Reminiscence (Hugh Jackman)

[Man in the Suit]

Saw it at the theater earlier today, watched it on HBO Max tonight, and then bought the soundtrack.

 

[Doctor Jones]

It was... okay. Lots of good ideas but it needed a couple more drafts. I never bought why Nick loved Mae so much and why he was doing what he did which was the spine to the whole thing. I know he loved her, but why did he love her? Just loving someone isn't a motivation unless there is a specific purpose. Or else you're Rick Flagg in the first Suicide Squad. I get the point of him discovering that he didn't know her in the end, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be nothing there in the first place.

Having only watched the first four episodes of Westworld, hearing about the rest of the show and watching this, I can see why Lisa Joy is married to a Nolan.

It's a shame; this had so much promise when it was announced. There's a great movie in there. These Nolan's, they love that puzzle but it comes at the expense of the attempted humane message they're trying to achieve. Somebody needs to break up the Thanksgiving table and tell them their damn scripts don't work.

 

[Stringer]

I actually kind of enjoyed this. While I didn't quite buy Jackman's motivation for his pursuit, I was invested in watching for the answers. It would have made more sense if just finding out what happened to her was just a starting point of his investigation, not the whole love angle. Also the end to this is overly long, there were several times it could have ended but then we're given another conclusion. Regardless, good acting (all the leads do fine work) and decent directing carried a so so script for me.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I thought this was absolute chore to get through and that ending was just laughably awful all together. The acting in the movie is fine, but I never cared about any of the characters or the story in general, especially everything going on with Jackman's character and damn does he deserve better than this.

I really hope he reteams with Mangold or Villenueve at some point in the future, because those directors are actually talented and are responsible for some of his best work IMO.

 

[Comicbookguy339]

Disastrous opening weekend as well. 666K Friday apparently (against a 68M budget). Could also be the worst opening weekend ever for a movie opening in 3000+ theaters.

Worst Wide Openings - Box Office Mojo

 

[Black Narcissus]

From what I remember of the OG draft of the script was somewhat different and better imo. I get the feeling WB asked for some re-writes to make it somewhat more coherent and whatnot.

Here is a few differences for those interested/have seen this film already. Eh.

Spoiler

No voice over
Cyrus kills Mae with his own hands. He chokes her and then dumps her body in the docks.
Watts isn't some badass shooter, she doesn't end up saving Nick in a shootout, cause that scene never happens. Saint Joe was in love with Mae, but he never tried to kill her etc, she just ran out on him. He roughs up Nick, but there is no shootout.
Nick did care for Mae, but his motivation was more of finding out why she did what she did, not really motivated about love.
Nick doesn't end up in that tub at the end, he continues business as usual with Watts. Old lady customer of theirs gets in the tub machine and reminiscence of her youth with her dead husband and it makes Nick emotional, but it ends there.
Widow stuff is somewhat the same.

 

[Web-Head]

From what I remember of the OG draft of the script was somewhat different and better imo. I get the feeling WB asked for some re-writes to make it somewhat more coherent and whatnot.

Here is a few differences for those interested/have seen this film already. Eh.

Spoiler

No voice over
Cyrus kills Mae with his own hands. He chokes her and then dumps her body in the docks.
Watts isn't some badass shooter, she doesn't end up saving Nick in a shootout, cause that scene never happens. Saint Joe was in love with Mae, but he never tried to kill her etc, she just ran out on him. He roughs up Nick, but there is no shootout.
Nick did care for Mae, but his motivation was more of finding out why she did what she did, not really motivated about love.
Nick doesn't end up in that tub at the end, he continues business as usual with Watts. Old lady customer of theirs gets in the tub machine and reminiscence of her youth with her dead husband and it makes Nick emotional, but it ends there.
Widow stuff is somewhat the same.

I think that would have been better than what we got

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Well it probably would have gotten it better general audience reception because audiences often don't like

Spoiler

unhappy or controversial endings especially in new IP. The ending we got was bold I think - especially in comparison to the rest of the movie.

But reading those changes doesn't make much of any difference to me personally.

 

[Ninjablade]

Saw this last night. Overall I enjoyed it enough to be engaged with the story, even if it wasn't exactly the most well written. The last half hour or so lost me a little as it was a little too tacky, but the rest made for a decent mystery film.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I still dream of a proper Dark Tower adaptation with Jackman as the lead. He would be the perfect age for it now too.

Yes when he said ‘the world moved on…’ I thought that too!

