Annabelle was rushed into production after summer 2013’s The Conjuring turned out to be a huge hit and one of the better genre flicks in recent memory. The title character is a wide-eyed, creepy doll who turned up memorably in a supporting role in the aforementioned production. Here she gets her own feature and it feels exactly like a rushed project meant to tide fans over until the legitimate Conjuring sequel. Annabelle was shot on a smaller budget and looks cheaper.
The picture deems it necessary to open with a title card explaining the history of dolls and then footage of The Conjuring to remind us why we just spent our dough. We flash back to 1969 (one year prior to Conjuring’s haunted happenings) where dull Dr. John (Ward Horton) and pregnant wifey Mia (Annabelle – woah – Wallis) gain the attention of our demonic doll after some cult figures (think Manson) invade their home. Moving doesn’t help. Annabelle has no issues making the journey to Pasadena with our non-descript couple. Alfre Woodard turns up as a bookstore owner who helps Mia understand what’s happening with Tony Amendola in the well worn role as a priest trying to assist.
Annabelle tries to generate its scares though sound effects and lingering shots of our doll staring. We keep waiting for those huge eyes to move. It all worked much better in The Conjuring and especially in Rosemary’s Baby, which director John Leonetti pays occasional tribute to. Most distressingly, the tone is far too somber. It’s about a crazy and vengeful kids doll after all. Chucky might’ve helped. There are a couple of mildly hair rising moments, but not near enough. This was designed to provide leftovers to hungry Conjuring fans but it’s unlikely to satisfy.
The title character of John Wick (Keanu Reeves) strikes petrification in the minds of those who hear his name. He’s like Keyser Soze, but everyone knows he’s real. And he’s really pissed off in a picture that comes by way of stunt coordinators David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, making their directorial debuts after working with Neo himself during the Matrix trilogy.
Wick is a former hitman whose achieved legendary status. In our opening, he’s gone straight with a lovely spouse (Bridget Moynahan) who dies within the first couple of minutes. She, unlike every other character here and there’s many, does not die violently. And it is not the circumstances of her passing that zap Wick back into killing mode. Rather it’s the slaying of his late wife’s final gift to him: an adorable dog. This is our first signal that this film is not going to follow all the typical cliches of most revenge fantasies.
The pooch tragedy occurs at the hands of the spoiled son (Alfie Allen) of a Russian gang lord (an effective Michael Nyqvist) who’s worked with Wick in his glory days. The clueless son is just trying to steal Wick’s sweet ride and has no other idea who he’s up against. He shall soon discover.
What follows is a visually impactful symphony of bloody action set pieces that gives Reeves his first quality B movie material in some time. John Wick is a mix of martial arts, anime, and plain old ultra violence that is a loopy treat for most of its length.
The most memorable sequences occur at The Continental, a seriously cool underground hotel that serves as a hangout for criminals where anything goes. This picture has no more interest in realism than The Matrix and the scenes in this hotel allow the directors and screenwriter Derek Kolstad their best opportunities to let their creative juices fly. At this point in the proceedings, the atmosphere and creativity in the blood soaked battles feels fresh and alive.
By the third act, John Wick gets a bit more routine with its violent moments. Yet there’s enough here for genre fans to soak in. We have a comeback role of sorts here for Reeves. No longer looking younger than he is, he brings a rugged and menacing persona as Wick that we haven’t witnessed from him before. It suits him well. Other familiar faces popping up include Willem Dafoe as a fellow hitman and Ian McShane as The Continental’s owner.
There is one animal harmed in John Wick and a whole bunch of humans end up paying for it. The fact that it’s a really cute puppy makes it a tad more understandable. It’s mostly worth it because this film announces two new directors that hold promise. One wonders what they’re capable of when given the chance to really let their imaginations run wild.
The reign of American Sniper is likely to end this first full weekend of February as three new titles debut: animated sequel The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending, and fantasy pic Seventh Son. You can peruse my detailed prediction posts on each of them here:
I believe it will be SpongeBob and not Jupiter that will knock Bradley Cooper’s Oscar nominated war pic from its #1 perch, though it could be close. That would leave Sniper dropping to third with Seventh Son debuting fourth and Paddington rounding out the top five.
