Film Courage: Which movie are you more excited to see, Nope or Black Adam?
Scott Menzel, Film Critic, Writer, Hollywood Critics Association Founder: Nope just because
it's an original idea. I love Dwayne Johnson [The Rock] so like I'm super pumped about it but Nope
original concept will win all the time for me again it ties back to go into an independent
movie theater at such a late age and seeing movies like Lost and Delirious and Ghost World
Original Stories just have have a special place in my heart and as much as I love the spectacle
if you kind of put them side by side and say do you want to watch something that's
original or do you want to see something that's connected to a known franchise
nine times out of ten I'm going to pick the original concept
and with Jordan Peele I mean how can you not love him as a filmmaker, he's bold, he's ambitious
and Get Out I remember seeing Get Out at Sundance they did a midnight screening it was a surprise
screening and I watched that with a small crowd they had at the library the library is one of
the smaller venues at Sundance it only holds about like three to four hundred people and at
two o'clock in the morning because it's a midnight screening two o'clock in the morning to hear that
audience just erupt with Applause and connect and see the reactions that night and the next morning
and then like again going back to our earlier conversation about being able to experience things
being the first to experience things you feel like you saw something special right and and seeing
Jordan Peele his directorial debut seeing him do something that you had no expectations that he had
in him like who expected the guy who was on key and peel to make a horror movie that had so much
depth and like made so many white people uncomfortable right I mean like it was it
was so it was so funny reading a lot of my white colleagues reviews of that movie like
everyone was like he really understood like it was like he really made me feel uncomfortable
and like everyone trying to under act like they understood Black Culture at that point it was it
was so hilarious and then Jordan Peele took the second movie oh my God what was the second movie
us to South by Southwest and I remember seeing that in the first two acts of that movie worked
really well and I was really disappointed with the last act I didn't think that movie really was on
the same level as Get Out but this looks like it's in a totally different direction I have no
idea what this is it like looks like it's a Sci-Fi comedy and every trailer like it has elements to
it where I'm kind of like this is either going to be like a complete train wreck or this is going to
be like one of the best movies of the year and I really can't decide because there's just things in
the trailer that you're watching this and you're like what's happening there's cows up here flying
okay like is this twister and then you're like sitting there and then you have like kind of like
the social commentary down the on the ground there and I'm like this looks brilliant so it Universal
definitely knows what they're doing with him and I'm so glad that they signed on to the Jordan
Peele roller coaster ride because I don't know if audiences are quite ex know what they're expecting
with this one I don't think people I don't think any of us know so I'm very curious to see it.
Film Courage: Of Nope or Black Adam which do you think will be the bigger hit for 2022
just from the little that you've seen?
Scott: It’s hard to say because you have
Jordan Peele has such a name behind him because those two movies were such massive hits
that I almost want to say that that's going to be bigger
but there's the uncertainty there right the thing about comic book movies
is that you already have a built-in audience that are going to see it and Dwayne Johnson is arguably
the biggest movie star in the world and like he sells movies he's one of the he's like Tom
Cruise right he sells movies people know who Dwayne Johnson is they go to movies because
Dwayne Johnson's in it just like people go to Tom Cruise movies because Tom Cruise is in it
Top Gun was a success not because it was a Top Gun movie but because it was a Tom Cruise movie
so I mean it's a good movie regardless but I'm just saying like that's the reason why
butts went in seats because of Tom Cruise so it's really hard because I do feel
it depends on the reaction of Nope from critics and audiences to dictate
whether that's going to be the big movie or Black Adam so right now
I'm going to say Black Adam just because it's the safer because it has a two for two it has
the Super the superhero element and it has Dwayne Johnson where I feel like Jordan Peele has the
name but it also has that original idea that can go either way what are your five most anticipated
movies for 2022 we're halfway through we are halfway through well it's not Avatar
there is a Christmas musical comedy coming out that everyone's watching this is like what
