Brief Takes: Unsane and Pacific Rim Uprising

by Nathaniel R

Unsane (Steven Soderbergh)
Synopsis: A disturbed young woman, who is institutionalized against her will, is convinced that a former stalker is one of her nurses.

Capsule: The queer community got there first. Although to be fair when isn't that the case? Soderbergh's iPhone shot movie is no aesthetic relevation like the trans iPhone classic Tangerine. Still, more filmmakers ought to try to make something as fast and cheap and spirited as this thriller inbetween pricier or weightier projects...

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What did you see this weekend?

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (March 23rd-25th) Estimates
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺Pacific Rim: Uprising $28 NEW	1. 🔺 Isle of Dogs $1.5 on 27 screens NEW CAPSULE
2. Black Panther  $16.6 (cum. $630.9)  PODCAST	2. 🔺 The Death of Stalin $1 on 140 screens (cum. $2) REVIEW
3.🔺 I Can Only Imagine $13.8 (cum. $38.3)	3. The Leisure Seeker $315k on 117 screens (cum. $717k)
4. 🔺 Sherlock Gnomes $10.6 NEW	4.  Thoroughbreds $160k on 117 screens (cum. $2.7) REVIEW
5. Tomb Raider $10.4 (cum. $41.7)	5. 🔺 Flower  $125k on 57 screens (cum. $190k)

6. A Wrinkle in Time $8 (cum. $73.8)  REVIEW	6. 🔺 Getting Grace $107k on 60 screens NEW
7. Love, Simon $7.8 (cum. $23.6) REVIEW	7. A Fantastic Woman $100k on 121 screens (cum. $1.6)   REVIEW  | OSCAR WIN
8. Paul, Apostle of Christ $5 NEW	8. Foxtrot  $76k on 26 screens (cum. $270k)
9. Game Night $4.1 (cum. $60.8)  REVIEW	9. The Party $$47k on 70 screens (cum. $677k)
10. 🔺 Midnight Sun $4.1 NEW	10. 🔺 Itzhak $41k on 29 screens (cum. $115k)
🔺 = new or expanding its theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo

What did you see this week? I did a triple feature to try to not fall any further behind with Pacific Rim: Uprising, Isle of Dogs, and Unsane.  Curiously, Pacific Rim Uprising, the #1 film of the weekend, was the only theater that wasn't jam-packed. Then again this is NYC so directors are more of a draw here so Soderbergh and Wes Anderson pulled them in. Especially Anderson. The movie is such a delight. I'd totally be okay with him making every other movie of his as an animated feature.

Say What? John Boyega

Manuel here with a pretty picture to get our week started. 

What is John Boyega thinking about as he shoots scenes for the sequel for that other sci-fi franchise-to-be Pacific Rim: Maelstorm?

20:13 for 2013 Screencap Fun: Ghosts, Zombies, Flappers

icymi here's part one.

Screencapping fun! We've frozen early 2013 releases* at the 20th minute and 13th second of their running times. Here's what we found. How many of these have you seen and do you think this moment is telling of the whole?

I had been drunk just once twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon."

In case you are illiterate, Baz Luhrmann's got you covered in his version of The Great Gatsby! (He sure is good at shooting party sequences, though. No filmmaker can touch him in that ultra specific place.)

This next screencap I had to lighten a bit so you could actually see it... Bed sheets are being yanked down... but by what/who?

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VFX Finalists. Which will have the honor of losing to Gravity at the Oscars?

The Academy has named ten films finalists for the visual effects Oscar and now the branch members will screen 10 minute clip packages from each film and make their selections.  Half of these films recede into the ether and the other half enters the history books as "Oscar Nominated" on January 16th, 2014. 

the cavalry in Iron Man 3... soon to be Oscar nominated

TEN FINALISTS

• Elysium
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• The Lone Ranger
• Oblivion
• Pacific Rim
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Thor: The Dark World
• World War Z

I am clearly not adept at predicting the finalists because two of the film's I had actually predicted for nominations did not even make the list: say goodbye to the Man of Steel and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Other films that Oscar won't even be considering now for this prize include: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Conjuring and The Wolverine. 

Each of the ten films listed above will be able to hide their clunkiest CGI and just show the really great stuff to the branch. Which films will be nominated and share the honor of losing to Gravity? Time will tell but it might be too steep a wall for World War Z to scale since Oscar doesn't like zombie flicks (in any category) and a bridge too far for Thor since he wasn't nominated last time around. Franchise history suggests that the crews on Iron Man 3 and The Hobbit can start fitting their tuxes. If we still had only 3 nominees in this category the nominees would be Gravity, The Hobbit and Iron Man 3. Which means there are essentially only two spots open. Any combo of the others seems possible which means we'll soon be haunted by this agonizing possibility: will The Lone Ranger be forevermore referred to as  'The Oscar-nominated The Lone Ranger'?)

A final tangential thought: I'm glad that we don't have bakeoffs and "showreels" for acting categories. Could you imagine? Not that greatest hits clips aren't how some people experience the acting nominees in the age of YouTube but you can't properly judge a whole unless you've seen all the parts. Even the lesser parts. Each of these ten films will be able to hide their clunkiest CGI and just show the really great stuff. Which films will be nominated and share the honor of losing to Gravity? Time will tell.