Oh man, so get this. I have a beautiful mind. You knew that. But did you know my beautiful mind could destroy the universe! Welp, that’s why the baddies captured me, and bopped me on the head. Now I can’t remember a thing (my mind is not quite as beautiful!). Do you remember what happened in The Dark Tower?
1) The Dark Tower can be taken down by the mind of a child. The attempt to destroy the tower is causing issues in the real world as well. What?
2) Jake keeps seeing the numbers 19-19 in his dreams. What does it refer to?
3) What, in reality, makes Jake so special? Hint: It forges a connection with other works of Stephen King.
4) And what a twist! What are the guns that the last Gunslinger uses forged from?
5) How does Roland ultimately kill the Man in Black?
Bonus Question: Oh, shoot. It’s my new agent Edgar. I should probably take this. What does he want?
Oh man, so get this. I just got in a huge fight, seemingly for no reason because the reason kept on changing? Regardless I got my face smashed and now I can’t remember a thing. Do you remember what happened in Fist Fight?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) Wait … is this a holiday film. What “holiday” is occurring in the beginning of the film which has the teachers a tad bit on edge?
2) Well yeah, they are teachers. What two subjects do the two fighters in the film teach?
3) What instigates the titular fight?
4) In a last ditch plan to avoid the the fight, how does Charlie Day attempt to dispatch Ice Cube?
5) So … who wins the fight? Also, more importantly, who wins the talent contest?
Bonus Question: I’m putting my finishing touches on the Collateral Beauty sequel when my new agent David calls up. He sounds distraught. What does he want?
The beautiful lady introduces herself as Samantha and Patrick can tell by the look in Jamie’s eyes that he’s already a goner. Patrick looks at Jamie’s half horse costume and wonders whether “The Eyes are the Window to the Soul” lesson has already gone too far off the tracks. Although, the way that Samantha is eying how the horse’s costume behind hugs Jamie’s own behind makes Patrick think that all is not lost. He sidles up to Jamie and whispers out of the side of his mouth, “I hope you got jorts under that horse costume, cause we’re gonna razzle dazzle with a patented Twin California Two Step.” Before Jamie can nod, Kyle sidles up on his other side and whispers, “Hope you guys know the Triplet Ohio Three Step, cause we’re all in this together.” This is thoroughly confusing. As everyone knows, there is no Triplet Ohio Three Step and Kyle has never danced in his life. Before they can utter a “What thuuu…,” though, Samantha grabs Jamie’s arm and alerts him to the music cue indicating that their time on stage is now. “This is really important to me,” she says breathlessly and no more convincing is needed to get Jamie and Samantha galloping their way to the stage. “Welp, Kyle, good thing the Twin California Two Step has a variation involving a horse.” With that they jump on to stage and “razzle dazzle” would be an understatement. The crowd is stunned. The horse is grooving while Patrick flings Kyle from one side of the catwalk to the other. Just as they are about to finish, though, Jamie bursts from the costume and grabs Patrick by his jean jacket. “What’s the deal, man, you trying to steal my girl?” Looks like things are about to get rough. That’s right! We are actually doubling up for next week by watching not just 2017’s Fist Fight, but also 2017’s The Dark Tower. Why? Is there some hidden connection between these two apparently unrelated films? Nope. They are indeed unrelated. It’s just that we needed Fist Fight for a connection to Fool’s Paradise and I couldn’t handle not watching the Stephen King adaptation disaster. So why not both? Let’s go!
The Dark Tower (2017) – BMeTric: 47.8; Notability: 51
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 10.8%; Notability: top 6.0%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 5.6%; Higher BMeT: The Emoji Movie, Jeepers Creepers III, Fifty Shades Darker, Death Note, Tubelight, Rings, The Bye Bye Man, Day of the Dead: Bloodline, Snatched, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Humanity Bureau, Leatherface, The Layover, The Snowman, Amityville: The Awakening, Flatliners, Geostorm, The Circle, Wish Upon, The Mummy, and 7 more; Higher Notability: Transformers: The Last Knight, Justice League, Sandy Wexler, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Mummy, The Emoji Movie, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Bright, The Current War, Geostorm, CHIPS, Tulip Fever, Suburbicon, Baywatch, American Assassin; Lower RT: Naked, The Layover, Flatliners, Hangman, The Emoji Movie, The Snowman, Rings, Tulip Fever, American Renegades, Fifty Shades Darker, Day of the Dead: Bloodline, The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, First Kill, The Mummy; Notes: I already ran through the top ones in the Fist Fight preview. I’ll say, a little surprised Amityville: The Awakening could even drum up enough interest to get a halfway decent BMeT. There’s 15K votes on IMDb, which seems absurd. It is just one of the many random Amityville “sequels” made in the last 10 years.
RogerEbert.com – 1.5 stars – “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With that great opening line, an obsession began for millions of readers of Stephen King’s series of books that would eventually be known as The Dark Tower. … I only mention all of this to place the failure of the long-delayed “The Dark Tower” in the right perspective: this isn’t just a mediocre movie—although it is most definitely that—it is a wasted opportunity to fulfill the promise of that opening line from 35 years ago. … “The Dark Tower” is hollow. It is soulless. It is a film that never quite figured out what it wanted to be, and so elected to be nothing much at all. Worst of all, it’s clearly been chopped up by those reported reshoots and test screening edits.
(This review appears to be from a genuine fan who was somewhat distraught by what the movie was. Which is interesting. I have heard the last part of the series gets a bit wonky, so that does seem to bear it out. The first is kind of a world building exercise. Then there is an excellent sci-fi- trilogy, and then a wonky concluding almost-meta trilogy I think.)
(Looks pretty okay, and got some good actors. Doing a decent job hiding the fact that the main character is actually the kid … which causes some issues for the film I feel like. Should have started from the first book honestly.)
Directors – Nikolaj Arcel – ( Known For: A Royal Affair; The Promised Land; Kongekabale; De fortabte sjæles ø; Truth About Men; BMT: The Dark Tower; Notes: )
Writers – Akiva Goldsman – ( Known For: A Beautiful Mind; I Am Legend; I, Robot; Cinderella Man; A Time to Kill; The Client; Future BMT: The Da Vinci Code; Angels & Demons; The Divergent Series: Insurgent; Practical Magic; Silent Fall; BMT: Batman & Robin; Batman Forever; Transformers: The Last Knight; The Dark Tower; The 5th Wave; Lost in Space; Winter’s Tale; Rings; Notes: From the man who butchered I, Robot I suppose. He seems like a guy who is often brought in for heavy adaptations. Won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.)
Jeff Pinkner – ( Known For: The Amazing Spider-Man 2; Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle; Jumanji: The Next Level; Future BMT: Venom; BMT: The Dark Tower; The 5th Wave; Notes: Classic career. Went from 90s television, to regular script work, to now being enlisted for big adaptations of random franchises. He’s apparently writing an adaptation of the cartoon M.A.S.K. It seems quite far along, has other writers and a director attached including Michael Chabon.)
Anders Thomas Jensen – ( Known For: Brothers; Antichrist; The Duchess; Riders of Justice; Adam’s Apples; The Salvation; In a Better World; After the Wedding; The Green Butchers; Flickering Lights; In China They Eat Dogs; Love Is All You Need; Men & Chicken; Red Road; Brothers; Open Hearts; Gamle mænd i nye biler; The Promised Land; Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself; Mifune; BMT: The Dark Tower; Notes: Oh he wrote The Promised Land. That is supposed to be quite good. Stars Mads Mikkelsen, and this guy actually kind of looks like him.)
