Let’s talk about whatever’s on your mind, whether it’s yesterday’s Friday Snapshot, this week’s newsletters, or the dropping of “Fox” from 20th Century Studios.
The point is let’s keep the conversation going all weekend!
I'll go first with the Fox thing. I am of decidedly mixed mind. On the one hand, I think we take terrible care of our cultural history, for reasons that are largely about money instead of the relationship we have to these things. That 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare mean something to film fans, for whatever that's worth. But I also think Rupert Murdoch has made the Fox name mean something very specific, and however you feel about that word now, it's pretty undeniably tied to the news channel. I understand why Disney doesn't really want to have the same brand under their own umbrella. It's not because Disney is ideologically pure (trust me, they're a corporation... they're not ideologically pure) but because of the perception that their brand is so radically different from the Fox brand.
In the end, it's a shell game. Whatever Fox was is gone, and simply strip-mining their library and their IP doesn't make them the same company. It feels like the final inevitable step in a process that burned down a big piece of this industry's historic identity. It makes me sad.
Disney is doing the same thing to Fox that the phone company is doing to HBO. Dissolving most of what made the company unique and keeping the name plate. Sadly, that's the way of things. Brands buy other Brands so they can exploit Assets and IP. I know Art lost the war with Commerce a long, long time ago, but it never fails to depress the crap out of me.
It is complicated by the fact that I don't particularly like being invested in the fate of a "brand," but if you're a film fan, those things are part of it. When I sit down in a theater, all of it affects me. Those logos... those fanfares... those opening moments... they are part of the experience.
And for me, that all goes back to Star Wars, of course. That movie was so formative as an experience, and I learned to get excited when I saw that 20th Century Fox fanfare.
Will it actually change any of the films if the Fox brand is mistreated now? Not on a substantial level.
But does it feel like something is being brutalized and ruined?
I hear what you’re saying and you make a salient point. The name drop feels significant to me, I think, based on the way they’ve been quietly locking up so many old FOX titles in their vault. I don’t have any inherent dislike toward Disney as a whole, but I feel very cynical and sad toward the swallowing up of everything, particularly when they start making moves like locking up FOX films in their vault. It starts to feel less like branding as much as erasure under the guise of an excuse that feels reasonably justifiable based on Murdoch’s abhorrence.
I've only just glanced at the headlines about this, thus far... I was, perhaps, too afraid to dig deeper. My childhood filmmaker DREAM was to have the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare at the front of my first feature film, one day. (Got it on my second!) I concur with your conclusions about our culture's terrible stewardship of cinema history, but does this (as I fear) change apply to more than projects, like Star Wars sequels, etc., going forward? Or are they planning on actually rebranding (logos, music, and all) everything in the vault, as well?
I've seen both Disney and Universal occasionally replace their studio logos at the start of the picture on older films with their newer versions on various home video and digital releases and it bugs the hell out of me. I know the movie came out in the early 90s, gimme dat James Horner Universal Fanfare!
It will be very interesting to see if they digitally remove it from every pre last week. Would be somewhat surreal if they do and erase it from history.
I can not fault Disney for wanting to separate themselves completely from Fox. The company is a stain on America and a threat to the world. Substituting one word and keeping everything else the same (fanfare, logo art, etc) always was the best case scenario.
Hopefully, by the time the memory of Fox truly starts to fade, those of us who grew up with it, will be heads in jars, babbling to our descendants about the glories of old, for all eternity.
I guess it was once 20th Century Pictures, and I'm understanding of the desire to dump the Fox name. My concern is diversity of product. From their stewardship of Pixar and Marvel I've stayed fairly confident.. until episode 9: which seemed to be a company fearing risks and stakes in storytelling. That may be more Lucasfilm than Marvel. Time will tell, and I'd be interested to hear Drew's take on this wider issues and whether episode 9 suggests anything or nothing.
I think it's dangerous to read tea leaves based on one movie, particularly a movie produced in a pressure cooker as unfortunate as TROS.
I've got some Star Wars thoughts coming soon. I'll say that each of the companies at Disney has its own personality and its own challenges to face, and you can't really base anything about Pixar on something about Star Wars or something about DFA or whatever. They each have to make it work.
