The Last Four Decades of Film Critics: 2022 versus 2022 in the Hollywood Film and Television Industry (I): What Have We Learned?
Canby was anticipating the prediction of a one-movie world by Godard. The wide release of “Beverly Hills Cop” led to a poor box office for Jonathan Demme’s films. Canby believed that there was plenty of blame to go around, pointing to risk-averse money types and a “sheeplike” public. He wrote that “our society is being increasingly homogenized, possibly through the pervasive power of television to plant the same ideas, the same fears and the same fads in more people, more quickly, than has ever before been possible in the history of the world.” It’s very bad!
I don’t think Canby and Godard were entirely right (feel free to discuss among yourselves), but after nearly four decades and innumerable interchangeable franchise sequels, it’s clear they weren’t entirely wrong. I am still very much a fan of the great movies that have just been released, despite the industry struggling through yet another crisis. People often ask me if I’ve watched any good movies recently. I have many of them, this and every year, but if I cannot entice you with one of my favorites of 2022, I suggest you watch a film or two by Godard.
Hundreds of films were released last year, on all sorts of platforms. Yet if we tend to look back at Hollywood during any given year in part by what earned Academy Award recognition, then 2022 will likely go down as a relatively mediocre year for movies.
The big and small, theatrical and streaming, sequels, and decidedly original nominations feel like they offer a little something for everybody, which may be the best way of heightening interest in the industry’s marquee awards show.
The streaming genre made waves, after claiming the last two best-picturewinners with “Nomadland” and “CODA,” the last two against full acceptance at the awards table.
Several of the films that made the best picture cut felt flawed, with a biography of Elvis having to overcome its over-the-top aspects, and The Banshees of Inisherin only looking pale next to Martin McDonagh’s more celebrated work.
In that context, one can cynically look at recognition for “Avatar” and “Top Gun” as bait to help lure people into the tent, or a simple thank-you for a job well done and helping to keep the tradition of theatrical moviegoing alive.
Opening Night at the Box Office: Brendan Fraser’s The Whale and the Lead Conductor in “The Twilight of Frankenstein” starring Ana de Armas
One of the highlights was the depiction of entertainment icons, such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, with Austin Butler portraying them and Ana de Armas playing them. Brendan Fraser in the movie “The Whale” and even more so, the performance of the conductor in the movie “Tr.”
Along with a solid toe hold at the box office that did not fare as well as some of the nominees, and the fact that there is a good spot between effects-driven masterpieces and character-driven stories, this year’s nominees will likely receive a streaming/digital boost.
Spielberg already has a pair of directing Oscars, for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan” (although the latter didn’t win best picture). A sentimental capper to the 76-year-old director’s illustrious career would be one of the things that amounts to his directing origin story.
Avatar: The Way of Water: Where Do You Go To The Movie Theaters? When Do You Want to Go See Movies? Why Do You Wanna Go?
Well, look, let’s let’s let’s let’s imagine a world where films are only distributed in theaters as they used to be before the, you know, the advent of the technology that we used to watch them now. Who got to watch movies? People who could afford to go to the cinema were able to see those movies near their homes. And that’s not most of America. It’s not very common in the world. That is neutral as a phenomenon, so let’s assume that. The next step of it is, okay, well then what movies get made to serve those audiences and that audience that is only in places where they have the ability to go see movies in the theater? The movies don’t look right. They look like the community of people who have the resources or the proximity to the theaters to go see it. And then you have a film culture, an entire artform that is entirely, entirely defined by a very narrow sliver of, let’s be realistic, wealthy, white people. One of the main ways in which we learn about the world, who we are, what we have, and what value other people have is through film and television. That’s a very dangerous scenario, and it’s not one that I can get down with. If you feel safe, I don’t want you to try to see things in theaters. I think especially if the movie is great, you will be reminded why it was an experience that we enjoyed prior to the pandemic. And it may make you more inclined to do that more frequently, which is good for the business, obviously, but I think it’s good for human enjoyment to be in a room with a bunch of people and have a shared experience about a story, especially if that story is good.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” was going to have multiple Oscar nominations and more than $2 billion at the box office when this photo was taken at the Golden Globes a few weeks ago.
Because fundamentally, this is where Hollywood would like you to be. They want you to go back to the movie theaters. Many of us aren’t there yet.
