Weekend Box Office Predictions: 'The Light Between Oceans' and 'Morgan'

This week has not been the most exciting for me.  Instead of plowing forward with projects, I took some down time for myself.  I was ordered by my wife to play some video games and to not think about writing for a bit, so that's what Wednesday and Thursday were for me.  As much as I tried to stay away, I still found myself getting a lot of proofreading done on a manuscript.  So much for being able to walk away from it completely.

So, that is why this weekend's predictions are getting posted today instead of on Thursday.  That and the fact that there was little to become excited about with the offerings in store for movie goers.  Pondering over the numbers, it is doubtful that either The Light Between Oceans or Morgan is going to be able to make over ten million in their debut.

The Light Between Oceans

For some people, hearing the name Derek Cianfrance attached to a movie is enough to get them excited and out to theatres.  He made his name off of 2010's critical darling, Blue Valentine.  It was his first feature film, and one that earned an Oscar nomination for Michelle Williams' performance.  Cianfrance followed it up with The Place Beyond the Pines, his first movie to make it into wide release after spending three weeks in limited release.  With two solid films behind his name, the problem is that the crowd that knows who he is and follows him is still a small one.

This time around he is teaming with Buena Vista, and The Light Between Oceans is beginning in wide release instead of having to work its way towards it.  When The Place Beyond the Pines was in its first weekend of wide release, it made $4.9 million.  I see The Light Between Oceans doing a bit better than that, but not by much.  While it has the marketing power of Disney behind it, there is very little social awareness of the product.

The other thing that is going to hurt the movie are the critical reviews.  At the time of writing this, it is sitting at sixty percent on Rotten Tomatoes.  That's not awful, but it is low enough to possibly dissuade the type of mature movie goer that would be thinking about seeing this movie.

Prediction - $7.5 million

Morgan

Opening up opposite is Fox's Morgan, starring Kate Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy.  Both of them are extremely talented actors, but the issue is their drawing power.  Taylor-Joy is still a relative unknown, and Mara has not been in key starring roles before.  Most of her mainstream works come from supporting positions, such as in The Martian and Fantastic Four.

But, as last month's Don't Breathe showed us, you don't need to have marquee names as leads to propel a horror-rooted film into a good position in the box office.  The difference here is the social media factor.  There was a lot of awareness for Don't Breathe, while Morgan doesn't even show up in the top ten most tweeted films, a death blow to a movie that is opening this weekend and has a target demographic that is fuelled by social media.

Prediction - $5.5 million

Hannah's Pick: Deadfall

Today the sun seems to be feeling a little insecure and enjoys playing the role of introvert at times, hiding behind the clouds and giving a bit of a grey tinge to the afternoon.  Playing off of that backdrop, I decided to watch Deadfall, a movie with a bleak atmosphere that focuses on the harsh, unforgiving cold of winter.  The lifeless environment in the film is one that Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky exploits in a story of a heist gone wrong, and all of the people who get wound up in the path of destruction that follows the fugitives on the run.

It is a movie that was never set up for the ultimate graces of Oscar recognition as its flaws were easily seen, but even through those imperfections there was a well told tale with characters that were designed with depth and stories of their own.  Many times over I complain about lack of character development and Deadfall shows why interesting people, each with their own struggles and backstories, can aid in creating a realm that the viewer feels in touch with and cares about.  When I say mention depth of characters, I am not saying it is on the same level of a David O. Russell film, but more that it is light years ahead of what a normal film of its genre and quality would attempt.

While the basis of the principals involved was important, the casting amplified it and is what was able to take it to the next level.  Eric Bana played Addison, a criminal with a cold heart and very little hesitation when it came to ending a life.  His sister Liza (Olivia Wilde) lives a life of dependence on the protection and controlling guidance of her brother, emotionally captured and almost unwilling to break free for herself.  Finding himself out of jail and crossing paths with Liza is Jay (Charlie Hunnam), the child of a former small town sheriff (played by Kris Kristofferson) who has a troubled past with his father.  Finding herself caught up in the chaos of tracking Addison and at the receiving end of sexist behaviour from the male dominated police force is Hanna (Kate Mara).

Each of the actors involved works hard at embodying their roles, realizing that they are more than just a name or plot device, and they provide a true sense of unique characters weaving their way through an extraordinary and dire circumstance.  Hunnam is very adept at portraying someone who has a hard edge, but also is wounded by his surroundings and past, an ability that he also puts on display in his role on the television show Sons of Anarchy.  Kate Mara was a standout as well.  With a small physique and a look of fragility and innocence she shows grit as she is faced with constant discrimination because of her gender.  If ever someone wants to make a movie about a strong willed female, either of the Mara sisters seem to be bred for such roles.