Disney's overall identity is more about the way they sell those things and the way they work to own our larger culture. They just use Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, or their other assets as the chess pieces.
I'm looking forward to it, too, especially now that I see how easy it is to set up a discussion thread for it every month. I was worried that non-subscribers wouldn't be able to participate, but the film club will be one of the elements that remains free and open to anyone even after I have the subscription side of things kick in.
Anyone else see Bad Boys For Life and think it was pretty wild seeing Don Simpson’s name again during the Bruckheimer Films production logo. It’ll likely happen again over the next two years with Top Gun: Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 4. With the National Treasure 3 announcement, Jerry Bruckheimer is having a bit of a renaissance.
For my money, the two National Treasure films are a ton of fun, and the perfect vehicle for caging Nic's crazy, pun intended. I just wish they would've done a longer series of these every three years like their original plan. Better late than never!
I’ll miss the Fox logo but glad it still lives in some capacity. I hope they keep the fanfare. I also hope they utilize the name for properties like Alien and use it for other movies that are more outside the Disney realm. I am also concerned about all the concentrated media corporations and what that means for the future of film.
Maybe I've just been reading a lot of Kayliegh Donaldson's work, but the re-branding of 20th Century Fox to just f 20th Century Studios just unnerves me to no end. I have so many questions about how it's going to be run, what it's future output will consist of, and most importantly what becomes of the Fox back-catalog.
There are so many Fox movies there that deserve a good Blu-Ray and/or Streaming release like The Driver, Betrayal, In Old Chicago, The Culpepper Cattle Co, The Enemy Below, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? but I don't think Disney will really care what happens to them unless companies Shout Factor, Criterion, and Kino fit the bill.
I think we all have those questions right now, and I'm guessing no one has a definitive answer yet. It's going to require a lot of pressure from film fans to get Disney to treat the Fox catalong well.
Drew, just had to give you a shoutout for the killer job moderating the Freaked screening last night. My wife and I were there and it was a total blast. Thanks for all the great questions and the way you facilitated the cast/crew discussion. What a fun night.
Thanks! It was a blast, and that was a HUGE stage full of people. I knew going in that audience Q&A would have been impossible, so I just focused on making sure everyone spoke at some point. What a fun night.
I was happy to see you recognize "Midsommar" in your 2019 Part II newsletter. I know lots of people didn't like it and that others think "Hereditary" is better, but honestly, I understand what Aster says when he calls the movie a "fairy tale" instead of a "horror movie." Watching the movie closely, I think I understand what he means. Do you plan write about the best of the decade in the same style as your 2019 newsletters?
With the Fox thing, I wonder if a name change was quasi-inevitable since Disney doesn't own ALL their assets and perhaps wanted to make sure they stand out on what they do own? I'm not saying its right or wrong, but just wondering.
First time I've heard Midsommar described as a fairy tale, and considering the kind of gruesome shit that happens in old timey fairy tales, yeah, I can totally see that.
As sad and end-of-an-era as the Fox name change is, I can understand it from a brand management perspective and, as anachronistic as '20th Century Pictures' sounds, it was one of the original parent company names, and the big 20th logo with klieg lights and cinema's greatest fanfare is remaining, so I'm happy with that as a compromise. (Why not '21st Century Pictures'? Blame Menachem Golan, haha! Oh, and, uh, the advertising video agency that currently seems to own that title.) But, yeah, as long as the logo and fanfare are staying.
(Plus, for me? As a child of '70s who grew up in the '80s but came of age in the '90s, 20th will always mean hazy, pumped-up action pictures to me: from ALIENS and PREDATOR, to DIE HARD and POINT BREAK, to MARKED FOR DEATH and SPEED. They seemed to be the one-stop shop for that kind of cinema from 86-95 or so.)
As for what I've been watching? I've been showing my partner the films of Lynne Ramsay and Jonathan Glazer -- we've been alternating them as doubles, which feels weirdly appropriate -- and they've been blowing our minds. Saw RATCATCHER and MORVERN CALLAR for the first time and loved them, especially the latter, which is my new fave Ramsay. Few filmmakers do subjective realities as well as her. Whereas Glazer's films just have this bewitching dark beauty to them, even when they're horrifying.
