December 2, 2024 • 8 mins
Joe Neumaier, former film critic and film editor at the New York Daily News, has been a journalist and critic in New York for over 20 years. His writing on movies and Hollywood has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, the New York Times, the New York Post, the London Observer, the Washington Post, USA Today Weekend, Hamptons magazine and the Financial Times.com, among others. He"s appeared on MSNBC, Channel 2"s Sunday Morning, Fox 5"s Good Day New York, WPIX-11, CNN, VH1, CNBC, A&E Biography and Access Hollywood. When on deadline, he watches an average of 6 to 8 movies a week. His list of favorite films include "The Godfather,""The Apartment,""Citizen Kane,""McCabe & Mrs. Miller,""All That Jazz,""On Her Majesty"s Secret Service,""Goodfellas,""Toy Story 3,""North by Northwest" and "Duck Soup".
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here's Larry Minty with more of the WOR Saturday Morning Show.
It's a big weekend at the box office. Even though
only one new movie is being released, it's still the
battle of the blockbusters.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Woor's Movie Minted.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Host Joe Neumeyer explains, Joe, when I was out in
the Hollywood, I got to cover it for a split second,
for a fast minute, and it was always Thanksgiving weekend
when the blockbusters were let out made it to the theaters.
It seems I know, you have one to talk about,
but or expected blockbuster, but.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It seems like they did it the week before. Is
that something new they did.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I think it is, and I think it's something that
they want to get a jump on. Obviously, Larry, they
want to make sure they get all the weekend that
they can. I also think this is sort of part
of the result of the writer's strike last year, which
kind of affected all the movies that are coming down
the pike. There were sort of a little less this year.
You can see it reflected a little bit in the
box office. And I think there's also that sense of,
you know, they don't want to there's obviously last weekend
(01:05):
we saw Wicked and Gladiator two open on the same weekend.
There's not a lot of that anymore. I think everybody
wants us sort of make sure they get their own weekend.
So this Thanksgiving weekend they're just doing Milana Too for families.
I don't know I would have opened up something else
just to make it. But I also think there's there's
also some you know, it's all there's there's all this
sort of you know, crazy logic that they go into
(01:25):
and they sort of figure, well, all the people who
didn't see Wicked or Gladiator Too last weekend will go
this weekend, and there's some there's some smarts to that,
I guess. But this weekend what we have is Mulana
Too was sequel to the twenty sixteen Disney film. I
wasn't that crazy about it. I I you know, I
just want to, you know, put this out there that
obviously families will probably enjoy it and they're gonna want
to see something. They're gonna maybe want to have an
(01:46):
island vacation, right, so this is sort of the next
best thing. You're sort of cruising around on the oceans
in this in this film, it's the same basic story.
There's the young Polynesian girl who is sort of becomes
a wayfinder and a leader for her people. And she
and the demi god Maui, who's voiced again by the
rock Dwayne Johnson. Uh, they've got to find like an
(02:10):
island that they feel like has got another you know,
tribe on it they don't know about. It's a little confusing.
This is my problem with it is that, you know,
I really you know, the Pixar movies are great like this,
but they but the some some animated movies, they don't
make it clear enough. The mission isn't clear. There's a
lot of running around and here there's a lot of
chasing on the water and under the water, and and
(02:31):
so for that reason I'm giving it two stars. But again,
you know, sort of your mileage may vary. If you've
got young kids who are running around the house and
you want to get them to the to the theater
where they can run around there and kind of scream
a little bit, then Mulanaitou's probably a nice a nice
option for it. I just thought it was not as
it's not as fun as the last movie. The last
we had some good music. This one the music's a
little it's a little weak. You know. The last one
(02:52):
had that that great song You're Welcome that that was
sort of a hit at you know, eight years ago
kind of thing. So milanitu two stars. But if you've
got a family, you kind of want to go out
and kind of, you know, get something, go somewhere else
except for the living rooms. They can get away from
the turkey, and the leftovers might be okay for the family.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And that's the whole reason to do it. Believe me,
I got four kids. I've had kids that age that
you want to just get out and so you can
eat something and they'll be quiet even And by the way,
you know, I know for a fact you're not a
six year old girl, and that's the target audience.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
They're gonna love that, right, They're gonna love that exactly right.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
They are gonna love it. In fact, I think a
little older probably won't. I think, you know, I can't
imagine a tween at eleven, twelve, thirteen year old really
liking I think the really young kids are going to
kind of go for it. They even make a joke
in the movie where it's like she's not a Disney princess,
but a lot of people think she is because she's
obviously in that in that world, Malana is so right.
