Film Flash: By Any Mean

 

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

An intriguing movie with good performances that just sort of ends out of nowhere.

Sunday Best: 50 Most Beautiful Moments in Cinema - #5-#1

     

This is a continuation of this series started here and continued here and here and here and here.

You can go there to see numbers 50-31.  You can also check it out to remember the ground rules and criteria for choosing.  A brief recap:

1. A moment can be only about 2 minutes (unless it is an unbroken shot).  

2. Only one moment per movie.

3. All the context matters.

4. The subjective element of beauty is real.

5. Beauty only.

So, with those in mind, I will now share #5-#1 of the most beautiful moments in cinema.

I will provide Youtube links to the videos rather than embed them here.  I would imagine that because this is critical commentary it qualifies for fair use, but I'd rather not take that chance.

You can click any of the links below to see the clips (most of them should be timestamped to begin at the moment referred.

SPOILERS FOR ALL THE MOVIES BELOW

5. The Wizard of Oz - "Munchkin Land"

There are many reasons why The Wizard of Oz has endured as one of the most beloved movies of all time.  But I don't think people talk enough about the fact that it creates cinematic magic.  We see a lot spectacle in movies, but there are not as many that fill you with a true sense of wonder and awe.  And this moment is one of those rare occasions where the world opens up.

We've spent the entire movie in the black-and-white world of Kansas.  As with any monochrome movie, eventually you forget that the world is plain and drab.  But then Dorothy opens up that door and the most vivid, dazzling colors pour in and overwhelm you.  Every child who sees this for the first time feels absolutely transported to another world.  It is a moment of cinematic magic, where we feel as though the plainness of our own world could give way to a hidden magic just around the corner.  The music rises slowly like a dream as even Dorothy herself is transformed, releasing the magic inside of her.  It is a truly masterful shot that never ceases to create a sense of wonder.

4. Casablanca - "Last Shot"

Most of this movie plays out a lot like a film noir.  The use of light and shadow, even with the romantic elements, hit at dark overtones.  Rick's morally ambiguous character leads us to believe that this movie is going to have a dark and tragic end.  But his utter selflessness makes the ending feel earned.  Rick sacrificed romantic love in favor of agape, the highest form of sacrificial love.  He's ready for Louis to turn him in for eventual execution.  But Rick's heroism awakens the patriotism of the venal but charming Louis.  As the two walk off, we hear the patriotic French theme rise.  We then have (to paraphrase When Harry Met Sally) one of the greatest last lines of any movie: "Louis, I think this is the beginning a beautiful friendship."  It is a deceptively simple line, but it does a lot in that one sentence.  It is telling the audience that this is not a sad ending, but a happy beginning.  It is reminding us that there are still beautiful things in this world besides romantic love.  And that these two are about forge a friendship by fighting against evil together.

And as they walk the damp runway, the lights reflect on the ground as they walk into the mist.  Our heroes are walking off into the stars themselves.  They are mythic heroes stepping out of the darkness of Casablanca and into the stuff of legends.  It is a call to bravery and heroism.  It is a call to also be a friend of Rick and join back into the fight.

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - "You Bow To No One"

I love movies.  But as much as I love them, there are few moments that truly take my breath away.  And Peter Jackson was able to do that with this moment.

People often complain that the ending to Return of the King is too long.  I disagree.  I think when you spend so much time with these characters, you need to give them the proper goodbye.  This is the final scene with Aragorn, Arwen, Legolas, and Gimli.  In particular, we just watched Aragorn fulfill his destiny as king and have his emotional reunion with Arwen.  We take our last look at Eomer, Faramir, and Eowyn.  But then we come to the hobbits.

The moment is set up as you would expect.  The four hobbits are seen from a high angle: small folk in the larger world, the humans hovering over them.  But with a look of utter compassion and love Aragorn delivers that unforgettable line, "My friends... you bow to no one."  And as the camera descends with him, we as the audience also genuflect.  Then we get the swelling of the Shire theme just as we see the entire people take a knee.  And then the camera floats from a high angle to a low angle close up of Frodo.  The people of Middle Earth will never be able to repay him for the sacrifice that will eventually cause him to leave forever.  But this moment is a moment of acknowledgment and reverence.  When we honor the heroes who gave everything for us, we know that we can never pay them back.  What we have to give is poor recompense.  Frodo will never be fully healed in this world.  But what we can give is our honor.  

