THB #93: The Batman (no spoilers)
| March 6, 2022
-30-
May 1, 2022
"Netflix, the great disrupter whose algorithms and direct-to-consumer platform have forced powerful media incumbents to rethink their economic models, now seems to need a big strategy change itself. It got me thinking about the simple idea that my film and TV production company Blumhouse is built on: If you give artists a lot of creative freedom and a little money upfront but a big stake in the movie’s or TV show’s commercial success, more often than not the result will be both commercial (the filmmakers are incentivized to make films that will resonate with audiences) and artistically interesting (creative freedom!). This approach has yielded movies as varied as Get Out (made for $4.5 million, with worldwide box office receipts of more than $250 million), Whiplash (made for $3.3 million, winner of three Academy Awards), The Invisible Man (made for $7 million, earned more than $140 million) and Paranormal Activity (made for $15,000, grossed more than $190 million).From the beginning, the most important strategy I used to persuade artists to work with me was to make radically transparent deals: We usually paid the artists (“participants” in Hollywood lingo) the absolute minimum allowable by union contracts upfront, with the promise of healthy bonuses based on actual box office results—instead of the opaque 'percentage points' that artists are usually offered. Anyone can see box office results immediately, so creators don’t quarrel with the payouts. In fact, when it comes time for an artist to collect a bonus based on box office receipts, I email a video clip of myself dropping the check off at FedEx to the recipient."
Jason Blum Sees Room For "Scrappier" Netflix
| April 30, 2022
"As a critic Gavin was entertaining, wry, questioning, sensitive, perceptive"
Critic-Filmmaker Gavin Millar Was 84; Films Include Cream In My Coffee, Dreamchild
April 29, 2022
| January 24, 2022
DP/30 Audio: Bombshell, Jay Roach
| December 13, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Jonathan Majors
| December 4, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Mustang, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
| December 4, 2019
In order of the listing:
1.) 41 is way too early to go.
2.) Only saw one of the films nominated for Best Picture so…? (shrug)
3.) How about we let the voters decide the President?
Instead of the Electoral College? That would be a fantastic idea, hell there might not have been the upsurge in hatecrimes, the supercharging of debt, Iran would not be developing Nuclear Weapons again, we wouldn’t be separating families at the border as a matter of policy, and our ambassadors would serve at the pleasure of the President and not the pleasure of foreign nationals with money to toss around.
The minority of voters did decide the President, they just decided upon a crook. Was Congress just supposed to let everything go? Completely ignore the Whistleblower complaint? Its bad enough to demand fealty to the President from his own political party but to expect the opposition to bow their heads in the same fashion is absurd.
Hcat, my guy, please allow me to quote the nation’s greatest mind: “If the president does something which he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
Case closed. But not really of course. Republicans are a farce at this point. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and dangerous.
I don’t know how much I was expecting The Rhythm Section to make, but it was certainly more than that!
And next on deck for Paramount? Sonic.
Its like watching a Goldfish whose carnival baggie broke flopping an a July sidewalk trying to draw a breath.
Worst opening ever for a movie playing in 3,000 theaters. Was also not expecting that. Bad title. Poor marketing. I’m intrigued as I like the idea that when it comes time to take action she’s terrible and has no idea what she’s doing. Don’t see that enough in movies that feature an ordinary person turned action hero.
‘Don’t see that enough in movies that feature an ordinary person turned action hero’
And that sentence is my cue to bring up the wonderful Transiberian. A wonderfully tight little thriller with an outstanding cast. And one of its many joys is that when all the chips are on the table the mild mannered husband played by wonderful Woody Harrelson does not become an action hero but is realistically out of his depth, if this guy was in North by Northwest he would have plummeted to his death in the finale. For me, its one of those perfect 3 and a half star movies, its not one of the best movies ever made, but it probably could not be any better.
From today’s Hollywood Reporter article on Parasite:
“Still, even the most seasoned box office analysts said that the South Korean film would top out at no more than $20 million in the U.S.”
I’m blushing.
I like that movie Hcat. Good call. I like Brad Anderson a lot. It also happens a little bit in The Brave One. When Jodie Foster turns vigilante she can’t hit the broad side of a barn at first. And go Parasite.
Oh and Uncut Gems is about to pass Lady Bird and become A24’s highest domestic grosser.
y’all are on an express elevator to hell, and it’s gonna get worse
(was there ever a thread on ‘uncut gems’? i have thoughts. ‘the machinist’, ‘session 9’ and ‘transiberian’ are a serious trifecta of good flicks, anderson’s shit the bed a bit since but he’ll always have that threepeat)
Leah,
it will be just like last time, he will be given a free pass from his cronies and celebrate by committing another flagrant crime tonight. Maaaaaybe one too big for them to ignore? I mean I honestly don’t know what it would take.
Nothing matters anymore. Newt Gingrich tore this country apart and shamed himself during his tenure as Speaker of the House and yet he’s just outraged by Speaker Pelosi tearing up the speech last night. Republicans who said nothing or cheered when a congressman yelled “you lie” at Obama and who champion our vulgar president who sleeps with porn stars and turns the State of the Union into a campaign rally are just outraged by Speaker Pelosi tearing up the speech. Nothing matters. Express elevator to hell sums it up well.
That is a good trifecta. His features haven’t been great lately but he’s done some good TV work.
you are essentially a fledgling kleptocratic autocracy now, about which many experts (who have seen this all before) predicted/tried to sound the alarm. warnings went unheeded.
again: once an autocrat and their enablers take power it is extremely difficult to oust them — one major reason being because they now have power over the very apparatus that works to maintain fragile democracy.
you’re in the grip of a minority cult. the rubicon has passed. the fix is in. they know it, and you should, too, because the time for heads in the sand and denial is over. the US corporate ‘news’ media is a catastrophic failure at identifying and holding to account blatant immoral and criminal conduct.
all you have is you, THE PEOPLE. what’s worth standing up for because it’s gonna get rough
RIP Kirk Douglas. It always helps hearing about someone’s passing to know he more than likely lead a full and long life. He is someone I have only gotten around to a deeper dive in recently, Ace in the Hole, OK Corral, and Last Train to Gun Hill (Damn, what a great title) and others in the last decade and seeing Lonely are the Brave and The Vikings just in the last year.
Magnetic screen presence and I have never seen anytime where he simply walked through a role. He brought his A game every time, even in goofier films like The Fury and The Villian (he was certainly having a better time making it than anyone watching it). Where would Kubrick’s career be without him?
If you’re doing a deep dive into Kirk Douglas films, check out his theatrical movie debut – The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).
A classic Film Noir with a great cast of Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, and Lizabeth Scott. Amazing way to start a career.
Thanks for the tip, always happy for suggestions, especially for older titles.
Now I just have to get my mitts on a copy of Champion.
authoritarianism 101.1:
the mob boss retaliates. the sadistic abuser – given free reign – is just getting warmed up. fascist regimes follow a playbook. study history — it repeats.
“what would i have done?”
you’re doing it. sadists and the spineless, snivelling cowards greasing the wheels for them count on you feeling helpless, rely on apathy. don’t oblige. doing what’s right rather than easy is rarely effortless
in other news i just saw a bizarre ‘sonic the hedgehog’ trailer that seemed like 20cuts in 10 seconds at 3x normal speed. sonic the meth-head. what is even happening