Nikolaj Arcel – ( Known For: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Riders of Justice; A Royal Affair; Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes; Department Q: The Absent One; Department Q: A Conspiracy of Faith; The Promised Land; Kongekabale; Rejsen til Saturn; De fortabte sjæles ø; Fighter; Truth About Men; A Death Sentence; Cecilie; Future BMT: Catch That Kid; BMT: The Dark Tower; Notes: The Director of The Promised Land … I’m going to guess this wasn’t a super great experience in Hollywood. At least Arcel made Catch that Kid and a few other maybe more normal Hollywood experiences.)
Stephen King – ( Known For: The Shawshank Redemption; The Green Mile; The Shining; It; Stand by Me; The Mist; It Chapter Two; 1408; Misery; Doctor Sleep; Secret Window; Carrie; The Running Man; Carrie; Gerald’s Game; Pet Sematary; Pet Sematary; Christine; The Dead Zone; 1922; Future BMT: Children of the Corn; Thinner; Creepshow 2; Needful Things; Sleepwalkers; The Mangler; Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice; BMT: The Dark Tower; Dreamcatcher; The Lawnmower Man; Firestarter; Maximum Overdrive; Firestarter; The Rage: Carrie 2; Graveyard Shift; Notes: Our 9th King eh. And seven to go. I think we can knock that down to at least 5 this year. I remembering reading somewhere that the meta elements from these books grew out of his experience of almost dying after getting hit by a car in Maine.)
Actors – Idris Elba – ( Known For: Avengers: Infinity War; Avengers: Age of Ultron; Thor; Thor: Ragnarok; Thor: The Dark World; Prometheus; Zootopia; Pacific Rim; American Gangster; The Suicide Squad; Thor: Love and Thunder; Finding Dory; 28 Weeks Later; The Jungle Book; RocknRolla; Star Trek Beyond; Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; Molly’s Game; Extraction II; The Losers; Future BMT: The Mountain Between Us; Takers; The Unborn; The Reaping; Prom Night; Obsessed; No Good Deed; Daddy’s Little Girls; The Gospel; BMT: The Dark Tower; Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; Cats; The Gunman; Notes: Nominated for five Emmys, mostly for Luther. Was always swirling around as a possible Bond guy, and obviously quite famous for playing Stringer Bell in The Wire.)
Matthew McConaughey – ( Known For: Interstellar; The Wolf of Wall Street; Dallas Buyers Club; Tropic Thunder; The Gentlemen; Contact; How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days; The Lincoln Lawyer; Dazed and Confused; Sing; Mud; A Time to Kill; Magic Mike; Reign of Fire; Kubo and the Two Strings; Frailty; U-571; Sing 2; Killer Joe; Amistad; Future BMT: Sahara; Two for the Money; Paparazzi; Larger Than Life; My Boyfriend’s Back; BMT: The Dark Tower; Ghosts of Girlfriends Past; The Wedding Planner; Failure to Launch; Fool’s Gold; Serenity; Angels in the Outfield; Tiptoes; Notes: Famously a true blue Texas guy. He had the McConaughissaince a few years ago after years of doing romantic movies and being in the wilderness a bit, starting from winning the Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club. Now I think he mostly sells Lincolns? I was joking until I saw his upcoming projects, he’s kind of done nothing of note for the last few years and doesn’t have much upcoming either.)
Tom Taylor – ( Known For: The Kid Who Would Be King; BMT: The Dark Tower; Notes: Kid actor in this film, he’s been cast in the next season of House of the Dragon as a Stark.)
(Pretty disastrous, at least bad enough that I’m not surprised they nixed all film and television projects related to it. Surprisingly low budget.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 15% (43/279): Go then, there are other Stephen King adaptations than these.
(Wow, 15% is quite a bit lower than I expected. And there certainly a lot of Stephen King adaptations to potentially avoid watching bad ones.)
Reviewer Highlight: About the only thing holding it together is Idris Elba, whose irrepressible magnetism and man-of-stone solidity anchors this mess but can’t redeem it. – Manohla Dargis, New York Times
(Inception, ever heard of it? Trying to incept our minds into thinking we want to see this film. C.)
Tagline(s) – There are other worlds than these (D)
(Cool story, bro.)
Keyword(s) – 2015-2023
Top 10: Avengers: Endgame (2019), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Deadpool (2016), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Parasite (2019), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Martian (2015), The Revenant (2015), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Future BMT: 85.1 Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), 79.3 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 78.9 Black Christmas (2019), 76.1 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), 74.6 The Grudge (2020), 73.6 The Turning (2020), 71.2 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.6 Poltergeist (2015), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 67.0 Max Steel (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 66.3 God’s Not Dead 2 (2016), 64.7 Brahms: The Boy II (2020), 64.5 Blair Witch (2016), 63.4 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), 62.7 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017), 61.2 Like a Boss (2020), 61.0 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
BMT: The Emoji Movie (2017), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Slender Man (2018), Fantastic Four (2015), Holmes & Watson (2018), Fifty Shades of Black (2016), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), Rings (2017), The Bye Bye Man (2017), Zoolander 2 (2016), The Gallows (2015), The Boy Next Door (2015), The Ridiculous 6 (2015), Fantasy Island (2020), The Exorcist: Believer (2023), Firestarter (2022), Expend4bles (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Moonfall (2022), After We Fell (2021), Blacklight (2022), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Morbius (2022), Hot Pursuit (2015), The 5th Wave (2016), Hellboy (2019), The Snowman (2017), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021),…
Best Options (Fools Paradise): 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 48.2 Insidious: The Red Door (2023), 44.7 Fist Fight (2017), 43.8 House Party (2023), 43.2 Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), 38.9 Masterminds (2015), 31.0 Wonder Park (2019), 30.4 Vacation (2015), 27.3 The Comedian (2016), 23.2 Secret in Their Eyes (2015), 18.7 Entourage (2015), 18.5 Peppermint (2018), 14.9 The Book of Henry (2017)
(And there’s the rub. You see, we wanted to do The Dark Tower, but we couldn’t fit it into the cycle as the 2017 entry because that had to be used in the Chain … so we cheated a bit and did it as a bonus. No regrets.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 14) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Idris Elba is No. 1 billed in The Dark Tower and No. 4 billed in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which also stars Nicolas Cage (No. 1 billed) who is in The Wicker Man (No. 1 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 6 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (1 + 4) + (1 + 1) + (6 + 1) = 14. If we were to watch Two for the Money we can get the HoE Number down to 10.
Notes – The Dark Tower is a series of eight books which span an entire connected universe which links several other books and stories by Stephen King, including Bag of Bones, The Talisman, Black House, The Stand, Everything’s Eventual, From a Buick 8, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, The Eyes of the Dragon, and ‘Salem’s Lot, with minor references to IT, The Mist, and The Shining.
During the first act of the film, several Stephen King Easter eggs are visible. The twins from The Shining (1980), the hotel from The Shining (but in a photograph), the family (including the dog) from Cujo (1983), and the car from Christine (1983) (as the toy pushed by Jake in his room) are each shown briefly. Toward the end, there is the Rita Hayworth picture from The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Not to mention the ‘Pennywise’ theme park. The portal that Jake’s told to remember as his way back is 1408, title of 1408 (2007).
According to an introduction by Stephen King in one of his books, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) along with the “Lord of the Rings” book series, is the primary influence for his book series: “The Dark Tower.”
Roland sees a TV commercial with talking raccoons and asks Jake if ‘animals still talk here’. This is a nod to the character Oy in the books; a talking raccoon-like creature called a Billy Bumbler whom Jake befriends.
Dr. Hotchkiss, Jake’s psychiatrist, has a picture in his office of the Overlook Hotel, from The Shining (1980), another film based on a Stephen King novel.
