TMP

Abigail was a lot of fun, but I’m also a pretty easy mark for Vampire stuff. Not as good as Ready or Not, but exponentially better than the last 2 Screams. Radio Silence have a real nasty habit of their movies just kind of meandering around for a good while though

Holmes is so long ago that I almost forgot RDJ did anything but MCU stuff 2008-2019, but you’re def right - maybe the best example of a mega hit being a “sling-shot” that helps another movie with the same actor. As for Robbie, I think she helped Quinn more than Quinn helped her - TWOWS feels like one of the definitive American movies of the century, and I think her having a big break there played a big role in her trajectory. Streaming is iffy imo. I know Extraction was big, but how much of it had to do with it being the first big COVID streaming action film?

Lucy and Uncharted feel like the only movies that have ever actually benefitted from having a superhero lead actor, and I think a lot of that had to do with positioning; they clearly slingshotted off the momentum of the MCU being a culturally dominant force. Considering superhero movies are passé, the DCEU is dead and the fact that most people haven’t even seen Cavill’s Superman, I really don’t know what kind of pull anyone was expecting him to have here. I think this speaks more to Ritchie’s core fanbase being more inclined to stay at home to see The Gentlemen on Netflix than anything else edit: actually, add free guy to the list of superhero actor hits too; albeit another one which also benefitted to the “slingshot”

Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift? This thing’s gonna be Black Panther for white people

Yeah, but those This is Sparta Youtube poops went hard as a kid

Still insane that he has such a devoted fan base off the back of only having 2 watchable movies, and even then I’m probably being kinder to 300 given that I have childhood nostalgia for it

Not a true Dylan bio of there’s not a scene of him singing Hurricane

This sounds like a waste of resources, idk

The old RT ratings split between “all critics” and “top critics” almost feels obsolete now; it should be between “chronically online critics” and “print only critics”, since it almost feels like each group is carrying completely different baggage with them

I’d add Apes to that too; feel like ROTB feels like the obvious parable but for some reason it’s giving $35m OW vibes for me…. maybe I’ll be way off haha. Think Furiosa is probably most likely to bomb from these three, with Apes the least

I think Plemons exemplified a specific breed of bigotry that can only be read as distinctly American, and the photograph that develops in the credits feels like something right out of the Bush era too. It almost feels like Garland was using War Journalists as a proxy for a non-American view on what American life is like from a third party POV, since the characters we track never really show allegiances to anything beyond capturing the moment. The crossover between photography & film only strengthen that connection too

I loved Civil War; my GF absolutely hated it. FWIW I’ve only lived in America for the last 3 years while she’s been here for the last 10. Idk how much of that played a role in our differing outlooks on the movie, but I will concede that between this and Men, I’m starting to think that Garland struggles with writing women

Young Woman and the Sea? What’s next, For Whom the Door-Bell Tolls? Farewell to Hands?

This shit sounds crazy haha bring it on

Which famous DC character is Steve Coogan playing

Monkey Man was so fucking sick. So insanely propulsive, so rich in texture and steeped in culture. Patel can shoot the shit out of a great action scene, and I loved the little moments of levity sprinkled in between the beat downs. So happy I got to see this on a Dolby instead of my TV, regardless of box office haha

Nvm

My god, who cares hahaha

I mean, you don't have to.

Not sensing much of a break-out tbh. I was off on Kongzilla, but this kind of feels like a $90-105m dom grosser rn

They shoot further away from release. I think F4 only starts shooting 11 months prior to release, for example

April ‘24 might not be amazing for the box office, but it looks really great from a quality pov imo. Hopefully we got a breakout or two as well, but considering how dry the year has been so far outside of Dune - it’s pretty cool to finally have projects to look forward to

This feels like an omen for a $90m opening for Mortal Kombat II….

This could be good or terrible, but it sounds so conceptually interesting and audacious that I have no choice but to be extremely excited. I think it’s so fascinating to see that urban city planning & architecture is the lens that FFC is using to tell a story about the future of America, but I’m sure it’ll also be some metaphor for film-making as well haha (“what if the architect… represents… the film-maker 🤯)

I was gonna make a joke about how Twisters appealing to middle america was ironic given its director, but then I remembered how Minari felt like one of the quintessential “American” movies of the last few years - and makes the fact that it got a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign picture even more, uh… strange haha