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BYO Flying Or Pink Elephants

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110 Responses to “BYO Flying Or Pink Elephants”

  1. movieman says:

    “Dumbo” isn’t “great,” but it is very good: much better than the majority of reviews would indicate.
    Michael Keaton and Eva Green (in her “straightest” performance to date) are the thesping standouts.
    Have lots of minor quibbles (i.e., the p.c. 21st century anti-circus message is laid on a bit thick), none of which ruined it for me.
    See it in 2-D.

  2. Sideshow Bill says:

    Hey so I almost died. I’m on my 11th day of a hospital stay for pneumonia that turned septic (sepsis killed my wife in 2013). 6 days intubated. Might be going home today. Holy shit, huh? Death can happen to anyone apparently . Gonna be off work on oxygen and physical therapy for about a month which, while not great (list wages but friends and family cane through on a GoFundMe my daughter setup) will give me lots of time to get caught up on moving picture shows. Very happy to still be here and glad I won’t miss JSP’s Endgame thoughts and, actually, Endgame. I literally thought stuff like that the night before I went under. Not a cliche. Gonna cherish movies more as well as the rest of my life .

    Peace, HBloggers

  3. Stella's Boy says:

    So sorry to hear that Bill. Glad you’re ok and going to pull through. Sounds pretty scary. Take care and recover quickly.

  4. Christian says:

    I’m glad you came through it, Bill. Happy movie watching! I’m headed today to the funeral of a seminary professor and church member who was diagnosed with cancer last year. We thought he might have turned a corner just a month or two ago, but right as his treatments were about to shift, the cancer spread and took him quickly. Very sad.

  5. movieman says:

    That sounds terrible, Bill. Glad you’re pulling through.
    As someone who’s had more than their share of medical-related issues in recent years, I can definitely relate.
    Glad you’re planning to use your recovery time…productively.
    Enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Sometimes they’re all we’ve got.

  6. Sideshow Bill says:

    So those Dumbo numbers are underwhelming. Maybe releasing 4 live action films based on your animated stuff was a bit too much? I think Lion King is safe money, and Avengers will buoy everything but it still seems foolhardy to me have so much product out there so close together. Plus Frozen 2 and Star Wars ending for a while. Not that there is any concern for them but still. Families only have so much time and $$.

    Even despite my brush with death I’m very excited for Pet Semetary. A week ago, not so much. But I’m a horror fan in my bones and that’ll never change. Hope to see US this week.

  7. Stella's Boy says:

    Yeah not great. $170 million budget. Going to have to make a ton of money worldwide.

    Can’t wait for Pet Semetary. PS ’89 was my first R rated movie in a theater. Was scared shitless and loved every second of it. Huge turning point for me. Hoping new one is as good as the hype and not just a case of festival inflation.

  8. Sideshow Bill says:

    Thank you all for the kind words. It’s nice to hear in such sour times.

    As long as PS keeps a bit truer to the novel (I want some Wendigo!) I don’t think I’ll mind all the changes. Also, won’t have the lousy Midkiff performance although in fairness in 1989 it didn’t seem so weak. Matching Zelda will be a challenge though. The original did absolutely nail some stuff. And that sequel is batshit. I bet Rob Zombie LOVES that movie.

    Dragged Across Concrete. I have a friend who hates Gibson, Vaugh and thinks Zahler is a right wing nut job but he LOVED this. I was gonna see it anyway because Bone Tomahawk is great. Thoughts?

  9. Stella's Boy says:

    Watch it. Long but worth it in the end. Lots to chew on.

  10. Sideshow Bill says:

    Will do. I liked Brawl, too. Whatever Zahler’s politics he can tell a mean story.

  11. Stella's Boy says:

    I am pretty far left and consider myself a big Zahler fan. I think DAC is timely in its examination of white males who see themselves as victims. He is an interesting storyteller.

  12. movieman says:

    Finally caught up w/ “Alita” at a discount house, and found it a lot better than feared.
    I could actually follow the story (a big plus w/ me and sci-fi) and thought it was entertaining enough.
    Definitely one of Rodriguez’s more tolerable post-“Sin City” movies.
    Liked it better than “Ready Player One,” either “Rollerball” and most recent futuristic/dystopian wannabe franchises (e.g., “Mortal Engines” which I didn’t hate either to be perfectly honest).
    Could’ve sworn it was Scarlett Johansson voicing Alita. But maybe I’m just imagining things again, lol.

  13. palmtree says:

    Bill, please be well. I love that you made this blog part of your recovery, and I love that it confirms that we’re all here in this creating a real community.

