"The takeaway from Barbenheimer should be, as you suggest, “Let talented filmmakers make the distinctive films they want to make."
Should it be though? How did that work last year with BABYLON, WOMEN TALKING, AMSTERDAM, and BONES AND ALL? We can debate the merits of each film but none of them connected with audiences at all. There is a danger of giving auteurs a blank check to do whatever they want - often it's something only they want to see.
I mean, seeing it was one of my most fun theatrical experiences of and I love that it exists even if I don’t love the film (I’d say the same about Excalibur).
One of the things that gets forgotten when we discuss the great movies of the 70s was how much credit should actually be given to the studios. Even--especially--with big-budget auteur driven classics like The Godfather, The Exorcist or Star Wars, it largely fell to execs like Robert Evans and John Calley and Alan Ladd, Jr to challenge the filmmakers, to ask for clarity or script revisions or sometimes to just straight up say no. But Evans, Calley and Ladd loved movies, and knew how they worked, and essentially saw themselves as collaborators with their directors. Studios don't really exist in the same way now; filmmakers are dealing with corporations, not people. I hated Babylon, but there are good things buried in it, and if anyone at the executive level had been able to offer any guidance to Chazelle, to prevent his worst indulgences, maybe it would have worked.
Agreed. Film is a collaborative industry by definition and the auteur theory was never supposed to be “One man should make all decisions!” It’s supposed to be that one creative voice shines through. Howard Hawks and Hitchcock were the templates, and they made very commercial films! American Moviemaking is intended for us, the audience, and it always has been
After re-watching both Barbie and Oppenheimer recently (and listening to both Gerwig and Nolan talk about their process in making both movies), it’s clear that both of these filmmakers care deeply about the audience’s experience of their films. Their passion for the content and themes of their movies didn’t override their passion for making movies for the biggest, widest audiences possible. That’s a distinct quality for both these directors that many other “empowered” directors have. Gerwig talks about fighting for a massive canvas from production design, musical dance sequences, detailed costume design to tell her Barbie story; the same could be said for Nolan. I think studios should be encouraged by Barbie and Oppenheimer’s success to empower filmmakers to make their movies but also understand which of these directors to empower.
It's like they deliberately tried to make the least interesting movie possible out of what should have been a horrifying story. Though I will say this: it sure delivered on that title.
I guess the experience of watching it may have been different if you haven't read the book? but also I don't know how you could watch it and not be horrified!
Did you see She Said? Same thing - the fear of being exploitative made horrific events...boring. Which is a shame. Horrific events should be horrific. Not dull.
Begging your indulgence, I’d like to port over what I wrote about my favorite scene of the year for Crooked Marquee’s 2023 year-end wrap-up:
“While Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is necessarily focused on the respect that grows between Paul Giamatti’s gruff private school teacher and Dominic Sessa’s entitled student, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Mary is its true heart. Still, when the three of them leave campus midway through and drop Mary off at her sister’s, it would have been so easy to wave goodbye to her on the doorstep and let the others move on without another thought. Instead, Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson stay with Mary long enough to let her get settled, giving the character (whose personal loss eclipses the inconvenience experienced by the others) a private moment to reconnect with the only family she has left. More than the period trappings, it’s moments like these that place The Holdovers in the rarified company of the ’70s classics it emulates.”
I really wish we could spread the November-December releases out over the course of the year. I know why we can't, but still--I only have so much time!
Great discussion for a great year! I’m not sure how other people feel, but for me, this was the first post-COVID movie year that felt…normal? I’m not sure if that’s due to a retreat from streaming, the widening of theatrical release windows, or just the fact that my friends have all finally, fully emerged from their vampire caves—but whatever the case, I had this sense that the last bit of funk had been shaken loose. Going to the movies felt normal again, and I think Barbenheimer was a big pink flaming confirmation of that. I wasn’t in love with either of Barbenheimer’s component parts, but the shared cultural experience of that weekend was so incredibly heartening, and I hope we can all do it again soon.
Fully agree. I also feel like film and criticism have made it most of the way back from the moralism (which frankly felt a bit puritanical to me) of the political era of He Who I Won’t Be Naming. Bled into everything, and made nearly everything mediocre to bad.
The business model is simple. We release our movie theatrically, where yes, we lose money. But, the theatrical release builds pre awareness for when we go to streaming (where we also lose money).
> behold two legacy studios joining forces to still be smaller than Netflix in the streaming wars!
And you just answered own question, in terms of studio mergers. Legacy studios merging have far less to do with Death of Cinema and more to do with fact that they have very robust competition in form of streaming studios Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. So older players are circling wagons. That not necessarily terrible thing. As you say, those streamers getting films made that not would have ordinarily gotten made, and are taking — if anything — bigger chances than traditional studios are in their hunger for ever-more content.