The beautiful lady introduces herself as Samantha and Patrick can tell by the look in Jamie’s eyes that he’s already a goner. Patrick looks at Jamie’s half horse costume and wonders whether “The Eyes are the Window to the Soul” lesson has already gone too far off the tracks. Although, the way that Samantha is eying how the horse’s costume behind hugs Jamie’s own behind makes Patrick think that all is not lost. He sidles up to Jamie and whispers out of the side of his mouth, “I hope you got jorts under that horse costume, cause we’re gonna razzle dazzle with a patented Twin California Two Step.” Before Jamie can nod, Kyle sidles up on his other side and whispers, “Hope you guys know the Triplet Ohio Three Step, cause we’re all in this together.” This is thoroughly confusing. As everyone knows, there is no Triplet Ohio Three Step and Kyle has never danced in his life. Before they can utter a “What thuuu…,” though, Samantha grabs Jamie’s arm and alerts him to the music cue indicating that their time on stage is now. “This is really important to me,” she says breathlessly and no more convincing is needed to get Jamie and Samantha galloping their way to the stage. “Welp, Kyle, good thing the Twin California Two Step has a variation involving a horse.” With that they jump on to stage and “razzle dazzle” would be an understatement. The crowd is stunned. The horse is grooving while Patrick flings Kyle from one side of the catwalk to the other. Just as they are about to finish, though, Jamie bursts from the costume and grabs Patrick by his jean jacket. “What’s the deal, man, you trying to steal my girl?” Looks like things are about to get rough. That’s right! We are actually doubling up for next week by watching not just 2017’s Fist Fight, but also 2017’s The Dark Tower. Why? Is there some hidden connection between these two apparently unrelated films? Nope. They are indeed unrelated. It’s just that we needed Fist Fight for a connection to Fool’s Paradise and I couldn’t handle not watching the Stephen King adaptation disaster. So why not both? Let’s go!
Fist Fight (2017) – BMeTric: 44.7; Notability: 32
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 13.2%; Notability: top 15.6%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 13.7%; Higher BMeT: The Emoji Movie, Jeepers Creepers III, Fifty Shades Darker, Death Note, Tubelight, Rings, The Bye Bye Man, Day of the Dead: Bloodline, Snatched, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Humanity Bureau, Leatherface, The Layover, The Snowman, Amityville: The Awakening, Flatliners, Geostorm, The Circle, Wish Upon, The Mummy, and 13 more; Higher Notability: Transformers: The Last Knight, Justice League, Sandy Wexler, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Mummy, The Emoji Movie, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Bright, The Current War, Geostorm, CHIPS, Tulip Fever, Suburbicon, Baywatch, American Assassin, The Dark Tower, Fifty Shades Darker, Pitch Perfect 3, The House, The Circle, and 19 more; Lower RT: Naked, The Layover, Flatliners, Hangman, The Emoji Movie, The Snowman, Rings, Tulip Fever, American Renegades, Fifty Shades Darker, Day of the Dead: Bloodline, The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, First Kill, The Mummy, The Dark Tower, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Circle, The Space Between Us, Jeepers Creepers III, Father Figures, and 14 more; Notes: Let’s see we save 5 of the top 10 by BMeT which I guess isn’t terrible, some of them don’t qualify I don’t think. I think I’ve also seen 6 of the top 10 by Notability. And 5 of the top 10 for RT. So yeah, kind of halfway on 2017 which makes sense. Late-2010s are just weak in general.
RogerEbert.com – 3.0 stars – Given this movie’s punchily obvious trailers, given the fact that its theme is similar to that of a lot of subpar entertainments, given that the producing entitites of Warner Brothers and New Line have teamed up to concoct a large number of cruddy comedies over the past ten years (“Life As We Know It” and “Due Date” spring to mind/are stuck in my craw depending on how you wanna look at it), and given the fact that said studios didn’t deign to show this movie for critics until Wednesday evening, it might be reasonable to infer that “Fist Fight” is gonna be a reasonably weak and mediocre crude yuk fest. … [G]rateful for the fact that “Fist Fight” feels like a movie—a narrative with a beginning, a middle, and an end that all have something to do with each other, … “Fist Fight” stands up, at least a little bit, for storytelling.
(Amazing. I do love when films unexpectedly get decent praise. Just heartening that you can look back at a time when films managed to qualify despite people being like “WHAT? This is genuinely good.”)
(Actually makes it look pretty funny. Although it also seems like a script I would have written in creative writing class in high school. Open: a high school, some funny shit and then uh oh a fist fight! Uh ………… then a bunch of other stuff and then … I guess a fist fight?)
Directors – Richie Keen – ( BMT: Fist Fight; Notes: Kind of crazy because he is a huge director for television with a ton of credits, but nothing as far as movies. Seems to have a TV Movie on his slate though which is fun.)
Writers – Van Robichaux and Evan Susser – ( BMT: Fist Fight; Notes: Same thing, a good amount of writing work, but all television, video, shorts stuff. They are apparently on the team trying to develop Wedding Crashers 2.)
Max Greenfield – ( BMT: Fist Fight; Notes: Wait … what the hell? He’s Schmidt from New Girl. That’s nuts. And yeah, he only credit at all for just the “story” so maybe an old spec script they refashioned?)
Actors – Ice Cube – ( Known For: 21 Jump Street; 22 Jump Street; Three Kings; Boyz n the Hood; Friday; xXx: Return of Xander Cage; The Book of Life; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Barbershop; Rampart; Higher Learning; Barbershop: The Next Cut; Barbershop 2: Back in Business; Trespass; The High Note; CB4; The Longshots; Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap; The Glass Shield; The Janky Promoters; Future BMT: Next Friday; Friday After Next; All About the Benjamins; First Sunday; Lottery Ticket; The Players Club; I Got the Hook Up; Dangerous Ground; BMT: Ride Along; Anaconda; xXx: State of the Union; Ride Along 2; Ghosts of Mars; Fist Fight; Are We There Yet?; Torque; Are We Done Yet?; Notes: Y’all know Ice Cube. What a career. Is apparently up for some War of the Worlds remake, and of course I do imagine Ride Along 3 will eventually round out the trilogy.)
Charlie Day – ( Known For: Pacific Rim; Horrible Bosses; Monsters University; The Lego Movie; The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Pacific Rim: Uprising; The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part; Going the Distance; Hotel Artemis; I Want You Back; The Hollars; I Love You, Daddy; How It Ends; A Quiet Little Marriage; Future BMT: Horrible Bosses 2; Vacation; BMT: Fist Fight; Fool’s Paradise; Notes: Fool’s Paradise I imagine is quite bad for his directing prospects. He seems to have a few movies in the pipeline, but nothing notable. I imagine they’ll be finishing up It’s Always Sunny at some point.)
Tracy Morgan – ( Known For: The Other Guys; Rio; Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; Rio 2; The Night Before; Coming 2 America; The Boxtrolls; Death at a Funeral; Spirited; What Men Want; Scoob!; Top Five; The Son of No One; The Star; Accidental Love; The Clapper; Why Stop Now?; Farce of the Penguins; Deep in the Valley; The Undefeated; Future BMT: The Longest Yard; Cop Out; Superhero Movie; Half Baked; G-Force; Head of State; First Sunday; A Thin Line Between Love and Hate; BMT: How High; Little Man; Fist Fight; Are We There Yet?; Notes: Nominated for 2 Emmys for SNL and 30 Rock. I think this was his first major role after his quite bad traffic accident he had in 2014.)
