What did you see this weekend?
Monday, July 11, 2022 at 11:58PM by Nathaniel R
Continuing the trend for Marvel, Thor Love and Thunder had the best opening weekend for a Thor film ever. Not that that meant that people were enjoying it. Eventually the sloppier ever-increasing franchises from Marvel will catch up to them but for now, people are still showing up like each one is a must-see event, regardless of word of mouth.
| Weekend Box Office July 8th-10th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | PLATFORM RELEASES |
 THOR LOVE AND THUNDER |
 MARCEL THE SHELL... |
| 1 🔺 THOR: LOVE & THUNDER $144.1 NEW |
1 🔺 MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON $322k (cum. $945k) |
| 2 MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU $46.1 (cum. $210.6) |
2 ★ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $238k (cum. $67.6) |
| 3 ★ TOP GUN MAVERICK $15.5 (cum. $597.4) |
3 THE FORGIVEN $67k (cum. $282k) |
| 4 ★ ELVIS $11.1 (cum. $91.3) | 4 ★ OFFICIAL COMPETITION $97k (cum. $453k) |
|
5 JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION $8.5 (cum. $350.5) |
5 HALLELUJAH A LEONARD COHEN JOURNEY $39k (cum. $78k) |
| 6 THE BLACK PHONE $7.7 (cum. $62.4) |
6 PHANTOM OF THE OPEN $31k (cum. $658k) |
| 7 LIGHTYEAR $3 (cum. $112.5) |
7 🔺 FIRE Of LOVE $22k (cum. $40k) *NEW* |
| 8 MR MALCOLM'S LIST $255k (cum. $1.6) | 8 🔺 FIRE $19k *NEW* |
|
9 ★ MAD GOD $16k (cum. $213k) |
| 10 FOURTH OF JULY $14k (cum. $291k) | |
| 11 LOST ILLUSIONS $9k (cum. $96k) | |
| 12 🔺 DREAMING WALLS INSIDE THE CHELSEA HOTEL $7k *NEW* | |
The Spanish comedy Official Competition is about to hit half a million. That's a big deal given today's attendance free arthouses! A milion used to be a major "hit" mark for arthouses but we're thinking it's now $500,000. Fire of Love, the documentary that Glenn was recommending last week just opened and did decent business in 3 locations.
What did you see this week? We took in Thor Love and Thunder (even my Marvel fanatic bestie didnt like it! Uh-oh), caught up with Only Murders in the Building (the second season is even better!) and watched Leave Her to Heaven on Criterion as part of their "Noir in Color" program, while thinking about past brilliant pieces from Jason and Daniel right here at TFE discussing that film.
Reader Comments (7)
I had planned to see COMPARTMENT NO. 6 but, as there were no good seats available, I chose to see SUNDOWN instead. What a great choice (of circumstance), as it was a magnificent movie! Tim Roth should by all accounts be an early Best Actor front-runner (unfortunately, thjis seems to have been forgotten already), and, gooin in to the movie almost 100% blind, the reveals were amazing. I now want to see more movies written by Michel Franco.
Also caught a cinema screning of the classic CAMILLE CLAUDEL - the movie itself is not bad (first 2/3 with both Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu is fantastic, but the last third, mostly without Depardieu, drifts about in arthouse waffle. So I am glad it didn't win Best Foreign Language Film, but it sure should have won the Best Actress Oscar for Adjani over Jessica Tandy (with the caveat that I haven't seen MUSIC BOX).
This was the first weekend in awhile I didn't go to the theater as there was nothing new to see (no, Thor, Love and Thunder does not appeal to me).
I caught up on HBO's series Irma Vep at home and like it quite a bit. It's an entertaining satire of independent tv-making (I almost typed filmmaking, because it feels like filmmaking).
I watched The Outfit, which was fine; I'll probably forget I watched it a month from now. I also rewatched In and Out for the Smackdown. While it's understandably dated, it's quite funny - I laughed out loud repeatedly. And the cast, even beyond Kline and Cusack, is so strong.
I watched What's Love Got to Do With It and Captain Phillips and I was let down by both (more by the latter then the former) Outside of the great performance by Basset and Fishbourne the movie lacks energy and feels like a standard biopic. The action scenes in Captain Phillips were compelling, but the script is not good. That beginning scene of Hanks and Keener in the car was so bad I almost stopped my DVD.
I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once in cinemas and I'm so glad I did. It is everything you all said it was. Ke Huy Quan looks so dashing in his suit that somebody (maybe Tom Ford) needs to make him a model/spokesperson, so the public gets used to seeing him in a suit for award ceremonies. Also, James Hong needs to do lots of interviews. He should talk about his career (the man worked with Jennifer Jones- that is how far back he goes!), how he is still working in his 90's, and how the movie culture has changed and how it hasn't. He is deserving of a nomination too, and if he isn't getting that honorary this year, maybe he can squeeze into best supporting actor with Quan. And Stephanie Hsu- she needs Oscar buzz too. Her character arch is just as complex as Yeoh and Quan's. If there is any justice she starts getting lots of offers. To paraphrase Streep, "SOMEBODY give her a MOVIE!"
I saw “Phantom of the Open” with Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins, based on the real life story of a British working class golfer. I expected a cheery slight piece of fluff, but forgot how the British like to inject their fluff with a dose of melancholy, heartbreak, and social commentary.
I am in awe of Mark Rylance’s skills, but am ambivalent about his interpretation here. I had also forgotten how British stereotyping of social classes creeps into everything.
It reminded me of the current protests of British working class actors that they are being squeezed out of drama schools and the profession by a richer class who can afford high fees and to weather fallow periods. They say that the portrayal of their class will either be ignored or played in stereotypes. I’m beginning to understand their point.
Tom--He's quite good as Jennifer Jones' nephew in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. He said several years ago in an interview that they cut out some of his scenes with William Holden because they thought it was" too pink. In those days, the McCarthy issue was very strong." I'm not sure what this means--possibly a communist angle was perceived in the script?
On MUBI, a segment from an omnibus film by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Orson Welles, a Disney+ documentary on the making of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder which I thought was fun and awesome. Plus, Russell Crowe needs to do stupid comedies like this. I haven't laughed ass off like that in a long time.
Happy to report that I loved, loved, loved Thor: Love & Thunder (also watched "RRR" and "Malnazidos / Valley of the dead", a zombie comedy set in the spanish civil war, both on Netflix).
Thor: Love & Thunder A- / *****
RRR C+ / *** 1/2
MalnaZidos C / ***