GLoP Goes To The Movies

This week on GLoP, a slight shorter show than normal, but don’t fret — we’ll be doing –count ’em– THREE shows this month, including another live on Zoom, presumably with some adult beverages being consumed. In the meantime, we’ve on this show, John and Jonah have seen Tenet, the Oscars® get woke, and the boys recommend some podcasts (other than the ones they are on) for your dining and dancing pleasure.

Subscribe to GLoP Culture in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Please Support Our Sponsor!

DonorsTrust

Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing.

There are 45 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Apparently the movie is so confusing even Jonah, who liked it, thinks it begins in Moscow, Russia.  It’s actually Kiev, Ukraine (according to Wikipedia and the Sub Beacon).

    • #1
  2. colleenb Member
    colleenb
    @colleenb

    I don’t listen to GLOP all that much but enjoyed this one even though I hardly go to movies at all anymore. Just the Dolly Parton song at the end was worth it. 

    • #2
  3. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Surprisingly — well, surprising to me, someone naive enough to believe John Podhoretz and Jonah Goldberg are some kind of conservatives — both JPod and Jonah have positive things to say about the Academy’s new race and sex quota policy.

    JPod thinks it’s about time for Hollywood to be forced to hire more women directors.  He offers no evidence that there are a lot of women in the talent pool of potential directors; nor that they are as good as the men in the talent pool.  (Like computer science, this may be something many women have the abilities to do — but mostly don’t want to.)

    Jonah says that Hollywood is private companies, so they can do what they want.  Completely forgetting that discrimination by race and sex is illegal in this country, even for private employers.

     

     

     

    • #3
  4. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    This maybe the reason Netflix bought Halle Berry’s first film as a director. I think there are plenty of women who can direct. I think the problem is that a hollywood studio film is like $100 m to $200 million dollar enterprise … There are very few people that can manage an investment of this size… Maybe with the audience collapse – hollywood will go back to making smaller films $20 to $30 million budgets … you can get a lot of fresh directors with that kind of budget…

     

    • #4
  5. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Taras (View Comment):

    Surprisingly — well, surprising to me, someone naive enough to believe John Podhoretz and Jonah Goldberg are some kind of conservatives — both JPod and Jonah have positive things to say about the Academy’s new race and sex quota policy.

    JPod thinks it’s about time for Hollywood to be forced to hire more women directors. He offers no evidence that there are a lot of women in the talent pool of potential directors; nor that they are as good as the men in the talent pool. (Like computer science, this may be something many women have the abilities to do — but mostly don’t want to.)

    Jonah says that Hollywood is private companies, so they can do what they want. Completely forgetting that discrimination by race and sex is illegal in this country, even for private employers.

    Kinda no. Hollywood can discriminate as they please, they can hire the actors who are best described by the script they’re producing.

    Also you may not agree with JPod or Jonah, but I dont think its fair to apply a purity or litmus test to anyone.

    There is plenty of evidence that there are many women who can direct. They work quite a lot in tv. Lucy Liu and Amanda Tapping, for example, have directed dozens of TV episodes. There is a real glass ceiling here – because of the size of the project – directing a tv episode or an independent movie – its a much smaller project and much lower investment than a Hollywood studio movie.

     

     

    • #5
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    As far as I’m concerned, this might be the best time-travel story ever, possibly even the best story of any kind – or at least the best sci-fi story – in any format.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBkV2pAwy-U

    • #6
  7. RktSci Member
    RktSci
    @RktSci

    Taras (View Comment):

    Jonah says that Hollywood is private companies, so they can do what they want. Completely forgetting that discrimination by race and sex is illegal in this country, even for private employers.

    There is an out for entertainment. You can put in a casting notice that the job requires a specific race or sex. Not sure how many jobs in film it covers, but it is there.

     

     

     

     

    • #7
  8. RktSci Member
    RktSci
    @RktSci

    A point of clarification. The Oscar diversity requirement only applies to Best Picture nominees.

    The two categories that they didn’t mention are ones that cover the studios. Those will be slam dunks for the big studios.

    The first category, having enough diverse people in the cast, can be satisfied by 30% of the supporting role being in the diverse buckets. That’s easy to do.

    The “hire and sit around” jobs that JPod talked about won’t work – there are going to be on-set audits.

    • #8
  9. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    For the record Louis Jourdan was 61.

