solaris

£10m+ for Oppenheimer is insane. Legs will be excellent here too. Might not not quite get there, but can see it going over £50m and edging towards Dunkirk numbers. It will need a great 2nd/3rd weekend hold. Didn't realise Dunkirk only dropped -17% in it's second weekend. NB - was talking to colleagues at work about Barbenheimer, and definitely noticed the younger (22-30) ones referring to Nolan by name.

I made a top 15 if that counts: 1. Flee An animated documentary about an Afghan refugee narrated mostly in Danish has no right to be this good. When the film arrives at a particular moment (in a nightclub)... I haven't sobbed so much in years. 2. Brokeback Mountain Very obvious yes, but it really does hold up so well nearly 20 (20!) years on. Ledger and Gyllenhaal have never been better (yes, including TDK). Again, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to shed a tear by the end. 3. Far From Heaven Todd Haynes deserves to be very high on this list. Of his more overtly gay films, this is a personal favourite. Dennis Quaid is excellent (and zaddy af) as the tormented, closeted all American dad coming to terms with his homosexuality (and love of twinks). Plus, it's got Julianne Moore's campest performance (and deliberately so). And it's utterly gorgeous. 4. God's Own Country Brokeback but made in Yorkshire and with much rougher and more gratuitous sex. Yes. 5. Stranger by the Lake Probably the least seen film on the list but one that's stayed with me for years. Part psychological thriller, part languid romance, this French film is horny af. Perfectly encapsulates the electricity of casual gay sexuality. 6. Birdcage Probably the first 'gay' film I ever saw. Looking back, it seems kind of miraculous that a film like this existed. In 1995 too! One of the best gay films to explore the fractious and complex relationships gay people have between found and 'real' families. Also still hilarious af. Robin Williams is so so good here. 7. Bad Education Almodóvar is another director who needs to be on this list. He's made better films (and better ones with gay characters), but this is one of the very best at capturing the danger and excitement of being young and gay. 8. Pride A very VERY British comedy set at the height of the coal miners strikes in mid 80s Thatcher UK, this is just a lovely, gentle joyous ensemble film. 9. Cloud Atlas Ok, so the gay storyline is technically only one plotline out of several, but that doomed romance feels like one of the most consequential out of all of them. Also, the New Seoul stuff with Doona Bae is cool af. 10. Behind the Candelabra I know, I know - another hetero directed and acted Hollywood take - but this one works so well mostly because of the casting and Damon and Douglas. On top of being a wonderfully camp biopic, it's a brilliant look at the seductively vain side of gay life - where chasing youth, beauty, and hedonism can become consume everything. 11. Weekend 12. Paris is Burning 13. Carol 14. Priscilla Queen of the Desert 15. Milk

If he could get a no star WW2 movie (and a very Brit-centric bit of WW2 at that) to $180m in the US, I've no doubt Oppy would have been able do similar.

This is the weekend we were all born for. I haven't been this excited about following a weekend since Endgame. And at this rate, I'm probably more impressed with Oppenheimer's potential weekend number relative to it's subject matter 🤯

BARBILLION INCOMING

My Oppenheimer showing at the Curzon Aldgate was 70% full for a 12.40 showing. That's insane - it's normally my secret quiet time (I actually booked the afternoon off just to see it)

I'm seriously considering doing a 4am showing now. Even those only have the crappy side seats.

Immediate post screening thoughts. For a film this long, it completely flies (especially towards the end). The cast is insanely stacked. Despite occasionally feeling like stunt casting (as in - surprise! Here's Casey Affleck/Gary Oldman/Rami Malek), everyone works. Might go down as one of the great ensemble casts of all time. Murphy and RDJ are expectedly incredible - it's a joy to see RDJ having such a meaty role to sink his teeth into. Matt Damon is a low key MVP - brings some much levity to the proceedings. The script and story structure is his best since The Prestige. It all builds beautifully towards the final 10 minutes. It's the absolute opposite of most paint-by-numbers biopics. I wasn't quite as enamored with the Trinity Test scene as some of the reviews I've read - it felt a little 'small' and underwhelming after all yhe build up. A rare occasion where a bit of CGI might have helped. Definitely not a patch on the Twin Peaks version of the same test. Ultimately though, it's a marvel. A 3 hour drama told with an insanely huge cast via multiple cross cutting perspectives and timelines should feel like an effort, and it really doesn't. It's Nolan at his most Nolan-y but with a layer of poetic surrealism that feels entirely new. It genuinely deserves it's inevitable success (and Nolan absolutely needs that Best Director Oscar now)

Some immediate post-viewing thoughts. The high points are very high. The Rome car chase and the entire train sequence are beautifully done, and I genuinely had to catch my breath by the final bridge/crash/ravine segment. Also - I'm happy with any film that homages the trailer sequence from The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Tom Cruise has never been more Tom Cruise. Hayley Atwell is a fine addition to the team. Vanessa Kirby is going for a mega-camp vibe (kind of from nowhere) and I'm here for it. The tone of the film feels much more zany and outlandish than any of the others. It also feels more Bond-ian than any of the others (the 'fridging' of Faust doesn't exactly help this). Having just re-watched Fallout, it definitely feels a lot messier and less tightly plotted. I couldn't follow what was happening at the big showdown in the Venice party, and all of the double crossing on the train. I might have missed it but why does Ving Rhames disappear in the last act? The two 'agents-in-pursuit' cliche is tiresome and slows the entire film down whenever they appear. The cliffhanger actually kind of works in a horcrux-y set-up kind of way. I yo-yoed on whether AI as villain works or not... For now I think it does. Definitely not as sharp as the prior two but when it flies it really soars. A- Current MI series ranking Rogue Nation A+ Fallout A Ghost Protocol A MI 1 A- Dead Reckoning pt 1A- MI 3 B+ Am I missing something?

