Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Box Office Report

Ty: We're doing the box office report.  New feature.  Stan suggested it and wanted to pull in Ann and C.I. for this feature.  2022 will be coming to a close shortly.  Not a lot of hits and not a lot of solid movies, let alone great ones.  Ann, you and Stan cover films at the end of each year, wondering what your general feelings are.

Ann: Disappointed.  A lot of releases, too many of them garbage.  Stan and I don't usually pick a worst film of the year but, if we did this year, I'd go with the most recent HALLOWEEN.  

Stan: That was awful.  Why do you make Jamie Lee Curtis an extra in a HALLOWEEN movie?

Ann: And Jason too.

Stan: Yes.  That was so disappointing.  It didn't live up to what people expected or to what was advertised.  That's why it cratered in week two.  It was awful.  In fact, I'd say HALLOWEEN ENDS is the worst of all the HALLOWEEN films.


Ty: What do you think was the best film of 2022 of the ones that made big money?

Ann: Nothing in the top ten moneymakers domestically impressed me.

Stan: I'd agree with that.  Right now, the films I enjoyed don't pop up until the numbers ten to 20 for the year -- UNCHARTED, THE LOST CITY.  And DOG's in the top 30.

Ann: And that was a good movie -- and it's barely in the top 30.  It'll probably shift to the top 40 in a few weeks.



Ty: C.I.?

C.I.: My pick for best film of the year is BROS.  Right now, it's number 59 on the domestic box office for the year.  It's hilarious and well made, an instant classic.  I'm hopeful that it will be remembered when nominations come out.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ann: I laughed harder at BROS than at any movie this year.  And we bought it on streaming as well as seeing it in the theater.  I thought we had seen it the most and then Stan told me how many times he's seen it.

Stan: My girlfriend and I saw it at the movies four times.  Since we bought the streaming version, I've easily seen it over 20 times.  People will come over and if we talk movies and they haven't seen it, we'll start it up.  It's a great movie.  Like C.l., I think it's the best of 2022.

Ann: I'm not expecting anything coming out to beat it.

Ty: I loved it too.  Anyone reading who hasn't seen it, please make a point to watch it.  Now the reason we're doing this feature is SHE SAID.  Stan told me he mentioned it to C.I. who responded, "No one's going to see it."  And, turns out, no one did.  C.I.?

C.I.: It's not a movie.  If it was one, it was advertised poorly.  You can't just throw events up onscreen and claim, "It's real!"  You have to have a narrative.  You have to have twists.  You have to give people a reason to spend their time and money.  No one was asking for that movie and it never should have been made.  Good intentions do not necessarily translate into box office dollars. There has to be something more.  ERIN BROKAVICH was about a single mother fighting the system and also taking on a huge and evil corporation.  Julia Roberts was our entry way into that film.  They have no star power at all in SHE SAID and they have no likeable Erin-like figure for us to root for.  That film died in casting.  Ann's got another point to make.

Ann: I do.  As a survivor of rape, why do I want to see SHE SAID?  They give nothing for me to be interested in.  A bunch of reporters far removed from what happened?  At least in THE ACCUSED, the attorney played by Kelly McGillis was forced by Jodie Foster's character to address the rape. The trailers didn't highlight the women.  And made me wonder who the audience for what appeared to be a self-congratulatory film was intended for.

Stan: I also question the hiring of a German director.  This is an American story.  Don't know why we're farming it out -- and farming it out to a German who has not had any box office success.  This is her first English language film.  Who thought she could pull this off?  

C.I.: It's an American story and it's being told at a distance -- possibly with British reserve?  The screenwriter is also not American, she's British.

Ann: In the trailer, the film feels cold and lifeless.  It doesn't feel like, for example, a thriller from Alan J. Pakula.

Stan: Or like a thriller Jane Fonda would have produced -- like THE CHINA SYNDROME, for example.  In a film like that, her character starts of at point A and is awakened by events to move further along.  That wasn't this type of film.  SHE SAID isn't a film at all.  


Ann: I saw CALL JANE and wanted to love it but it was so disappointing and I just felt ripped off.  It should have been a lively and exciting film.  Instead, they seemed mired in "It's a true story."  Well it may have been true but it was also very dull and there was no excuse for that.

Ty: Nope.  And we'll wrap up on Ann's points.  This may be a regular feature, if you liked it, let us know.  Rush transcript, our best e-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com. 


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