Wow. Working through Ramsay and Glazer at the same time would be wild. I love her work, and I think he's the great weird mad genius of the music video guys. Glazer feels like he's tuned in to a different radio station than anyone else, and his films really burrow into you.
And, yeah, I think Morvern Callar is incredible. That movie pulverized me the first time I saw it. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I haven't had as much time to watch movies this month due to personal family issues and stress, but hopefully, once that is resolved, I'll be able to get back in the swing of things.
Some of the highlights for me thus far:
-The first three films of the "Lone Wolf & Cub" series, which I got for Christmas.
-"McCabe & Mrs. Miller," which I watched for the first time today, and absolutely loved.
-"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," which I watched this Wednesday after a particularly tough day on the family front. I needed that blast of goodness from Mr. Rogers like Lloyd does in the movie. Such a wonderful film.
McCabe & Mrs Miller is long overdue for me to return to. It's been at least 12 years since my last screening of it. I'm going to start watching out for theatrical screenings here in LA, but if one doesn't happen by July, I think I might program this one for m'self.
I need to get downtown to The Plaza in Atlanta more for repertory screenings- covering the Atlanta Film Festival there last year has me wanting to spend as much time in that theatre as possible.
I think removing the Fox from 20th Century Fox is a garbage move by a garbage company; there's not much more to say about it. 20th Century Fox was at one time one of the greatest studios there was. This is a sad day for those of us who care about movies, but just another day for people who only care about IPs. I'm not a purest, I know this is a business and the art is always secondary, but this is an incredibly sad day (or day after the day). Thinking that people can't tell difference between 20th Century Fox movies and FOX News Channel is the same kind of dumb thinking that keeps Batman off the small screen. Hey, people are okay with different Flash's!
Speaking of, did anyone watch that amazing cameo this past Tuesday and just geek the eff out in the biggest way? While I'm not a fan of what WB/Snyder/Whedon did with BvS and Justice League, I think their casting for those films were amazing (that includes Batfleck who was sadly wasted in bad movies... a great Batman and Bruce Wayne, both), and I can't wait to see Ezra Miller's Flash movie whenever it gets here. And I hope, since it's Flashpoint, that they can bring in Grant Gustin's Flash for a cameo!
You know, for all the crap WB deservedly gets for mishandling their two biggest characters, they've done good work with Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Shazam, and their TV work, especially with Legends of Tomorrow and Lucifer, and to a lesser extent The Flash and Arrow (at least the last few seasons, as their first few seasons were much better). Also, while Kevin Feige refused to bring the Defenders into the MCU, where they could've been a big help in that Endgame final fight (how difficult would've it have been to green screen in Daredevil and Luke Cage for a 5-second cameo, really?), it was awesome to see WB work with Marc Gugenheim to tie together their TV and movie universes in a meaningful way, even if the scene was only about 90 seconds.
If (and only if) the MCU braintrust is very clever about it, they could slot the Defenders into the MCU via the next Spiderman movie, along with D'Nofrio's Kingpin.
I find it interesting that Color Out Of Space wasn’t bolded in your what you’ve watched. Not that that means you thought it was a bad film, but I thought it was pretty good, well made and found it interesting enough that I was a little surprised to not see it bolded. Of course any week Shogun Assassin is watched, that’s going to get bolded.
I didn’t know Joe Begos from Adam earlier last year, but I got to see Bliss and VFW at Monsterfest in October, and thought they were both fun films, but especially liked Bliss, so was happy to see that get a shoutout.
I saw Underwater in theaters, the experience was almost ruined by a trio of teenage girls. They held the theater hostage with their giggles and scrolling through their phones. Nobody wanted to be the one to yell at them. Leviathan was better.
I also finally sat down with all 4 films in the Tombs of the Blind Dead series on Amazon Prime. What a blast. It's so interesting to compare other culture's versions of common plots and film scenarios. I enjoyed the Templar Knights and their quest for virgin blood. At one point they were on a ship! Those were the first Spanish Horror films I've that I'm aware of. The last one, Night of The Seagulls, was the only one I didn't care for. Its so nice to be able to stream all the films and not have to go digging online for expensive copies in poor quality.
