Arthouse Box Office... Go see "The Lovers"
Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 2:15PM Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (reviewed) opened huge as expected, and is now #2 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of this highly specific metric: Most box office improvement over the opening of the first film. Number 1 in this regard is still Captain America Winter Soldier. With the mainstream box office being totally dominated by two franchises featuring rag tag action teams deploying the word "family" as frequently as rounds of ammo, let's turn our attention to the films in limited release. Richard Gere is the unexpected leader with not one but two films (The Dinner and Norman) in the top five.
Coogan, Linney, Gere, and Hall in "THE DINNER"
TOP LIMITED RELEASES
01 The Dinner $755k NEW 505 screens
02 Sleight $743k (cum. $2.9) 591 screens
03 Norman $481k (cum. $1) 125 screens
04 Their Finest $420k (cum. $2.4) 323 screens
05 Colossal $200k (cum. $2.5) 242 screens Review
06 A Quiet Passion $156k (cum. $488k)
07 Battle of Memories $90k (cum. $426k) 40 screens
08 Risk $75k NEW 34 screens
09 The Lovers $70k NEW 4 screens on Debra Winger
10 Citizen Jane $44k (cum. $132k) 22 screens
What did you see this weekend?
I didn't hit the theater (SHAME UPON ME!) but that's only because I'd already seen The Lovers which you need to see because it's the rare opportunity to welcome Debra Winger back. Plus awesome writer/actor/husbandofCarrieCoon Tracy Letts and the rarely seen Melora Walters (Magnolia) so win-win-win.
I stayed in and emptied out my DVR as well as caught up with the first three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale (first two reviewed here). If I hadn't received such good personal news this week, it would have been enough to flatten me with despair. Jesus, Hulu. End times it is!
Reader Comments (17)
I'm seeing Guardians of the Galaxy and Their Finest tomorrow. This week, I saw an advanced screening of The Big Sick, which I flat out loved. I also finally saw Get Out and I was....really disappointed. Kinda bummed about it, cause I heard such great things and it just didn't work for me.
Saw Graduation and quite liked it. It's somehow less intense than his last 2 movies, even as it's literally about watching the screws tighten around a protagonist.
And I keep plugging away at Twin Peaks season 2.
That third episode of Handmaid's is DEVASTATING. I actually had to stop it a couple of times to gather myself. Terrifying viewing in our current times.
Continuing my Katharine Hepburn journey.
Saw "Stage Door" and "Holiday" this week.
"Stage Door" is already a favorite. Great movie, wonderful Hepburn. The final moments of her performance are great, of course, but my favorite moment in the movie is when Kay collapses and Terry rushes into Mr Powell's office to tell him he's a cunt.
That is great news, Nathaniel. Very well done to you!!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2..... I am Groot.
Didn't go to the theatre but in honor of Danielle Darrieux centenary I watched Loss of Innocence where she co-starred with Susannah York and Kenneth More that I had DVR's from TCM a few days ago. It was her last English language film, an interesting coming of age drama with gorgeous cinematography shot in France and Danielle looked amazing.
I also completed Danny Kaye's filmography when I finally tracked down his most obscure film, Me & the Colonel. It was really quite good with Danny toning his usual boisterous personality way down as a dignified Jewish refugee fleeing occupied France during the last days of WWII along with Curt Jurgens and Nicole Maurey. Despite the serious subject matter it was laced throughout with comic undertones.
I am superheroed out so I will stay in and watch Wild.
Watched some classic films on DVD, which were "Something Wild" (which I quite enjoyed) and "The Black Swan" (my first Tyrone Power film - thanks for the recommendation and articles on him here you guys!).
Just started watching "Nightmare Alley" today.
I saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen -- a feel-good film from Lasse Hallström. I remembered the surprise of most cinephiles when this film got a Best Picture nomination at the Golden Globes in 2012. After watching the film, I can see why this film appeals broadly to the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press. It is about inter-governmental collaboration however wrong-headed it was. Plus Emily Blunt was perfect for the Asperger mannerisms of Ewan McGregor. A great supporting turn from Kristin Scott-Thomas even if it's a bit one-note. Enjoyed it for what it is trying to achieve and the simplicity of its cinematic gestures.
