"Arrival" Holds Strong While "Jackie" Tip Toes Into Theaters
Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 8:23PM 
What did you see this weekend? I caught up with Hacksaw Ridge and Krisha (which keeps winning "new generation" style awards) and went to a Pedro Almodóvar talk all of which we'll try to discuss very soon. Until the box office charts and, behind the scenes at the moment, podcast editing and Oscar chart revamping...
Not much changed at the box office this weekend with very few films opening but it's worth noting that Arrivalis proving to have very shapely legs. i.e. it's not dipping like you're supposed to dip each week and moved UP the chart this weekend indicating very good word of mouth...
TOP WIDE
01 Moana $28.3 (cum. $119.8) NEW Review
02 Fantastic Beasts... $18.5 (cum. $183.5)
03 Arrival $7.3 (cum. $73) Review and Podcast
04 Allied $7 (cum. $28.9) NEW Review
05 Doctor Strange $6.4 (cum. $215.3) Review
TOP LIMITED
under 800 screens excluding previously wide releases
01 Manchester by the Sea $2.3 (cum. $4.4) 156 screens Review, Second Take
02 Loving $997K (cum. $5.5) 446 screens Review and Podcast
03 Moonlight $915K (cum. $9.8) 574 screens Review and Podcast
04 Nocturnal Animals $686K (cum. $2.7) 127 screens Review and Podcast
05 Believe $602K NEW 639 screens
Outside of these charts Jackie premiered in 5 theaters. It's been, rather curiously, a non-starter in this first week of awardage missing both the NBR and the Critics Choice top tens for lesser films. Perhaps people can't take a grief-stricken political drama at this moment in our history? Let's hope it picks up steam next week. Meanwhile Huppert dropped another critical darling with Things to Come (in 3 theaters) to augment and not distract from (we hope) her Oscar campaign for Elle. Meanwhile Miss Sloane and Lion are treading water in very few theaters, waiting for their moment to expand.
NEXT WEEKEND... Miss Sloane will do that in a big way adding over 1500 screens while La La Land slips, not so quietly we presume, into its first 5 theaters. And THEN the Golden Globe nominations and SAG nods hit which a lot of these elusive films will try to use as a springboard for box office success as they go wide. We'll see!
Arrival, box office
Reader Comments (20)
"Elle." Basically the same movie as "The Piano Teacher" but sillier. Huppert is great, but when is she not?
What did you think of Krisha? I simply loved. Favorite movie of the year so far
I finally saw Elle, I wasn't sure if I liked it when it was over, but the more I think about it, the more I admire it.
And, for what it's worth, I CAN"T BELIEVE that Huppert could get nominated for a movie like that. It seems like the kind of thing that gets quickly ejected from Academy member Blu-ray players. If they go for it, I'll be very impressed.
I caught up with "Manchester By The Sea" because it finally played near me and I loved it. I'd say it's the most realistic family drama I've seen in quite a while.
Casey Affleck gives the best male lead performance of the year while Lucas Hedges steals the show. He lights up each scene he's in while your heart breaks for him at the right moments. Michelle Williams also makes the most of her sparse amount of screentime. Her awards buzz is pretty warranted.
I kind of want to see it again. Even though the film deals with heavy subject matter, it is never melodramatic all throughout.
I just watched 1957's "A Face in the Crowd." The far-fetched plot concerns a crass, soulless, ego-maniac who first becomes a TV star, then a media sensation, and finally, fancies himself a political figure. Can you even imagine such a thing?!
I was so struck by how Elia Kazan's bleak look at how television shapes public opinion/warps their minds that it's gonna be my next blog piece!
I watched Tickled, on John Waters' recommendation. ;-)
Amateurish but compelling. Any number of great documentarians would have had a field day with this material.
And went to a semi-staged performance of Wonderful Town (1953), part of the start of Los Angeles Opera's Leonard Bernstein centennial (2018) celebration. Faith Prince, Nikki James, Roger Bart all delicious. And the orchestra (conducted by Grant Gershon) really delivered that classic score.
Caught Krisha and Manchester by the Sea, both realistic, insightful takes on how a flawed family member impacts the lives of everyone close to them. And along with Moonlight, this has been quite the season for disfunctional family dramas and what it means to be a family. Enjoyed each one of them in so many ways.
I ran out to see Rules Don't Apply before it's taken off. The good thing about the wide release is that I didn't have to run very far.
It was different than what I expected, based on what I've read. It was sprightlier and more straightforward.
I found it coherent, well shot, well acted, with great production values.
One thing I found unusual was that in many cases, a trope I expected to see and cringe at, did not appear. It's as though the movie's attitudes have been vetted through Beatty's children, so that it's surprisingly current in many ways. (You know how some old guy directors cling to very outdated attitudes that distract from their technical skill. That's not the case here).
