Uncomfortably Meta Movie Still

What did you see this weekend?

Moviegoers are officially tired of The Divergent Series as its third installment was off 44% from the previous film. And they've still got one film to go! Studios will soon (hopefully) realize that not every book adaptation deserves multiple movies. Damn you Hunger Games & Hobbit & everything else that encouraged this awful trend of greed over storytelling purity; plodding along when you should set hearts racing is an anti-audience move. Zootopia and Deadpool continue to be huge hits. In fun news, Sally Field's vehicle Hello My Name is Doris got within a ferry ride's distance of the top ten with a million dollar weekend even though it's only on 128 screens. Well done, Sally! 

WIDE RELEASES
01 Zootopia $38 (cum. $201.8)
02 The Divergent Series: Allegiant $29  NEW 
03 Miracles From Heaven $15  NEW 
04 10 Cloverfield Lane $12.5  (cum. $45.1)
05 Deadpool $8 (cum. $340.9) Reviewish

LIMITED RELEASES
less than 800 screens excluding previously wide
01 Hello My Name is Doris $1 (cum. $1.1) 128 screens Review 
02 Kapoor & Sons - Since 1921 $.9 NEW 143 screens
03 Anomalisa $.7 (cum. $3.4) 573 screens
04 The Lady in the Van $.4 (cum. $8.7) 301 screens Review
05 The Other Side of the Door $.1 (cum. $2.7) 227 screens 

OTHER PICTURES
The Bronze, a foul mouthed comedy about Olympic medalists, waited over a year past its buzzy Sundance launch to arrive in theaters and did so (on over 1000 screens) with almost no promotion. I didn't even realize it was opening until I was looking up movie times for something else and I pay attention to release dates. The result was an absolutely bleak $361 per screen average, which is bound to be the worst of the year for a wide release.  

In extremely limited release Midnight Special opened at 5 locations with a strong $184,000 which bodes well for its future. Arnaud Desplechin's My Golden Days (interviewed) earned $27,000 on 3 screens, Argentina's Oscar submission from 2015 El Clan (Nathaniel's review) finally opened to $12,500 on 3 screens and Krisha (Daniel's review) opened to $10,250 on 2 screens.

What did you see this weekend?

Oscar Whisperer: Have we seen any nominees yet?

Though we all know that the bulk of Oscar nominations come from the last quarter of each and every year, have we seen any awards players yet? Here's a tricky thing about punditry -- if you start too early people say you're part of the problem in "narrowing" the field but if you don't start early how are you going to be of service in keeping the entire year in play and offering perspective on which film should be watched so that it's not all about "cramming" at the end of the year which leads to all that last quarter focus. So we start early.  Here are first quarter possibilities if the Academy has longer memories than usual this year and if they surprisingly generate excitement later in the year by way of top ten lists or second wave releases (Bluray, streamin, etc...)

January
Kung Fu Panda 3 (Animated Feature)
Both of the previous films about the round warrior "Po" (Jack Black) were nominated for Best Animated Feature. Will Dreamworks go 3 for 3 with this series? The reviews are right in line with those of the previous films but franchises often outstay their welcome when it comes to "Best of Year" accolades.

The costumes in Hail Caesar (courtesy of Mary Zophres) are great fun

February
Deadpool (Visual FX, Makeup and Hairstyling)
Hail Caesar! (Original Song "No Dames" and Any Category, really) 
The WWitch (Sound, Supporting, and Any Category, really) 

Deadpool will surely surface for the Saturn Awards but good luck with the standard awards bodies considering that superhero films don't fare well even in VFX nominations... and Deadpool is a bit bargain bin aesthetically, however popular it may be with audiences.  An extreme longshot but it will surely attempt Oscar recognition in both VFX and Makeup bakeoffs.

As for Hail, Caesar! and The VVitch, they're the most prestigious of the year's mainstream releases thus far by way of being from beloved filmmakers or inspiring critical fervor, respectively. But will any voters remember them or take them seriously enough given traditional resistance to comedy and horror? The first step in taking any film seriously is to actually watch it; conscientous voters should watch these two films. 

March
April and the Extraordinary World (Animated Feature)
Batman v Superman (Visual FX)
Krisha (Best Actress)
Zootopia (Animated Feature) 
Hello My Name is Doris (Best Actress) 

Zootopia is by far your best bet for early bird Oscar glory given the outstanding reviews and audience love and Disney being a power player in the animated feature category. Can Sally Field's Doris generate good Golden Globe will? Will Krisha develop a following (it won the Cassavettes at the Spirit Awards for 2015 but the Spirit Awards have different eligibility rules -- festival showings sometimes count for them).

Of the two attempts at reviving the Superman franchise (Superman Returns in 2006 and Man of Steel in 2013) only Returns won Oscar favor (Visual FX nomination). Will Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice be ignored or embraced for its effects? It all depends on its future competition but it's worth noting that, for whatever reason, Batman is the favorite superhero of groups that traditionally resist superheroes. Batman films have won 3 Oscars from 15 nominations. 

What will you hope for or count on from the first quarter?

Krisha Deliriously Dares You Not To Spill The Turkey

Nothing just moves in Trey Edward Shults’ disorienting debut Krisha; it sloshes, slips, tackles, and caws. A dizzying symphony of brain-clattering sound, feverishly unhinged camerawork, and a tightknit, ink-blotter ensemble led by the ferocious Krisha Fairchild, Shults’ get the family together for Thanksgiving drama shoots you right off your seat and holds you hostage over the darkest edge of the human id. Red onions notoriously make you weep but under Shults’ rack-focus eye, they make you want to hurl too. Such portent may lead one to expect a draining, inhumane slog through the mud.

But that alone would be far too easy. This is an exhilarating hostage situation, not just by witnessing a filmmaker’s virtuosic warp over cinematic language but also by the hot cohesion of its richly observed and highly specific setting, and the barbed black comedy that comes along with it. It feels like home, which is to say, Krisha is the waking nightmare of reckoning yourself against the eyes and ears that know you best, a big hug from your aunt that just may choke you from the inside out.

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Tweetweek: "I'm not one of your fans!"

You know what's weird? I kind of miss Amy Adams. I was so exhausted by her in recent years with all the Hollywood Report roundtables and the easy awards track even for minor work that was forgotten instantly (Big Eyes anyone?). But the year off as well at that recent David O. Russell confessional has made the heart grow fond again. Funny how that can happen. See also Cate Blanchett's short break some years ago.

Which is why we'll start with Amy for this week's collection of a dozen favorite tweets. Tweets featuring A History of Violence, Carol, Vertigo, political hilarity, Joan Crawford and drag queens are after the jump... 

It's such a shame that we didn't make a Tonya Harding biopic when Amy Adams was young enough to play her. pic.twitter.com/LFKnF52HGk

— Kacey Bange (@kaceybange) March 13, 2016

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