And with that, a top five predictions for the weekend:
1. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Predicted Gross: $27.8 million
2. Jupiter Ascending
Predicted Gross: $20.9 million
3. American Sniper
Predicted Gross: $17.7 million (representing a drop of 42%)
4. Seventh Son
Predicted Gross: $8.9 million
5. Paddington
Predicted Gross: $5.3 million (representing a drop of 37%)
Box Office Results (January 30-February 1)
Bad weather and the Super Bowl truly did have an effect on the box office this weekend as nearly all titles couldn’t quite match my predictions. As anticipated, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper led the charts for the third week in a row. Yet it dropped much further than my estimate with $30.6 million (I said $42.1M). Regardless it’s made $247M at press time.
With a wholly unimpressive second place debut was Project Almanac, the critically drubbed found footage pic which managed just $8.3 million (far below my $16.4M estimate). With little positive buzz and no recognizable stars, audiences simply chose to ignore it.
Paddington was third with $8.2 million, in line with my $7.7M projection. The bear tale has taken in $50M so far.
The Kevin Costner interracial drama managed an OK start with $6.2 million for fourth, just above my $5.6M prediction.
Jennifer Lopez’s thriller The Boy Next Door dipped from second to fifth with a hefty sophomore drop to $6 million, below my $7.5M projection. The total stands at $24M.
The Wedding Ringer was sixth with $5.6 million (I said $6.7M) and it has made $48M. Oscar nominee The Imitation Game took seventh with $5 million (I predicted $6M) and its impressive total is at $67M.
New thriller The Loft tanked with only $2.7 million – making my $4.8M opening prediction seem way generous. The long delayed pic opened tenth. Same goes for critically acclaimed but Academy ignored A Most Violent Year which made just $1.5 million in its expansion or not even half of my $3.4M projection.
And that’ll do it for now, folks! Until next time…
The road to greatness for Andrew (Miles Teller) is filled with unexpected turns, bloody hands, and plenty of insults in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. And I do mean lots and lots of insults. Creative, brutal and often hilarious insults that would make R. Lee Ermey’s Full Metal Jacket drill sergeant very proud.
Andrew is a freshman at New York’s storied Shaffer Conservatory music school where he’s following his dream of being a drummer. He aspires to be Buddy Rich and his raw talent is undeniable. Another legendary musical icon mentioned often is Charlie Parker and the alleged tale of him achieving greatness when Jo Jones hurled a cymbal at his head to make him try harder. Andrew’s Jo Jones is Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), his teacher and conductor who consistently berates his pupils in the aforementioned imaginative ways. He’s not adverse to throwing whatever is lying around either. Fletcher uses any information at his disposal to hurl his verbal abuse, including the fact that Andrew’s mother abandoned him as a child. There are no off limits for Fletcher, yet he believes his actions are warranted for his kids to reach their full potential.
Perhaps they are. Whiplash does a remarkable job at not making its two main characters anything resembling caricatures. Just when we want to despise everything about Fletcher, he does something to give you pause. Andrew is far from perfect as well and we see that in his half hearted efforts at a relationship with a young Fordham student (Melissa Benoist). He is on a self appointed track to become the next Buddy Rich and any extracurricular activity is not needed in his mind.
Whiplash has gained most of its publicity from the work of J.K. Simmons and there’s reason for it. His performance will stay with you. It’s a triumph of acting that will and should earn this fine character actor a gold statue. That said, the performance of Teller is key and as he’s already proven in The Spectacular Now – his young John Cusack quality fits in well here. Paul Reiser has some good moments as Andrew’s supportive father.
Chazelle’s effort is a master class in editing and sound work. The musical performances (the pic gets its title from one of their pieces) are something to behold. Whiplash follows the storyline of many teacher/pupil relationship movies, but adds a whole lot of original spin. You’ll leave with the music in your head and most of all – Fletcher’s quick tongue. The screenplay is smart enough to leave it to us to decide whether Andrew’s journey to perceived perfection is worth it. For us it’s definitely a journey worth taking.
The fantasy epic Seventh Son opens Friday and it may be in for some troubling results especially considering its reported $77 million budget. With a cast featuring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, and Ben Barnes – Son has so far been met with mostly negative critical reaction.
It also doesn’t help that Jupiter Ascending is premiering on the same day and could easily siphon away much of Son’s target crowd. The marketing campaign has been relatively modest. Seventh Son might be lucky to match the last fantasy themed pic that featured Bridges, The Giver, which made $12 million out of the gate last summer.