  14. leahnz says:

    healing vibes and chordant wind chimes to you sideshow bill after your ordeal facing down the reaper, bloody hell, glad you’re on the mend — and good vibes to your girls as well, i can’t imagine how scary that must have been after losing their mum in similar circumstances so lots of cuddles to them, too
    (my son almost died from complications from pneumonia when he was a kid, it was very fast and they said it was probably a matter of hours if they hadn’t large-scale intervened so i guess pneumonia is one of those fairly common but unpredictable illnesses you have to watch like a hawk)

    ETA i am also looking forward to ‘pet sem’ but i don’t want to get my hopes up

  15. Glamourboy says:

    Saw Dumbo today…what a horrible movie…I think that Tim Burton’s misses are not outnumbering his good films. The story is so genetic….I just didn’t care at all. It felt bloated…no reason that film had to cost 170million. The oddest thing about it is that Disney spent all that money for a film where Burton bites the hand that feeds him.

    SPOILER: Towards the end of the film, their version of Disneyland is blown up. And Michael Keaton’s ‘Disney’ character is a fraud and a cheat.

  16. palmtree says:

    Glamour, that subversiveness makes it sound even more interesting to me. Like Disney has reached the point where it is co-opting the message of its own detractors. Fascinating.

  17. Sideshow Bill says:

    Thank you palm and Leah. I’ve been reading David’s site since 2003 and I’m proud to be considered a part of this thriving little community, especially since I’m not a writer, blogger, critic or work in the film business. I just love movies and enjoy the usually polite give and take here. I got tired of the AICN/IMDB board type nonsense. I grew up lol.

    Leah, I’m glad your son made it through. This is my 4th bout with pneumonia. By far the worst. There was an article in the Chicago Tribune recently about the metapneumovirus making a late surge and that’s exactly what I had (after they swabbed my nose three times, the one that feels like it touches your brain. Ugh.). So please be careful out there. It’s a bad bug. It took a huge influx of antibiotics and steroids to save me while I was in limbo for 6 days. 6 days I barely remember aside from bizarre delusions and messages I tried to send on my phone to people that are like something from Twin Peaks.

    I’m babbling now, sorry, but damn. My oldest daughter has been telling me things I said and did that I have memory of. I remember going under and I remember having all tubes yanked from my stomach. And the catheter being removed. Good god lol!!

    That’s a good image to end on lol. I’m gonna get out to some movies this week and I need it.

  18. Hcat says:

    Glad you got through Bill, you would have been missed. Sounds like it was horrifying.

    Pet Sem looks good, and I think there were some early reviews that were quite positive.

  19. movieman says:

    March 29-31, 2019
    Weekend

    1 N Dumbo (2019) BV $45,000,000 – 4,259 – $10,566 $45,000,000 – 1

    2 1 Us Uni. $33,605,000 -52.7% 3,743 +2 $8,978 $128,220,440 $20 2

    3 2 Captain Marvel BV $20,500,000 -40.2% 3,985 -293 $5,144 $353,805,815 – 4

    4 4 Five Feet Apart LGF $6,250,000 -26.9% 2,845 -21 $2,197 $35,875,601 – 3

    5 N Unplanned PFR $6,110,000 – 1,059 – $5,770 $6,110,000 $6 1

    Continued at Box Office Mojo.

  20. Stella's Boy says:

    That is a pretty good hold for Us. Granted it was only one screening but the audience I saw it with was so hostile and unimpressed I didn’t know what to expect for the second weekend. Helps not having competition from new releases. Also wow Jesus crowd made it a moviegoing weekend.

  21. Christian says:

    I don’t know if anyone cares, but the holds for FIVE FEET APART in weeks 2 and 3 have been pretty great, albeit off a fairly low week 1 total. I thought the movie was a classic-in-the-making for about the first half, but the third act tested my patience. The final wrapup was kind of sweet, but by then any spell the movie might have been casting (a bit of an overstatement there) had been broken. Still, good performances, especially from Haley Lu, although my daughters – and presumably most of the ticket buyers – were interested only in Cole Sprouse.

  22. JS Partisan says:

    Jesus fucking Christ, Bill. That’s some bullshit. Especially, you almost dying from the same thing that took your wife. That’s some screaming at the universe bullshit, but I am glad you are still fucking here. Especially, for your daughter, because no kid needs her parents taken from her in that way, in particular, because it would be some epic level fucking bullshit. Get healthy, and there are some Endgame spoilers. If they true? That’s going to be some trippy shit. Absolutely trippy.

    SB, that’s how folks do it in the hood. It’s different, not really ideal, but that’s how it is. It’s not fun, if you aren’t used to it, and it sucks you went through it. Seriously though? The more rawkus the audience. The more they like it, so they fucking loved US.

  23. Stella's Boy says:

    Ah JS. How wrong you are. I have seen movies with all types of audiences and am familiar with how it is, as you say. This audience didn’t like it. It was just like when I saw The Witch. Didn’t know what they were seeing and didn’t care for it. At my age I know how to read an audience. Plus it wasn’t just them yelling at the screen.They took calls, made calls, texted, stood in the aisles and talked during the movie, etc. But it’s cute that you just thought you could educate me on audience behavior.

  24. Pete B. says:

    Speaking of The Witch, there’s another reason that Sideshow Bill needs to stick around. To see what Robert Egger’s next film is like.

    I’m assuming theater prices between DeKalb and Fort Wayne are similar, so your future ticket to The Lighthouse is on me.

