Mike Mills, the director of Beginners, is back with a new film starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig as a trio of women at different ages in 1979. It's premiering at the New York Film Festival this week and set for release on December 25th. I thought Beginners was just okay, but let's remember it won Christopher Plummer the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, so I'd say this one is probably something to look out for in the performances at least, especially with someone like Bening in the lead. She's a four-time Oscar nominee who's never won- I'd say she's in the Julianne Moore category of veteran overdue actresses.
Powerhouse Acting from Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in 'Fences' Trailer
In Denzel Washington's new directorial effort, he takes on August Wilson's famed play, for which Viola Davis actually won a Tony award. Could an Oscar be next? It definitely looks all about the performances here, from both Davis and Washington, who could land his seventh Best Actor nomination if the movie turns out the way everyone expects it to. It's scheduled for a Christmas release, but may play at the AFI Film Festival in November. Keep an eye out for this one.
BOX OFFICE 9/23-9/25: Denzel Takes 'Magnificent Seven' to $35 Million
The last few weeks has been kind of a tribute to old-school star power, as Tom Hanks was mostly responsible for Sully's success, and now Denzel Washington has one of the biggest openings of his career with The Magnificent Seven remake doing very well with a debut of $35 million. The movie got mixed reviews (62% on Rotten Tomatoes), but earned an "A-" Cinemascope, so it will hopefully stick around long enough to recoup its $90 million budget. Westerns normally don't do well and are hardly made anymore, so the success of this film is a good thing for everyone, including audiences.
In second place was the animated Storks, with a $21 million opening, kind of a low gross, as WB's last animated film was The LEGO Movie, obviously much more successful. Sully fell to third with $13 million, as its total creeps to $92 million and will cross $100 million by next week. The question now is if its financial success can translate to some Oscar attention for the film, and maybe, finally another nod for Tom Hanks, seeing how he was robbed of one (In my opinion) for Captain Phillips. The top five was rounded out by Bridget Jones's Baby and Snowden, neither of which are doing well and are considered bombs.
Top 5:
- The Magnificent Seven- $35 million
- Storks- $21.8 million
- Sully- $13.8 million
- Bridget Jones's Baby- $4.5 million
- Snowden- $4.1 million
Disney's Queen of Katwe opened in limited release this weekend, and despite being one of the runner-ups for the TIFF Audience Award last week, the Lupita Nyong'o starring drama opened to a fairly low $305k from 52 screens. Next week it's Mark Wahlberg's Deepwater Horizon against Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- I'm guessing Deepwater Horizon has the better chance to do well, since it seems to be the season for recent true life events dramas.
New Red Band Trailer for 'Bad Santa 2' Brings in Kathy Bates
I laughed at the first trailer for this, but this new one didn't do it for me. First of all, how annoying is it that 68-year-old Kathy Bates is being brought in to play 61-year-old Billy Bob's mother? Second of all, foul-mouthed old lady feels like a role she's done before, which is why the casting is obvious I guess, but with her doing nothing new and Billy Bob reprising his old role too, the whole thing feels like overkill. I mean, did they really need to bring in a female version of him for this? Seems lazy. I had some hope for this movie before, but now I get a feeling it's just another decade-and-a-half later sequel that nobody wants.
Curtis Hanson 1945-2016
Filmmaker Curtis Hanson, who directed films as diverse as the Oscar-winning L.A. Confidential and the Eminem starring 8 Mile, has passed away at the age of 71 tonight. A producer and screenwriter who once worked as a film journalist and photographer before going on to become a director, his long filmography included films such as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), The River Wild (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), which won Kim Basinger the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and Hanson the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Wonder Boys (2000), 8 Mile (2002) and In Her Shoes (2005).
