April 25, 2024
The Hot Blog
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
YancySkancy on: Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
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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
It would have been nice to have had a BYOB about the thing we’re not supposed to talk about in this BYOB first…
Okay then…why not shut The Hot Blog down? It’s more than half abandoned at this point, there are only a few of us that still post anything here, you didn’t even link your post-Oscar column here so I had to stumble into it over at Movie City News, you don’t write so much nowadays as imbed videos anyways, so what’s the point of having The Hot Blog? You do more writing on your Twitter feed.
How about a BYOB “vote on the future of this blog/say goodbye to this blog”? Not that any of us can vote you back into writing like you used to at the Hot Button site, but at least you’ll get some kind of consensus.
i hate seeing people post something and twist in the wind all by themselves so i’ll add:
i think it’s a given by now that DP has lost interest in this ‘format’ and it seems like that ship has sailed, but i guess for selfish reasons i’d hate to see the hotblog just shut up shop because it’s the general movie blog i read/comment on and the thought of trying to acclimate to the other movie blogs freaks me out, i guess it’s like an old shoe for better or worse…
DP if you read this, have you ever considered ordaining an ‘assistant’ to just post interesting/provocative subjects from the current movieshere, giving people who come here something to talk about? i guess that sounds kind of tinpot and it’s a departure from the current format, but at least it would keep the blog alive and give your little family of misfits somewhere to discuss stuff (and hopefully attract a wider range of commenters again), and you could then post your points of interest as you see fit… just a thought anyway
So that’s one vote for keeping the blog alive and one vote for hiring an appealing white girl who likes getting handsy.
DP’s protege didn’t quite work out as we see.
Leah: Why don’t you and I tag team as assistants? In addition to keeping the conversation going, we could generate some erotic tension in our spirited give and take. And since there’s an entire ocean separating us, you’d never have to worry about me actually, you know, showing up at your front door.
Lotsa fodder on that front page.
What are the odds that the sex scene I just saw in “300 Part 2” is more erotic than anything from NYMPHOMANIAC?
Actually, that sylized/animated scene is more memorable than anything from PEABODY & SHERMAN, sadly. Dreamworks has morphed from a slightly worse/more conventional Pixar to a slightly better/less conventional Blue Sky. Actually, this is tracking below Blue Sky’s last eminently forgettable effort, EPIC, and will undoubtedly be crushed by RIO 2.
“Actually, that sylized/animated scene is more memorable than anything from PEABODY & SHERMAN, sadly.”
It’s asking a bit much of a children’s film to go head to head on that level, don’t you think?
Yeah, I also chuckled at that – nothing but obsessive Oscar coverage for months and months, then post a big “non-Oscar talk BYOB” like 2 days after the Oscars? Haha. WTF? There was barely anywhere to discuss them in the first place – like 10 comments after that coffee post.
I’ve never watched a DP/30 and don’t see how the stuff he writes for twitter is 1/100th as interesting or fun to read as some of those long-form columns he used to do about this or that, or even his actual movie reviews, but to each his own. I’ve been winding down coming here and I imagine I’ll stop entirely soon but I’ll always follow Dave whatever he’s up to to some extent.
Random aside: NOAH’S ARK is an iconic and cool-sounding title for a movie. The title NOAH is super boring, could be an Alexander Payne character piece about an accountant from Stamford.
I’ve occasionally followed Dave’s Twitter feed and it’s not particularly geared to an outside audience, anyway. Half of it are references to things only industry and media insiders have a clue about, and the other stuff is so short that it carries no punch. Twitter just doesn’t work as a media tool other than to tweet out quick newsbites.
Let’s not forget that MCN is the best curated film website out there, with the widest range of topics/links. No one is forcing any of you to be here.
“Random aside: NOAH’S ARK is an iconic and cool-sounding title for a movie. The title NOAH is super boring, could be an Alexander Payne character piece about an accountant from Stamford.”
The title NOAH sounds like something I’d see on a DVD in the 99 cent bin at a BigLots or slumping over on a shelf at Goodwill. NOAH’s ARK is a better title, THE ARK is a better title, AFTER ME THE DELUGE is a better title. Is there a latin phrase anything like “Reductio ad (meaninglessness)”?
“Let’s not forget that MCN is the best curated film website out there, with the widest range of topics/links. No one is forcing any of you to be here.”
Well to your first point, no one here is criticising or even discussing MCN. There was no need for you to defend it in this instance.
To your second point, you missed my point. Those of us, the few remaining of us, who come here to discuss and debate and engage with what David blogs are loyal and regular visitors; and we’re increasingly frustrated by what seems to have become now the shadow of a husk of what the blog used to be when it captured us.