It's those really young kids and young girls who are
(03:47):
good and good for them, they need a hero. This
is sort of the kind of thing that they can
that they can appreciate. But I think right that if
you've got young daughters especially, it'll be it'll be a
great time at the movies. You won't walk out humming
any of the tunes. You'll have killed two hours. So
you know, that's always something.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And they have the theaters to themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, I know Wicked and Gladiator are still going
to do well, but that Milana is being released on
its own.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Is there anything else at all?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Nothing else at all? You know, here's the interesting thing, right,
so Wicked last weekend, Wicked, you know, became the biggest
Broadway that to big screen adaptation ever and it's the
biggest musical opening of all the time. The previous one
was Lame is rob Back like in twenty twelve. So
this is the biggest Broadway to cinema adaptation. And Gladiator
(04:33):
two made a little bit less than people were expecting.
Gladiator made about fifty five million. Wicked made about one
hundred and fifteen million, but Gladiator two still made more
than the previous film even adjusting for inflation. The original
Gladiator made about thirty five million. So those two movies
really kind of helped boost the box office. It hasn't
been a big year for big movies inside Out two
in Deadpool and Wolverine, you know, we're the biggest money makers,
(04:56):
and then these two come along and kind of help
the box office a little bit. I think that kind
of stuff is gonna you're gonna see. Even though Wana
two will be a hit, the original Malana isn't even
in the top ten animated films of all time in
terms of box office, So it will be interesting that
to see if Wicked holds on, which I think it will.
Wicked will hold on and Gladiator, who will probably hold
on as well. I think Malana two may come in
at two or three, you'll be big. But I think
(05:18):
they're kind of expecting those two movies to kind of
carry off into the into the Thanksgiving weekend and the
holiday weekend for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
You know, Joe, I was just thinking, and I can't
come up with one. I was trying to figure out
a really good Thanksgiving movie that celebrates the holiday.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Do you have one?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, Planserins and Noumobiles, good question, good planes and plain
Strings and Automobiles is sort of the one that I
always think of. Great movie Steve martin the late John
Candy and you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Cry in it too. You laugh and you cry, you.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Laugh and you cry, and that's part you know, I
love Steve Martinett, but that is really a credit to
John Candy because he really pulls off that character in
a really interesting way. He's annoying, but he also you
grow affectionate towards him and you really feel for him.
And so at the end, I'm not gonna ruin anything
for anybody who hasn't seen. It's not all the time
I think shows up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah the movie. Yeah, they're not pillows, arn pillow.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I also love when they're driving, they're driving on the
wrong side of the road and he looks over and
he sees John Candy like the devil. He's like a darn.
There's a few others, you know, I'd like. Scent of
a Woman is really good. Sen of a Woman, People
Forget is a Thanksgiving movie movie? Was Oscar.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite movies, but one of
my favorite movies.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Ever yep, yep. And then of course Mirrorslan's thirty four Street.
This is the thing I always think about Thanksgiving movies
is sort of the ramp up to Christmas movies, and
there's more of those, but you sort of have to
kind of get into the Christmas spirit a little bit
with your Thanksgiving movie, and the original Miracle on thirty
fourth Street really obviously does that, which is great. The
remakes okay too from the nineties, but the original one
is great with young Natalie Wood. That's really fun. There's
(06:59):
even any even even little scenes. There's a scene in
Hannah and Her Sisters that a couple of them take
place at at Thanksgiving power heist this Ben Stiller movie
that's kind of not bad from the from about fifteen
years ago. They have a scam going on or they
have to rob a guy during the Thanksgiving praise. You've
got males, got a fun scene like that. And then
the one I always could I always want to contribute
(07:20):
with the things Rocky has got. The big scene in
Rocky where he meets he really meets Adrian for the
first time because she comes to the petrol that all
takes place at Thanksgiving. Remember, Paul throws it out the door.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
You are amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You are just you're an encyclopedia that you can remember
every single one of those. I call me impressed, hey Bell,
Before we go, I do we don't have a lot
of time left, but I do want to pay tribute
to Jim Abrams because you know he wrote and uh
and directed Naked Gun and hot Shots Airplane. Yeah, I mean,
(07:56):
I was going to say that to last, but they
they were just fun movies. We don't have anything like
that anymore, you know, just really.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Sure we sure don't. I wish we did Airplane itself.
You always it always makes me laugh anytime it's on cable.