I remember going on a Tombs of the Blind Dead run back when Anchor Bay put out that coffin-style box set of all the films. I thought they were long on atmosphere, short on story, and loads of fun. I agree that the last one runs out of gas, but they're simple and effective and memorable. Glad to hear they're available in an easier-to-see format right now.
Underwater was a very solid monster flick! I saw it last week and it’s not my new favorite or anything but it was certainly not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
I am sure I will have a good time with it here at the house eventually. I have a lot of other things that feel like a priority, though.
I'm encouraged that people seemed to like it more than the studio did. They held this one for a while, and this release felt like a January dump more than anything.
I’m kinda bummed out by the whole GIFGate regarding Kenobi. Watching a bunch of people I like reading posting cryptic GIFs and not saying anything was frustrating.
It feels, to me, like there is a condescending attitude from The Verifieds on Film Twitter towards us. We are the people that follow them, retweet them, read their stories, and share their stories. It’s like we are the family in Parasite and we exist to prop them up.
I ended up getting blocked by a writer that I really like reading for critiquing the GIF practice, not the actual writer. That GIF posting thing sucks. The whole reason people do it seems to be to provoke a response. There is no link to news or anything. Just this signal that they are in the club.
Then if anybody critiques them or voices frustration your are blocked or muted. Often there is this sort of celebration towards blocking or muting.
That does suck. I've certainly been cryptic at times in the past, but that usually comes from feeling frustrated about something that I can't report even though it's true and it's known by many people.
Ultimately, many of the people who are "reporting" this stuff don't know any more than the average commenter, and often even less. They just do it because they want to do it. They don't have any particular perspective or expertise or experience that might inform what they do, and when they add condescension toward their readers on top of it, it's quite the attractive package.
I can get frustrated with people sometimes. I hate it when someone demands "How do you know that?! Prove it!!" because that's not the way reporting works. But even then, if I get really upset with that person, that just means I'm a jerk. Which I try not to be.
Genuinely asking questions and offering opinion, though, should not provoke that kind of reaction, and I think when people are playing "I'm in the club," they know full-well what they're doing, and I would imagine they don't like being called out for it.
After listening to the Screen Drafts episode of sword and sorcery films, I decided to rewatch the Lord of the rings trilogy. Haven't done so since before the hobbit came out. And I'm doing the extended editions. Watching them with my brother who never watched them. Gotta finish up Return of The King tomorrow but I am just once again stunned at these movies. Just absolute perfection.
"Too Many Chefs" is not a particularly good film, but I sure miss the comedy mysteries. Glad to see Knives Out doing well, since that particular subgenre has become more or less extinct. I also miss Robert Morley a lot.
Even though they frustrate the hell out of me I have of course been sucked in as usual to watching hours of award ceremonies and getting sucked up into the whole process as per usual.
I'll go first with the Fox thing. I am of decidedly mixed mind. On the one hand, I think we take terrible care of our cultural history, for reasons that are largely about money instead of the relationship we have to these things. That 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare mean something to film fans, for whatever that's worth. But I also think Rupert Murdoch has made the Fox name mean something very specific, and however you feel about that word now, it's pretty undeniably tied to the news channel. I understand why Disney doesn't really want to have the same brand under their own umbrella. It's not because Disney is ideologically pure (trust me, they're a corporation... they're not ideologically pure) but because of the perception that their brand is so radically different from the Fox brand.
In the end, it's a shell game. Whatever Fox was is gone, and simply strip-mining their library and their IP doesn't make them the same company. It feels like the final inevitable step in a process that burned down a big piece of this industry's historic identity. It makes me sad.
Disney is doing the same thing to Fox that the phone company is doing to HBO. Dissolving most of what made the company unique and keeping the name plate. Sadly, that's the way of things. Brands buy other Brands so they can exploit Assets and IP. I know Art lost the war with Commerce a long, long time ago, but it never fails to depress the crap out of me.