My prediction reflects a feeling that this won’t even quite reach double digits for a very disappointing debut.
Seventh Son opening weekend prediction: $8.9 million
Arriving over a decade after its predecessor, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water hopes to bring in family audiences and fans of the TV show when it opens Friday. If successful, it may end the three week run of American Sniper atop the box office and outdo the performance of the highly touted Jupiter Ascending.
The voice cast from the popular Nickelodeon program is paired with Antonio Banderas and Slash from Guns & Roses (?). With Paddington having made the bulk of its money, there is an opening for family entertainment that SpongeBob aims to fill. 2004’s The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie debuted to $32 million before earning $85 million domestically.
I don’t believe the sequel will quite reach those heights, but a debut in the high 20s certainly seems feasible.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water opening weekend prediction: $27.8 million
With a gargantuan reported budget of $175 million, Jupiter Ascending hits theaters Friday and hopes to end the current three week reign of American Sniper. It might be a tall order. Written and directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski who brought us the innovative Matrix in 1999 and its sequels, Jupiter’s science fiction roots could bring in fans of the directors’ work.
Yet that hasn’t worked out too well in the past decade. The Wachowskis follow up features both posted disappointing results domestically. 2008’s heavily hyped Speed Racer managed only $18.5 million in its premiere while 2012’s Cloud Atlas opened to just under $10 million.
I have found the trailers and TV spots for Jupiter a bit curious as it’s underplayed the fact that Channing Tatum is the star. Costars include Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, and Sean Bean. Reviews have yet to publish, but my guess would be mixed notices at best.
The question to me is whether Jupiter Ascending can clear $20 million out of the gate. It was originally planned for a summer 2014 opening, but pushed back with the typical excuse of needing more time for special effects shots. I do believe it will just surpass $20M, but not by much and that additional time away from a plum summer slot won’t make much difference.
Jupiter Ascending opening weekend prediction: $20.9 million
For my prediction on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, click here:
“What if my problem wasn’t that I don’t understand people, but that I don’t like them?”
So says Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), our central character in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler who barely leaves the screen during the film’s running time and probably won’t escape your mind for some time either. When we first meet Lou, he’s a common thief stealing scrap metal who makes what he believes are captivating attempts at obtaining employment. We immediately notice that Lou has no social skills whatsoever. He doesn’t know how to relate to people. All he knows is how to negotiate but he hasn’t found a field in which his negotiations bear fruit.
This changes when Lou happens upon a crime scene and figures out that Los Angeles TV news stations will pay handsomely for gruesome footage. “If it bleeds, it leads” he’s told by another “nightcrawler” played by Bill Paxton . Lou believes he’s found his calling and soon his explicit videos of horrific offenses are airing at 6AM and 11PM by the lowest rated Southern California affiliate. Their news director Nina (Rene Russo) recognizes Lou’s value in increasing ratings. And Lou knows his worth and uses his leverage to bargain with her – not just for gainful employment but for everything he wants from her. This is done in a pitch black comedic restaurant “date” with Nina in which he makes his wishes explicitly clear.
Lou also hires assistant Rick (Riz Ahmed) and he suffers the endless banterings of a boss who is forever conducting a verbal performance review of his employee. Their interaction veers between hilarious (in a very dark way) and chilling (in a very real way). Our central character doesn’t like people in a manner that’s somewhat reminiscent of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Everything is negotiable to Lou and as amazingly awkward as he is, his objectives are usually met. This extends to his filming work and if the photos of a slain family member aren’t close enough to the bullet holes lodged in the fridge, there’s a way to fix that.
For the better part of this decade, Gyllenhaal has made one solid choice after another from Source Code to End of Watch to Prisoners. This is the pinnacle so far. With director Gilroy’s screenplay giving him a truly unique and endlessly fascinating character to work with, Gyllenhaal nails his quirky and creepy role. Russo gets her juiciest part in years as the producer who will go to the same lengths as Lou to ensure success. Ahmed is the most sympathetic person here (it’s not saying much) and he sees his demented mentor much like the audience does.