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah this movie was just dull. It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be an action film, a noir mystery, a romance, or a social commentary. It tries to be all of those things and never quite achieved any of them. Jackman, Newton and Ferguson try their best but they can’t save this bland mess. So much of it just feels half-baked, like they wanted to go deeper on the themes but ran out of budget or time.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yes when he said ‘the world moved on…’ I thought that too!

Haha yeah it was funny because my partner is also a big Dark Tower fan and we paused the movie literally RIGHT before he said that line and were discussing how he’d make a great Roland. And then he said that hahaha.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I like Iain Glen for Roland too. He’s such a good actor but a weird Bruce Wayne…

Christian Bale and Bardem were rumored for Roland and I hate those ideas. They work better for the Man in Black.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I thought this movie was GREAT though. But I love 90s sci-fi movies. This would’ve starred Arnold or Sly in the 90s. Loved the cast so much. Rebecca Ferguson is so good. Cliff Curtis was excellent and terrifying. Newton and Jackman just slayed it.

 

[The Shape]

I also love 90s sci-fi movies and Nolan-eqsue cinema, but this was a slog to get through for me.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I like Iain Glen for Roland too. He’s such a good actor but a weird Bruce Wayne…

Christian Bale and Bardem were rumored for Roland and I hate those ideas. They work better for the Man in Black.

Yeah Bale and Bardem do sort of seem like better fits for the Man in Black. Hell, they could both play different versions of him (Bale as Walter, Bardem as Marten).

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Yeah Bale and Bardem do sort of seem like better fits for the Man in Black. Hell, they could both play different versions of him (Bale as Walter, Bardem as Marten).

Thandie Newton would make a good Susannah too. I still love Aaron Paul for Eddie Dean.

 

[Kane52630]

For a movie about a simp trying to find a girl that had a one night stand with by going through people's web history... it's honestly... boring.


But for real though, this was Transcendence all over again.

 

[kvz5]

From what I remember of the OG draft of the script was somewhat different and better imo. I get the feeling WB asked for some re-writes to make it somewhat more coherent and whatnot.

Here is a few differences for those interested/have seen this film already. Eh.

Spoiler

No voice over
Cyrus kills Mae with his own hands. He chokes her and then dumps her body in the docks.
Watts isn't some badass shooter, she doesn't end up saving Nick in a shootout, cause that scene never happens. Saint Joe was in love with Mae, but he never tried to kill her etc, she just ran out on him. He roughs up Nick, but there is no shootout.
Nick did care for Mae, but his motivation was more of finding out why she did what she did, not really motivated about love.
Nick doesn't end up in that tub at the end, he continues business as usual with Watts. Old lady customer of theirs gets in the tub machine and reminiscence of her youth with her dead husband and it makes Nick emotional, but it ends there.
Widow stuff is somewhat the same.

Spoiler

Ah so the entire thing wasn’t a memory like in the script reveals in the end? That’s probably my favorite thing in the script.

 

[Marvolo]

Thandie Newton would make a good Susannah too. I still love Aaron Paul for Eddie Dean.

Thats some good fan casting.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Variety - Hugh Jackman’s ‘Reminiscence’ Crumbles With $2 Million Debut, Highlighting the Struggle of Movies Aimed at Older Audiences

HBO Max simultaneous debut + older adults (35+) least likely to return to theaters in (now Delta surge) pandemic + new IP = downward pressure on theatrical business

Movies that check off zero of those criteria (no streaming, youth audience, established brand IP) have a better chance of doing better.

I appreciate that Nolan and his adjacents have managed to make some new IP, but being diet-Nolan or Nolanesque isn't good enough nowadays. Could even argue Chris Nolan himself isn't what he used to be.

 

[Comicbookguy339]

Worst opening for a wide (3000+ theaters) release. Goddamn.

 

[JohnUnknownDoe]

Why are these big name actors doing these types of movies ? You have Tom Hanks doing weird Netflix stuff that no one would care about if Tom Hanks was not in it. Are they getting paid godly amounts of money or something ? These are PROBABLY the movies big names do because they owe somebody something

 

[Comicbookguy339]

Why are these big name actors doing these types of movies ? You have Tom Hanks doing weird Netflix stuff that no one would care about if Tom Hanks was not in it. Are they getting paid godly amounts of money or something ? These are PROBABLY the movies big names do because they owe somebody something

I think it has more to do with the mid-budget movies, which many actors still enjoy doing, dying out theatrically and these streaming services are the only places where they can get made nowadays.

 

[P Supreme]

Dam feel bad for Hugh this is humiliating