And like Breedlove and I have noted, it’s a bit irksome to come here after one of the biggest talking point events in movies and get “BYOB: About Anything But The Oscars” from a guy who couldn’t stop micro-vivisecting everything about the Oscars for the last five months. And then he goes and puts up a post-Oscars piece on MCN without nary a mention or reposting of it here.
This blog is David’s blog, and it’s his to do with whatever he feels like doing with it. But as current attendance levels seem to show, he’s blogging to attrition.
With how colon happy Paramount is I’m suprised its not Noah: The Flood.
Love the disclaimer they are putting in front of it that it is an interpretation and not a literal translation, hope they do the same with Hercules later this year.
“It’s asking a bit much of a children’s film to go head to head on that level, don’t you think?”
Hahaha, I was thinking more on the lines of “Dragon’s” flying scenes, Panda’s fighting scenes or “Madagascar’s” wig buffoonery, but at this point, maybe that’s the direction to go in;)
So much good stuff in the next month that I haven’t had the chance to see…”Budapest Hotel,” “Under the Skin,” “Enemy,” “Nymphomaniac,” “Bad Words,” “The Raid: 2” and that doesn’t count stuff like “Muppets,” “Divergent” and “Noah.” Usually late August/early September is like this….a ton of stuff that studios figure isn’t quite Oscar-worthy, but that I end of liking better much of the time. It’s like Christmas coming twice this year.
What do you think Disney is counting on Muppets to do? I can’t turn around without seeing them plastered on something, I don’t think the marketing for Iron Man 3 was this omnipresent.
“Budapest Hotel” should have no trouble doing $100,000+ per-screen this weekend in “limited release.”
Not sure whether its final domestic cume will be in the “Tenenbaums”/”Moonrise” ballpark or closer to a typical Wes ($20-million and change).
I’d love for “Hotel” to gross a billion dollars worldwide, but we all know that ain’t gonna happen.
Sigh.
Yeah the marketing is over the top… “Muppets” seems like it has a pretty low ceiling….$100 million domestic, $200 million worldwide seems like the high point, and that’s if they knock it out of the park again critically since Muppets fans I would think are more inclined to read reviews after stuff like “Muppets in Space.”
Can never tell with Wes Anderson re: grosses. $25 million seems a given, but he’s never had a March release so who knows? Summer worked out well.
ha joe (i wasn’t hinting for the ‘assistant’ role or anything fwiw, just general spitballing – i’m like a jamaican from that ‘in living color’ skit with five jobs at the moment), but we’d probably do a pretty kickass blog i imagine, not that i know the first thing about doing a blog
“…but he’s never had a March release”
You’re forgetting “Bottle Rocket,” Et.
That was a March release 18 years ago.
Of course, that was before Wes Anderson became “Wes Anderson” and developed a fervent fan base through home video.
Sony did such a piss poor job of “releasing” “BR” you’d swear they didn’t want anybody to see it.
Opening (pretty much) the same day as “Fargo” didn’t help matters.
Hallick: “Blogging to attrition,” eh? I like that. Better still, I’ll likely steal that.
From what I recall Sony was not thrilled about releasing bottle rocket and only did so because James brooks championed it.
Not coincidentally, Wes has never made another movie for Sony.
Though in fairness, Sony doesn’t go for his kind of movie anyway. (Sony Classics, maybe.)
So now it’s racist to say that Little Orphan Annie’s supposed to have curly red hair. What does it mean, then, when I dismissed MAN OF STEEL entirely when I found out Lois didn’t have black hair?
’tis true, Cad.
He’s mostly worked for boutique labels like Searchlight and (the former) Focus.
Weird that a corporate behemoth like Disney once bankrolled him, though.
Oh my, the article on the front page attacking the racists who said Annie can’t be black links to one of their own articles arguing that Justin Timberlake is too young to be Daddy Warbucks. How ageist! Then the writer goes on to say “doesn’t Daddy Warbucks have a big bald head?”
I think I just overheard the pot making a slur about the kettle.
Not just one of their own articles, but an article written by the EXACT SAME WRITER.
Gee I dunno what everybody’s tizzy is with skin color. The project pretty much lost all of my support when they decided to go with something else black: pupils.
I’m just wondering what this’ll do to all those girls who were forced over the years to wear the fright wig after being told that without the wig no one will know you’re Annie.
And if you don’t have curly red hair then you’re a nameless disposable background character.
It brings to mind a kerfuffle in the Batman letters column many years back when someone complained that no two artists drew Wayne Manor the same way. I believe it was comics great Howard Chaykin who replied “Wayne Manor? How about Bruce Wayne? Nobody draws him the same, either.” And yet all the artists still stuck within certain parameters; no one ever said “Screw it, this month I’m making him Asian.”
He could be asian under the mask. Who knows?
Honestly, if by some miracle you found someone who had never heard of batman and showed them Adam West vs. Christian Bale, they’d have a hard time believing it’s supposed to be the same character.