Nightcrawler effortlessly manages charcoal colored comedy with a heightened sense of tension. A major accomplishment indeed. The screenplay has plenty to hint at regarding the public’s insatiable need for the most violent news stories while we are eating breakfast or ready to turn in for the night. Lou Bloom realizes it and knows how to profit from it. He figures a way to achieve his sick dreams. Our brilliantly realized title character with a career best performance from Gyllenhaal gets it right with that opening quote. He doesn’t really like people. And while the characters he speaks with in Nightcrawler thinks he doesn’t understand them, maybe he does all too well.
JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year was once looked at as a potential awards contender, but it didn’t quite pan out. The crime thriller set in early 1980s New York City has been a hit with critics (it boasts a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Yet it received exactly zero Oscar nominations.
The cast is filled with familiar faces including Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, and Albert Brooks. The picture has performed decently in limited release and expands nationwide tomorrow on a fairly low 818 screens. It’s difficult to see this breaking through and certainly Academy Awards nods would’ve assisted. The studio should feel great if this manages $5 million out of the gate, but I don’t see it happening.
A Most Violent Year opening weekend prediction: $3.4 million
The final weekend of January at the box office should bring an easy three-peat for Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. Three newbies make their way to the screen: the found footage sci-fi pic Project Almanac, Kevin Costner interracial drama Black or White, and murder mystery The Loft. You can peruse my individual prediction posts on each here:
American Sniper continues to confound all expectations and, as mentioned, should easily steamroll all competitors.
Almanac appears to have the best chance to do decent business and I don’t expect much out of the other two. In fact, I have the latter two films debuting at seventh and eighth place.
As for holdovers, current #2 The Boy Next Door should suffer the furthest drop in its sophomore frame. Paddington and The Wedding Ringer should stay in the top five while Oscar hopeful The Imitation Game is experiencing very small drop-offs and could top both Black or White and The Loft.
Two important factors to keep in mind that could effect the box office this weekend: The Super Bowl and the aftermath of a massive winter storm expected to pound the East Coast. Both could trend my predicted numbers downward.
And with that, we’ll do a Top 8 for this weekend:
1. American Sniper
Predicted Gross: $42.1 million (representing a drop of 34%)
2. Project Almanac
Predicted Gross: $16.4 million
3. Paddington
Predicted Gross: $7.7 million (representing a drop of 37%)
4. The Boy Next Door
Predicted Gross: $7.5 million (representing a drop of 49%)
5. The Wedding Ringer
Predicted Gross: $6.7 million (representing a drop of 41%)
6. The Imitation Game
Predicted Gross: $6 million (representing a drop of 14%)
7. Black or White
Predicted Gross: $5.6 million
8. The Loft
Predicted Gross: $4.8 million
Box Office Results (January 23-25)
The cultural and financial phenomenon that is American Sniper continued to keep jaws on the floor in its second weekend of wide release. Dropping just 28%, it grossed $64.6 million – well above my $50.4M projection. That’s the eight largest sophomore frame in box office history. The Best Picture nominee has grossed $200.4M so far and should easily surpass $350M with $400M being a possibility. That means it is likely to end up as the largest grosser that was released in 2014 (in limited release, for awards consideration), passing The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Unreal.
The Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door debuted solidly with $14.9 million – on par with my $14.7M prediction. Considering its low-budget, this is a fine debut for the poorly reviewed flick.
Paddington was third with $12.2 million – in line with my $12.6M estimate. The children’s pic has earned $39M at press time. The Kevin Hart comedy The Wedding Ringer earned fourth with $11.3 million, just under my $12.1M projection. It too has amassed a decent $39M so far.
The failure of two newcomers (we’ll get to that in a second) allowed Taken 3 to place fifth with $7.4 million with a total of $75M. I did not have it predicted in the top five. Same goes for The Imitation Game which was sixth with $6.9 million and has earned $60M (making it the second highest grossing Best Picture nominee after Sniper).
The George Lucas produced animated pic Strange Magic stumbled with a debut of only $5.5 million for seventh place. I gave it too much credit and estimated an opening of $8.6M.
Then… Mortdecai. Johnny Depp suffered a colossal bomb as the critically drubbed comedy placed eighth with a pathetic $4.2 million (under my $7.4M estimate). The star clearly needs to start picking better projects as his recent resume is littered with duds that include Dark Shadows and Transcendence.
And that’ll do it for now, folks! And remember… should you need to conduct a super secret business meeting this week, go see Mortdecai and you’ll probably have the theater to yourselves. Until next time…
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