time to talk movies with
Brett Hoffman of Marcus
theaters and good morning,
Brett. Good morning, Don.
Your theaters operating the
cold. Our feeders are
operating the cold, but
you need a break. You need
a kick. Come on in and we've
got the heat on for you.
That's good. We're
turning on the heat. So
it doesn't matter what
done screen as long as
it's warm in there, right?
Okay, we've got a couple.
We're going to talk about
the Oscar nominations, the
razzies. We're going to
talk about all that stuff.
But first, let's get to the
new movies today have come
out this week.
All right, the first new
movie is Mercy. This is our
rated action cyber thriller.
It stars Chris Pratt and
Rebecca Ferguson and it's
being distributed by Amazon
slash MGM. Pratt
plays a detective in this one
who it's the near future.
He stands in trial for murder
in his wife and it's in the
future. So in this movie, he's
got 90 minutes to prove his
innocence to an advanced AI
jug before it determines his
fate. So essentially, they
give you all the tools, all
the cameras, all the access
you can possibly have and they
give you 90 minutes to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that
you did not commit to crime.
So that is the movie Mercy.
It stars Chris Pratt and it's
rated our out this weekend.
And a next movie is
Hamlet. Now, this movie has
been released since
last year, 2025.
It's expanding the more
theaters nationwide and it's
very timely because the movie
was nominated for several
Oscar nominations yesterday.
It's a PG-13 period drama.
It stars Jesse Buckley and Paul
Miscal. They both are brilliant
in this movie. They play Agnes
and William Shakespeare and
they're grappling with Greece
because it's a 16th century and
they've lost their son Hamlet
to the plague and this goes on
with what how that story
unfolds. It's Hamlet.
Jesse Buckley already won the
award at the Golden Globes for
Best Actress. She's nominated
again for an Oscar for this one
and as I mentioned, the movies
are an eight-assternamination
so far. So if you want to go see
Hamlet, it's a great period
piece movie and it's definitely
getting some critical claim.
It's a good movie. So I think
I will see it. All right. Now,
when I was a kid and the
Oscar nominations came out the
back of the 60s, late 60s.
They used to get the group, you
know, the theaters and everything
to these pictures have
been nominated. They used to bring
them back into theaters immediately
because they were Oscar nominated.
And this before movies were, you
know, there's no streaming. There
was no video cassettes, you
know, a couple of super
nominated movies like sinners.
What 16 nominations that are
record? Yeah, so we're bringing
them back. And in this case,
I'll marry it a little bit here.
There are a couple movies coming
back like Hamlet, sinners and one
battle after another this weekend,
which we'll get into. But then
also we have our best picture
showcase was we've lined up.
So anyone that wants to go to
Marcus theaters dot com slash
90s. We have a showcase that's
going to go on from March 4th to
the 15th of Its going to include
all of the best picture nominees
plus the live action and
animated shorts. And you can
catch up on all these movies.
We've got special offers in
there. We've got a passport
price. We can see a four pack of
those moves or 28 dollars.
And then we've also brought back
our popular marathon Saturdays.
So on March 7th and March 14th,
we've got one Saturday and five
movies in next. You get in for one
package price, which includes 20%
off concessions. So there are a lot
of different ways that we're going to
make sure that we are bringing back
these movies that are nominated for
best picture for people to see it.
So go check that out. So that's the way
you can do that. But this weekend,
you've got centers in one battle
after another. They're on the screen
now this weekend. Centres, as
you mentioned, 16
years ago. That is a record now.
Admittingly, casting is a new
award this year. However, the
previous record was 14. So even
if you take out casting, they
would have, they would be in the
lead because previously there were
14 nominations for all about
the Titanic and howland. It's a great
movie centers and interesting
premise because when you think
about it, you wouldn't think a
movie. Ryan Cooby directs it.
He plays the role of twin brothers.
And it's an original amazing vampire movie.
Essentially, you wouldn't think that
that would be the nomination
or that description that would have
the all-time most
Oscar nominations, but it is.
It's a great movie centers and I think
people should go to see that one
if they have not seen it this weekend
because it's amazing and the big screen.
And the other one we talked about
was one battle after another. So
not now while it was a
done by sinners, one battle after
another received 13 nominations.