    • #9
  10. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    Surprisingly — well, surprising to me, someone naive enough to believe John Podhoretz and Jonah Goldberg are some kind of conservatives — both JPod and Jonah have positive things to say about the Academy’s new race and sex quota policy.

    JPod thinks it’s about time for Hollywood to be forced to hire more women directors. He offers no evidence that there are a lot of women in the talent pool of potential directors; nor that they are as good as the men in the talent pool. (Like computer science, this may be something many women have the abilities to do — but mostly don’t want to.)

    Jonah says that Hollywood is private companies, so they can do what they want. Completely forgetting that discrimination by race and sex is illegal in this country, even for private employers.

    Kinda no. Hollywood can discriminate as they please, they can hire the actors who are best described by the script they’re producing.

    Also you may not agree with JPod or Jonah, but I dont think its fair to apply a purity or litmus test to anyone.

    There is plenty of evidence that there are many women who can direct. They work quite a lot in tv. Lucy Liu and Amanda Tapping, for example, have directed dozens of TV episodes. There is a real glass ceiling here – because of the size of the project – directing a tv episode or an independent movie – its a much smaller project and much lower investment than a Hollywood studio movie.

     

    Hmm.  “Hollywood can discriminate as they please”.  

    As long as they don’t explicitly discriminate by race or sex?  

    It’s OK to hire whites to play whites, and men to play men; but what about behind the camera?  A company with an explicit policy of hiring only whites would get in trouble fast.  

    A de facto policy?  That’s how lawyers get rich.  Blacks instead of whites?  OK if the judge is a liberal.

     

     

    • #10
  11. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Taras (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    Surprisingly — well, surprising to me, someone naive enough to believe John Podhoretz and Jonah Goldberg are some kind of conservatives — both JPod and Jonah have positive things to say about the Academy’s new race and sex quota policy.

    JPod thinks it’s about time for Hollywood to be forced to hire more women directors. He offers no evidence that there are a lot of women in the talent pool of potential directors; nor that they are as good as the men in the talent pool. (Like computer science, this may be something many women have the abilities to do — but mostly don’t want to.)

    Jonah says that Hollywood is private companies, so they can do what they want. Completely forgetting that discrimination by race and sex is illegal in this country, even for private employers.

    Kinda no. Hollywood can discriminate as they please, they can hire the actors who are best described by the script they’re producing.

    Also you may not agree with JPod or Jonah, but I dont think its fair to apply a purity or litmus test to anyone.

    There is plenty of evidence that there are many women who can direct. They work quite a lot in tv. Lucy Liu and Amanda Tapping, for example, have directed dozens of TV episodes. There is a real glass ceiling here – because of the size of the project – directing a tv episode or an independent movie – its a much smaller project and much lower investment than a Hollywood studio movie.

     

    Hmm. “Hollywood can discriminate as they please”.

    As long as they don’t explicitly discriminate by race or sex?

    It’s OK to hire whites to play whites, and men to play men; but what about behind the camera? A company with an explicit policy of hiring only whites would get in trouble fast.

    A de facto policy? That’s how lawyers get rich. Blacks instead of whites? OK if the judge is a liberal.

    That’s fine until they start going after writers for not writing enough “diverse” roles, or even the studios for not buying enough “diverse” scripts.

     

    • #11
  12. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct:  she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    • #12
  13. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Back in the Obama years, Dennis Miller used to say that if a business had to lay off workers due to increasing energy or health insurance costs etc, they should go out to the employee parking lot, find the Obama bumper stickers, and lay off those people first.  And they should be happy to make the sacrifice, For The Cause.

    He probably should have added the people who bicycled to work, etc.

    • #13
  14. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Counterpoint to @roblong

    Just for starters:

    Living Single was on Fox.

    Friends was on NBC.

    Get it?

    Got it?

    Good.

     

    P.S.  The Cosby Show was on NBC too.

    • #14
  15. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Taras (View Comment):

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct: she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    No, its 2 individuals out of an industry of hundreds. I think actress have to put an eye to a second career, because rolls for women dry up beyond a certain age.

    Ok in a few minutes of googling I have found the following:

    Angelina Jolie – 6 credits, (4 movies, including “Unbroken”)

    Drew Barrymore -3 credits (1 movie “Whip It”)

    Olivia Wilde – 7 credits (including an upcoming Marvel movie)

    Elizabeth Banks – 6 credits (a few movies – “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels”)

    Jodie Foster – 10 credits (mostly tv episodes, and a few movies)

    Lake Bell – 7 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    Lena Dunham – 15 credits (mostly TV)

    Regina King – 15 credits (all TV)

    Mindy Kaling – 10 credits (TV “The Office”)

    Helen Hunt – 21 credits (all TV episodes)

    Eva Longoria – 13 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    I think there are a lot of Actresses who would move on from acting to directing….

