I guess that really shouldn't be too impressive. Its global total is now at 940 million, and it's expected to blow past the billion dollar mark in the next two weeks. In second place, Disney also held on with The Jungle Book, taking in another 17 million for over 300 million domestic and now 840 million worldwide. It's Disney's world, you guys, we're just living in it.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts's Money Monster came in third, with an okay 15 million despite mixed reviews after it debuted at the Cannes film festival over the weekend. Jodie Foster directed the film, and it already looks to be her highest grossing project as a filmmaker. Mother's Day plummeted after a small boost last week thanks to the holiday, and The Darkness rounded out the top five with around five million.
Top 5:
- Captain America: Civil War- 72.5 million
- The Jungle Book- 17.8 million
- Money Monster- 15 million
- The Darkness- 5 million
- Mother's Day- 3.3 million
In limited release, A24's The Lobster had the highest specialty opening of the year with a 47k per screen average and 188k on four screens. In other news, Zootopia continues to soar overseas, having now earned 970 million globally and seems likely to make it past 1 billion, one of the few original movies to do so. Next week it's The Angry Birds Movie, Neighbors 2 and The Nice Guys, all of which have the potential to do well, although Nice Guys may be more of a question mark. See you then.
Michael Fassbender Stars in 'Assassin's Creed' Teaser
There seems to be some hype for this movie coming out in December, and I'm not sure why. As far as I know, there has never been a single live action adaptation of a video game to ever approach even mediocre quality. And no, don't say the Tomb Raider movies if that's what you're thinking of, because as always, there's a difference between quality and success. Those were shit. And why would this one be any different, exactly? Because of the pedigree? Actors like Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, who by the way, just starred together in the last movie that this guy Justin Kerzel directed, which was Macbeth and which completely bombed last year. I just don't see any reason to give video game adaptations the benefit of the doubt, until one actually proves itself. And this one looks a lot like the others to me.
First Trailer for Ang Lee's 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'
Well, on first glance this sure looks like something that would be Oscar caliber...then again, Kristen Stewart is in it. Okay, aside from my rather violent reaction to seeing her ever unchanging, inexpressive face constantly showing up in trailers lately, they are usually for movies that I will NEVER see, so whatever. But Ang Lee is a director who I will always give the benefit of the doubt to, so this one I have to be curious about, and I don't know if I can bring myself to see a movie that she's in. Still, he's definitely taking some risks with the filmmaking here, so that's interesting. Varying frame rates, which are obvious, etc. The story doesn't seem all that new, but maybe Lee's vision can bring some life to something that seems familiar? One would hope, but again...Kristen Stewart. Not a good sign.
Ben Affleck is a Genius in 'The Accountant'
This is a really vague trailer, but I can tell you right now that I will never buy Ben Affleck as a math genius or whatever it is he's supposed to be here. He really has two notes as an actor- comedic, which is the thing he can actually do well (see Dazed and Confused, Shakespeare in Love or even Good Will Hunting) and the other note...well, I'm just gonna call it vacant. He stares blankly a lot in dramatic movies. This looks like another one of those.
Tom Hanks is Joined by Felicity Jones for 'Inferno' Trailer
For those who are interested in the next installment of what I'm pretty sure is the most forgettable ongoing franchise of the moment, here's Inferno, the continuation of Ron Howard's adaptations of the Dan Brown historical action books. I have to admit, I've never seen any of these, even though I did read The Da Vinci Code way back when it was the most popular airport novel of 2006/7. That was about all I needed of these stories though.
Movie of the Day: "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974)
For Mother's Day, we have one of the few films Martin Scorsese ever made about a woman, and one of his best at that. I think this movie isn't often remembered as part of his canon mostly because it doesn't fit into the Scorsese "mold" of gangsters and violence that he's most known for, but it's just as good and interesting as any of those, and a perfect time capsule for the era in which it was made. Ellen Burstyn plays Alice Hyatt, a housewife in a miserable marriage to a guy who abuses both her and her 12 year old son. When he dies in an accident and leaves them penniless, she has to step up and do something to support herself and her kid for the first time in her life. Burstyn is fantastic in the role which earned her a Best Actress Oscar, and the mother-son relationship is funny, earnest and specifically drawn. The ending is slightly controversial, given the movie's ostensibly feminist message, but it's also kind of realistic for the time. This movie was so popular it actually inspired a long running sitcom. Happy Mother's Day everybody!