Budget/Gross – $22–25 million / Domestic: $32,187,017 (Worldwide: $41,187,017)
(That actually isn’t that bad. Which I suppose makes sense because Charlie Day was still considered a viable comedic lead afterwards.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 25% (33/133): Fist Fight boasts a surplus of comedic muscle but flails lazily, and far too few of its jokes land with enough force to register.
(The fact that any jokes land is something that would be praised today I feel like. Hell … Argyle is at like 35% still. The movie is terrible and is not funny even by accident. How times have changed.)
Reviewer Highlight: It did give me something I needed. Not catharsis or uplift but a bracing dose of profane, sloppy, reasonably well-directed hostility. We take what we can get. – A.O. Scott, New York Times
(It’s a tad boring, but it’s at least putting in some effort on top of that very boring base. I’ll throw it a bone and give it a C+.)
Tagline(s) – After school. Parking lot. It’s on. (C)
(The structure looks like it’s going to be good, but then it’s not. At least it’s original and relevant, but that’s about it.)
Keyword(s) – 2015-2023
Top 10: Joker (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Deadpool (2016), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Parasite (2019), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Martian (2015), The Revenant (2015)
Future BMT: 85.1 Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), 79.3 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 78.9 Black Christmas (2019), 76.1 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), 74.6 The Grudge (2020), 73.6 The Turning (2020), 71.2 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.6 Poltergeist (2015), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 67.0 Max Steel (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 66.3 God’s Not Dead 2 (2016), 64.7 Brahms: The Boy II (2020), 64.5 Blair Witch (2016), 63.4 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), 62.7 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017), 61.2 Like a Boss (2020), 61.0 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
BMT: Cats (2019), The Emoji Movie (2017), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Slender Man (2018), Fantastic Four (2015), Holmes & Watson (2018), Fifty Shades of Black (2016), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), Rings (2017), The Bye Bye Man (2017), Zoolander 2 (2016), The Gallows (2015), The Boy Next Door (2015), The Ridiculous 6 (2015), Fantasy Island (2020), The Exorcist: Believer (2023), Firestarter (2022), Expend4bles (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Moonfall (2022), After We Fell (2021), Blacklight (2022), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Morbius (2022), Hot Pursuit (2015), The 5th Wave (2016), Hellboy (2019), The Snowman (2017), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), …
Best Options (Fools Paradise): 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 48.2 Insidious: The Red Door (2023), 44.8 The House (2017), 44.7 Fist Fight (2017), 43.8 House Party (2023), 43.2 Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), 41.0 The Kitchen (2019), 38.9 Masterminds (2015), 31.0 Wonder Park (2019), 30.4 Vacation (2015), 27.3 The Comedian (2016), 23.2 Secret in Their Eyes (2015), 18.7 Entourage (2015), 18.5 Peppermint (2018), 14.9 The Book of Henry (2017)
(Yeah it was a bit tough to reason about it because we really didn’t want to do Fool’s Paradise in the first place and then even though is seems like it should lead into a ton of places it somehow really doesn’t in the end. So we ended up splitting the difference here: Do Fist Fight as the actual, and then pick up The Dark Tower as a bonus.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 13) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Ice Cube is No. 2 billed in Fist Fight and No. 2 billed in Ghosts of Mars, which also stars Jason Statham (No. 4 billed) who is in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (No. 1 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 3 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (2 + 2) + (4 + 1) + (3 + 1) = 13. There is no shorter path at the moment.
Notes – According to Ice Cube, the actual fight sequence took 8 days to shoot.
Tracy Morgan’s first film after his car accident.
Just before being arrested, Ice Cube (Mr. Strickland) says “f**k the police” a reference to a song of the same name by his former rap group N.W.A.
Andy’s reaction to Holly hitting him is the same as Brad Pitts “you got me in the ear” reaction to being hit in Fight Club
Charlie Day and director Richie Keen worked together on FX/FXX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
So far I’ve found (unsurprisingly) that we’ve done a pretty damn good job at covering a lot of the best (read: worst) films of any given year. Particularly recent years like Collateral Beauty’s 2016. I don’t have too many suggestions for replacements and the Will Smith masterclass in Oscar baiting is perfect for something that has always tickled our fancy, but never found a spot in a cycle. However… the mere fact that both Max Steel and Monster Trucks are 2016 films is a little mind blowing. These are two films that are only memorable because I recall seeing the trailers and giving a double “what thuuuuu.” Sure kids films come and go, but who was asking for Max Steel (apparently based on a toy line and series of television shows) and Monster Trucks (based on the concept of monster trucks)? These were major releases? Why? I kinda wish we could have doubled those up, but honestly they are so forgotten that they can’t compete with Will Smith… if only the original casting of Taylor Lautner in Max Steel had held. Then we’d have something to talk about.
To recap, Will Smith is sad. Once a charismatic leader of men he is now just a big ol’ saddo. He lost his daughter and he himself is lost, building dominos all day and otherwise sending letters to the concepts of Love, Death, and Time. We’re on a normal one here. His partners at his advertising firm want to sell. They all have their reasons (mostly having to do with *gasp* love, death, and time), but it’s also cause without powerhouse Will Smith they are just a bunch of dummies. Enter three actors in need of some money. They agree to join with these assholes and do a truly terrible thing by pretending to be Love, Death, and Time and make him think he’s crazy. That way he can be deemed not of sound mind and they can go over his head for the sale. This essentially goes off without a hitch. In response to thinking he’s crazy, Will Smith starts to go to a group meeting for those grieving the loss of children. There he starts to talk with the head of the group, but still can’t come to terms with his loss. It’s only after meeting with the board of his company (where he admits he’s crazy and signs away his stake in the company) that he finally is able to accept the loss and we find that the woman he’s been talking to is actually his estranged wife (what a twist!). Perhaps there is hope for all of us after all. THE END.
My general sentiment about Collateral Beauty is that if everything you saw in this film was translated to a high school drama about the captain of the football team getting tricked by his friends using the drama club to try to snap him out of his daze before the big game then we’d have a Here on Earth on our hands. The earnestness… the wrongheadedness of not just the situation but of the entire structure of the film… it a perfect recipe for me to be rolling through the aisles. There is something about all this happening to an adult dealing with the loss of his child that makes it a bit less savory though. In some ways it’s like The Circle. I love how seriously it takes its insane plot and how flippant it is about having people do crazy, terrible things… but ultimately it’s more tragically bad rather than hilariously bad. Anyway, on a funnier note I started this up being like “can’t wait for the jellyfish part,” only to remember after the film ended that that was the other overwrought Will Smith drama Seven Pounds.
Hot Take Clam Bake! The actors aren’t real! They are in fact abstract concepts. They are in fact invisible. They didn’t need to use advanced AI technologies to remove them from the videos the PI took of Will Smith yelling at people in the street. They just cut out the scene where the PI asks “wait, I thought you said there was supposed to be someone talking to Will Smith when I shot the scene?” and then Edward Norton’s eyes grow wide. Or they go to see the computer whiz to congratulate him on a job well done and he’s like “What do you mean? There wasn’t anything to do. The videos were empty.” and then Edward Norton’s eyes grow wide. But alas that wasn’t the case… right? They were just actors… right? RIGHT?! Hot Take Temperature: Heartwarming.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! Are we talking about saddo Will Smith being all sad and playing with dominos? Let’s go!
I mean, need I discuss this further? Will Smith is a saddo playing with dominos. Open and shut case, book ‘em.
Within this movie is a pretty touching film about a person going through something, who through the magical realism of film manages to confront his past demons and come together with his friends and family to start life anew. This movie ain’t that.
