"I feel just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.
You know, except for that whole hooker thing."
PINNED: this newsletter is supposed to be a friendly recapping of the movies in, and coming to, theaters. But things be real weird right now. So until that changes in earnest, I'll either be suggesting old favorites to revisit, pointing out recent flicks you may have missed or calling out notable new VOD / streaming options.
This week Marvel made a trailer for going to The Movies, while still also marketing their own movies. Smart. It's a lot of footage from already released films (including some in theater reminiscing) overlaying a speech from Stan Lee, but it does drop a few teases of upcoming films, including release dates (it announced the Black Panther sequel title - Black Panther Wakanda Forever, as well as a Fantastic Four movie).
I think it was a great idea and it brought up something I thought about a lot when I was at Paramount, when there was already a lot of humming and hawing about people going to the theaters less and less (and this was a a while ago now). The movie industry, although definitely not all of it (see: Netflix), sees big benefits when people go to theaters. It also, unlike most industries, has a sort of collective well-being situation. The more theater going people do, the more it has a tendency to benefit all studios. Lots of factors here, but broad-strokes.
The same industry also has some of the biggest marketing teams and best storytellers in the world. So why doesn't it do a better job of marketing and telling its own story, and not just the ones it wants people to buy tickets to? Imagine if there was a concerted effort from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Ava DuVernay, J.J. Abrams, Taika Waititi, Chloë Zhao, James Gunn and loooots of others, to help propel people back into theaters.
You can imagine the ideas and concepts from those filmmakers, along with the studios' marketing force, could birth some pretty cool campaigns. And I'm not just talking showing footage from movies, but about conveying what it's like to go the theater. Why it can be so fun. The feelings you get. The experiences you have and remember, vs the nights you forget spent on the couch. Ya know, thematic stuff.
But. Studios are often so focused on their issues, their own movies, that this isn't much of a thought. Plus, it means collaborating with "the enemy" (which is often your old co-worker from a previous studio). Which is fair! Selling movies is hard. But if they care about theater going as much as they say they do, it might behoove them to try and pass some of that love to their audiences. 🤷♂️
(from top, left to right)
The Wrath of Man: This basically looks like John Wick, as done by director Guy Ritchie. That is to say, it's (yet another) violent action revenge movie. Now, Wick certainly didn't invent the genre, it just kinda refreshed it such that it's become the standard bearer. So how does The Wrath of Man differentiate? By re-teaming Ritchie with Jason Statham, with whom he hasn't made a movie since 2005's Revolver - aka the only movie where Statham does the whole hair thing (I wouldn't laugh, have you seen the dude punch?). But the duo's origins run deep; they both got their respective cinematic starts in 2000's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and then made the modern sorta-classic Snatch.
But saying this is a Ritchie movie implies a certain tone, violent yes, but with some kinetic kitsch and dry witticisms - plus plenty of suits and f-bombs. But while you can bet on the violence, this looks slightly more dower than the pair's previous outings. Statham's character's son is murdered, so he's all about finding who did it, no matter how many people he has to put a bullet into. So think less British asides and more glowering looks as he kills yet another henchman on his way to the ultimate big bad. With a few narrative twists along the way.
Out Friday
Watch In Theaters!
The Trailer | 1 hr 58 mins | R | 🍅: 67%
The World to Come: It's somewhat odd to say there've been "a lot" of lesbian period romance movies over the last few years, but relatively speaking, it's true. So much so that legit publications even wrote satirical articles about the um, trend? But I get it, when movies have generally been the realm of heteronormative love stories, it bears noting.
The World to Come, and those recent films with which it gets lumped together (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Ammonite), discuss a specific type of queer love story. They're much different from the stories that take place in modern times, like Netflix's The Half of It or Hulu's Happiest Season. While the characters at the center of those movies face plenty of struggles, they at least have some sense there are others like them and messages about it being ok to love whoever you want. The World to Come finds its protagonists in a far harsher environment, both culturally and physically, as the movie takes place in mid-1800's upstate New York.
Katherine Waterson is married to Casey Affleck, and they've just lost their daughter to diphtheria (cue: an Oregon Trail joke). Vanessa Kirby (nominated for an Oscar this year) and her husband, played by Christopher Abbott, move in "next door" (quotes, because the suburbs this ain't) to the couple. The two women find solace in each other in the context of their either disaffected or abusive husbands, with Kirby's character allowing Waterson's some lightness after a lot of dark.
There's a sense of austereness to the movie, but that seems more to convey the difficulty of the times and situation than a lack of heart. And while earnestness can sometimes be ripe for jabs (see: aforementioned article), if you let yourself fall into the world these women live in, you'll probably come away a bit sad, but hopefully more softened than hardened.
Out Now
Watch VOD
The Trailer | 1 hr 38 mins | R | 🍅: 74%
Rams: You may scoff and think to yourself, "why would I spend multiple hours of my precious life watching two old Australian sheepherding brothers bicker and gave the ol 🖕🏼to authorities trying to cull their herds due to a nasty disease roiling through flocks of the woolly creatures?"
But then, I present to you, Mr. Sam Neill, aka Dr. Grant, aka social media pro. I mean, honestly, that should be enough, that man is a gem, but the movie also has the enjoyable vistas of Aussie land and looks to be just the right amount of comedy plus aww gee shucks endearing. I don't know if the movie's marketing department would approve (it wouldn't), but maybe think of it as a down under Grumpy Old Men with more more heart and a lot more sheep.
Plus, since you probably haven't travelled much recently, consider it a test case before the real thing happens.
Out Now
Watch VOD
The Trailer | 1 hr 59 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 90%
NOTABLES
(from top, left to right)
Summer of Soul - doc from Questlove on a concert that happened in 1969 Harlem (same year as Woodstock as the trailer points out), but is not widely known / talked about.
Plan B - kind of like a cross between Booksmart and Unpregnant. Ie, two high school friends looking to live it up end up with some pregnancy issues
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