I have never seen a movie that captures this sentiment like I do here.

2. The Sound of Music - "Opening Shots"

If you said to me that The Sound of Music is the most beautifully filmed movie of all time, then I don't think that I can argue with you.  I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like this.  There are several musical films, many of them great.  But few take permanent residence in the minds and hearts of people as this movie.  One of the reasons is that director Robert Wise made a film that was so gorgeous to look at that it felt it was casting a spell on you.

I recently watched the movie again with my wife and I kept pointing out the fantastic use of color, framing, depth, motion... almost every frame of this movie is like a painting.

But the most beautiful shot is that opening shot of Maria.  The wide arial shot fills you with the open, majestic grandeur of the mountains.  But by themselves, they are lacking because there is no one in that space to appreciate it.  And as the camera pulls in on Maria, we see her spin around as if taking in every beautiful vista around her as the music swells and then she hits you with that declaration "The hills are alive with the sound of music!"  In the stage play, you have to feel that life through the enthusiasm of the character.  But here we have not only Maria's ecstasy, but Wise envelops you with the beauty of those mountains and hills.  You feel everything about this moment.  When she sings that she wants to "laugh like a brook as it trips and falls over stones on its way..." Wise shows you the beauty of that little brook and how it calls to you its laughter.  I don't think I've ever seen a movie that better embodies the Canticle from Daniel 3 where all of nature blesses the Lord!

The moment not only shows you the beautiful, it immerses you the beauty of God's creation.

1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - "Tatooine Sunset"

It is 35 seconds long.

And yet it is the most beautiful moment in all of cinema.

It actually amazes me that this moment is in the movie.  George Lucas is notorious for cutting scenes that are powerful but don't push the narrative forward.  And if you watch the original Star Wars, you could cut this moment and not lose anything in the story.  But Lucas understood the utter importance of this moment.  It is so important that the endings of the Prequel and Sequel Trilogies are direct homages to this moment.

And it is also strikingly simple.  It is made up of only 3 very simple camera angles: a wide on the Lars Homestead, a medium on Luke, and a reverse on the twin suns setting.

So why would this be the most beautiful moment in cinema?

First of all, look at the composition.  When Luke walks out of the hut, he's moving out of darkness and he heads towards the light.  The bottom half of the screen is washed-out sand, but the top half is full of red, yellow, and purple.  And he is walking away from the only home he has ever known.  He looks out with his eyes to the horizon, the limitless future.  As he stands there, Luke is bathed in light.  His call to adventure is a bright light illuminating him.  The shot of the twin suns is one of the most beautiful in all of Star Wars.  There are a lot of flashy special effects in the saga.  But Lucas uses a simple camera trick to make the twin suns look like they were naturally photographed.  To that original audience, Lucas pulls off an amazing magic trick: he makes something otherworldly and extraordinary like twin suns look natural, almost mundane.  But at the same time, he makes that which is mundane feel extraordinary.  In other words, this fantastic world feels real in a way that you don't feel in other movies.

We must also talk about the music.  The use of the John Williams score is perfect.  It starts as a small voice of discontent that we feel in Luke.  But then as he looks out, it swells to a powerful and painful longing.  CS Lewis talked about "joy," as a deep, painful ache that happens inside of the person when they experience something truly beautiful.  It is because the beautiful thing makes you desire the eternal, otherworldly beauty of the transcendent God.  When Luke looks out, he feels something like joy and the score makes the audience feel it too.

But above all, these 35 seconds convey the universal feeling of all human beings.  When we are young, there comes a a time when the wide world calls to us.  It can be scary, but it still calls.  Luke looks out at the larger universe and he hears the call.  It is something all of us have felt when looking at a sunset or the ocean or the wide planes or rolling hills.  It isn't just a moment of admiration: it is a call for us to become.  Become what?  That is the adventure.

