May 11, 2024
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Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
What does one do when the market begins to fall apart and the ad rates erode?
BUY! BUY! BUY!
this will be happening a lot, soon.
Wow, Brandon Gray doesn’t know shit about box office, and he’s a tool. Nice to keep things classy around here.
Uh… Martin…
I’ve enjoyed Box Office Mojo as a resource. I’ve spent hours on the site, looking at the numbers.
I don’t like these news, not on bit.
Thing is, there many sites out there that provide better coverage than BOM, and do so on daily basis. The reason why BOM became the de facto standard is because it stores it’s data much better than any other site does.
The databases (which, as David correctly predicted could be easily copied) is what makes the site both for regular visitors who just want to stare at the numbers and for the journalists who are foundamentally lazy.
Now there are still a number of notable shortcomings to the site, not the least of which is inability to sort by the international gross (and in my mind reflects the domestic foolish domestic-centrism of the media at large).
Which returns me to the my first point. Amazon already owns IMDb and now this. Conflict of interests, anyone? Amazon has never really been just another site or just another company…
BOM is, as stated, a fantastic tool. However, whenever it turned into an Ayn Rand lovefest, I’d try to back out of the room as slowly as possible.
“However, whenever it turned into an Ayn Rand lovefest, I’d try to back out of the room as slowly as possible.”
Heh, this is funny because I know exactly what you are talking about (as well as share your sentiment).
DP do you know if it was a cash and stock deal? Heard any detail about the deal? Brandon deserves it. The guy put in a lot of effort over the years.
And DP for you to retire in Bermuda (the place and shorts) how much you want for MCN?
BOM is the first thing I check when the computer comes on. Given what a jumbled mess IMDB is I would hope that Gray retains a lot of editorial control.
Hopefully this will allow them to find the resources to go farther back than 1980 in their box office history.
“Hopefully this will allow them to find the resources to go farther back than 1980 in their box office history.”
I doubt that it’s just a question of “resources”, at least not in the sense you are using. Exact box office figures are unavailable for a lot of older films or are not available easily.
Is it really that important to know the grosses of such and such films from yesteryear? I guess it’s like someone checking out baseball statistics and such, but I dunno, it’s kinda OCD-ish.
It’s definitely inside baseball, but it’s still useful and interesting, especially considering how we choose to remember certain movies. Just taking a quick look over there, who knew that Smokey and the Bandit II outgrossed The Shining, The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, or Urban Cowboy? And what were The Octagon or Rough Cut? They were the 37th and 41st highest-grossing movies of 1980, and I’ve never heard of them.
Hey now! (And I realize this isn’t your point, but for the record…)
Rough Cut was a Don Siegel heist movie with Burt Reynolds and one of the “Lesley-Anns” (I never know which is which), and The Octagon was an early Chuck Norris starring vehicle, from his flat-haired, pre-beard days.
Looks like somebody didn’t have HBO in 81-82.
That is surprising about Smokey II, though. (Mostly because it’s such a weird sequel and something I’d have assumed turned off fans of the original… guess Burt just had the golden touch then.)
Ha! Now I’m hooked on this shit too:
Who knew ON GOLDEN POND outgrossed SUPERMAN and BOND in 1981????????
Henry and Jane Fonda hanging out with loons in a New England cabin was bigger than the Man of Steel.
Seriously, imagine today something like VENUS making more money than Spider-Man.
I was 4 in 1981-82, so while I do remember the re-releases of The Aristocats and Song of the South (in 1980!) My HBO viewings wouldn’t kick in for another year or two(Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, and Cannonball Run II).
“That is surprising about Smokey II, though. (Mostly because it’s such a weird sequel and something I’d have assumed turned off fans of the original… guess Burt just had the golden touch then.)”
Smokey II only grossed about half of the original’s gross, so that sounds kinda standard for the unoriginal sequel effect.
Smokey II grossed about a fourth of what the first one did which was somewhere around 175 and the second highest gross of the year after Star Wars which we would be able to see if BOM went back farther. The original Superman was actually the third biggest of 78 behind Grease and Animal House. How did Earthquake do compared to the Last Detail? These are things I want to know. I know the records are spotty but I am sure its simply a matter of getting into a college library’s variety microfiche and transcribing numbers. I don’t need it to go back the Nickelodein days, maybe only 1960 or so.
And Brack it is totally OCDish and I will admit that I fully indulge this tendancy by pouring over these numbers for hours and nerdily making my own lists and spreadsheets from the data. If the web was not set up to encourage useless data overload than what the hell good is it.
That’s odd, you’d think for a film like Smokey that there’d be a more accurate number listed.
“Who knew ON GOLDEN POND outgrossed SUPERMAN and BOND in 1981????????”
Well, SUPE 2 was an Xmas ’80 release, so the comparison is rather invalid. And FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was one of the lowest-grossing 007s, due to the decision to try an old-fashioned Ian Fleming-style thriller instead of another of the gadget-laden goonfests that the series had descended to.
Who knew THE BOATNIKS made 50 million?