Instead it is a movie about three horrible friends who want money and the main thing stopping them is their profoundly sad friend going through a serious mental health crisis. So they decide to hire three actors to further stoke his descent into madness, doctor some videos, and lie (certainly some serious financial fraud going on here, what the fuck?). But don’t worry guys, in the end he makes up with his family and yada yada yada s’all good (except Michael Pena is definitely going to die of cancer soon).
This is the plot of the film. I can’t get over the fact that right after the movie ends Will Smith is definitely going to run into one of Love/Time/Death and realize what his friends did and those three go to prison for financial crimes as they fraudulently represented evidence against Will Smith during an acquisition negotiation. Like definitely against the law right?
The movie looks nice though.
And some of the acting is okay if a bit over the top.
I will say that about a third of the way through the film Pena coughed and it was like the film opened like one of those corpse flowers. Like suddenly I was like “Oh he has cancer, and he’s working it out with death, and the other guy is working out his issues with love, and Winslet with time. And Will Smith’s wife is the grief counselor … I get it.” And I did. Never before has a single quiet cough immediately revealed so much about a movie.
But you are a liar if you say you didn’t at least tear up a bit. It was pushing those buttons hard.
A huge Setting as a Character (Where?) film for NYC. And a solid Secret Holiday Film (When?) as the film takes place exclusively around Christmas. And a Worst Twist (How?) for the ultimately reveal that the actors were ghosts the whole time, maybe, I think, but also probably not. It was confusing. The film is halfway to a Here on Earth, but the issue is it is too genuinely grim. So I have to give it a Bad as it is just generally unpleasant.
Hear about the crazy sequel to this film (and to another 80s classic) in the Quiz. Cheerios,
Oh boy, so get this. I’m a big ol’ saddo daddo and I just can’t get my shit together to help my friends out. I’m so sad in fact, that it is almost like I have brain damage … I can’t remember a thing about what it is to love. Do you remember what happened in Collateral Beauty?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) Will Smith is the man, man. His career and family are the best … but whoops, his daughter gets sick and now he’s a saddo daddo. What does he do in the office all day?
2) Why do Will Smith’s friends need to collect dirt on him to prove he is so saddo daddo that he is actually not responsible enough to deal with the company anymore?
3) The crux of the film surrounds three letters and three corresponding actors meant to play the recipients of those letters. Who are these three “people”?
4) The three friends (coincidentally? Hardly) are also at a crossroads in their lives which correspond to these three “people” as well. What are the three issues they are going through?
5) In what is surely a financial crime the friends succeed. While signing the necessary paperwork Will Smith also signs another piece of paper. What did that piece of paper concern?
Bonus Question: Just as I’m finishing up Collateral Beauty the phone rings. Ah it is my agent Charlie, and he doesn’t sound clinically insane at all. What does he want?
Later that evening, Jamie, Patrick and Kyle approach the fashion show and glance at the programs they are handed. “Fashion Week: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” it reads. “What does that even me…” but before Patrick can finish his thought Jamie is whisked backstage. Taking a seat, Kyle and Patrick are startled by the whispers around them. “I’ve heard these so-called New Models are just trash,” one says and another agrees. “Yes, they are all street urchins from what I understand. Like sea urchins but instead of living in the sea they live in the street.” “Hmmm, right, like trash urchins.” Patrick quickly grabs Kyle and pulls him to the side of the catwalk. “We need to get Jamie and get out of here. This isn’t Fashion Week at all. Look around. Are we in Paris? Do you see Billy Zane? Do you even see Lisa Zane?” Kyle looks around. Indeed. He doesn’t see any Zanes and no Zanes saw him. His only conclusion was that there weren’t any Zanes. They look closer at the program. What they thought had said “Fashion Week” didn’t say that at all! It said “Fashion, Weak”! Saboteur! They rush backstage and find Jamie half dressed in a half horse costume (and I’m not talking the front half). They grab his arms and attempt to get him out of there before the embarrassment starts, but he doesn’t budge. With his rock hard abs tensed, he’s like a statue. “Oh hi fellas, I’m just standing here not flexing with my natural body,” Jamie says with a wink. Confused, they look around and notice that Jamie isn’t alone. A beautiful woman has been cast as his better horse half in this production and it looks like Jamie has found beauty in the most unexpected place. That’s right! It’s a bit of a stretch for that connection, but what does Collateral Beauty even mean? No one knows. Just like how no one knows why this movie was made. This is the Will Smith drama with the jellyfish, right? (It’s not). Let’s go!
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 26.4%; Notability: top 12.8%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 8.0%; Higher BMeT: Fifty Shades of Black, Cell, Zoolander 2, The Forest, Exposed, Cabin Fever, Yoga Hosers, Meet the Blacks, Max Steel, The Darkness, Dark Crimes, Blair Witch, Independence Day: Resurgence, Shut In, Get a Job, The Boss, The Other Side of the Door, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, Incarnate, Marauders, and 46 more; Higher Notability: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Zoolander 2, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Brothers Grimsby, Warcraft, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Allegiant, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Ben-Hur, Now You See Me 2, The Legend of Tarzan, The Great Wall, Criminal, Live by Night, Ride Along 2, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Mother’s Day, Monster Trucks, and 12 more; Lower RT: Max Steel, Dark Crimes, Hacker, Cabin Fever, The Darkness, Fifty Shades of Black, Shut In, Mother’s Day, Exposed, The Do-Over, Get a Job, I.T., I Am Wrath, The Forest, Dirty Grandpa, Cell, The Choice, Allegiant, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Brain on Fire; Notes: Isn’t really big on any of them I suppose. Looking at the low RT options we’ve so many. Max Steel is always there though. Truly a delight we still have that as an option, that’ll be quite an odd film to witness finally I feel like.
RogerEbert.com – 1.5 stars – I don’t think I’ve witnessed a film this year that managed to so completely and utterly collapse into crass garbage in its last few minutes while abusing what little goodwill it has. Sort of the way a shaky line of dominoes can tumble down in a flash. Forget “Collateral Beauty,” whatever that means. This is “Collateral Schmaltz,” the kind that has the power to close rather than open your heart as you rush out of the theater while the terribly named OneRepublic ballad, “Let’s Hurt Tonight,” provides exit music.
(Oh snap. We got a real The Call situation on our hands? That would be fun. If for a solid 2 hours I watch this with reasonable delight, and then watch the final minutes in horror. Please let this happen.)
(Oh my god, this trailer is horrible haha. Also they completely pull the punch … you don’t know at all that this is all kind of a set up by Will Smith’s friends in a craven attempt to get money … yeah, that’s the plot of this film.)
Directors – David Frankel – ( Known For: The Devil Wears Prada; Marley & Me; The Big Year; Hope Springs; Jerry and Marge Go Large; One Chance; Miami Rhapsody; BMT: Collateral Beauty; Notes: His short won an Oscar in 1997. Still directs, although mostly television. His father was a notably executive editor of the New York Times back in the day.)
Writers – Allan Loeb – ( Known For: The Switch; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Here Comes the Boom; Rock of Ages; Things We Lost in the Fire; So Undercover; The Only Living Boy in New York; Future BMT: 21; BMT: Just Go with It; Collateral Beauty; The Dilemma; The Space Between Us; Notes: Hasn’t written anything since, but has three projects in the works in some capacity.)
