Just like last weekend, it was another jam-packed time at the multiplex. And on this week’s Playlist Podcast, we manage to make our way through a kaiju fight on the way to ma’s and come out on the other end still standing.
On this episode, I’m joined by fellow Playlisters Julia Teti (also Cinemaholics, Zimbio, Girls on Tops, and Film School Rejects) and Will Ashton (also CinemaBlend and Cinemaholics) to dive into this week’s three new wide releases. We start with this week’s box office champion, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” the Michael Dougherty-directed sequel to Gareth Edwards‘ 2014 “Godzilla” and the third film overall in Warner Bros. “MonsterVerse” (also following 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island“). Although it won the weekend, it debuted to about half as much as its predecessor and was met with mixed-negative reception. Our takes certainly don’t help the latter, but we find a few things to praise, specifically the kaiju imagery.
READ MORE: ‘Godzilla 2’ Tramples Box Office Competition But Isn’t Nearly As King-Sized As Expected
We then move on to “Rocketman,” the Elton John biopic-meets-jukebox-musical that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last month to positive marks. While it doesn’t overcome all of the typical biopic cliches, we are all in agreement over Taron Egerton‘s transformative performance as Sir Elton, and the (mostly) lack of sanitization in the story (yes, this is a direct jab at the immensely inferior “Bohemian Rhapsody“). Finally, we conclude with a discussion on “Ma,” the trashy, $5 million Blumhouse horror film directed by Tate Taylor (“The Help,” “Get on Up“) and starring Octavia Spencer as a woman seeking revenge for something that happened in her past. The movie is deeply problematic and loopy, and yet, there’s something undeniably entertaining about it, and we do our best to dive into why.
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