The Hot Blog Archive for December, 2010

SPOILER THREAD: The Big Ideas Of Tron Legacy

So… Tron Legacy is out there… it looks like it’s going to do strong business in the US… but I questioned its Big Idea. A commenter, murdocdv, disagreed in detail. And trying to be fair, I am giving it a prominent place in the blog.

SPOILERS ABOUND… So If You Care, Don’t Read This Thread Or Its Comments.

One of the writers of the film – who I really wanted to DP/30, but never heard back from Disney about interviewing – told me he’s a regular reader of the blog. Maybe, maybe not. But if he is, I probably already insulted him. Maybe he will pop in and have a strong opinion of his own. Maybe not.

Anyway, here’s murdocdv on Tron’s Big Ideas…

There are two big ideas in Tron Legacy. First, that intelligent life spontaneously springs into existence without a creator. Two, that information may want to be free, but that doesn’t mean it always should be.

In the movie, original Flynn tells his son of his huge discovery, the ISOs (isometric lifeforms). He has proof that life does not need a creator to exist, it can simply spring into existence. Flynn is the god to this universe, and something is alive he didn’t create. If in reality someone created artificial intelligence in our image which did as it was told, but in that same environment another kind of AI evolved out of nothingness, the discovery would be monumental. As Flynn in the movie says, it would change everything. Coincidentally, from descriptions I’ve read, physicist Stephen Hawking’s recent book The Grand Design argues essentially the same thing for our universe, it simply sprung into being, no creator needed.

The other big idea is that information wants to be free. Sam Flynn demonstrates this idea by hacking into Encom’s systems to upload the latest version of their flagship operating system to the Internet. He does this to carry out the ideals of his father as best he knows them. In The Grid, Programs are information, thus Programs want to be free. But old Flynn has acquired some wisdom through his solitude in The Grid, and now believes that not all programs, not all information, can be free without cost. The Grid is not just a computer simulation, it’s another universe. Old Flynn mentions at some point his work in quantum teleportation, which is how he gets into The Grid via the laser scanner. Clu has figured this out, that the portal isn’t just an exit point for a user representation, but the actual gateway that transforms an existence for representation between our world and The Grid. If people can “beam in”, why can’t programs beam out? Clu wants Flynn’s identity disc because it has all the information on how this process works, and perhaps the bits necessary to get a program into the real world. Which is I think one of the reasons why old Flynn gives Quorra his ID disc, he hopes she can make it out. So old Flynn knows now that not all information should be free, sometimes the costs can be too high.

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Poll du Jour: Beware Of Norbit’s Ghost


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The Return Of The Critics Awards Scoreboard

Here you go.

Adding more awards as we get them in… italics and no points for nominees…

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My Favorite Movie Interview Of 2010

This is so painful and so fun at the same time. When Letterman starts just throwing out movie titles, causing an applause break each time, but with little to say and little offered from DeNiro & Hoffman… and you can watch Hoffman watching Letterman trying to figure out how to manage DeNiro… it’s glorious nightmare, in no small part because they weren’t doing it to me. Having them on the show was a privilege… and a form of waterboarding. Enjoy…

(PS – My intention was to run the CBS version from YouTube… but the glory of the agony can only be felt in these real-time clips.)

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A Lack Of Ideas

It’s been an interesting few weeks at the movies. There has been a series of films where there seems to be a big problem at the foundational level… what was the idea?

Tron Legacy is the latest example. There is good work in the film and a ton of it from Digital Domain, but riddle me this… what the hell was the core idea behind bringing back this film. Not “it’s a cult classic and a lot of people love it and we want to give it another chance,” but more, “What is the idea of this film?”

For me, the answer was that there was no new idea to be found, all these years later. Guy gets sucked into the machine world. Cool visual stuff happens as the rules of being are different.

It’s 2010, guys. Being caught in a videogame is not all that exciting. There is this thing called The Internet that touches virtually everything in the world. What are the stakes in this film? If they kill Bridges and his son, what happens? The “F” key stops working? Or the joystick doesn’t let you make lefts with your light cycle?

