Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

Just came from Amazing Spider-Man and I have to say this... while I did like the direction Sam Raimi took with the original first 2 movies, I feel that overall, this new Spider-Man film took better turns and was a stronger film overall.

I even liked Garfield's clumsier, more befuddled Peter Parker (especially the almost Clouseau-esque misunderstanding/grand battle), I liked his transformation into Spidey much more, and found Uncle Ben's death much more dramatic than it was played in the last series. Not to mention the little details, like Peter coming completely out of his shell when he turns to Spider-Man. Even the fact they went with a more accurate version of his powers, making the web-shooter an add-on, rather than making it his powers. Also liked how a lot of the film went fast, and didn't sluggishly stay in the backstory development swamp like Green Lantern did.

Though I have some observations.

I noticed the Daily Bugle was both a newspaper and a news network. I could easily see JJJ in the next film either being an editor, or a Bill O'Reily/Keith Olberman type loudmouth or both. There's a lot of potential there. Secondly, it seems that there's more of a rigid continuity to look for next time out. A LOT of foreshadowing to mention that I won't.

I will say this:

SPOILERS

I found it really refreshing that his secret identity was blown several times in the film, at least twice voluntarily....

I'm mixed about the Chief of police's role. I do like that he had a change of heart at the end, and becomes a sacrificing hero... but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to keep him on as the recurring menace through out the film series. Breathing down Parker/Spidey's neck, even getting Columbo style at points.

Oh, and I LOVE this new trend of foreshadowing cutscenes at the end of Super Hero movies. Thanos in The Avengers, the foreshadowing in this film. Too bad Green Lantern's probably had it. They foreshadowed the rise of Sinestro... which would be a FAR better film. It almost gets me too antsy to have to wait the 2-3 years for the next one.

One more thing.

When they inevitably add Green Goblin to the films, I hope they take stock of what they didn't do with the last film series.

Mainly this:

That was ALMOST the Green Goblin in the first movie.

 

[jvcarroll]

Just came from Amazing Spider-Man and I have to say this... while I did like the direction Sam Raimi took with the original first 2 movies, I feel that overall, this new Spider-Man film took better turns and was a stronger film overall.

I even liked Garfield's clumsier, more befuddled Peter Parker (especially the almost Clouseau-esque misunderstanding/grand battle), I liked his transformation into Spidey much more, and found Uncle Ben's death much more dramatic than it was played in the last series. Not to mention the little details, like Peter coming completely out of his shell when he turns to Spider-Man. Even the fact they went with a more accurate version of his powers, making the web-shooter an add-on, rather than making it his powers. Also liked how a lot of the film went fast, and didn't sluggishly stay in the backstory development swamp like Green Lantern did.

Though I have some observations.

I noticed the Daily Bugle was both a newspaper and a news network. I could easily see JJJ in the next film either being an editor, or a Bill O'Reily/Keith Olberman type loudmouth or both. There's a lot of potential there. Secondly, it seems that there's more of a rigid continuity to look for next time out. A LOT of foreshadowing to mention that I won't.

I will say this:

SPOILERS

I found it really refreshing that his secret identity was blown several times in the film, at least twice voluntarily....

I'm mixed about the Chief of police's role. I do like that he had a change of heart at the end, and becomes a sacrificing hero... but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to keep him on as the recurring menace through out the film series. Breathing down Parker/Spidey's neck, even getting Columbo style at points.

Oh, and I LOVE this new trend of foreshadowing cutscenes at the end of Super Hero movies. Thanos in The Avengers, the foreshadowing in this film. Too bad Green Lantern's probably had it. They foreshadowed the rise of Sinestro... which would be a FAR better film. It almost gets me too antsy to have to wait the 2-3 years for the next one.

One more thing.

When they inevitably add Green Goblin to the films, I hope they take stock of what they didn't do with the last film series.

Mainly this:

That was ALMOST the Green Goblin in the first movie.

I agree with you. Amazing Spidey was good, but the next one could actually be...amazing. I hope they keep Gwen for all three films before she has to die and maybe play with the idea of a Mary Jane love triangle in the third film.

