Did they though?

TCTTS said:

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an idea: get 100 people to watch the Babylon trailer and ask each of them to try to guess what the movie is about

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) December 26, 2022

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$80 million budget
Total box office after 5 days: $5.85 million.

To take an old political quote and repurpose it to the entertainment board (since I know many of you enjoy mixing the two topics so much):


I saw Once upon a time in Hollywood, once upon a time in Hollywood was one of my favorite recent movies, this is no once upon a time in Hollywood.

Where can I find these MI:Fallout rewatchables?

It's just one episode...

https://www.theringer.com/the-rewatchables/2022/12/27/23527785/mission-impossible-fallout-with-bill-simmons-chris-ryan-craig-horlbeck-rewatchables

... or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.

Thanks!

Well that was definitely an experience.

It was kind of a tale of three movies for me. First there was everything before the title card. (That must've been like a half hour right?) This basically felt like Wolf of Wall Street meets Great Gatsby, and all I could think was, "I hope it's not three hours of this".

Then it turned into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for an hour, and I was all in on that. Loved the humor and following the two sets for a day. Best part of the movie for me by far.

Then it turned into Boogie Nights, but with some pretty wild tone shifts. I was mostly onboard, but it did lose me at times. I did think it was funny there was 3 members of the ***** Posse in this movie.

I would say I mostly enjoyed it, but you definitely feel the length and it feels pretty self-indulgent at times. Honestly you could probably throw out most of the crazy party scenes and lose nothing. (Also, the trailers did a horrible job of showing the kind of movie this was, since they made it seem like it would just be parties the entire time.)

I did really like the ending though. That little tribute to the history of cinema was pretty cool, I did not expect it to go all the way up to present day.

Probably not one I'll ever watch again, but glad I watched it.

Does this kill Margot Robbie's career? Two massive bombs in one year can't be good for her. She needs Barbie to be a huge hit.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Does this kill Margot Robbie's career? Two massive bombs in one year can't be good for her. She needs Barbie to be a huge hit.

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I don't think so. She's a huge star and everyone loves her, even though the majority of her movies are bombs to underperformers. Seriously, go look at her IMDB page. She's got more flops than a soccer game... And her biggest movies, she's not the actual star of them.

She's like the female Ryan Reynolds. She's just a *movie star* at this point - despite the majority of their films doing pretty poorly. Even every time she's played Harley Quinn - one of the most hyped and popular comic characters that everyone geeks out about - has fallen way below expectations. Honestly, she seems like she's unsinkable as far as her status and being in demand by Hollywood, and will continue to be a marquis name regardless.


and fwiw I really like her and think she's a pretty good actress.

Yeah, I've noted the same on this board before, she's never been the lead on an actual hit movie before, so I don't think she's quite the box office pull that Hollywood seems to think she is based on how often they're casting her.

But, she's definitely a good actress and I do think Barbie might change that if it's successful.

This sums her up perfectly.

She consistently works with great, award-winning directors, but especially as of late, has happened to star in some of those directors' uncharacteristic bombs. It's like the filmmakers have been blinding her to the quality/marketability of the scripts themselves.

That said, Barbie is almost assuredly going to send her to stratosphere next year, and she also has Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, likely in the fall. So this should be a big year for her, and then, depending on what she chooses to do after those two projects (she doesn't have anything lined up as of yet), could easily be riding another huge wave of success into 2024 and beyond.

TCTTS said:

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Your reaction is the first thing to truly have me excited for this. Great breakdown. I've been waiting months for the new Landmark theater to open near me, it finally did last week, and I'm gonna make this my inaugural viewing as soon as I can.

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Did you see it? I'm surprised we haven't gotten your review yet, this seems like the exact type of movie you'd run out to see opening weekend.

Just got back to LA from Texas last night. It came out the night before I left, and I didn't have time to see it while I was in Texas, with all my family/Christmas obligations. Finally seeing at some point this week, though, and will post here when I do.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Yeah, I've noted the same on this board before, she's never been the lead on an actual hit movie before, so I don't think she's quite the box office pull that Hollywood seems to think she is based on how often they're casting her.

But, she's definitely a good actress and I do think Barbie might change that if it's successful.

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she was actually a good actress in the Afghanistan movie about the female war journalist

One thing I forgot to mention -- I'm really enjoying seeing how Hollywood is casting Mexican nationals in prominent roles like this, rather than actors of Hispanic descent who can just barely speak Spanish.

Nothing wrong with casting them when needed for the part of course, but I like that Hollywood seems more ready to cast Mexicans with actual accents in big time roles like this.

My one big complaint about Breaking Bad is that Giancarlo Esposito is not Hispanic and can't even fake Spanish very well. If that was being cast today, they'd cast a real Chilean or at least Latin American in that role. (Much like they did with Tony Dalton for BCS.)

I watched about 1 hr and 15 minutes of this last weekend and decided I didn't want to waste another 2 hours and walked out.

I am kind of curious about the movie though. For those that watched it, what did it end up being about?

If I had to put it in a single sentence -- the transition of cinema into sound, how it affected silent film stars and those it left behind.

My parents would've probably walked out at the very first scene.

Jack Boyett said:

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I watched about 1 hr and 15 minutes of this last weekend and decided I didn't want to waste another 2 hours and walked out.

I am kind of curious about the movie though. For those that watched it, what did it end up being about?

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Plot given in 8 or so paragraphs, or 5-6 since you watched the first hour and fifteen minutes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_(2022_film)

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Does this kill Margot Robbie's career? Two massive bombs in one year can't be good for her. She needs Barbie to be a huge hit.

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I don't really think so, as already hinted she's just a straight up movie star and she can legitimately act in addition to being one of the most attractive people on the face of the planet. This movie also bombed with Brad Pitt, directed by Damien Chazelle. Amsterdam bombed and it had Christian Bale, directed by David O. Russell. She's gotta way to go to fall out of favor in Hollywood.

Barbie will probably be a career defining movie for her...not sure whether good or bad yet.

i can say with 99% certainty that a 'barbie' movie in 2022 is not going to be a career helper.

Do you know someone in the production?

I laughed way too hard at this.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Do you know someone in the production?

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My confidence/enthusiasm is based on multiple factors…

- Brand name. This is essentially Transformers for girls/women, and probably *the* last big legacy brand yet to adapted as a movie.

- Greta Gerwig/Noah Baumbach writing, with Gerwig directing. Two indie filmmakers whom I love, who rarely ever miss.

- The online fever-pitch buzz based on the variety of incredible paparazzi set pics.

- Ryan Gosling legitimately calling it "the best script I've ever read."

- And finally, yes, a friend of mine is in charge of the marketing campaign for the movie.