Movies: Poor Things, Barbie and Oppenheimer are stuck in La La Land

[Scarlet]

fifty is his best movie I think

I haven’t seen Uncut Gems. I hear he’s really good in that.

 

[Kepler]

mookie watched Harper with Paul Newman. enjoyable.

I highly recommend the Ross Macdonald Lew Archer book series the movie is based on. Macdonald started out as a kind of a hack like Spillane, but as he got older he genuinely became a good writer. The books aren't art pieces like Chandler, but they are really fun reads, like Hammet, and the internal dialog is a real person, not a cardboard cutout.

Kepler's detective ranking (by sheer enjoyment):

1. Jules Maigret (George Simenon)
2. Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout)
3. Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)
4. Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy Sayers)
5. Philip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler)
6. Lew Archer (Ross Macdonald)
7. Sam Spade (Dashiell Hammet)
8. Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)
9. Yashim (Jason Goodwin)
10. The Continental Op (Dashiell Hammet)
11. Nick and Nora Charles (Dashiell Hammet)

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Theater issues apology after Richard Dreyfuss Incident at a jaws screening lmao

he came out in a dress that he had stagehands rip off as an intro to a rant about trans kids. Then he ranted about Streisand and women and the me too movement.

im just picturing his character at the end of what about Bob. It’s like he’s still in that state

and now I wanna watch it again

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/r...236017160/amp/

 

[Kepler]

The Night Porter

Now, that's a Rom Com.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Finally saw Tora!Tora!Tora! as my dad had it on this morning

 

[mookie1995]

Mr Majestyk is great.

mookie watched last night. Enjoyable- thank you

as for detective novels. Mookie is a Spenser fan (obviously). Not as good now as the early Parker. Didn’t like the last lupica entry but will still read until Mookie’s death.
stumbled upon Vincent Calvino by Christopher Moore. Really like these, old school Bangkok.
backstore is Calvino was a nyc lawyer with family mob ties who befriended a Thai graduate student in Manhattan. The Thai had issues with Chinese gangsters and Calvino had his family ties get the Thai out of trouble, but then the Chinese set up Calvino and he lost his license (this is all shared on backstore over time and not a book).
anywhos calvino then moved to Bangkok and now uses the Thai’s connections….the Thai is now a high ranking Bangkok cop. Mookie is working his way through and has an end point as Moore ended them, so that is coming.
soenser should have done the same

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Apparently the new Mad Max saga movie cost a lot to make and had the worst opening for Memorial Weekend ever or something. Wow. Kind of wanted to see it too.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Theater issues apology after Richard Dreyfuss Incident at a jaws screening lmao

he came out in a dress that he had stagehands rip off as an intro to a rant about trans kids. Then he ranted about Streisand and women and the me too movement.

im just picturing his character at the end of what about Bob. It’s like he’s still in that state

and now I wanna watch it again

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/r...236017160/amp/

Another Boomer exposed to too much childhood lead and adulthood Fox News.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Apparently the new Mad Max saga movie cost a lot to make and had the worst opening for Memorial Weekend ever or something. Wow. Kind of wanted to see it too.

I’ve seen a bunch of chatter on this. Didn’t fury road get more acclaim than their box office numbers would lead you to believe? I thought I saw some decent reviews for this new one too.

 

[Handyman]

Fury Road got great reviews and the audience who saw it loved it but it was barely profitable. This is a prequel film without Max in it...what a weird choice.

Maybe one day studios will realize prequels made a decade later are almost always destined to fail.*


*Somehow Di$ney will convince people they needed a Mufasa origin film...whats next "Toy Story: Life Before Andy"?

 

[Proud2baLaker]

The reviews I have seen for Furiosa have all said good. Its at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes both critic and audience score. I think the poor take has more to do with the cost of seeing movies, and people choosing to do other activities for the long weekend. I still plan on seeing it in theaters (likely this weekend). Actually watched through the rest of the Mad Max movies over the weekend.

 

[Handyman]

I don't think that has much to do with it. Mad Max is a niche property. Fury Road had similar numbers and was not exactly printing money. Mad Max made it's bones on being a low cost gorilla Indy style production...not some $200 million tentpole.

The cost argument has been mostly debunked when brought up as a reason BO is bad for films. (Price hasn't risen all that much) The problem is more that people don't feel the need to see everything in theaters and the turnaround to streaming is super fast. Why pay to see The Fall Guy when it is already available at your house? Why drag your kids to the theater when your get a better experience at home.

Plus the youngins dont have the same connection to theaters we do. Same with going to sports...

 

[Proud2baLaker]

I don't think that has much to do with it. Mad Max is a niche property. Fury Road had similar numbers and was not exactly printing money. Mad Max made it's bones on being a low cost gorilla Indy style production...not some $200 million tentpole.

The cost argument has been mostly debunked when brought up as a reason BO is bad for films. (Price hasn't risen all that much) The problem is more that people don't feel the need to see everything in theaters and the turnaround to streaming is super fast. Why pay to see The Fall Guy when it is already available at your house? Why drag your kids to the theater when your get a better experience at home.

