New movies

[jeremyp]

Two great new movies! "Spotlight" and "Brooklyn." Both from the old school of movie making. Straight on story telling, with great scripts, and fine ensemble acting. Both have to do with Irish themes, one set in Boston, the other in Ireland and Brooklyn.
"Spotlight" is very reminiscent of "Alll The President's Men," a journalistic detective yarn from real life, and apolitical, but quite an education about the machinations of big power.
"Brooklyn" is a quintessential Eastern seaboard immigrant story, a further re telling of our history of immigrants. No CGI, no manipulative story lines, and for adults.

[Atticus]

for adults.

Apparently not for many, though. Their box office is paltry.
Spotlight at $12 mil and Brooklyn at $7 mil after 4 weeks each.

Meanwhile, another good story called Creed at $42 mil after one weekend.

[jeremyp]

Apparently not for many, though. Their box office is paltry.
Spotlight at $12 mil and Brooklyn at $7 mil after 4 weeks each.

Meanwhile, another good story called Creed at $42 mil after one weekend.

II don't care! get it; brawn beats brain in American entertainment. As it seems to be doing in politics of late. I am curious though about why the box office is your Bible for movies?

[booond]

Two great new movies! "Spotlight" and "Brooklyn." Both from the old school of movie making. Straight on story telling, with great scripts, and fine ensemble acting. Both have to do with Irish themes, one set in Boston, the other in Ireland and Brooklyn.
"Spotlight" is very reminiscent of "Alll The President's Men," a journalistic detective yarn from real life, and apolitical, but quite an education about the machinations of big power.
"Brooklyn" is a quintessential Eastern seaboard immigrant story, a further re telling of our history of immigrants. No CGI, no manipulative story lines, and for adults.

Saw Spotlight. Good movie. Well acted with no missteps.

[Atticus]

why the box office is your Bible for movies?

It absolutely is not. There are blockbusters I hated (50 Shades of Grey, Divergent, Maze Runner, from this year) and small ignored ones I liked (Mr. Holmes, Ex Machina, from this year).
I do have a problem when the Hollywood Illuminati gush over a film that virtually no one wanted to see. That's called an 'agenda'.

[booond]

Who are the Hollywood Illuminati that gush over films no one wants to see and what is their agenda?

[Master Po]

Jeremyp -- Appreciate your comments on "Brooklyn." I read a little about and it sounded like it might be worth seeing -- not that I will anytime soon, as I live in Flyover BFE -- only the blockbuster-iest of movies play around here. Eventually I will see it by some other means.

[Atticus]

Who are the Hollywood Illuminati that gush over films no one wants to see and what is their agenda?

Easy. Takes this past year's nominees:

Sorted by the amount of money people paid to see these movies - domestic gross in millions

American Sniper 350 - loved it
The Imitation Game 91 - great
The Grand Budapest Hotel 59 - not so
Birdman 42 - just bizarre
The Theory of Everything 35 - Hawking biopic a flop
Boyhood 25 - loved it, bit few else did
Whiplash 13 - big flop

The first two deserved attention, the rest were just 'acquired tastes'.

Hollywood's 'artistic' agenda is the opposite of their overt agenda: make a heap o'money. The artistic agenda is to say, 'hey look at me, I'm an artiste. I make art. Ain't it purty?'
They want to be nominated for their art, so they can be recognized for their 'seriousness'. So they nominate each other for their art, but then go home and count all the money they made on comic book movies.

[booond]

I get it this is a crazy conspiracy theory of yours.

[Atticus]

I get it this is a crazy conspiracy theory of yours.

Conspiracy?! :-)

How else do you account for the several inexplicable nominations every year? Let's hear YOUR theory [and the one thing I know is that they are NOT the best movies of the year. If they were, they would generate a modicum of viewer interest (see Whiplash above)].

[lexvid]

I don't know about conspiracies.

I Enjoyed whiplash myself. JK Simmons portrayed a short-tempered, ill mannered but brilliant tyrant who pushed for perfection at the expensive of an Miles Teller, a young talented drummer. Both played well off each other and it made for a punishing but compelling story.

The Big bang, explosion-filled, action packed movies will always appeal to the masses and generate revenue. That's the nature of the film beast.

[mcgato]

Apparently not for many, though. Their box office is paltry.
Spotlight at $12 mil and Brooklyn at $7 mil after 4 weeks each.

Meanwhile, another good story called Creed at $42 mil after one weekend.

Apples and oranges. Creed had a budget for advertising that is probably more than the production and distribution budget of the other two movies combined. Also Creed is in more than three times as many theaters as the other two movies.

Creed is set up to make huge box office in the first two or three weeks of release. That is due to huge advertising and huge number of screens. The other two are set up to have long runs in smaller venues relying on word of mouth rather than advertising.

Spotlight and Brooklyn are numbers 8 and 9 in box office this weekend, according to boxofficemojo. They are increasing revenue by a pretty good margin this week, while most out more than a week are seeing significant reductions. Trumbo seems to be a similar release approach, and is also increasing in revenue after four weeks on the market.

I think that Spotlight and Brooklyn will continue to do well through the end of the year. Not blockbuster numbers, but solid revenue. I haven't seen either, but have heard good things. Especially Brooklyn, which is supposed to have an Oscar nomination for Saoirse Ronan.

Edit: I don't mean to infer that Creed is not a good movie, as I have seen very good reviews for it. For box office, though, apples and oranges.

[jc203]

Not a conspiracy, more like a cultural disconnect between the movie going public and the elite movie industry types who select nominees for Academy Awards.
The bread and butter for the industry is action/adventure with lots of chases, fights and things that go boom... silly, simple-minded stuff designed for consumption in markets all over the world.
When Hollywood types crank out any other genre, the resulting products are more attuned to the effete tastes of their cohorts than to the rest of us.

[booond]

Conspiracy?! :-)

How else do you account for the several inexplicable nominations every year? Let's hear YOUR theory [and the one thing I know is that they are NOT the best movies of the year. If they were, they would generate a modicum of viewer interest (see Whiplash above)].

Whiplash was one of the best reviewed movies of the year. It wouldn't seem inexplicable to then be nominated for Best Picture.

[booond]

Not a conspiracy, more like a cultural disconnect between the movie going public and the elite movie industry types who select nominees for Academy Awards.
The bread and butter for the industry is action/adventure with lots of chases, fights and things that go boom... silly, simple-minded stuff designed for consumption in markets all over the world.
When Hollywood types crank out any other genre, the resulting products are more attuned to the effete tastes of their cohorts than to the rest of us.

I guess I'm happier to be in with the elites and the effete than the silly and simple-minded. Obviously, I'm outnumbered.