So when you look at this,
it's just phenomenal when you see
these two movies and what they did
in terms of nominations.
So centers is out there and then one
battle left another. You've got
Paul Thomas Anderson, director
Leonardo Caprio. You've got Sean
Pan and Benicio Del Toro in this
movie as well. And it's a great
action thriller movie. If I was
Leonardo Caprio's character, he's
just ex-revolutionary and he's
forced back into his
combat of lifestyle when his
daughter gets abducted and
and pursued by a corrupt
military officer from his past.
I can say this, Paul Thomas
Anderson is amazing directing
and Leo does an excellent
job. This is going to be
really interesting because on
Oscar night, it's going to be
let the battle of two heavyweights
that are going to be in the
ring and we'll see who gets
what awards because I'll tell
you both of these movies are
hot in contention. And right
now I'm going to give a little
edge to centers, but I'll have to
say one battle left in other was
amazing too. So I'm going to see
these movies again and consider
which one might win as well.
You said Leo, are you like in a
first name basis with him, Leo?
Are you on like a
sympathico with Leonardo and he's
just Leo to you now and like his
friends? Okay, name it and all
about Eve, which also got what
14 nominations. That was a
classic with Betty Davis, it
started. But the title character
Eve, who's the, you know,
contentious person in the movie
Eve, her backstory is she's
from Milwaukee. So we have a
Milwaukee connection with all
about Eve and one of my
friends. They had all the lines.
They every see these lists of
famous lines. Like I don't give a
damn from gone with the wind and
things. The line from all about
Eve is when Betty Davis comes
down the stairs, she says,
buckle up. It's going to be a
bumpy night.
I love that. All right. So
in just a moment, we're going to
talk about the nominations.
And what's a new category you
mentioned casting? What's that?
It's it's the award for casting
literally picking the right line
up of people to star in movies.
It's considered it's, you know,
it's it's more of a behind the
scenes position, but one that's
more and more important kind of
lining up the right people to
star in these movies. Who knew they had
in the ward for that now? All right. We're talking to
Brad Hoffman of Marcus theaters. We're talking
movies this morning. The Oscar
nominations made the other day. So
we're talking to Brad Hoffman.
The Golden Raspberry Awards known as
the Ransies. We'll talk about those
coming up. All right. So we know
one battle after another and
sinners nominated for best picture.
What else do we have out there? So
for best picture, there were 10
total nominations. We already talked
about sinners and one battle after
another. Like you said, here is the rest
of the line up for those that aren't
familiar with any of these pictures.
We have the secret agents. Now
we're talking to Barbara
that's the secret agent for best
international feature and best
picture. It's a Brazilian
movie, so it's in Portuguese
of English subtitles and very
good movie. It's a thriller
about this technology researcher
and he was hiding from a
military dictatorship in 1977. He's
kind of more behind the scenes
secret agent, but it is really
interesting to watch that and the
secret agent. So check that one
out on March 4th through March 15th
as part of our best picture
showcase. The next movie is
birdie supreme and I think when
824 released this over the
holiday season, everyone knew
that this would get many awards.
We know that Timothy
Chalamet would get nominated
for best actor and in this case
we have a movie that has
20 of nominations as well.
When you look at the count on this
one, nine nominations for
this one. And Timothy
Chalamet is a wonderful
performance. He's a hustler
and he's trying to become a
team pong champion in the
1950s. So nine nominations
for this one from Arty
Supreme. The next movie is
F1. Now this just happened to
be my favorite movie of last
year just because I like the
action. I like the racing
sequences. Brad Pitt and
director Joseph Kaczynski
on the screen. Let me tell you
if you haven't seen this movie
on the big screen, just
forget about it. You've
got to go see this movie
with everything that is going
on and how amazing this is.
So I'm very excited to see
this eventually back on the
big screen. That is F1.
The next movie is Frankenstein.
Now Frankenstein is interesting
because it has a limited
theatrical release and then
a classic sci-fi drama that
retails Mary Shelley's
classic tale of
Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
So and his monster.
So what's this one? It looks
great. General Totoro is an
excellent director. So I do think
there's definitely deserve to be
nominated this year.
