Limited and VOD Releases: Call Me Anytime
November 24, 2017
It is Thanksgiving weekend, but while that’s a great week for wide releases, it’s a terrible one for limited releases. Normally, we only mention films that have ten or more reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. However, this week there are only seven films in total, so we might as well talk about them all. To be fair, just because it is a slow week, doesn’t mean there’s nothing worth checking out. In fact, there are several films worth checking out. The Man Who Invented Christmas is the widest release, opening in over 600 theaters. Call Me by Your Name is clearly the best and it is already making waves during Awards Seasons. Finally, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is the one I’m most interested in seeing.
La Belle Noiseuse - Reviews
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story - Reviews
Call Me by Your Name - Reviews
Darkest Hour - Reviews
Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars - Reviews
The Man Who Invented Christmas - Reviews
What Happened in Vegas - Reviews
Secondary VOD Releases:
A retired painter gets a burst of inspiration from an young model. This film is nearly four hours long, which is too long to spend in a theater. Seriously. You should get up and at least walk around your room every half hour when you work. On the other hand, the film has earned 100% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and it is currently out of print on the home market, so this is the only way to see it for now.
A documentary about Hedy Lamarr, one of the most underrated geniuses of all time. She was underrated, because she was too sexy to be taken seriously. The film’s Tomatometer Score is 92% positive, but the average is only 6.8 out of 10, so it is good, but not great. Even so, it is the film I’m most interested in seeing that is on this week’s list.
This film just picked up six Independent Spirit Awards Nominations and its average review is 9.2 out of 10. If the film doesn’t earn more than $100,000 during the weekend, I will be shocked.
I think this will be remembered as busted Oscar bait. The film is a biopic about a historically important person (Winston Churchill) during a challenging time in his life (low point of World War II). This is cat nip for Oscar voters. However, while the film’s Tomatometer score is great, its average review is only 7.3 out of 10 and that’s not award-worthy. It is still worth checking out, on the other hand.
A documentary about Eric Clapton and his five-decade long music career. There are only four reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not a good sign. Worse still, if this were enough for a Tomatometer Score, I wouldn’t be overly bullish with a 75% score. Perhaps it will find an audience on the home market.
Dan Stevens stars as Charles Dickens. The film focuses on the writer during his attempts to overcome writer’s block and create a Christmas classic. The reviews are nearly 80% positive, but the average review is just 6.5 out of 10, which means while most critics liked the movie, very few loved it. Additionally, the film is opening in over 600 theaters and this could prove too many theaters for the film to thrive.
A documentary about police corruption in Las Vegas. There is only one review on Rotten Tomatoes, but it is positive. Like most documentaries, this one will likely have to wait till the home market to find an audience.
There are no Secondary VOD Releases this week. In fact, none of the films we mentioned above are playing on VOD.
Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Darkest Hour, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Call Me by Your Name, What Happened in Vegas, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, La Belle Noiseuse, Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars, Gary Oldman, Eric Clapton, Hedy Lamarr, Dan Stevens