What to know
So, is Don’t Worry Darling any good?… Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, and Harry Styles have been making all kinds of gossip-y headlines for their relationships and alleged feuds — but I don’t really care about celebrity gossip. What I care about is if the movie is worth seeing or not. Turns out, it’s probably not. While critics are praising Pugh and Chris Pine, they’re not so hot on the rest of the film. It’s got 43% on RottenTomatoes ahead of its Sept 23 premiere. All the celebrity gossip in the world isn’t going to get butts in seats with that kind of negative critical reception. 🍅
Creative Emmys tease what’s to come… The Emmy Awards are next Monday, Sept 12, but the Creative Emmys were this weekend and there were a ton of notable awards given: Succession, Abbott Elementary, and White Lotus won the casting categories, which tend to predict the top categories; Eminem is now only a Tony away from an EGOT; Nathan Lane finally got a Guest Star statue after 7 nominations; Barack Obama got an Emmy; as did Chadwick Boseman; Arcane become the first streaming show to win animated program; and of all the odd movies nominated, Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers won Outstanding TV Movie. Chip ‘n’ Dale was good, but that’s just impressive! 👏
Oscar futures: Empire of Light and Olivia Colman enter the race, as do Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson with The Banshees of Inisherin, and Brendan Fraser’s Whale… The Venice Film Fest dominated industry headlines over the weekend, giving a small glimpse into award season. Variety says Empire of Light is Olivia Colman’s career-best performance, which is really saying something considering her body of work. Martin McDonagh’s dark buddy comedy The Banshees of Inisherin seems to be a winner for its Irish leads. And even though Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale isn’t great on the whole, Brendan Fraser might just get his big comeback. 🏆
National Cinema Day was a success, but the box office was still low… $3 movie tickets brought the boys to the yard. A record 8.1 million tickets were sold (the #1 day of the year so far) but the box office generated just $24 million total (because the tickets only cost $3). In the end this was a cute gimmick, that probably pumped concession sales, but it’s unclear if it will have any longterm boon to the exhibition biz. 🎟
The Russo Bros.’ new Amazon show Citadel is a $200-million mess… Amazon loves its expensive series, even ones that weren’t meant to be so expensive. “Differences in vision” on this mega spy show have led top creative talent to leave, leading to pricey reshoots. Based on the quality of the Russos’ recent work, this does not bode well. 💸
Rings of Power draws 25 million global viewers on first day… Or so Amazon says! It’s hard to know the veracity of that number, so take it with a grain of salt. Regardless, the show is beautiful and so-far so good. A must-watch if you’re into fantasy. 💍
Top Gun: Maverick passes Black Panther to become fifth-highest domestic grosser, breaks week-one digital on demand record… It wouldn’t be the start of a new week without a Maverick box office update. 😱
Netflix with ads coming in November to beat Disney… Netflix has moved up its ad-tier launch date to get a jump on Disney+. Pretty sneaky, Ted Sarandos! 🍿
Zazie Beetz to lead Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max limited series Full Circle… Oh, cool! 📺
Dan Lin won’t lead DC Comics division for WB… Back to the drawing board. 🙅♀️
What’s new
Pinocchio — Sept 8 | Disney+ film | 🍅
Cobra Kai — Sept 9 | Netflix comedy series | 🍅
American Gigolo — Sept 11 | Showtime drama series | 🍅
What to watch
What if 24 was darkly comedic, extremely British, and condensed down to 6 episodes? It might resemble something like Apple TV+’s criminally overlooked Slow Horses. Led by Will Smith (not that Will Smith) and based on the novels by Mick Herron, the series is a modern spy thriller through the eyes of the spies that couldn’t quite make it at MI5 HQ — and are instead relegated to the rejects’ field office. Gary Oldman leads the band of misfits as Jackson Lamb, a curmudgeonly, gassy vet with a bottle of booze on his desk and holes in his socks. Oldman nails Lamb’s acerbic tongue and Veep-style insults. (Smith is an acolyte of Armando Ianucci, having written on Veep, Avenue 5, and The Thick of It.) Jack Lowden and Kristin Scott Thomas are also here in formidable form, balancing out the show’s central triangle. At the script level, Slow Horses is tightly packed. Smith and company never let up on the pace. From the heart-pounding opening prologue through its episode-six conclusion, the show keeps its foot on the gas and holds the viewer at attention with a number of shocking twists and turns. And it’s funny. A second season is already in production and coming later this year, with two more to follow, each covering a different book in the series. Get in now, it’s a great ride.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!