Rewatched Rouge Nation yesterday (anyone else still call it that?) and the underwater heist scene is still pretty damn incredible. For me it peaks there.

I've been drowning in work this week so I've totally missed the midweek numbers. Arrive on the forum to see GOTG3 is on track for a 2nd weekend drop a shade over 50%... Me: Forum:

I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did. This works as both a gorgeous tribute to Chadwick, and as an A grade MCU movie. The best phase 4 film by a long distance. A touch too long but I wasn't bored at all, and the performances are perfect across the board. A

I loved episode 3 but I don't disagree that a trim here or there would have been welcome My single favourite scene of the series so far is the Jakarta cold open. Haunting.

Had no idea Banshees was at nearly £10m here... I'm guessing the Irish gross must be pretty big, does anyone have a breakdown for this? Also, £1m opening for Fabelmans seems... Not a total disaster (at least against some of the other Oscar bait grosses this year)

UK opening next week should give this a very healthy boost. Animation always skews big here (Minions Gru made +$50m). There might not be quite enough in the tank for holdovers to get it to $300m OS, but its not going to be far off. Maybe $450m total when all is said and done - not bad at all!

I'm so looking forward to this - both as a film and for the box office. Clearly the first one had a somewhat deflated run - in the US based on the HBO max fiasco, and internationally suffering from a still slightly COVID depressed marketplace. The question is how much it will increase. Generally it seems like the film picked up a bigger audience through streaming, which should set the stage for a solid increase. US - I'm hoping for a $60m OW / $165m total. Intl - hard to say... The first one did relatively well in Europe so I can't see it adding masses more. It should hopefully get to $25-35m apiece in UK, Germany and France. It struggled to find much of an audience elsewhere, but not sure if that's more down to the material itself then the release date. Australia at the very least should see a pretty big jump as the first one was impacted by Omicron. At the moment maybe $600m global... However this could change if we get an ace first teaser. The cast and scale for part two could be a big additional draw too.

Memento is amazing Plus he already released his 'worst' film with Tenet. I can't see this being worse than that mess.

Seriously? Do we need to pit every film-maker against each other? Spielberg and Cameron are both legends, with two very different approaches. Spielberg has churned out a new film every 18 months for close to 50 years (on average) and follows his curiosity wherever it takes him. So yeah - his ratio of hits to misses might be much worse than Camerons, but even when he misses, there's always some interesting ideas and set pieces in there. For example, War of the Worlds (which I quite like) has several incredible set pieces. The first tripod attack is still one of my favourite Spielberg scenes ever. Even Crystal Skull (which I admit is mostly drivel) has an epic opening scene. And I'm generally grateful for the diversity in Spielberg's filmography - the man made Jurassic Park and Schindler's List IN THE SAME YEAR. I love JC too. No one crafts a third act like him. Aliens is still the best executed final act I've ever seen - my 12 year old mind was blown when the Alien Queen stabs Bishop - like 'hang onnnn.... There's more?!?!?'. If Titanic is on TV I end up watching the whole thing, because I can't tear my eyes away from it. He's a master of the craft. But I do wish we'd see just a shade more variety in his filmography (especially now). Sorry for veering OT... And even if I'm not Avatwos biggest fan, I'm absolutely delighted to witness this run. Between this and TGM I've absolutely loved obsessively following every daily number - reminds me why I joined these forums in the first place. Fingers crossed for $45m this weekend.

I just couldn't really connect with this at all. Found myself zoning out A LOT. It's far, FAR too long, and has none of the efficiency and economy of storytelling that it needs to properly propel it along. Kiri was a great character, and perhaps the only one that I felt any emotional connection to. The other kids all felt generic - I really, genuinely couldn't distinguish between the two brothers at all. James Cameron is responsible for making my absolute all time favourite film (Aliens). The *only* time I felt any kind of excitement to remind me that we're talking about the same filmmaker was the much-vaunted final act (which even here felt overlong). The severed arm/whale moment, and pretty much all of the stuff on the sinking boat, were great. A gripe - every single action scene seems to have some kind of crash zoom shot at the beginning. It all feels a bit (unnecessarily) Zack Snyder-y. Small praise - the whale creatures were cool. I really, really hope that after Avatar 3 JC decides to turn his attention to something else (stay on as producer and let someone else direct the rest). He's too talented a filmmaker to be bogged down making this elaborate nonsense for the rest of his career. I know my wish will be futile.

1. Aliens (my favourite film of all time) 2. T1 3. Titanic

If you've got 10 minutes (or 45 minutes and you feel like watching the whole thing) - this video perfectly distils why Sigourney/Ripley works so well in Aliens: https://youtu.be/mEnynKN8bic (Aliens at around the 9 minute mark) In short, Ripley is an extraordinary heroine, but also a normal person - and I don't think anyone but Sigourney could have made it work. I mean... There's a reason she's my avatar!

The very definition of a solid pilot. The cast were uniformly great, and overall it's an intriguing enough re-introduction to Westeros. The tone feels much more grounded and intrigue-led than the latter GOT seasons, but I hope they don't forget to add in a hint of the world building that made GOT so exciting. I'm happy that they're focusing in on a tighter group of characters, but a hint of the wider world would be nice to see. Anyway, colour me pleasantly surprised by this one.

His best directed film, from his worst screenplay. That being said, there are sequences and ideas in this film that I love, and which will stick with me for a long time. It's far too shaggy (particularly the first act), and even when the film picks up the pace it becomes hard to follow exactly what's happening. And spare a thought for poor Mary Jo... She survived one horrific attack only to be digested alive. That 5 second shot from inside the alien will haunt me forever.