  25. Sideshow Bill says:

    JS and Hcat, thank you. It’s meaningful to hear kind words. Pete, yea shit. Eggers and Aster. I know almost nothing about The Lighthouse and that’s fine. I hope they both stick the landing.

    This is a little thing but I’m so happy for John Carpenter getting the Golden Coach award at Cannes this year. His rep has gotten better but he has been treated so shitty in USA for a long time. He’s one of my heroes. I enjoy even his failures. And he’s just a cool guy. Don’t know how much longer we’ll have him around. A lot of horror titans have fallen lately. Somebody needs to finance the western he andcKurt Russell have always wanted to do. If I could I drop 25 mill for him in a heartbeat. I think of that often. I was rich enough to finance a film or 2 who would I choose. JC first. I’d let Richard Kelly out of director’s jail. Paul Schrader. Oswald Perkins.

  26. Sideshow Bill says:

    Pete, that’s one hell of a kind offer to an anonymous internet dork. I’m rather moved.

    You guys are great. Wish our ringleader was around more.

  27. JS Partisan says:

    SB, what the fuck is that response? Here in the South, that’s how folks act during horror movies a lot of the time. There’s no rapt attention. It’s treating it like a small concert at a local bar, and that’s how it is. I have no idea why you went with condescension, but dude, you don’t even come close to getting my tone, so please don’t think that I am talking down to your ass. It’s the weirdest thing in the world, that you still get so fucking angry at me about innocuous shit. Come on, man. I am just sharing my experience with you, and you start throwing daggers. Sheesh.

    And why the fuck is Richard Kelly still in director’s jail? What the fuck he do? Southland Tales is bad, but it’s not that fucking bad.

  28. Pete B. says:

    Bill, no problemo. I saw you’d surpassed your goal amount and figured I’d comp you a movie ticket. Brothers of The Witch gotta stick together.

  29. Pete B. says:

    ^ Plus I think you’re a Man of Steel defender too, so that needed rewarding.

  30. Hcat says:

    Christian, You’re right that FFA is certainly a win for Lionsgate. They haven’t seen anything break out wide since Wonder so I am sure they are perfectly happy with the double.

    Bill, you bring up a great point about Carpenter and the joys of even his lesser works. I would rather sit through Village of the Damned again than sit through The Ladykillers or some other faceplant from recognized masters.

  31. Sideshow Bill says:

    Pete you’re awesome! Thank you so much. And yes, I think Man Of Steel is great, too. I hope Cavil comes back at some point but it looks like Supes is on ice for a while. He stole MI: FALLOUT.

  32. Hcat says:

    Is you haven’t seen the Man From UNCLE adaption with Cavil, that should move to the top of your list. He, Vikander, and Hammer are all fantastic in it (Hugh Grant pops up to grab a few laughs as well). Its my favorite thing to watch Cavil in.

    I had some problems with Man of Steel, but it was a decent enough start, it deserved better than to be blendered into the team films.

  33. leahnz says:

    ‘man of steel’ is a mediocre-to-at-times-cringey-and-laughingly-bad movie on just about every level (the vis effects are ok)

  34. Js partisan says:

    Man of Steel would be a good superhero. If it weren’t about Superman.

  35. Pete B. says:

    The fact that Leah & JS don’t like MoS makes me love it even more. 😉

    And yes Hcat, Men from UNCLE was a decent flick. Wished there’d been a sequel.

  36. Pete B. says:

    ^ Typo! Should have been “Man From UNCLE”. I guess “Men From UNCLE” could have been the sequel title.

  37. leahnz says:

    er are we just in full-tilt revisionist history territory here where JS and leah are somehow the only two people on earth who think ‘man of steel’ is a shitty superman movie? sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we are legion

    i meant to say before but had zero spare seconds: sideshow bill, sounds like you had proper delirium, kind of a weird claim to fame in a way.

  38. palmtree says:

    Man of Steel is terrible. I grew up on the Christopher Reeve movies, and they are just hard to top. But even putting those aside, MOS’s shortcomings are well-documented. Of course, different strokes, but I don’t get how MOS is being read politically (you liking it because someone else hates it…). Surely, competence knows no tribe? Weird times we live in.

  39. Pete B. says:

    Gotta love that a 2013 film has taken over the Dumbo thread. Sorry Tim Burton! Not sure where “revisionist history” took place. I know MoS has more than its fair share of detractors. Hence why I said a fellow defender should be rewarded.

    Changing subjects, in this age of remakes, why hasn’t anyone redone 1977’s The Gauntlet? Saw it for the 1st time in years on Retroplex, and it still packs a punch. Totally implausible, but fun.

  40. JS Partisan says:

    I will check out Dumbo at some point, but the thought of sitting through another empty Burton movie… depresses the fuck out of me.

    Pete, it’s a shit movie. Sure. I have it on blu-ray, but I got it from Goodwill for like two bucks. That’s the only way to own that movie, and it has Michael Shannon in it. He deserved better, but Snyder is just a broken motherfucker. His whole rant the other day, demonstrates a man who doesn’t understand the point of a hero. He fucking loves Ayn Rand, and no one who likes Ayn fucking Rand can grasp heroism.

