Movies (and occasionally face slaps) (Part 1)

I saw Midsommar today. It was alright I guess. More of a rent it/stream it rather than pay full price at the theater.

1st half of Hereditary > Midsommar > 2nd half of Hereditary

Anyone see Once Upon a Time yet?

I saw Once Upon a Time and despite loving everything Tarantino does I didnā€™t really love this one. Felt a bit like movie homework and if you didnā€™t know who Manson or Tate were or what really happened, I think much of the film is going right over your head.

It looks beautiful tho and DiCaprio was amazing. And there is a scene with Pitt at a ranch that is proper tense too.

The glowing reviews in Variety and the NY Times were interesting reads as well

That mirrors an early review I read as well, said the Manson stuff was almost an afterthought. I want it to be good because I want him to succeed without the Weinsteins though.

Agreed. And given the box office success, it seems the public is desperate for adult movies that donā€™t have someone flying or shooting lightning bolts out of their eyes. I hope he gets to that Kill Bill sequel some day

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Hey itā€™s a business. Those ā€œfilmsā€ make a boatload of cash. Theyā€™re doing to movies what reality shows did to TV. Sucks but itā€™s here for a while.

Rewatched Oldboy (the Korean one, not the English-language remake) this weekend. Hadnā€™t seen it since shortly after it came out and, holy crap what a mindfuck. I had forgotten about many of the particularly gnarly details.

Anyway, canā€™t imagine many out there havenā€™t seen this, but recommend it for those who havenā€™t.

P.S. Donā€™t read the filmā€™s Wikipedia page if you donā€™t want major spoilers.

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Saw the latest Mission Impossible on a sling free preview thing, look it was fine, but 97% gtfo:

The first one remains by far the best because it got the balance of comedy and suspense right, it is also the least ridiculous plot although chopper in the tunnel was a bit much.

Itā€™s gotta make $180m to break even. Do you think thatā€™s realistic?

4 is probably my favorite, as its the first of the current cast run, and I think they all play off each other really well.

Plus Iā€™m a Simon Pegg mark.

This article from WaPo says the budget was 100 mirron. And the larger question of whether or not itā€™s a hit is pretty interesting too. I think it will get to 100 but not 180. But Iā€™m just guessing really.

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/01/modern-box-office-mystery-what-read-into-numbers-once-upon-time-hollywood/?outputType=amp

I donā€™t like that they chose to over humanize Hunt in 3 by marrying him off and stuck with that model. He went from being a snarky boyish Bond to a conflicted romantic hero. Heā€™s totally going to have a kid or niece or nephew to make world vs. kin decisions over in the next one.

The official budget is reported at $90. Hollywood accounting says to double the budget to breakeven (most movies spend the budget in ad/pub and the spots for this were ubiquitous in the run up to it coming out). The movie will very likely make $100m in the U.S., but I donā€™t know what its international release prospects are and was a bit surprised it wasnā€™t released in both markets on the same day.

Iā€™m sure Leo and Brad are bankable overseas, but the basic idea of the movie is purely American, which suggests that it wonā€™t have a huge international market. Tarantino movies tend to do well overseas, so I donā€™t think the movie should make a difference as to whether itā€™s released there.

Itā€™s his second highest budgeted movie behind Django and has nowhere near the upside of that, in my opinion. If it drops like 45% week 1 to week 2, it might have some legs but reviews have been very polarized on it. I feel like most who wanted to see it saw it in the first weekend/week.

If it does well overseas, it will be fine obviously. Didnā€™t Tarantino famously say he would only direct 10 movies and retire? I believe this was his 10th, and based on the reviews it seems like he went out big and on his own terms.

itā€™s his 9th iirc

Is Kill Bill counted as one?

Hateful 8 should be counted as -1

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I guess itā€™s both?

no heā€™s advertising it as 9th

The ultimate trick would be if he just never makes another one, and leaves them wanting.

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He also said heā€™d quit at 60 and heā€™s 4 years shy of that

Sweet career to make 9 movies and have enough money to live on well into retirement well.

Wiki says he got married last year so no way he ever stops working