It ends up being the theme of sexism that at times is what holds the movie back and disturbs its attempts at flowing narrative due to overt and forced methods for creating this tension.  While it is essential in telling the story of Hanna’s life and adds dimension to her character and decisions, it is never approached with any subtle or well-crafted nature and is laid on overly thick.  In the midst of immersing the audience in an atmospheric and character driven thriller, a poorly evolved theme can become very distracting.

My only other possible complaint with the film would be the reliance on very generic music during action sequences and scenes with tension.  Deadfall is a movie which aims to stand out from other thrillers by its delivery, and the soundtrack that was decided on for the adrenaline inducing sections left a part of me wishing that they had sought out something that was perhaps more in tune with its uniqueness and personality.  Still, that is not an issue that would ever have me try and dissuade someone from checking out this film.

If you are like me and enjoy movies that try to do more than present people whose identities are based solely off of their profession or personal relationships (such as last year’s Evil Dead) then you may just get a kick out of Deadfall.  As it approached the climax, there were many different reasons to feel connected to the outcome because of the attention that is paid towards rounding out all of those involved in the story.  Even though it is not perfect it is a film that attempts to put pride in its characters, an aspect that keeps the viewer continually interested throughout and craving proper resolution at the end.

Rating – 3 out of 4 stars

Transcendence

Yep, I have been away for a while.  There was a personal flu that I had the last few weeks as well as a family member in the hospital that captured my focus.  This is no excuse, however, as the point of the blog was to try and write daily to keep my mind busy as well as forcing me to think creatively and analytically.  So, from some time away I now return to a star studded science fiction movie that popped out in theatres just this past weekend.

After establishing himself as one of the industry’s best cinematographer, Wally Pfister took to the director’s chair to quarterback the sci-fi film Transcendence.  Pfister, an Oscar winning cinematographer, has shown an uncanny ability to magnify the ethos of a movie through spectacular framing and lighting.  The main question that I had prior to the film was, ‘does someone who has the ability to show a story naturally have the ability to properly tell a story?’  The answer to my question was a very definitive, ‘no.’

The movie revolves around the concept of the creation of artificial intelligence, as Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) finds himself dying and through asinine development and lack of character development he agrees to have his brain structure integrated into a computer.  While this happened, I was treated to an unemotional wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and flaccid best friend Max (Paul Bettany) wasting their last few moments with the dying Caster.  The whole while Pfister made sure to insert shots of the sunlight hitting inanimate objects as well as loads of water drops in an over use of symbolism.  By the time the film came to an end, there was a mild payoff for the water drop imagery, but it never fully connect to create any emotion.  As well, whenever it was placed throughout the film it was done so in a distracting way that never bolstered the development of scenes but simply stood out in an abrupt nature.

This is essentially what was wrong with the film, and it was on every single level.  Attention was paid to the visual presentation, but there was a lack of humanity and understanding as to how the story should unfold.  As the story progressed and characters were lead to make key decisions, no effort was spent on showing why or how they came to their choices of action, leaving a vague and impersonal feel to the entire proceedings.

This was quite baffling for me, because the casting of the film was incredible.  Outside of the talent that I already mentioned there were actors such as Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, and Cillian Murphy, all of whom have the ability to no just deliver lines but to capture and present deeps levels of emotion and complexity.  In Transcendence I continually was left with the idea that no perfection was chased by Pfister to harness the skills of the people who he had access to.  Lines that were supposed to be building a sense of the characters and personalities were delivered flat and without meaning, as though they were never perceived to be of importance to the tale.

The only interesting thing about the movie was the concept itself.  Many science fiction films have tackled the idea of artificial intelligence and the dangers of computers becoming too powerful and self-aware, and portions of this film brought the concept home in a fresh light.  If told in an extremely different way this movie could have built upon the creepiness of its plot and created a true sense of uneasiness about human exploration into technological development.  But it didn’t.  It took the idea and presented it in phone book fashion, just putting the information up on the screen in a way that is about as uninteresting as it gets, leaving no desire to revisit it ever again in the future.

You know a film is bad when the audience floods out the exits the moment the film is done, with no lingering whatsoever and no desire to talk, sit, and digest what they just saw.  Within a minute of being told it had reached a finale, there was nothing left but empty seats, mine included.  I almost always sit through the credits and chat with a friend about the highs and lows of the ride that we had just been on, but by the point the final credit was rolling my car was already warming up.  This is just another one of those films that comes and goes, wasting its opportunity and not surviving in public consciousness when all is said and done.

Rating - 1 out of 4 stars