Dominic Draper

It's a really barren market place currently so everything is having decent drops for the most part. This has made about the same as Thanksgiving on a similar budget and that got a sequel, so I am sure they'll be happy to break even/make profit on home market. But I don't see a sequel coming with the reception it got.

I'm going on Tuesday got my tickets already. Cineplex here in BC is doing a deal all month. Regular tickets are $5. Small popcorn $5. Specialty theatres are half price. Been the last 2 Tuesdays to take advantage and the theatre was very busy. Anyone But You was 3/4 full.

Thought this was very charming and funny. Didn't reinvent the wheel, but it checked all the boxes and had two leads that nailed it and had amazing chemistry. In an era where getting rom coms is rare this felt like a home run just by being what people want from them on a basic level. 20 years ago this may have felt more "dime a dozen" but now felt refreshing and what audiences wanted. I had a great time with it. 7/10

Watched Anyone But You. Really enjoyed it. Is it one of the great rom coms? No. But it is genuinely funny and charming. It felt like a real rom com again that checked all the boxes and did everything well. Leads had good chemistry. It was everything you are expecting for better or worse depending on how you view the genre. Had a real good time, and it's not surprising to see the movie doing so well from word of mouth. Hopefully we get a renaissance of the genre. 7/10

Really dumb WB keeps doing this.

Argylle was a complete mess. Rockwell is the only saving grace but he's not enough to carry it. The action scenes are just so over the top cheesey. Even though I felt each kingsman film was worst than the last, I still enjoyed the action in them and each one had at least 1 memorable action set piece. The 2 big ones here are memorable only in how God awful they are. That CG oil scene is going to haunt my nightmares. The twists every 5 minutes, twists that undo the last twists that comes off a twist that had undone the previous. It's like a Russian doll of twists each one dumber than the last. 3/10. As much as i hated it, it was still better than night swim.

This was absolutely God awful. The first half is not good but it's not terrible, then the 2nd half goes insanely stupid. Rockwell does his best but he can't overcome the stupidity of the script and the terrible directing. The 2 big set piece action scenes in the 2nd half had me close to walking out. Vaughn seems to be getting worse with every film. 3/10

Seeing Directed by Jeff Wadlow during the Imaginary trailer made me shudder. Truth or dare and fantasy island were so, so bad.

Watched Maestro and I did not enjoy it at all. First miss of the best picture noms for me in my watches. It's well acted, well shot, well directed. It has some scenes I really liked. But none of the parts seemed to add up to anything coherent. It felt oddly cold, disjointed and messy. Scenes randomly stitched together. It seemed to want to be a biopic about the moments in between the big events but it just doesn't work. I walked away from the film feeling like I didn't know anything about the person, or why the person is important and what they accomplished. Every creative decision felt like it was made to appease award voters instead of strengthening the film. Carey really carried this film on its back and I kept thinking man I just wish the whole thing was about her and from her perspective. Bradley Cooper is talented behind the camera and I look forward to what he does next but this was just a huge miss for me even if I found a lot of it beautiful to look at. 5/10

Seems like he will. Teaming up with Statham again. https://deadline.com/2024/01/jason-statham-david-ayer-sylvester-stallone-amazon-levons-trade-movie-deal-1235805593/

Saw American Fiction and really liked it. Super funny and witty. This and Poor Things really surprised me just how funny they were. I've really enjoyed all the best film noms I've watched so far. Oppenheimer 10/10 Poor Things 9/10 Killers of The Flower Moon 9/10 American Fiction 8/10 The Holdovers 8/10 Hoping to watch Barbie, Maestro and Past lives this week.

Isnt this just bonus money for Apple instead of throwing it straight on streaming? Give the movies a bit more prestige and awareness with box office not being a huge concern? Are they spending the money on marketing or is the distributor?

For me the turning point of Taika was his role in Free Guy. I was just like oh no, this is the most egotistical irritating performance in a film I've seen in a long time, he has drank his own Kool aid.

To this day I'll never understand the Ragnarok praise. It felt like 2 entirely different films badly stitched together

They all seem to have massive egos.

Predator 2 is god awful.

Have you ever like, seen the weird fascination that happens by women for serial killers and they fall in love with them? It's not exactly some bizzare notion when it happens in real life.

Lol wut Also, this post just kind of side steps his work in Witcher which people absolutely loved him in and he carried the show.

Saw ISS. It's not bad,but never really rises above what you'd expect and has a bit of an anti climatic ending that some of my audience groaned about it. It didn't bother me too much personally. Cool concept, some decent suspense but just doesn't do anything noteworthy with the initial concept. 6/10

Not sure how beepekeeper fits into this tbh. Its already at $75M on a $40M budget. Will likely break even at theatrical if not profit.

Saw Poor Things and I absolutely loved it. In my top 5 for 2023. I was not expecting it be as funny as it was, most I have laughed in a theatre in years. I did think the first half of the film was better than the 2nd half. It meandered a bit too long in the back half, but still loved it. 9/10

Really enjoyed Beekeeper. One of Ayers better films, as well as Stathams. It's very much in the Taken/Man On Fire/Equalizer mold. Fun breezy time. Straight forward revenge action flick. Not one of the best or anything, not reinventing the wheel. But a good time.

This was god awful. I never walk out of films but this one really tested my patience. Easily the worst film I've watched in theatre in years. It's just flat out boring. The pacing makes it feel 3 hours long. There is almost no actual horror here. The story is very poor. When it tried to get serious and scary I almost burst out laughing because of how poorly done it was. What a train wreck. 2/10

On the other side, I really enjoyed Ferrari. Easily Mann's best since Collateral.

Night Swim holds the distinction of being the worst film Ive seen in theatres since Blumhouse's Fantasy Island. And I go to 50+ movies a year.