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
I was looking forward to “Greta” despite the mixed-to-negative reviews coming out of TIFF last fall.
It starts out like gangbusters, but quickly deteriorates into abject stupidity.
I spent the last 40 minutes groaning in my seat.
Huppert is, of course, fun to watch, but it proves that after this and 2007’s “The Brave One” Neil Jordan should stay as far away from NYC as possible.
WOM should be brutal.
Does anyone know whether Focus is planning to open “Captive State” as wide as “Greta” in two weeks? On the basis of the trailer, it looks like the most commercial Focus movie since “Atomic Blonde.”
Seems like a missed opportunity not to take it as wide as possible before “Us” hits on the 22nd.
Esp since it’s only competition (on March 15th) is a kiddie ”toon and yet another star-crossed YA romance. Double “yawn” on both counts.
I like The Brave One. It’s underrated. Foster is great and it’s got more going on than your typical male vigilante movie. I still want to see Greta but reviews are all over the place. I’ll keep expectations in check and yeah box office won’t be good. I barely saw any ads.
For a long time I thought Captive State was a wide release but it appears to be limited now. Saw the trailer a few times in late 2018 but haven’t seen it this year.
Lords of Chaos is pretty good. Some of the most brutal and unflinching I’ve seen in a while. I had to look away several times. Just gruesome. It’s a little too long but I didn’t know anything about it and it’s a pretty crazy and fascinating story. No idea how accurate it is but I was absorbed throughout. Culkin is great and the rest of the cast solid. Not a pleasant experience but glad I saw it.
SB- A similar (-ish) movie to “The Brave One” that I went to the mat for last decade was Jane Campion’s NYC-lensed “In the Cut” which most critics (and certainly audiences) loathed. I thought it was a minor Campion masterpiece.
At least “Brave” had sociological/feminist ambition/pretensions.
“Greta” just wants to be a high-style “Single White Female”-esque guilty pleasure. But, sadly, it fails. And I really wanted to love it.
I’m interested in “Lords of Chaos:” is it only available On Demand?
It was on my Netflix queue with a late February release date, but was relegated last week to my “We Have No Idea When This is Coming Out: Sorry” queue w/ no add’l information.
Brave One isn’t perfect but it’s got a lot on its mind and is interesting, and not only because the vigilante is female. Feel like it was unfairly dismissed as just another dumb revenge movie. I should give In the Cut another chance. Don’t remember exactly how I felt after seeing it back when it was released. Just all the fuss and hatred.
I paid $4.99 to watch Lords of Chaos on VOD. It’s also in one theater where I live. Flawed but worth a look. Will stick with me. The violence really hits you hard. Looked up some reviews out of curiosity and a few are quite negative, and the narrative is messy, but most of the movie worked for me.
I hope to see “Chaos” eventually.
Seems foolish to pay for a VOD right now w/ a stack of library DVDs sitting in my bedroom (including more holy grails like 1966’s “The Group,” 1967’s “Custer of the West” and 1968’s “The Magus”).
“In the Cut” is worth another look: recall it being sexy as hell (for a 21st century studio release).
It can be fun to revisit something like that many years later with no expectations and no strong memory of how you feel about it.
I hate to say it about someone who starred in my favorite movie of 2010, “Let Me In,” but I think “Greta” revealed that I may now have a Chloe Grace Moretz Problem.
Sure, the screenplay grows increasingly absurd, but that aside, every time Maika Monroe was on screen, I found myself wishing the movie was about her character rather than about Moretz’s character.
Now, I haven’t seen Monroe in anything since “It Follows,” in which I thought she gave an iconic performance for horror-film lovers. (I just checked, and she has numerous credits since “It Follows.”). Also, I don’t usually have strong preferences about actors; I’m more of a director snob/auteurist. I just wasn’t all that interested, frankly, in Moretz in this film, and I found myself wondering if her performance was one of the film’s larger problems.
I quite liked Lords Of Chaos. Agree the violence was overwhelming at times. And the tone shifts can be jarring but I remember when this was all happening and reading the news. This whole story is bananas. And those guys were assholes and I’m glad the movie depicted them as such. Yea, some had mental problems but doesn’t fully forgive them being such dicks to each other. Good film.
Also, while I haven’t seen it yet, doesn’t Neil Jordan’s BYZANTIUM have a good reputation?
“Byzantium” has a 65% RT rating.
I remember liking it at the time, but don’t know anyone else who saw it. A typically nonexistent IFC “release.”
On the plus side, “Greta” opened on more screens than any Jordan movie since “The Brave One.”
