April 19, 2024
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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
blech
Awards season…eh?
Are there really humans on the planet who think Bohemian Rhapsody, Vice, or really any of these are better than If Beale Street Could Talk? Of these I’ll pull for Green Book or Roma. But I thought Beale Street was great, and quite a bit better than Moonlight, which I liked. Hard to believe only two years after the Best Picture win, Jenkins’ superior follow-up gets only three nods.
First Man, Ethan Hawke, Mr. Rogers… hard to understand these noms.
Saw a comment that said Bohemian Rhapsody deserves a special Oscar for managing to effectively keep Bryan Singer’s name away from the movie. Also does anyone really believe Rami Malek when he claims that he was totally unaware of the Singer accusations when he took the role?
I said this elsewhere but this is the Oscar BYOB. The majority of the best 2018 movies I saw, the ones that really impacted and stuck with me, are directed by women. The Rider, Private Life, You Were Never Really Here, Can You Ever Forgive Me, and Leave No Trace. And that’s hardly a complete list of the excellent movies directed by women. That they were entirely shutout from picture and director is a joke. Overall this seems like an especially weak group of nominations. I know it’s not all bad, and I haven’t seen every nominee (including BR), but overall it’s not impressive.
Wonder if Private Life would have gotten more traction if it had been released by a studio. Netflix seemed to be ONLY interested in pushing Roma this year, Buster got its noms out of goodwill for the brothers. I know all studios tend to parse down the campaigns once the awards season’s narrative begins to emerge (widows is another example) but Private Life seemed to disappear from the conversation quite early.
I wonder the same. And it did seem to disappear quite early. Such a shame. It’s exceptional in every way. I’m so glad it exists but also so frustrated that it was never really part of the awards conversation. After The Savages where was Fox Searchlight? Can’t believe they didn’t want to be in the Tamara Jenkins business.
Slums of Beverly Hills was Searchlight as well. Its not like they had some uber heavy release slate this year that they couldn’t have given some attention to another title. They had like five releases this year. They already have two of the best films with Giamatti in their catalog, why not make it three?
1. BlacKkKlansman
2. A Star Is Born
3. The Favourite
4. Black Panther
5. Green Book
6. Roma
About 25 other movies
7. Bohemian Rhapsody
Another 25 or so movies
8.Vice
Worst snub is Won’t You Be My Neighbor? not getting nominated for Best Doc.
If “RBG” and “Free Solo” hadn’t also been b.o. hits, I would’ve said that “Neighbor?”–like numerous financially successful docs in the past–was penalized for its commercial success.
The only rationale I can think of is that its director won in the doc category a few years back (for a lesser film, no less), and they didn’t want to reward him again.
P.S.= Am I allowed to say that “Hale County This Morning” was one of 2018’s most egregiously overrated films (doc or otherwise)? Yeah, it’s gorgeous, but completely lacking in anything resembling a pulse. My favorite thing about it was the ultra-short (under 90 minutes) run time.
“Minding the Gap”–the only doc that made my 10-best list–is 100 times better.
What is going on with Under The Silver Lake? There are Region 2 import DVDs for sale on eBay.
Oscars: The Collette And Hawke snubs suck but A24 didn’t really campaign, did they? Happy for Paul Schrader and Sam Elliot. And if the mediocre Incredibles 2 wins I’ve Spiderverse it Isle of Dogs (which gets better with every viewing) it’ll be lazy and pathetic.
UTSL: April 19.
What makes a good documentary a good documentary? Is it formatting? Is it how interesting the subject matter? Should it feel educational? Should we feel compelled or connected emotionally? I remember thinking a few years back that the subject matter for Citizen X, is that the right title??, the Snowden documentary, was far more intriguing than the film itself. I can’t remember what it was I thought was lacking or too much of but at the time it didn’t exactly meet my expectations. Which, granted, may’ve been too high. I did learn a lot, which is of utmost importance but it didn’t stand out so much for me. I saw it in a screening with another nominee(s)? and I heard one guy telling the guy next to him almost the same thing.
At the same time, I don’t want to watch a doc that feels like VH-1 Behind the Music or NBC Dateline. I sometimes wonder what I should be looking for. If there’s not a certain air of stodginess does it have points deducted? Did the Acad think that Wont You Be My Neighbor played too much on emotions? As much as I could see around me, during and after the flick, and believe me I was definitely looking, everyone teared up at some point during that film. I just wonder if the Acad equated that to fluff, idk. I can’t say it was completely new and everything in it unexpected but I would’ve put it as a lock to have been nominated.
Thank you, Ray!
Also, Topher Grace should have Sam Rockwell’s nomination. He was wonderful.