Actors – Will Smith – ( Known For: I Am Legend; Men in Black; Independence Day; I, Robot; The Pursuit of Happyness; Hancock; Men in Black 3; Hitch; Aladdin; Bad Boys; Focus; Enemy of the State; Bright; Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; Bad Boys for Life; King Richard; Ali; Concussion; Jersey Girl; The Legend of Bagger Vance; Future BMT: Seven Pounds; Bad Boys II; Shark Tale; Gemini Man; Made in America; BMT: Suicide Squad; Men in Black II; After Earth; Wild Wild West; Collateral Beauty; Winter’s Tale; Notes: Nominated three times for Oscars, finally winning for King Richard (something else happened that night … I can’t recall). Has 5 upcoming projects still. Notably was selected by Quincy Jones specifically for Fresh Prince.)
Edward Norton – ( Known For: Fight Club; American History X; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); The Incredible Hulk; Glass Onion; The Illusionist; The Italian Job; Moonrise Kingdom; The Dictator; The Bourne Legacy; Alita: Battle Angel; Red Dragon; Primal Fear; Sausage Party; Isle of Dogs; 25th Hour; Rounders; The Invention of Lying; The French Dispatch; Future BMT: Kingdom of Heaven; Pride and Glory; After the Sunset; BMT: Collateral Beauty; Notes: Nominated for three Oscars, most recently for Birdman. Notoriously difficult to work with and notable for re-editing several films he was involved with after the fact, American History X being the most significant story.)
Kate Winslet – ( Known For: Titanic; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Divergent; Avatar: The Way of Water; The Holiday; Contagion; The Reader; Revolutionary Road; Finding Neverland; Steve Jobs; Flushed Away; Carnage; The Life of David Gale; Sense and Sensibility; Little Children; Triple 9; Heavenly Creatures; The Dressmaker; Quills; Labor Day; Future BMT: The Divergent Series: Insurgent; The Mountain Between Us; How to Lose Friends & Alienate People; All the King’s Men; BMT: Movie 43; Collateral Beauty; Notes: She’s been nominated 7 times for an Oscar, and won (surprisingly I think) for The Reader. Is going to be in an upcoming based on a true story film about some cryptocoin scam.)
(Eh, probably wasn’t a huge loser. But a Will Smith film probably wants to look at $60+ if not $100+ domestic for the stacked cast it is putting out there.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 13% (25/187): Well-meaning but fundamentally flawed, Collateral Beauty aims for uplift but collapses in unintentional hilarity.
(Ooooooo. Although, something tells me you had to have seen it at the time to get it. An earnest romantic drama getting into theaters these days? Impossible. And thus it might just feel pretty charming.)
Reviewer Highlight: The five stages of grief sometimes seem applicable to movie reviewing, except that I usually skip denial, rarely get around to acceptance and generally just settle into anger, which is where I am with “Collateral Beauty.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Top 10: Avengers: Endgame (2019), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Deadpool (2016), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Parasite (2019), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Martian (2015), The Revenant (2015), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Future BMT: 79.3 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 78.8 Black Christmas (2019), 76.0 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), 74.6 The Grudge (2020), 73.6 The Turning (2020), 71.2 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.6 Poltergeist (2015), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 67.0 Max Steel (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 66.3 God’s Not Dead 2 (2016), 64.7 Brahms: The Boy II (2020), 64.5 Blair Witch (2016), 63.4 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), 62.7 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017), 61.2 Like a Boss (2020), 61.0 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), 59.4 Jem and the Holograms (2015)
BMT: Cats (2019), The Emoji Movie (2017), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Slender Man (2018), Fantastic Four (2015), Holmes & Watson (2018), Fifty Shades of Black (2016), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), Rings (2017), The Bye Bye Man (2017), Zoolander 2 (2016), The Gallows (2015), The Boy Next Door (2015), The Ridiculous 6 (2015), Fantasy Island (2020), The Exorcist: Believer (2023), Expend4bles (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Moonfall (2022), After We Fell (2021), Blacklight (2022), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Morbius (2022), Hot Pursuit (2015), The 5th Wave (2016), Hellboy (2019), The Snowman (2017), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), … (and many more)
Best Options (Romance): 55.6 Radhe Shyam (2022), 53.2 Aloha (2015), 46.0 Nobody’s Fool (2018), 45.6 I Feel Pretty (2018), 38.3 The Perfect Match (2016), 37.0 Home Again (2017), 35.8 Reminiscence (2021), 35.7 Love the Coopers (2015), 35.3 The Perfect Guy (2015), 33.3 Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016), 31.3 Overboard (2018), 30.3 Jexi (2019), 27.3 The Comedian (2016), 26.6 Acrimony (2018), 25.4 We Are Your Friends (2015), 23.5 Tulip Fever (2017), 17.0 2 Hearts (2020), 16.1 A Journal for Jordan (2021), 12.4 Collateral Beauty (2016), 11.6 God Bless the Broken Road (2018), 11.0 Redeeming Love (2022), 9.3 Life Itself (2018), 9.3 Passengers (2016), 9.0 The Longest Ride (2015)
(Oh man, low. But it is the most “interesting” option as it is a Will Smith film made right as his fortunes were turning a bit. Although … well I guess he won an Oscar after, but still, his commercial films tended to start not doing as well around then if I recall correctly.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 13) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Michael Peña is No. 4 billed in Collateral Beauty and No. 1 billed in Fantasy Island, which also stars Michael Rooker (No. 4 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 4 billed) => (4 + 1) + (4 + 4) = 13. If we were to watch Shark Tale we can get the HoE Number down to 12.
Notes – Will Smith’s father, Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., was dying while Smith researched this role. He has said that working on this movie was extremely therapeutic in helping him deal with the ultimate loss of his dad.
Will Smith praised the whole cast by saying, “If we are all judged by the company we keep … then I want this cast with me for life!”
When Will Smith heard about co-star Naomie Harris’ mom Lisselle Kayla’s Jamaican cooking during this shoot, he invited himself to her house, and dined with Naomie and her extended family.
Hugh Jackman was originally attached to star, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and was later replaced by Will Smith. Both actors were born in 1968 but were only in a month and seventeen days apart from each other. Smith was born on September 25th and Jackman was born on October 12th.
The theater Amy enters is the Hegel theater. Hegel regarded history as an intelligible process moving towards a specific condition – the realization of human freedom. Howard goes through the process freeing himself (or being freed) from grief.
Awards – Nominee for the Razzie Award for Worst Screen Combo
Ah, the year 2020. Quite something for BMT and movies writ large. Particularly interesting for our BMT film The New Mutants, which got labeled a “cursed” film after moving release dates to avoid first Deadpool 2 and then Dark Phoenix and then again after Disney bought Fox. That took it from the safety of a 2018 release all the way to a fourth delay due to COVID. We weren’t really doing BMT Lives at the time (for obvious reasons), but if we had been this would have had a good argument. Franchise Man would have insisted we watch it. Not much more to say about 2020 other than 1) see yah, wouldn’t want to be yah and 2) the last in theater experience we had before the pandemic was Bloodshot (released the day I started remote work), but I think I was behind on BMT at the time and ended up watching it on Amazon when they released it early to digital… so that kind of sucks as a BMT memory.
To recap, these mutants are funky fresh. Dani is sent to a mysterious hospital after her reservation is attacked by an unknown beast. She is told that she’s a mutant and that Dr. Reyes is there to help her learn to control it before heading off to the X-men school. There are a bunch of other misfit mutants at the school including Rahne (who Dani likes… and I mean like likes), Illyana (who is kind of a bully), Sam (who is poor), and Bobby (who is rich). Dani is pretty ready just to kill herself, but Rahne convinces her not to and starts to show her all the kind of nice things at the hospital (including herself). At the same time some mysterious and kind of spooky things start to happen at the place. Each of the kids start to see what amounts to their greatest fears. It’s clear that it’s somehow coming from Dani and so Dr. Reyes gets an order from above to terminate Dani. You see, this isn’t connected to the X-men at all. It’s actually an evil corporation that captures mutants and turns them into weapons. But Dani is too powerful and uncontrollable. Once they figure all this out Rahne helps to free Dani, but they are caught and all nearly killed by Dr. Reyes. That is until Dani’s uncontrollable fear monster (a giant bear) is conjured and totally eats the good doctor. But Dani can’t control it and soon they are all under attack. It isn’t until they all work together and Dani regains control that they are able to defeat the monster and head back out into the real world as… The New Mutants. THE END.
