‘The Favourite,’ and with good reason

Posted on February 1, 2019 by reelentropy

The exclusive use of natural lighting and film accounts for what is frequently a very grainy movie. Images courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures.

9/10 The Favourite is at once a fearsome period drama and a no-holds-barred, pitch-black  comedy about power, sex and sass. It queers a fascinating historical power struggle and brings it perfectly into the Trump era.

In 1708 during the War of Spanish Succession, Anne, Queen of Great Britain (Olivia Colman) presides over Parliament. Anne is uneducated, pitiful and self-pitying, and most of her decisions are really made by her lady of bedchamber, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz). These decisions frequently come to Parliament out of nowhere and with no one knowing where the information came from, bewildering opposition leader Robert Harley, First Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (Nicholas Hoult), whom Churchill has frozen out of Anne’s council – for example most of the plot centers on a proposed doubling of the land tax that is never publicly discussed. This dynamic gets turned on its head when Churchill’s cousin, Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), arrives at court and begins to replace Churchill as Anne’s favourite.

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On Netflix, ‘Roma’ and Auteur Theory

Posted on January 30, 2019 by reelentropy

“We’re streaming, mother fuckers!” Images courtesy Netflix.

Ever since Netflix began to produce and procure original content in 2012, it has struggled to legitimize itself in the eyes of mainstream trendsetters. This has been no real trouble for the company whatsoever – Twitter and other social media had made word-of-mouth much more important even then – but the refusal to validate Netflix’ material is a barrier when it comes to awards discussions, which Netflix has been trying to muscle into for the past couple of years.

It’s been easy – and incentivized – to look down on Netflix’ content, but if history is any indicator, some of its more recent releases are going to change that. It has to do with a critical theory that has shaped film history, forcing new platforms, techniques and ideas into legitimacy wherever it goes.

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The Möbius Strip: Bryan Singer accused by four more, SAG awards

Posted on January 29, 2019 by reelentropy

It was a whisper-quiet weekend at the box office, with the top 12 making only $79.8 million overall, the third worst number going back a full calendar year. A big reason why was a lack of exciting new releases – The Kid Who Would be King opened at no. 4 with $7.2 million, and Serenity opened at no. 8 with $4.4 million. Glass repeated at the top with $18.9 million, while The Upside was the only other show in eight figures at no. 2 with $11.9 million- Box Office Mojo

Though he’s been spurned by The Academy over homosexist Tweets from the start of the decade, The Upside proves that Kevin Hart still brings a loud and proud audience, and he’s already signed to two more movies – a live-action Monopoly adaptation and a Sony movie called Fatherhood. Let’s hope there aren’t any gay moments in that- The Hollywood Reporter

Outside box office revenues, the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is still kicking around at no. 5 with $6.1 million in its seventh weekend, has climed to no. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It follows in the footsteps of sountracks to movies like The Greatest Show and La La Land which peaked in late January and into February during long runs for the associated films- Billboard

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Putting ‘Aquaman’s’ success into context with the DCEU

Posted on January 24, 2019 by reelentropy

Images courtesy Warner Bros. All numbers via Box Office Mojo.

Two weeks ago, Aquaman became the first DCEU movie to make $1 billion. In an era of film history that is completely dominated by comic book movies, the franchise so incompetent it couldn’t make financial hay even by putting Batman and Superman into the same movie – which it tried twice – reached the $1 billion threshold for the first time on their sixth try with a character who’s more often the butt of jokes, one for which a big screen adaptation was once thought absurd to the point of parody.

As of the end of the long Martin Luther King weekend, Aquaman’s fifth weekend in release, it stood at $1.067 billion worldwide, which is the series’ best worldwide performance by more than $100 million. However, it is only DC’s fourth best showing domestically, with $306.8 million made in the U.S.

The film’s success, sudden in the context of its source material and its franchise, begs a question that’s been on seemingly every film publication’s mind for the past month and a half, usually in the exact same words – Will Aquaman save the DCEU?

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The Möbius Strip: ‘Glass’ falls a bit short, Oscar nominations announced

Posted on January 23, 2019 by reelentropy

The year’s first major release in Glass pieced together a $46.5 million opening over the long Martin Luther King Day weekend, short of Universal’s $50 million hopes. The Upside and Aquaman fell to into the second and third rung, while Funmation’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly scored a surprise no. 4 finish with $11.9 million. Spider-Man: Into the  Spider-Verse, in its sixth weekend in release, also cleared $10 million in the no. 5 slot- Box Office Mojo

Glass is the culmination of several storylines for writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan. It’s the long-awaited sequel to one of his first films, and also consummates his rise back to popularity after making some of the most hated movies ever in the late ‘00s. Shyamalan gave several interviews on the past 20 years- The New York Times

Apparently, he had the ending for Glass already in mind all those years ago- The Hollywood Reporter

Shyamalan has written almost every movie he’s been involved in. Owen Gleiberman writes that may be what holds him back- Variety

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