Links: Madame X, King Richard, and Book Club 2?
Friday, June 14, 2019 at 8:00AM • IndieWire the problem of too much television for Emmy voters
• Vanity Fair Book Club is getting a sequel with its quartet of stars returning. VF wants Andy Garcia back as well and we concur.
• Variety an ouch ouch pan review of Nicolas Winding Refn's new TV series (which he keeps saying is a movie)
• Variety this seems like a bad-omen move. Amazon is only giving their chief Oscar hopeful The Report (starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening) a two week theatrical window before it streams...
[More after the jump including Madonna's Madame X, Daredevil's longshot fight sequences, news on King Richard, and Catherine O'Hara visiting Broadway...]
... regarding that move for The Report. Sure Roma succeeded last year but Roma was a special case (consensus masterpieces can make their own rules) and Netflix's branding means eyebrows don't raise when you ignore theatrical. Amazon had previously been fine with typical 90 day theatrical windows
• Letters of Note oldie but goodie: the early days of Roseanne's cast & producer clashes
• The Mary Sue 10 Black LGBTQ characters in movies and tv to celebrate this month
• Deadline Will Smith's King Richard movie gets a Thanksgiving 2020 release date. Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men) will direct.
• Coming Soon oh, this incenses me. The third season of Daredevil is not eligible for the Stunt Emmy because its stellar prison fight setpiece (an 11 minute continuous shot scene is "too long" by Emmy rules. That's some kind of bullshit right there, people! There are awards rules that make sense and should be adhered to and awards rules which fight against the spirit of a category. ANGRY.
• IndieWire Netflix might have two 2D animated features as Oscar contenders this year - We'd already been predicting Klaus but the other ones is news to us
Stage
• Playbill Ed Harris will take over the lead role when Jeff Daniels leaves Broadway's To Kill a Mockingbird
• Broadway World Catherine O'Hara visits Beetlejuice on Broadway
• Playbill If only i could afford this show. OMG. Sherie Rene Scott & Norbert Leo Butz (original stars of The Last Five Years --only the best Off Broadway musical of my lifetime) doing a "Twohander" at 54Below
Madonna Mania
Her new album "Madame X" is on sale today...
• AV Club Power Hour - makes a playlist of deep cuts, no singles allowed. So many good songs!
• Variety a piece on the shoddy sensationalist reporting on ticket sales for major artists in concert. The last time I saw Madonna (my favorite pop star) I had great seats for $225 but I can't pay these new prices, personally. Congrats to anyone who can.
• Boy Culture a review of Madame X from one of the best Madonna fans
• Variety an another strong review of Madame X
Reader Comments (33)
OMG I am unapologetically excited about Book Club 2. Yassssss.
Daredevil S3's ineligible stunt sequence? I can't feel torn up about that. When the subtext of your superhero show amounts to "these stylish costumes are in and of themselves evil", you deserve every kicking you get.
I wonder if things aren't so dire for the Report, but more that Amazon is just following the lead of Netflix. Sure, the report doesn't have the cache that Roma did, but maybe they're banking on early accessibility to build buzz?
I'm curious about the Will Smith movie. Monsters and Men was an assured and narratively ambitious debut, especially for something small scale, so I'm intrigued on what the director sets to do next.
Smith also strikes me as someone well liked in the industry and with the right project could win some industry awards.
Poor Annette. By all accounts, "The Report" could be another "Lions for Lambs"/"Rendition".
Another link, Stage/Screen:
Richard E Grant, so fantastic recently in Can You Ever Forgive Me, now in film adaptation of musical, Everyone’s Talking About Jamie.
http://www.playbill.com/article/richard-e-grant-sharon-horgan-sarah-lancashire-will-star-in-screen-adaptation-of-everybodys-talking-about-jamie
Plus, Sarah Lancashire as Jamie’s mother. She’s freaking amazing in everything, plus she CAN sing!
Madame X is Triumphant,don't expect many floorfillers but it's consistent work.
Book Club was awful. I give up on Keaton but I still want Jane Fonda to do good movies.
I'm trying real hard with Madame X but I still prefer Rebel Heart. I like Future, Crave and Extreme Occident...
I have mixed feelings about Madame X. On one hand, I'm thrilled that the critical establishment is taking it seriously because she really, really, really deserves that. In that sense it's a triumph and I'm so happy to see it.
But the music itself doesn't...do it for me. Maybe with this success at her back she can go make some big, thrilling dance music. Not of the MDNA variety but of the Confessions, Celebration, Living for Love variety. That's the element where I get the most joy, as a Madonna stan.
Her refusal to repeat herself is a blessing and a curse. I desperately want another disco album.
"I Don't Search I Find" is a favorite.
Also, no list of Madonna's greatest non-singles is complete without "Thief of Hearts" and "White Heat." Those are literally the first two I looked for on that list (which is otherwise great!).
The list of non-singles is amazing and I must say I know by heart almost all of them.
I like the album esp Looking for Mercy and Come Alive,it's not what I would like from Madonna her 89 - 93 period is how I like my Madonna but I have been hoping she'd start getting good press for her music rather than for her grill,rumoured surgery,wild outfits,men or adoptions,seems this is the album she should have made at this time.
