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By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

BYO Mittens And Socks

SnowKoneCould anything get you out of the house and into a movie theater this week if you’re in the Hell-Freezes-Over part of the country?

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54 Responses to “BYO Mittens And Socks”

  1. Pete B. says:

    Eva Green. But Dumbo’s not til the end of March.

  2. Stella's Boy says:

    Here in Milwaukee the wind chill is -12 right now and by this evening it will be about -25. Tomorrow the high temperature is -8 and we’re expecting wind chills of about -50. So that’s a no on leaving the house for a movie.

  3. Ray Pride says:

    Chicago movie theaters and museums all closed. Plus, DISNEY ON ICE iced.

  4. Stella's Boy says:

    Marcus Theatres are going to be open here. Free hot chocolate for all patrons. Not enough to entice me. Going to spend as little time as possible outside.

  5. movieman says:

    The university I teach at is actually closed tomorrow.
    And they NEVER cancel classes: not even during raging blizzards.
    It’ll **** up my syllabus, but I’ll happily take the day off.

    Still planning to catch “Miss Bala” (the only new release scheduled for here this weekend) on Thursday night.

    Brrrrrr.

  6. Stella's Boy says:

    We’re closed tomorrow as well. And yeah that is rare around here. Midwest winters can be quite brutal.

    Miss Bala looks like glorious B-movie trash so why in the hell is it PG-13? Do not understand that.

  7. Sideshow Bill says:

    Im just outside of Chicago. Its so cold it hurts. I thought about going outside to role play THE THING but i think i will pass. My work is closed today and tomorrow. Not leaving the house. Stack of Blu Rays to watch and coffee to drink. Suspiria ‘18, MI:F, BlacKKKlansman, First Man. Seen all but First Man. I’ll start there.

    Oh, and the he Resident Evil 2 remake

  8. movieman says:

    Catherine Hardwicke is the reason “Bala” interests me, SB.
    I still find it mind-blowing that her career went nowhere after directing the first “Twilight” movie.
    Pretty sure that wouldn’t have happened if she had a penis.
    Thought the original “Bala” was just so-so, but it was a hard “R” if memory serves.

    I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Hardwicke will probably never direct a movie as good as “Thirteen” again.

  9. Stella's Boy says:

    Oh sure I feel the same way. I like Hardwicke and agree that she never got a fair shake. But I see that trailer and it just screams R. Drugs and guns and cartels and sex and violence and betrayal and revenge. Oh well.

  10. Sideshow Bill says:

    Finally watched BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY…

    I haven’t felt so openly hostile towards a film and its makers since SUICIDE SQUAD.

  11. Pete B. says:

    At least Suicide Squad only had one Queen song, so it didn’t matter what order it got played, Bill. 😉

    And scary to think, if Black Panther gets shut out at the Academy Awards… Suicide Squad will still be the only comic book movie with an Oscar.

  12. movieman says:

    Who else thought Mike Myers gave the best performance in “BR”?
    Someone? Anyone?
    Just throwing that out there.

    If anything upsets “Roma,” I’m betting on “Black Panther,” Pete.
    (Really, really hoping Malek doesn’t win for his karaoke mimicry.)

  13. BO Sock Puppet says:

    The problem in Best Actor this year is that both Malek and Bale deliver the same brand of celebrity/historical figure mimicry. Neither perf is worth a statue, although Bale’s weight gain probably trumps the teeth.

  14. Stella's Boy says:

    The number of Best Picture nominees was expanded so that movies like Black Panther would get nominated and broaden the award’s appeal right? Which would boost ratings? I think that argument was made here if I remember correctly. Does anyone see that happening this year?

  15. Dr Wally Rises says:

    “And scary to think, if Black Panther gets shut out at the Academy Awards… Suicide Squad will still be the only comic book movie with an Oscar.”

    Heath Ledger. And I’m pretty sure that Batman ’89 won at least the Oscar for Art Direction.

    Bill, I would love to know your take on First Man when you emerge from hibernation. Still my favorite movie of the year.

  16. Pete B. says:

    Sorry Dr. Wally, I should have said “recent comic book movies”. Mea culpa.

