What did you see this week?
Monday, April 25, 2022 at 12:44PM What did you see this weekend? I binged Heartstoppers on Netflix (having loved the webcomic it was based on), watched a few Coachella performances (Orville Peck, Maggie Rogers, and Finneas) but the highlight was definitely trekking to the theater to see The Northman with friends. Make sure to listen in to conversations from your fellow moviegoers if you see it. You'll hear lots of variations of "that was insane". The sweat lodge / Dafoe scene early in the film and the big Kidman monologue scene late in the film really get people talking if our Friday night eavesdropping was any general indication. Perhaps we should do a spoiler-heavy review (for those who've seen it only -- you should not read reviews before you see this one).
| Weekend Box Office April 22nd-24th 🔺 = new or expanding / ✅ = recommended |
|
 THE NORTHMAN |
 EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE... |
| 1 🔺 THE BAD GUYS $24 |
6 ✅ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $5.4 (cum. $26.9) |
| 2 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 ★ $15.2 (cum. $145.8) | 2 ✅ THE LOST CITY $4.3 (cum. $85.4) REVIEW |
| 3 FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 $14 (cum. $67.1) | 3 FATHER STU $3.3 (cum. $13.8) REVIEW |
| 4 ✅ 🔺 THE NORTHMAN $12 YES NO MAYBE SO | 4 MORBIUS $2.2 (cum. $69.1) REVIEW |
|
5 🔺 THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT $7.1 |
5 ✅ AMBULANCE $1.8 (cum. $19.1) |
Though audiences still showed that they're lazy and prefer sequels, it's good news that three originals opened at once and they all did okay. The Bad Guys scored best (animated films often do) and while The Northman's $12 million opening isnt spectacular it's also just fine given that it's an original movie for adults. Nicolas Cage's action comedy Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent also did decent business.
With holdovers Everything Everywhere All At Once continues to generate strong word of mouth and dropped only 12% in its 5th weekend which is really incredible. Others had bigger drops of course. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is struggling (comparative to the franchise that is) and suffered a big drop of nearly 67% in its second weekend. Do you think Warner Bros will greenlight a fourth film or put the franchise on ice for a bit? You KNOW it's not too far off before they just reboot Harry Potter and start with new little kids in wizarding school given our regurgitated remake and franchise culture. If there can be dozens of iterations of Spider-Man and Batman in the past 20-25 years the studios can definitely get away with a Harry Potter do-over.
The weekend's best per-screen average went to the beautifully executive French artfilm Petite Mama (in our top ten for 2021) which NEON finally got around to releasing (albeit only on four screens). They Oscar-qualified it last year.
Reader Comments (13)
I rewatched Everything Everywhere All At Once with my cousin and we both had a blast. Also watched the first two eps of THE FIRST LADY and Michelle is the clear MVP.
Nathaniel will we be getting a review of Everything Everywhere All At Once on TFE?
I watched The Batman on HBO Max mainly just because I became curious after hearing from some people how “artsy” the movie was, and now that I’ve seen it myself, my rhetorical question to those people would be, “You don’t watch a lot of ‘artsy’ movies, do you?” I realize that’s kind of snobby of me to say, but I’m genuinely confused by all the “artsy” descriptors people attached to this movie. I’ll grant that it was more visually dynamic than, say, the MCU house style tends to be, but if that’s now the bar for being “artsy,” then I frankly fear for the future of arthouse cinema.
That said, the movie was…okay? I guess? I didn’t hate it by any means, I just didn’t get anything out of the experience either. It definitely didn’t stand out from the recent crop of DC movies nearly as much as I’d been led to believe. But then again, I fully admit these movies are just not really my thing, and the fact that I only watched it because I’d heard it was much different from the others was probably just setting myself up for disappointment in retrospect.
Picture Mommy Dead an old very bad Miriam Hopkins horror.
The Shooting Party Jmes Mason's final film
The Rain Killer Ray Sharkey thriller
Now Voyager sublime after the umpteenth time,Bette should have won here
Ordinary People still think MTM should have had the Oscar.
The Tender Bar flat and uninteresting but with a nice Affleck performance
I also saw Everything Everywhere All at Once, and would also love if TFE did a review of it.