It is complicated by the fact that I don't particularly like being invested in the fate of a "brand," but if you're a film fan, those things are part of it. When I sit down in a theater, all of it affects me. Those logos... those fanfares... those opening moments... they are part of the experience.
And for me, that all goes back to Star Wars, of course. That movie was so formative as an experience, and I learned to get excited when I saw that 20th Century Fox fanfare.
Will it actually change any of the films if the Fox brand is mistreated now? Not on a substantial level.
But does it feel like something is being brutalized and ruined?
Yes. Very much so.
I hear what you’re saying and you make a salient point. The name drop feels significant to me, I think, based on the way they’ve been quietly locking up so many old FOX titles in their vault. I don’t have any inherent dislike toward Disney as a whole, but I feel very cynical and sad toward the swallowing up of everything, particularly when they start making moves like locking up FOX films in their vault. It starts to feel less like branding as much as erasure under the guise of an excuse that feels reasonably justifiable based on Murdoch’s abhorrence.
I've only just glanced at the headlines about this, thus far... I was, perhaps, too afraid to dig deeper. My childhood filmmaker DREAM was to have the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare at the front of my first feature film, one day. (Got it on my second!) I concur with your conclusions about our culture's terrible stewardship of cinema history, but does this (as I fear) change apply to more than projects, like Star Wars sequels, etc., going forward? Or are they planning on actually rebranding (logos, music, and all) everything in the vault, as well?
I can't imagine they're rebranding the entire vault. Good god, the physical effort alone.
But it's scary because it would be very easy for that to happen.
I've seen both Disney and Universal occasionally replace their studio logos at the start of the picture on older films with their newer versions on various home video and digital releases and it bugs the hell out of me. I know the movie came out in the early 90s, gimme dat James Horner Universal Fanfare!
It will be very interesting to see if they digitally remove it from every pre last week. Would be somewhat surreal if they do and erase it from history.
I can not fault Disney for wanting to separate themselves completely from Fox. The company is a stain on America and a threat to the world. Substituting one word and keeping everything else the same (fanfare, logo art, etc) always was the best case scenario.
I get it. It's become a highly weaponized word.
I can’t help but think of the Simpsons metajokes about Fox that won’t land for the newer generations who won’t know what Fox is.
Hopefully, by the time the memory of Fox truly starts to fade, those of us who grew up with it, will be heads in jars, babbling to our descendants about the glories of old, for all eternity.
The Fox network will likely exist as long as there are n=current Simpsons, which is what most of them are about.
I guess it was once 20th Century Pictures, and I'm understanding of the desire to dump the Fox name. My concern is diversity of product. From their stewardship of Pixar and Marvel I've stayed fairly confident.. until episode 9: which seemed to be a company fearing risks and stakes in storytelling. That may be more Lucasfilm than Marvel. Time will tell, and I'd be interested to hear Drew's take on this wider issues and whether episode 9 suggests anything or nothing.
I think it's dangerous to read tea leaves based on one movie, particularly a movie produced in a pressure cooker as unfortunate as TROS.
I've got some Star Wars thoughts coming soon. I'll say that each of the companies at Disney has its own personality and its own challenges to face, and you can't really base anything about Pixar on something about Star Wars or something about DFA or whatever. They each have to make it work.
Disney's overall identity is more about the way they sell those things and the way they work to own our larger culture. They just use Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, or their other assets as the chess pieces.
I did of course mean Disney, not Marvel
Nice to meet you all btw
Looking forward to the film club! Good choices for the first round
Agreed. I've never seen "The Thin Man" before.
What a great excuse.
I'm looking forward to it, too, especially now that I see how easy it is to set up a discussion thread for it every month. I was worried that non-subscribers wouldn't be able to participate, but the film club will be one of the elements that remains free and open to anyone even after I have the subscription side of things kick in.
Anyone else see Bad Boys For Life and think it was pretty wild seeing Don Simpson’s name again during the Bruckheimer Films production logo. It’ll likely happen again over the next two years with Top Gun: Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 4. With the National Treasure 3 announcement, Jerry Bruckheimer is having a bit of a renaissance.