  41. Bulldog68 says:

    I know I’m in the minority but I’d take Snyder’s flawed MoS over Thor 1& 2, Ironman 2, Dr Strange, both AntMans, Winter Soldier, Ultron, Homecoming, any day of the week and twice on a Sunday. Sorry JS.

    it’s the 2nd best movie in the DCEU after WW.

  42. Joseph Straatmann says:

    I always found Man of Steel “interesting.” Not good, but interesting. There’s a good Superman in there somewhere, but I highly doubt Snyder or Goyer would pick out the elements that could make it be done properly (And I know the moment it was a gigantic hit, they would take every wrong signal from its success).

    The first thing is recognizing both of Superman’s fathers were terrible people. On one hand, we have Russell Crowe going, “One person shouldn’t have control of the entire genetic history of a species, so I’m going to steal the genetic history of the species.” On the other hand, Kevin “maybe you should’ve let them die” Costner. And one great mother. Within that, you can get the narrative of a lost, wandering Clark Kent who has to forge his direction from the broken pieces he has and make him a real Superman for a generation that has lost their compass after 9/11 and the bullshit we justified after it (And that could make the structure work).

    Of course, that is not how they framed it and not how they saw the two dads. If they were trying to get Superman learning to be Superman and making mistakes, they made the mistakes too big to the tune of millions of people. Maybe have a scene in Smallville where someone he actually knows dies from the carnage, putting a personal connection that he can use later to try and save others. Of course, that’s not what they did with THAT little section of product placement. They went the opposite direction they should’ve because scope, dammit, and they paid for it. I don’t even mind Zod killing. Reeves Superman dropped a helpless, weakling Zod into a pit where he likely died and nobody talks about that ever. But like I said, you have to frame all of this correctly, and little of it was because Snyder’s Jesus H. Superman doesn’t need that shit.

    Many of the individual elements themselves were nice. Hans Zimmer’s score was impressive, Snyder’s visuals can be amazing when he doesn’t get too high on his own aesthetic, and there are some good performances.

    But I say some nice things about MoS and I get exactly what I deserved in BvS. It’s like when I said nice things about the Silent Hill movie, and then they learned all of the wrong lessons from that and gave me Revelations where Heather is in a romantic relationship with fucking VINCENT who is her cousin now plus Pyramid Head pulls an Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds 2 character turn. It’s not even the parts everybody gets mad about with BvS. It’s an hour and forty minutes of the part of Dark Knight nobody really talks about where Batman goes to Asia and it’s all plot dot connecting, which is fine if it’s a) not its own feature-length movie, and b) goes somewhere. And once it got momentum to the exciting stuff, BvS gets jack-knifed by its own sequel, so you don’t get proper payoff even if you’re drinking the movie’s brand of “tea.”

  43. MarkVH says:

    Bill, glad you’re on the road to recovery and still with us. God bless.

  44. Hcat says:

    I was fine with the idea of “not your father’s superman” until I realized I was the dad they were talking about. I am a little ambivalent on the film, liked a lot but was thrown off by exactly what Jo says above about both fathers being idiots, and I didn’t really care for the slighty shaky hazy shimmery Battlestar Gallacta aesthetic the whole thing was shot in. But honestly I really need to see it again, when I first watched it I couldn’t see it for its own merits, but was looking at it in relation to how it matched up to other Supermans and Nolan’s Batmans, its hard to watch it and evaluate it as a single piece.

  45. Amblinman says:

    JS: Endgame opening weekend, domestically. Fuck are we looking at here? I cannot…CANNOT remember the last time there was this kind of rush for tickets. Everything in my immediate area is sold out (I’m in CA). Theater sites supposedly crashed from ticket demand.

    That shit just doesn’t happen anymore.

  46. brack says:

    DC seems to be back on some sort of track. MOS stinks, so does BVS and JL. But WW, Aquaman were fun, and Shazam is shaping up to be the best if reviews are the barometer. Looking forward to seeing it sometime during its first week.

    Dumbo was good, not great. Better than Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which is faint praise I suppose. It’s too long though.

  47. leahnz says:

    well isn’t it special that there’s some debate about the content of snyder’s dumb tirade, what about the fact that being entrusted to helm mega-money productions in the film industry is an enormous privilege that comes with certain professional responsibilities including displaying a modicum of tact and humility, a relatively thick skin and ability to articulate, and i somehow very much doubt a director (who’s made so many shitty movies) from any other demographic would get away with being such an arrogant, foul-mouthed asshole in a public forum and work again at the same level. the masks are really slipping lately, it’s as if someone is emboldening the exhibition of the vile attitudes that used to be hidden away in the moist, dark mouldy folds, just saying the ugly quiet parts out loud now, it’s gross and also instructive af

  48. Stella's Boy says:

    I hate MoS and really all Snyder movies but his latest asshole comments might stem from what he and his family have been going through lately. Not defending him being a huge dick but the tragedy could be behind it. Normally I’d never defend being a douche but death of a child has to be hell. Or he could just be an asshole.