  17. Triple Option says:

    Miss Bala is PG-13? What’s the point of even making that movie then? I’ll agree w/Stella’s Boy, it looks woefully predictable and formulaic. Making that a PG-13 movie seems like only something that they would try to do to make it intl and direct to video/cable tv ready. But that world doesn’t exist like it did 20 yrs ago. I’d think 18-25 would be that film’s wheelhouse. I guess if Jane the V is the draw, you’d want to make sure her tween girl allegiance could follow but from the trailer, I wouldn’t have thought that film would get the teens out of the vape lounges and into the cineplex.

    I just saw Serenity which will fulfill my quota of “how did that script win the Hollywood Lottery to get made with an A-List cast, much less, get made,” so I’m afraid Miss Bala is gonna have to wait ’til Netflix. If I have Netflix that long…

    Anyone ditching Netflix with the recent price hike? I thought after their last price hike the next one would bring tier pricing where the introduction of ads would happen. I’m glad it didn’t happen but I’m pretty close to putting my membership on ice. I’m on a trial separation as it is. I feel like I shoulda made a new year’s resolution to use my Netflix more. Maybe make an app that lights up gym, library or netflix for stuff I’m (technically) paying for but not using.

  18. JS Partisan says:

    Netflix is essential, to being culturally aware in this society. That’s how big it is, and I usually find something new and interesting on it… all the damn time. If you want to be with it, then you need to have Netflix. It’s just that simple, and I will just point you to all the Tidying Up content generated the last two weeks, as example of this.

    SB, I wanted to bring this point up: what’s the most exciting part of the Oscars this year, to everyone who is trying to sell people on their awards coverage? IT’S BLACK FUCKING PANTHER. Nothing else is moving the needle, and it’s because the Award Seasons needs films like Black Panther. It gets people involved, it gets them to give a damn, and that’s why the Academy better not shut out Black Panther.

  19. Stella's Boy says:

    So you think more people are paying attention to awards season because of BP? Not just critics and the media but regular folks too? And you think that is going to translate into higher ratings?

  20. Js partisan says:

    Yeah. That’s why they HAD TO NOMINATE it. It’s a way to get people to give a fuck, but I’m still not sure it effects ratings. If people feel like BP is going to lose, then they may not turn in. If it’s won all it’s other awards, then they may start to tune in, at the end of the night.

    The Academy Awards are a dinosaur, and nominating BP for best picture was a necessity. I’m not sure they have it in them, to reward it with best picture, or even one Oscar. If it wins BEST picture? It gives the Academy another five years of viability. Before they have to nominate another comic book/popular movie in 2024.

  21. Stella's Boy says:

    But shouldn’t ratings go up if it’s true that all these people are suddenly talking about and paying close attention to the Oscars because of Black Panther’s nominations? If they are excited and invested not watching simply because it might lose seems unlikely. I don’t know I feel like the conversation has been all about Bohemian Rhapsody and what didn’t get nominated. I don’t sense this new excitement because of BP noms. I see ratings being real low. But we’ll see I guess.

  22. Hcat says:

    I would think the ratings will dip again but less than the usual erosion. Not having a host might play into this as well but I do see more people turning in because they feel they have a horse in the race, whether its BP or Rhapsody (which a lot of regular folks you mentioned are crazy about).

    Then again if those lose to Roma they might feel like they got the rug pulled out from under them. I remember watching Birdman and Shape of Water and thinking non movie people must think the academy has lost their freakin’ mind. Not to mention the travesty that was the Artist.

  23. Js partisan says:

    SB, it’s literally on the cover of EW. The magazine with the hyped up Oscar profiles and pictures, has Black Panther on its cover. No one cares about Bohemian Rhapsody, because we know it’s bullshit. Black Panther though? That’s something I didn’t think they would do, and they did it. It’s fucking shocking, like its SAG win. Seriously. Black Panther is the story, but the Academy hasn’t earned anything, if through the night, it seems like BP has momentum, then people might turn in. The ratings may go up, but I have no desire to watch the show. I have no faith in these people making right by the world, and I’m probably not alone in not wanting to watch. How the Academy gets people like me to watch, seems a challenge. Unless. Keys are involved.