If we’re paying for all these subscription services as it is that have all these movies, why do I want to pay more money to go see something else? I already pay for 500 services.
In 2005, he started an email chain to find out the best screenplays insiders were reading that were not being made into films. The Black List is an organization. More than 300 screenplays on its annual lists have been turned into movies.
When people speak to you, I think that’s because the set up is ” this man who broke the gatekeeping system of Hollywood and opened the doors to all kinds of screenwriters who might not have gotten a chance.” But now it’s been a few years. Your numbers are pretty good. I won’t call you a gatekeeper, but you’re a guy. You are the guy now.
I would never call myself the guy. If others want to, I’ll take it. I think that I have built a better mousetrap to identify the needles in the infinite haystacks of great writing along with the team that I have assembled.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/the-assignment/episodes/2a11d2fd-d1ed-4fcb-8c84-af9501565107
What Happened to Top Gun: Maverick and Tar? The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: How Do Movies Become Good?
He knows how hard it is to get a good movie made and that is because it is not a sequel or remake. Which is the reason that I have trouble telling him what I learned in CNN hair and makeup.
I don’t know that there is a type of film, but maybe if you made a really strong case that it had to be seen on a massive screen in order for it to be understood.
They’re in my house. And you know what? There are a lot of bad movies in the theaters. There are a lot of bad movies. And I think maybe if they made fewer bad movies and more good movies, people would go and see that.
I think the real question should be, “is each individual movie good?” when it comes to the debate. You know, what James Cameron is doing with Avatar is extraordinary and everyone should see it. I was very fond of the original Top Gun but also wanted to see it again so that I found Top Gun: Maverick to be good for me. So, you know, Wakanda Forever, you know, what Ryan Coogler is doing in the Marvel Universe is extraordinary. I’ve always believed that if the movies are good, then there should be sequels and remakes. And for me, that has to be the real question. Now, are there pressures that make it harder to make certain kinds of movies and to make those movies good in this environment? Absolutely. It is an odd thing to try to make a movie that everyone in the world can consume and can love. The industry made a mistake because they didn’t see that audiences want Tar and Top Gun at the same time. They are doing a bad job of knowing who the audience will be when they show the Tars and other smaller independent films because they are not serving the audience that is willing to go to the theater.
Well, no, I wouldn’t say start complaining about there being enough good movies. What I’d say is make a little bit of effort to find the great movies that are out there. If you think they aren’t enough great movies, you should give it a try. I believe that if you join a group like Letterboxd and check out movies that other people say are great, you can find many surprises that you wouldn’t know about. Because a lot of those movies that are incredible, like you said, they don’t have the budgets that the major studios have and they don’t have the marketing budgets that major studios had.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/the-assignment/episodes/2a11d2fd-d1ed-4fcb-8c84-af9501565107
Make money by dealing with anti-black bias: What is the cost of fixing irrational business decisions? The case of the Hollywood streaming industry
I think I sort of live in a permanent state of amusement, if anything. And that may be a surprising answer. I think for me, it is stunningly obvious that increasing the diversity of the industry is the sort of most cost effective way to improve business results. Right? And there are studies that reflect that instinct, right? McKinsey did a study on the amount of money that the industry is losing specifically as a result of anti-black bias. They found that it was $10 billion a year on the low end. Make money by addressing bias. And the fact that the industry hasn’t- I I’m I think it’s a It’s an amusement that’s frustrating. but I’m as frustrated by and sometimes even more frustrated by irrational business decisions than I am bias that I already know exists. I think it’s one thing I’m like, yes, racism exists in America, patriarchy exists in America, but at least let’s make good business decisions while that’s true.
More in a minute. Franklin Leonard is the creator of The Black List. After the world started to rely more heavily on streaming services for entertainment, those same streamers started aiming higher. The idea was to get more subscribers by introducing exclusive premium content. Think Netflix, which for the last three years led all the studios in Oscar nominations. Not this year. Now the big streamers are facing layoffs and rethinking their big spending.
I think it’s just a shift in the reality of the corporate concerns of those companies. You know, when the streamers were the insurgents and needed to put a marker down and say we’re just as important and big and have, you know, as big shoulders as the studios do, it made sense that they were negotiating aggressively for the things that the studios were negotiating for. Even if it’s not in financial terms, the Academy Award and Academy Award nominations are represented by us. Right? It’s expected that the streamers will exert downward pressure on their spending now that they know they can. They didn’t have to.
