The Bottom Line: August 25, 2017: Whoa Oh Oh Oh Oh, It’s Always A GOOD TIME

The Bottom Line: August 25, 2017

We’ve reached the end of summer, so all the big movies have come out already. But some smaller movies are out there fighting for your attention! Find out how they will do in this week’s edition of The Bottom Line!

Box Office Top Five

The Hitman’s Bodyguard proved that audiences won’t tire of the buddy action formula anytime soon, taking first place with $21.4 million. Annabelle: Creation dropped to second place with a still-solid $15.7 million. Steven Soderbergh’s big return didn’t bring about great box office returns (even though it was awesome), managing to take third place with $7.7 million. Dunkirk took fourth with $6.7 million, and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature rounded out the top five with $5.1 million.

A Closer Look at Some of this Week’s Films.

Birth of the Dragon (PG-13) 91 mins.

This is something that really should have been awesome. Reviews indicate otherwise, that it’s a slight, pretty standard biopic of one of the greatest action stars that ever lived. But man, how cool would a great Bruce Lee biopic be? If you could capture even one-tenth of the intensity and prowess that he puts on display in movies like Enter the Dragon and The Way of the Dragon, well then baby, you’d have a stew going.

Anyway, this movie showcases a young Bruce Lee in 1960s San Francisco as it builds to his fight with kung fu master Wong Jack Man. The fights seem like they’re pretty cool at least, which might be all you need for a movie like this. As for Birth of the Dragon‘s box office prospects, I’m not optimistic. There hasn’t been much of an advertising campaign and it feels like not many people know this movie exists. I’m going to say it opens at number five, but that’s me being optimistic.

Ingrid Goes West (R) 97 mins.

I have heard great things about Ingrid Goes West, a movie which stars Aubrey Plaza as a social media stalker who becomes obsessed with an Instagram celebrity played by Elizabeth Olsen. They develop a friendship that quickly takes a turn, and the movie looks like a modern-day riff on Single White Female. I’m particularly excited to see Aubrey Plaza’s performance in this; after seeing her go completely unhinged as a total psychopath on the FX series Legion, I really want to see this side of her more often.

As for the film’s box office prospects, I think this could do well. There’s been a ton of marketing surrounding the film on social media (obviously), and it could strike a chord with young people. I’m going to say it opens at number three.

Good Time (R) 100 mins.

Now this I’m excited about. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Good Time, that it’s a gritty, dark, nasty crime thriller with an incredible lead performance from Robert Pattinson (who’s always been a better actor than people gave him credit for, Twilight movies be damned). Elric Kane from The Pure Cinema Podcast described it as if it were a lost Sidney Lumet film, and like, that’s all you should need to hear. It’s been playing for a couple of weeks in limited release, but this weekend it goes wide, and it would definitely be my pick to go see this weekend.

How will the movie do at the box office? Probably not great. I hope it does decent business, but I don’t expect to see it in the top five.

The Bottom Line

The Hitman’s Bodyguard will remain in first place, while Annabelle: Creation will stay in second. Ingrid Goes West will open in third, while Logan Lucky will take fourth. Birth of the Dragon will open in fifth, but if it doesn’t, that slot will be taken by Dunkirk.

Movies To Look Forward To:

Tulip Fever, Goon: Last of the Enforcers, The Layover (September 1st)

Leave your thoughts on The Bottom Line, Birth of the Dragon, Ingrid Goes West, and Good Time below in the comments section. Readers seeking more The Bottom Line can visit our The Bottom Line Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.