Wednesday
Jul202016
What's on your cinematic mind?
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 5:16PM
Do tell in the comments. We're searching for inspiration...
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Do tell in the comments. We're searching for inspiration...
Reader Comments (33)
Excited by this news about Dunst directing The Bell Jar.
Also, why did people so hard to make Sam Worthington a thing? Nothing against the guy, but three franchises seems excessive.
Weaver getting a career honour fab news.
I'm curious about Jason Bourne's chances for Oscar, assuming it equals the quality of the first three films. The Bourne Ultimatum was covered with tech Oscar glory, but we all know that was a reward for the trilogy not just that film. Will lightning strike again for Greengrass & Co.?
Watched Little Men, latest from Ira Sachs, last weekend and cannot shake it off. There is something so absolutely devastating about its minimalism. It doesn't take shortcuts. There is no clutter. It's clean and clear and in the same time absolutely rich. I fell in love with every single character. And somehow Jennifer Ehle manages to deliver a magnificent scene without saying a word or seeing her face. Back of her head for best prop!
Just rewatched Once with my wife (her first time watching), and it was even better than I remembered. What a perfect film.
I'm wondering what the Top 10 Best movies about the Moon would be, and if any of them had roles for women.
Enjoying "Stranger Things" but I think it might have been stronger as a 6-hour movie miniseries rather than something that might continue. This first season definitely treads water at times. Streaming services are unlikely to really throw their weight behind original films because it lacks the binge-factor/repeat business, right?
Just saw Hamilton so I'm wondering how it would work as a film. Would they stick with the all POC cast? Would they stick with the dual roles? Who would they cast if it was filmed right now? I'm having fun casting it in my head.
The strange news about the Divergent Finale (Detergent) being moved to the small screen as a TV movie - has that ever happened before?
Laura Benanti - her successful run with "She Loves You" is over now, will someone give her a comedy/musical? Someone in Hollywood? TV or movie - I would take either.
She knocked it out of the park again with her impression of Melania Trump on Colbert last night.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/laura-benanti-melania-trump-impression-late-show-stephen-colbert
Really disappointed about The Founder moving to December. I mean, what would have happened if, instead of the four month move they did, they only did a two week move? What are they up against then, really? War Dogs? I'm not going to dignify that with a response. (And, yes, I know that they'd probably have a slightly worse Sunday than normal (Olympic closing ceremonies, after all), but their production budget is only $7 million. If their final box office tally wound up even A QUARTER of what Straight Outta Compton did, they'd still be a big hit relative to their budget.) Seriously, I know there are more important things to do (and those should also be done), but if Hilary wins? I would love it if you put legislation in place to forcibly rebalance the film year. That doesn't just mean tentpoles and other genre pieces every month except January (which seems to be happening anyway), it means a minimum of one prestige movie opening wide every month too.
I am mentally casting Game Change 2 and I want Julianne Moore again as Hillary and Larry David as Bernie. I just can't cast Trump and I am thinking about it for hours! I see Peter Ustinov, but I can't see a single actor with such a larger than life personality that look like him. Jeff Bridges with a ton of make-up? For some reason I keep picturing Nicole Kidman as Melania. Meryl as Elizabeth Warren? The Hours all over again? Can we have this movie now?
Stranger Things
@Volvagia
Babe are you in a city showing The Killing Joke theatrically? Near me it'll be Monday night.
I watched Body Double uncensored from beginning to end for the first time yesterday and loved it. It's a movie frequently shown on network TV censored heavily of course. And strangely enough I've only ever caught glimpses of the Melanie Griffith scenes which are in the second half of the movie. There was a whole first portion of the movie that left me lost waiting for Melanie to show up. Funny to think catching her scenes all these years when her portion is the most TV inappropriate and explicit.
Attempted to see Ghostbusters today for Leslie Jones. My presentation was 3D and the image did not fill the entire widescreen. Essentially showing the movie letterboxed. Complained about it with everyone telling me this is how the studio sent them the 3D version. I have no idea how true this is but I left the movie before Leslie's character was introduced with my money refunded. Will have to try for another day with a 2D presentation which fills the entire widescreen.
morganisaqt: Detergent. Good one. And what's especially surprising about that is: How BAD are you/was your franchise (I have not watched ANY of those) if you blink when your competition is World War Z 2 and a Tom Cruise-ified reboot of The Mummy directed by Alex Kurtzman?
Why is no one talking about Héctor Babenco?
Where is thr trailer, the poster, something of Martin Scorsese's 'Silence'?????
We are in August, pratically, and NOTHING!!
'Manchester by the sea' the same thing.
Jon: Yeah, even for mid-low budget stuff, that is curious.
Just watched "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" solely to satisfy my Woody Allen completist compulsion. Wow. What a train-wreck. Some of the worst acting I've seen, in particular from Theron and Allen himself. Still, some funny dialogue.