     

     

     

    • #15
  16. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct: she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    No, its 2 individuals out of an industry of hundreds. I think actress have to put an eye to a second career, because rolls for women dry up beyond a certain age.

    Ok in a few minutes of googling I have found the following:

    Angelina Jolie – 6 credits, (4 movies, including “Unbroken”)

    Drew Barrymore -3 credits (1 movie “Whip It”)

    Olivia Wilde – 7 credits (including an upcoming Marvel movie)

    Elizabeth Banks – 6 credits (a few movies – “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels”)

    Jodie Foster – 10 credits (mostly tv episodes, and a few movies)

    Lake Bell – 7 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    Lena Dunham – 15 credits (mostly TV)

    Regina King – 15 credits (all TV)

    Mindy Kaling – 10 credits (TV “The Office”)

    Helen Hunt – 21 credits (all TV episodes)

    Eva Longoria – 13 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    I think there are a lot of Actresses who would move on from acting to directing….

    Another fact of life, along with things like that there aren’t enough geniuses for every parent’s child to have all genius teachers in elementary school, is that TV and movies need a lot more actors and actresses, than directors.

    Put another old-fashioned way, even TV/Hollywood can’t operate with too many chiefs and not enough indians.

    • #16
  17. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    If you care at all about art, I don’t know how you can endorse the new rules for the Academy Award.

    Art is dead. Political didacticism killed it. 

    • #17
  18. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct: she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    No, its 2 individuals out of an industry of hundreds. I think actress have to put an eye to a second career, because rolls for women dry up beyond a certain age.

    Ok in a few minutes of googling I have found the following:

    Angelina Jolie – 6 credits, (4 movies, including “Unbroken”)

    Drew Barrymore -3 credits (1 movie “Whip It”)

    Olivia Wilde – 7 credits (including an upcoming Marvel movie)

    Elizabeth Banks – 6 credits (a few movies – “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels”)

    Jodie Foster – 10 credits (mostly tv episodes, and a few movies)

    Lake Bell – 7 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    Lena Dunham – 15 credits (mostly TV)

    Regina King – 15 credits (all TV)

    Mindy Kaling – 10 credits (TV “The Office”)

    Helen Hunt – 21 credits (all TV episodes)

    Eva Longoria – 13 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    I think there are a lot of Actresses who would move on from acting to directing….

    Another fact of life, along with things like that there aren’t enough geniuses for every parent’s child to have all genius teachers in elementary school, is that TV and movies need a lot more actors and actresses, than directors.

    Put another old-fashioned way, even TV/Hollywood can’t operate with too many chiefs and not enough indians.

    Yes, there is only 1 director on a set that could have dozens of actors. On the other hand, Does every science fiction movie need to be directed by J J Abrams?

    • #18
  19. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct: she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    No, its 2 individuals out of an industry of hundreds. I think actress have to put an eye to a second career, because rolls for women dry up beyond a certain age.

    Ok in a few minutes of googling I have found the following:

    Angelina Jolie – 6 credits, (4 movies, including “Unbroken”)

    Drew Barrymore -3 credits (1 movie “Whip It”)

    Olivia Wilde – 7 credits (including an upcoming Marvel movie)

    Elizabeth Banks – 6 credits (a few movies – “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels”)

    Jodie Foster – 10 credits (mostly tv episodes, and a few movies)

    Lake Bell – 7 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    Lena Dunham – 15 credits (mostly TV)

    Regina King – 15 credits (all TV)

    Mindy Kaling – 10 credits (TV “The Office”)

    Helen Hunt – 21 credits (all TV episodes)

    Eva Longoria – 13 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    I think there are a lot of Actresses who would move on from acting to directing….

    Another fact of life, along with things like that there aren’t enough geniuses for every parent’s child to have all genius teachers in elementary school, is that TV and movies need a lot more actors and actresses, than directors.

    Put another old-fashioned way, even TV/Hollywood can’t operate with too many chiefs and not enough indians.

