The Weekend Warrior 12/9/22
SPOILER ALERT, FATHER STU: REBORN, THE WHALE, EMPIRE OF LIGHT, And More
Another week, another attempt to get this column out semi-regularly with the limitations I’ve set for myself in terms of time spent writing this vs. the amount of money I make writing it (which is pretty much nothing). But there are some really great movies out this week, some on streaming, a few in theaters. Just a reminder that I regularly am writing box office stuff for Above the Line and Gold Derby, as well as other stuff for both sites, which means that the Weekend Warrior will be more about reviews AND it will only be what I can fit in writing for two hours.
SPOILER ALERT (Focus Features)
Expanding nationwide this Friday is this adaptation of Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir about meeting and falling in love with his husband Kit, who then was diagnosed with a lethal form of cancer. Ausiello is played by Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory while Kit is played by Ben Aldridge, and the movie is directed by Michael Showalter, formerly of “The State” and “Stella,” but who has become a go-to director for mid-sized dramedies like The Big Sick and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. The movie also stars Sally Field, who appeared in Showalter’s My Name is Doris, and veteran Bill Irwin, and it’s definitely a dramedy by every sense of the word, because MOVIE TITLE!!! The supporting “hero” dies at the end.
I saw the movie a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t really a fan, although I’m not sure I can put into words why I didn’t care for it. Part of it is that, for the first time, Showalter (and as much the writers and actors) just didn’t get this odd but very important tonal balance right. The humorous stuff isn’t that funny, and the movie isn’t particularly emotional or dramatic, because neither Parsons nor Aldridge (who I really didn’t know from his appearance in Fleabag) aren’t able to deliver on the drama without it turning into straight-up melodrama.
I guess this is just another one of those true stories that I just don’t understand why anyone would want to see a movie about it, and that’s fairly obvious from the movie’s disappointing $83,000 in 6 theaters this past weekend, which is under $14,000 per theater. The thing is that Focus must have realized this wasn’t gonna do much better outside New York, L.A. and San Fran, as they’re only expanding it into roughly 600 theaters this Friday, which is not a sign of confidence. It was similar to what Universal did with Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, and that had a lot more going for it, including one of America’s top filmmakers, though it only has made $5.5 million and might not even make it to $10 million by the time it hits VOD.
The thing is that this is not the kind of movie that will necessarily get people to subscribe to Peacock either, so it’s just another mid-ranged adult-targeted drama that hasn’t and won’t really find a theatrical audience. Kind of a shame that other movies didn’t jump onto this weekend as something like Babylon could have been #1 with just $10 million. (Or maybe Universal should have held/delayed The Fablemans to this date, but hey, there are people who make these million dollar decisions, and I’m not one of them.)
FATHER STU: REBORN (Sony)
I know very little about this re-release of the Mark Wahlberg movie, which is also based on a true story, that of Father Stuart Long, an alcoholic boxer who decided to turn a new life and become a priest who touched many lives. The movie also stars Mel Gibson as Stu’s father, and it’s directed by Gibson’s real-life partner, Rosalind Ross, and SPOILER ALERT!!! Stu also dies at the end.
I reviewed the movie back in April, and I was NOT a fan, but Sony are re-releasing the movie into an unknown number of theaters in a newly cut PG-13 version, mainly because the movie has done so well on Netflix that someone thought that rereleasing it into theaters might make even more money. Not that it made much money the first time, opening with $5.4 million and making $20.9 million domestically – internation was negligible and insignificant. So yeah, the studio that sold off many of its properties to Netflix and other streamers when COVID hit is now taking things OFF Netflix and putting them back into theaters, but who is this re-release for? The people who watched the movie on Netflix in the R-rated format have already seen the movie, and I can’t really see the R-rated humor being diluted as any kind of plus. So yeah, I don’t see this dramedy doing that much better than Spoiler Alert, but I also don’t have even a general theater count for this one. This weekend is basically a wash to make room for Avatar: The Way of the Water next week.
And this week’s top 10, the way I see it:
(Ugh. This weekend is probably going to see a top 10 that barely makes $30 million, and that’s not due to COVID, but due to bad release/distribution decisions. And early December has generally been a bad time at the box office, as is, because people are either working or saving money for Christmas.)
1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel/Disney) - $9.5 million -46%
2. Violent Night (Universal) - $8 million -41%
3. Strange World (Disney) - $2.6 million -36%
4. The Menu (Searchlight) - $2.2 million -37%
5. Devotion (Sony) - $1.5 million -45%
6. Spoiler Alert (Focus Features) - $1.3 million +1585%
7. Father Stu: Reborn (Sony) - $1.1 million N/A
8. I Heard the Bells (Fathom) - $1 million -50%
9. Black Adam (Warner Bros) - $900k -45%
10. The Fabelmans (Universal) - $800k -35%
Next up are two movies that I actually really enjoyed, one that I saw at TIFF, and the other that I didn’t.