For my money, the two National Treasure films are a ton of fun, and the perfect vehicle for caging Nic's crazy, pun intended. I just wish they would've done a longer series of these every three years like their original plan. Better late than never!
And before anyone gives Disney too many pats on the back for acknowledging the toxicity of the Fox brand now:
https://twitter.com/WilliamBibbiani/status/1218222126013935617
(I missed that point too. Disney $$$ fund more Murdoch bullshit.)
LMFAO is Underwater going to be the last movie to say Fox.
I’ll miss the Fox logo but glad it still lives in some capacity. I hope they keep the fanfare. I also hope they utilize the name for properties like Alien and use it for other movies that are more outside the Disney realm. I am also concerned about all the concentrated media corporations and what that means for the future of film.
Maybe I've just been reading a lot of Kayliegh Donaldson's work, but the re-branding of 20th Century Fox to just f 20th Century Studios just unnerves me to no end. I have so many questions about how it's going to be run, what it's future output will consist of, and most importantly what becomes of the Fox back-catalog.
There are so many Fox movies there that deserve a good Blu-Ray and/or Streaming release like The Driver, Betrayal, In Old Chicago, The Culpepper Cattle Co, The Enemy Below, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? but I don't think Disney will really care what happens to them unless companies Shout Factor, Criterion, and Kino fit the bill.
I think we all have those questions right now, and I'm guessing no one has a definitive answer yet. It's going to require a lot of pressure from film fans to get Disney to treat the Fox catalong well.
Drew, just had to give you a shoutout for the killer job moderating the Freaked screening last night. My wife and I were there and it was a total blast. Thanks for all the great questions and the way you facilitated the cast/crew discussion. What a fun night.
Thanks! It was a blast, and that was a HUGE stage full of people. I knew going in that audience Q&A would have been impossible, so I just focused on making sure everyone spoke at some point. What a fun night.
I was happy to see you recognize "Midsommar" in your 2019 Part II newsletter. I know lots of people didn't like it and that others think "Hereditary" is better, but honestly, I understand what Aster says when he calls the movie a "fairy tale" instead of a "horror movie." Watching the movie closely, I think I understand what he means. Do you plan write about the best of the decade in the same style as your 2019 newsletters?
With the Fox thing, I wonder if a name change was quasi-inevitable since Disney doesn't own ALL their assets and perhaps wanted to make sure they stand out on what they do own? I'm not saying its right or wrong, but just wondering.
First time I've heard Midsommar described as a fairy tale, and considering the kind of gruesome shit that happens in old timey fairy tales, yeah, I can totally see that.
Hey all! Glad to join the chat, happy to be here!
As sad and end-of-an-era as the Fox name change is, I can understand it from a brand management perspective and, as anachronistic as '20th Century Pictures' sounds, it was one of the original parent company names, and the big 20th logo with klieg lights and cinema's greatest fanfare is remaining, so I'm happy with that as a compromise. (Why not '21st Century Pictures'? Blame Menachem Golan, haha! Oh, and, uh, the advertising video agency that currently seems to own that title.) But, yeah, as long as the logo and fanfare are staying.
(Plus, for me? As a child of '70s who grew up in the '80s but came of age in the '90s, 20th will always mean hazy, pumped-up action pictures to me: from ALIENS and PREDATOR, to DIE HARD and POINT BREAK, to MARKED FOR DEATH and SPEED. They seemed to be the one-stop shop for that kind of cinema from 86-95 or so.)
As for what I've been watching? I've been showing my partner the films of Lynne Ramsay and Jonathan Glazer -- we've been alternating them as doubles, which feels weirdly appropriate -- and they've been blowing our minds. Saw RATCATCHER and MORVERN CALLAR for the first time and loved them, especially the latter, which is my new fave Ramsay. Few filmmakers do subjective realities as well as her. Whereas Glazer's films just have this bewitching dark beauty to them, even when they're horrifying.
Have a great weekend, all!
Wow. Working through Ramsay and Glazer at the same time would be wild. I love her work, and I think he's the great weird mad genius of the music video guys. Glazer feels like he's tuned in to a different radio station than anyone else, and his films really burrow into you.