  24. Stella's Boy says:

    I haven’t seen an EW in years. Are they still relevant? I’m not going to watch either. I don’t know a lot of people are talking about Bohemian Rhapsody even if it’s just to bash it. If nominating Black Panther for best picture isn’t enough to get you to watch, what is?

  25. Pete B. says:

    “Netflix is essential to being culturally aware in this society.”

    According to Netflix 2018 numbers, they have 58.5 million subscribers in the USA. So around 18% out of 326 million in population. Guess a lot of folks aren’t culturally aware.

    Kinda like everything revolves around Twitter and that’s less than 22%.

  26. Sideshow Bill says:

    EW is absolute trash. I used to enjoy it. There used to be broader interests covered. Now, like Rolling Stone, it is painfully mainstream and empty. I got a free subscription last year when I bought Depeche Mode tickets off Ticketmaster. I skim through it in 5 minutes and trash it. Subscription should be about up.

    Dr. Wally, didn’t get to First Man yet. Tomorrow night or Saturday.

  27. movieman says:

    Totally agree with the EW trashing.
    I was a subscriber from the first issue in 1990, and have marveled (sometimes in admiration, sometimes in frustration) at how it constantly reinvented itself over the decades.
    But the latest iteration–let’s call it “Fanboys Are Us”–is pitiful.
    Every second issue is a “double issue” (which means that it’s pretty much “Entertainment Biweekly” now), and 90% of the covers are devoted to either “TWD,” “GOT” or the latest Marvel, “Star Wars” or DC installment.
    The final nail in their coffin was when they pink-slipped the very writers who made them what they (once) were: Gleiberman, Schwarzman (spelling?), Mark Harris, etc.
    It’s kind of amusing that there are now more (blandly written) film reviews available on their website than in the actual print edition.
    Also find it laughable that almost everything–movies, TV, music, books–earns a “B” range grade. It’s like they’re afraid to either be too effusive (or too negative) for fear of riling delicate Gen Z sensibilities (as if any self-respecting Gen Z-er would read EW anyway!).
    I keep telling myself that I won’t renew, but there’s always some new super-cheap offer ($10 a year! $6.99 a year!) that I wind up falling for.
    My only justification for continuing to subscribe is their day-by-day TV listings which, truth be told, are a shadow of their former self, too.

  28. Stella's Boy says:

    I also used to subscribe to EW. Started in about 1993 and continued for a decade or so. But it was going downhill and you both described it exactly how I imagined.

  29. palmtree says:

    I grew up on EW, so it was a thrill when I briefly worked at EW (back when I was a journalist). It was at the dawning of the reality TV craze. The writers were all really good, including a few who became well-known in their own right. And I remember their epic Emmy party. But there’s a reason I didn’t want to continue working in that field. Like everything else, it was inching its way to paparazzi culture. But I still subscribe for nostalgia’s sake.

    The Netflix numbers don’t tell the whole picture. Dozens of people can watch Netflix on a single subscription, so 58 million subscribers could easily cover twice or three times that number of watchers.

    And BP will bring eyeballs. The mere fact that the Academy will have to do BP comedy bits and the BP song performance and have BP actors as presenters IS the draw. It’s not about winning awards, it’s about representation.

  30. Hcat says:

    EW and Premiere were fine in their day since that is all there was. Once I got to the college library and was able to thumb through Variety I don’t think I ever read them again. Both were much too People magazine lowest common denominator reporting. If you are a movie magazine I do not want to read about how some star feels about their family, I want to read about their work.

  31. Stella's Boy says:

    That could be palmtree. On the other hand does all of the industry’s bad press hurt ratings at all? Seems like Hollywood has been rightfully taking a beating in the press almost daily. Not to mention the drama with Hart and now having no host. Does that factor into ratings?

    Yeah that sums it up well hcat.

  32. palmtree says:

    SB, I think it comes down to “Will I see something that everyone will be talking about tomorrow?” And the presence of BP increases that chance by a lot.

    The bad press will definitely make a lot of people tune out, but when has Hollywood not had bad press? In fact, they actively promote it in whisper campaigns. And controversy and intrigue could be why people tune in. Like….how the hell are they pulling this off????

