Last Christmas | Paul Feig | Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding | Universal | 11/8/2019

[kells]

Emilia was fine in S8, but there was nothing extraordinary. She had some great facial expressions during Dany's downfall, but the actual talking scenes were as stilted as ever. Take away her wig and costumes and you basically have the same meh performances she's given in every film role she's taken on. 

 

I do think she has a likeable presence and I enjoy her interviews as herself, so I'm fine if she makes a post-GoT career for herself, but based on her output, it's just hard for me to imagine. The comparison to Emma Watson is pretty spot-on, tbh. They played iconic female roles that played to their strengths, but there's a certain stiff, forced quality to their acting when they try to expand their range.

[Alli]

I don't think Emilia is as stiff as Emma Watson. But she's has some bad luck with her movie career

[rjones1325]

 

[Jay Beezy]

4 hours ago, Alli said:

I don't think Emilia is as stiff as Emma Watson. But she's has some bad luck with her movie career

I’ll tell you this. When it came to casting Sarah Connor in Terminator Genishyts and the shortlist was Emilia Clarke, Brie Larson and Tatiana Maslany like it was, Clarke would have been my last pick. Although it may not be hard to believe that people like Larson and Maslany passed because the script was awful.

[TheDarkKnightOfSteel]

1 hour ago, Jay Beezy said:

I’ll tell you this. When it came to casting Sarah Connor in Terminator Genishyts and the shortlist was Emilia Clarke, Brie Larson and Tatiana Maslany like it was, Clarke would have been my last pick. Although it may not be hard to believe that people like Larson and Maslany passed because the script was awful.

Which reminds me...why the Fuchs isn’t Maslany A-list by now?

[Jay Beezy]

3 hours ago, TheDarkKnightOfSteel said:

Which reminds me...why the Fuchs isn’t Maslany A-list by now?

I looked at her filmography. She's done a lot of projects, but nothing as high profile for her as Orphan Black. Any noteworthy project name she only had a small role in.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Jay Beezy

[harlequinade]

Clarke was incredible in s8, especially considering what she was given to work with

[JB33]

The early numbers for this are more surprising for me than Doctor Sleep. People really aren't going for this as much as I thought. 

 

Rom coms really are dead.

[dudalb]

19 minutes ago, JB33 said:

The early numbers for this are more surprising for me than Doctor Sleep. People really aren't going for this as much as I thought. 

 

Rom coms really are dead.

Not really.

I still think it opened a bit too early for a Christmas themed film.

[JB33]

1 minute ago, dudalb said:

Not really.

I still think it opened a bit too early for a Christmas themed film.

Timeline for a release for a Christmas themed film is a hard thing to nail down. You don't want to release it too late either because Christmas themed movies crash and burn the moment the calendar hits December 26. I always thought the 2nd weekend of November was perfect. Open it before US Thanksgiving, let Thanksgiving help the 3rd/4th weekend legs and carry it over to Christmas time.

 

@TwoMisfits made a good point in another thread: maybe this is the right time for children/family oriented Christmas movies, whereas adults may want to wait until US Thanksgiving or right after for Christmas movies that are just for them. How do you think this would have done opening on the 27th alongside Knives Out and Queen & Slim?

[CoolioD1]

idk, the advertising just made this seem kinda basic. not that funny, not that unique. like what's really the hook here? other than "it's christmas soon why not see a christmas movie?"

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, JB33 said:

Timeline for a release for a Christmas themed film is a hard thing to nail down. You don't want to release it too late either because Christmas themed movies crash and burn the moment the calendar hits December 26. I always thought the 2nd weekend of November was perfect. Open it before US Thanksgiving, let Thanksgiving help the 3rd/4th weekend legs and carry it over to Christmas time.

 

@TwoMisfits made a good point in another thread: maybe this is the right time for children/family oriented Christmas movies, whereas adults may want to wait until US Thanksgiving or right after for Christmas movies that are just for them. How do you think this would have done opening on the 27th alongside Knives Out and Queen & Slim?

Office Christmas Party opened two weeks before Christmas a few years ago and couldn't cross $60M. I dunno, it's just that adult-themed Christmas movies have always been more limited in appeal than the ones aimed directly towards families ala Elf, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, The Polar Express, etc.

[JB33]

9 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Office Christmas Party opened two weeks before Christmas a few years ago and couldn't cross $60M. I dunno, it's just that adult-themed Christmas movies have always been more limited in appeal than the ones aimed directly towards families ala Elf, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, The Polar Express, etc.

Well Office Christmas Party would be a perfect example of what I said about the danger of releasing a Christmas movie too CLOSE to Christmas. It's a balancing act. You're probably right in that adult Christmas movies probably have limited appeal in general, but if they're going to release them anyway you wonder if US Thanksgiving isn't ultimately the perfect time.

[Curtis1986]

B- cinamascore. Ouch

First bad reviews and then bad boxoffice and now this. Cant say that I'm shocked. The movie did not look good. 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Curtis1986

[JB33]

15 minutes ago, Curtis1986 said:

B- cinamascore. Ouch

First bad reviews and then bad boxoffice and now this. Cant say that I'm shocked. The movie did not look good. 

I for one am shocked. The genre is definitely not in my wheelhouse so I cant really be the judge of whether it looks good or not, but I guess I just lazily assumed this would be a go-to holiday film for adults, couples, girls night out etc.

 

Too bad for Emilia and Henry though. Both are likeable people whom I want to see succeed.

[Taylor]

I saw it last night and liked it well enough. Emilia is incredibly endearing, Emma is wonderful, Henry is charming. The first half was funnier than I was expecting, then it drags for a bit, and the ending feels rushed, so I can understand the mixed reviews... but as far as Christmas movies go, it does the trick.

[Jay Beezy]

14 hours ago, Curtis1986 said:

B- cinamascore. Ouch

First bad reviews and then bad boxoffice and now this. Cant say that I'm shocked. The movie did not look good. 

That is definitely low for this kind of movie.

[dudalb]

22 hours ago, JB33 said:

Well Office Christmas Party would be a perfect example of what I said about the danger of releasing a Christmas movie too CLOSE to Christmas. It's a balancing act. You're probably right in that adult Christmas movies probably have limited appeal in general, but if they're going to release them anyway you wonder if US Thanksgiving isn't ultimately the perfect time.

The weekend before Thanksgiving is sort of the start of the Holiday movie season. Most Christmas themed movies open around Thanksgiving.

I know the Grinch did well with a early November opening last year, but that might be the exception not the norm.

I still think this should have opened a couple of week later.

[dudalb]

And the leap from TV Star to Movie Star is a lot harder then it looks. I would say for every TV personality who makes it to film stardom, three probably fall short .

Emilia Clark is going to have to show a more solid list of sucesses until she is movie A list.

[Jay Beezy]

4 hours ago, dudalb said:

And the leap from TV Star to Movie Star is a lot harder then it looks. I would say for every TV personality who makes it to film stardom, three probably fall short .

Emilia Clark is going to have to show a more solid list of sucesses until she is movie A list.

And it’s much harder to become A-list these days because starpower doesn’t sell like it used to. Starpower is like a condiment to a movie in terms of marketing it.