And, yeah, I think Morvern Callar is incredible. That movie pulverized me the first time I saw it. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I haven't had as much time to watch movies this month due to personal family issues and stress, but hopefully, once that is resolved, I'll be able to get back in the swing of things.
Some of the highlights for me thus far:
-The first three films of the "Lone Wolf & Cub" series, which I got for Christmas.
-"McCabe & Mrs. Miller," which I watched for the first time today, and absolutely loved.
-"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," which I watched this Wednesday after a particularly tough day on the family front. I needed that blast of goodness from Mr. Rogers like Lloyd does in the movie. Such a wonderful film.
McCabe & Mrs Miller is long overdue for me to return to. It's been at least 12 years since my last screening of it. I'm going to start watching out for theatrical screenings here in LA, but if one doesn't happen by July, I think I might program this one for m'self.
I need to get downtown to The Plaza in Atlanta more for repertory screenings- covering the Atlanta Film Festival there last year has me wanting to spend as much time in that theatre as possible.
I think removing the Fox from 20th Century Fox is a garbage move by a garbage company; there's not much more to say about it. 20th Century Fox was at one time one of the greatest studios there was. This is a sad day for those of us who care about movies, but just another day for people who only care about IPs. I'm not a purest, I know this is a business and the art is always secondary, but this is an incredibly sad day (or day after the day). Thinking that people can't tell difference between 20th Century Fox movies and FOX News Channel is the same kind of dumb thinking that keeps Batman off the small screen. Hey, people are okay with different Flash's!
Speaking of, did anyone watch that amazing cameo this past Tuesday and just geek the eff out in the biggest way? While I'm not a fan of what WB/Snyder/Whedon did with BvS and Justice League, I think their casting for those films were amazing (that includes Batfleck who was sadly wasted in bad movies... a great Batman and Bruce Wayne, both), and I can't wait to see Ezra Miller's Flash movie whenever it gets here. And I hope, since it's Flashpoint, that they can bring in Grant Gustin's Flash for a cameo!
You know, for all the crap WB deservedly gets for mishandling their two biggest characters, they've done good work with Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Shazam, and their TV work, especially with Legends of Tomorrow and Lucifer, and to a lesser extent The Flash and Arrow (at least the last few seasons, as their first few seasons were much better). Also, while Kevin Feige refused to bring the Defenders into the MCU, where they could've been a big help in that Endgame final fight (how difficult would've it have been to green screen in Daredevil and Luke Cage for a 5-second cameo, really?), it was awesome to see WB work with Marc Gugenheim to tie together their TV and movie universes in a meaningful way, even if the scene was only about 90 seconds.
If (and only if) the MCU braintrust is very clever about it, they could slot the Defenders into the MCU via the next Spiderman movie, along with D'Nofrio's Kingpin.
I find it interesting that Color Out Of Space wasn’t bolded in your what you’ve watched. Not that that means you thought it was a bad film, but I thought it was pretty good, well made and found it interesting enough that I was a little surprised to not see it bolded. Of course any week Shogun Assassin is watched, that’s going to get bolded.
I didn’t know Joe Begos from Adam earlier last year, but I got to see Bliss and VFW at Monsterfest in October, and thought they were both fun films, but especially liked Bliss, so was happy to see that get a shoutout.
I saw Underwater in theaters, the experience was almost ruined by a trio of teenage girls. They held the theater hostage with their giggles and scrolling through their phones. Nobody wanted to be the one to yell at them. Leviathan was better.
I also finally sat down with all 4 films in the Tombs of the Blind Dead series on Amazon Prime. What a blast. It's so interesting to compare other culture's versions of common plots and film scenarios. I enjoyed the Templar Knights and their quest for virgin blood. At one point they were on a ship! Those were the first Spanish Horror films I've that I'm aware of. The last one, Night of The Seagulls, was the only one I didn't care for. Its so nice to be able to stream all the films and not have to go digging online for expensive copies in poor quality.