THE WHALE (A24)
Opening in New York and L.A. this Friday and expanding nationwide on December 21 is the latest film from Darren Aronofsky, who has long been one of my favorite filmmakers, at least through Black Swan. This one stars Brendan Fraser as Charlie, an obese English/literature teacher who is basically a shut-in visited by various people, including his friend/nurse, played by Hong Chau; Ty Simpkins as a Jehovah’s Witness-type person who shows up at Charlie’s daughter; Sadie Sink as Charlie’s estrange daughter Ellie; and Samantha Morton as his ex-wife.
The movie is adapted by Samuel D. Hunter from his own stage play, and takes Aronofsky back to the character work he did in movies like The Wrestler, and like that movie did for Mickey Rourke, this one should do for Fraser, by getting him to Oscar night with a number of awards along the way. At this point, I’m not 100% sure he will win the Oscar (much like Rourke didn’t), because the movie has been fairly divisive, but I genuinely liked it and thought that he gives a brilliant performance that’s far more than just a wild prosthetics make-up job (but that’s also quite impressive, especially since we see Charlie in various states of undress).
One thing I don’t think is getting nearly as much attention is Fraser’s co-stars, particularly Hong Chau and Samantha Morton, who have also been great in other movies this season (The Menu and She Said, respectively). I wasn’t as familiar with Sink, but she also has some great scenes with Fraser. The thing is that it’s as much about the supporting cast as it is Fraser’s character or rather, how their presence affects his mood and mentality. It’s pretty obvious that Charlie has given up on life after the death of his lover (a male student with whom he had an affair, destroying his marriage in the process), and he’s pretty much eating himself to death. At one point, we see him eating two large pizzas a bit like Viggo Mortensen’s character does with one in Green Book.
Although this isn’t one of Aronosky’s showier films ala The Fountain or Requiem for a Dream, he manages to help Fraser deliver a performance that gives his character so much humanity. There’s also a bit of a cautionary tale that is likely to make most viewers rethink their diets, even if they generally eat healthy. I most certainly don’t and what Charlie goes through really made me think I should probably change that. This will continue to be a divisive film, mainly due to Fraser’s character, as well. (I also loved the score by Rob Simonsen, who I spoke to for Below the Line and hope to share that over there very soon.)
EMPIRE OF LIGHT (Searchlight)
Another movie that I absolutely loved from a filmmaker who has been one of my favorites for as long as I’ve been writing about movies (and even longer) is this new movie from Sam Mendes (Skyfall, 1917), which from what I understand, is a more personal film, maybe somewhat auto-biographical? (I’m hoping I’ll have an interview with Sam Mendes sometime soon, so I can clarify how much of this came from his own teenage years.)
It stars Olivia Colman playing Hilary, the manager of a seaside movie house in Southern England, who befriends the theater’s newest employee, Stephen, a young black man dealing with racism from the National Front in the early ‘80s in the UK, as played by Micheal Ward (Lovers Rock). The movie also stars Colin Firth (I guess he’s the owner of the Empire Cinema?) and Toby Jones as the theater’s projectionist. This was the one I had a chance to see at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), and I really enjoyed it there, even if it’s not gotten nearly as strong reactions and reviews as other movies there, maybe because it’s one of Mendes’ smaller and more personal films.
Personally, I really enjoyed the stories being told, which mostly circle around the relationship between Hilary and Stephen – I won’t spoil where it goes – but it also deals with Hilary’s mental health issues that crop up over the course of the film and it really throws off the much younger Stephen who doesn’t know how to deal with it but also cares deeply for Hilary and wants to help her. Some might get frustrated by the way the film jumps between quite a few ideas but ultimately is another movie that espouses the joys of cinema, which I can fully get behind. I thought this was another Oscar-worthy performance by Colman, though I worry that this year, the Lead Actress category
This is just a lovely film, maybe a little smaller than Mendes’ past few movies but definitely more in line with a movie like the underrated Away We Go, and the talented crafts people really made this a glorious film to watch from Mendes regular, DP Roger Deakins, to the powerhouse duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross doing a very different piano-driven score than what we’ve seen from them regularly. But the film just has a terrific screenplay and great performances across the board, as well, so Mendes was in good shape to make another movie that I quite enjoyed. Not sure how much more I have to say about the film, but I hope it does okay in the 100 theaters into which it’s being released by Searchlight. As we’ve seen, it’s going to be tough to expand wider and find more business if it doesn’t generate decent box office business, which really has to come from the duo of Mendes and Colman above all else.
EMANCIPATION (Apple TV+)
Streaming on Apple TV+ this Friday is this new Will Smith movie telling the story of “Whipped Peter,” a slave who escaped his captors after being whipped almost into a coma, his scarred back famously being photographed in 1863 for an image that really changed America’s perception of slavery and how they were being treated even as President Lincoln had already abolished slavery. The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, Training Day), who is a director I quite like as a person even though he hasn’t batted it out of the park with every project, and it co-stars Ben Foster, who is very good in the role of a racist mercenary who is commissioned to bring Peter back dead or alive.
