MPAA Muscle

The MPAA forced The Weinstein Co to pull their Rob Zombie Halloween trailer off the web, including Yahoo! Movies because it was too violent. The trailer is currently attached to Grindhouse.
This is the third, I believe, “Yellow Tag” trailer under new MPAA rules. This allows the trailer to play on the web late at night only.
Crazy or a clever idea?
Or is this just another Weinstein Co distraction from Grindhouse talk? After all, The New York Times was willing to serve up the Kool-Aid… why not everyone else?

"Ideas Or The Lack Of Them Can Cause Disease"

For me, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most cinematic of all novelists. Ironically, none of his books have ever successfully been transferred into cinema.
The closest to getting it was probably Keith Gordon

3rd Annual THB Biggest Stars Survey – Pt 1

STILL SUSPECT
Jennifer Aniston has been in some big successes, but always with a power guy by her side, whether Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller or Jim Carrey or even Kevin Costner, who is still pretty effective drawing women to movies. But without the support?
Gerard Butler has a major cult following and 300 is a huge hit ,,, but there is little to suggest it has much to do with Mr. Butler in a specific way.
Jake Gyllenhaal – Gyllenhaal has an interesting thing about always being considered on the edge of “;happening,”; yet he makes movie after movie that is bigger than his role in the film. Can any financier really credit him with the box office success of Brokeback Mountain or the openings of Zodiac, Jarhead or The Day After Tomorrow? And he hasn’t had any of his films gross more than $15 million aside from his career starter, October Sky in 1999.
Jon Heder – Is it him or is it his co-stars? I love his work, but his box office value is still a giant question mark.
Samuel L. Jackson – It’s hard not to love and/or respect him, but since 2003’s SWAT (and ensemble film), Snakes on a Plane is his second biggest hit after Coach Carter. Great performances, but a box office cipher.
Shia LaBeouf – The star of Transformers has been in some hits ,,, but is anyone paying to see him?
Eva Mendes – She has become The Girl of choice in town lately, along with Ms. Biel. And films with Nic Cage, Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Denzel Washington have all done a bit better than expected with her along for the ride. But can she draw ticket buyers?
Hilary Swank – She has actually had a decent run since the second Oscar. But she’s only been the lead twice and neither film will crack $40 million domestic, so…
More…

An Entry About Me

The Hairspray entry has digressed into a discussion about me…
My fault. I bit.
So let’s take it out of that entry and over here if this requires more discussion.

The Blog Some Days

How Much Is Enough & Who Can Get It?

“Where is the best place to take my movie?” is a question that hasn’t quite settled into the mindset of the higher priced indie world yet. Yes, as always, anything can happen. But if your aspiration for a movie is to gross over $30 million domestic, getting a major studio release is critical. Of course, with that bigger machine, they handing marketing and publicity on a bigger level and really don’t know how to aim lower. So your costs increase as well. And for independent producers, there is the bigger mind fuck of knowing that a studio relationship means a windfall opportunity is much more distant than if magic happens independently. So which is it? Which of Sophie’s kids goes away with the Nazis?
The rest…

A Small Scoop Of The Summer Sorbet

Almost no one thought it was going to happen. The gaypevine was abuzz with negativity from pre-production through the first months of production. Jim Broadbent took off right before production. What was Travolta doing? The first leaked photos were scary. The December web presence was all Latifah and no Queen John.
And then, they put the movie together. And before even seeing tonight

Quotes of the Day

A rather insane read on the future of media from Emily Gould, the current editor of Gawker.com, who went on Larry King Live when Jimmy Kimmel was hosting. Kimmel has some personal issues with Gawker, but Gould reminded us dramatically why

Question Of The Day – The Hard R?

Just ran into this online when checking out some nasty YouTube comment about what an idiot I am for not loving Grindhouse like my first born.
The issue of Grindhouse and the MPAA is already dated. But I’d be interested in your notions of whether a Hard R or any more restrictive rating than an R from the MPAA wil ever work?
And does MPAA “censorship” change your perception of a movie before you see it?

Indie Theater Plays Grindhouse 8 Blocks From The Clinton

This is how one ends up going down the toilet.
I didn

The End Of Longform E-Journalism?

With due respect to Anne Thompson and Premiere Magazine, the reason Premiere died (walking dead for years now) is that it didn’t do longform journalism. Instead of becoming America’s great journal on film, it became a slightly longer lead, somewhat more glossy EW, selling set visits as news.
There was a great moment, back when John Horn was actually breaking news in a monthly, where Premiere mattered. But with due respect to many fine journalists who worked there to the end, that time is a distant memory. What was great, however, was that people like Kim Masters, who are not built to work at web speed (which she proved at both Inside.com and now at Slate) had a place to work at a slower piece and to do richer work as a result.
That said, there is no reason why that cannot be something done on the web. The first company that turns that corner will have a surprising winner. The problem is monetizing it.
More importantly, I would argue that there is more good work written on film these days than EVER before. We are in a renaissance. We also have a lot of shit flying around. And as in all renaissances, the whores get more attention. But even the diaper dandies of ReverseShot are adding to the conversation in a valuable way, even if they too often lose their way and try to make points be pissing on the adult’s table. I am glad they are there. Some will mature and be very important. Others will end up selling time shares. But the mere existance of the blog is a big step.
Manohla Dargis is really the figure head for the expansion of thoughtful movie conversation. A lifelong alt queen, her ascension at the LA Times and now NY Times was driven, in my view, not just by her skill, but by the excitement she engenders in readers, love her ideas or hate them. As a result of her ideas, a different kind of thinking has now joined the mainstream. And Tony Scott, who brings a different sensibility, is better for the intellectual balance across the ink stained aisle.
The many long-standing writers who are being unceremoniously dumped by Traditional Media stil have a place on the web, often reaching more people than ever. Whether you want ALL of Roger Ebert or more form Dave Kehr or to read Amy Taubin or to follow Reid Rosenfelt or even to indulge in a big gulp of Jon Rosenbaum, you can. If you want celebrity gossip, it’s around. If you want industry gossip, it’s around. If you want some serous discussions of money or marketing or mise-en-sc

Question Of The Week

Once we get rolling on this, feel free to go wild commenting on other people’s idea. But I think it would be a great exercise for all of us to offer, “What went wrong with Grindhouse?” in 25 words or less.
If you have more than one theory, number them up and give us multiples, 25 or less.
I’ll start – Grindhouse did exactly as much as it was meant to do. It was 3 hours long. It acknowledged being intentionally bad. Sold!