Top Secret also to the Naked Gun movies, and and
you know Police Squad, which was the original sort of
six episode TV show that that launched the Naked Gun
hot Shots, which is really funny too. It's kind of
a spoof of Airplane, I mean a spoof of of
(08:25):
Top Gun, right, Him and him and David Zooker and
Jerry's they were known as zazz jazz style of comedy.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, we gotta go, Joe, but thank you so much.
W O. R. S. Joe Neumeier. This has been a
podcast from w o R
This is a podcast from WOR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here's Larry Minty with more of the WOR Saturday Morning Show.
It's a big weekend at the box office. Even though
only one new movie is being released, it's still the
battle of the blockbusters.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Woor's Movie Minted.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Host Joe Neumeyer explains, Joe, when I was out in
the Hollywood, I got to cover it for a split second,
for a fast minute, and it was always Thanksgiving weekend
when the blockbusters were let out made it to the theaters.
It seems I know, you have one to talk about,
but or expected blockbuster, but.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It seems like they did it the week before. Is
that something new they did.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I think it is, and I think it's something that
they want to get a jump on. Obviously, Larry, they
want to make sure they get all the weekend that
they can. I also think this is sort of part
of the result of the writer's strike last year, which
kind of affected all the movies that are coming down
the pike. There were sort of a little less this year.
You can see it reflected a little bit in the
box office. And I think there's also that sense of,
you know, they don't want to there's obviously last weekend
(01:05):
we saw Wicked and Gladiator two open on the same weekend.
There's not a lot of that anymore. I think everybody
wants us sort of make sure they get their own weekend.
So this Thanksgiving weekend they're just doing Milana Too for families.
I don't know I would have opened up something else
just to make it. But I also think there's there's
also some you know, it's all there's there's all this
sort of you know, crazy logic that they go into
(01:25):
and they sort of figure, well, all the people who
didn't see Wicked or Gladiator Too last weekend will go
this weekend, and there's some there's some smarts to that,
I guess. But this weekend what we have is Mulana
Too was sequel to the twenty sixteen Disney film. I
wasn't that crazy about it. I I you know, I
just want to, you know, put this out there that
obviously families will probably enjoy it and they're gonna want
to see something. They're gonna maybe want to have an
(01:46):
island vacation, right, so this is sort of the next
best thing. You're sort of cruising around on the oceans
in this in this film, it's the same basic story.
There's the young Polynesian girl who is sort of becomes
a wayfinder and a leader for her people. And she
and the demi god Maui, who's voiced again by the
rock Dwayne Johnson. Uh, they've got to find like an
(02:10):
island that they feel like has got another you know,
tribe on it they don't know about. It's a little confusing.
This is my problem with it is that, you know,
I really you know, the Pixar movies are great like this,
but they but the some some animated movies, they don't
make it clear enough. The mission isn't clear. There's a
lot of running around and here there's a lot of
chasing on the water and under the water, and and
(02:31):
so for that reason I'm giving it two stars. But again,
you know, sort of your mileage may vary. If you've
got young kids who are running around the house and
you want to get them to the to the theater
where they can run around there and kind of scream
a little bit, then Mulanaitou's probably a nice a nice
option for it. I just thought it was not as
it's not as fun as the last movie. The last
we had some good music. This one the music's a
little it's a little weak. You know. The last one
(02:52):
had that that great song You're Welcome that that was
sort of a hit at you know, eight years ago
kind of thing. So milanitu two stars. But if you've
got a family, you kind of want to go out
and kind of, you know, get something, go somewhere else
except for the living rooms. They can get away from
the turkey, and the leftovers might be okay for the family.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And that's the whole reason to do it. Believe me,
I got four kids. I've had kids that age that
you want to just get out and so you can
eat something and they'll be quiet even And by the way,
you know, I know for a fact you're not a
six year old girl, and that's the target audience.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
They're gonna love that, right, They're gonna love that exactly right.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
They are gonna love it. In fact, I think a
little older probably won't. I think, you know, I can't
imagine a tween at eleven, twelve, thirteen year old really
liking I think the really young kids are going to
kind of go for it. They even make a joke
in the movie where it's like she's not a Disney princess,
but a lot of people think she is because she's
obviously in that in that world, Malana is so right.