Minding the Gap should win the doc award going away. It’s fucking tremendous, and that’s the type of doc I love the most. It’s there in the moment, and some retrospective docs never capture that feeling. If you haven’t watched it on Hulu… do it immediately.
Unusually entertaining group of films, given the narcissism of actors and their love of dreary actor-driven dramas.
Bill-Agree that Grace was very fine, but if they were looking to nominate another actor from “Vice,” I would’ve picked Steve Carell over Rockwell.
Carell’s Don Rumsfeld is equally good AND has considerably more screen time. As much fun as Rockwell is, it felt more like an extended cameo. And wasn’t Josh Brolin’s (un-nominated) take in Oliver Stone’s “W” really kind of definitive?
Triple O-Your theory for why “Neighbor?” wasn’t nominated (“played too much on emotions”) could be just as applicable to “RBG.” And that got in..and will probably win.
Morgan Neville’s second 2018 doc (“They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”) is maybe even better than “Neighbor?” He definitely deserved a slot.
On the Netflix front:
As groovy as the three “Buster Scruggs” nominations were, it’s kind of mind-blowing that film editors couldn’t deduce the inordinate difficulty involved in cutting “The Other Side of the Wind.” Just saying.
I have a very peculiar problem with Rockwell’s performance. And mind you I love Sam Rockwell.
My issue is that he already played this role in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He played Zaphod as a W clone. And to take it further that was the wrong way to play him. Zaphod isn’t dumb. He’s the coolest and smartest guy in the universe. And it annoys me to this day because the movie did so many other things right,
So…..there’s that.
Minding the Gap! One of the best movies of the year. Couldn’t agree more JS. See it happens.
Nothing would make me happier than “Gap” winning best doc.
But if anything upsets “RBG,” I’m betting on “Free Solo.”
Am I the only whose brain will explode if “Roma” wins Best Picture AND Best Foreign Film? And right now it seems to have more momentum than any of the other nominees.
As much as I love “Roma”–hell, it tied for #1 on my 10-best list–I think there’s something intrinsically wrong w/ a foreign language film competing w/ domestic
titles. I mean, isn’t that why the Foreign Film category was created in the first place?
Not trying to be jingoistic or anything, but it just patently seems unfair.
Wouldn’t Cuaron winning in the directing and cinematography categories, and “Roma” taking Best Foreign Film, be enough laurels for one movie?
Spread the wealth: geez!
And if an executive decision had been made that “Roma” could compete in the Best Picture category, it should have been ineligible for a BFF nomination. Maybe “Burning” would’ve gotten the fifth slot then.
I always thought that foreign films were always eligible for BP as long as they met the release criteria (why City of Men was nominated in foreign one year and best picture the next). And if it doesn’t win BP wouldn’t a foreign language Oscar be a nice parting gift? If anything I can see the dual nomination be a damper on the bigger prize with people thinking it will already get some recognition in the foreign category.
It’s a weird category, because “foreign” films are only foreign because of their language. Which is weird, because plenty of foreign productions are in English. And likewise there are some American productions in foreign languages. “Letters from Iwo Jima” was an American production, but with Japanese as the main language. So it’s just really imprecise, much like everything else the Academy tries to do.
The whole thing causes brain cell meltdown if you obsess. (As, lol, I’ve done on occasion.)
I’ll be OK w/ any movie winning BP (except UGH “Bohemian Rhapsody;” yes, even “Green Book” winning won’t cause an aneurism for me).
But I really, truly hope that “Roma” only wins one Best Picture award next month.
P.S.= And if “Roma” does win dual BP awards, can Spike Lee win Best Director?
Please?
Asking for a friend.
Surprised by the lack of recognition for The Other Side of the Wind, an important technical and historical achievement. Maybe worth the special Oscar they gave Inarritu last year. Including the excellent companion doc by most aggrieved Academy member this year Morgan Neville.
I think Best Foreign film is an exciting way to promote world cinema and make people see new worlds and perspectives which should be the whole point of awards, giving visibility and exposure to films that don’t have a quarter billion worldwide P&A like Panther and Rhapsody.
Best Picture awards the BEST film period. Regardless of language, type or whatever. To me it’s shocking that MORE animated, documentary and foreign film nominees don’t ALSO get BP. We can all think of worthy examples of winners in these categories which were superior to other BP noms in their year.
The fact that Roma has a good shot at winning BP on top of Foreign is precisely the system working, a movie not being unfairly dismissed for being from a different country or language and judged on equal footing.
I respectfully disagree, Sergio.
There should be clearly delineated rules (of eligibility) in each category. Otherwise, why bother at all?
The idea of the same film winning Best Picture and another “Best” category (whether foreign language film, animated feature or documentary) strikes me as patently unfair if now downright foolish.
I hate to think what lunacies a “Roma” dual win might inspire from the Academy re: next year’s awards ceremony.