I hated Raimi's Green Goblin. The helmet was laughable. I think they could have fused the helmet concept with something akin to his face "Hulking-out" a bit in order to achieve the best effect. Hiring a fantastic character actor and then hiding his face is a bad move. Spider-Man's face always has to be covered so his foe should be more visible. Otherwise the action becomes impersonal.

There were some lost opportunities with the Lizard in this film. His character development was really thin. They should have played-down Peter's parents' flashbacks and story arch and put that screentime to use for Dr. Connors where it would actually pay off in this film.

Oh, and I finally saw Madagascar 3. It's really the best of the three. Pure fun! Completely cartoony and there's actually more of a clear narrative than Brave. It's not perfect, but it's the first film this summer that was 100% fun without the need to think too much. We need a film like that every now and then and this delivered. B+

 

[Drtooth]

Oh, and I finally saw Madagascar 3. It's really the best of the three. Pure fun! Completely cartoony and there's actually more of a clear narrative than Brave. It's not perfect, but it's the first film this summer that was 100% fun without the need to think too much. We need a film like that every now and then and this delivered. B+

Madagascar is a fun franchise. It doesn't have the smug self indulgence and satisfaction of Shrek, nor the whininess. Even the Penguins spinoff cartoon series is additively fun. The third one just brought something spectacular to the films, something that was sort of there, but not quite with the second. It's a shame Afro Circus is such a hated internet meme, though. I love how a short bit of improvisation by Chris Rock became such a big recurring theme for the rest of the film. I bet they worked that all in last minute.

Somehow, I LOVE the image of the Monkeys as the King of Versailles playing a spark shooting keytar. Somehow, that reminds me of Melodia from Silverhawks.

Brave could have used a little more time in the script department. I did think the brawlin' Scotts were fun. They should've had more of that in the film.

 

[Drtooth]

Without any disrespect to anyone...

A certain disgusting, hedonistic, talking pustule is already whining about The Dark Knight Rises because a character that was created back in the early 90's in a movie that's been in development for a few years sounds suspiciously like a not at all greedy, corrupt corporate vulture company tied to a certain presidential candidate.

This from the same Jabba the Hutt look-a-like that came up with the cheap "Obama= Joker" Meme, cashing off the last film's popularity.

And the best thing is, the comments section is ALL conservatives calling BS on it and saying the guy has no integrity.

All I can say is I hope Dark Knight gives Ice Age 4 a run for its money. There's no call for it to have eclipsed Spider-Man like that.

 

[Bannanasketch]

Without any disrespect to anyone...

A certain disgusting, hedonistic, talking pustule is already whining about The Dark Knight Rises because a character that was created back in the early 90's in a movie that's been in development for a few years sounds suspiciously like a not at all greedy, corrupt corporate vulture company tied to a certain presidential candidate.

This from the same Jabba the Hutt look-a-like that came up with the cheap "Obama= Joker" Meme, cashing off the last film's popularity.

And the best thing is, the comments section is ALL conservatives calling BS on it and saying the guy has no integrity.

All I can say is I hope Dark Knight gives Ice Age 4 a run for its money. There's no call for it to have eclipsed Spider-Man like that.

I know you can't see my posts but I'll post here anyways.

The idea that Bane and Bain are connected is wacko. I absolutely agree with that. And this is actually believed to be true is on both parties.

This was actually the headline yesterday on Drudge, that dems would use this as their new attack on Romney. WHAT? Are you that desperate that you would try to connect the two? Ugh.

And the sad thing is there are conservatives that will actually believe this. Take Limbaugh for example. Seriously? I guess this is one of "Liberal Hollywood"'s propaganda brain-washing tactics.

Seriously, both sides are getting ridiculous. Liberals, for being so desperate to use this as a campaign tactic. Conservatives, for being so dang paranoid that they will connect everything in sight to some Socialist Propoganda. It's ridiculous.

Anyways, I'm super pumped for TDKR. This may be my most anticipated movie ever. I'm anticipating more then I did for The Muppets. I've already got my tickets for The Dark Knight Marathon this Thursday at my local theater!

 

[Drtooth]

And the sad thing is there are conservatives that will actually believe this. Take Limbaugh for example. Seriously? I guess this is one of "Liberal Hollywood"'s propaganda brain-washing tactics.

