Another 2-Hour (or less!) Weekend Warrior 11/11/22
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, THE FABELMANS, BAR FIGHT, A COUPLE, MVP, SPIRITED, RETROGRADE
If you read last week’s column, then you know that I’m taking a different approach to this column while I have so much on my plate that I can’t really justify spending more than two hours writing the column. (And I don’t even know what I’ll do the next two weeks when I’m back in the recording studio for much of the week.) Of course, you can always find my box office musings over at Above the Line and Gold Derby, but I mostly will be doing any review type things here… but only when I’ve seen enough movies. This weekend is another case of that just not happening.
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (Digital/Marvel)
You may already know that I reviewed the latest Marvel sequel, which you can read here, and I’ve written about its box office prospects at the aforementioned other places. I generally liked it, and I think fans of the first movie will enjoy it, too. It’s currently at 86% on RottenTomatoes, which is much better than I expected for it, as much as I enjoyed it. I know that there’s going to be a lot of sold-out showings Thursday afternoon and night, plus it’s going out in a lot more premium formats, including IMAX and even 3D. Those things should contribute to a huge opening weekend, maybe close to $200 million or more, although we’re definitely in different times than when the original Black Panther opened in 2018.
But the movie I really want to talk about is…
THE FABELMANS (Universal)
You’ve probably already heard about Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical movie about his early days as a youth making home-made movies, but also dealing with his complicated family life, first in New Jersey and then in Arizona and California. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play the parents of “Sammy Fabelman,” and we meet them as they’re taking Sammy to his first movie, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” It has such an impact that Sammy asks for a train set, so that he can recreate a key scene, eventually getting into filming… everything, basically.
Seth Rogen plays Sammy’s “faux-uncle” Bennie, who is his parents’ best friend, but seems particularly friendly towards his mother, Mitzi, for reasons we’ll learn later. Although Williams and Dano will probably get the most attention, it’s young Gabriel LaBelle, who plays the teenage Sammy through the majority of the movie, who really impressed me. As Sammy, he has to experience so many really complex emotions, including first love, and being bullied at his new school for being Jewish.
The Fabelmans might not be fully focused on Spielberg’s transformation from “hobbyist” to filmmaker, but it’s the mix of that with his quirky family life and all that happens to him as he copes with the family drama. Having seen it a second time this week after first seeing it at its TIFF premiere, I could get deeper into the storytelling in play that weaves so many disparate (almost episodic) scenes together into such a satisfying film that might be something we see from a young filmmaker at Sundance, not a 50-year Hollywood veteran like Spielberg.
This is fantastic work from Spielberg and his entire cast (working from an excellent script written by Spielberg and regular collaborator Tony Kushner) and everyone below the line, too, including composer John Williams, who knocks one out of the park with a score that’s very different from the bombastic scores for Star Wars and such.
There is a damn good reason why The Fabelmans is probably going to end up in my top 5 for the year, and that’s because it’s such a wonderful (and deeply personal) story that has completely captivated me twice, to the point where the 2.5 hour run time seems to just fly by, since you’re so enraptured with everything you’re watching on screen.
Fans of Asian cinema will have a couple series worth checking out, including Film Forum’s “New Waves: Rediscovering Taiwanese Cinema of the 1980’s,” which runs from Nov. 11 through Nov. 24. There are a few movies in there that I’ve heard of and maybe a few I’ve seen like Edward Yang’s Taipei Story from 1985, but it’s a pretty rich series that I wish I had more time check it out.
Or the Museum of Moving Image’s Noriaki Tsuchimoto twelve-film retrospective, which runs from Nov. 12 to 27, including rare archival prints, and includes his earliest documentary work from the early ‘60s. I really know little about his work, although he is one of Japan’s premiere documentary filmmakers, so he must have captured a lot of interesting things.
A COUPLE (Zipporah Films)
Also opening at the Film Forum is a rare narrative film from documentarian Frederick Wiseman, and I’ve just kept missing this right and left, whether it was when it played at the New York Film Festival or any of the press screenings. I have a screener, and it’s fairly short, so hopefully, I’ll get a chance to watch it soon. This is based on the diaries of Sophia Tolstoy, wife of Leo Tolstoy, and mother of his 13 (!!!) children. It stars Nathalie Boutefeu as Sophia, who is beginning to question if long-term marriage to someone as famous as her author husband has its limitations.
MVP (FilmRise)
Another movie that sounds interesting is the directorial debut by Nate Boyer, former Green Beret in Afghanistan and football player for the University of Texas, in which he also stars along with Hollywood actors like Tom Arnold, as well as military vets and athletes like Randy Couture, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, and more. This will hit VOD on Friday (Veteran’s Day).
RETROGRADE (National Geographic Documentary Films)
Speaking of Afghanistan, I have seen Matthew Heineman’s documentary about the last few months as U.S. troops are being pulled from the conflict there and the relationship between the Green Berets and Afghan officers they trained. It’s been a while since I watched it, but Heineman continues to be one of the finer documentary filmmakers of the past decade with the likes of the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land and last year’s COVID movie, The First Wave.
BAR FIGHT! (IFC Films)
This new movie from Jim Mahoney sounds fun, as it stars Melissa Fumero and Luka Jones as a couple who break-up and make things complicated as they divide up their belongings, leading to a custody battle for their favorite pub. The movie also stars Rachel Bloom as “Chelsea” – presumably one of the couple’s friends? I have a screener and just need to find time to watch.
SPIRITED (Apple)
A friend invited me to the premiere of this Apple TV+ holiday comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, but you know who didn’t invite me to that premiere? Apple. So I haven’t watched this yet, but it opens in theaters this Friday and then will stream on Apple on November 18. I might watch it eventually, but I’m really in no hurry.
For those who want to see my numbers for the top 10, they’re right here:
Note: I don’t have a theater count for The Fabelmans yet, but I’m not sure it will be in enough theaters to break into the top 10 even though it should have a decent per-theater average ahead of its wide release closer to Thanksgiving. Also, it would probably only need to make $600,000 or so to get in there.
1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney/Marvel) - $196.5 million N/A
2. Black Adam (Warner Bros) - $8.5 million -54%
3. Ticket to Paradise (Universal) - $5.6 million -35%
4. One Piece Film: Red (Cruncyroll) - $3.3 million -65%
5. Smile (Paramount) - $2.5 million -37%
6. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (Sony) - $2.4 million -30%
7. The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight) - $1.8 million -15%
8. Prey for the Devil (Lionsgate) - $1.8 million -54%
9. Till (UA Releasing) - $1 million -46%
Other movies I just didn’t have time to get to (which is pretty much everything besides the higher-profile releases above):
FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS (Netflix)
UNCHAI (Yash Raj Films)
PARADISE CITY (Saban Films/Lionsgate)
RESISTANCE 1942 (Quiver Distribution)