Look at book publishing. Industry was dominated by Big Five, and then Random House and Penguin merged, and there were Big Four, and then Random Penguin tried to buy Simon & Schuster to make Gigantic One and Reasonably Big Two. Government stopped merger, and Paramount sold S&S to independent investors, so S&S is technically very large indie as of Monday. Anything can happen.
And what me suspect will happen is, Hollywood will go from Big Six of Disney/Fox/WB/Paramount/Universal/Sony, and settle into Big Six of Disney/WB/Netflix/Amazon/Universal/Sony, and world will continue to turn.
I was glad to read that you guys did indeed see Godzilla Minus One. This was my favorite IMAX experience of the year and it's been great to watch it have such an unexpectedly vibrant box office life here in the U.S. I was really hoping your crew was going to cover it a bit in some way or another!
I don't think this was expected. It didn't screen for Chicago critics then we received a screening link when someone seemed to realize, crap, people really like this movie. I was dying to see it opening weekend but couldn't get to it until last week for various reasons (including wanting to bring by daughter). But maybe we'll do something with it in the future. I couldn't believe how much I liked it and I went in assuming I would like it quite a bit!
Everything about it surprised me. I didn't pay that much attention to it as it came out and really only ended up seeing it in a theater because of a suddenly free afternoon and convenient start time. Couldn't believe how much I was enjoying it the whole time (and how genuinely scary- a word I have never applied to a Godzilla movie before- it was at times). It felt like stumbling on a little secret, but was thrilled to see it and Heron taking advantage of a weekend to storm up the charts.
My 14 yr old daughter was so transfixed seeing it with me in the theater earlier this week that we just binged the first five eps of MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS at her request.
"The takeaway from Barbenheimer should be, as you suggest, “Let talented filmmakers make the distinctive films they want to make."
Should it be though? How did that work last year with BABYLON, WOMEN TALKING, AMSTERDAM, and BONES AND ALL? We can debate the merits of each film but none of them connected with audiences at all. There is a danger of giving auteurs a blank check to do whatever they want - often it's something only they want to see.
But we all love Zardoz!
I mean, seeing it was one of my most fun theatrical experiences of and I love that it exists even if I don’t love the film (I’d say the same about Excalibur).
The penis is evil. Zardoz is good.
They can both be good!
I see what you're saying, from a business perspective. But as a viewer, I want more cannibals and elephant shit. So...blank checks for everyone!
Hahahaha I salute you. But I think I’d prefer some good movies
One of the things that gets forgotten when we discuss the great movies of the 70s was how much credit should actually be given to the studios. Even--especially--with big-budget auteur driven classics like The Godfather, The Exorcist or Star Wars, it largely fell to execs like Robert Evans and John Calley and Alan Ladd, Jr to challenge the filmmakers, to ask for clarity or script revisions or sometimes to just straight up say no. But Evans, Calley and Ladd loved movies, and knew how they worked, and essentially saw themselves as collaborators with their directors. Studios don't really exist in the same way now; filmmakers are dealing with corporations, not people. I hated Babylon, but there are good things buried in it, and if anyone at the executive level had been able to offer any guidance to Chazelle, to prevent his worst indulgences, maybe it would have worked.
Agreed. Film is a collaborative industry by definition and the auteur theory was never supposed to be “One man should make all decisions!” It’s supposed to be that one creative voice shines through. Howard Hawks and Hitchcock were the templates, and they made very commercial films! American Moviemaking is intended for us, the audience, and it always has been
After re-watching both Barbie and Oppenheimer recently (and listening to both Gerwig and Nolan talk about their process in making both movies), it’s clear that both of these filmmakers care deeply about the audience’s experience of their films. Their passion for the content and themes of their movies didn’t override their passion for making movies for the biggest, widest audiences possible. That’s a distinct quality for both these directors that many other “empowered” directors have. Gerwig talks about fighting for a massive canvas from production design, musical dance sequences, detailed costume design to tell her Barbie story; the same could be said for Nolan. I think studios should be encouraged by Barbie and Oppenheimer’s success to empower filmmakers to make their movies but also understand which of these directors to empower.
Right on. As a contrast I would offer KOTFM, which took an approach to the material which made it less accessible and, frankly, good
I would still rather see an interesting failure that stems from a filmmaker's unique artistic vision than a corporate-mandated IP extension.
For sure. But I'd like to see a great movie most of all, and neither approach is giving us many.
what is there to debate about Women Talking? it's wonderful!
It's like they deliberately tried to make the least interesting movie possible out of what should have been a horrifying story. Though I will say this: it sure delivered on that title.
I guess the experience of watching it may have been different if you haven't read the book? but also I don't know how you could watch it and not be horrified!