And all of that is communicated without words in those 35 seconds.  I'm not even sure most people would put it into those words.  But some of the deepest lived truths are things that we experience rather than articulate.  And that is what Lucas has done with this moment.  He wanted pull back the curtain on this world and have us touch not a world of fiction, but a world of truth, a world of myth.

9/11 - 25 Years Ago Today

      

25 years ago today.

I have no words to describe the horror of that day.  

Today is about the 3,042 people who were horribly and viciously murdered by wicked men.

The best thing to do today would be to remember the dead.

Here is a link to the names of the murdered.  In your charity, perhaps look at the list and pray for a few of them by name.

Let us never forget.

Never.

Film Review: The End of Oak Street

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Mature

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

This movie has all the elements that should make it a fun, summer blockbuster.  But in this case the movie is less than the sum of its parts.

The End of Oak Street takes place in a suburban community in 1982.  It centers around the Platt family.  Denise (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring novelist who is ready to leave her husband and children at the drop of a hat.  Greg (Ewan McGregor), is an amiable guy who is delivering pizzas to make ends meet.  The teenage daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella) is incredibly smart with big dreams of college.  And finally Brian (Christian Convery) is a typical, not-that-bright junior-high kid who has a crush on the new transfer student Jeannette (Jordan Alexa Davis).  The cracks in the family are subtle at first but then become more pronounced under stress.  And this stress occurs when the entire neighborhood gets mysteriously transported several hundred million years into the past where they must not survive surrounded by prehistoric life.

I will say that the movie does pack within it some genuine thrills.  Oak Street makes the dinosaurs genuinely scary and a real threat.  The Jurassic series tends to make them more and more cartoonish, but this movie uses them as monsters who inflict gruesome deaths on the residents of Oak Street.  The design on the dinosaurs is also much different than what we've seen in the past, comporting to what modern paleontologists think they looked like, feathers and all.  Some of the action sequences move with real energy and thrills, with very decent camera work besides.  Speaking of the camera work, writer/director David Robert Mitchell seems very enamored of use deep focus shots so that it becomes part of this movie's signature style.  The special effects are as good as anything else out there right now.  The early scenes where the family begins to realize their threat have some moments of fun, escapist entertainment.  The performances are all decent from the main cast, where none of them break the spell.

But even with all of these pieces parts in place, the movie never becomes more than these disparate elements.  It apes the feel of 1980's movies, particularly that of Spielberg, but it cannot create the same sense of wonder awe.  Go back and watch something that is supposed to be a straightforward monster movie like Jaws and Spielberg fills you with that wonder and awe even as they are looking over Ben Gardner's broken boat.  Oak Street has a lot of spectacle, but it never feels weighty enough to dig deep into your heart.

But the real place the movie fails is the writing.  This is a shame because with just a little tweaking of the script, the movie could go from mediocre to very good.  The main problem is that the movie places Denise at the center of the movie as its main hero and she is incredibly unlikeable.  We are meant to sympathize with her domestic dissatisfaction where she already has a bag packed to leave, but can't bring herself to do it when she looks at her children.  The movie never gives you a rational reason for her to be this upset.  Before the movie begins, Greg lost his job and began delivering pizzas to make ends meet.  In one scene he parks in the driveway and begins to take the pizza delivery sign off of his car.  When his son asks why he does it since he needs to put it back on again in the morning, Greg says, "It embarrasses your mother."  Denise gives no support or sympathy to her husband who is clearly scrapping to provide even though he feels like a failure.  They don't give her enough of a reason to resent him.  At one point we see him secretly take a drink from a hidden bottle, which might hint at an alcohol issue.  But even though this would ground her resentment of him, the movie dismisses it completely.  

Greg is a decent guy, but he is fairly ineffectual.  He is kind even to his annoying neighbors, even when Denise is strident.  He tries to be optimistic for the kids while Denise thinks pessimism is the best way to prepare their children for potential disaster.  The movie wants you to side with Denise on this, but she really offers no better alternatives.  

