quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
People have said that Lynch's problem was that it just wasn't possible in the 80's to put the book on the screen.

To be fair to Lynch, he had under 2 1/2 hours to tell the same story that Villeneuve got over 5 1/2 hours to cover. Lynch was also fighting the studio all the way for time and resources, and I believe most of his main actors were miscast from the start. At least I didn't like many of them.

Personally, I don't care much for his work in general, but I don't see how Lynch could have done much better with what he had. "Dune" did have some good scenes, more in the beginning than the end when the editing became too choppy. Yeah, that's why they said you needed to have read the book. Once the pregnant Lady Jessica drank the water and the whole religious aspect kicked into the movie, people were lost with it.

Even what happened in the end was not fully understood just in the watching because Paul was the "hero" of the film. Villeneuve was afforded the opportunity to show the character truer to the version in the book. Whether or not a large audience wants to continue with the series with a "Dune 3" or "Dune Messiah", I don't know. It doesn't get any easier.

Dune 2 has passed the 100 M mark domestically, the first film of the year to do so.

I used to go to the movies at least once a month prior to the Covid shutdown. Now, I cannot even bother. I saw the list of movies for the Oscars tonight, I had only seen Barbie. My son asked me if I planned on seeing anything this summer. I told him I have no idea what was coming out anymore. Oh, how times have changed.

I hardly ever go either. I did go to see Indiana Jones last year and was thinking about seeing "Argylle" since it looked like an entertaining spy movie.

Dune is up to 205 M domestically which is great news, while Kung Fu Panda 4 is up to 107 M.

I think maybe it's time that someone realized that "Ghostbusters" just had the perfect cast and the perfect chemistry and the perfect 1984 NYC location for a great movie and there isn't anything left undone. Even "Ghostbusters 2" that was made only five years later with the same cast was a pale copycat of the original, although I think I enjoyed it more than some fans. I haven't liked any of them since then at all.

This new installment of "Frozen Empire", which I'm sure was planned as the middle of an "Afterlife" trilogy, just seems to have no ideas besides maybe climate change as the new gateway to hell. Sounds like a contradiction to me.

"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" beat out "Dune 2" and "Kung Fu Panda 4" for the number 1 spot this week with 45M. The only other new film was the horror entry "Immaculate" that made little, but also cost little to make.

I don't expect "Frozen Empire" to be big on the 2024 money list, unless there are many failures. While it opened at slightly more than its predecessor "Afterlife", that film's box office was held down by the pandemic and also cost much less to make. "Frozen Empire" cost 100M without counting promotion.

I'm sure they will use every method possible to mathematically prove that there is enough profit to do another Ghostbuster because it's all about the trilogy now. And after that, they can start the next trilogy.

The Top 5 Domestically of 2024, so far


1) DUNE 2 (233 M as of today)
2) KUNG FU PANDA 4 (133 M)
3) BOB MARLEY (95 M)
4) MEAN GIRLS (72 M)
5) THE BEEKKEEPER (66 M)

Ghostbusters is # 6.

So "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" opens this weekend. I don't know how good it will be, but I think it will pull in a big enough crowd to topple "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire". Guess they think everything sounds better as an "Empire".

Ghostbusters has lost me, but I will definitely be in for Godzilla x Kong sometime in the next couple of weeks. Here's something I found out that's not in the trailer, so keep it under your hat.

Mothra shows up too.

Oh Boy, "Godzilla x Kong: New Empire" is now reported to top 75M domestically and may surpass 200M globally in its opening weekend. Not too shabby for what some think is a kiddie multiverse, but that's probably the point. People are not always looking for serious subjects at the movies. Sometimes that old fashioned giant monster Saturday morning bash up is both nostalgic and fun for all ages.

And younger kids are getting to enjoy it too, with even better effects than the guy stomping around in that Godzilla costume. My only reservation now is that they have probably taken it to limit and will "jump the shark" with this one, but a box office hit like this will guarantee Godzilla and Kong for the next 5 years, every year, no matter how mindless it gets.

All the previews are completely stupid and yet...I still want to see it in IMAX!!!