BOX OFFICE 5/06-5/08: 'Civil War' Pulls in 180 Million
As expected, Marvel dominated Mother's Day weekend with Civil War earning over 181 million at the box office, making it good for the fifth biggest domestic opening in history. There were some who thought it would make over 200 million, but it fell short of that, and it also fell short of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which managed 191 million. But, obviously, all these weekends are huge to the point where it's unexpected if a movie that for all intents and purposes basically was the next Avengers film, didn't make around the same amount. It earned an "A" Cinemascore, which means its legs will probably hold up better than Batman v Superman. Its worldwide total is already at 700 million after just 12 days in release in select countries.
In second place was The Jungle Book with 21 million, earning a new total of 285 million, while Mother's Day actually increased 8 percent from its terrible opening, thanks to the holiday of course. The Huntsman and Keanu filled out the top five, while I just want to mention here that Zootopia has now crossed 327 million, which officially puts it ahead of Batman v Superman, which earned just 1 million this weekend, plummeting 73 percent since last week and adding to the impression that it's a disappointment financially, despite earning over 850 million worldwide. Both Zootopia and Deadpool will earn more domestically.
Top 5:
- Captain America: Civil War- 182 million
- The Jungle Book- 21.9 million
- Mother's Day- 9 million
- The Huntsman: Winter's War- 3.6 million
- Keanu- 3.1 million
Again, not much to talk about in limited release, although I should mention that some slightly successful indie releases this year were Sally Field's Hello, My Name is Doris, which is sitting at 13 million, and Helen Mirren's Eye in the Sky, at 17 million. So, good for older audiences, who now can only see actors and actresses of their era starring in small films with minimal screens. Captain America will dominate the box office for a while, with just Jodie Foster's Money Monster out next week, along with smaller releases like The Darkness, Love and Friendship and The Lobster. See you guys next week.
Full Trailer for Blake Lively in 'The Shallows'
Well, the full trailer for this Blake Lively vs. a shark movie definitely didn't disappoint. It's pure camp ridiculousness all the way, from Blake outsmarting the great white to Blake apparently pretending to be a doctor (I honestly don't know which one of those is more ludicrous). I may have to see this, after all. The laugh per minute ratio could be out of this world.
Mila Kunis Battles Christina Applegate in 'Bad Moms'
Okay, so, this looks horrendous, but aside from the general awfulness of this trailer, am I the only one who is confused as to why Mila Kunis's kids look about 12 and 13 in this? Is she really supposed to have had them as a teenager? It looks like it's supposed to be completely normal, but Mila Kunis is in her early thirties and looks very young, why would they make her kids adolescents? I know people can get started early, but it seems like it'd make more sense if they were around 5 or 6 years old at most, wouldn't it? Especially because she also looks like she's well off and with some kind of important job...yeah, not buying that. She's miscast here, but something tells me they didn't want this film headlined by only fortysomething women. Typical.
10 Movies to See in May
Happy May Day, everyone! As it's the first of the month, it's time now for the new crop of movies to recommend for the next thirty days, and as is our custom here, the theme for May is "In Commemoration, Part 1" for Memorial Day, as we celebrate war movies that take place mostly before the 20th century, although we do have some WWI choices in there too. We choose to celebrate this holiday all month long so we can make as many varied picks as possible, and some of my favorites for this theme include Gone With the Wind, A Very Long Engagement, Paths of Glory, Grand Illusion and so on. Go to the Movies for Every Month page to read more about this month's theme and why these particular films were chosen, and click here for the full list of ten films, including the original trailers. Happy Movie Watching!