The children also make incredibly stupid decisions.  Audrey sneaks into the garage and turns on the car so she can listen to "Valerie" by Steve Winwood (this is the first hint that she has same-sex attractions).  Not only is she playing music that could attract dinosaurs, she is doing it with the car's headlights turned on, wasting precious battery power.  I kept shouting in my head, "TURN OFF THE HEADLIGHTS!"  Brian is also very foolish.  One night he sees his dog outside runs out with his bow and arrow and tries to catch him.  Aubrey sees him and instead of getting her parents, she also runs after him.  Everything bad that happens to this family in the rest of the movie is because of that boy's stupidity.

Speaking his bow and arrow, we see him walking the neighborhood with it at the beginning of the film.  We think we are getting a set-up/payoff here, but there is none.  When he sees his crush, he goes to shoot the dinosaur attacking her, but fails miserably.  Instead Aubrey saves her with her knife skills, thus starting an attraction between them both.  So I guess the point was to subvert expectations, but this trope got old back in 2017.

There are also moments that are so contrived that they make no sense.  In one scene, a gigantic snake comes in through a second-story window and slowly makes his way downstairs and sneaks up on Denise.  In doing so, the snake passes up three potential victims.  There is no reason for this to be done except to create artificial tension.  Besides this, the scene provides nothing to the plot.  It could be completely removed from the film and it would make no difference to the story in any way.

And while the movie highlights the marital problems, it does show how marriage can be a blessing in times of crisis.  There is one touching scene where Denise and Greg are huddled-down in danger and you can see their bond grow closer because they need each other.  There is also an incredibly odd and off-putting scene where the two share a laugh while watching two giant dinosaurs mate along the side of a house.  I suppose that is something positive to take in terms of the value of marriage, but it seems buried underneath everything else.

The real problem with the writing, though, is the ending.  I will not spoil it here, though I may have to write an entirely separate post about it.  But the characters make a decision that, on the surface, seems to hit all of the correct emotional notes.  But the moment you start to think about it with any real application of morality, the implications get more and more morally confused to the point where you wonder whether the decision may actually have been evil.  Because it deals with time travel, there is a lot of intentional ambiguity, but instead of giving you the proper catharsis, it instead leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

What is so frustrating about The End of Oak Street is that it has all of the ingredients of an incredibly fun sci-fi family film.  But it fell apart at the writing stage, which is the stage where most of the flaws are most easily fixed.  Instead, we got this creative-concept film hampered by unlikeable and unintelligent characters.  Perhaps if we could go back in time, we could fix those problems and therefore we would hope that this wouldn't be the end of Oak Street.

Labor Day Prayer to St. Joseph 2026

    

(repost)

Happy Labor Day!

I remember during the early days of the pandemic, I was so worried that the school where I teach was going to lose enrollment and shut down.  As often as I complain about the toil of work, I am reminded how ungrateful I am for the privilege of working in a Catholic school (or to have a job at all for that matter).  It is truly a blessing to be given labor to help build up the Kingdom of God.

As I have written before, I credit St. Joseph for all of my jobs.  I pray that, like him, I can be a good worker and provider for my family and work the best that I can to be a model of moral manhood.

I pray that St. Joseph bless all the work of our hands that we all build up the Kingdom of God together.

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for me.

Sunday Best: 50 Most Beautiful Moments in Cinema - #10-6

      

This is a continuation of this series started here and continued here and here.

You can go there to see numbers 50-11.  You can also check it out to remember the ground rules and criteria for choosing.  A brief recap:

1. A moment can be only about 2 minutes (unless it is an unbroken shot).  

2. Only one moment per movie.

3. All the context matters.

4. The subjective element of beauty is real.

5. Beauty only.

So, with those in mind, I will now share #30-21 of the most beautiful moments in cinema.

I will provide Youtube links to the videos rather than embed them here.  I would imagine that because this is critical commentary it qualifies for fair use, but I'd rather not take that chance.

You can click any of the links below to see the clips (most of them should be timestamped to begin at the moment referred.