A film that came out during the
fall that I think many people
did not get to see, but it is
very interesting. I think
it's very interesting, but it was
nominated is the movie
Pagonia. So this was
released by Focus Fixed
Features and it happens to start
and the stone and she does a
tremendous job at this one. It's
a dark comedy and science
fiction thriller. It's about
two conspiracy obsessions.
They happen to kidnap a
powerful CEO who's played by
a stone because they believe
she's an alien preparing
the story. Are they nuts?
Or is she really an alien?
Well, we'll have to watch the
movie to find out, but that's
Pagonia. It got plenty of
critical acclaim when it was
released. And that is why it is
up for best picture this year.
You know, your description makes
it sound interesting.
It is very interesting accent.
I recommend people go see it.
It is an interesting movie.
I just think it might be a little
interesting.
Next one is Train Dreams.
So this one is also a Netflix
release. We'll have it on the
big screen now. And I think
this is really a movie that I
think will be beautiful on the
big screen. You and I talked
about the movie that won best
picture a few years ago. No
man land. And how beautiful
that movie was with the sweeping
panoramic man that this does
and the landscape. Well, this
is a movie that we'll have on the
big screen. It is a movie that
takes place in the early 20th
century because you can watch
west. He has a quiet life.
And he's dealing with the loss
of family members. His wife and
daughter have passed away. And he
is kind of in search of finding
themselves in the midst of watching
America change during its rapid
industrialization period. And he's
this logger out multiplayer in the
Pacific Northwest in the early
20th century. He has a
great job as well. So that's
trained dreams. And then the
last movie that we haven't
talked about so far is a movie
called Sentimental Value. This
is the second international
picture that's nominated for best
international picture, but also
nominated for best picture.
It's from Norway. So it's an
Norwegian language movie. It has
English subtitles. There are
these strange sisters that
they're famous filmmaker,
father. His name is Gustav. And
he wants to cast one of his
daughters in his come back film
which causes some family
tensions that go on. So there's
those that we talked about. And
then there's also what we talked
about previously earlier in our
time. Centres, which has
16 nominations. You've got one
battle with another with 13
nominations. And then you've
also got Hamlet, which
has eight nominations. So those
10 make it the best picture
slate. Really interesting
slate there. I think
when you look at snubs
for best picture. Let's talk
about the snubs now. Yeah.
Yeah. You're going to
talk about probably I think
people are going to say for best
picture. Wicked for good and
Avatar Firenash. Two mainstream
pictures that did make it. I
think Wicked did have a
presence during last years
during last years. But it
obviously this year was
shouted entirely. Not
even its musical numbers were
nominated. So Wicked for good
get shot entirely including on
best picture. Avatar Firenash
was not nominated for best
picture despite the fact that
it is a technically amazing
movie from James Cameron. But
it did get nominated for some
of the best picture that
snubs. Let's talk about actors
you got snubbed. Yeah. There's
a couple of them. I think
there are three. There was a
movie this past fall called
The Smashing Machine in which
Dwayne Johnson played in the
biography of a UFC fighter.
Dwayne Johnson is the rock. You
really prepared for this movie.
He really wanted to show
people that Dwayne Johnson was
not during action and comedy
in the movie The Smashing
Machine. I think the field was
just too crowded. So it was
Dwayne Johnson that did not
receive a nomination. Everyone
is talking about Ariana
Grande. She wasn't nominated
for Wicked for good. I could
have seen her in it. But
again, there's a crowded field
and there's only five people that
can be up. So Wicked for good
was locked out of every single
nomination. But I think
the very, very well with
eight total nominations. But
Paul did not get nominated
for his role in William Shakespeare.
Of course, Jesse Buckley, his
co-star, is the favorite
to invest actress during the
awards ceremony. So those
are probably the biggest snubs
there. I think the Oscars
was rather interesting this year
when you look at it. It was
a lot of big movies at the top
cabling and loud nominations
and we talked about it.
The center is 16 nominations.
One by ten out of 13.
Marty Supreme had nine
nominations. This movie
sentimental value that we talked
about from Broadway had nine.
Frankenstein has nine and
ham that has eight. So when
you look at it, it's very
top-heavy with the two heavy
weights centers in one
battle after another. And the
others, you can see movies
that were good.
Or is it just because these
films were so good?