    But I don’t think it’ll be monster numbers. Just a slight upswing perhaps.

  33. Stella's Boy says:

    Yeah fair point. It just seems amplified these days. But curiosity could work in their favor. Is everyone talking Oscars the next day though?

  34. palmtree says:

    I just meant “talking about” in the cultural sense. Talking about these days means sharing memes and videos on social media. Going viral, etc.

  35. Stella's Boy says:

    Sure I get it and I wasn’t trying to be a smartass. It’ll trend that night of course but I wonder if BP and its nominations will drive people to want to be part of the conversation. I’m not watching but I’m really curious about this year’s ratings.

  36. Hcat says:

    So I am not surprised at all that Hobbs and Shaw is basically the first 15 minutes of The Other Guys turned into a feature length movie.

    Just as rooted in reality as Minions.

  37. amblinman says:

    Hobbs and Shaw combines all the worst things about Hollywood, and I’m including Rock and Stathem in that declaration.

    On another note: how depressing is it that an actor like Oscar Issac is going to waste a good part of his career in franchise garbage? Same for someone like Elba. I’m sure the money is great, and I like the actors so mazel but man…I wish they worked with better material.

    Oscar Issac is a 1970’s actor stuck in the shittiest timeline.

  38. Hcat says:

    Oscar Isaac seems like the reincarnation of Jason Miller. He seems so out of place in a starship, he should be grimacing in a smoke filled dive bar instead.

  39. Sideshow Bill says:

    I think Isaac will be fine. The exposure Star Wars gives him is too good to have passed up and it’s gonna pay off forever. I think he’ll move on get back to more interesting work. Dune, however…I just don’t know. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from seeing Lynch’s in 1984. I had no idea what was going on. Too young. But reading the first book as an adult did nothing for me. I’m just personally not interested in this material, I think it may be too esoteric for moviegoers. Villanueva will make it rapturously gorgeous but everything else is gonna be a challenge. I hope I’m surprised.

    And I know a lot of people have reappraised Lynch’s film but not me. It’s the only Lynch I outright don’t like. It has moments and crazy shit but I can’t get through it.

  40. Sideshow Bill says:

    Another topic: ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL. The reviews are all over the place and that will get me into the theater. It’ll be my first 3D movie since THE AVENGERS in 2012. I’m excited to see this thing.

  41. Christian says:

    Back to the Oscar race: I keep waiting/hoping for THE FAVOURITE to pop and have its “maybe *it’s* going to win Best Picture in an upset!” moment.

    But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

    And I get that. Sort of. The film’s conclusion is ambiguous, a bit puzzling even, and those films get deemed unsatisfactory to enough of a degree, and by enough voters, to kill their chances of actually winning the big prize, if not their chances of being nominated for said prize.

    But THE FAVOURITE delivers such a cinematic rush for so much of its running time that, IMHO, no other BP nominee compares. That final 20 minutes of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is indeed exhhilarating – good enough to qualify it for a BP nomination (and those of you complaining about how “Rhapsody” isn’t worthy of a BP nomination: Have you *seen* some of the BP nominees in recent years?? “Rhapsody” is much better than several of ’em, if due mainly to its final stretch. But that counts!).

    But it doesn’t approach “The Favourite.” “Roma” comes closest, but honestly, that film was mostly a miss for me, with only a couple of potent sequences late in its running time – long after I’d started asking myself why the film had been so highly acclaimed. And going into it, I was sure I’d be a proponent, not one of the Great Unwashed who couldn’t/wouldn’t “get it.”

    Oh well.

  42. movieman says:

    “Bohemian Rhapsody” has officially surpassed “A Star is Born.”
    And the angels wept.