SPOILERS FOR ALL THE MOVIES BELOW

10.  Schindler's List - "The Schindler Jews Today"

Tied with The Passion of the Christ, I think that this is the greatest movie ever made.  It is immersive and transportive in its hope and horror all mixed into one.  It amazes me that Steven Spielberg did almost no visual prep for this movie and instead decided to film each scene intuitively.  This speaks to his mastery of the art.  

There are so many amazing moments in this film, but this one is the most beautiful, because it breaks out of the movie and becomes real.  It is a wonderful incarnational moment.  While you spent that last three hours watching these characters go through the nightmare of the Holocaust, you still have the distance of watching actors perform characters.  But in that slow dissolve, Spielberg awakens you to the truth: this is not fiction.  When you see the real-life survivors standing in the place of their actor counterparts, in living color, the full weight and reality hits you like a ton of bricks.  And yet in the midst of this heartbreak, there is this amazing beauty.  That is the magic of this movie is that Spielberg crafts beauty out of tragedy in a way I did not think possible.  Seeing the "Schindler Jews" alive and together, joined arm-in-arm, you feel the affirmation of the value in each human life.

9. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - "Last Shot"

I will admit that part of the reason this movie is so high up on my list is probably because I am huge Bruce Lee fan.  But when I think of how a movie should end, I rarely find a better example than this.  First of all, we need to talk about that score by Randy Edelman, which I think is one of the most underrated scores in film along with his one for The Last of the Mohicans.  It is so good that movie trailers sampled it for years afterwards to get a strong emotional punch.  The visual is stunning, with Bruce standing there outlined by the fiery sun as he shows off his skill.  But what puts it all together is that final voice over.  The movie is about the life of Bruce Lee and it is clear in this moment that we will not see the moment he died.  But rather than this being a disappointment, the movie uses this emotion to sling-shot us in another direction.  The final line is perfect: "All these years later people still wonder about the way he died.  I prefer to remember the way he lived."

8. Titanic - "Jack at the Lifeboat"

Sometimes I think people dismiss the phenomenon of Titanic like some kind of mass, pop culture psychosis.  Everyone was expecting it to be a gigantic bomb and instead it became the most successful film of all time.  And a lot of that is due to the masterful direction by James Cameron.  Known mostly for his action films until this point, Cameron created some of cinemas most romantic shots ever.  And the best on is the one I selected.  It is a scene charged with tragedy so the emotions are already high.  Jack tells Rose to get on the lifeboat and then confirms with her fiancé that he will be left behind.  One of the things that this scene needs to do is give Rose a compelling enough reason to jump off of the lifeboat and back onto the sinking ship.  If Cameron did not get this moment exactly right, then the rest of the movie would not work.  The audience would lose all connection to her and condemn her as a moron who threw away her chance at life.  

So Cameron gives us Rose's POV on Jack.  DiCaprio's performance is perfect here.  He has to play the conflicting emotions in him.  He has to appear strong and encouraging to her as she leaves, but his heart is broken as he looks at her for what he thinks is the last time.  And then we have the use of the flare.  It illumines Rose's face as a moment of emotional epiphany as it comes down and halos Jack's look of love.  In that moment, even if it makes no rational sense, Cameron has set up the powerful emotional logic that moves her to jump on to Titanic.  The moment is so beautiful that we believe why Rose would risk everything to come back.

7. Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - "Luke vs. Vader"

This moment effected me more deeply than I realized when I was a child.  This was the culmination of the entire saga.  Before this moment, I love the use of light and shadow.  Some might find it a bit on-the-nose, but it works perfectly.  For the final time, Vader is the monster in the dark looking to devour the hero.  And it is not simply a matter of hurting him, Vader is trying to corrupt him.  James Earl Jones' vocal performance is amazing as he goads Luke, especially with the revelation about his sister, knowing that Luke failed to hide this secret.  

The scene builds slowly, but then explodes with Luke shouting, "Never!" with his lightsaber raised in battle.  We then have, what I think, is the most powerful shot in the entire series.  The camera pans along with the pair as they fight.  Because of the popularity of "Duel of the Fates" and "Battle of the Heroes" people forget that this was at one time the only use of choral music in Star Wars.  And because of that uniqueness, it makes it stand out.  It communicates something almost religious in its significance.  