“Best ‘Popular’ Movie” would just be the tip of a slippery iceberg/slope.
I’d like to see Cuaron win for Best Everything…Picture, Foreign Language Picture, Director, Cinematographer, and Screenplay. That would be an amazing night on so many levels. Most directors are not working this hard or well.
I would think there already are clearly delineated rules. As for the stick in the lane argument, lets rule out documentaries since the likelihood of one getting in the BP race, much less being the frontrunner is beyond an outside shot. Animated is more likely to double dip, and the prevention on that is to get rid of the animated category which is beyond useless due to the tiny sample of films that are competing against each other.
Foreign is the most likely and has received double nominations previously. So the first question is “Is it because of Roma?”. did you feel the same way when Amour was up for both? Or Crouching Tiger, which prior to now was the title with the best shot at winning both?
Foreign is also an odd duck because it does not encompass all foreign films but only one that is selected by the country itself. It is unlikely that the films in competition reflect the true cream of the crop of what is out there in international cinema. But if its a truly great film I don’t see the problem with the two category win since most people don’t pay attention to the smaller category at all.
Was Other Side of the Wind eligible for consideration? Did Netflix play it in theaters long enough? One person’s disruption is another person’s gumming up the works.
Not that I am or was ever a huge awards person, but I can’t remember the last time I cared so little about who wins Oscars this year. I don’t like Roma and I haven’t seen A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, The Favourite, Vice, or BlackKklansman. Can’t say I am full of a longing desire to see any of them either. Maybe I’ll passionately love one of them someday, but I have my doubts. I guess I’d be fine with Black Panther winning, but it’s not on my top 10 list. If you love Roma you definitely have a rooting interest, but if you don’t, I don’t know. Does anyone absolutely love any of the other nominees? Am I missing out on a masterpiece?
BlacKKKlansman was strong but not a masterpiece. Am excited to check out Favorite and Star is Born. Would not puke if Panther won. Not chomping at the bit about any of the other nominees. But have felt a rather strong bit of malaise regarding films all last year, I don’t know if its the films or just living in a pre-apocalyptic world but watching the films and the industry just isn’t the kick it used to be.
Screeners were sent.
Hcat- “Wind” played the requisite week for eligibility status in NY and LA.
I guess Academy voters–like most critics and Netflix subscribers, alas–thought it was old news. For shame.
SB- “Roma,” “Vice,” “Klansman,” “The Favourite,” ASIB” and “Green Book” (yes, even “Green Book,” if just for the Ali and Mortensen performances) are eminently worth seeing. The only “MUST TO AVOID” (in Robert Christgau parlance) is the indisputably icky-terrible “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Since “BR” was an unexpected blockbuster and the Elton John “Rocketman” is waiting in the wings, does that mean somebody is cobbling together a George Michael biopic as I type this blog-post? I guess every gay British rock star of the past 50 years will now be afforded their own big-screen biopic.
Not sure whether that’s progressive or retrograde. I just hope that any future iterations stink less than “BR.”
I’ve seen Roma. Green Book I doubt I’ll ever see. Good performances not enough to make me care. It’s a mom movie. She loved it and Bohemian Rhapsody. I’m mildly curious about The Favourite, Vice, ASIB, and BlackKklansman. But every time I had the chance to see one of them, I picked something else. And I can’t imagine liking any of them more than my faves. But you never know.
As of now I’m rooting for BLACKKKLANSMAN and Spike Lee. It’s the best thing he’s done in years. I found it thoroughly entertaining and rather moving. I didn’t mind the fictionalization. It’s par for the course in these types of movies.
However, I love Lanthimos so I need to get out and see The Favourite. That could change things.
A Black Panther win would be hilarious. I love it and think it’s great but it would cause a lot “cape genre” haters to flip their shit. People get too worked up. 868 movies were released last year. Off the top of my head only 6 were superhero films. Do they crowd the marketplace and take up screens? Yup. Because there is still demand.
Anyway….Annihilation was my favorite film of the year. Toni Collette and Ethan Hawke gave my favorite performances. Lynne Ramsay directed the fuck out of You Were Never Really Here. No statue is going to change my mind.
Would people flip their shit? Black Panther seems pretty universally beloved. I’m not sure there’d be some huge outcry. Maybe among racist fanboys but who cares about them.
Wasn’t sure where to put this.
Since this is the most regularly visited current thread, it seemed as good a place as any.
Looks like an even softer weekend than last; and w/ no Northeastern Snow Apocalypse to blame for the midwinter b.o. doldrums.
None of the Oscar nominees seem to be getting much of a boost.
I bet Aviron is sorry they ever bothered dusting “Serenity” off.
And Fox’s gamble w/ Cornish’s elaborate (non-“Potter”) British kid’s fantasy doesn’t seem to be paying off either.