Paul, I'm curious about your use of the word "amateurish" for TICKLED. I guess it is made my first time filmmakers across the board, but I thought it a remarkably polished movie for one that was discovering its story as it went along.
I saw Manchester by the Sea, a Shawshank Redemption for a new generation. A man-weepie. I liked it a lot, although I'm iffy on the emphasis of Williams' big scene. I'm not sure of the motivation behind it, but I'm butting up against it.
Things to Come, an even better film and Huppert performance than Elle, but far more minimal and restrained. Still, it'll be a huge kick to see Huppert nominated for Elle should it come to pass. One of the most far-out nominations in Oscar history, so touch wood it happens.
@ Glenn
By "amateurish" I meant a couple of things: for one, the filmmaking is not very interesting visually (aside from those slo-mo sequences, and there, YMMV). I know they had zero budget and were inexperienced, but that's never stopped a filmmaker's vision from shining through, if it's there to begin with. Moreover, as budding investigative journalists, they (or David Farrier) seemed a little lame at times. Adorable but lame. I thought the eventual confrontation with the antagonist was a wasted opportunity. And there were other interesting, unexplored angles to the story they could have pursued.
I saw Hell on High Water which surprised me, as I was expecting your standard genre picture. The performances were terrific (even in those in small roles), the pacing was superb, the cinematography of West Texas was amazing, but the dialogue was the true standout for me. Authentic, lived-in, true to life, and most of all compelling. Here's hoping for some year end awards.
In cinemas I saw THE FOUNDER (which has opened in Australia) and NOCTURNAL ANIMALS. I thought the latter was mostly very good, but having read the novel helped. I did chuckle at that tweet: 'Soulless catastrophe, the new fragrance by Tom Ford'.
At home we watched THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, which was very entertaining, and POP STAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING: hilarious.
I watched Billy Lynn in 2D. Didn't mind it. Thought Joe was great. It was long in parts but made some good points. Though I didn't see the high frame rate version I don't know why it was made that way as there weren't many action scenes in it.
Saw The Edge of Seventeen because I needed something light and fun. So delightful, and anchored by a wonderful Hailee Steinfeld performance.
I saw Christine again and loved it even more the second time. Wonderfully acted and very insightful...why is no one discussing it?
ELLE in theaters, which was fascinatingly bizarre. It's doing so much, and I'm not sure what I think about it, as a movie--other than I'm glad it exists--but Huppert was perfect.
At home, FINDING DORY. Visually I thought it was excellent and had a surprisingly poignant climax, but the lose-and-repeat structure certainly got stale by the end.
At the movies: Arrival, far from bad but just a bit uninvolving for me.
At home: Tickled, very good, Other people, cute, Train to Busan, fun, and The Wailing - brilliant and one of the best movies of the year.
I caught up with some new releases on Netflix. Yoga Hosers is what it is, but what it is is kind of an adorable horror-tinged version of Scott Pilgrim featuring teenagers who act like teenagers and a consistently absurd universe. It's goofy, sweet, and disturbing in equal measure. Also, Natasha Lyonne steals the show with a turn as a gold digger stepmom who behaves as poorly as her teenage stepdaughter. Actually, the adult ensemble is overall strong and clearly guided the two teen leads through the film.
I also watched Glory Daze: The Life and Times of Michael Alig, which was pretty interesting just because of the talking heads. If you're going to retread well-worn controversy, do it like this and bring out a bunch of witnesses who have very different opinions of the subject. You can imagine these subjects had to be interviewed separately for fear of starting ANOTHER fight over what they really think and thought about the King of the Club Kids. The third act jump into actual footage of Michael exploring the world after his release is the weakest part, but still interesting.
I rewatched 13th and still think it's a masterpiece.
I saw Toni Erdmann, Manchester by the Sea (Shawshank Redemption version 2016, indeed!) and Christian Mungiu's Graduation. The latter is not Mungiu's best work. This one is a character-driven, micro-scale slow burn to a clunky ending. But it is so ambitious that I cannot help but recommend it.
LION. Loved first half, last 1/8. Boy, the plot/action really breaks down when it moves to Australia. Forget the ridiculous close-ups (a newish thing for cinematographers that I REALLY hate--don't really care to see people's nostril hairs and pores), but more importantly Kidman, Wenham, and Mara have literally nothing to do except tear up, roll eyes, breathe (but in all fairness, they do it well.) Patel has scant to do except storm around, pound on his keyboard, and grow his hair (SPOILER ALERT: so it looks like a lion's mane).
Except for first half cinematography, score, and notice of Sunny Panwar, I don't really see any Oscar chances. I didn't read the source material, but the adapted screenplay lets down this amazing story. So disappointed.