“And particularly to females 35 and under” — from Pamela McLintock’s 6.29 THR box–office report about the 7.21-to-7.23 weekend, which foresees Greta Gerwig’s social-metaphor comedy trouncing Chris Nolan’s historical horror film about the A-bomb by at least $25 to $30 million. Congrats to Team Barbie for achieving a successful sell, even as they privately acknowledge … Read more
Take the domestic robot nightmare vibes from Olivia Wilde‘s Don’t Worry Darling and remove the dark undertow stuff and paint it all pink, and you’ve got Barbie. Or so it seems. Posted on 5.26.23: “I’ve never forgotten LexG saying [in 2013] that he liked The Wolf of Wall Street ‘for the wrong reasons” — i.e., … Read more
Hollywood has long practiced the art of conflicted moral messaging, or the pushing of lofty moral or ethical aspiration while simultaneously enticing the crowd with cheap highs and tawdry pleasures. For decades this was Cecil B. DeMille‘s game, especially with films like Sign of the Cross and The Ten Commandments — give the peons sex, … Read more
Subhead for Eliana Dockterman’s 6.27 Time cover story about Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Warner Bros., 7.21): “The year’s most surprising movie finds humanity in the iconic doll.” “Surprising,” in this context, means that rather than celebrating and reveling in flush-pink, girly-girl materialistic splendor, which is what 97% of the film’s audience will be gleefully anticipating and … Read more