March 1-3, 2019
Weekend
1 1 How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Uni. $30,046,000 -45.4% 4,286 +27 $7,010 $97,696,275 $129 2
2 N Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral LGF $27,050,000 – 2,442 – $11,077 $27,050,000 – 1
3 2 Alita: Battle Angel Fox $7,000,000 -43.3% 3,096 -706 $2,261 $72,231,308 $170 3
4 3 The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part WB $6,615,000 -31.7% 3,458 -375 $1,913 $91,670,040 – 4
5 11 Green Book Uni. $4,711,000 +121.4% 2,641 +1,388 $1,784 $75,920,611 $23 16
6 4 Fighting with My Family MGM $4,691,284 -40.0% 2,855 +144 $1,643 $14,945,905 – 3
7 5 Isn’t It Romantic WB (NL) $4,645,000 -34.8% 3,325 -119 $1,397 $40,299,003 – 3
8 N Greta Focus $4,585,000 – 2,411 – $1,902 $4,585,000 – 1
9 6 What Men Want Par. $2,700,000 -48.6% 2,018 -371 $1,338 $49,641,004 $20 4
10 7 Happy Death Day 2U Uni. $2,516,000 -48.5% 2,331 -881 $1,079 $25,282,610 $9 3
11 16 Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Sony $2,100,000 +137.5% 2,404 +1,661 $874 $187,386,210 $90 12
12 9 The Upside STX $2,070,000 -34.9% 1,607 -541 $1,288 $102,868,620 $37.5 8
13 20 A Star is Born (2018) WB $1,885,000 +208.9% 1,235 +490 $1,526 $212,914,339 $36 22
14 N Apollo 11 Neon $1,650,000 – 120 – $13,750 $1,650,000 – 1
15 8 Cold Pursuit LG/S $1,650,000 -48.6% 1,765 -555 $935 $29,911,215 – 4
16 19 Bohemian Rhapsody Fox $975,000 +56.1% 839 +415 $1,162 $214,466,597 $52 18
17 12 Glass Uni. $895,000 -49.4% 756 -690 $1,184 $109,465,250 $20 7
18 22 The Favourite FoxS $825,000 +48.1% 742 +454 $1,112 $33,217,039 – 15
19 14 Total Dhamaal FIP $460,000 -53.5% 208 +6 $2,212 $1,756,926 – 2
20 13 The Prodigy Orion $424,298 -62.2% 533 -798 $796 $14,377,863 $6 4
21 38 Free Solo NGE $364,100 +149.9% 238 +148 $1,530 $16,947,781 – 23
22 24 Arctic BST $362,124 -27.4% 268 +11 $1,351 $1,626,666 – 5
23 18 Vice Annapurna $249,411 -60.6% 262 -440 $952 $47,569,021 – 10
24 26 Ralph Breaks the Internet BV $233,000 -38.0% 204 -202 $1,142 $200,195,690 $175 15
25 33 Mary Poppins Returns BV $206,000 +6.0% 245 +11 $841 $171,218,892 $130 11
26 N Furie WGUSA $145,400 – 14 – $10,386 $145,400 – 1
27 29 Cold War (2018) Amazon $143,616 -52.3% 128 -131 $1,122 $4,368,187 – 11
28 36 If Beale Street Could Talk Annapurna $137,546 -7.8% 126 -1 $1,092 $14,643,560 – 12
29 35 Never Look Away SPC $136,474 -10.8% 122 +42 $1,119 $671,886 – 14
30 N Climax A24 $121,655 – 5 – $24,331 $121,655 – 1
31 41 Capernaum SPC $72,087 -43.8% 58 -57 $1,243 $1,370,062 – 12
32 48 The Iron Orchard Santa Rita $65,450 +42.7% 42 +34 $1,558 $121,140 – 2
33 51 Birds of Passage Orch. $64,652 +76.6% 31 +21 $2,086 $165,837 – 3
34 42 Stan & Ollie SPC $52,926 -57.8% 71 -57 $745 $5,075,931 – 10
35 37 The Wife SPC $36,942 -75.2% 78 -126 $474 $9,524,213 – 29
36 N Transit MBox $35,368 – 2 – $17,684 $35,368 –
1
37 53 To Dust Good Deed $23,872 +28.3% 23 +6 $1,038 $100,221 – 4
38 N The Wedding Guest IFC $20,156 – 4 – $5,039 $20,156 – 1
39 46 Lords of Chaos G&S $18,668 -65.5% 28 -43 $667 $218,415 – 4
40 N Giant Little Ones VE $13,500 – 1 – $13,500 $13,500 – 1
41 62 Ruben Brandt, Collector SPC $12,577 +87.2% 15 +12 $838 $34,314 – 3
42 N Chokehold Ammo $3,900 – 3 – $1,300 $3,900 – 1