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
The Mendes and “1917” “surprises” are two that I can definitely live with.
But, putting it in perspective, “Bohemian Rhapsody” did win the GG for “Best Motion Picture Drama” last year.
Eek; shudder; sigh.
Other than guaranteeing it a “Best Picture” win, can someone explain why/how Tarantino was slotted in the “Best MP Comedy/Musical” category?
I’m stumped.
It would have been easier to rationalize putting “JoJo Rabbit” in the “Comedy/Musical” category, wouldn’t it?
JoJo Rabbit was in the comedy/musical category.
The way I view how the GG categorizes movies is that if the drama category becomes crowded, they take the best awards-worthy dramas that have even an inkling of comedic qualities and shift those over to the secondary comedy/musical category. That way they get to invite everyone to their fancy party.
You’re right, Palm. It WAS in the “Comedy/Musical” category.
Shows how closely I pay attention to GG in the lead-up to their TV show, lol.
Which, admittedly, was hugely entertaining (as usual).
I actually enjoyed Gervais’ unbridled nihilism masquerading as an opening monologue.
And some of the acceptance speeches (incl. Ellen, Hanks, M. Williams) were smashing, although I was a bit puzzled that Hanks neglected to mention Leo in his laundry list of past costars.
After all, Hanks and DiCaprio both did some of their very best work in “Catch Me if You Can.”
The same can’t be said of Hanks and Streep in “The Post.”
As usual, GG spoils me for the rest of the annual televised awards shows.
CC is just so sloppy and amateurish, and the Oscars are always much too sanctimonious and draggy/snoozy.
Oh, yeah.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mark Zuckerberg joke was one of the comic highlights of the evening.
Wait but does Ricky Gervais care or does he not care? It’s really not clear. You couldn’t pay me enough to watch that smug asshole host an awards show. Tucker Carlson’s favorite celebrity! Pass. This latte sipping and avocado toast eating SJW is bored with Gervais’s annual effort to shout about how edgy and above it all he is. Honestly didn’t even know the show was on last night until I saw promos while watching football.
I watched Luce yesterday. So, so good. For sure one of my 2019 favorites.
I thought “Luce” had a terrific first act, SB, but it sort of fell apart for me in the second half.
Great performances, though, and I loved how dynamic it was visually–esp for something that began its life as a stage play.
Yeah I’ve seen a lot of people say they think it falls apart in the second act. I was waiting to feel that way but I never did. Found it consistently challenging and fascinating. And indeed the performances are incredible. Harrison is a star in the making. Need to see Waves stat.
The range Harrison demonstrates just between “Luce” and “Waves” eludes most actors–even the biggest stars–in a lifetime of performances.
Bow.
What the Globes taught us:
Lesson 1: Your acting winners for the Oscar are Phoenix, Zellweger, Pitt, Dern (barring some sort of major upset at the SAGS)
Lesson 2: Tarantino just slipped off the front track just a little bit with his terrible speech. I’ve seen speeches like that bring down a perfectly good Oscar campaign, and that is a major misstep.
Lesson 3: Scorsese probably lost a little steam from his Marvel comments, which did not sit well with tech industry people who put their work up all the time in Marvel and other tentpole films. They certainly think it’s cinema. And I surmise this, with the fact that I’m in the industry as a tech myself. (This is not a Globes lesson – this lesson will manifest itself when the tech people are allowed to vote for nominations and BP.)
Lesson 4: Netflix hasn’t quite got the rules of the Oscar game down yet.
Lesson 5: Yes, Phoenix was just as off-putting with his remarks as Tarantino was, but there’s a major difference between Joaquin and QT. Phoenix has no one behind him to take the tarnish of his win off the stunning performance that also has a bit of overdue status – considering his work in The Master and Her. Banderas? Egerton? Driver? No one can eclipse Phoenix’s work, no matter how many times he berates the press. QT, on the other hand, can’t afford to appear egotistical with people like Bong Joon-Ho and Sam Mendes providing stunning work that matches OUATIH, or Baumbach’s words matching QT’s in the Original Screenplay race.
Ugh it’s Phoenix’s worst performance and it’s so unfortunate that after so much incredible work in vastly superior movies he’ll win for the remarkable bore that is Joker. Overrated performance in a very bad movie.
Actually I think Ricky G. should have an award show tour. Go and skewer everyone in all the venues. Hell, he even warned them beforehand it was all jokes, but they still couldn’t handle it.
Not here to defend rich celebrities but is it that they can’t handle it or that it’s tired and not funny anymore? He’s been doing the same shtick five years in a row now. It’s boring. “I totally don’t care!” “Celebrities: they are the worst” (hey thanks for the tens of millions Netflix!). “Look everyone I am so edgy!” I know the MAGA crowd thinks making fun of Hollywood = peak comedy (irony alert) but maybe Gervais just isn’t all that funny. Cohen’s joke was light years better than anything Gervais said. Time for Gervais to pack it up.
I think Ricky Gervais is a total bore. Clearly David Brent wasn’t that much of a “creation”.
But then Phoenix got on stage and without a hint of irony praised the brave stance the Globes took by using plant based food for dinner.
Phoenix in Joker: I don’t agree that it’s a bad performance necessarily, I think it’s more that the writing is so bad there isn’t anywhere for him to go. Fleck at all times is portrayed as: mentally ill, childlike in his view of the world while obsessed with pornography, and then finally a…burgeoning criminal mastermind. Okay? Project was a dud in conception, development, and execution. I do think Phoenix did the best he could but the worst choice he made as an actor was saying yes to the movie.
The worst part of Joker’s success? We will be subjected to “Todd Phillips: Auteur” now.
I think that’s fair amblinman. The writing is atrocious. But I definitely think it’s his least interesting performance. He bored me. I can’t recall ever feeling that way about a Phoenix performance before. There are countless better performances from actors in 2019, starting with the aforementioned Harrison.
I thought Ricky’s monologue was ultimately a critique of capitalism. Stars being hypocrites and playboys is pretty standard comedy roast stuff, but calling out Apple to Tim Cook’s face is definitely something strange to see conservatives applauding.
@ SB, he hadn’t hosted since 2016 so I don’t where he’s been making the same jokes 5 years in a row lol.
I mean, I’m a fan and I don’t even keep up with him as much as you seem to.
So glad I have better things to do with my life than faint outrage at any rich asshole who calls out other rich assholes for being obnoxious and pretentious.
Not outraged Serg. Just talking about the globes and their host as you know this is a thread about, you guessed it, the globes. Now excuse me I need to get back to my real job which is hosting an anti-Ricky Gervais podcast called “I Used to be Funny Once but That Was a Long Time Ago Now I’m Just a Bitter Old Rich White Guy Making the Same Jokes Over and Over Again.”
“I mean, I’m a fan and I don’t even keep up with him as much as you seem to.
So glad I have better things to do with my life than faint outrage at any rich asshole who calls out other rich assholes for being obnoxious and pretentious.”
…but just one post on a fairly obscure blog (apologies, Dave) makes you clench so hard you have to disrupt that fulfilling life to let “Stella’s boy” know how you feel about Ricky Gervais.
amblin FTW.
Well, Joker did provide us with this gem…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkjjpc_8YgA
Damn it Pete I can’t unsee that.