Yes, professional sports, are corrupt. By how much, we don't know. Still, people's trajectories emulate those of the classic hero's at times. The day after LeBron James announces he's returning home to Cleveland, I immediately thought of Christopher Vogler's invaluable book The Writer's Journey. We have our hero leave his/her native world, in this case Cleveland, for the special world, in this case Miami. Along the way there are accomplices (his agent) and shapeshifters, and here's where behind the scenes machinations take over. Erik Spoelstra appears unflappable, and he squabbled with Dwayne Wade in the playoffs a few years ago. Pat Riley was pretty much in the background. LeBron sometimes shouldered the entire scene, but it was clear, especially this last go around, that he needed help if this team was going to win a third straight championship. The Heat were simply outplayed this last series. So our hero ventured to the special world, conquered, perhaps changed, perhaps not, and is now returning home. Isn't it nice sometimes when we see art in life? Those stories come from somewhere indeed.
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After a quiet weekend, the quietest at the box office in sixteen years, Transformers grossed only $36.4 million, including Monday through Friday. Then my brother-in-law joked he was waiting for my review of America, which has done 33 million total. This was made by a convicted felon who illegally coaxed donors, who lost on a landslide Senate race. But wait, there is much territory to mine on both fronts, and both cases prove there are audiences out there, and the audience is more diverse than we may give them credit. Hence the rise of on-demand viewing at home. Transformers proves that people will go in drove to see blockbusters no matter what the critics say, and the latter were not kind at all to the last two installments. Could this one be any better? Different? Any surprises? The success of America proves that there is a right-leaning audience among us. Very much so. Why else would they choose, in the summertime no less, with elections four months away, to be "entertained" by a documentary which we know will pretty much denounce the Obama presidency. Even if we know Obama isn't transparent, as Amy Goodman wrote a while back, there are many out there waiting to pounce on the guy in the press. He might have something in common with Michael Bay, director of all four Transformers.
A few things occurred to me watching previews over someone's shoulder on the plane recently. The preview was for the recent Captain America: Winter Soldier. The first was that the preview pretty much shows snippets of all the action scenes out of order, so when we see the movie, at least if we see it after this preview, we know where a lot of the action scenes take place; hence this extended trailer was probably released after the theatrical debut. Second, this movie did borrow a fair amount of stunts from the recent Batman trilogy: dark cars, dark costumes--many things are indeed dark except for the lighter backdrop, which changes the look of the film, so we don't think about the borrowings too much. Which, perhaps, is what the studio wants. It also occurred to me that this film wasn't all that memorable, but it was enjoyable, and has half the stares that populate the latest Hobbit trailer which offset all the swirling cameras, collapsing cliffs, and flying boulders. Those looks got old. We get it already and boy does that movie look like it takes itself seriously. At least Captain America had Samuel L. Jackson who enjoys every second he's on screen.
A neighbor said the other day, "Where are the summer blockbusters?" Quick on the draw and insight as this person usually is, that's a good point to raise mid-June. Captain America opened in April, Godzilla and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in May--all three are gone out of first run theaters. Maleficient has reaped the rewards of targeting teen girls everywhere, as has The Fault in Our Stars. Both have been able to draw in both genders of various age ranges. How To Train Your Dragon 2 has proven worthy of many-a-person's attention, but...where's the big Iron Man to blow everyone away? Johnny Depp vehicle? Oh yeah, that was back in April, too.
As the Spurs go up 3-1 heading into Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it occurs to us that this storyline has come up before. Ten years ago, a Detroit Pistons team beat a Kobe-Shaq-Jackson Lakers team in five games. Both times a, ahem, team, has won with strategy, selflessness, and ball movement over individuals that appeared indecisive. Another theme has been diversity. I remember Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Chauncey Billups feeding off each other's strengths, and had a feeling of Deja-vu all over again last night. How would this apply to movies in any way? Call it mixing genres, or having a throughline beneath all the things a story or team is trying to do. Though Godzilla was enjoyable at the time, I cannot recall one memorable line. From Django Unchained, which I have not seen since the theater Christmas week of 2012, I still vividly remember Chrisoph Waltz saying, "I couldn't resist," before slaying a villain. Characters, like people, like some sports characters, are memorable, even if the king in this current NBA story is down, not completely out, but has fought a battle virtually all alone for four games.