Plus the youngins dont have the same connection to theaters we do. Same with going to sports...

My larger point, that perhaps I didn't articulate well, was that it not doing as well as some people thought it would on an opening holiday weekend, wasn't because it is apparently a bad movie. It has gotten great reviews from audiences and critics alike. I agree with you that it has more to do with less people going to theaters more often, especially for a niche, rated R movie.

I do think, that even though price of tickets may not have risen much, there are some people who believe the cost to see a movie has gotten to high and that factors in for them. Of course, any perceived increase in cost is most likely tied to concession costs vs ticket price.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

I don't think that has much to do with it. Mad Max is a niche property. Fury Road had similar numbers and was not exactly printing money. Mad Max made it's bones on being a low cost gorilla Indy style production...not some $200 million tentpole.

The cost argument has been mostly debunked when brought up as a reason BO is bad for films. (Price hasn't risen all that much) The problem is more that people don't feel the need to see everything in theaters and the turnaround to streaming is super fast. Why pay to see The Fall Guy when it is already available at your house? Why drag your kids to the theater when your get a better experience at home.

Plus the youngins dont have the same connection to theaters we do. Same with going to sports...

Don’t get me wrong I love going alone to see a movie now and then in a theater. It’s not cheap but it’s expected.

however, I don’t like thinking about getting shot there (theater in oakdale had a shooting last year) and I’m tired of rude people yakking all movie. So If I can stream it in two weeks, eh that works

 

[Handyman]

Well I am not so much worried about getting shot, I just think some movies aren't needed in theaters. I have a 60" 4k TV with a soundbar and surround sound and a lot of booze and snacks

Honestly most of the time I just see older films in theaters unless it is something special. The Willow Creek by me plays a Harry Potter film each month so we go see them as it is the SOs fave and I have never seen them. (through part 5 so far) Next month I am seeing Jaws, we saw Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. I was supposed to see Casablanca and Wizard of Oz but sadly had to work. I still see some films in the theater but it is not a priority.

One I wish I had seen was Godzilla Minus One...holy cow just watched it on Netflix and it is an A+.

 

[Handyman]

My larger point, that perhaps I didn't articulate well, was that it not doing as well as some people thought it would on an opening holiday weekend, wasn't because it is apparently a bad movie. It has gotten great reviews from audiences and critics alike. I agree with you that it has more to do with less people going to theaters more often, especially for a niche, rated R movie.

I do think, that even though price of tickets may not have risen much, there are some people who believe the cost to see a movie has gotten to high and that factors in for them. Of course, any perceived increase in cost is most likely tied to concession costs vs ticket price.

I think the critics and fan scores are a bit of a red herring. The fan score is almost assuredly just people who loved Fury Road and were pre-disposed to liking it. The problem is for a movie like that to have an impact it needs other people to go see it...which no one is. It might be awesome, but I don't think many average moviegoers were begging for a Furiosa origin film...and even if they were 9 years is a long time to wait for it. Plus, using the name "Mad Max" in the title without Max being in it is never a good plan.

I get in this discussion a lot on a couple movie boards I post on. COVID and the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike changed how the average consumer deals with this stuff. (which is why the strike was important, this was inevitable) Films that would surely have made a ton of money 5 years ago are tanking hard or underperforming to levels that are discouraging. Sure some theaters make it an experience to go but I just don't feel like people under say, 35, give 2 figs about it. People that are older than that are being more discerning with how they spend their time and money. Even on Discount Tuesdays (when prices should not be the barrier anymore) people still aren't going at a higher rate. Why pay a premium price for subpar experiences? Sure in 1995 it was worth it...the big screen was better than what I had at home! Now...meh. I still go, but I rarely have to and I have to convince myself.

The price is an issue for families that is for sure. I don't get how families can afford it between the tickets and snacks and such. Being able to just go by myself or with the SO is worth the price...if we had kids it would be tough even though I have great memories of going with my dad to films. (still go with him to certain films...most of the time Planet of the Apes or Batman related)

 

[mookie1995]

mookie has never seen a single mad max movie
never a one American pie
nada lord of the rings
zippo harry potter
no Freddie kruger nor Halloween

 

[St. Clown]

mookie has never seen a single mad max movie
never a one American pie
nada lord of the rings
zippo harry potter
no Freddie kruger nor Halloween

American Pie seems like it would be be right up your alley. The only other I would say is a “should” is the Lord of the Rings movies from 20 years ago. They were a very good adaptation of those books. The Harry Potter
movies were mostly just meh. Im not much of a horror genre guy, and Mad Max never did much for me.

 

[Slap Shot]

The first Halloween still holds up if you're a fan of the genre.

 

[mookie1995]

The first Halloween still holds up if you're a fan of the genre.

Those would scare the chit outta mookie.
no thanks