Dune has crossed 250 M domestically and Kung Fu Panda 150 M, but Ghostbusters took a big tumble in week 2 and it might not reach 100 M.

The revised Top 5


1) DUNE 2 (264 M)
2) KUNG FU PANDA 4 (166 M)
3) GODZILLA vs. KONG (135 M)
4) BOB MARLEY (96 M)
5) GHOSTBUSTERS (88 M)


I wonder if this will be the last Ghostbusters, as the numbers have not been great.

The trailer for "Joker: Folie a Deux" has just dropped. Apparently I saw it before YouTube slapped some sort of suicide warning on it, requiring a viewer approval. I don't know if they think watching this trailer will make you want to kill yourself, it just made me want to skip this movie.

Admittedly the first Joker did nothing for me, so I wasn't excited about this one, but it seems to me that if that was some of the best scenes, I don't know who the fans will be. It's more "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" then anything else and if you liked a realistic lunatic of a Joker, you get two lunatics in this one. I wonder if the Batman has any part in this story? You remember the Batman? It's a comic.

I think that warning may be a whole lot of hype, but whatever audience this eventually does attract, I'm not so sure I would be comfortable sitting among them anyway.

Well, the last one made over a billion dollars (the first R-Rated movie to ever do so) on what seemed like a pretty sketchy premise.
They showed Batman as a kid in that one. Depending on the time jump, maybe he'll be a teenager in the new one.

But did you like the trailer?

Or is a movie trailer, good or bad, unnecessary for a film that already has its audience?

I haven't seen the trailer yet. I don't tend to watch trailers (or at least go out of my way to watch trailers) for movies I'm sure I'm going to see.

Yeah, that's a personal choice I can understand. I tend to like seeing trailers. I don't mind spoilers, but I think trailers are only necessary for films that are trying to drum up interest because people don't know what they are and might miss them without the publicity. To spend millions of more dollars to promote a known franchise that people are going to see anyway seems wasteful.

A potential big miss to watch is Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis", described as an epic science fiction drama, written, directed and produced by Coppola. It cost upwards of 120M and it was financed by him personally. That usually spells trouble all by itself, so that's strike one.

It has a big cast of big names, starring Adam Driver. Now anything with Adam Driver in it is in trouble, so that's strike two.

Rumor has it that the previews have been awful and no one is running to distribute it. "Metropolis" may show up at film festivals to try to get a release in 2024, which is what Coppola hopes. However he has come out and said that Hollywood is too concerned with commercial success. Dah! Yes, someone has to want to pay to go see your masterpiece or maybe its just an incomprehensible passion play. Strike three.

We shall see.

So I caught "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" at the early show today. Usually it's pretty empty for first showings, but it was at least half full, which is rare. Even rarer, people clapped when it was over after about two hours. Me too.

It was a good time and dare I say it had a heartwarming ending. The FX was outstanding, especially in the facial expressions of Kong, Little Kong, and the other Apes. Because Godzilla is a reptile, they really don't try to do anything with him much, and that kind of hurts his screentime here. Mothra was a bit of a disappointment to me because her design looked more like a dragonfly than a moth. Not that she didn't look good, just that I would have done bigger wings. The only other technical thing I would quibble with is the scale of the Titans, which stayed consistent with each other, but seemed to keep changing with the background set pieces. They were as tall as pyramids, but than not bigger than beach buildings.

Now here are my negative points and they may contain small spoilers. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and loved Little Kong, but it may be the last one in this monster universe that I see in a theater. That's because there is nowhere else to go with the plot, such as it is. There can't be anymore levels in Middle Earth. There can't be anymore Tag Teams for Titans. Godzilla can't just roam around cities without killing thousands of people, but you have to believe he is doing just that without any handlers.

Is Kong really a Titan when it turns out there is a whole race of Kongs? At what point do they start killing good Titans and we get depressing death scenes because there is no more story to tell? I think it will be in the next one that somebody dies, and it will probably be Kong because now he has a replacement. When do we get a different human cast, not that it really matters for all the script they are given?

The future of Godzilla v Kong aside, this was enjoyable enough and you can even bring your kids without giving them Disney PTSD.