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."
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| 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
I’ll discuss the movie more once folks have a chance to see it, as going in blind is the best way. But coming out deaf is the problem. I love Nolan, but he has to get his sound mixing under control. There were sections where I have no idea what the dialogue was because you can’t hear it. This has been an issue in his last few films. My ears physically hurt after seeing Dunkirk, and the the theater actually put up a “volume warning” at the ticket booth. Too bad it was a week after I’d seen it.
Scott Mendelson, who used to post here, said it best in Forbes: “For a film that’s supposed to show audiences that theatrical moviegoing is worth saving, Tenet will probably play better on Blu-ray with the subtitles turned on.”
Still glad I saw it on the IMAX though.
Seeing it Friday night at a drive-in. Really excited, haven’t been to a drive-in in years, and of course haven’t gone to the movies in 6 months or whatever it is. Never thought I’d be seeing a new Nolan film with what I assume will be pretty lousy picture and sound quality, but here we are. Definitely not sitting in a theater with a bunch of other people for a couple hours. I’m sure this will be awesome but I thought the first teaser looked a bit Inceptiony. I’m not too worried about Nolan repeating himself, I’m sure their are numerous completely original mind-blowing set pieces, but I kinda hope Nolan does something weird and really stretches himself next time out.
Making “smart movies” that actively belittle and poke fun at the notion that some may not be able to “try and keep up” as JDW says in the movie is I guess, one way to alienate and be condescending towards people giving you money. Trying not to spoil, but using long-debunked quack science as the logic brain for your new puzzle is all good, just don’t pretend like WE are the dumb ones for wanting the often enjoyable experience of understanding the point A to point B (HA! See thermodynamics, wink) dramatic progression and not thinking “about reality (movies/stories really) in a new way”. Trust me, Tenet is no 2001.
It’s hilarious to me that fanboys keep saying Nolan is merely uninterested in spoon feeding lazy moviegoers when ALL of the movie is exposition!!! For every scene that is actually about a character making an emotional discovery (not informational) there’s three of characters learning new information by jetting off halfway around the world for expositional lunch or walk-and-talks where spies and sources finish each other’s sentences as they expose plot. It’s less Shane Carruth by design than by exhaustion.
This may be a highly personal take but yet another Nolan film where his intellectual hubris overpowers the exploration of actual dramatic, emotional depth. Cool and loud but so are Transformers (final act is actually Halo the movie). And the science in those is likely equally as intellectually valid regardless of how Tenet wants you to feel.
6/10
AT&T-Warner had an asset with a built-in big opening. Now they do not. Why deplete assets when you are not replacing them?
David will know much more, but it appears that AT&T Warner pissed away hundreds of millions in box office, and a hundred million in profit. In isolation, the flaws of the film, Nolan’s films, show in high relief. Ironically, Nolan, blowing off the pandemic, looks, and is, as callous and anti-science as Trump.
We have so little film journalism, just features writers, and access journalism at best. This would be an interesting story.
Can’t argue with that Bob.
I figured by now DP would have written 15,000 words on Tenet’s weekend box office and why everyone else’s take is wrong and nobody knows anything.
It’s sad as IMAX is my preferred choice of seeing a film, but I understood the dialogue much better the second time I saw Tenet in a regular format.
Still confused, but maybe the third time is the charm?
Some people seem to want to get covid.
An online pun: “Branch COVIDians.”
So on the third viewing of Tenet, things clicked into place. Maybe because I was better rested after weeks of overtime, or maybe because I knew what to look for. Tenet will never be Inception, but it’s an improvement over Interstellar. Still looking forward to when there’s some subtitles.