    Most likely, the critical factor is how their movies have done at the box office.  Especially the international box office, which tends to like boys’ adventures, light on dialogue.

    Hollywood is allergic to flops, and being blamed for flops.  So we shall see.

    • #19
  20. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Taras (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    I sure hope Lucy Liu knows how to direct: she sure can’t act (snurkle, snurkle).

    She’s directed 7 episodes of her show, plus 5 other things.

    On the other hand, the great Amanda Tapping, a.k.a. Capt. Samantha Carter, has done 57 episodes and other things, including just one episode of Stargate: SG-1.

    Can’t say this proves there’s a lot of untapped (or un-Tapping) talent out there!

    No, its 2 individuals out of an industry of hundreds. I think actress have to put an eye to a second career, because rolls for women dry up beyond a certain age.

    Ok in a few minutes of googling I have found the following:

    Angelina Jolie – 6 credits, (4 movies, including “Unbroken”)

    Drew Barrymore -3 credits (1 movie “Whip It”)

    Olivia Wilde – 7 credits (including an upcoming Marvel movie)

    Elizabeth Banks – 6 credits (a few movies – “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels”)

    Jodie Foster – 10 credits (mostly tv episodes, and a few movies)

    Lake Bell – 7 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    Lena Dunham – 15 credits (mostly TV)

    Regina King – 15 credits (all TV)

    Mindy Kaling – 10 credits (TV “The Office”)

    Helen Hunt – 21 credits (all TV episodes)

    Eva Longoria – 13 credits (mostly tv episodes)

    I think there are a lot of Actresses who would move on from acting to directing….

    Another fact of life, along with things like that there aren’t enough geniuses for every parent’s child to have all genius teachers in elementary school, is that TV and movies need a lot more actors and actresses, than directors.

    Put another old-fashioned way, even TV/Hollywood can’t operate with too many chiefs and not enough indians.

    Most likely, the critical factor is how their movies have done at the box office. Especially the international box office, which tends to like boys’ adventures, light on dialogue.

    Hollywood is allergic to flops, and being blamed for flops. So we shall see.

    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those.  Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    • #20
  21. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    If you care at all about art, I don’t know how you can endorse the new rules for the Academy Award.

    Art is dead. Political didacticism killed it.

    Fortunately they are not rules for actually making a movie. People can just continue making movies they want to make without concern for whether or not it gets nominated for Best Picture.   

    • #21
  22. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    kylez (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    If you care at all about art, I don’t know how you can endorse the new rules for the Academy Award.

    Art is dead. Political didacticism killed it.

    Fortunately they are not rules for actually making a movie. People can just continue making movies they want to make without concern for whether or not it gets nominated for Best Picture.

    True. Although such art will be traded in secret as samizdat.

    • #22
  23. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    • #23
  24. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    But if those over-$100-million projects are still liberal claptrap that flop, how much “experience” is really needed to “handle a project of that size?”  What is the value of losing money on liberal claptrap flops, but it’s okay as long as they’re directed by men? 

    Actually we’ve seen that woman-directed liberal claptrap flops are just blamed on sexism, so maybe that’s a fall-back excuse: it didn’t fail because it’s liberal claptrap, or badly written, or even badly directed; they say it failed because people won’t see movies directed by women.  Therefore it’s not THEIR fault.

    • #24
  25. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    colleenb (View Comment):
    Just the Dolly Parton song at the end was worth it.

    Indeed.

    • #25
  26. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    But if those over-$100-million projects are still liberal claptrap that flop, how much “experience” is really needed to “handle a project of that size?” What is the value of losing money on liberal claptrap flops, but it’s okay as long as they’re directed by men?

    Actually we’ve seen that woman-directed liberal claptrap flops are just blamed on sexism, so maybe that’s a fall-back excuse: it didn’t fail because it’s liberal claptrap, or badly written, or even badly directed; they say it failed because people won’t see movies directed by women. Therefore it’s not THEIR fault.

    Remember, making liberal claptrap guarantees good reviews (and positions you in the Hollywood community for future projects). The reviewers are to the left of the film producers.

    A movie like Olivia Wilde‘s Booksmart , ostensibly a raunchy, role-reversal comedy about two lesbian students on the last day of high school, gets good reviews because of the subject matter, regardless of execution.  In spite of critical hosannas and a huge publicity effort, it “underperformed” at the box office, I’m guessing, as potential audiences learned what it is really about.