I used to hate the fact that the action was obscured by the broken platform and stairs.   But now I can see the significance.  This battle between the light side and the dark side has left great destruction in its wake.  They are battling through the wastelands they have created.  It is reminding us that the cycle of violence could continue on if Luke chooses violence like he is now.  And at the end, the camera clearly puts Luke in the superior position to Vader.  But then comes the wordless moment of empathy.

I love how the blocking of the shot mirrors The Empire Strikes Back.  Vader cut off Luke's hand and hovered over him, pressing his advantage physically and psychologically.  And now the role is reversed, and Luke returns that pain with mercy.  I love how he throws away his lightsaber.  As a kid, I couldn't believe that he would do that.  But that speaks to the power of this moment.  Luke is giving up any hope of survival at this moment.  Even though it was years later that Lucas wrote Obi-Wan's line, "This weapon is your life," it still fits here.  Luke is laying down his life.  And the camera very subtly is just below Luke's eye-line to show us that he stands tall, even in the face of death.

That is heroism.

6. Somewhere in Time - "Last Shot"

I stand by my assertion that this is the most romantic movie ever made.  A box office disappointment, it eventually found a devoted following among people like me.  Like some of the greatest romances, this is heavy in the tragedy.  Richard falls in love with a portrait of Elise from 1912.  He goes back in time and the two find the most blissful romantic happiness, only for it to be snatched away completely.  The last montage of the movie follows Richard walking like a zombie through the ruins of his life now that he has lost her.  In his depression, he stops eating and the hotel staff tries to save him.

The final scene we have Richard's POV as he dies and his spirit hovers over his body.  But then the room fills with heavenly light.  The ending to Titanic borrows heavily from this moment (whether intentional or not) to show that Heaven is a place of love.  Unlike Titanic, director Jeannot Szwarc did not have a big special effects budget for this moment.  Instead, he uses the brightness of the light and the whiteness of the scene to simulate heaven.

The reason that this works is that we have unparalleled musical theme by James Barry as Elise stands in the distance with her hand outstretched.  It is a moment of a love and longing.  It turns this moment of death from a tragedy to a triumph.  He isn't losing his life, he's coming home.  And the shot holds so long with that slow push in to make us feel that longing.  We are there with Richard as we run happily towards Elise, our hearts bursting with love.  And then when he shows up, he is dressed as he was back in 1912.  The shot parallels their first meeting, recapturing that joy of first romance.  And the shot holds as they take each other's hands.  I have seen this movie dozens and dozens of times and it always gets me.

Sunday Best: Summer Box Office Review 2026

I'm fond of beginning this post-summer report by citing Michael Crichton who once said that no one can actually predict a movie's box office, even though studios pay millions of dollars for people to do exactly that.  In the end, there is always an X-Factor that cannot be seen in advance.

And this is especially true for me predicting this past summer's box office.  

In terms of box office success, the numbers were a mixed bag.  Last year, three of the Top Ten made over $300 million dollars.  This year, three movies did that again.  Also, the lowest grossing Top Ten movie made over $6 million less than last year's number 10 (and that gap could still widen).  However, this year's Top Ten made overall $700 million less than last year's.  In fact, the top 3 movies this summer each made more than last year's highest grossing summer movie (Lilo and Stitch).  But especially, the box office was helped by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is still making money and has the potential to become the highest grossing film at the domestic box office of all time (not adjusted for inflation) and be the first movie to domestically gross $1 billion.  We shall have to see.

Below are my predictions along with the actual box office numbers:

MY PREDICTIONS	ACTUAL BOX OFFICE
Toy Story 5	Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day	The Odyssey
Minions and Monsters	Toy Story 5
The Odyssey	Obsession
Moana	Devil Wears Prada 2
Mandalorian and Grogu	Backrooms
Masters of the Universe	Minions and Monsters
Disclosure Day	Mandalorian and Grogu
Devil Wears Prada 2	Moana
Supergirl	Disclosure Day

So as you can see, I was way off this year.  

-I did not correctly guess the position of any of the Top Ten movies this year

-I predicted 8 out of the Top Ten, as I did last year.  That is slightly better than my average.

