Pacific Rim Uprising is #1, Black Panther #2

For the weekend of March 23-25, 2018, Pacific Rim: Uprising pulled off what movies the past five weeks have not been able to do: keep Black Panther out of the #1 spot. Even without the original's director (Guillermo Del Toro) and stars (Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam), the monsters vs. robots sequel blasted into the #1 spot. Now relative to its budget, that'd be the sign of a bomb, but this movie was greenit with the assumption 80% of its gross would come from overseas. It'll be huge in China.

Audiences weren't thrilled with the other new offerings. Sherlock Gnomes will make more money than Early Man, and Unsane was a low-budget indie disguised as a wide release, but Midnight Sun bombed, and Paul Apostle of Christ couldn't keep enough of the faith-based audience away from week 2 of I Can Only Imagine.

Tomb Raider's steep drop in week 2 showed that a new franchise is not born.

Peter Rabbit passed the $100 million domestic mark. Who saw that coming?

Black Panther is now 5th on all-time domestic grosses list, and it's on pace that it should be able to jump Titanic to 3rd by the time it's done. (Panther is currently 12th all-time for worldwide grosses.)

Opens March 30
READY PLAYER ONE with Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn and Mark Rylance.
TYLER PERRY'S ACRIMONY with Taraji P. Henson, Jazmyn Simon and Lyriq Bent.
GOD'S NOT DEAD 3 with John Corbett, Ted McGinley, Tatum O'Neal and David AR White.
FINDING YOUR FEET with Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie.

The Strangers: Prey at Night - Movie Review

Starring Bailee Madison, Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson and Lewis Pullman.
Written by Bryan Bertino, Ben Ketai.
Directed by Johannes Roberts.

★½

The first one was a methodically paced home invasion thriller. The three killers slowly circled in, and they had the ability to be at the right place at the right time. This time around, the pacing stops and starts, and the killers apparently have the gift of teleportation.

Mom, Dad, Son, and Daughter pull into a trailer park at night that an aunt and uncle run. There's 15 minutes or so of backstory, where Daughter's about to be sent away to boarding school and is furious with her family. But the Strangers make their presence known fairly quickly and from that, it's a lot of running around in the dark in a trailer park that must exist in some mind-bending section of the universe where it keeps circling back on itself.

It has some perverse flavor (the Man in the Mask listens to Air Supply when he kills), but it uses all the usual slasher-flick tropes without much creativity. The beginning is early Wes Craven nastiness, but by the end, it's more of the later Friday the 13th self-awareness.

Waco - TV Review

Starring Michael Shannon, Taylor Kitsch, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Sparks, Rory Culkin, Shea Whigham, Melissa Benoist, John Leguizamo, Julia Garner, Camryn Manheim, Glenn Fleshler and Eric Lange.
Created by Drew & John Erick Dowdle.

The Branch Davidian tragedy is one of the biggest black stains on the resume of the ATF and FBI. It's been ripe for a limited-series retelling, and I'm glad Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV) took it on.

For the most part they do a good job. It's an incredibly talented cast, and it's treated with the same prestige as American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson. Kitsch in particular has to play the balancing act of a believably charismatic leader for his followers while showing the meglomaniacal side that led him to believe he was another Messiah.

This six-episode series dedicates the first two episodes to before the siege. We see top negotiator Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon) trying to clean up the mess of the Ruby Ridge standoff that led to the ATF killing an unarmed mother and child. He butts head with FBI man "Mitch Decker" (Shea Whigham). He's based on someone else, but he's such a cartoon villain for most of this miniseries, I can understand them changing the name so they wouldn't get sued.

We also see David Koresh being a loving leader, albeit with polygamy and underage brides snuck in. They're telling this from the perspective of the Branch Davidian survivors, making it plausible why so many people would follow him.

I think the miniseries would have been stronger if the creators hadn't pressed their thumbs so heavily on the scale. The one-two punch of incompetence by the federal government leading to the deaths of innocent people didn't need the extra melodrama. In that respect, it reminded me of classic movies like Bonnie & Clyde and Dog Day Afternoon, where no matter what the criminals did, law enforcement was eeevil.

And yet, it's still highly effective in pushing those buttons. The tension builds and builds to the final showdown, where we see how tragedy could have been averted if Koresh and the FBI bosses had just been a little bit less stubborn.

Black Panther #1, Wrinkle in Time #2

For the weekend of March 9-11, 2018, Black Panther wins once again, dropping a mere 38% in its 4th week. It's currently the 7th highest domestic grossing movie ever (21st on the worldwide list).

Is this the first time in history that the top two movies at the box office had African American directors? A Wrinkle in Time did well but was no match for Panther. Perhaps mixed reviews damaged its Saturday/Sunday intake. It's currently at 45% at Rotten Tomatoes.

A handful of other poorly reviewed movies also splashed into theaters. Strangers: Prey at Night is a sequel that should have come out five years ago. Gringo felt like a cashed-in favor by everyone involved. The Hurricane Heist looked like a Syfy movie that they threw on to the big screen as a joke.

Best Picture winner The Shape of Water went back into theaters, but it looks like whoever was going to see it has already seen it.

The Death of Stalin did well in limited release.

Opens March 16
TOMB RAIDER with Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins and Dominic West.
LOVE SIMON with Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel.
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE with Dennis Quaid, J. Michael Finley and Cloris Leachman.