Seriously, both sides are getting ridiculous. Liberals, for being so desperate to use this as a campaign tactic. Conservatives, for being so dang paranoid that they will connect everything in sight to some Socialist Propoganda. It's ridiculous.

Now that's something we all can agree on. Like I said, the comments section had a lot of conservatives calling this out. I hate when some political party, right and left, tries to make everything some brainwashing propaganda against their view points. heck, Rush was complaining about the concept of The Muppets before it was even made.

That said, everyone loves super heroes regardless of political denomination. No kidding, Stan Lee created Iron Man just to tick Hippies off. It's even on the commentary on one of the movies. No one ever complained. Nor should they. Iron Man was the BEST Avenger.

But I'll get off that now for something that really honks me off...

Ice Age 4 won the weekend Box Office. I understand that family movies can garner strong box office presence (shame Brave couldn't take advantage of that), but the fact Spidey was dethroned by of all films, a sequel that didn't need to be made is beyond depressing. It's still pulling in hefty numbers and all, Like I said, complete and utter delight and stronger than the last batch. But it's not going to get those Avenger numbers, or even close to them. Of course, Avengers was lucky for 2 reasons. it's one of the best super hero movies I've ever seen that wasn't the last Batman film. And secondly, the competition was weak. Battleship pulled in meh money, but Avengers easily crushed it... there wasn't a children's film until the first week of June (Madagascar 3... though that also did well once it came out). It only lost steam near the end of the month when MIB3 came out, but still was doing admirably.

TDK will be the big tell. It's the last of the red hot Summer blockbusters (no one sees films in August), and hopefully it can outdo a very lucky kiddy film.

 

[Bannanasketch]

Now that's something we all can agree on. Like I said, the comments section had a lot of conservatives calling this out. I hate when some political party, right and left, tries to make everything some brainwashing propaganda against their view points. heck, Rush was complaining about the concept of The Muppets before it was even made.

Oh, that's something I definitely agree on. And, as a Conservative, I'm seeing it happen more and more on the Right. Everything that they disagree with is labeled as "socialist" or "propoganda." I'm getting sick and tired of it and frankly, it's embarrassing the rest of us on the Right that would actually like to focus on real issues instead. I'm even getting sick and tired of the Obama Birth Certificate deal. Seriously, if you're a Conservative, you should focus on getting Obama out of office because of his record, NOT because of his birth certificate. *Sigh* I guess this is never going to end. There will always be people that will make the farthest stretch to support there view. It's honestly embarrassing.

 

[jvcarroll]

Now that's something we all can agree on. Like I said, the comments section had a lot of conservatives calling this out. I hate when some political party, right and left, tries to make everything some brainwashing propaganda against their view points. heck, Rush was complaining about the concept of The Muppets before it was even made.

That said, everyone loves super heroes regardless of political denomination. No kidding, Stan Lee created Iron Man just to tick Hippies off. It's even on the commentary on one of the movies. No one ever complained. Nor should they. Iron Man was the BEST Avenger.

But I'll get off that now for something that really honks me off...

Ice Age 4 won the weekend Box Office. I understand that family movies can garner strong box office presence (shame Brave couldn't take advantage of that), but the fact Spidey was dethroned by of all films, a sequel that didn't need to be made is beyond depressing. It's still pulling in hefty numbers and all, Like I said, complete and utter delight and stronger than the last batch. But it's not going to get those Avenger numbers, or even close to them. Of course, Avengers was lucky for 2 reasons. it's one of the best super hero movies I've ever seen that wasn't the last Batman film. And secondly, the competition was weak. Battleship pulled in meh money, but Avengers easily crushed it... there wasn't a children's film until the first week of June (Madagascar 3... though that also did well once it came out). It only lost steam near the end of the month when MIB3 came out, but still was doing admirably.

TDK will be the big tell. It's the last of the red hot Summer blockbusters (no one sees films in August), and hopefully it can outdo a very lucky kiddy film.

People will always try to read social messages into movies, and a lot of times it's legit, but none of it is as obvious as Bane and Bain. That's just silly. That character existed long before the Romney campaign and the script was locked prior to his candidacy.