Oh, poor poor The New Mutants. There are a number of recent films where I was ready and willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I liked the trailer for this one and thought, “well maybe this just breezed over people’s heads because of all the delays and the pandemic.” Ehhhhh, not quite. It ended up reading like a two-part television pilot that was eventually released as a TV movie. How many establishing shots of the school can you possibly do? It’s like I was watching an episode of Seinfeld or something. Anyway, it looked like shit and the acting was not good. Overall poor effort. However, I will give the film some credit because I thought the issues that the teenagers were dealing with felt real and were handled nicely. Really could have worked as a TV drama or something. Just not as a big comic book movie.
Hot Take Clam Bake! So we’re saying that Dani controls a giant monster bear once and we’re all good? Nah, all the kids are dead by sunrise when they wake up to find that Dani has totally conjured another big demon bear. I also want to point out: Sam, Bobby, and (arguably) Rahne do not have control of their powers and so it totally makes sense they are at the hospital. Illyana, though… she’s just dope and seems to have no problem doing whatever the hell she wants with her fantasy sword and little purple dragon friend. Her powers are so weird and she definitely didn’t need to be at the hospital anymore. I call bullshit on that. Hot Take Temperature: Sunspot.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! The New Mutants? I barely know the old mutants! Let’s go!
This is maybe the most famous example of a film almost not coming out. For years they talked about it. There were trailers maybe three years prior to it actually releasing. Rumors swirled that it was shelved completely. And all the actors in it ended up in totally different spots than they were when the movie came out. It is a really weird situation.
The thing I remember was that this was supposed to be a Marvel/horror thing, and I think they completely pulled the punch. The main actress should have been the villain. What a twist’em’up! And then the people who are all kind of dicks to her end up having to join up to defeat the horror world she creates? Seems decent. Even probably sets up the whole Mutant Suicide Squad they were teasing throughout.
But alas, instead we got a bad looking and not very interesting film.
I almost wanted to say the young actors were good … but actually they were all quite bad. It didn’t help that there were some abominable accents mixed in here for no reason.
Yeah, not much else to say except it gets us one step closer to having watched every single superhero film ever. It actually isn’t as hard as I would have thought, I’ve seen so many already.
I maybe can mention that I find it quite odd when comic book films end up just making up new stuff. In this case Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy) has a kind of cool background. You don’t have to go into it in the movie, but she is the sister of Colossus (who is in the Deadpool films at least) and there is a whole explanation of how she rules Limbo. Again, you don’t have to get into it. But … the Smiling Men? A vague allusion to her getting sex trafficked as a child? Uh … no thanks. I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out if these weird demons are in the Marvel Universe, but nope. They aren’t. Just made up … why? Just pick something random from Limbo. Why add this weird shit to the film?
I think we only have a Worst Twist (How?) for the ultimate reveal that the facility isn’t run by Professor X but instead by someone I can’t recall the name of to instead make them all assassins. This movie is Bad because it is boring.
Read about my sequel though in the Quiz. Cheerios,
Oh man so get this. I was just minding my own business in a totally normal summer snowy tornado, when I was attacked by a demon bear! Now I can’t remember a thing and am in a weird hospital for mutants. Do you remember what happened in The New Mutants?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) In the opening of the film a young girl witnesses her town destroyed under mysterious circumstances and ends up in a strange hospital. Why is she purportedly in the hospital?
2) There are five patients at the hospital. What can they all do?
3) How are the patients kept at the hospital?
4) So what’s the deal with the bear necklace?
5) In the end who actually ran the facility and what was to be Danielle’s fate if not for her magical imaginary bear?
Bonus Question: Just as I finish my seventh rewatch of The New Mutants (I feel like there are some subtleties I’m still not getting!) my agent calls me up, furious. What does he want?
After catching the eye of the saleswoman, Patrick and Kyle watch as Jamie tries on a series of outfits, each one seemingly more outrageous than the last. Jamie seems particularly taken with a very classy Canadian tuxedo he found in the back of the store, but it is also summarily rejected. Sadly he trudges out of the changing room in a non-Canadian tuxedo, complete with tails, bowtie, monocle, and top hat. This outfit gets an emphatic thumbs up from Kyle and a slight, but approving, nod from Patrick. Jamie isn’t so sure. Suddenly they hear a gasp and the smashing of a champagne glass nearby. “Sacre bleu!” a woman shrieks, “he’s beautiful.” A man joins her and, looking closely at Jamie, puts his hands up as if it were a camera lens. “Yes, he is perfect. The outfit is so classy and yet… he’s brutish. As if his body could explode out of the fabric at any moment.” Jamie is confused. Sure his body could explode out of the fabric any time he wanted, but why would he want that? That’s why he needs sturdy denim capable of withstanding whatever his body brings. The woman approaches. “Hello, we love you, we must have you. We’re from Big Modeling Talent Agency and we’re having trouble filling out our latest fashion show at Fashion Week. Are you interested?” Jamie’s head spins, imaging the celebs that might be at Fashion Week. Rumor around the block was that Billy Zane was hoping to attend this year! “The idea is: ‘These ain’t your daddy’s models.’” the woman says, flashing her hands dramatically as if the words should blow your mind. Patrick scoffs, but Jamie seems to be digging it. He nods in wonder and whispers, “Yeah, like… ‘The New Models.’” That’s right! We aren’t watching the New Models, but rather the X-Men spinoff, The New Mutants. This was dumped in the pandemic after being shelved for years. That’s a recipe for success. Let’s go!
The New Mutants (2020) – BMeTric: 57.4; Notability: 28
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 6.4%; Notability: top 4.8%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 20.3%; Higher BMeT: Breach, Hard Kill, Artemis Fowl, The Grudge, The Turning, The Last Days of American Crime, Jiu Jitsu, The Last Thing He Wanted, Fantasy Island, Survive the Night, The 2nd, Brahms: The Boy II, After We Collided, Like a Boss, Force of Nature, The Tax Collector; Higher Notability: Dolittle, Artemis Fowl, The Rhythm Section, Bloodshot, Rebecca, The War with Grandpa, Spenser Confidential, Hillbilly Elegy, Fantasy Island, The Turning, The Wrong Missy, Superintelligence; Lower RT: Hard Kill, The Last Days of American Crime, The 2nd, The F**k-It List, The Last Thing He Wanted, Force of Nature, Artemis Fowl, Fantasy Island, Songbird, A Nice Girl Like You, Brahms: The Boy II, The Turning, After We Collided, Survive the Night, Dolittle, Desperados, A Fall from Grace, 2 Hearts, The Tax Collector, Fatal Affair, and 29 more; Notes: Yeah, 2020 was going to be a struggle because it was kind of a dumping ground. I did at one point float doing Artemis Fowl as a friend. That movie seems absurd.
AV Club – C –Even a mangled bit of Whedonese about a toad struck by lightning could benefit a superhero story this starved for character.
(I had to just find a random one here. AV Club fit the bill. The only thing I really know about this film is that it was dumped. There were times when it looked like it was going to go Batgirl style and just get completely buried.)
