'Star is Born' is our Best Picture front-runner, but watch out for 'Green Book'

October 29, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Before I tackle the Best Picture Oscar race, here are a few important takeaways when it comes to this weekend's box-office totals:

The slasher genre has most definitely been reignited with "Halloween." David Gordon Green's sequel to the 1978 classic topped the box-office yet again, in its second week of action, with a strong $32M weekend. That puts its 2-week total at a whopping $132M. Watch out for a major bump this week as it seems to be the only Halloween-centered movie currently in theaters and many will want a fright night at the cinema on the 31st.

'First Man': Do Millennials Actually Care About the Moon Landing?

October 15, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

I'm sorry folks, I just can't get on-board the "First Man" train, not for particularly political reasons, such as what Richard Brody and Armond White seem to be doing, no, I believe Chazelle's film was rather stilted, impenetrable if you will -- it didn't help that I couldn't care less about the moon landing in the first place.

Yes, the film is about a huge, earth-shaking event, one which I wasn't alive to bear witness to or understand the importance of, but, truth be told, what did government exactly accomplish by going to the moon? Stealing American's precious tax-paying dollars?

'First Man' Backlash Coming From All Directions: "It's Not Patriotic Enough," "It's Too Patriotic," "It's Too White," ...

October 13, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

"First Man" has been surrounded by idiotic controversies ever since its world premiere at Venice this past August. A common complaint about Damien Chazelle's film, albeit mostly from conservative pundits, was that you never actually see Armstrong planting the flag on the moon. Of course, the flag actually appears in the film numerous times, including an actual shot of the flag waving on the moon and Neil Armstrong's son putting up a flag in front of the Armstrong household.

The flag is there. I've seen "First Man" twice now, and although you don't see Armstrong's iconic planting of it on the moon ground, it is subtly shown. Anyways, why are we even arguing about this in the first place? Who cares?!

Damien Chazelle's "First Man" fails to launch [TIFF]

September 14, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Neil Armstrong's story is adapted to the screen by director Damien Chazelleand talented scribe Josh Singer in "First Man" -- a mechanical, altogether flat attempt to recreate the events that led to Armstrong's historic trip to the moon.

The 33-year-old Chazelle, already known for his excellent work in "Whiplash" and "La La Land," stalls to find the same excitement and intensity of Armstrong's journey in "First Man." Why? Because he is restrained by adapting the story of a person that, quite frankly, was just not that interesting to begin with. Sure, Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the moon and the film's final stretch, delving into that historic voyage to space, is incredibly shot and ultimately very moving -- however, the getting there is rather dull and consists of mostly trial and error efforts from Armstrong and his NASA crew to prepare for the lunar journey.

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