(Does anybody know what the budget was?)
Rank* Title Friday
1/25
(Estimates)
1 GLASS
Universal
3,844 $4,980,000
+139.8% / $1,296
$59,521,135 / 8
2 THE UPSIDE
STX Entertainment
3,377 $3,100,000
+157.9% / $918
$54,004,846 / 15
3 THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING
Fox
3,521 $1,700,000
— / $483
$1,700,000 / 1
4 AQUAMAN
Warner Bros.
3,134 $1,700,000
+147.2% / $542
$310,904,074 / 36
5 SERENITY (2019)
Aviron
2,561 $1,600,000
— / $625
$1,600,000 / 1
6 GREEN BOOK
Universal
2,430 $1,402,000
+298.3% / $577
$44,991,486 / 71
7 SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
Sony / Columbia
2,383 $1,325,000
+164.3% / $556
$164,215,116 / 43
8 A DOG’S WAY HOME
Sony / Columbia
3,081 $1,125,000
+176.2% / $365
$26,734,525 / 15
9 ESCAPE ROOM
Sony / Columbia
2,192 $1,090,000
+162.5% / $497
$44,730,074 / 22
10 DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY
FUNimation Films
1,105 $890,000
+21.2% / $805
$26,103,823 / 10
11 MARY POPPINS RETURNS
Buena Vista
1,985 $726,000
+109.2% / $366
$162,617,010 / 38
12 BUMBLEBEE
Paramount
2,108 $655,000
+118.2% / $311
$119,076,152 / 36
– THE FAVOURITE
Fox Searchlight
1,540 $650,000
+222.9% / $422
$24,217,164 / 64
– BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
Fox
1,423 $615,000
+130% / $432
$203,961,796 / 85
– ON THE BASIS OF SEX
Focus Features
1,272 $526,000
+33.1% / $414
$19,500,007 / 32
– VICE
Annapurna Pictures
1,557 $476,958
+82.6% / $306
$40,823,680 / 32
– THE MULE
Warner Bros.
1,395 $410,000
+13.3% / $294
$98,894,703 / 43
– A STAR IS BORN (2018)
Warner Bros.
1,192 $310,000
+274.6% / $260
$205,375,785 / 113
– IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Annapurna Pictures
606 $241,036
+36.6% / $398
$11,745,776 / 43
– RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET
Buena Vista
1,029 $187,000
+50.9% / $182
$194,990,086 / 66
– DESTROYER
Annapurna Pictures
77 $50,079
+222.6% / $650
$768,577 / 32
– REPLICAS
Entertainment Studios
82 $10,000
-80.6% / $122
$3,968,122 / 15
$60 million for Kid Who Would Be King. Thought it would do better. Have seen the trailer before every kids movie I’ve seen in the last few months and both my kids want to see it. Not a good opening. And with so much of the country in a deep freeze two hours in a warm theater seems like a good idea.
I want to see Serenity. Sounds bonkers.
The Kid Who Would Be King screams, “WILL MAKE A GOOD CHUNK OF COIN IN GREAT BRITAIN, AND EVERYWHERE ELSE IS GRAVY!”. it’s literally the second film from Joe Cornish, and they didn’t even sell it as his. Yes. It’s a kid’s movie, but a good amount of people would have checked it out. If they knew who directed it. I know, that at some point this year, I will watch the damn thing. FOX is just running out the string at this point, so maybe they just didn’t feel like selling it.
I think you’re right JS. I read quite a few “holy shit did you know Joe Cornish directed this kids movie Attack the Block rules” pieces in the last week.
RE: Black Panther. I suppose so Stella but I read, on a daily basis, constant griping about ALL superhero movies . And I’ve encountered a lot of people that don’t like BP and don’t think it’s a good movie. Maybe it’s a small sample size but there is a contingent that wants this genre buried. Somewhat legitimizing it with an Oscar would make for some enraged think pieces.
SB-
Serenity” is batshit crazy!
Steven Knight’s head couldn’t be stuck any further up his ass.
What begins as a pleasant enough film noir evolves into some cosmic whatsit
in the third act that reminded me of the series finale of “St. Elsewhere.”
It ain’t “good,” but it’s different.
I gave it bonus points for audacity.
Haven’t seen a Cinema Score rating yet, but I’m guessing it’ll be pretty brutal.
Oh I’m sure it’ll be a D- at best, which only enhances my interest. I like the idea of respectable folks making crazy flicks that are generally hated. Batshit crazy sounds good to me.
The Black Panther hate I’ve seen has come from conservative kooks. But I can see snobs getting worked up about it, too. Anyone truly enraged by it winning BP has no real problems and is a doofus not worth bothering with.
January 25-27, 2019
Weekend – Boxoffice Mojo link