with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell coming out that I think is going to be a ton of fun I I
have nothing to basis off of no trailer just that it's a musical comedy set around Christmas and
I have a very big soft spot for Ryan Reynolds so I'm definitely very very excited about that
I'm going to say don't worry darling Olivia Wilde's newest movie
she she blew me away with book smart I've always been a fan of her as an actress I
know people are kind of lukewarm I lukewarm on her as an actress I've always been a fan
especially when again going back to the Indie movies when she started doing like a lot of
Indie rolls I felt like she was just superb in them so I'm very curious this looks like such a
big scale film like book smart felt like a small Indie comedy like it was like a coming of an age
Indie comedy but this feels like it's a massive scale and I mean the cast with
Florence Pugh and Chris Pine it feels like it's big so I'm really looking forward to that one
I'm trying to think. What else? Oh, Shazam (the second Shazam). David F. Sandberg such
a big fan of him going back to Lights Out I love the first Shazam movie talk about it talk about
just a fun fun movie a reason people go to the movies just to have a good time get a little
bit of a spectacle get a little bit of a comedy Zachary Levi in that just perfect again perfect
casting we're talking about a superhero casting earlier somebody who really loves superheroes
and wanted to be one and then he got to cast as one Perfection there were casting so that's three
I'm really excited about Amsterdam I know that people are a little bit hesitant on
that because of the director but I think that's a one of those ensemble pieces that
is going to have a lot of great performances in it and is going to have a really good story
and then I guess I mean how could I not say the Martin Scorsese movie right the killers
of the flower moon like it's Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio that has worked in the past
so I'm pretty sure it's going to work again and I'm going to I'm going to sneak another
one in I have to say Babylon I can't believe I forgot about Babylon Damien Chazelle's latest
with Margot Robbie cannot wait I saw saw a small teaser for it at CinemaCon totally up my
alley totally excited for it how would you rate the movies of 2022 to previous years oh that's
truthfully I don't know if the industry has fully recovered since 2020. There's definitely been
some bright spots this year and there has been some real signs of Hope at the movie theater
but Blockbusters this year so far outside of top gun Maverick I'm not really feeling
them I'm really not it's I as much as I like Batman I felt like it was 30 minutes too long
again the ground in reality there's like two movies there like there's literally
like one and a half movies there's literally like a cutting cutting point in Batman where
it's kind of like okay this movie could have ended here and the sequel could have
started here but it keeps going and then you kind of get like half of the movie
Doctor Strange disappointment Jurassic world Dominion oh talk I
broke my heart I mean I Jurassic Park is one of the greatest Blockbusters of all time
I have that on record it's one of the best movies it's like seeing
dinosaurs come to life for the first time but the characters every character
you're connected with the kids weren't annoying you actually like you got into the kids you were
like you you felt the sense of wonder that they felt watching them you felt the fear the panic
it was like the ultimate like Blockbuster you just you couldn't look away from that movie and it's
amazing how 25 years later you can still watch that movie and it holds up and Steven Spielberg
really one of his crowning achievements as a filmmaker and Jurassic Park Dominion 100
one of the most disappointing if not the most disappointing movie I've seen in 2022 so far
they had all these great trailers leading up to this movie which like threw in the Legacy
characters again all these characters back from the original movie you're
like oh my God this has this great story to build upon about we're going to we're
going to finally see dinosaurs and humans living together that's what we've been promised
and it just goes back and does the same thing over and over again
and the characters have not a single brain cell in their freaking heads I it's just a dialogue
terrible editing just what a what a disaster what a disaster and then Thor again it's fun enough
but compared to what we've seen before like it's no black panther it's no Guardians it doesn't have
that I mean top gun Maverick right now is is that is the movie that is saving the summer and the
again going back to Indies is Indie movies better this year 100 with Marcel the Shell coming out and
the other great movie everything everywhere all at once those are some great movies and that's
why you're seeing more and more audiences kind of seeing those movies because they're good.