(Genuinely bullshit. Like … that isn’t the plot of the film! The plot is that the main girl is causing the fear dreams, the hospital isn’t there to do it to them. Absurd. Also, this film was legit poised to be a kind of good version of the film Fear from last year. Which is wild shit.)
Directors – Josh Boone – ( Known For: The Fault in Our Stars; Stuck in Love.; BMT: The New Mutants; Notes: The Fault in Our Stars to this is wild. It feels like he was brought in at a time when this was going to be a more indie-ish property, and then eventually it was twisted into a semi-horror film at one point.)
Writers – Josh Boone – ( Known For: Stuck in Love.; All We Had; The Pretenders; BMT: He seems to have been somewhat tied up with The Stand since. His most recent producing project is some weird time travel film involving a mix-tape … yup.)
Knate Lee – ( Known For: Jackass 3D; Jackass Forever; Cardboard Boxer; Future BMT: Kidnap; BMT: The New Mutants; Notes: “Writes” a lot of the Jackass films somehow? I don’t get that. Seems like a crazy person to bring in to write your X-Men adject IP.)
Actors – Maisie Williams – ( Known For: iBoy; Early Man; Mary Shelley; Then Came You; The Owners; The Falling; The Book of Love; Gold; BMT: The New Mutants; Notes: You know her from Game of Thrones, where she was nominated for two Emmys. She is fully back to doing TV which is good, she’s solid in television roles.)
Anya Taylor-Joy – ( Known For: Split; The Menu; The Witch; The Northman; The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Last Night in Soho; Emma.; Thoroughbreds; Marrowbone; Radioactive; Barry; Love, Antosha; Here Are the Young Men; Future BMT: Morgan; Playmobil: The Movie; BMT: Glass; Amsterdam; The New Mutants; Notes: Nominated for an Emmy for Queen’s Gambit which is her most famous role, until this year maybe since she’s the star of the new Mad Max film.)
Charlie Heaton – ( Known For: Marrowbone; The Souvenir: Part II; As You Are; No Future; Future BMT: Shut In; BMT: The New Mutants; Notes: Mostly just doing those Stranger Things stuff. This movie was really a who’s who of TV work. Has a maybe interesting upcoming project with Al Pacino and Patrick Schwarzeneggar. I mean … didn’t say good, just interesting.)
Budget/Gross – $67–80 million / Domestic: $23,852,659 (Worldwide: $49,169,594)
(Yeah obviously terrible, but that budget seems fake. This is a one location film with four or five TV stars right? Where is this budget going? CGI I suppose would be the counter, but I’m not sure I believe it. Seems like accounting shenanigans more likely.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 36% (50/139): Rendering a list of potentially explosive ingredients mostly inert, The New Mutants is a franchise spinoff that’s less than the sum of its super-powered parts.
(Yeah, seems like a formula for some bodice success (horror film spin off from a popular franchise). Problem is when you create a horror film you need to stick to the budget: $15 million. It would have been a decent success if they could have pulled that off.)
NY Times Review: The original New Mutants comics debuted in 1983, the year Johnny Ramone howled for “Psycho Therapy,” and its punkish, expressionistic pages wafted spray paint. Boone’s version is set in the 1990s and wallows in Gen-X ennui. – Amy Nicholson, The New York Times
(I appreciate the style. I very much appreciate the font and the color scheme. But it’s a little basic… like it’s just a bunch of heads all stylized up. B+)
Tagline(s) – It’s time to face your demons. (C-)
(Nah. That’s generic. Could be applied to a bunch of movies.)
Keyword(s) – 2015-2023
Top 10: Avengers: Endgame (2019), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Deadpool (2016), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Parasite (2019), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Martian (2015), The Revenant (2015), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Future BMT: 84.9 Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), 79.3 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 78.8 Black Christmas (2019), 76.0 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), 74.6 The Grudge (2020), 73.6 The Turning (2020), 71.2 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), 70.7 Snatched (2017), 68.7 Norm of the North (2016), 68.5 Poltergeist (2015), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 67.0 Max Steel (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 66.3 God’s Not Dead 2 (2016), 64.7 Brahms: The Boy II (2020), 64.5 Blair Witch (2016), 63.4 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), 62.7 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017), 61.1 Like a Boss (2020), 61.0 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
BMT: The Emoji Movie (2017), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Slender Man (2018), Fantastic Four (2015), Holmes & Watson (2018), Fifty Shades of Black (2016), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), Rings (2017), The Bye Bye Man (2017), Zoolander 2 (2016), The Gallows (2015), The Boy Next Door (2015), The Ridiculous 6 (2015), Fantasy Island (2020), The Exorcist: Believer (2023), Firestarter (2022), Expend4bles (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Moonfall (2022), After We Fell (2021), Blacklight (2022), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Morbius (2022), Hot Pursuit (2015), The 5th Wave (2016), Hellboy (2019), The Snowman (2017), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), … (and many more)
Best Options (Horror): 84.9 Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), 79.3 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 78.8 Black Christmas (2019), 76.0 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), 74.6 The Grudge (2020), 73.6 The Turning (2020), 71.2 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), 68.5 Poltergeist (2015), 68.3 Meet the Blacks (2016), 66.4 The Disappointments Room (2016), 64.7 Brahms: The Boy II (2020), 64.5 Blair Witch (2016), 58.0 The Lazarus Effect (2015), 57.3 The New Mutants (2020), 56.1 The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), 56.0 Sinister 2 (2015), 55.9 Wish Upon (2017), 55.1 Umma (2022), 54.7 Friend Request (2016), 54.0 The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018), 52.2 Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017), 50.7 Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), 50.6 Halloween Kills (2021), 48.1 Insidious: The Red Door (2023), 45.6 Incarnate (2016), 44.9 Separation (2021), 43.4 Jigsaw (2017), 42.8 Insidious: The Last Key (2018), 42.7 Hell Fest (2018), 38.1 Morgan (2016), 37.4 The Devil Conspiracy (2022), 35.6 Victor Frankenstein (2015), 26.6 Acrimony (2018), 18.6 Nefarious (2023)
(Again, 2020 was going to be tough. Brahms: The Boy II and some other random annoying ones were the other options. This was more fun.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 16) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Alice Braga is No. 6 billed in The New Mutants and No. 2 billed in Hypnotic, which also stars Ben Affleck (No. 1 billed) who is in Pearl Harbor (No. 1 billed) which also stars Josh Hartnett (No. 3 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 3 billed) => (6 + 2) + (1 + 1) + (3 + 3) = 16. There is no shorter path at the moment.
Notes – The vision Dani sees of mutant children contains some reused footage from Logan (2017).
Josh Boone intended this film to be the first in a trilogy, with the second film to be an alien invasion movie featuring the alien mutant Warlock, and then the third and final installment to be a supernatural, apocalyptic horror movie based on the X-Men comic event “Inferno” (demons invade the Earth and Magik plays a major role). After Disney’s purchase of Fox, all X-Men-related films in development were cancelled, including Boone’s trilogy.
Josh Boone admitted that he found shooting to be stressful, as he felt “a bit neutered” because he had to tone down the film from his original “full horror” ideas.
The last Marvel film to be released with Stan Lee as an executive producer.
The film had five release dates. It was originally slated to debut on April 13, 2018, but was first delayed to February 19, 2019, in order to conduct reshoots. Later, it was pushed back to August 2, 2019, while Disney finalized its purchase of Fox. The film was pushed back yet again to April 3, 2020, to make room for the release of Dark Phoenix (2019). On March 12, 2020, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 13, 2020, its new release date of August 28, 2020 was announced, and the film was finally released in theaters on that date.
Bad Movie Twins 