The Age of Mad Max's Perfect Pitch
Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 1:50PM "We're Back Pitches!"
Actually EVERYONE was back this weekend in the sequel-saturated landscape. The nice surprise is that it was totally infused with girl power. The real kind, not just the lip service kind with "Strong Female Characters" that the boys then rescue. OK, The Scarlet Witch is rescued by The Vision in Age of Ultron, but she brings it in the power department overall and the film just passed the one billion mark worldwide and became the top grosser of 2015 (in the US). But the top two this week were newer 'old' ones. Anna Kendrick and her harmonizing family The Barden Bellas returned to rescue themselves as they headed toward graduation and the world championships. Meanwhile Mad Max: Fury Road won the hearts of critics with its surprisingly feminist storyline and ambitous action setpieces. The film essentially has two title characters because the story may start with Mad Max but it's Imperator Furiosa in the driver's seat and she's taking this franchise down roads it's never been down before. Charlize Theron once again reminds the world that she's every bit as strong an action star as any man (and considering that Blunt, Jolie, and Johansson are also aces in this department, there are surely others who could carry an action picture if given the chance these actresses have had).
And "They" say nobody will go see female superheroes. That's what all of these bitches are, you regressive studio execs! WAKE UP. Fund more female-driven movies.
TOP TEN BOX OFFICE
May 15-17 Weekend
01 Pitch Perfect 2 $70.3 NEW
02 Mad Max: Fury Road $44.4 NEW Review
03 Avengers: Age of Ultron $38.8 (cum. $372) Review & Marathon & Podcast
04 Hot Pursuit $5.7 (cum. $23.5) Review
05 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 $3.6 (cum. $62.9)
06 Furious 7 $3.6 (cum. $343.8) Review
07 Age of Adaline $3.2 (cum. $37)
08 Home $2.7 (cum. $165.6)
09 Ex Machina $2.1 (cum. $19.5) Review
10 Far From the Madding Crowd $1.3 (cum. $2.6)
NEW LIMITED RELEASES
May 15-17 Weekend
01 Where Hope Grows $490,000 (276 Theaters)
02 Good Kill $17,000 (2 Theaters)
03 I'll See You in My Dreams $16,000 (3 Theaters)
04 In the Name of My Daughter $14,000 (3 Theaters)
05 Animals $12,000 (10 Theaters)
06 The Connection $9,800 (2 Theaters)
In truly perplexing news, who is still buying tickets to Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 when there are this many good movies in theaters of pretty much all genres !?
In 'Less Likely To Be At a Theater Near You' news, Far From the Madding Crowd had a great weekend, vaulting into the top ten with an expansion despite still being in a few thousand less theaters than everything else in the top ten.
Kim Shaw and David Dastmalchian in "Animals"
Of the other new releases, we hope y'all will go see ANIMALS. It's true we're biased in favor of the movie since the film's screenwriter/star David Dastmalchian guest blogged here just recently and I had the pleasure of moderating their Q&A here in NYC this weekend at the Village East cinema. But you don't have to take my word for it since it was a big hit at SXSW and also has the thumbs up from critics. It's currently available for download and playing theatrically in NYC, Atlanta, Kansas City, Detroit, Seattle, Phoenix, Miami, Columbus, and Los Angeles. Next week it adds Chicago, where it was filmed and where many of its actors are from, to the list so if you live in Chicago head to the Gene Siskel next weekend! I told Dastmalchian that it seems terribly fitting that I went to the movie specifically to see him work a rare leading role and I came out appreciating not just him but actors I wasn't yet familiar with in other much smaller roles, the kind he used to get noticed for.
Reader Comments (12)
Just saw Mad Max - Amazing!
Can't stop thinking about it. One of the most heart pounding films I've ever seen. Will go back to see it during the week.
Mad Men ends today.
(sniffle)
Cate Blanchett is proven right again - the world is round people!
I saw PP2 and Paddington - I always wanted to hear your thoughts on Paddington because of one particular star ha (guess who)! I think she nails it and is having a blast. I think she should do more fun things like this along with her goddess like work that i and everyone here seems to love but the rest of the world is missing out on. It's totally the right way to win over her haters and I'd like to see more of it.
Spy this week though - New Zealand for some reason gets something first for once! Beyond excited because all the reviews rave about it and after Tammy I need to fall in love with MM again.
I'm surprised at PP2. The TV ads are not the least bit interesting, nor are the various talk show appearances. Fat sex jokes are not funny. Neither is the idea of obese people having wardrobe malfunctions.
I am looking forward to MM, FR. Theron looks so hot in this. Ditto Hardy.
Including Hot Pursuit, Adaline, Home and Ex Machina, 60% of the top 10 are female-led movies. Kudos.
All the more impressive considering Cinderella, Woman in Gold, and really even Unfriended qualify, and they all just left the top 10. Honestly, where's Hollywood's logic regarding this issue?
kin -- they have none. every time there's a female hit it's like "oh, well, it's a fluke"
...where's Hollywood's logic regarding this issue?
Their logic says everything will always reset to the default (patriarchal white supremacy). Every money making deviation is merely window dressing to fund the same one dimensional garbage they recycle year around.
Unfortunately I didn't get out to either PP2 or MM but I hopefully will soon.
In my ongoing project to catch up on older movies chronologically, I'm finally out of the '30's (more or less - I already saw "Gone With the Wind" a long time ago so I feel the need to revisit and maybe fit in one or two others I missed) and watched "Rebecca" last night. Such a weird experience. They talk so fast and yet Olivier barely moves his mouth or face when he speaks. Why does Fontaine finally stand up to the maid in one scene and then blithely follow the maid's advice for the costume ball the very next scene? There was a through-line that was missing, scenes and character motivations didn't always feel connected from one scene to the next and yet the sum was very entertaining. And Mrs. Danvers! Such thinly veiled lesbian villainy was thrilling and campy. I plan on catching up on the 5-part series on this site to dig in deeper on this one.
Saw - and loved - Mad Max on Friday. Also saw and loved an Argintinean movie called Rapado, about a young man flailing about after his motorcycle is stolen. Seemed like there were some very subtle homoerotic tensions going on, but I could be projecting.
I also saw Claude Chabrol's The Story of Women, which I liked a lot - very vivid and sharp social commentary, Chabrol's eye is impeccable and understated as always, great lead performance from Isabel Huppert - but have vague reservations about that I haven't quite worked out.
And then of course Mad Men last night. Count me in the "loved it" camp.
I saw Mad Max and I admired it more than I loved it. It's technical prowess is undeniable but I never fully connected to the story. Was I engaged by it? Sure but I was never emersed in it (if that makes sense).
'Mad Max:Fury Road" an amazing cinematic experience