The streamers started making smaller films because the big studios had given up on the big popcorn blockbusters and were focused on lesser known movies, so they burst on the scene. What happens if they become less interested, right? What happens when they start pushing the downward pressure? Because it seems like that’s squarely in your wheelhouse. The kinds of movies that come out of the Black List were the kinds of movies that greatly benefited from the streaming boom.
I think that is correct. I think that there’s you know, I think it’s going to be harder for for movies that are sort of made by filmmakers who have a great focus on the art and are not sort of focused exclusively on entertaining or distracting you briefly or partially from whatever it is that you’re doing.
I don’t have a lot of natural instinct towards nostalgia, particularly about the way business organizations have functioned, because I’m acutely aware of the ways in which those systems failed. Right? I’m not looking to return to a world where the movies are widely distributed in theaters but there are no women or people of color directors, right? Like that- I’m happy to make a tradeoff, because it’s more difficult to get certain types of movies made, but everyone gets to make them equally. I’ll take that trade. And I also have a great deal of faith in new filmmakers, new business models. I think the bigger question is not if but how we build something that serves all audiences and all artists. If we wanted to tell ourselves it did, the way it was done before didn’t work.
Right. I mean, it’s funny, I think so much about how nostalgia for, say, the late seventies or the mid-nineties colors how many writers talk about modern indie cinema.
I don’t know that anything is surprised me necessarily. Despite the reality of how difficult it is for a movie to be made this time of year, there are still extraordinary movies made. I saw lots of great movies last year. I think a lot of people, since I’ve heard it for 20 years, it’s gotten bad in movies. And I don’t see the evidence of that. I think that’s not true. The old days were better because people were more aware of bad movies. I know that with like for me, for example, I’m like, hip hop was better in the nineties. That was it for me. And so that was the era that I latch on to. Doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true. It’s a tendency to assume that after I fell in love with the thing it would get worse. So I- there are a lot of great.
Is there a way I can challenge you a bit? I have not watched movies in awhile and I am going to do devil’s advocate. I know I’m a woman over 30 and a parent, but the trailers for things remind me of that. and I’m just like, I don’t want to see that.
And they’re not making anything I want to see, and it costs too much money, and the babysitter and the mask, all those things you’re saying, like I am reluctant. I’m not sure if anyone will make anything that will bring me back.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/the-assignment/episodes/2a11d2fd-d1ed-4fcb-8c84-af9501565107
On the Cultural Importance of Seeing Films on the Internet and in a Theater (with an Appendix by R. C. Morita and D. E. Jacobi, Ph. D. Macaulay,
Yeah, I fundamentally disagree. I will use an analogy to explain why. Does my ability to look at great art on my laptop or phone change the existence of that art that I may never get to see in person? I might not be able to see paintings at museums that are in cities I will never visit. I can’t get to that location so looking at it on my phone or laptop isn’t going to give me the same experience. I don’t think film is any different. I think we have to look at that analogy and take it seriously if we believe that film is an art form. I am not okay with the idea that film must be seen in a theater in order for it to be experienced by people outside the United States. And as somebody who, you know, has been involved in making films, I struggle with the idea that, well, if people can’t see my movie in a theater, they shouldn’t see it at all.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/the-assignment/episodes/2a11d2fd-d1ed-4fcb-8c84-af9501565107
The Assignment: A Short Film with a Producing/Director & Sound Engineer at CNN Audio and a Special Guest: Audie Cornish
That was Franklin Leonard, film producer and creator of The Black List. We want to thank you for listening to this episode of The Assignment. If you don’t have a Podcasts, please listen and follow wherever you get one. You can rate and review the show if you like it. The assignment is a production of CNN Audio. Madeleine Thompson, a producer, and her co-conspirators are the ones who are making our film. Isoke Samuel, Allison Park, and Sonia Hton are our associate producers. Our senior producers are Haley Thomas and Matt Martinez. Rina Palta is the editor. Mixing and Sound Design by David Schulman. Dan is the technical director. The executive producer is an individual named Abbie Fentress Swanson. Special thanks to everyone. I’ve been known as Audie Cornish. Thank you for listening.