So here are my conclusions.

WINNERS

1. Tom Holland and Spider-Man

I predicted that Brand New Day would be a hit, but I drastically underestimated how big of hit it was going to be.  The last 3 MCU movies failed to make more than $275 million each,  Brand New Day has not only surpassed them, but has more than these last three combined!  I think this speaks to two things.  The first is that the general audience has an emotional connection to Tom Holland's Spider-Man.  He has been playing this character for 10 years and seven movies.  Many young people grew up along with his Peter Parker and for that reason they were going to turn out for him.  The second is that "superhero fatigue" is not a thing.  People keep trying to make it a thing, but the fatigue is not with super hero movies per se.  The problem is that they were not giving us a universally loved hero with a crowd-pleasing hero's journey in the same way as the classic MCU.  But Brand New Day shows us that the audience is there.

Holland also is a big winner in general for starring in the top two movies of the summer, solidifying his presence at the box office.  To be clear, it was not the star power of Tom Holland that is the main reason for the success of these films, but his exposure is being more and more associated with box office success.

2. Horror Movies

Two of the Top Ten movies were horror films.  Every year this is my blind spot because I do not enjoy horror films.  But I always underestimate their popularity.  Although, I don't think anyone could have predicted the phenomenon of Obsession.  It presented as just another generic horror film, and yet it went on to make $263 million on a budget of less than $1 million.  That and Backrooms significantly over-performed.

3.  Christopher Nolan

I've said before that Christopher Nolan is the only director who can still draw a huge audience on the use of his name alone.  The Odyssey is not only Nolan's highest grossing film, but it outgrossed last year's top summer film.  And even though the movie had a lot of controversy before it premiered, Nolan has built up enough good will with audiences that they will trust him to give them a great cinematic experience.  And I don't see that changing any time soon.

LOSERS

1.  DCU

Supergirl was a gigantic flop.  That is not a good thing for only the second film in James Gunn's new DCU.  Supergirl made about half of the box office as the MCU's second film, The Incredible Hulk.  And that is NOT adjusted for inflation.  For those who read my review, I quite enjoyed the movie.  But I agree with the analysts who said that the movie was completely wrong in its marketing and focus.    Supergirl was promoted towards women, but it was not feminine the way the Barbie Movie or The Devil Wears Prada 2 were.  The promotional material also presented Kara as full of cynicism, which usually does not bode for an enjoyable movie experience.  Contrast Tom Holland's Spider-Man with all of his utter sincerity and nobility to how Supergirl was advertised as a brash and drunk.  Or you could even contrast Supergirl with how Wonder Woman was portrayed and promoted for her own first movie with all of the traditionally heroic tropes.

2.  1980's Nostalgia

He-Man was so big in the 80's, but he could not get a box office draw today (although I hear that Masters of the Universe is a big streaming hit).  Star Wars had its first feature film in theaters in years and it is the lowest grossing live-action Star Wars film.  While I also liked this movie quite a bit, I think we have to admit that Disney has damaged the Star Wars brand, seeing as there is an $800 million gap between The Force Awakens and this movie.  And The End of Oak Street tried to capture the aesthetic and feel of the early 80's but could not find an audience either.

3. Comedies

No live-action comedy made it into the top ten, including The Breadwinner, Scary Movie, One Night Only, and Spa Weekend.  Laughing together with an audience is one of the best theatrical experiences, but nothing seems to be pulling us all together in the realm of comedy.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day	$874,814,928
The Odyssey	$553,261,605
Toy Story 5	$478,468,859
Obsession	$263,451,715
Devil Wears Prada 2	$220,556,651
Backrooms	$197,523,513
Minions and Monsters	$182,520,010
Mandalorian and Grogu	$177,730,060
Moana	$125,931,370
Disclosure Day	$116,636,645

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Last year, I noted that audience sales were less than the year before.  Because of Spider-Man and The Odyssey, this year's box office is significantly higher.  This speaks to my point last year that the audience wants to come to the movies and have the theatrical experience IF Hollywood gives them a product they want to see.

Thoughts?