I’m not really kidding. Beautiful looking movie. Good actors. Would have liked to have seen the movie about Michael Sheen’s character. But even there… didn’t we see this in The Matrix? Isn’t the father/son thing and the idea of the doppelganger Jedi becoming the greatest threat from Star Wars?

I kept wondering why The Big Idea wasn’t in the ads… it was because there was no Big Idea.

Then there was James L. Brooks setting a lightweight (read: weak) version of Broadcast News in Washington, D.C. without the TV news biz OR anything particularly political. The genius of Brooks was that he was forever willing to let his characters’ worst sides be fully integrated into the story… and then, allowed them some grace.

I watched the whole movie and still don’t really get (or care) what Paul Rudd is being threatened with indictment over. It was a red herring for “he’s in trouble.” Reese Witherspoon is on the only adult softball team in the world that’s not dominated by out lesbians, but besides that, her life changing event is losing a spot on a softball team at 31 years of age. Really? And the Tom of the trio, Owen Wilson, is only in the competition for the girl because Rudd’s character is so very boring and self-obsessed. It’s funny that he has set up a mini-Victoria’s Secret in his home because he has so many women wander through his bed that he has developed a generous policy of offering clean clothes for their Walk of Shame. But as a central character in a rom-com? And need I remind that the sex in Broadcast News, while still hard-PG-13 or soft R, was more frank and honest and real with the characters than anything here.

But back to the basics… What Was The Idea? “How do you know when you are in love?” I don’t know. It doesn’t really happen in this movie. Even though it has The Moment, it isn’t grounded enough to be anything remotely solid.

And you pulled NIcholson out for the first time in years for THIS???

Oy.

What was the idea in Morning Glory? Pretty much buried until the third act.

The idea in Conviction? Sister selflessly gives her life over to her brother’s defense, becomes a lawyer, and frees him. The only problem? In the film, she never uses her legal status or acumen except to request documents.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps… the first film had a Big Idea… Wall Street was killing real businesses by making them about their financials and not about building something. What was the big idea here? Making a sequel.

Yeah, it touched on a lot of current hot topics. But for all the chatter, there was no Big Idea. It wasn’t about men who just kept going on, recovering from every downturn to rape and pillage some more. You’d have to see Inside Job for that. It wasn’t about Gekko’s damage, even to his daughter. It wasn’t about a kid trying to balance his ambition and a righteous young heart.

It wasn’t about anything.

There are also movies – better than this last group – that are, perhaps, about too many things… at least two. Love & Other Drugs is two, two, two movies in one. So is The Fighter.

I’m not saying that complexity and juggling multiple ideas can’t work or shouldn’t be attempted. I’m just saying, be clear. The best lighting, acting, and effects can’t overcome the lack of a central idea.

Ironically, even something like Burlesque knows exactly what it means to be, succeeding or not. So does The Tourist.

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Weekend Estimates by Yogi Klady

Is there anything much more to say about the weekend? The visual effects sell opened Tron Legacy and history tells us that it will get to $200m domestic off of this opening. If that happens, it will be only the 17th time in history that a December opener hit $200m domestic. The only film that has been positioned as less than A Hit coming off of that number is Peter Jackson’s King Kong.

At $16.m projected, Yogi Bear has a shot at $100m+… or not. Not much competition in the niche.

Nice number for The Fighter, though it can’t be leaving Paramount too comfy, as it may just be a Wahlberg number. Films of his that had none of the hoopla around them – Shooter, Invincible, Four Brothers – all opened to more on the populist star’s shoulders.

The juxtaposition of Fighter and Black Swan fascinates me. After a small word-of-mouth release, Paramount pushed Fighter out like a commercial movie. Searchlight is doing a relatively slow burn on Swan, in spite of some strong early indicators that the film was a big buzz film outside of the industry-heavy markets. Looks to me like the two films could end up around the same domestic number, getting there in completely different ways. Or not. Fighter could gain heat, though it’s not actually a feel good movie. And Swan could take off, especially with teen girls, but it also may have shot its wad o’ heat. No one actually can know how these films will play out as we work through awards season, until it actually happens.

