What did you see this week?
Monday, July 19, 2021 at 11:13PM Been back to the movie theaters yet? We've been going regularly again (huzzah!) but this week we skipped the new releases and took in a special one-night screening of The Graduate (1967) for the Movies with MZS at IFC Center. Next month he's showing Body Heat (1981) which is so perfect (you know we're fans) so if you're in NYC and you've never seen it now is your chance to see Kathleen Turner's jaw-dropping debut on the big screen.
Anyway. Here is the chart. What did you see this past week/weekend?
| Weekend Box Office July 16th-18th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended |
|
| WIDE RELEASE |
PLATFORM TITLES |
 Black Widow |
 Pig |
| 1 SPACE JAM A NEW LEGACY 🔺 $31 |
1 PIG 🔺 $970k |
| 2 BLACK WIDOW $25.8 (cum. $131.6) Best of First Half | 2 SUMMER OF SOUL $180K (cum. $1.8) Murtada's Review, Glenn's Take |
| 3 ESCAPE ROOM 2 🔺 $8.8 | 3 12 MIGHTY ORPHANS $88k (cum. $3.3) |
| 4 F9 THE FAST SAGA $7.6 (cum. $154.8) | 4 QUEEN BEES $49k (cum. $1.7) |
| 5 THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS $4.7 (cum. $44.6) | 5 I CARRY YOU WITH ME $26k (cum. $135k) Nick's Review | Nathaniel's Top 10 List |
 Zola |
 Mama Weed |
| 6 THE FOREVER PURGE $4.1 (cum. $35.8) |
6 SUMMERTIME ($21k (cum. $43k) Abe's Review |
| 7 A QUIET PLACE PART 2 $2.2 (cum. $154.9) Nathaniel's Capsule | 7 WEREWOLVES WITHIN $15k (cum. $557k) Jason's Review |
| 8 ROADRUNNER: ANTHONY BOURDAIN 🔺 $1.9 | 8 WITNESSES $13k (cum. $771k) |
| 9 CRUELLA $1.1 (cum. $83.3) Wardrobe Ranking, Makeup Artist Interview, On Artie | 9 MAMA WEED 🔺 $8k *new* |
| 10 THE HITMAN'S WIFES BODYGUARD $775k (cum. $36.6) | 10 THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS $8k (cum. $494k) |
| 11 ZOLA $744k (cum. $4.2) Murtada's Review, Best of First Half | 10 RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL... $4k (cum. $257k) Abe's Review |
| 12 PETER RABBIT 2 $605k (cum. $39.2) | 10 SUMMER OF 85 $3k (cum. $67k) Nick's Review |
Space Jam opened big (as family films tend to) but was critically panned while Black Widow suffered the ignoble fate of getting the all time biggest second week drop for a Marvel film. Since people appear to like it that's surely due to Disney's risky decision to release it at home simultaneously. They're throwing away hundreds of millions to appease Disney+ interests since before Disney+ they could usually get their audiences to pay for a movie three times (twice in theaters and then another purchase at home). Now they're mostly just getting a one time charge of $30 but the budget for the movie (and presumably future Marvel Studios movies unless they realize they'll no longer make one billion from each release) is still as big as those budgets ever were!
F9 will overtake A Quiet Place Part 2 as the biggest hit of this strange movie-strangling era this week. (Black Widow is the only other title since the pandemic began to cross $100 million at the US box office though Godzilla vs Kong came close)
In limited release NEON's Pig starring Nicolas Cage's had a lot of buzz but couldn't quite crack a million at 552 theaters. Meanwhile A24's Zola lost almost that many theaters in its third weekend but is still solidly performing and crossed $4 million. Have you seen it yet? So good. SPC totally mishandled I Carry You With Me with a bizarre Oscar qualifying release last year followed by a lengthy wait before theaters. It's unfortunately not found the audience it deserved after a month in theaters.
Finally, we were happy to discover that all-stars-of-a-certain-age comedy Queen Bees has earned a decent $1.7 million with virtually no publicity over the past six weeks. Sadly it was only in NYC for a hot second in its first week so we ourselves missed it. Have any of you seen it?
Black Widow, Pig, Space Jam, Zola, box office, moviegoing
Reader Comments (25)
I actually watched Body Heat myself. Watching Black Widow later this week.
I watched Black Widow, but the Bob Rafelson-directed film from the '80s, starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell. It was...wild.
I also watched "Black Widow" but the great 1954 film mystery starring Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner, Reginald Gardiner. CinemaScope and Color, from 20th Century Fox, excellent.
Mareko & Sam -- LOL. were these protest vote watches?
I finished off my 2020 Oscar Documentary Feature scorecard by seeing THE MOLE AGENT - it certainly didn't deserve a nomination (must be those old voters still managing an influence) but it still wasn't bad.
Filled in a gap between social engagements with a film from the Scandinavian Film Festival - PSYCHOSIS IN STOCKHOLM. Interesting, but doesn't quite come together as an arthouse-minded "young girl roams city" story.
And also watched Toni Collette and Damian Lewis in DREAM HORSE - it also wasn't bad, but my issues with horse racing meant a lot of the situations presented felt simplistic or unresolved to me.
And now we (Adelaide, South Australia) have gone into a 7 day lockdown, so all my movies will be on the small screen for a while.
I watched Inherit The Wind which was gripping and Wall E, not quite as magical as last viewing.
Also saw Cláudio act strange, please if you have mental health issues eroding your confidence and making you lash out then reach out and talk to somebody! We can’t lose you so soon. Please Nathaniel check in on him ASAP!!