It's those really young kids and young girls who are
(03:47):
good and good for them, they need a hero. This
is sort of the kind of thing that they can
that they can appreciate. But I think right that if
you've got young daughters especially, it'll be it'll be a
great time at the movies. You won't walk out humming
any of the tunes. You'll have killed two hours. So
you know, that's always something.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And they have the theaters to themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, I know Wicked and Gladiator are still going
to do well, but that Milana is being released on
its own.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Is there anything else at all?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Nothing else at all? You know, here's the interesting thing, right,
so Wicked last weekend, Wicked, you know, became the biggest
Broadway that to big screen adaptation ever and it's the
biggest musical opening of all the time. The previous one
was Lame is rob Back like in twenty twelve. So
this is the biggest Broadway to cinema adaptation. And Gladiator
(04:33):
two made a little bit less than people were expecting.
Gladiator made about fifty five million. Wicked made about one
hundred and fifteen million, but Gladiator two still made more
than the previous film even adjusting for inflation. The original
Gladiator made about thirty five million. So those two movies
really kind of helped boost the box office. It hasn't
been a big year for big movies inside Out two
in Deadpool and Wolverine, you know, we're the biggest money makers,
(04:56):
and then these two come along and kind of help
the box office a little bit. I think that kind
of stuff is gonna you're gonna see. Even though Wana
two will be a hit, the original Malana isn't even
in the top ten animated films of all time in
terms of box office, So it will be interesting that
to see if Wicked holds on, which I think it will.
Wicked will hold on and Gladiator, who will probably hold
on as well. I think Malana two may come in
at two or three, you'll be big. But I think
(05:18):
they're kind of expecting those two movies to kind of
carry off into the into the Thanksgiving weekend and the
holiday weekend for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
You know, Joe, I was just thinking, and I can't
come up with one. I was trying to figure out
a really good Thanksgiving movie that celebrates the holiday.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Do you have one?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, Planserins and Noumobiles, good question, good planes and plain
Strings and Automobiles is sort of the one that I
always think of. Great movie Steve martin the late John
Candy and you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Cry in it too. You laugh and you cry, you.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Laugh and you cry, and that's part you know, I
love Steve Martinett, but that is really a credit to
John Candy because he really pulls off that character in
a really interesting way. He's annoying, but he also you
grow affectionate towards him and you really feel for him.
And so at the end, I'm not gonna ruin anything
for anybody who hasn't seen. It's not all the time
I think shows up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah the movie. Yeah, they're not pillows, arn pillow.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I also love when they're driving, they're driving on the
wrong side of the road and he looks over and
he sees John Candy like the devil. He's like a darn.
There's a few others, you know, I'd like. Scent of
a Woman is really good. Sen of a Woman, People
Forget is a Thanksgiving movie movie? Was Oscar.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite movies, but one of
my favorite movies.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Ever yep, yep. And then of course Mirrorslan's thirty four Street.
This is the thing I always think about Thanksgiving movies
is sort of the ramp up to Christmas movies, and
there's more of those, but you sort of have to
kind of get into the Christmas spirit a little bit
with your Thanksgiving movie, and the original Miracle on thirty
fourth Street really obviously does that, which is great. The
remakes okay too from the nineties, but the original one
is great with young Natalie Wood. That's really fun. There's
(06:59):
even any even even little scenes. There's a scene in
Hannah and Her Sisters that a couple of them take
place at at Thanksgiving power heist this Ben Stiller movie
that's kind of not bad from the from about fifteen
years ago. They have a scam going on or they
have to rob a guy during the Thanksgiving praise. You've
got males, got a fun scene like that. And then
the one I always could I always want to contribute
(07:20):
with the things Rocky has got. The big scene in
Rocky where he meets he really meets Adrian for the
first time because she comes to the petrol that all
takes place at Thanksgiving. Remember, Paul throws it out the door.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
You are amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You are just you're an encyclopedia that you can remember
every single one of those. I call me impressed, hey Bell,
Before we go, I do we don't have a lot
of time left, but I do want to pay tribute
to Jim Abrams because you know he wrote and uh
and directed Naked Gun and hot Shots Airplane. Yeah, I mean,
(07:56):
I was going to say that to last, but they
they were just fun movies. We don't have anything like
that anymore, you know, just really.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Sure we sure don't. I wish we did Airplane itself.
You always it always makes me laugh anytime it's on cable.
Top Secret also to the Naked Gun movies, and and
you know Police Squad, which was the original sort of
six episode TV show that that launched the Naked Gun
hot Shots, which is really funny too. It's kind of
a spoof of Airplane, I mean a spoof of of
(08:25):
Top Gun, right, Him and him and David Zooker and
Jerry's they were known as zazz jazz style of comedy.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, we gotta go, Joe, but thank you so much.
W O. R. S. Joe Neumeier. This has been a
podcast from w o R
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