Michael Douglas once said he watches sports instead of movies because he doesn't know how games will turn out. I feel the same way, and there are story arcs there right in front of us in many sports. And we see themes, such as the diverse team overcoming the much-hyped reigning champions. Then again, a miraculous comeback by a current underdog with history wholly against it is worth watching, gives hope to those who want the Heat to win, and would indeed be memorable. One thing keeps coming up, whether you are one of those people who watch The Today Show or Good Morning America to start your day or end your day with the nightly news: people want a story. I just finished Michael Lewis's Flash Boys, which is near the top of bestseller lists. This guy knows just when to leave the reader hanging, after making his point and we get to know the characters enough, and to shift gears and introduce a new plotline, as they are. Sometimes one reflects on what one has seen in theaters: Captain America: Winter Soldier, now almost two months old in theaters, actually resonates with its backstory, the middle sequence where the two main protagonists visit the World War II machine and the story's roots. Godzilla, on the other hand, doesn't contain one line of memorable dialogue, and didn't have ageing stars such as Robert Redford and Samuel L. Jackson to round out the cast. Still, it's the story that sticks, which is all the more amazing, if you think about it, that several hours of TV programming can unfold over hours, leave one hanging and anxious for the next installment, and have us invested in its characters throughout. Storytelling indeed.
A recent article said the TV summer lineup is "on fire," with hours of programming slated to hopefully keep people glued to their screens. In summer? Friends, family, and I think of going outside, or work through increasing reading lists. For features, it appears the do-or-die box office opening weekend model will continue, with spring releases such as Noah and Captain America already out of theaters. Godzilla dropped over fifty percent after one week, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sixty-three percent. Which leaves romantic comedies to fill out what's left after everyone's seen the big actioners. Perhaps the one true thing this summer proves is that sequels are still alive and well, twenty-five years after the third Indiana Jones. Then again, maybe this is the summer people will grow tired of sequels and stay in to watch TV, via DirecTV, when they can.
Godzilla has opened to mostly good and great reviews. This doesn't come entirely as a shock. Call it a gut feeling. Of course they have the special effects: the previews of a camera panning the ocean with planes and debris falling out of the sky, we've seen before, yet something looked polished about it. The 1998 remake only grossed $136 Million, debuted at Cannes of all places, and was a huge critical bust. Give studios a second chance, and they'll recover, sharpen their tools, so to speak, and realize how to broaden a story. They also have a star in his prime: Bryan Cranston. He's quickly become an A-lister, or a re-surging middle-ager (Think Jeff Goldblum with the two Jurassic Parks in 1993 and 1997 with Independence Day coming out in 1996). He stands by those movies, and I don't think he was cashing in. After Breaking Bad, neither is Cranston. And Aaron Taylor-Johnson has developed quite a screen presence after the Kick-Ass movies and Savages. This will have legs, and not just because of the special effects.
Transcendence is out two weeks and already it's out of the top ten. That's not what you expect from a Johnny Depp movie, or a pre-summer/late spring tentpole movie. Wally Pfister, the cinematographer often used by Christopher Nolan, will have to keep a story going, or hire new writers. Heck, I'd look at his next screenplay. From the previews, this swung for the fences visually, took us to exotic locations, integrated science and sensibility, and ... fell flat. Time for the big question: why? A friend pointed out that at this point Depp can have fifty flops in his career and he'd still be bankable, or do personal projects such as The Rum Diary, even if no one goes to see it. Or, he can be good, in fact THE performance in a run-of-the-mill movie, last year's The Lone Ranger. He also has four movies in post-production with three more in pre, so he won't be hurt. Pfister, on the other hand, as interviewed in the documentary Side by Side, perhaps needs stronger writers around him and, according to a few reports, go for the gusto when the ending comes up.
Summer has been the feel-good movie season for so long, we've started to get picky. Just last week at "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," I saw a preview of "The Guardians of the Galaxy" that recycled an old rock song made famous by "Reservoir Dogs." Five main characters, one a dog, are briefed by John C. Reilly in a lineup. Cut to these characters engaged in intergalactic shootouts with comic interplay dropped in between the action scenes. Then the final comic quip at the end. I really, really hope those aren't the funniest parts of the movie. That's what happened with "R.I.P.D." last year. It goes back to David Denby's comment in the New Yorker a few years ago: Hollywood is making what it thinks it can sell versus what people want to see. Feel-good can be touching, insightful, one can even learn from it. Or, there's a deeper truth. Take "Dodgeball," where the underlying question is, does one really need a nice gym in which to work out? It doesn't take a whole lot, and you don't want to show all your cards on the first hand among all the noise.
Yes, "Captain America: Winter Soldier" stormed onto screens last week, "shattering April records." That's because the summer season has crept into April for about the last five years. It'll be gone in a month, probably. It also dwarfed "Divergent," proving that, based on reviews, good writing and direction can supercede a legion of middle and high school fans who've read the book, indeed the series, with three more Divergent movies on the way. And then, and this is what I love about the film world, Errol Morris releases his new documentary, "The Unknown Known," where he interviews Donald Rumsfeld. These three movies side by side appear so different, yet similarities are there.
Upon seeing "Draft Day" open to mediocre reviews, one also has the flashback to Kevin Costner's sports movies "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup," both written and directed by Ron Shelton. Which comes back to the writing. "Draft Day" gets caught between being "too inside baseball" says Brian Tallerico on rogerebert.com and not character-driven-enough. Shelton's "Bull Durham" chose one side of that path from a very personal story, and won big in the summer of 1988. Then you wonder, what was Ivan Reitman, director of "Ghostbusters," "Stripes," and other comedy classics, up to with this football movie? Does he know? If he's showing you what is, personalize it, and have quotable lines. Ah, the writing again. I read somewhere that "This is Spinal Tap" went into wide release on March 29, 1984, or that's when reviews were first posted. In this, the 30th anniversary of this movie, one of the funniest ever made that has achieved icon status, the movie seems to hover over many-a-rock band. Now we have Justin Bieber, artists who take themselves so seriously that to satirize them would be too hard: their a millimeter shy of it anyway. You know a film has maintained its awareness of filmgoers and musicians alike when people reference it the rest of the '80s, here and there in the '90s, sparks a comeback album, "Back from the dead" in 2010, and is highly watchable on cable when one's just clicking around. This film also came out when America was thriving again: the market had bottomed out at the end of 1982, Reagan's spending policies were encouraging good times, and here comes this understated comedy...
On the box office, "Divergent" will make investors happy, and no one will say it's the home run they wanted but didn't get. At $56 million for an opening weekend, here's where some analyst somewhere will say, "Ah hah! People know a Hunger Games look alike when they see one, they won't be fooled, and won't flock to this one." And it may be forgotten, with no sequels in the works. Then I see a trailer for another widely read book among middle schoolers: "The Maze Runner," due in September. The book, by James Dashner, at least covers similar physical territory, I'm told, about a teen among castles, fortresses, and in a game. We shall see how long this trend lasts, or if some show wit, are centered around ideas, or have memorable characters with memorable lines.
So, yeah, life isn't fair, and we've heard that many have gotten screwed over in Hollywood. Justice seems often elusive. Yet I just watched "Dallas Buyers Club" and see why Matthew McConaughey won the Best Actor Oscar. He transforms himself, his thoughts, everything is there on the screen. You also cannot imagine anyone else playing the part. The other part of justice is with Jared Leto, who turned in many solid performances in the late '90s and early 2000s before disappearing. He's back, wins the statuette, and could call it good. "Gravity" deserved its seven Oscars, and I pumped my fist when Spike Jonze won for "Her." That writing was flawless in every way: character, structure, evocation. The surprise was the shutout of "American Hustle."
I got to see the Oscars and man was it slow-going. Comic cameos from Will Farrell, Ben Stiller, or heck, Eddie Murphy would've livened this show up. Ellen DeGeneres tried her best, was sometimes funny, but what happened to wit from anyone else? What's with the dimly lit stage? Seth MacFarlane was himself and said he won't do it again, but he moved things along. The show also continued that terrible tradition of showing highlights of the Governor's Mansion party: this shortchanges the stars (they didn't even show Angelina Jolie, one of the honorees, at the Oscars) and speaks of a night the rest of us only glimpsed. We also hear how fun it was. Not classy, and these moments, and we're talking minutes here, should be added to the Oscars. Doesn't strike me as too much to ask. One of the best things about the movies, I think it was in an ad with Scorsese pictured, is that they transport us to another place and time. "The Great Beauty" does those things, and one moment of revelation that stays days after, cropping up at certain moments during the workday, is when the main character walks out on his porch and the Coliseum is revealed in the background. The structure looms, its presence doesn't have to be announced. We instantly recognize it, but it sure isn't the postcard image we're used to. About twenty people around me gasped when it was revealed. I knew what it was, that it wasn't a mat painting (at least I sure hope it wasn't), and we know it's reality. And it ties to the movie's theme, place, and character. Doesn't get much better than that.
Now here is a bizarre memory: I still recall some images from "The Monuments Men," a film I saw eight days ago and don't need to see again. I don't recall lines, or scenes that rose above fundamental conflicts or agendas in the story, but I do remember some brief scenes, and that is the power of film. This movie can resonate; even if the sum isn't much, a few parts can stand out. It also points to how hard making a movie truly is. I even remember Phedon Papamichael's last shot in a cathedral with an old man and young child walking away. It isn't bad cinema, or a faulty conclusion, and one that still stays with you. And I remember the film's purpose, which is where it really is transcendent.
"The Monuments Men" is indeed proof that movies and art matter. So does storytelling. I remember when my friend and I walked out of "Erin Brockovich" now fourteen years ago and he said, "It was a good story." "The storytelling wasn't that good," I replied. We both had points. That movie showed us quite the David Vs. Goliath narrative, but I didn't much care about the main character, even though she did something wondrous that affected many. As Chuck Roven said at the Golden Globes, "We're lucky to make movies about people." That's mainly why "American Hustle" is so popular.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of those actors I always looked forward to seeing. He never faxed it in, and always took on different parts. You also believed he was that person up there, from "The Big Lebowski" to fourteen years later in "The Master," the last time I saw him on the big screen, you knew this person loved acting, was giving his all, and generously to the other players, even when they weren't onscreen with him. He also knew when to shrink himself: check out that slouch in "The Ides of March" with, cigarette in hand," he tells Ryan Gosling off at the end. Hoffman walks up, and we feel we'll see this guy around. I've actually never seen "Capote" (2005) for which he won the Oscar, and now feel compelled to see the one time he beat out everyone for the coveted trophy. We will miss him. He left his mark, and shared many things with us during his forty-six years of life.
Having just seen "August: Osage County," it occurred to me that two films set in America's heartland, this one loud, "Nebraska" quiet, are up for awards this season. Maybe people are that curious about America's roots instead of its role in the world. They also have to do with family, are from personal voices, and assemble great casts. "August" has the most star-studded, and the dynamics are amped up, while "Nebraska" is so dialed down it almost appeared condescending to those who inhabit the plain states. If you've been there, you see the tightrope that movie walks. In both, photography frames the characters, as it should in film. Imagine that being the focal point to "I, Frankenstein."
I don't know who invented the movie industry phrase, "it has legs," but "American Hustle" is proving to have just that, still in the top ten the third week of January. The moviegoing public has latched onto it: all the quirks, the flawed characters, the ironies that don't hit you over the head, even the muddled international angles along the way. People like that these days. In his book "Bunch of Amateurs," Jack Hitt pointed out that us Yanks, all the way up to our president, will try new things and be first-timers, make it up as we go along, stumble in the process, and somehow succeed. "Gravity" and "12 Years a Slave" are very well made, but "American Hustle" sticks with us.
With the Golden Globes, "12 Years a Slave," slighted a tad in the opening and closing, was taken seriously. It is a very well-made, well-acted film. The highpoint for me, believe it or not, was seeing the producer Charles "Chuck" Roven up there. Here is one of Hollywood's most successful producers (The recent Batman trilogy, "The International," and David O. Russell's "Three Kings") who appears direct, collaborative, and personable. I'd love to see him accept the Oscar for Best Picture for "American Hustle." The other nicely deserved surprise was Leonardo DiCaprio winning for "The Wolf of Wall Street." It occurred to me, watching him, that it was twenty-one years ago this spring he was in "This Boys Life" with Robert De Niro, and a few months later in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" with Johnny Depp. Has he ever given a bad performance? the other winner I was very, very glad to see was Michael Douglas for "Behind the Candelabra." As I said in my email blast, that was the performance of his life. He disappeared into character, and we've seen him on the screen for over thirty years. The Actress awards were all in line. And yet, mark my words, "Gravity" will probably win Best Picture. It's too much of a good thing, and dare I say it, too safe in its subject matter and how it went about it. No one dislikes it. That sometimes proves a winner.
Here is where you know a movies has legs. "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "American Hustle" dropped twenty-eight and twenty-nine percent respectively at the box office this weekend, That's nothing compared to "Anchorman 2," which dropped fifty-one percent. On the other hand, "Frozen" surged back to number one, only behind "The Lion King" for Disney releases all-time. That's where you know you have an enduring classic for kids and adults. Watch the DVD sales. Now, the fact that "Wolf" and "Hustle" are historical snapshots also speaks of memory: many in the theater were old enough to remember those times, and we're always curious what was really going on. They don't strike me as revisions, but impressions and creations based on the mood and tone of those eras. That is the way of the movies.
What I wrote was a gut reaction to "The Wolf of Wall Street," and that was the morning after I saw it. Since then that movie has stuck with me, and here's what friends are for. I called one yesterday and he said, "Maybe Marty (Martin Scorsese) was chided for making mobsters too likable, too easy to relate to, with "Goodfellas" and "Casino." He may have backed up and said, 'you want the real thing? Here you go.'" Maybe, and that's friends can be good for--added perspective. "Wolf" certainly is that, barbarism in its rawest form in a while. "In the Company of Men," Neil LaBute's film from 1997 was also uncompromising, but had a fun maliciousness with a deeper level of chicanery and character arc than "Wolf." It still wasn't palatable to many back then, except for those who sat down and saw it. "Wolf of Wall Street" is palatable because it's done by such top talent, and yet, after reading interviews with Scorsese and DiCaprio, it isn't a studio picture. It's nominated as a comedy at the Golden Globes, but goes deeper. It's better than I wrote. I also said it contained the distrust of women. The despicable values and behavior of men does not include the distrust of women. Films need to be judged on their own, and the distrust theme isn't there, though the longing and pursuit are.
I've watched David O. Russell's work since Easter Sunday in 1996, when I saw "Flirting With Disaster" as a story manically go across the country and have a series of domestic conflicts at a house in Arizona. As a friend said at the time, "it just kept going." I knew what he meant, and loved Russell's next film, "Three Kings," as one of the best of the decade. Then came five years of waiting, culminating in "I Heart Huckabees," which left me wondering how many more films this guy would make. He was in his mid-forties and taking his time. Another six years passed before he rescued "The Fighter" in mid-production, as the story goes, and that movie hit a chord with audiences and won Oscars for Supporting Actor and Actress. Up on stage, Melissa Leo and Christian Bale singled the director out. For all his rants as seen on Youtube and not-so-flattering stories, Russell gets more out of his actors than many. There are clearly rewards for working with him, including being in among the most honored films of the year. "American Hustle" must be categorized as a comedy, but the craftsmanship in script, acting, and camerawork are unmistakable. So is Russell's talent. And by the way, he's made three films in the last four years, all of them memorable, easily recalled, and remembered. He is on a roll, and has been worth the wait.
At this point we can always expect "The Hunger Games" or "The Hobbit" to win big at the weekend box office, though "The Hobbit" grossed only in the seventy-millions while the former did roughly twice that. It's more interesting to see what hangs around, like Tyler Perry's "Madea Christmas." This guy stopped doing advanced screenings years ago, owns his own multi-thousand-square-foot production facility in Georgia, and as profiled in The New Yorker four years ago, keeps tapping the predictability well until it runs dry. There's still an audience there that goes to see his films in theaters and he comes in third at the box office. Almost twenty years ago, I realized action films had begun to debut year round, yet Gary Fleder, a veteran ("Kiss the Girls," "The Runaway Jury"), helms "Homefront" with an A-list star and in its third week it's grossed eighteen million. Perhaps it was supposed to get the leftover marketshare from all the blockbusters, or they should just wait, even past "Grudge Match" with De Niro and Stallone which looks to be a feel-good comedy about ageing. That director, Peter Segal, has been hit-and-miss with "50 First Dates," "Anger Management," the "The Longest Yard" remake with Adam Sandler, and his most successful venture, "Get Smart." Segal could make it work, and there has to be a story with supporting players, which the latter had beyond Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway. The rounding out of the cast will test the legs of those heavyweights in a lightweight comedy.
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