Feng Xiaogang's I Am Not Madame Bovary was a delightful watch even if some repetitiveness in the dialogue may not wash well with the international audience who are keen on stating something simple, then expect to be understood. Fan Bingbing is quietly amazing as Li Xuelian whose desire to redress a fake divorce led to 12 years of legal entanglements. The film's title is actually (in English) called I Am Not Pan Jin Lian. In Chinese lore, Pan Ji Lian is synonymous with being an adulteress, so it is puzzling that Madame Bovary was used as it's international title since the stories of Pan Jin Lian and Madame Bovary are not the same other than the extra-marital dalliances. The framing of I Am Not Madame Bovary for the most part uses the circular fish-eye frame. It occasionally widens it to a square when it highlights Li Xuelian's cunning to evade the inept state officials who wanted to get her. Tao Guo (To Live) has a funny turn as one of Li Xuelian's amorous admirers. It is an enjoyable experience to see this film once you get into the stylistic if strange framing approach. The lush greens in the film approximate the hand paintings of very fine china (in China).
I capped off this weekend with Julieta -- Almodovar's latest. It worked for me unlike friends I know who didn't quite connect with it. I won't say this is "minor" or "lesser" Almodovar because I personally don't want to subscribe to the tendency to label films in a director's oeuvre in relation to others in the entire filmography. But the story which was based on Alice Munro's 3 short stories owes as much to the mythology of Ulysses as much as to the place-specific idiom of Canadian-ness of the source material. The cast are uniformly excellent with Daniel Grao looking like a modern Ulysses with his wild untameable hair, and the startling turn of Rossy de Palma as a Galician Mrs Danvers. The film works (for me) on several emotional levels. And the last image in of a place in Julieta was quietly devastating because it simply unfolded, even if part of me knew seconds before the image was shown that that is where the story is headed.
Planning to see Beauty and the Beast here in Sweden with a Swedish title of Skönheten och odjuret. I wonder if it will be dubbed in the local language. But what fun if it is even if I won't understand it and yet follow what's going narratively onscreen.
I watched The Zookeepers Wife and I liked it a lot.
Saw A Quiet Passion here in France, and it was so powerful... My god, Cynthia Nixon can't stop being better every time. What a performance.... I'm this close to book plane tickets to New York to see her on stage with Laura Linney in Little Foxes .....
Why won't anybody see A Quiet Passion in theaters so it would be a art-house hit, and then Cynthia would get an Oscar and get her much deserved EGOT ....
Chi-Raq (FINALLY) - loved it, a flawed masterpiece. I already knew (following Dear White People) that Teyonah Parris would be great, though was taken aback by Angela Bassett (it's been a long time since she was this good), Nick Cannon and, especially, Jennifer Hudson (!!!)
All 4 make my 2015 Top 10s in their respective categories (Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress x 2), while the film sits at No.2, just behind Carol Morley's "The Falling"
I saw "Married to the Mob." Hadn't seen it since the 80's and was curious to give it another view after the passing of Demme. After it was done, my partner said, "That was terrible." LOL. I thought it held up rather well, although it didn't have as much comedic zip as I remembered, and Matthew Modine WAS terrible. Pfeiffer was wonderful, though--heartfelt, funny, and endearing.
Saw Anchors Aweigh. Very charming, and Gene Kelly is just the best (and what about those extreme close-ups whenever he was on the phone? They practically fetishized his face but oh, what a face) but it's also too long and Kathryn Grayson wasn't much of an actress even though her voice was lovely. However, most sequences really work on their own and of course the dance duet with Jerry the Mouse is astounding. It felt like good, old-fashioned entertainment, for better and worse.
And congrats on the workshop, Nat!
I stayed in and caught up on some movies. I saw King Solomon's Mines which was very poky and dull witted for an action adventure, even in 1950. Still I guess having the African people speak in their native tongue without subtitles was pretty advanced for the time. And Stewart Granger was better than Deborah Kerr in this one, kind of shocking.
Then I saw Babette's Feast. I had never seen it before and I certainly liked it well enough, but knowing it won the Oscar over some other great movies that year is kind of frustrating. I liked Au Revoir Les Enfants and My Life As A Dog better. Heck, it wasn't even my favorite food oriented foreign movie of that year. I'd give that honor to Tampopo.
Then I watched The Dressmaker and it made me actively angry. Such a great idea, and it was going along as a junky little revenge comedy until they had to throw in a bunch of tragedy in an attempt to go deep or something. Oh well. Kate and the costumes were great.
Then I saw The Handmaiden which was so full, so twisted and tight and kinky that it made all the other movies look lazy in comparison. If you're not squeamish about sex, I recommend it, but stay alert because you can't slack off.
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