    Rank* Title Friday
    2/1
    (Estimates)
    1 GLASS
    Universal

    3,665 $2,760,000

    +123.1% / $753
    $81,880,100 / 15

    2 MISS BALA
    Sony / Columbia

    2,203 $2,755,000

    — / $1,251
    $2,755,000 / 1

    3 THE UPSIDE
    STX Entertainment

    3,568 $2,530,000

    +169.1% / $709
    $69,270,128 / 22

    5 AQUAMAN
    Warner Bros.

    2,926 $1,270,000

    +130.3% / $434
    $320,012,240 / 43

    4 GREEN BOOK
    Universal

    2,648 $1,270,000

    +120.5% / $480
    $52,774,331 / 78

    6 SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
    Sony / Columbia

    2,234 $1,120,000

    +143.4% / $501
    $171,996,069 / 50

    7 THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING
    Fox

    3,528 $1,040,000

    +134.1% / $295
    $10,013,676 / 8

    8 A DOG’S WAY HOME
    Sony / Columbia

    2,962 $885,000

    +100.8% / $299
    $33,277,871 / 22

    9 THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
    Warner Bros.

    735 $880,000

    — / $1,197
    $9,220,072 / 40

    10 ESCAPE ROOM
    Sony / Columbia

    1,942 $850,000

    +153.2% / $438
    $50,039,300 / 29

    11 SERENITY (2019)
    Aviron

    2,561 $565,000

    +93.7% / $221
    $6,401,031 / 8

    12 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
    Fox

    1,354 $515,000

    +134.6% / $380
    $207,251,373 / 92

    – MARY POPPINS RETURNS
    Buena Vista

    1,704 $490,000

    +76.8% / $288
    $166,771,840 / 45

    – BUMBLEBEE
    Paramount

    1,781 $480,000

    +116% / $270
    $122,833,188 / 43

    – THE FAVOURITE
    Fox Searchlight

    1,554 $435,000

    +98.9% / $280
    $27,532,605 / 71

    – VICE
    Annapurna Pictures

    1,337 $315,354

    +76.7% / $236
    $43,231,884 / 39

    – ON THE BASIS OF SEX
    Focus Features

    917 $293,000

    +51.5% / $320
    $22,108,667 / 39

    – THE MULE
    Warner Bros.

    1,051 $265,000

    +74.3% / $252
    $101,092,862 / 50

    – A STAR IS BORN (2018)
    Warner Bros.

    952 $260,000

    +98.7% / $273
    $207,174,984 / 120

    – EK LADKI KO DEKHA TOH AISA LAGA
    FIP

    193 $196,000

    — / $1,016
    $196,000 / 1

    – RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET
    Buena Vista

    795 $142,000

    +46.2% / $179
    $196,436,779 / 73

    – IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
    Annapurna Pictures

    454 $129,389

    +62.5% / $285
    $12,901,807 / 50

    – DESTROYER
    Annapurna Pictures

    235 $83,786

    +389.3% / $357
    $1,061,414 / 39

    – PERFECT STRANGERS
    Pantelion

    37 $8,150

    +33.8% / $220
    $927,706 / 22

    – REPLICAS
    Entertainment Studios

    51 $5,000

    +59.5% / $98
    $4,009,772 / 22

  43. Dr Wally Rises says:

    “EW and Premiere were fine in their day since that is all there was. Once I got to the college library and was able to thumb through Variety I don’t think I ever read them again. Both were much too People magazine lowest common denominator reporting”.

    The 90’s golden age of Premiere was fantastic. Meaty, engrossing set reports (go and find Fred Schruers’ despatches from the set of Hook in 1991 if you can, it’s one for the books). Profiles and editorial that weren’t afraid of bloodying a few noses (Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger’s careers were at the very least sidetracked after Premiere published an article about their behaviour on the set of The Marrying Man). Interviews that could be often less than flattering (again, try and find the Claire Danes / Leo DiCaprio Romeo & Juliet interview and note how Leo comes over as a utter bonehead). Look at the number of prominent people that Premiere pissed off in its time and you’ll recognize that they were doing something very very right. We really need Premiere now, but alas the access and freedom that it enjoyed belongs now to a bygone age.

  44. Hcat says:

    I remember the R and J article. Leo did come off as a putz, yelling at pedestrians from a convertible or something. But at the time most of their articles on young talents had the same themes. The males were wild men and the women were hyper focused and destined to run the town. Looping Premiere in with EW might have been too general. But while the articles were more in depth and journalistic, they still had a penchant for gossipy behavior and an affinity for cheesecake covers (their Selma Hayek one wouldn’t have been out of place in Maxim).