    Also it’s kind of hilarious that MoS is being debated here again. We on like a two-year rotation?

  49. leahnz says:

    ?
    if this is the case and one can not comport oneself with basic professional decency due to the death of a child two years ago, perhaps one should not be doing public speaking forums

  50. Stella's Boy says:

    Has it been two years already? Wow time flies. I don’t know I can’t imagine how I’d deal with that and the grieving probably never stops but yeah I see your point, too.

  51. leahnz says:

    honestly, the grief over losing a child is unimaginable and i’ve seen it close-up with family members and friends, and i’ve never seen it turn anyone into a raving asshole, this is just the weirdest excuse to me. seems like anyone who behaves the way snyder did is because that’s who they are underneath it all, an entitled prick.

  52. Pete B. says:

    That’s right, Stella. It’s a two-year rotation for MoS discussions, so be prepared for 2021. The year before Aquaman 2 comes out.

  53. Stella's Boy says:

    I’ll be ready!

  54. Sideshow Bill says:

    HEY! I ALMOST DIED! I CAN LIKE MOS IF I WANNA 😉

    I’m actually glad to see there isn’t a moratorium on criticizing a sick person’s movie taste. That’d be lame. Plus, I have problems with MOS, too. It’s a few bad decisions away from being fantastic. As it is though I enjoy the spectacle, the action, Cavil, Adams, Lane and Shannon. I want it to be better but I like what’s there and as an alternative take on Supes it’s reasonably interesting

    Thank you MarkVH.

    After fighting with AMC website yesterday I got my Avengers tickets for Thursday the 25th at 7pm, in 3D. First 3D movie in 7 years. The numbers are gonna be mind blowing JSP.

    Also tickets for Pet Semetary Saturday afternoon. I’ll finally be getting out of the house.

  55. amblinman says:

    The Joker trailer…fuck me. Didn’t expect that. It looks fucking iconic. Of course Phoenix is gonna kill but that trailer didn’t contain a single shot I would have guessed at it containing. The entire piece is unexpected and riviting.

    Good lord I hope the movie is good. That is a hell of a trailer.

  56. Hcat says:

    “Dumbo was good, not great. Better than Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which is faint praise I suppose. It’s too long though.”

    They could have trimmed it by 110 minutes.

    Thanks for the heads up for the new Joker trailer, it actually looks interesting as opposed to what they did with Suicide Squad. Maybe they flip the script and the sequel introduces Batman as a response to Joker, pitting this loser against the silver spoon – to the manor born antagonist?

    and man, Clowns must just HATE Warner Brothers.

  57. amblinman says:

    “Maybe they flip the script and the sequel introduces Batman as a response to Joker, pitting this loser against the silver spoon – to the manor born antagonist?”

    Ha – I think you, myself, and god knows how many others watching that trailer had the same thought: END THE MOVIE IN HOMAGE TO BATMAN BEGINS!!”

    Along those lines, if the movie is killer, and BO is good/great…like, this is the new BAtman universe, right? You can’t introduce a new, iconic Joker without then giving us a proper “vs Batman” movie. I’m curious about Phoenix. Is he ALL IN or is this a one and done?

  58. Stella's Boy says:

    It’s an interesting trailer but I just can’t work up much enthusiasm for a Todd Phillips movie.

  59. amblinman says:

    Todd Phillips is exactly why I”m cautious and downright confused by that trailer. I can’t believe he had anything to do with that.

  60. Hcat says:

    I thought Due Date and War Dogs were decent, though I get your concern, I have never salivated at the thought of a Phillips movie nearing release before. He has a tendancy to meander around the narrative, but that might not be too much of a problem since Phoenix will certainly be able to hold our attention. Phoenix has racked up such a remarkable string of credits, now any mention of something he is in causes the pavlov response.

    Maybe Phillips can bring in his buddy Cooper as Batman.

  61. Stella's Boy says:

    Yeah and it wouldn’t be the first bad movie with a good trailer. I don’t hate everything Phillips has done. I kind of liked War Dogs. But mostly I’m not a fan and him doing this movie sets off all kinds of alarms. I agree with those Phoenix sentiments but I’d also rather see him in a different kind of movie. How’d Phillips get this gig? Relationship with WB, do anything they ask?

  62. amblinman says:

    “I agree with those Phoenix sentiments but I’d also rather see him in a different kind of movie.”

    Normally I agree with sentiments like this but if the movie is legitimately a character study, why the hell wouldn’t you want to see Joquin Phoenix play the Joker? It’s an iconic, fascinating character that invites re-invention. It also invites Jack Nicholson to mug for two hours, but whatever. (I liked Nicholson fine, not gonna go all fanboy film history revisionism.)

  63. Stella's Boy says:

    Yeah sorry it just doesn’t do that much for me. Different strokes.