Also, excited for Viola, Margot, and Jai to chew some scenery in Suicide Squad :)
Jon: maybe Scorsese and Paramount publicity are taking the SILENCE film title literally.
morganisaqt: I applaud the ALLEGIANT-goes-to-TV move as a more realistic way to find the audience. Who needs another flop sequel at the box office? And it seems an antidote to the greed of cutting the final film in half: it doesn't always work, people! Though of course now TV does that with final seasons (BREAKING BAD, MAD MEN & now GAME OF THRONES).
/3rtful: good on you for getting your money back and not standing for the shitty projection. And for supporting Leslie Jones of course. I hope to see GHOSTBUSTERS this weekend. I think a lot of films could be improved by being remade with that cast.
Hector Babenco and Black Narcissus!
Hopefully the Divergent series debacle will put an end to splitting finales into two (well, at least outside of Avengers-sized hits, but even then...)
Also, I'm *almost* disappointed that FENCES is coming out this year after all, because won't that mean Mark Harris takes an Oscar sabbatical again like he did during LINCOLN's year? I worry that with only Nathaniel around, the level headedness of the season will be missing.
@ cal roth
Some Donald Trump options: Michael McKean, Ted Danson, Jeffrey Tambor, James Woods, WILLIAM ATHERTON, BOB GUNTON, Kevin Kline, Ed O'Neill...
And I'd say go with Robert Klein or Tony Roberts for Bernie. Larry David's got the voice, but he's otherwise so wrong.
I know you just did a post on Gary Marshall, but I'm still having a tough time with this loss. My Mom showed me Pretty Woman (her favorite movie) when I was six (probably too young) and that's how I knew I wanted to leave my small farm town and move to LA.
Being a man who moved to the big city from a small town, which films when you were young made you convinced you wanted to move to the big city?
Also, what are your thoughts on Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman? While it shouldn't have won the Oscar by any stretch, we don't get "star is born" moments like that. It's really incredible how she commands the screen. It seems almost like Julia would've done well under the studio system as romantic comedies are her forte and she could still do the occasional drama.
@ cal roth:
Actually, move Tambor into the Bernie column.
And for Melania: I'm digging Laura Benanti's audition, especially since we know she is a good dramatic actress.
Bening would be perfect as Elizabeth Warren, lookswise.
And as Hillary: Dianne Wiest, JoBeth Williams or Diane Keaton.
Paul Outlaw & Cal Roth - Laura Benanti as Melania is the perfect choice. Michael McKean for Trump looks good. Keep in mind that the RNC convention has basically become a Christopher Guest film anyways, so McKean has that previous experience. Perhaps Parker Posey for the role of a PR person or fox news type,
It's really gone beyond parody...
Just read about Kenneth Branagh's production of Romeo and Juliet with Derek Jacobi in an inspired casting move as Mercutio. Perhaps with the success of She Loves Me, we'll start seeing more live streaming theater productions, either in movie theaters like the UK's National Theater Live does, or via regular streaming channels for home viewing.
Nothing, of course, beats truly LIVE theater, but not all us can afford pricey tickets and/or live in or near cities with great theater.
Nicole Kidman as Ann Coulter. It'd be her second Mrs. Coulter!
What if first choice Albert Finney had done Lawrence of Arabia? I need to know...
Closet Monster opens in most Canadian cities this week. Hopefully it comes to the US soon too!
We've seen a trend of films with at least $100m budgets underperforming (BvS, X-Men: Apocalypse, Warcraft, TMNT 2, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Gods of Egypt, Huntsman: WW, Allegiant, etc.).
But I'm more devastated that nobody saw The Nice Guys which was only made for $50m yet couldn't reach that domestically. I think HW should still take chances on more original content. If they learned anything from films with more modest budgets performing well this year (Central Intelligence, Me Before You, The Shallows, etc.), it's that they should go more original and think smaller instead of pissing away $100m per picture and giving us reboots and sequels that there isn't demand for.
I love The Bell Jar - but it doesn't make for a very interesting movie -
the prose is great, not so mcu the story.
Based on the short films I've seen by Dunst, she doesn't exactly scream "talented filmmaker".
Somewhere Julia Stiles is going crazy - she's been trying to make it for years - as a producer and star.
But Dakota Fanning is a lovely actress, I'm sure she's gonna be great as Esther.
@ Matt St.Clair, the problem is that all of those shitty movies do make back their budgets and then some. Literally all of them, once they've played overseas and gone to disc and streaming. And they make serious cash, much more than even the most successful "normal" movies (the ones I go to) ever do. Hollywood is no longer in the movie business, it's in the junk for cash business. That's why when the Oscars come around, no one has ever heard of any of the nominated movies. (No one normal, I don't mean this site's readers!) I used to live in Houston, the U.S. city with the fourth-highest population, and movies like Room and Brooklyn and Carol would play there for one or two weeks in one or two theaters. I'm not making this up. Normal movies are mostly "indies" now. The kind of money a Me Before You makes is literally negligible to the studios.