    Though I always did love their feature where they had a page of dialogue from an amazing screenplay.

    I would find it quite remarkable.if Peter Jacson’s They will never grow old ends up outgrossing Mortal Enginea.

    I am also rooting for Favorite if only for Fox to get one last win before being devoured by the Mouse.

  45. JS Partisan says:

    Twitter is used by the people, that make the news. Those people, also, watch Netflix. Yeah. It’s an ouroboros, but that’s how the world works. A small percent of people, compared to the rest of the population, are the one’s driving the popular culture car.

    Now. Man, I love Oscar Issac as much as the next guy, but he’s not exactly leading man material. Where is he leading man material? FANTASY WORLDS, where his height isn’t an impediment, and that’s why he’s going to be the next Wolverine. He will destroy that role, and we will get a comic accurate Wolvie.

    Also, the man signed on to wear… hold on. He thought it was going to be motion capture, but still, the MAN WORE THAT TERRIBLE APOCALYPSE SUIT, AND ACTED LIKE A SON OF A BITCH! Seriously. I don’t get sad for actor/resses, who get to do these insane productions, and enjoy the perks of them. When I feel for them, is when they are doing those terrible European action films, but guess what? They get to hang out in Budapest, and make a ridiculous action movie. That’s not exactly terrible. All things considred.

    Yes, that Hobbs and Shaw trailer is absolutely fucking terrible. Jesus Christ, that’s not what anyone wanted from the F&F franchise, but here we are. Like we are at the point. Where fucking Paramount, because they fucking suck, are going to treat M:I like FUCKING ASSASSIN’S CREED! WHO WANTS THIS SHIT? Seriously? How is that shit still going on? It’s just…

  46. Sideshow Bill says:

    “Fast & Furious Presnts.” LOL. That’s so cute!

  47. Stella's Boy says:

    While watching the trailer I kept thinking I hope Idris Elba kills both of them. But he won’t. It’ll make a fortune though right?

    Did not care for Velvet Buzzsaw and don’t understand the mostly positive reception. Bored me. Lked the trailer but not the movie.

  48. Sideshow Bill says:

    RHAPSODY isn’t worthy. Especially when YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE, LEAVE NO TRACE, FIRST REFORMED, FIRST MAN, BURNING and HEREDITARY are out there. And I’m sure I’m forgetting some titles

  49. palmtree says:

    I’m a F&F fan, and Hobbs and Shaw kinda mystifies me. It’s completely bonkers, but not in a F&F way that still manages to celebrate family and working class values and classic cars. In fact, Hobbs and Shaw feels a lot more like the Expendables than F&F.

  50. movieman says:

    I’d rather see Johnson and Statham in “Calvin and Hobbes” than “Hobbs and Shaw.”

  51. Dr Wally Rises says:

    When you see what the Fast and the Furious franchise has metastized into, it’s kind of instructive to revisit the first film now. Just a solid, modestly budgeted remake of Point Break with engaging characters, some authentic and memorable David Ayer dialogue, and stunts and action that border on plausible.

    It’s a bit like watching Dr No straight after watching the later Roger Moore Bond entries. Was 2001 really that long ago now?

  52. Bulldog68 says:

    Hobbs and Shaw most looks like a Tango and Cash update to me.

  53. movieman says:

    Guess “Destroyer” won’t be banking any Annapurna bucks after all.
    I think its release was bungled big time, but maybe that’s just me.
    Why are they still bothering to report grosses for “Replicas”? Wouldn’t it be kinder to just pretend it never happened?
    I suppose that means Mojo will still be listing “Serenity” grosses in March.

