So, I broke my hand.
Good thing I type with my nose. š
THE QUOTE š¬ š¬
āItās called a hustle, sweetheart.ā
hint: itās even better when itās said the second time
THINK THOUGHTS š
Youāll see the story below, but A Minecraft Movie made a lot of money last weekend. Like, a lot a lot. Itās one of the classic āover-performingā scenarios Iāve commented on in the past where it was āsupposedā to make one amount and it blew past that. I talk about them whenever they come up because I will forever hate the framing and phrasing.
I feel like this case is also slightly different than ones in the past because itās mainly a kids driven movie. And you know who is notoriously hard to poll? Indeed, chicken jockies kids.
Reminder: the problem I have with āover-performingā as a notion is that the movie was always going to make this much (outside of the studio pulling the movie or say a pandemic). We just didnāt know it. So nothing actually changed, except our expectations were set wrong.
It makes for really compelling headlines when people thought itād make $80 million and it doubles that. But again, $80 million was never going to happen. People just thought it was going to. Nothing will change out of this and Iāll probably be writing about this same scenario again soon. But until then, you can spread the word.
PS regarding the subject of the email. I did actually break my hand (playing soccer last Sunday). I only really tell you this to get myself out of any spelling or grammar mistakes, because as regular readers know, I never make errors when I have two good hands. š«£
PPS I was able to watch the first three episodes of The Studio and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very anxiety inducing, eh? I do want to write more about it, so if youāre watching it too, Iād love to hear your thoughts and any specific takes on how it portrays Hollywood.
NEWSY BITS š¾
āA Minecraft Movieā Arrives as a Surprise Box Office Smash - it made $163 million. which is a shiiiit ton of money and the biggest video game opening of all time, besting Mario. - NY Times
China Mulling Ban on Hollywood Film Releases in Response to Trump Tariffs (Report) - le sigh - Hollywood Reporter
NOTABLE NEW RELEASE(S) š & šŗ
Warfare
Filmmakers can make all the war movies they want, but if theyāve never been in an actual war, how can they really know what itās like? They canāt, right? Not truly.
That doesnāt mean Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan didnāt make immensely compelling scenes in Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk, respectively. Itās just that theyāre pulling from second hand knowledge.
Whereas with Warfare the film was co-director by Ray Mendoza who is an Iraqi war vet. And he built the movie off specific memories he (and others on his team) had from a particularly harrowing real-life scenario.
Mendoza, along with his co-director Alex Garland, who made last yearās Civil War (and Ex Machina) stripped the movie of any traditional war movie cliches, both in camera work and story.
They apparently created what is being cited by critics as maybe the most accurate portrayal of combat in a movie. Itās an approach that looks to be more about experiencing than directly connecting to. Which means there could a certain level of distance in that youāre not identifying with specific named soldiers, youāre simply identifying with āsoldiers.ā
It doesnāt look to be about judgement, but about presenting what is, as best they can, so those among who never will experience war, can at least have a sense of what itās like. And then we can make our judgements. Will it be a āgood time?ā Um, probably not. Will it be compelling? Probably quite so.
Because for all itās horrors, we (humans) continue to be fascinated by war, and compelled to create it, again and again, no matter how hard it is on those participating.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 35 mins | R | š : 93%
Drop
If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today heād, well, first off, heād be freakinā ancient, but heād also have so many other devices to play with in devising devilish scenarios to torture his characters.
Would he use a cell phoneās Bluetooth capability as a mechanism for a woman (and mother) to be controlled on her first date post the death of her husband by sending threatening messages telling her to poison her date? I mean, maybe!
Although, tbh, it kinda doesnāt matter. If you have a hook, and you treat it well, it can work.
Dropās hook may ultimately not be one Hitchcock wouldāve chosen if heād made it to his third century,1 but the filmmakers here did and theyāve also apparently turned it into a nifty (mostly one setting) thriller where youāre questioning everyone in the room - is it the waiter, the bartender, the rando in the corner?
The mother is played by Meghan Fahy (last seasonās The White Lotus) and her son is being threatened while sheās on this date. But she doesnāt leave because she was texting with this guy (Brandon Skelar) for three months leading up to this first meetup (editorās note: three months????!!!) and sheāsā¦. ok, no, Iām obviously joshing. She canāt leave until she kills her date otherwise her son dies. A wicket that is ever so sticky.
And while I mentioned Hitchcock, I wouldnāt go in expecting Dial M for Murder level of play, but reviews do say itās a fun, if a bit kitschy, time.
And a problem that probably wouldāve been solved by turning on Do Not Disturb, but for some people thatās scarier than a serial killer.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 40 mins | PG-13 | š : 88%
The Amateur
Jesus Christ, thatāsā¦
ā¦not Jason Bourne.
But hey, donāt discount the nerdy tech guy just because he canāt break your teeth with his fists. If you kill his wife he gets pissed just the same and heāll come for your ass. And, ya know, the rest of your body parts too. It just might be via a well-placed bomb.
But to bring up Bourne implies a certain level of spy-ness. And while this is no Bourne or Bond, it does look to be at the very least, spy-adjacent - globe trotting, sinister plots formed by bad guys. But because we think of spy movies as ones with a charismatic lead engaging in gunplay, itās worth being aware that Rami Malek is playing the data geek widower whose socially awkward tendencies only get exacerbated as he goes on his revenge tour.
Critics say itās good enough, but that doesnāt mean itās good. But the studio did a smart thing and screened the the movie early for average moviegoers and they seem to like it. So maybe you will too??
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 2 hrs 3 mins | PG-13 | š : 67%
G20
āI donāt think every movie you do has to be considered for an Academy Award. I wanted to do something that families could watch together, something popular.ā - Viola Davis on G20
And thanks to her desire for fun, we are blessed with Viola Davis kicking terrorist scum to the curb as President of the United States in G20, whiiiiich takes place at Disneyland.
Jk, itās at the actual G20 summit, which will be full of other world leaders Davis will save, and at the same time save the entire country (world?).
Talk about having fun.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 48 mins | R | š : TBD
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) š
Sacramento - the kind of road trip every middle-aged straight dude needs in his life. The reviews say Michael Cera brings his anxiety ridden humor along for the ride in a great little movie about capital L, Life. Limited Theaters Friday
THE WEEKLY TRAILER PLAYLIST āÆ
The Naked Gun - Frank Drebin Jr.!
The Phoenician Scheme - Mr. (Wes) Anderson.
Tron: Ares - donāt worry if itās gonna be any good. Just worry if itās gonna look cool.
MEGAN 2.0 - my friends, they went full MEGAN for this sequel. What does āfull MEGANā mean. Just watch.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - itās not that the stunts are any less impressive, itās just that heās been doing it for so long, itās getting harder to be impressed. Fair? No. Reality? Kinda!
Ponyboi - an intersex sex worker gets wrapped up in some drug deals gone awry.
he was born in 1899