New Trailer For 'Allied' Summons Brad Pitt's Offscreen Drama
Okay, so this was like, an expert trolling move from Paramount. I mean, dropping this trailer on the day the world lost its mind at the demise of Brangelina, and on top of rumors that he once again ruined his marriage by having an affair with his co-star in a movie where they play SPIES??? Is this his kink or what? Seriously though, the Brad/Marion stuff is just a rumor at this point, but how much do you want to bet interest in this WWII thriller has suddenly skyrocketed tenfold? I admit, it looks more interesting to me now, too. Actually I didn't think it looked that bad before, but now everybody's gonna want a look at it.
New Trailer for 'Hidden Figures' Builds on Buzz Out of Toronto
A good chunk of this movie was shown at TIFF to an audience that was pretty delighted with it, and so now the buzz on this is that it could very well be a Christmas hit. I told you already that I've always been interested in the story, so I'm hopeful others will be too. I did think that first trailer was too cheesy, so this one's better in that regard, but given the material, it's hard not to root for it and want it to be that kind of inspirational crowd pleaser that the trailers suggest.
Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence Trapped in Space in 'Passengers'
This would be sci-fi blockbuster is slated for Christmas, and as a very rare, big studio original screenplay being sold entirely on the basis of the two stars involved, it's the kind of movie you want to succeed, since they pretty much never make these anymore. But, I don't know. What do you guys think? Looks like a pretty generic action space movie to me, and if it's being sold on the two of them, the fact that they don't look to have an ounce of chemistry together is not going to be helpful. Jennifer Lawrence just cannot help herself with that constant talking AT people style of acting, which means she never really connects with other actors onscreen, it's just all about her. And Chris Pratt looks a bit bland in this as well. I have a feeling Arrival will the be the better sic-fi film this year.
REVIEW: "Southside With You" (2016) Parker Sawyers, Tika Sumpter. Dir. Richard Tanne
The mythologizing begins. President Barack Obama isn’t even out of office yet, but here we have the first biopic of what I’m sure will be many in the years to come, about an earlier time in his life, long before he was president or even thinking about running for office. Specifically, this lovely romance takes place on the day that he took the woman who would become his wife, Michelle Robinson, out for their first date in Chicago in the late summer of 1989.
It doesn’t sound like there’s much of a plot here, right? Well, no, there isn’t, but the good thing about this film from writer-director Richard Tanne, is that it has such a relaxed, free-flowing feel to it that it doesn’t necessarily have to even been about the future first couple of the United States (although, yes, that knowledge does give every scene an added dimension that can’t help but feel prophetic). Still, the movie steers mercifully clear of too many winks at the camera and instead focuses on the nature of Barack and Michelle’s first date, as the two get to know each other better through communication of their life stories, principles and ideals.
The key to our belief in these characters is the casting, and to that end Parker Sawyers fares far better as a young Barack than Tika Sumpter does as Michelle. Sawyers carries himself with a casual, appealing, chain-smoking, charismatic stride that can’t help but convey the essence of Obama’s personality, despite not looking or even sounding all that much like the president. But he doesn’t have to- with just a whiff of the man’s subtle mannerisms and cadences, but more importantly, his thoughtful, optimistic and forward-thinking nature, we believe almost instantly that this is a young Barack, already rolling along on the path to where his future would bring him. Michelle is a different story, as Sumpter seems to be trying a bit harder to capture the First Lady’s tone of voice and way of speaking in a way that distracts from us being able to buy her as the actual woman. You can see her acting in a way that Sawyers is not, yet it doesn’t ultimately hurt the film, as the two manage a nice, light chemistry in spite of the opposing acting styles.
Tanner took the basic outlines of the Obama’s first date, where it’s been reported they saw Spike Lee’s newly released Do the Right Thing, and stretched it into an all day affair where the two went to an art museum, a community meeting, a picnic in the park, and drinks before the movie, giving us a chance to see them as they tentatively circle each other and share their ideas about work, the future, race, and their own backgrounds as they slowly come to know and understand more about one another. Barack was a summer associate at the law firm where Michelle worked as his advisor, so he had to do some persuading as she was reluctant to be seen as cozying up to the “first cute black guy who walks through the firm’s doors,” but given his persistent wooing and their similar interests, of course we all can see where this is ultimately headed. The movie is clearly modeled after the Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, where we follow two people on their very first steps toward getting to know each other and falling in love. Despite the familiarity of the concept, it works very well here, as none of the dialogue is too forced and the connection between them is sensitively rendered, believable, and finally, sweet and moving.