I remember going on a Tombs of the Blind Dead run back when Anchor Bay put out that coffin-style box set of all the films. I thought they were long on atmosphere, short on story, and loads of fun. I agree that the last one runs out of gas, but they're simple and effective and memorable. Glad to hear they're available in an easier-to-see format right now.
UNDERWATER was better than advertised (I mean the ALIEN connection was clear in the trailers, right down to the way the letters came in)
Especially interesting in how quickly it gets going and that a large part of the movie is them "fighting" the station itself for survival.
A blind zombie is such a great idea. Surprised it hasn’t been used more
Underwater was a very solid monster flick! I saw it last week and it’s not my new favorite or anything but it was certainly not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
I am sure I will have a good time with it here at the house eventually. I have a lot of other things that feel like a priority, though.
I'm encouraged that people seemed to like it more than the studio did. They held this one for a while, and this release felt like a January dump more than anything.
Underwater was also near ruined by a particularly unruly crowd. Especially near the end which I otherwise liked. I guess I should check out Leviathan.
It's cool if you like the underwater monster stuff. It's got more practical effects and Ernie Hudson.
Just wanted to say I really dig a thread like this under your stewardship, Drew. Excited for all the goodness you're bringing us this year...
I’m kinda bummed out by the whole GIFGate regarding Kenobi. Watching a bunch of people I like reading posting cryptic GIFs and not saying anything was frustrating.
It feels, to me, like there is a condescending attitude from The Verifieds on Film Twitter towards us. We are the people that follow them, retweet them, read their stories, and share their stories. It’s like we are the family in Parasite and we exist to prop them up.
I ended up getting blocked by a writer that I really like reading for critiquing the GIF practice, not the actual writer. That GIF posting thing sucks. The whole reason people do it seems to be to provoke a response. There is no link to news or anything. Just this signal that they are in the club.
Then if anybody critiques them or voices frustration your are blocked or muted. Often there is this sort of celebration towards blocking or muting.
It just sucks
That does suck. I've certainly been cryptic at times in the past, but that usually comes from feeling frustrated about something that I can't report even though it's true and it's known by many people.
Ultimately, many of the people who are "reporting" this stuff don't know any more than the average commenter, and often even less. They just do it because they want to do it. They don't have any particular perspective or expertise or experience that might inform what they do, and when they add condescension toward their readers on top of it, it's quite the attractive package.
I can get frustrated with people sometimes. I hate it when someone demands "How do you know that?! Prove it!!" because that's not the way reporting works. But even then, if I get really upset with that person, that just means I'm a jerk. Which I try not to be.
Genuinely asking questions and offering opinion, though, should not provoke that kind of reaction, and I think when people are playing "I'm in the club," they know full-well what they're doing, and I would imagine they don't like being called out for it.
After listening to the Screen Drafts episode of sword and sorcery films, I decided to rewatch the Lord of the rings trilogy. Haven't done so since before the hobbit came out. And I'm doing the extended editions. Watching them with my brother who never watched them. Gotta finish up Return of The King tomorrow but I am just once again stunned at these movies. Just absolute perfection.
One of my New Years resolutions was to watch a classic black and white movie everyday. Many I’ve seen before, many I haven’t. So far I’ve watched...
Sweet Smell Of Success
Duck Soup
My Favorite Brunette
Horsefeathers
Monkey Business
Animal crackers
Dead end
The naked city
Now Voyager
The 39 steps
Make way for tomorrow
I Married a Witch
The Gold Rush
Gold Diggers of 1933
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Sunset Boulevard
His Girl Friday
Sorry Wrong Number
Laura.
I downloaded the TCM and Criterion app which has been a godsend. Any suggestions welcome! Any genre will do. 🙂
We watched our Criterion disc of Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings to open the new year, and it was wonderful.
"Too Many Chefs" is not a particularly good film, but I sure miss the comedy mysteries. Glad to see Knives Out doing well, since that particular subgenre has become more or less extinct. I also miss Robert Morley a lot.
Even though they frustrate the hell out of me I have of course been sucked in as usual to watching hours of award ceremonies and getting sucked up into the whole process as per usual.
I disagree. It only means something different to people who aren't paying attention. Which reveals a much bigger problem in today's world, anyway.