Today in Film History. Meow

It's Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. It's also Juneteenth. The day in which the nation commemorates the end of slavery in the mid 1860s (though like most holidays the actual timeline involves several days and months and years and lots of political manuevering -- see Lincoln and be reminded what a mess governing and policy making and constitutional debates always are). June 19th has another history civil rights event in 1964 with the passing of the Civil Rights Act (see Selma) so exercize your right to vote in November. People are always trying to deny people that right, and if everyone voted, we'd be in such better shape. Now on to cinema...

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

Good god, woman. Let it go.1865 Dame May Whitty, two time Oscar nominee is born in Liverpool. Remember her all caps obsession with winning that damn flower contest in Mrs Miniver? 
1905 The first Nickelodeon (an early form of the movie theater) opens in Pittsburgh. By 1910 there are thousands of them and an estimated 26 million Americans visit them weekly. Can you imagine how popular film blogs would be - sniffle. The movies shown in them get longer and longer...

Click to read more ...

June 1st should be declared "International Day of Singing Moulin Rouge!'s Praises"

Come what may. We will love it. Until our dying day.

Moulin Rouge! turned 15 today. Imagine if June 1st were an international holiday? How is it not? How would we celebrate other than drinking absinthe, coughing up blood, and deep cleaning our shrines to Nicole Kidman (we'll assume everyone's already built one, okay?).  

Fifteen whole years ago my entire body and soul were quaking at that first screening at NYC's Ziegfeld theater. I saw it five times in the theater which is my record this millenium. (Carol came close last year with 4 in theater screenings. Weirdly The Witch is in third place because somehow I've already seen it three times on screens.) Mostly I'm not big on rewatching because that means I'm not seeing something I've never seen and there's always something new or old to discover because you can't see everything. Generally if I'm rewatching it's at home. 

How many times have you seen the greatest movie of the aughts? 

Podcast: The Lobster, Sing Street, A Bigger Splash, High-Rise

With two not-worthy wide releases set to dominate Memorial Day Weekend, Nathaniel, Nick, and Joe catch up on recent quality limited-release movies we hadn't yet discussed together. Catch these in the theaters, please.

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
11:18 High-Rise (Ben Wheatley)
15:45 Sing Street (John Carney) and a Keira Knightley tangent
22:37 Dakota Johnson & actress nemeses
24:35 A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino)
40:03 Venice detour & goodbyes

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

The Lobster & Sing Street

Angry Birds, Angrier Superheroes.

Team Red took the box office crown this weekend. No, not the metallic team red but the feathery one. Despite an unfashionably late arrival well past the Angry Birds craze that swept phones years ago, the family audience is insatiable these days. Not that the other Team Red, Iron Man and His Amazing Friends had anything to worry about having crossed a billion globally already. Here at home Captain America Civil War leapfrogged both Zootopia and Batman v Superman this past week to become the 2nd most popular film of the year (Deadpool is still #1... for now). Neighbors 2 and Nice Guys weren't as lucky because adults don't go to movies anymore without their children but wait for streaming (sigh). In platform releases, Love & Friendship (which is so damn enjoyable) and The Lobster had successful if minor expansions. 

Arrows indicate losing or gaining screens

TOP WIDE RELEASES
🔺01 The Angry Birds Movie $39 NEW
▫️02 Captain America: Civil War $33.1 (cum. $347.3)  Review
🔺03 Neighbors 2 $21.7 NEW 
🔺04 The Nice Guys $11.2 NEW Shane Black, Review
🔻05 The Jungle Book $11 (cum. $327.4)  Articles
▫️06 Money Monster $7 (cum. $27.1) Jack O'Connell
🔺07 Darkness $2.3 (cum. $8.4)
🔻08 Zootopia $1.7 (cum. $334.4) Reviewish
🔻09 The Huntsman: Winter's War $1.1 (cum. $46.6) Review
🔻10 Mother's Day $1.1 (cum. $31.2)

TOP TEN LIMITED
Excluding previously wide.
🔺01 The Meddler $777K (cum. $2) Review
🔺02 Love & Friendship $582K (cum. $780K)  Review
🔺03 The Man Who Knew Infinity $550K (cum. $1.6)
🔺04 The Lobster $408K (cum. $1) Reviewish 
🔻05 Sing Street $350K (cum. $2.4) Review, Who's the MVP?
🔺06 A Bigger Splash $338K (cum. $787K)  Reviewish
🔺07 Weiner $85K NEW 
🔺08 Maggie's Plan $66K NEW Review
🔻09 Hologram for a King $65K (cum. $4) Review
🔻10 Compadres $57K (cum. $3.1)

What did you see this weekend?

I caught The Lobster (unmissable in its singularity) and Neighbors 2 (enjoyable if not as funny as the original)

Please switch off your phone.

An excerpt from an interview with AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron, from Variety.

Would appealing to millennials involve allowing texting or cellphone use?

Yes. When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.

Actresses react. 

"Personally speaking, I can't wait to see life tear you apart".

Click to read more ...