I watched
The Meg a guilty watch
In the Line of Fire one of Clint's best films
The Agony and The Ecstasy two films legends totally miscast
Flight of the Phoenix the original Jimmy Stewart version,strange Ian Bannen Oscar nod
Whose life is it Anyway Richard Dreyfuss movie he forgot he'd made
I watched Limbo and it was pretty good.
Is there some way to better screen commenters? Every time I read obsessive comments like the ones above, it makes me feel *very uncomfortable*, to say the least. I wanted to write about how precisely over the line and disrespectful some of these posters are, but I’ll let it be for now.
I watched Beans, a reasonably good and very IMPORTANT Canadian flick about the Oka crisis in the '90s.
Don't know what happened to I Carry You with Me - it was supposed to open at a local arthouse, and has disappeared from the "Coming Soon" list.
A friend forced me to see Black Widow and I was pleasantly surprised. It was enjoyable and entertaining.
We also had the misfortune of seeing Infinite. That one with Mark Wahlberg. It has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Nat, I did see Queen Bees and it was a disappointment. It was unengaging and was devoid of any charm.
If there was a movie about older people that I enjoyed, it was The Duke. This one was charming and sweet and Jim Broadbent was delightful as a man who stole a Goya painting.
Up next for us is Pig.
Summer of Soul, again. So, so good.
Kevin -- i feel you. The site has been infected with weird commenting issues for a while now. It's a pity. I used to cherish reading the comments and used to hear from other websites like "how do you do it?" about our nice community. But now the comments have become much more like the interneet as a whole: unhealthy projections, bullying, toxic stan culture, strange behavior. I still read them because we still have a lot of wonderful commenters but i'm not sure what to do. Registration is clearly the way to go so that people cant post under multiple names. But there's still no way to screen that.
Be Smarter SmartBoy -- Claudio is fine. Please stop considering it "lashing out" and "strange behavior" when someone who is kind (like Claudio) makes a very reasonable request for people to stop being hateful towards other people in order to praise him. It's such weird gaslighting filled with passive aggressive "compliments".
It's not "lashing out" or "strange behavior" or "low ego" to ask people to stop behaving poorly, but common sense.
Beware, watching the Turner on a big screen may hunt you forever.
I watched "The Empty Man" (2020) a superior horror thriller produce by 20th Century Fox which was dumped by Greedy Disney. If you like thought provoking horror it's a must see - James Badge Dale, gives an intense performance. - on HBO
Is The Graduate still awesome?
I enjoyed the Barbara Stanwyck tribute for her birthday on TCM. I rewatched Baby Face (maybe my favorite pre-code American film) and Executive Suite, which made me think back to all the deserved praise Nina Foch received in the Smackdown of 1954. (Executive Suite is the rare film where Stanwyck gives only the third best female performance... not only Foch but Shelley Winters are Oscar-worthy.)
I also loved two first-time watches, His Brother's Wife and Illicit. Neither are perfect, but Stanwyck was terrific in her total wisecracking dame Stanwyck-ness in both. His Brother's Wife was the film on which Stanwyck met Robert Taylor, and they have wonderful chemistry.
The only disappoint was The Secret Bride, in which Barbara's role could really have been played by any actress of the era; her character was flat and the film was something of a dud.
Stanwyck has become my favorite classic American actress over the last few years. I feel that she's someone you only really get when you become older. She's not a glamorpuss and, other than perhaps Double Indemnity, her films aren't as readily available as those of the other legends.
I saw Black Widow and all of Fear Street on the 'flix.
I saw Space Jam 2 but that was cynical and soulless and let's not waste any more time thinking about that hellscape.
I had first time views at home of The Leopard, Boogie Nights, and The Way We Were. The Way We Were was just so satisfying and Streisand is so luminous. It really made me miss big screen romances - I do not mean netflix rom coms or indie slow burns. I feel the last one we got was A Star is Born? Is it because we just don't have movie stars anymore and that's a fundamental element?
I have also been going to the cinemas regularly but skipped it this past weekend because of the heat and the lack of stuff I wanted to see. Instead I re-watched S1 of TED LASSO, started watching PEN15, and finished S2 of NEVER HAVE I EVER.
Watched an Irene Dunne double bill of Theodora Goes Wild and The Awful Truth (in part because Nat recommended AT on Little Gold Men and I hadn't seen it in ages). Perfectly fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening.
Looking forward to Old this weekend. Wary of M. Night who misses with me more than he hits. But willing to give it a try.
Made my second trip to the theater (first was ZOLA about two weeks ago) with a screening of I CARRY YOU WITH ME which the BF and I really loved. It was also San Diego Pride this past weekend so it was a nice addition to our celebrations (especially with the summer heat). I wasn’t sure if we were going to catch it since the Landmark Theatre here had already dropped SUBLET and SUMMER OF 85 the week prior, but thankfully they had extended the run.
Past week I watched I Carry You With Me and honestly I don't loved it for the constant jumps between documentary/fiction-past-present. I also feel a little rush in the last part changing with hurry the focus from the aparently central love-story.
Good performances I must say, Christian Vazquez fits so good in romantic roles (Oveja Negra, Leona and this) and Luis Alberti keeps confirming that is one of our best actors today in a small part.
I much prefer the queer notes from the irreverent El Viaje de Keta and the endearing perspective from child emigrants of Los Lobos.
I could bet that the Ariel Awards will do the same as Oscars nominating two female directors: Heidi Ewing and Fernanda Valadez, probably Yulene Olaizola as third but we'll see...
Do you think Nicolas Cage in PIG is a serious Oscar contender???