I can't remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater twice? The Randy Newman cameo just kills me.
This past Friday, my Blind Spot for the month in Army of Shadows (great fucking film and certainly Melville's best film from what I've seen from him so far) and yesterday, The Northman (now that is cinema).
I only saw The Lost Daughter now (South Africa is sometimes extremely behind)
And I'm completely completely absorbed and taken away by this slow and thorny experience. What brilliant brilliant filmmaking - Maggie Gyllenhaal you took my breath away ! And Olivia I kneel down to you - It was indeed your crown to take !
The whole cast is so absolutely fantastic. It is definitely not a film for everyones taste, but one that cuts into the pulse of so many unanswered subjects, leaves them open for you to deal with them ...- Geeee growing old is a beautiful thistle.
That actually already sealed my 2021 as a quite interesting diverse year - even though I haven't seen all yet.
I got to go see The Conversation for the first time - tiny microcinema, 35mm print, perfect atmosphere. My only problem was that it was directly after a long trip and I was struggling to stay awake. That almost helped the experience - leaning in disoriented to see if there was anything I was missing really played well with the anxiety and paranoia of the film. Anyway, probably will be my new favourite Coppola once I rewatch it? Blew me away and I stumbled out of it very on edge.
Had a great time with The Northman. The plot and genre aren't really my thing, but it's so vibrant and visceral that I was captivated by it. Nicole Kidman WHEW.
Saw THE NORTHMAN on Thursday so not technically the weekend, but yeah it was insane. On the other side of insane was UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT. I also liked that one. I thought Cage (lol) and Pascal worked well together. The pacing felt weird but at under two hours, it didn't outstay its welcome to me.
On the TV front, I started S2 of RUSSIAN DOLL. Not as strong as S1 and we probably didn't NEED a S2, but still good to see the cast giving us trippy stuff.
Long weekend here in Australia. Last gasps of the French Film Festival with GOLIATH and RISE/EN CORPS - the latter is a fantastic film that encapsulates the joie de vivre of being in your 20s.
Did an ordinary documentary ITHAKA - no insights about Julian Assange's story that we weren't already aware of (well, except for the personally attested fact that Julian's father, who was there for a Q&A, doesn't wash his hands after using the urinal!), and the "At Home With The Assanges" segments just got tiresome after about an hour.
New films INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES and IT SNOWS IN BENIDORM - the latter now one of my favourite filsm of the year (why writer-director Isabel Coixet isn't more widely known and praised is baffling to me - ELEGY, THE BOOKSHOP and now this).
And tried Shudder for the first time (week trial) to watch MOSQUITO STATE - unusual, didn't quite work, but I respect someone that tries to do something different much more than someone who makes a connect-the-dots film.
The new Nic Cage was fun but a second viewing of EEAAO was so joyful. I could watch that movie weekly. Might be my favorite of the decade so far?
Saw Everything Everywhere All At Once for the third Saturday in a row. I love it so much. Just give it best pic, best director, best screenplay, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress, best supporting actor, best editing, best costumes, best hair and make-up, and best visual effects now.
Worked hard all weekend but found time to check out "Choose or die" at Netflix, which... was a mess. The idea is neat, even if it is a rehash of similar ones, and I have to admire how they shot a scene from the perspective of an 8-bit videogame with simple graphics, to save budget.
I couldn't get over the acting (specially Asa Butterfield, whose character is over the top and cringy at the beginning of the film) and some writting, but I could see that it could have been a great horror film, with some minor changes here and there...
I have to admit, that I am eager to see The Northman when I have a chance to do so.
I feel like we've had a pretty great movie year so far, already seeing four completely awesome films.
You know me, I loved the new Scream movie.
X was incredible - a very original slasher both in tone and in character. Such great perfromances all around, especially Brittany Snow and, of course, the now legend Mia Goth.
Everything Everywhere All At Once exhausted me in the very best way. I really hope they can get it a great Oscar campaign that'll last all year.
Sunday I saw the Northman and BAM, MA'M that was brutal AF. FInally a defining role for Skarsgard and Kidman was really fantastic. I haven't seen her menacing since... I don't even know! This film is so incredibly made and the level of detail in the production design should be brought to museums. Eggers is 3 for 3, big time!