Did you see She Said? Same thing - the fear of being exploitative made horrific events...boring. Which is a shame. Horrific events should be horrific. Not dull.
Begging your indulgence, I’d like to port over what I wrote about my favorite scene of the year for Crooked Marquee’s 2023 year-end wrap-up:
“While Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is necessarily focused on the respect that grows between Paul Giamatti’s gruff private school teacher and Dominic Sessa’s entitled student, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Mary is its true heart. Still, when the three of them leave campus midway through and drop Mary off at her sister’s, it would have been so easy to wave goodbye to her on the doorstep and let the others move on without another thought. Instead, Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson stay with Mary long enough to let her get settled, giving the character (whose personal loss eclipses the inconvenience experienced by the others) a private moment to reconnect with the only family she has left. More than the period trappings, it’s moments like these that place The Holdovers in the rarified company of the ’70s classics it emulates.”
That really struck me too. The way the shift in attention tells you what's important to this story. Plus the moment at the dresser floored me.
I, for one, look forward to seeing all these 2023 releases... bit by bit over the next decade.
I really wish we could spread the November-December releases out over the course of the year. I know why we can't, but still--I only have so much time!
As I do every year at this time, I would like to remind studios and publicists that THERE ARE OTHER MONTHS.
The two seasons: Summer and Award...
Three: Summer, Award, and Untitled Jason Statham Vehicle Season
This is where I will start to really feel the loss of Netflix disc service. They'd get stuff late but eventually they'd get most new stuff.
Great discussion for a great year! I’m not sure how other people feel, but for me, this was the first post-COVID movie year that felt…normal? I’m not sure if that’s due to a retreat from streaming, the widening of theatrical release windows, or just the fact that my friends have all finally, fully emerged from their vampire caves—but whatever the case, I had this sense that the last bit of funk had been shaken loose. Going to the movies felt normal again, and I think Barbenheimer was a big pink flaming confirmation of that. I wasn’t in love with either of Barbenheimer’s component parts, but the shared cultural experience of that weekend was so incredibly heartening, and I hope we can all do it again soon.
Fully agree. I also feel like film and criticism have made it most of the way back from the moralism (which frankly felt a bit puritanical to me) of the political era of He Who I Won’t Be Naming. Bled into everything, and made nearly everything mediocre to bad.
The business model is simple. We release our movie theatrically, where yes, we lose money. But, the theatrical release builds pre awareness for when we go to streaming (where we also lose money).
How do we make money you ask? Volume. Sheer volume.
Step Three....profit!
The Reveal: Come for the Dagwood sandwich analogies, stay for the Blood, Sweat & Tears quotes!
> behold two legacy studios joining forces to still be smaller than Netflix in the streaming wars!
And you just answered own question, in terms of studio mergers. Legacy studios merging have far less to do with Death of Cinema and more to do with fact that they have very robust competition in form of streaming studios Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. So older players are circling wagons. That not necessarily terrible thing. As you say, those streamers getting films made that not would have ordinarily gotten made, and are taking — if anything — bigger chances than traditional studios are in their hunger for ever-more content.
Look at book publishing. Industry was dominated by Big Five, and then Random House and Penguin merged, and there were Big Four, and then Random Penguin tried to buy Simon & Schuster to make Gigantic One and Reasonably Big Two. Government stopped merger, and Paramount sold S&S to independent investors, so S&S is technically very large indie as of Monday. Anything can happen.
And what me suspect will happen is, Hollywood will go from Big Six of Disney/Fox/WB/Paramount/Universal/Sony, and settle into Big Six of Disney/WB/Netflix/Amazon/Universal/Sony, and world will continue to turn.
I was glad to read that you guys did indeed see Godzilla Minus One. This was my favorite IMAX experience of the year and it's been great to watch it have such an unexpectedly vibrant box office life here in the U.S. I was really hoping your crew was going to cover it a bit in some way or another!
I don't think this was expected. It didn't screen for Chicago critics then we received a screening link when someone seemed to realize, crap, people really like this movie. I was dying to see it opening weekend but couldn't get to it until last week for various reasons (including wanting to bring by daughter). But maybe we'll do something with it in the future. I couldn't believe how much I liked it and I went in assuming I would like it quite a bit!
Everything about it surprised me. I didn't pay that much attention to it as it came out and really only ended up seeing it in a theater because of a suddenly free afternoon and convenient start time. Couldn't believe how much I was enjoying it the whole time (and how genuinely scary- a word I have never applied to a Godzilla movie before- it was at times). It felt like stumbling on a little secret, but was thrilled to see it and Heron taking advantage of a weekend to storm up the charts.
My 14 yr old daughter was so transfixed seeing it with me in the theater earlier this week that we just binged the first five eps of MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS at her request.
We may have a monster movie buff on our hands!