  64. Hcat says:

    Wouldn’t Phillips be considered family at Warner’s by now? Not as much as Grand Poobah Eastwood and favorite gifted child Nolan, but Phillips has made them tractor trailers full of money between directing the Hangover films and producing Star is Born.

    Can’t come up with any off the top of my head but does any other studio seem to have this roster of directors they seem to be able to keep in house?

  65. Stella's Boy says:

    I assumed that was the reason Hcat. Personally though I enjoyed the trailer for The Dead Don’t Die more than Joker. That’s more my cup of tea.

  66. JS Partisan says:

    I LOVE the trailer, for the Dead Don’t Die. I really like the Joker trailer, but here’s the thing: it’s bullshit. There’s no way, that Todd Phillips is going to keep up the manic energy of that trailer, and that’s the problem. It’s not going to keep it up, it’s going to get dirgy, it’s going to get weird, and that’s not what that trailer is selling. It’s selling a build up, a symphonic climax, and that’s not coming. I am sure it will be fine, but fine isn’t what that trailer is selling.

    BD, and? MoS damaged the brand of Superman, and the other Snyder films didn’t help. Thank god, that Warners has figured out their tone, and it’s THEIR OWN FUN TONE! A tone that screams, “No one wants a Superman who snaps a neck!”. Thank god, because most of the world ISN’T AS FUCKING BROKEN AS ZACK FUCKING SNYDER!

    Seriously. MoS is a good idea, muddled by a flawed ass man’s idea of the world, and if you really want to sit through that shit, instead of the fun and merriment of Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp? Go right ahead, have a good day, and scoreboard don’t lie. I do love, that Shazam used this quote in an ad, “The best comic book movie, since the one you saw last month.”

    Man, it’s the only movie that has a chance at Avatar, and I’ve felt this for a while. It’s a crazy thought, but it seems real after the pre-sales. It has a chance, to make a billion in a weekend. A BILLION… IN A WEEKEND. It’s going to be a three hour movie, that’s going to make a billion dollars in a weekend.

    I just realized, that a 3h2m Marvel movie, is just torture for some of you. Sorry.

  67. Stella's Boy says:

    Who’s going to the 59 hour marathon?

  68. JS Partisan says:

    I did the LOTR EE marathon, and the Harry Potter marathon. I am good with Marathons, but I do wonder how people will endure two days and a half of being in a theatre? It just seems like something, that should be turned into a mini-doc or something.

  69. Hcat says:

    Superhero Parking Lot

    Featuring Before and after shots, thankfully not delivered in Smell-o-Rama.

  70. JS Partisan says:

    That would be some funny ass shit.

  71. MarkVH says:

    Joker trailer looks interesting, definitely a wait-and-see kinda thing. I could see it going either way, but it’s definitely something different, which is good.

    Re: Too Old to Die Young, it looks pretty much like every other Refn joint, but I have a hard time understanding how he’s going to sustain that vibe over a season of TV and keep people interested. Then again, I’m not a huge fan of Drive or his other stuff, so I’ll readily admit he’s not for me.

  72. Bulldog68 says:

    JS “The best comic book movie, since the one you saw last month.”
    Now that’s golden.

    It’s a complete headscratcher to me why Hellboy stayed put sandwiched between Shazam and Endgame. Surely if it’s any good the breathing room of late August would’ve been better. Spidey is July 5th. August is relatively empty with New Mutants, last time I checked, still a big question mark. They could’ve tried to be the Suicide Squad (numbers not quality) of this year, positioning themselves as the last event movie of the summer. Why virtually guarantee that your movie, which was already a box office failure on two tries, will have no legs whatsoever? Sure the budget is small, but it seems that it’s not even being given a fighting chance. And I love the Hellboy movies.

  73. leahnz says:

    “I just realized, that a 3h2m Marvel movie, is just torture for some of you.”

    ugh, FU russo brothers, a simple story well told. bring back the intermission. or ‘catheters with yr coke’, why did i say i’d go to this

  74. Stella's Boy says:

    People are selling Endgame tickets for $2,000 damn it why didn’t I buy one when I had the chance.

  75. Sideshow Bill says:

    As much as I love the Marvel series there is no way I could ever do that marathon. First of all, it means sitting through some mediocre movies and some movies I’ve seen many, many times. Those days are gone for me. To those who do it, kudos and rock in. 3 hours for one film is going to be enough.

    Leahnz, thank you for reminding me of the catheter I had pulled out of my manhood early last week lol. “It’s gonna burn” the nurse said. 200 times worse than childbirth, no doubt 😉

    Phoenix alone should maker the Joker movie worth the price. He won’t bomb it like Leto. I still maintain a Joker origin story is wrong but I wouldn’t miss this actor in this role.

  76. Hcat says:

    Maybe they were thinking that Endgame would be all sold out so people looking for a comic book movie that weekend will choose Hellboy as a consolation prize.