Nathaniel-
I was able to get front row Balcony seats at The Met in Philly for $257... I wouldn't pay any higher than that though, despite being the fact that she is my God and have been a fan for 30 years now.
Nathaniel, really want to hear your thoughts on Madame X. The video for Dark Ballet is so beautiful.
Love Profusion was a massive hit in my bedroom,.
The whole Madame X debacle is tragic. Five singles and not one enters the top 100. What a waste of time and money.
You should see the state our UK charts are in little bo peep voiced females and scratchy voice mumbly males.
Faye-
It's all about age plain and simple. Not even Mariah Carey or Jennifer Lopez enters the Top 100 anymore.
Madonna is at #2 on the Dance Charts and at #15 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
https://www.billboard.com/charts/dance-club-play-songs
https://www.billboard.com/charts/adult-contemporary
I think it's great that Andy Garcia is playing older and being paired with actresses older than him in "Book Club" and "Mamma Mia". It seems he has found a niche as the sexy older lover.
Michael R -- it takes me a few listens to fully decide on albums and I haven't had much free time but I'm liking how adventurous it is, sonically. Haven't seen her experiment with a new sound this much since RAY OF LIGHT. But then I seem to be one of the rare ones who loved Medellin so I guess i was in the right mood for this sort of album.
Some of those Madonna album cuts were so popular among my friends that I'm shocked they weren't singles. But I wish "Til Death Do Us Part" were included - I love that song (the whole Like a Prayer album was major with me).
I actually think Amazon doing a limited theater run for The Report makes sense. These movies (adult dramas) don't make money anymore. People just don't bother showing up to theater unless it's DIsney or some other spectacle. It's sad but I wouldn't be surprised if in the future films like this only end up getting put on streaming services, although that might be my pessimism talking. Putting it on Prime after two weeks at least will get more people watching probably, maybe.
Of all of the songs in the non-singles list of Madonna, where's "I Deserve It" from Music?
Suzanne -- great song. I always picture Sean Penn when I hear it.
Madame X’s God Control is maddeningly brilliant. The record as a whole is a master work.
I hope Madonna seeks professional help. The eyepatch and multiple personalities, singing like a computer, partnering with random fads ... this is a sad case of the rich aging poorly.
All of those album tracks are great, but "Waiting", "Gang Bang" and "Get Together" are particularly genius. MADAME X is are peculiar album, her most experimental to date with wild far leaps of creativity and some swings that don't hit at all. I am particularly in love with "I Don't Search I Find" (very late '90s dance with influences of "Vogue" and disco), "Crave", "God Control", "Crazy", "Come Alive", "Looking for Mercy", "I Rise", "Medellin" and "Batuka". "God Control" and "Future" is a good example of the album, heavily processed vocals that will likely infuriate people and distract them from the message. The only song that is completely not a good selection for the album is "Killers Who Are Partying" that is just no appropriate.
As for the rest... i'm not sure what Amazon is doing this year. They had such success with MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, but this two-week run for THE REPORT goes completely against what they appeared to be priding themselves on among the "streaming wars". Plus their seemingly ineffective marketing campaign for LATE NIGHT. I suspect their ONE CHILD NATION is the documentary frontrunner, however.
That Emmy ruling is perplexing.
Some good choices on that AV article. I also co-sign the love for "Thief of Hearts" and "Til Death Do Us Part." I would add the following as particular favorites of mine, leaving out singles altogether:
* "Secret Garden"
* "I Want You" (it got a video but was never released as a single)
* "Skin"
* "To Have and Not to Hold"
* "Time Stood Still"
* "Gone"
* "Paradise (Not for Me)"
* "Intervention"
* "Forbidden Love" (2005)
* "Heartbeat"
* "Lovespent"
* "Falling Free"
* "Joan of Arc"
* "Inside Out"
"As for the rest... i'm not sure what Amazon is doing this year. They had such success with MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, but this two-week run for THE REPORT goes completely against what they appeared to be priding themselves on among the "streaming wars". Plus their seemingly ineffective marketing campaign for LATE NIGHT. I suspect their ONE CHILD NATION is the documentary frontrunner, however."
Agreed Glenn. Well, I lost faith with the film when the release date was on September (A full dumpster month with zero luck at the Oscars), and this confirms my suspiction. Sorry Nath, next time for Bening.
leon: Please. September has a decent chance. It's even won within my lifetime. It's not April. In my lifetime (1990-now), there have been LITERALLY ZERO Best Picture nominees with an April release. I was born in April, so how do you think I feel about that?
Please, Volvqgia. Since 2011 with "Moneyball" no any Oscar contender came from September. These are the films which came in September:
-Stronger
-Battle of the Sexes
-Jobs
Even for the Actress you need to go to 2006 to find one.
I think Madame X is probably Madonna's best album since Confessions on a Dance Floor. It's not as good as COADF, but I think it's a solid, cohesive, thought-provoking record with some really well-done tracks. I'm impressed. But yes, sadly because of her age, she probably won't chart on the Hot 100, but that's just the nature of aging in this industry and the fact she even had a top ten single this decade really speaks on her endurance.
But Ray of Light and Confessions are still her best, I think.