Yeah, this was a tough one, because like Till a few months back, it’s an important story to tell, but it’s also a problematic film that doesn’t know if it wants to be a prestige awards-type film or something more commercial and accessible to wider audiences. Because of that, it just doesn’t pack the emotional punch it needed. Part of the problem is the script, which is not good, but Smith doesn’t give a particularly good performance either, beginning with his character’s Haitian accent, but also his general makeup just didn’t look that great either. Foster is the actor who really shines in his role as a hateful racist, but with everything he says and does in the movie, the way he dies is kind of letdown, since most will be expecting a lot worse for him.
There was also a strange decision to make the film black and white but every once in a while some muted colors come in, and this is shot by Bob Richardson, a fantastic DP who shot many of Quentin Tarantino’s films including The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained. I will say that the last act, once Peter is free from his captors and joins the Union Army is probably the best part of the movie, because that’s when it turns into a full-on Civil War movie, and that definitely seems more in Fuqua’s wheelhouse. Like I said, this tries hard to straddle the line between commercialism and being an important prestige drama, and it works better towards the former than the latter. (Oh, I did love the score by Marcello Zargos, so obviously, the combination of Smith and Fuqua was able to get a pretty decent below-the-line crafts team together… it just needed a better screenwriter to begin with.)
ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA: THE MUSICAL (Netflix)
Also hitting Netflix this week is this movie adaptation of the popular Tony-winning musical based on the children’s book by noted antisemite Roald Dahl – I know he’s been dead for thirty years but it’s still true – that has a cast that includes Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, and the terrific Andrea Riseborough and Stephen Graham. Alisha Weir plays Matilda, and this was produced by Working Title, plus it got a theatrical release in the UK, but gets a streaming-only release here in the States. I haven’t seen the stage musical or even read the book, so I really don’t know enough about it to say more, but hey, if you like musicals, this is one.
TO THE END (Roadside Attractions)
This new doc from Rachel Lears (Knock Down the House) dels with the activists dealing with climate change including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (one of the subjects of Lears’ last film), as well as activist Varshini Prakash, climate policy writer Rhiana Gunn-Wright, and political strategist Alexandra Rojas, leading up to this year’s landmark climate bill.
HIDDEN LETTERS (Cargo Film & Releasing)
I’ve heard good things about Violet Du Feng’s documentary that follows two millennial Chinese women connecting through “their fascination with a secret language of sisterhood, and their desire to protect it against a perpetually patriarchal society.” Ookay, then. This is getting a theatrical release in New York and a few California theaters, as well as one in Honolulu, Hawaii.
LOUDMOUTH (Greenwich)
This is a doc about the Reverent Al Sharpton. Looks like I’m going to be missing that one.
Getting into some genre stuff, there’s…
THE MEAN ONE (Atlas Film Distribution)
Steven LaMorte’s slasher parody that stars David Howard Thornton aka Art the Clown from Terrifier and Terrifier 2 as a “hairy, green-skinned grump in a Santa suit, living on a mountain high above the town of Newville, despising the holiday season.” Oh, now I get it. This is a horror parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, similar to the recent Banana Splits horror movie and the announced Winnie the Pooh horror movie, but with names changed, including Krystle Martin as “Cindy,” whose parents were butchered by “The Mean One” twenty years earlier.
And if that isn’t enough…
CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS (Shudder)
This hits theaters and streams on Shudder today after playing a number of festivals, including (I believe) the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. It’s written and directed by Joe Begos, and it’s about a female record store owner (Riley Dandy) who wants to get drunk on Christmas Eve but “the robotic Santa Claus at a nearby toy store goes haywire and makes her night more than a little complicated.” Yes, kids, this is what happens when horror meets the holidays, and frankly, I would recommend Violent Night over these two movies I haven’t seen, because that is genuinely hilarious and crazy, and I loved it.
And then, if that wasn’t enough, the poor ailing Bruce Willis returns as his character “Detective Knight” (what??!) in…
DETECTIVE KNIGHT: REDEMPTION (Lionsgate)
Yup, the guy who started the whole “Die Hard is a Christmas movie” bullshit is in a movie in which he has to tackle a jailbreak led by the “Christmas Bomber” and his Santa Clauses terrorizing the city. Again, haven’t seen it. Recommend seeing Violent Night instead.
That’s it for this week. Will there be a Weekend Warrior column next week? I dunno. I’m travelling out of town to see a friend, and I might decide to hang with her rather than write a column, but hey, if nothing else, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of the Water is coming out, and I’ll have a review next week, plus I’ll write about this for my other box office columns. Not sure I’ll have that much more to say here beyond that.