If you're happy and you know it...
No need to clap your hands, just keep doin' what you're doin friend!
THE QUOTE đŹ đŹ
âYou know the part in scary movies when somebody does something really stupid, and everybody hates them for it? This is it.â
hint: you watch it with your peepers
THINK THOUGHTS đ
So not only did the massively low-budget Terrifier 3 (easily) end up as the #1 movie in the country last weekend and make more money than Joker: Folie Ă Deux⌠it made a lot more money - nearly $19 million for Terrifier 3 compared to Jokerâs $7 million.
Yes, itâs Jokerâs second weekend, but still, that movie was made for TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. Terrifier 3 cost⌠two million. Itâs not something Iâm pointing out to take pleasure in, but more so calling out because itâs quite fascinating. Joker was âsupposedâ to make a a lot more money. Like, a lot. The first made over a billion dollars worldwide and was the highest grossing R-rated movie ever until Deadpool & Wolverine slashed that record.
I guess it just reaffirms that even if people think they know whatâs going to work, thereâs a good chance theyâre wrong. Oh, and keep making your stuff, the Terrifier premise has been around since at least 2006.
NEWSY BITS đž
Is Hugh Grantâs Most Convincing Character âHugh Grantâ? - sure, itâs yet another profile, but also a fun dive into how an actor can end up âactingâ when theyâre themselves - New York Times
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) đ
Exhibiting Forgiveness - a story about deep familial feelings that doesnât look to turn them into melodrama, but instead a story about the complicated emotions we have about how we grew up in this world. The reviews say itâs a portrayal that respects the characters, their feelings and the audience in a great way. Acting sounds a notch right near the top. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday/
The Line - what goes on at frats? Ummm, couldnât tell you, because I was never in one. But if itâs anything like what happens in this movie, good christ Iâm even more glad I âmissed out.â The reviews say itâs maybe somewhat over the top, but also maybe not?? The performances, regardless, are being touted as they explore power dynamics and masculinity. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday
Brothers - the Arnold Schwarzenegger / Dany Devito movie Twins, but make it a crime thriller? Yeah sure, ok. No real reviews yet (not the best sign), but fwiw both leads-Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage-are very watchable. Streaming on Amazon Prime Thursday
Woman of the Hour - the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick where she tells the (true) story of a woman who ends up on a dating show with a serial killer. The reviews say Kendrick not only stages her movie extremely well, but brings a lived-in experience to the uncomfortable and often awful scenarios women face. And she makes the movie not just a crime thriller, but a portrayal and indictment of all the ways in which women are threatened or aggrieved. Streaming on Netflix Friday
NOTABLE NEW RELEASE(S) đ & đş
Smile 2
With the amount of copying that occurs in horror movies, youâd think weâd end up with barely visible images on the screen, the life and âinkâ drained after duplicating the umpteenth iteration of the same story.
But itâs a credit to filmmakers that they can continue to make new and interesting stuff with the same basic frameworks. Because when the first Smile was released in 2022, it was easy to call it a knock-off of The Ring, It Follows, or Final Destination, where thereâs some ârelentless abstract killer.â
And it kind of was, but its hook and execution was what seemed to helped it feel like an entirely new entity. Fans clearly thought so, as it did quite well at the box office. Critics liked it too.
So now how do you make a copy of your copy and keep it interesting? If youâre Parker Finn, whoâs back writing / directing, you basically come up with an entirely new setting, but keep the core premise - which, if youâre unfamiliar is that people become afflicted with this⌠curse? affliction? where they start to see people smiling at them nefariously, and it grows increasingly more common and frightening until, well, theyâre âsmilingâ too and eventually die.
Finn expanded the scope of the story quite a bit (sequel, bigger budget and all that) by focusing on a musician / pop-star (Naomi Scott, Jasmine from the live-action Aladdin) who has the unfortunate fate of meeting someone with the upside down frown.
Which reviews say adds an interesting element, because even if itâs still mostly a story about tightening pressure, increasing paranoia and a bunch of jump-scares, it gives the action a good frame and metaphorical idea to sustain the scary shit.
But mostly it sounds like Scott kills it đŞ and really brings you along for her journey into madness.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 2 hrs 7 mins | R | đ : 82%
We Live in Time
Iâd love to go back to when the first human said, âIâm sorry, I donât know why Iâm crying,â and discover at what point shedding tears, a clearly inherently human activity, became a shameful one. A social pressure from which I am not immune.
Now, obviously not everyone thinks itâs shameful to cry, and their is a cultural push in many places across the world to make it more acceptable to do so, no matter the circumstances. But at the same time, the dearth of movies that are flat out made to make you weep is sending a different message. Instead, many movies today are too self-aware to really let you feel the feels.
But We Live in Time is a movie that looks like it has ripped its own heart out, dusted it off and placed it gently on its sleeve. And if you choose, itâll probably steal yours too. But youâll have to let it, because this looks to be an obviously straight forward romance, where your connection with the love story between Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield will come only after you knock down that wall around your blood pumper. This shouldnât come as a surprise if youâve watched Brooklyn and learn itâs the same director (John Crowley).
But like any good thief, it should work for and earn its treasure, and critics say the stars and their chemistry (which, if you listen to Garfield, was quite explosive) result in a strong effort. It helps there are some narrative tricks, i.e. jumping around various periods of the relationship, that also help more than hurtâŚ
âItâs a clever conceit that suggests how we experience the passage of time and, in the more successful interludes, conveys how the past, present and future inform one another.â - from the New York Times review of We Live in Time
Whatâs funny though is that time isnât even real, so Iâm not exactly sure how we can live in it. But ya know what is real? Indeed, the combination of water, salt and prolactin, potassium, manganese and stress hormones that you shed when youâre really just lettinâ it out.
Which is not only generally good for you, but nothing to be ashamed of.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 48 mins | R | đ : 79%
THE WEEKLY TRAILER PLAYLIST âŻ
The Monkey - the next movie from Osgood Perkins, the director of Longlegs (aka the creepy Nic Cage movie⌠right, doesnât exactly narrow it down. The one where you barely see his face!).
Conclave - the Pope is dead, and the story of choosing his successor is bound to be nominated for Best Picture at the next Academy Awards.
The Gutter - basically a modern Kingpin? Iâm cool with that.
The Order - true story of white supremacist separatists getting âactiveâ in Idaho and the FBI agent (unfortunately not Special Agent Dale Cooper) who investigates. Looks solid (reviews would indicate yes) and stars Nicolas Hoult and Jude Law as the Nazi lovers and fed, respectively.
The Legend of Ochi - a fairytale-esque story of a girl who comes to protect a creature everyone else fears.
Christmas Eve in Millerâs Point - looks like a legit new Christmas movie, that actually has some good reviews.