Annihilation - Movie Review

Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny and Benedict Wong.
Written & directed by Alex Garland.

★★★½

Alex Garland is 2 for 2 when it comes to delivering smart, suspenseful sci-fi. His debut was Ex Machina, now this. He's already established himself as a must-see filmmaker.

Natalie Portman stars as Lena, a biologist whose soldier husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) has been missing in action for months, presumed dead. But then one day he shows up in their house, not quite himself. Soon they find themselves in a government facility where they are questioned, and she learns it's by a phenomenon they call "the shimmer," a section of land covered by shimmering lights that are surely alien.

The government's sent several teams inside to discover what's in there, but so far, Kane's the only one who's come out. Lena volunteers to be part of the next team that goes in, an all-women crew led by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist who mainly just wants to see for herself what's in there.

I liked that feeling of the unknown going in, like getting into a haunted-house ride and you go through the first dark door. Part of the enjoyment comes from not really knowing what will happen next.

Black Panther still #1

For the weekend of March 2-4, 2018, Black Panther is still crushing the competition. It's on pace to pass The Last Jedi domestically. It could pass The Avengers to not only be the high-grossing Marvel movie but could wind up being the 5th highest grossing movie of all time.

Worldwide it's at $900 million, which still puts it just behind Jumanji. 32 films have passed the $1 billion worldwide gross mark, and Black Panther will probably join them sometime next week.

Next weekend it should be a real race between it and A Wrinkle in Time for the #1 spot.

Of the other newcomers, Red Sparrow edged Death Wish. Not surprising. Jennifer Lawrence is currently a bigger draw than Bruce Willis, and Death Wish had terrible reviews.

Opens March 9
A WRINKLE IN TIME with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine.
STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT with Christina Hendricks and Bailee Madison.
THE HURRICANE HEIST with Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace and Ryan Kwanten.
GRINGO with Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton and Amanda Seyfried.

2017 Academy Award Winners

BEST PICTURE - The Shape of Water
BEST DIRECTOR - Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water
BEST ACTOR - Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
BEST ACTRESS - Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing MO
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing MO
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Allison Janney, I Tonya
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Jordan Peele, Get Out
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
BEST ANIMATED FILM - Coco
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - A Fantastic Woman
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM - Icarus
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Blade Runner 2049
BEST FILM EDITING - Dunkirk
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - Blade Runner 2049
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - The Shape of Water
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - Phantom Thread
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING - Darkest Hour
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "Remember Me", Coco
BEST SOUND EDITING - Dunkirk
BEST SOUND MIXING - Dunkirk
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT - Heaven Is A Traffic Jam on the 405
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT - The Silent Child
BEST ANIMATED SHORT - Dear Basketball

My Last-Second Oscar Predictions

My last-second guesses

BEST PICTURE - Shape of Water
BEST DIRECTOR - GDT, Shape of Water
BEST ACTOR - Gary Oldman
BEST ACTRESS - Frances McDormand
BEST SUPP. ACTOR - Sam Rockwell
BEST SUPP. ACTRESS - Allison Janney
BEST ADPT. SCREENPLAY - Call Me By Your Name
BEST ORIG. SCREENPLAY - 3 Billboards
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Blade Runner 2049
BEST ANIMATED FILM - Coco
BEST DOCUMENTARY - Icarus
BEST FOREIGN FILM - A Fantastic Woman
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - Phantom Thread
BEST FILM EDITING - Dunkirk
BEST MAKEUP - Darkest Hour
BEST SCORE - Shape of Water
BEST SONG - "This Is Me" Greatest Showman
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - Shape of Water
BEST SOUND EDITING - Dunkirk
BEST SOUND MIXING - Baby Driver
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - War for the Planet of the Apes
BEST ANIMATED SHORT - Dear Basketball
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Heroin(e)
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT - The Silent Child

Black Panther - Movie Review

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke and Sterling K. Brown.
Written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole.
Directed by Ryan Coogler.

★★★½

I'm a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Even the worst one, I'd still give a thumbs-sideways to. Even so, lately we've had some really good ones. Black Panther did not disappoint.

After stealing the show in Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is back with his own movie, in his own country. Wakanda has been a secret country in Africa for thousands of years, highly advanced thanks to a special alien metal called vibranium. While Wakanda has flourished, the rest of the world has gone through the wars and social upheavals of real history. Eric Killonger (Michael B. Jordan) is a villain ready to topple King T'Challa and use Wakanda's powers for some world disruption/domination. His plan may be similar to most supervillains ("I will rule this world!"), but he has one of the better backstories, and combined with MBJ's performance, Killmonger winds up being one of the most compelling MCU villains.

I liked watching a movie full of mythic black empowerment imagery - Wakanda's like the African answer to the Hogwarts, Middle Earth, Westeros worlds we've been getting the last couple decades - and I liked a Marvel movie with so many strong female characters. A few years ago, General Okoye (Walking Dead's Danai Gurira) probably would have been a man, and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) would only have a handful of lines. They're great, and we also get good performances from T'Challa's gizmoduck of a sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and his love-interest Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o, in her best role since winning the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave), who has her own subplot and isn't just there to react to what T'Challa's doing.

The Tolkein white guys Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis are fun in their roles. Freeman's got that jittery Dr. Watson energy he has as Agent Ross when he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, and Serkis is in full "Wee! I'm a comic book villain!" mode.