What did you see over the holiday weekend?

by Nathaniel R

The long holiday weekend proved to be an old school "movie star" weekend. Tom Cruise managed his best opening weekend ever (not adjusted for inflation) as Top Gun Maverick finally opened after a long long COVID delay. Mysteriously, Sandra Bullock's 10 week old adventure romcom The Lost City was up 29% despite losing theaters as if everyone suddenly remembered that they'd meant to see it all along...

Memorial Day Weekend Box Office May 27th-30th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	PLATFORM RELEASES
TOP GUN MAVERICK	THE ROUNDUP

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Cannes Diary #2: Sweet cruel nature and Hollywood's top gun

by Elisa Giudici

Did Tom Cruise save Cannes Film Festival on the very first day? Well, he surely helped the 75th edition with old school star power. Thierry Frémaux welcomed Tom Cruise as a king, a savior, or maybe just a big Hollywood player willing to lend all of his charismatic  in order to give a sense of a grandiose overture.

Considering how good reviews are for Top Gun: Maverick, Cannes needed Cruise more than Cruise needed Cannes. Nevertheless, the actor presented himself as an ally of festivals and theatres, a strong advocate of in-person cinematic experiences. In the dedicated Q&A, Cruise said that during the pandemic he reassured even the popcorn guy at his local cinema, who had phoned him to know if Top Gun Maverick could end up on a streaming platform as an exclusive. 'No way!' Wait, the popcorn guy at Cruise’s nearest cinema has his phone number? was my first reaction. Well, Cruise is for sure #TeamGoingToTheTheatre. He claims he goes regularly himself, wearing a cap so he's not recognized...

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Would you rather?

We haven't played our celebrity fantasy game in months. So would you rather...?

• play with Pedro Pascal (he brings the He-Man toys)?
• worship Jamie Lee Curtis with Glenn Powell?
• stroll on the beach with Janelle Monae?
• share pasta with Mira Sorvino?
• read about the cinema with Liv Ullmann?
• eat pancakes with Oliver Jackson-Cohen?
• have brunch with Kim Cattrall and fashion icon Patricia Field?
• leap over Keegan Michael Key with ever hyper Tom Cruise?
• feed Ukranian refugees in Poland with Liev Schreiber? 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide. Click on the image to go to the instagram source page...

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Vintage '86

The Smackdown of '86 (with special guests) arrives in just 9 days. Before we get to the main event let's talk about what people were talking about that year in film, television, stage, music, and books... 

Great Big Box Office Hits: Movie stars rather than IP still ruled so the top ten made room for Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, and Bette Midler vehicles along with just 3 sequels (can you imagine a top ten box office of the year with just 3 sequels nowadays? It's hard to do). Military men and women were also the rage with the marines of Aliens, the airforce bros of Top Gun, and the traumatized foot soldiers of Platoon all extremely popular with moviegoers.

1. Top Gun (military drama)
2. Crocodile Dundee (comedy)
3. Platoon (military drama)
4. Karate Kid Part II (sequel)
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (sci-fi sequel)...

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Streaming Roulette, August: Pray away those freaky requiems

New month. Time for another round of Streaming Roulette where we point out a handful or two of random titles that are newly streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar...

[No dialogue. Confused, looking around.]

FREAKY (2020) on HBOMax
This must be when the serial killer and the teenager find themselves in each others bodies, in this horror comedy riff on the Freaky Friday template. We didn't see this one (did you?) but are a tiny bit curious. Tangent: Do you ever wonder how actors and musicians feel when they watch movies and see their own faces as set decoration, on character's bedroom walls? (Hi Brendon Urie.)

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