My brief political soap box commentary: Rhetoric aside. If one is preoccupied with legislating conservative social issues and/or will be above the top 5% of America's wealthiest citizens within the next four years, then they should probably vote Red. Everybody else should vote Blue. Those are just basic principles of civil rights and economics. Everything else has always been window dressing. Coke and Pepsi are always the same formula no matter how you package it. Well, aside from New Coke, but we saw how that went. Third Party candidates don't have numbers high enough to have their candidacies taken seriously, but they can sure sway an election. I do think it's funny that the same people who painted Kerry as an aloof elitist in '04 are calling foul when their tactics are being pointed at Romney in '12. Same gameplan, different team. Ha! /Soap Box

On another note, some have claimed that the spirit of Brad Bird's "The Incredibles" has some conservative leanings. I've read the argument and it's an interesting one, but I'm not so sure about that.

 

[Drtooth]

On another note, some have claimed that the spirit of Brad Bird's "The Incredibles" has some conservative leanings. I've read the argument and it's an interesting one, but I'm not so sure about that.

Same thing can be said about Iron Man, it has a sort of Ayn Rand context to it about big bad government screwing with people. Wasn't the Iron Man movie essentially about the US Government trying to get Tony's suit and use it for an instrument of war. Of course, that could be taken in an anti-War context as well.

The Avengers even had this line from Captain America (in response to Loki being referred to as a god), "Sir, there is only ONE God, and he DOESN'T dress like that." And yet, no one complained.

But some conservatives claimed the last Batman movie. The actions of Batman at the end of the film, spying on everyone in Gotham was used as an allegory for what Bush did, saying the ends justified the means. Which, quite frankly, means the Obama=Joker thing is bull anyway, since in that allegory Bin Laden would be the Joker. Meanwhile, the other side says there's more to the context as Batman is going too far, and Lucius Fox tried to stop him, and stepped down as a result.

If there is a movie character the right should embrace as a negative caricature of Obama, might I suggest Walter Peck from Ghostbusters. He's not a bad guy, but an antagonistic presence. And a government official.

That said, no one ever mentions the right wing war mongering messages in the Transformers films. But then again, those films suck so much, no one even bothers to think about it.

But that's the end of the discussion.

On a MUCH brighter note, Hub has taken to airing Batman TAS reruns on their channel. So they're having a marathon of episodes with this special trailer...

That's an OFFICIAL mash up.

 

[KremlingWhatnot]

Here's The Box Office Results, These Are From Box Office Mojo
The Dark Knight Rises WB $160,887,295 - 4,404 - $36,532 $160,887,295 - 1
2 1 Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox $20,416,978 -56.2% 3,886 +5 $5,254 $88,840,284 - 2
3 2 The Amazing Spider-Man Sony $10,887,111 -68.6% 3,753 -565 $2,901 $228,611,425 $230 3
4 3 Ted Uni. $10,011,610 -55.3% 3,214 -89 $3,115 $180,431,425 $50 4
5 4 Brave BV $6,024,987 -46.0% 2,899 -493 $2,078 $208,774,173 $185 5
6 6 Magic Mike WB $4,291,432 -52.4% 2,606 -484 $1,647 $101,966,459 $7 4
7 5 Savages (2012) Uni. $3,398,880 -63.8% 2,336 -299 $1,455 $40,055,075 $45 3
8 7 Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection LGF $2,253,074 -59.7% 1,540 -464 $1,463 $60,289,622 $20 4
9 9 Moonrise Kingdom Focus $1,831,471 -50.6% 895 -29 $2,046 $36,087,959 $16 9
10 11 To Rome with Love SPC $1,420,891 -42.5% 552 -192 $2,574 $11,107,993 - 5
11 10 Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted P/DW $1,350,946 -63.2% 1,261 -1,024 $1,071 $207,626,201 $145 7
12 8 Katy Perry: Part of Me Par. $1,148,494 -69.8% 1,123 -1,609 $1,023 $22,612,706 $12 3
13 17 Beasts of the Southern Wild FoxS $763,443 -3.4% 129 +48 $5,918 $2,855,142 - 4
14 12 Marvel's The Avengers BV $620,411 -55.6% 495 -252 $1,253 $615,058,425 $