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
Quibi is a whole lotta nothing. No idea who would enjoy this.
Random musings encompassing YouTube, TCM and Prime:
While no Lost New Hollywood masterpiece (like, say, Charles Eastman’s “The All-American Boy” or Floyd Mutrux’s “Dusty and Sweets McGee”), “The Christian Licorice Store” is one helluva groovy movie.
Shot in L.A. during the year (1969) of the Manson murders, it’s a glorious distillation of the era: maybe the best of its kind next to Jaques Demy’s “The Model Shop,”
Speaking of Mutrux, I hadn’t realized that he wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film. Double wow.
And I had no idea Jean Renoir plays himself in a lovely extended cameo. It’s an even better “Famous Foreign Director Cameos In a New Hollywood Movie” cameo than Federico Fellini’s appearance in Paul Mazursky’s “Alex in Wonderland.”
Definitely one for the time capsule.
I also gave Noel Black’s “Jennifer on My Mind” (which I remember hating in 8th grade) another try.
It’s definitely better than my adolescent self remembered (and definitely superior to the previous year’s Black film “Cover Me, Babe”), and considerably more interesting, too.
Tippy Walker was like the missing link between Peggy Lipton and Maureen McCormack: weird how she just disappeared.
And I liked Michael Brandon, too. You would’ve thought his “Unmistakably Ethnic Young Actor” type would have had a sustained career in the era of Pacino, Hoffman and DeNiro. But aside from a 1972 Argento movie and 1978’s dismal “F.M.,” I can’t think of anything else he was in.
Speaking of DeNiro, I had forgotten he was in the movie. And Renee Taylor, too, although I really had no idea who she was until “Made for Each Other” which I saw three months later.
Watched a truly awful mid-’70s Liz Taylor Europudding (“The Driver’s Seat) which I’m pretty sure never opened in Manhattan back in the day.
I’m not sure whether it was a subpar Amazon Prime print or what, but it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen shot by Vittorio Storaro (!!) that looked like shit.
Not even an Andy Warhol cameo (not playing himself, surprisingly) could make it tolerable.
And Taylor looked (and acted) more like Divine than Divine looked (and acted) like Taylor.
Also finally caught up w/ Kubrick’s first movie, “Fear and Desire.” (I thought I’d seen it, but apparently hadn’t.)
I can sort of understand why Kubrick wanted to keep it hidden: for all intents and purposes, it really does play like a (very promising) student film.
Seeing a laughably young (and impossibly skinny) Pal Mazursky was a hoot, though.
Is the deal with Quibi that all of the short episodes will be feature length when added up? Are shows like 10 or 12 episodes that are 10 minutes long? I read through a couple pieces that reviewed all the shows and very little seems even mildly interesting. Certainly not enough there to make me want to subscribe. Will people be talking about it at all in a week?
Huge fan of aquatic horror. Plan to watch Sea Fever this weekend. Hear good things. And probably Trolls 2 if it keeps the kids quiet for 90 minutes. Would pay a lot for that privilege at this point.
Cannot imagine dealing with kids during this. My two cute little dogs are starting to annoy the shit out of me.
No idea about the long term deal with Quibi movies. I guess you could watch the whole thing in a few weeks? The problem is I dunno why anyone would want to watch any of them. Seems like an overly produced version of YouTube channels.
Quibi exploits loopholes in pay and residuals. Anticipating a journalistic deep dive….
I don’t know either Amblinman. The content doesn’t look all that interesting nor am I interested in quick bites at this time. Yeah the kids are driving us a little mad.
I haven’t given Quibi a shot. I enjoyed the Sharon Hogan, Chris O’dowd comedy State of the Union quite a bit. Though I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more as a hour to hour and a half tv special. My guess it might actually be an anti-piracy strategy. It’s very disruptive and a pain in neck to pirate ten ten minute episodes or so I’ve heard.