Strong numbers for The King’s Speech. But who knows there either? Will anyone under 50 ever go see this film? They can probably get to $80 million or more without a tween in sight. And127 Hours treads water weakly, hoping for awards help.

Red is the biggest grosser for Summit that isn’t a teen vampire movie. As fall phenoms go, it’s right there with The Social Network domestically, though, interestingly, TSN beat Red by a significant margin overseas.

Unstoppable turned out to be a strong Denzel Washington title, but not one of his rare breakouts. It seems that the movie is too simple to be explained in the marketing… and that simplicity is really the reason the film is so good.

Due Date is heading to pass $100m… which isn’t The Hangover, but is really quite remarkable for a 2-man show that is so happily centered on a relentlessly nasty character.

How Do You Know, a romantic comedy shot mostly in rooms, could become the single biggest financial flop of 2010. I’m sure commenters will be quick to offer lists. But with a total worldwide gross that may be less than $50 million and a cost said to be well over $100 million, Sony could be eating $50m – $75m on this one, which as best as I can tell, they funded on their own. That makes Green Zone and The Wolfman look, well, horrible, but not as horrible.

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Friday Estimates by Klady Legacy

There have been twelve $40 million openings in December, ever. Only seven $50 million openings. Tron Legacy will be one of those. Once again, whether people want to crap all over MT Carney or not… and many do… but she/her team/whomever you want to credit has/have now opened two Disney movies in a row about as well as possible. You want to talk about the price tag on the marketing campaigns, fine. You want to talk about the price of the movies, fine. But opening a movie and making a movie are two very different activities with two very different sets of goals and the first part, opening Tangled and Tron Legacy domestically have gone well.

No film opening to over $40 million in December has ever grossed less than $200m domestic. A simple fact. And what is also interesting is that the next plateau, a $50m+ opening in December, has not historically meant much more than $40m. There are $50m+ Dec openings with $209m grosses and there are $40m – $50m Dec openers with over $300m in domestic.

Yogi Bear looks like a $14m – $15m starter, no Chipmunk he. $100m domestic is still possible, but a bit of a longshot. Time will tell. Word of mouth will mean a lot and with only Gulliver’s Travels, which looks horrible in the ads, coming in as kid fodder in opposition, Yogi could end up as default choice. If I were Disney, I’d be relaunching Tangled… or even Toy Story 3 in a hurry. Hungry marketplace for family films and the cupboard is bare (or is that “bear?”). Tron is not going to get 8-year-olds, sorry.

The Fighter opened about where I would have guessed. $10 – $11.5m is completely respectable… and not a world beater.

Narnia is crashing. The Tourist is at baggage claim, waiting on its luggage. And Potter 7 is #3 in the series after the end of the fifth Friday. Hard to project the international biz to the end, but the $1b dream for the film doesn’t look in any way sure right now. Completely solid Potter showing, but not an accelerant.

How Do You Know is a car wreck… and that’s above and beyond the sad limp thing that the movie is. Why does a 70-year-old man make a movie about romance amongst 30somethings? I don’t know. Maybe it was Garry Marshall’s fault, having a big hit with a new version of Love American Style. Jim Brooks is one of the best ever. His last two films are destroying that legacy. Time to write novels or something.

And Black Swan can’t be thrilled with 10x the screens and 2.5x the box office. But it’s still pretty strong. Still $7000 – $8000k per screen over the weekend. The question remains, will Swan get the big hit off of Oscar nominations, like Slumdog, or not? If not, it may be going out a little slow. If so, it may be going out a little fast. Searchlight is trying to manage this issue and have very little history to work with, as most films in this position have gone one way or the other, for better and for worse…

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Julia Ormond, actor

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BYOB

Not actually. Going to a funeral. But that doesn’t sound like much fun. (In lieu of flowers or donations, do yourself a favor and see Get Low.)

I’ve scheduled some DP/30s to post while I am gone. I may check in, but really, I’m going to try not to until I get back home on Friday morning. MCN will be fully functional without me, so there will be plenty to chew on. Beat each other up respectfully while I am gone, please.

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The Lottery, director/producet Madeleine Sackler

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Somewhere, actor Stephen Dorff

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The Company Men, writer/director/producer John Wells

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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