  77. leahnz says:

    oh man sideshow-b i actually wondered about that (after i’d written coke with catheters so blithely, of course) — i began thinking about my own real-life catheter experiences (more than one unfortunately, please never again), how i’ve blocked them out mostly, and that the vaguely amusing idea of them – pissin’ in a tube – is so utterly divorced from the extremely unpleasant reality… so apols for triggering bad mems, if it’s any consolation i triggered my own self too haha

    (the ‘joker’ trailer looks like philips saw ‘you were never really here’ a bunch of times and decided to re-do ‘assassin joe with serious abuse issues’ as ‘serious head case with major clown issues’. the comparisons to scorsese are inexplicable, has everyone lost their goddam minds? joaquin certainly looks to be his usual tour-de-force self – at this point he’s like a one man juggernaut – but the rest of it looks pretty standard, though the trailer itself is well cut… which means precisely nothing in the scheme of things, actually makes me wary now having been burned by decent trailers from crap movies one too many times)

  78. Sideshow Bill says:

    Oh dear, leahnz. Sounds like you’ve been through the ringer a few times. No worries. My gallows humor has always been turned up to 11 so I can laugh about it and have had fun telling the story

    I just read the Snyder comments. I’d like to defend him but he was just kind of babbling and didn’t really offer any substance. I don’t know what he was attempting to say. I defended Batman killing in BVS because Bats does has some blood on his hands historically, and I was interested in seeing a full-out Batman at the time. I dunno. I like him. I like a lot of his movies. I think he might even have a great film in him if he matures, reigns in his bad impulses and works with a good writer and a strong producer he isn’t married to. From everything I’ve heard he’s a nice man. His career is at a real crossroads though.

  79. Hcat says:

    The more I think about it the more the thought of a 59 hour marathon seems insane. Wouldn’t you get bedsores from the theater seat? Are you eating nothing but theater food?

    How was the movie?

    AMAZING, I got scurvy!

    Even if it were movies I adored after 59 hours your brain would melt. This is like a sensory satiation experiment.

  80. amblinman says:

    “People are selling Endgame tickets for $2,000 damn it why didn’t I buy one when I had the chance.”

    If a single Avengers: Endgame ticket is sold for 2k*, capitalism is undeniably a loser and we need to scrap it immediately.

    *Some kind of charity thing is an exception.

  81. Stella's Boy says:

    Yeah haven’t seen anything confirming that a ticket actually sold for that much. Here’s the story: https://screencrush.com/avengers-endgame-tickets-on-ebay/

  82. Glamourboy says:

    Ah….again, don’t fall for the publicity trap. After a very quick search in Los Angeles I found no Avengers tickets on sale on Craigs list at all..and found a multitude of tickets available at several theaters for opening day. So please, don’t believe the hype.

  83. Stella's Boy says:

    Well I didn’t doubt that people were selling them for that much. Someone purchasing them is a different story. But nothing would surprise me with MCU diehards. I mean people are going to sit through a 59-hour marathon.

  84. steam key says:

    that was cool dude !

  85. Pete B. says:

    I sat through 9+ hours of all The Hobbit movies back-to-back and it was in 3D. My eyes were burning by the time it was over. I can’t fathom a 59 hour marathon.

  86. palmtree says:

    Deadline is wondering if Endgame can open to $300 million. Crazy.

  87. brack says:

    I’m kinda on the fence about that Taxi Joker trailer.

    I call it that because there are several shots in that trailer that blatantly borrow/steal from Taxi Driver. Phillips is obviously trying to channel Scorsese. I think JS is right, that trailer probably isn’t indicative of the end product.

    A definitely wait and see for me.

  88. Js partisan says:

    Palm, if the movie is incredible, then it’s happening. If the spoilers are right in anyway, then that seems like a hell of a trippy fucking movie. A movie, that’s geared for a rousing climax, that people will talk about for years. Right now? It depends on how Disney can convince the theatres to not show 30 minutes of ads before the movie, because a 3h2m movie needs a quick turn around for a lot of showings.

  89. Stella's Boy says:

    Does that happen JS? When I saw Us last week there were seven trailers and what was an 8pm start time ended up being 8:25. Which I’m sure is the norm at all multiplexes now. Will they be able to stop that from happening or just aim for more screens per theater?

  90. Hcat says:

    I would be surprised if multiplexes didn’t put this on at least half their screens on the first weekend, and even then it would benefit them to fsqueeze that one more screening in

  91. leahnz says:

    todd phillips is no lynne ramsey, not even close

  92. palmtree says:

    JS, sounds like a nice theory, but I suspect Disney will probably be trying to convince theaters to show 30 minutes of exclusively Disney ads before the film. They want those eyeballs to see the trailers for Frozen 2 and the next Pixar thingy and Aladdin and Lion King and…so they are potentially their own enemy here.

    But I hope they don’t do that. Trailer fatigue is real. And if the trailers suck, you start the movie feeling slightly bitter.

  93. movieman says:

    NOTHING will stop the big chains from their 20-30 minute trailer assault each and every damn time.
    “Endgame” could run five hours and they’d still stick to their pre-show script.