    Weekend Box Office

    February 1-3, 2019
    Weekend

    1 1 Glass Uni. $9,535,000 -49.5% 3,665 -179 $2,602 $88,655,100 $20 3

    2 2 The Upside STX $8,850,000 -25.9% 3,568 +191 $2,480 $75,590,128 $37.5 4

    3 N Miss Bala Sony $6,700,000 – 2,203 – $3,041 $6,700,000 $15 1

    4 3 Aquaman WB $4,785,000 -34.1% 2,926 -208 $1,635 $323,572,240 – 7

    5 5 Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Sony $4,410,000 -27.8% 2,234 -149 $1,974 $175,286,069 $90 8

    6 6 Green Book Uni. $4,317,000 -21.3% 2,648 +218 $1,630 $55,821,331 $23 12

    7 4 The Kid Who Would be King Fox $4,200,000 -41.5% 3,528 +7 $1,190 $13,173,676 – 2

    8 7 A Dog’s Way Home Sony $3,510,000 -31.2% 2,962 -119 $1,185 $35,902,871 $18 4

    9 9 Escape Room Sony $2,900,000 -29.7% 1,942 -250 $1,493 $52,089,300 $9 5

    10 – They Shall Not Grow Old WB $2,405,000 – 735 – $3,272 $10,745,072 – 7

    11 10 Mary Poppins Returns BV $1,924,000 -41.9% 1,704 -281 $1,129 $168,205,840 $130 7

    12 12 Bumblebee Par. $1,900,000 -36.4% 1,781 -327 $1,067 $124,253,188 $135 7

    13 15 Bohemian Rhapsody Fox $1,800,000 -27.3% 1,354 -69 $1,329 $208,536,373 $52 14

    14 8 Serenity (2019) Aviron $1,700,000 -61.5% 2,561 – $664 $7,536,031 – 2

    15 14 The Favourite FoxS $1,500,000 -41.0% 1,554 +14 $965 $28,597,605 – 11

    16 28 Free Solo NGE $1,387,000 +507.7% 483 +382 $2,872 $14,987,033 – 19

    17 17 Vice Annapurna $1,167,434 -36.9% 1,337 -220 $873 $44,083,963 – 6

    18 16 On the Basis of Sex Focus $1,020,000 -50.2% 917 -355 $1,112 $22,836,667 – 6

    19 18 The Mule WB $947,000 -44.1% 1,051 -344 $901 $101,774,862 $50 8

    20 19 A Star is Born (2018) WB $922,000 -28.8% 952 -240 $968 $207,836,984 $36 18

    21 20 Stan & Ollie SPC $873,186 -29.3% 754 +29 $1,158 $3,591,192 – 6

    22 22 Ralph Breaks the Internet BV $721,000 -37.2% 795 -234 $907 $197,015,779 $175 11

    23 N Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga FIP $600,000 – 193 – $3,109 $600,000 – 1

    24 26 Cold War (2018) Amazon $564,336 +2.2% 217 +106 $2,601 $2,182,281 – 7

    25 23 If Beale Street Could Talk Annapurna $462,288 -50.9% 454 -152 $1,018 $13,234,705 – 8

    26 31 Destroyer Annapurna $234,391 +31.0% 235 +158 $997 $1,212,019 – 6

    27 35 The Wife SPC $162,997 +41.8% 202 +97 $807 $8,938,412 – 25

    28 40 Capernaum SPC $132,371 +139.5% 47 +27 $2,816 $538,475 – 8

    29 N Arctic BST $56,463 – 4 – $14,116 $56,463 – 1

    30 49 The Invisibles Greenwich $35,915 +32.2% 14 +10 $2,565 $71,556 – 2

    31 46 Replicas ENTMP $20,000 -41.3% 51 -33 $392 $4,024,772 – 4

    32 50 Never Look Away SPC $19,033 -26.2% 1 – $19,033 $58,146 – 5

    33 – Who Will Write Our History Abr. $18,150 – 5 – $3,630 $70,058 – 3

    34 N Piercing Greenwich $8,500 – 25 – $340 $8,500 – 1

    35 N The Wild Pear Tree CGld $5,392 – 1 – $5,392 $6,374 – 1

  54. Hcat says:

    Palmtree hits the nail on the head on the appeal of F&F and why B&S feels like a misstep. People love it for the blue collar extended family aspect of it, Statham being a “Champagne problem” is exactly what made him a villain to begin with.

    And for all the nonsense in the franchise that routinely defies logic and gravity equally, Diesel is always (quite delusionaly)acting like he is in Kurosawa’s version of the Illiad, none of this winking at the camera stuff, and it helps ground and sell the goofiness that is onscreen.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon