You Must Like Our Themes!

Producer complains buyer turns down their project because of the LGBT+ themes.

Because there isn't enough LGBT content out there, right?

Movie Biz

Generated just 49 mil this past weekend. 

The biz committed slow motion suicide over the past decade. I've been a witness. 

Equity

What percent of the "equity" issue could be resolved by a renormalization of 2 parent homes in disadvantaged communities? 50% would be my guess. 

Absent consistent abuse, I would guess even a shitty dad would be a net positive. A dad who simply filled up the cars with gas, earned minimum wage, and put away the dishes once in awhile would still help the household a lot. And just being around, who knows, he might even play with the kids once in awhile. 

Why this never is "on the agenda" is beyond me... 

Believe All Women

Do we recall that believing women was the cause of both Emmitt Till's murder and the Salem Witch Trials?

So You're Saying There's a Chance...! 

LA Times doing their best Jim Carrey from Dumb and Dumber impression with respect to cash payments for reparations. Despite nearly 3x as many Californians saying they are against reparations (in a poll done by the LA Times), LA Times writes this headline:

Most Californians want reparations for slavery but don’t want to pay cash. Now what?

Several decades ago this phenomenon was addressed by the book He's Just Not That Into You, but I suppose liberal women gotta be liberal women...

The above headline is literally the opposite of what the polls, data, and common sense say. 

Logging

Film: Tender Mercies

Why are there so many great films and writers out of Texas and Oklahoma? No Country/Cormac, all Larry McMurtry films and novels, Horton Foote, Tracey Letts, Terrence Malick? Is it something about the landscape? The food? The public schools?

What to say about the film? Well, it's a family melodrama that's really one of the better movies about being an artist. I loved the writing - incredibly direct and a great contrast to the other film I just watched --

Film: Molly's Game

A few good scenes but ultimately felt like a long voice over with a movie playing in the background.

Film: The Sound of Music

The thought crossed my mind while watching this: we enjoy movies because they were made by human beings not so different from ourselves. Would it be interesting to watch a basketball game played by aliens or androids? I think not. The other thought that crossed my mind: this film puts to shame the films currently produced by the Hollywood studios. And a third thought while watching this amongst a packed house at the Hollywood Bowl sing-a-long: if somewhere in LA played Easy Rider on a Saturday night, how many folks would attend? 20-30? Whereas Sound of Music gets thousands. Recall, Easy Rider was made in '67 and supposed to be a marker of "New Hollywood," etc. Sound of Music is 1965. So what, in the end, holds up? When I was 25, was probably (sadly) more impressed by Easy Rider. But these films - pardon my QT reference - aren't even the same sport. 

One last thought: I think the country and people that were able to make this film still exists, just the Hollywood that made this film does not. 

Logging

Film: Hustlers

One of the worst films I've seen in awhile. Somehow Rotten Tomatoes has a 87% fresh rating from critics. How? My guess: they hired a PR film to juice those ratings. Because this one is bad. Not like man-hating Barbie bad - although it has a little of that - Barbie at least makes you think. This one just lacks basic drama or human characterization or much of a story. What it does have, however, is an abundance of slo mo shots of a diverse group of strippers walking into a bar, restaurant, or club. That's about all that can be said about it. 

Funniest part - the big looming arrest and sting operation leads to some hardcore probation and 4 weekends in jail for the ladies. We're talking super high stakes in this one.

Pain Hustlers

A movie about big pharma selling opioids. Now do puberty blockers and hormones - the stuff they're doing today, not 20 years ago.

The Hopeless

I theorized 25% of people were hopeless, turns out the actual number appears to be 23%. I was pretty close.

"Discussions"

Read a children's book today on accident about a kid who runs around naked, discovers his parents clothes closet, doesn't fit into dad's clothes, and instead loves mom's clothes. Story ends with mom teaching him how to put on make up. Reviews on amazon: "Wonderful!" "Affirming!" "LGBT+ friendly."

Do these people realize that 97% of kid-parents who read this story and have a "real" discussion, it will go like this: well that was super fucking weird, wasn't it? How about we never read this piece of shit again?" Or at least that's how my conversation with my 5 year old went. 

I'm not so sure the LGBTQ+ strategy of putting all this stuff in the face of normies is going to have the intended effect. When people find out you're in a throuple or banged 10 dudes in a week or are cutting off your tits, I just think people are gonna be grossed out and think you're totally weird no matter how many thoughtcrimes they are breaking.

Everything Wrong With the Movie Biz Summed Up

Susan Rice back on the Netflix board. 

She has no business being anywhere near a local theater production, but somehow in a major position of power at the biggest producer of film and tv content in the world.

Logging

Film: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

3rd or 4th watch...what's new? 

Imagining the movie  through the eyes of a non-film bros - is the Margot Robbie storyline nonsensical if you don't know the Sharon Tate story? 

Is the narrator Kurt Russell or the character Kurt Russell is playing in the film?

Still don't understand the shot of Polanski drinking french press in his backyard.

My favorite moment this time around - Leo losing it when he's describing Bronco Billy story.

Thought: does Tarantino think about movies in 20-30 minute segments? I watched the date sequence from Pulp Fiction the other day and noticed his segments are wonderfully self contained and full of unexpected twists and turns. I wonder if part of his "magic" lies within his ability to break films down into smaller narrative components -- thereby disrupting the audience's boredom and expectations with certain narratives tropes (ie story structures) they've become overly accustomed to. We have no idea how long the sequence at the Spahn Ranch is going to be. We think maybe Pitt will get laid? Robbed? Killed? Maybe there will be a huge fight? Maybe this is the entire rest of the movie. Maybe he just drops her off and waves to Charlie Manson before going to watch a movie by himself. 

If Tarantino made this film at a different moment would there have been some sequences in Italy with Rick and Cliff? Would we see how Rick meets his Italian wife?

You need the scene, but one of the scenes I liked least this time around was the Manson murderers in the car.

Logging

Film: Kill Boksoon 

Another strong Korean action-dark comedy film. A bit bloated in b-stories, I could've lived without the seeing the potential future conceit, but nevertheless stylish, fun, cool. I do worry we might be entering a time when Hollywood closes shop for the most part and no one notices or cares. Like maybe Hollywood goes in the direction none of the creatives want - just making the highest of high end product - 20 movies a year and nominate all of them for Oscars. 20 TV shows and nominate all of them for Emmys. Korea, Italy, Scandinavia, Japan, Argentina are where all the middle class movies get made. 

Unsubtle

Russia's new rocket weapon is called Satan II.