Eric Lasagna

It's still at least an A++ though, right?

Weird. I know that I've heard the name Rob Roy before, but I don't remember it being a Liam Neeson movie. Unless of course, I'm thinking about another movie with Rob Roy in the title.

Ooh, The Killer's on Netflix. Saving that on my queue.

The Conjuring 2: $36.6M Warcraft: $27.4M NYSM2: $20.4M

Really enjoyed reading this (might steal the idea someday ), but I would say that I was a little disappointed that To Kill a Mockingbird didn't get a mention. Of course I'm biased, since the book and the movie are pretty much perfect in my eyes, but I do feel that not only did Gregory Peck and Mary Badham set the bar for all future actors to come in terms of conviction and character, but it spoke about the unfairness of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance, something that society has unfortunately carried on, and will likely continue on for decades. It asks us to crawl into another man's skin, and tells us about the importance of growing up and maturing in a way that most filmmakers could never touch on so effectively. Not mad at the overall list, and I know that you might not have the same connection, but it still feels kinda empty to me.

Snow Dogs An American Haunting Gone Fishin' Christmas with the Kranks The Day the Earth Stopped Nailed it!

Before The Dark Knight's release, the Oscar nominees for Best Picture only went up to 5, and very rarely did big-budget tentpoles get much attention from the Academy. In 2008, Dark Knight and Wall-E took the world by storm and were acclaimed by pretty much everyone, but they weren't nominated, and instead, each slot was given to movies that were good, but nowhere near as strong as those summer blockbusters, resulting in backlash from film fans demanding that these crowd-pleasers are just as, if not more strong than those Oscar bait dramas. Because of the heavy backlash, the Academy decided to expand the Best Picture category to 10, which gave helped give BP noms to movies like Avatar, Up, Toy Story 3, and Inception. They did do some changes here and there with how many BP nominees would be given each year, but even now, movies like Gravity, The Martian, and Mad Max: Fury Road are being placed with movies like Philomena and Argo, making the BP roster far more diverse as a result.

Story time for The Dark Knight: I was around 10 years old when I saw it with my older brother and my mom. I wasn't the biggest superhero movie fan, since I grew up more as a comedy movie and cartoon movie fan, but I liked Spider-Man, and I liked Fantastic Four, so I expected a superhero movie along those lines. Something fun, bouncy, and somewhat kid-friendly, but still with some serious moments. Spoiler alert: That didn't happen. Keep in mind that as a kid, I was a gigantic scaredy-cat, even at age 10, so seeing that movie pretty much blindsided what I thought about comic book movies, and the intense action scenes and Heath Ledger's Joker were in my nightmares for weeks. I still have yet to see the entire movie in one sitting, nor any of the other Nolan Batman films, but I will admit that it probably helped me gain more interest in the Batman lore, as a couple years after the movie came out, I became obsessed with the Arkham games, and I later fell in love with Tim Burton's films. I also started to care more about comic book movies after 2008 rolled around, so maybe Dark Knight actually helped me acquire better taste.

Never heard of Easy Rider, but it sounds like something I should put on my watchlist.

...and you can't go by yourself, because?

What I love about this list is that it's conveniently being released while I'm now trying to get more into the horror genre, so this list will pretty much be a laundry list of horror films I have to see. Thanks, B!

Everyone's legs:

Actually, maybe there is. The way I see things, the reason why most movies succeed is through the marketing and timing. After all, trailers and TV spots are a major influence on people saying "Oh, I wanna see that" or "Looks lame. I'll just wait for Netflix" Something like Taken 2 and Pitch Perfect 2 managed to succeed because they took the basic premise, but upped the stakes with larger budgets and a bigger scope, and they showed that through the advertising, making it not seem like the exact same movie with one minor difference. They also arrived about three years or so after the first movie, which meant that the movies were still relevant and fresh in the general public's minds. Alice 2's marketing made it look like the first movie, but with Sacha Baron Cohen hamming it up. Not really a whole lot to get excited for, and that's not including how it had a six-year gap, that sweet spot where it isn't fresh in people's minds, nor nostalgic enough for the original viewers. Neighbors 2 was advertised as the same movie, but with sorority girls. Not really something fresh and a must-see, even with a two-year gap. TMNT 2 faced similar issues with Neighbors 2, as it really only had two new mutants to offer and again had marketing that gave it much differentiation from its predecessor. Ya see where I'm going with this?

For Deepwater Horizon, it's got Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg teaming up again, right after Lone Survivor performed well, and the marketing seems to be pretty effective in interesting Middle America with their whole family vibe and survivor angle. I can see it doing around Lone Survivor numbers, maybe lower.

I agree with you on that, but June will have at least 3 strong performers, which is way better than May's 1.

Save us June from this catastrophe!

Sometimes I wish I had your naivete.

Snow white kinda sorta did save Disney. While the studio was doing well financially, Walt poured almost all of the studio's budget, as well as him mortgaging his own house in order to make the film possible, making it pretty much the Waterworld of the 30s, minus the crushing disappointment. But as said, Cinderella also was another big risk with a giant budget at the time, and could have closed the studio down, since a lot of money was lost during WWII. Sleeping Beauty though was a flop in the box office, which made the studio hesitant on another fairy tale until The Little Mermaid came and put Disney back into the limelight. (I'm a huge Disney nerd, BTW, so ask me any Disney-related questions at any time )

A Monster Calls has been moved up a week, now competing against Madea, Jack Reacher, Ouija, Joneses, and I'm Not Ashamed. Include limited American Pastoral into the fray, and that's 7 movies on one weekend.

TMNT 2: $34.6M Me Before You: $17.7M Popstar: $7M

Star Wars has less appeal to the GA than Assassin's Creed?

Even against Rogue One?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/05/30/sneak-peek-exclusive-cars-3-new-character-cruz-ramirez/84981778/?hootPostID=15e4821211580d8c480a7f4ec7f520ef

I definitely enjoyed the movie, but it's definitely a huge departure in quality from the previous ones. While it's admirable that Singer attempts to add in dozens of new characters in addition to the growing relationships between Charles, Erik, and Mystique, but it leaves a lot of things underdeveloped or flat-out uninteresting. The new actors did fine, but they didn't really have much going for them, outside of their short story arcs, and Quicksilver's reveal about Magneto being his father felt tacked on and unneeded. Not to mention, the climax felt overlong and way too small in scale for what is supposedly the X-Men's biggest baddie. That said, Charles, Erik, Quicksilver, and Mystique are likable and interesting as always, and I enjoyed Apocalypse (although I do wonder why he doesn't use his powers to make the X-Men fall into the earth). The Wolverine cameo was fun, if unneeded, and I do like the inner battle between Charles and Apocalypse. I do see plenty of potential here for the next movie to be another strong film in the franchise, so hopefully Apocalypse will lead to greener pastures in the future. 3/5