You know, these are very, very
good films. I don't know. It's
interesting. I just think the
Academy had this mindset for
these particular movies are
those that nominated. It was
rather interesting. It's
always very interesting. I think
when they switched the best
text nominations from five to
ten several several years ago
because they thought this will
help more mainstream
textures get nominated.
I actually think it had the
opposite effect. We had
been having a lot more moderate
to limited release and foreign
films getting into place with
those ten because it's
interesting. Some of the biggest
movies of the year were not
nominated. We talked about
Avatar. We talked about wicked.
We talked about some of those
movies, and it was
in the video that they needed
to send to the journals to
the television. All the
conferences and news. And I
have to say sinners and one
directors, Ryan він, Paul
Thomas Anderson, delivered great
pictures. So we'll see what
happens. I think wicked could
have been a big Oscar winner
had they made one movie and
that broken up different. They
went for the money. They went
for the money. They got greedy
and I don't think wicked for
good was a good movie. I don't
think it was good at all. All the
good songs were in the first
half and half of wicked for good.
People just saying goodbye to
each other. I just I thought the
first one was fabulous. Just a
great movie. Second, I think they
had a stretch it out. That's
know? Let's talk about the
rassies real quick. The Golden
Raspberry Awards. These are the
first ones. They took the
worst pictures and they give
them some notoriety. And the
best pictures. I only heard of
one of these here. They got the
electric state. Hurry up
tomorrow. Snow White, which was
the live action Disney movie.
Star Trek section 31 and war
the world from last year. Give
you hear of any of these other
than Snow White. Well, the
biggest ones are Snow White,
which of course had its own
story. It was very interesting.
It was released by Lionsgate
and it starred the news
sensation the weekend. And
he is obviously very
accomplished, but the movie was
just kind of a little incomplete
and didn't pan out. So when
you look at that, you see Snow White
and hurry up tomorrow. I
haven't seen Star Trek 31, the
electric state award, the world.
Those are just so far into the
world. But I can tell you that
I think Snow White's pick
it and just went up that.
I just think that one. The
obvious pick right now because
of its underperformance. And
I think it's the one that the
razzies are going to pick on this
year. You know, I'd war the
made another remake of that? The
last remake I knew was with Tom
Cruz several years ago. I didn't
know they made another one war
the world. I mean, I didn't hear
it. You know, I can't even
remember it. So let's just say
that much. If I don't remember it,
man, it must not have, it must have
been a flip on the radar. All
right. I got some, uh, see if I
got some movie news here. I had
something here for you. Uh this
one of my favorite comedy horror
movies is Abbott and Justello
Meet Frankenstein. Remember that
movie? That was so good. They had
Dracula, the Wolfman, the invisible
man Frankenstein and Abbott and
John Mitchell are reuniting in a
horror comedy called Keenan and
Kale Meet Frankenstein. They'll
play delivery drivers who arrive
at a castle accident. He wake up
Frankenstein's monster. That's
the happened Justello movie.
Basically remaking it. All right.
One other story here. Of course
now I can't find it because I
got some involved in what we're
talking about. Um. Oh, this was
interesting. This is kind of a
fun fact. There was such low
speed in the movie Star Wars in
1977 that it was only shown on
or 76 or 77 only shown on
42 screens nationwide for its
opening weekend because they
thought nobody was going to go
see it. Who figured that out?
These executives, I don't
always know. All right. Got
about the 40 seconds here. What's
opening this weekend? All right.
We have got Lucy starring Chris
Pratt as the R rated cyber
server. We've got him that being
on the screen. And then he asked
the nominations there with Jesse
Buckley already winning the global
golden globe. So that hamlet
the PG 1338 piece movie. And then
we released on screens of the
movies that took our well got
nominated for many, many awards.
We had sinners coming back to
the big screen and one battle
after another. And as I said,
we're going to have all the best
picture nominations back on
Marcus theaters screens at
the end of the year.
We're going to have all the
the end of the year.
We're going to have all the best
picture nominations back on
the end of the year.
So much to talk about. I think
you are going to be talking about
the Oscars for quite some time
because the drama has only
started. And there's a lot more
story as awards season is now
in full full.
Thank you, Brett Hoffman.