    How this qualifies Wilde to direct a big Marvel action movie, I don’t know.  Maybe Ava DuVernay, who bungled A Wrinkle in Time, was busy with her next flop.

     

    • #26
  27. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Taras (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    But if those over-$100-million projects are still liberal claptrap that flop, how much “experience” is really needed to “handle a project of that size?” What is the value of losing money on liberal claptrap flops, but it’s okay as long as they’re directed by men?

    Actually we’ve seen that woman-directed liberal claptrap flops are just blamed on sexism, so maybe that’s a fall-back excuse: it didn’t fail because it’s liberal claptrap, or badly written, or even badly directed; they say it failed because people won’t see movies directed by women. Therefore it’s not THEIR fault.

    Remember, making liberal claptrap guarantees good reviews (and positions you in the Hollywood community for future projects). The reviewers are to the left of the film producers.

    A movie like Olivia Wilde‘s Booksmart , ostensibly a raunchy, role-reversal comedy about two lesbian students on the last day of high school, gets good reviews because of the subject matter, regardless of execution. In spite of critical hosannas and a huge publicity effort, it “underperformed” at the box office, I’m guessing, as potential audiences learned what it is really about.

    How this qualifies Wilde to direct a big Marvel action movie, I don’t know. Maybe Ava DuVernay, who bungled A Wrinkle in Time, was busy with her next flop.

    I’m not sure if even the best director in the world could have saved Wrinkle, given how it was written and cast to conform with various PC requirements likely imposed by the studio.

    • #27
  28. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    But if those over-$100-million projects are still liberal claptrap that flop, how much “experience” is really needed to “handle a project of that size?” What is the value of losing money on liberal claptrap flops, but it’s okay as long as they’re directed by men?

    Actually we’ve seen that woman-directed liberal claptrap flops are just blamed on sexism, so maybe that’s a fall-back excuse: it didn’t fail because it’s liberal claptrap, or badly written, or even badly directed; they say it failed because people won’t see movies directed by women. Therefore it’s not THEIR fault.

    True. Weather a film hits or flops isnt relevant to selecting the director. The approved script will determine a lot of that – the quality and message of the publicity campaign.

    • #28
  29. colleenb Member
    colleenb
    @colleenb

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    I don’t know, they keep making liberal claptrap flops and don’t seem to mind losing money on those. Are we supposed to believe they just can’t stand to lose money on woman-directed flops?

    This is the kind of the point I have been making – Not so much about bomb vs hit, but that the project size. An average top tier TV show costs $5 to $7 million per episode. The average studio movie costs $65 million plus publicity and distribution costs, it can easily top out at over $100 million. Its a matter of trust – It takes a fair bit of experience to build a reputation that someone could handle a project of this size.

    But if those over-$100-million projects are still liberal claptrap that flop, how much “experience” is really needed to “handle a project of that size?” What is the value of losing money on liberal claptrap flops, but it’s okay as long as they’re directed by men?

    Actually we’ve seen that woman-directed liberal claptrap flops are just blamed on sexism, so maybe that’s a fall-back excuse: it didn’t fail because it’s liberal claptrap, or badly written, or even badly directed; they say it failed because people won’t see movies directed by women. Therefore it’s not THEIR fault.

    Remember, making liberal claptrap guarantees good reviews (and positions you in the Hollywood community for future projects). The reviewers are to the left of the film producers.

    A movie like Olivia Wilde‘s Booksmart , ostensibly a raunchy, role-reversal comedy about two lesbian students on the last day of high school, gets good reviews because of the subject matter, regardless of execution. In spite of critical hosannas and a huge publicity effort, it “underperformed” at the box office, I’m guessing, as potential audiences learned what it is really about.

    How this qualifies Wilde to direct a big Marvel action movie, I don’t know. Maybe Ava DuVernay, who bungled A Wrinkle in Time, was busy with her next flop.

    I’m not sure if even the best director in the world could have saved Wrinkle, given how it was written and cast to conform with various PC requirements likely imposed by the studio.

    Which leads us back to what the Academy is currently doing with their new rules. At some point, the movie people really are going to run out of other people’s money.

    • #29
  30. FredGoodhue Coolidge
    FredGoodhue
    @FredGoodhue

    There is already something like the movie racial quotas in place.  It’s with government contacting.  The effect is that some members of favored minorities have figured how to get into partial ownership of contractors.  Their primary contribution to the projects are their skin color.  They then make lots of money.  

    • #30
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.