With so few romantic comedies or even romances at all being made these days, that’s another reason that this one feels so refreshing. A tenderhearted love story about the president and first lady’s early meeting aside, there are hardly any films made anymore about the connection two people feel as they fall in love, and one that puts the meeting of the minds and how that can lead to more front and center is one to be celebrated. There are other ideas touched on in Barack and Michelle’s all day conversation, and the movie includes a glimpse of the early inspiration Barack could derive from a short speech at a community center, but the most memorable part of this lovely first date is the way in which two smart people are shown to see something they admire in the other that’s primarily about respect and the discovery of who they are as a person that draws them together. You can see why these two are going to last.
* * * 1/2
'La La Land' Wins TIFF Audience Award, Cementing Oscar Status
As I suspected, La La Land's Oscar frontrunner status was confirmed today after winning one of the bellwether early awards, the Audience Award from the Toronto Film Festival. I haven't done my TIFF round-up yet, but the movie played extremely well there, just like it did at Telluride, to many standing ovations and continued adoration (this coming after Emma Stone's first Best Actress win for the film at the Venice Film Festival). The TIFF Audience Award has a recent corresponding history with Oscar Best Picture. 6 of the last 7 winners have gone on to be nominated for Best Picture, while 5 of the last 6 have won. So, this cements what could well be a sweep year, while the first runner-up was the Weinstein Co.'s Lion, adding to its own sleeper potential as an Oscar contender. I think this could be it guys, I really do. Smells like this year's The Artist to me.
BOX OFFICE 9/16-9/18: 'Sully' Stays in First While Newcomers Bomb
It was a very sleepy weekend at the box office, allowing Sully to land in first place again, with just a 37% drop to $22 million, which places it in a great position to eventually cross $100 million at the box office. That will make it Tom Hanks's highest grossing film since Angels and Demons, as Captain Phillips ended its run with $107 million back in 2013. The movie also benefited from facing basically zero competition this weekend, as pretty much all the newcomers failed to make a dent on the charts.
The first of those was Blair Witch, a sequel to the 1999 classic that got terrible reviews and a very rare "D+" Cinemascore, coming in second place with over $9 million but unlikely to stick around long after this debut. In third was Bridget Jones's Baby, the second sequel to 2001's romantic comedy. This one got much better reviews than 2004's Edge of Reason (it's at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes), yet opened to just $8 million, almost exactly what the last movie did on its first weekend 12 years ago. Better news for Bridget Jones fans is that it did record breaking numbers in the UK and Ireland, where interest in the franchise is still very high, so overseas numbers will help the movie make its budget back. Oliver Stone's Snowden came in fourth with $8 million as well, after mixed reviews did not help the movie to find much of an audience, and Don't Breathe rounded out the top five on its way to a domestic cume of around $90 million total.
Top 5:
- Sully- $22 million
- Blair Witch- $9.7 million
- Bridget Jones's Baby- $8.2 million
- Snowden- $8 million
- Don't Breathe- $5.6 million
In limited release, Ron Howard's Beatles documentary about their early touring years had a pretty nice opening, with $615k from 84 theaters, so it looks like people still love their Fab Four, which is pretty cool to see. Next week sees the opening of Denzel Washington's Magnificent Seven remake and the animated Storks movie, so we'll see you all back here then, as September rolls on.
Masks Come Out in Trailer for '50 Shades Darker'
In case anyone else forgot this existed, here's the new look at the return of Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in the next installment of the 50 Shades franchise. The first movie was a big hit with its intended female audience, despite the epic slaughtering from the critics and Razzie noms galore, so I sort of expect the new one to follow the same path. Its fans will still be there, nobody else will. Although this one has a new director and screenwriter, so maybe that will make a difference? I doubt it though. The source material is what it is.