  94. amblinman says:

    “todd phillips is no lynne ramsey, not even close”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odj67g0yH7c

    IN other news, the reason trailers are so horrible to sit through now is because they are almost literally cliff notes of the entire movie now. There’s no marketing attempted. Just…here, here’s the whole movie. Come see the slightly longer version in a few weeks!

  95. JS Partisan says:

    SB and Palm, I could have sworn there was some article, last year sometime, that detailed how exhibitors are making it easier to show longer movies. It may have had something to do with Avatar sequels, but I remember seeing this headline, and going, “Huh. That makes sense.” Now? I can’t find the thing, but Endgame is license to print money, for like an entire month. I can see the exhibitors slimming that shit down, so they can make more god damn money.

    Man, bzzt. Wrong. Sorry, but they don’t explain jack and shit in most trailers, and that’s the problem. It’s all fucking home and lock screen images, and very little context. Again, look at Mary Poppins. Look at Rampage. They don’t explain enough, and it doesn’t get people into theatres. People want to know what they are getting themselves into; and these fucking people refuse to turn off the obtuse. That’s why the trailer for the new Bautista movie, is so fucking refreshing. It explains it’s premise, it executes it, and it’s funny. People will go and see it. Why? THE TRAILER EXPLAINS THE FUCKING PREMISE! Seriously. Trailers are either cool music videos now, or obtuse trash, and that’s a serious problem given the state of content in the world.

  96. Amblinman says:

    You’re always entitled to be wrong, JS.

    And no one is going to see a movie with Dave Bautista as the lead.

  97. Hcat says:

    “Again, look at Mary Poppins. Look at Rampage. They don’t explain enough”

    No one but no one went into either of those movies not knowing what they were going to get. Now I haven’t seen either of them, but I highly doubt there was a variation in tone than what was shown in those trailers. Again, haven’t seen them but was Rampage not a fight the giant monsters with a sympathetic one on your side? What were they hiding there?

    And if you were talking about My Spy? The poster alone explains the movie, unless of course the person is under six or has never seen a movie or television show before.

  98. Stella's Boy says:

    My kids love Rampage and I’ve seen it a few times. That sums it up well. JS I think you’re right in that some trailers don’t sell the movie well and bad trailers exist. But these days I sure feel like many trailers are giving away the whole movie and it seems to me that feeling that way is pretty common among regular moviegoers. “Well don’t need to see the movie now” is a frequent response to a trailer.

  99. brack says:

    I saw a total of 8 minutes of trailers before Pet Sematary last night. So not everything gets 25 minutes of trailers.

  100. palmtree says:

    A recent big hit movie had a major plot twist spoiler shown in the trailer. So when the twist happened, a lot of people reacted with “saw it coming a mile away.” I think subliminally they remembered the twist from the trailer and just assumed they were really smart and figured it out. In any case, I think JS is onto something…you have to show enough of the movie that the premise hooks you in. But if they don’t show the premise and just show a bunch of random “exciting” shots, no one cares.

  101. Js Partisan says:

    Man, feel free to use that about yourself. When Bautista has a solid fucking earner.

  102. leahnz says:

    uh, re the above, as much as i appreciate being munsoned:
    i type fast and accidentally posted the “phillips is no ramsey” bit prematurely, then edited to add the second paragraph i’d intended originally referencing DP’s tweet i just saw in the MSN sidebar about ramsey/’you were never really here’ and phillips’ joker, and then posted the edit to complete the comment but clearly the edit didn’t post properly, which weirdly does happen to me sometimes on the hotblog, the edit function is ticketyboo (plus i was rushing and didn’t even look at the final post, i just assumed it had taken, alas no)

    “A recent big hit movie had a major plot twist spoiler shown in the trailer.”

    (does it rhyme with ‘cuss’ ’cause i def noticed that)

  103. Amblinman says:

    Duly noted, Miss Leahnz.

  104. leahnz says:

    no worries i’ve probably posted more random comments intentionally without even fucking anything up (one time i had a shit-ton of tabs open and i posted a comment here that was in response to something on a completely different site with a similar-looking reply window – and another time my kitten walked across the keyboard and posted a half-finished comment here, so you can’t really come back from that stuff)

  105. movieman says:

    Brack- Was it a corporately owned (Regal, Cinemark…) ‘plex?
    I prefer the smaller, independently owned theaters because they usually show only 3-4 trailers max.
    But they’re not always the most conveniently located, especially if you live in the sticks like I do.

  106. Bulldog68 says:

    I thought the trailer for Little was hilarious and effective.

  107. Js partisan says:

    Right there with you, BD.

  108. brack says:

    Movieman – actually it was a Dolby Cinema screening at AMC. Yeah, I was a little shocked.

  109. movieman says:

    AMC? Wow. Good for you, Brack!

    I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have to sit through (at least) 20 minutes of trailers before the movie started.
    Not to mention the endless “pre-show” which is essentially the sort of annoying commercials I fast forward through when watching TV.

  110. Eden says:

    Do you remember your first time riding Dumbo the Flying Elephant? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to check out Magic Kingdom Park and Disneyland Park wait times, ride details and more.

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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