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African stories are front and center from a Guardian story on untapped stories from the continent. African filmmakers have had success on the film festival circuit, now thanks to Netflix and other streaming services, there is wider distribution of works by Africa’s cinema creative community reaching global audiences.
Scavengers Reign, the new animated science fiction series on Max, goes the extra mile depicting life and survival on another planet. Creators Joseph Bennett and Charles Heuttner crafted an artwork of images bridged with guess the next moment storytelling.
After their space cargo ship is destroyed, three sets of survivors must figure out how to survive on an uncharted yet beautiful planet filled with perils.
Actor Colman Domingo is riding a hot streak now. The Emmy winner could soon add an Academy Award on top his mantel. Rustin, the story of LGBTQ civil rights activists Bayard Rustin has garnered stellar reviews. Also look for the Philadelphia born performer in The Color Purple musical remake of the 1985 drama.
I read Hitchcock/Truffaut while studying cinema in University. To say this conversation of two had an impact would be an understatement. Francois Truffaut gets to the heart of the filmmaking from director Alfred Hitchcock. For all cinephiles, this 1985 publication is a film reference must.
Prometheus gave man fire, and the Gods were not happy. Oppenheimer, the latest Christopher Nolan Film, is a war drama based on the Los Alamos Project, the race to acquire the Atomic Bomb. Based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of Robert J. Oppenheimer, the $100 million production follows Oppenheimer and his science team’s development of the ultimate weapon.
Cillian Murphy gets promoted from Nolan supporting player to lead as the conflicted egocentric work driven project head. The Irish actor makes of the most of his screen time by playing the man on an intense mission, unheeding the future consequences until too late. Emily Brunt as the bottle dependent Mrs. Oppenheimer had to have watched Deborah Kerr’s 1953 perfromance in the film From Here to Eternity for reference, drawing on the cruelty of her marital situation.
Robert Downey Jr clearly has set his eyes on the Oscar Nomination playing Opeenheimer’s intellectual inferior yet cunning adversary Lewis Strauss. Mat Damon as General Lesile Groves comes across as forced, a blustering perfomance in a military uniform that was too big for the wearer.
What Actor would turn down a call from one of the top directors of his time? Clearly none. Nolan assembled top talent and names for the above the line ensemble, but there laid the problem. The key supporting characters intricately involved in the plot were overshadowed, forgotten. Bennie Safdie as a H-Bomb developer Edward Teller and Sadie Stratton as Mary Washburn had screen time, why? It is a case of wasting talent, not performances, rather, stock pieces.
Oppenheimer is dazzling film making on many levels, yet at times dazzling dullish, dazzling flawed and dazzling overwrought. At 180 minutes, Nolan’s screenplay kept the tension tight while seemingly going in small circles. Production values are top, camera work, editing and sound departments will certainly attend the upcoming technical awards ceremonies.
At a time when movie goers are experince super hero fatigue Oppenheimer shows audience want more than men in tights. Mr. Nolan gains praise for his work.
Instead of the giving Oppenheimer the title of Prometheus, perhaps Empimetheus, the God of Afterthought, would be a better. After all, The Greek Titan had the key to the Pandoras box. Look what happened we he gave it away.
Oppenheimer earns 3 out of 4 stars.
This is a Summer Blockbuster Weekend with two highly anticipated films hitting cinemas, Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER starring Cillian Murphy from Christopher Nolan. Which will win the box office race? BARBIE scored the biggest grosses, but OPPENHEIMER has prestige buzz.
Superstar Yoshiki and Pommery Champagne held a launch event in Berlin at the top of the Waldorf Astoria. The musician collaborated with the house for a luxury sparkling wine based on his passion for bubbly.
For this Before Tacky episode we spoke to Japanese musician about when he drinks Champagne and some quick words on fashion
The Summer of Strikes hit Hollywood with a loud bang on Friday. The entertainment industry stopped. Following Writers Guild of America, the actors union, SAG-AFTRA ordered work stoppages around the country. This means not reporting to sets additionally, no promotional work including red carpets or press junkets.
In an emotional speech from Los Angeles SAG-AFTRA head Fran Drescher made the call to her 160.000 members. There is a misunderstanding about Hollywood. A list actors get to go to the big parties around but most actors earn a regular living paying a mortgage taking their kids to school. The minimum an actor needs to earn to qualify for insurance is $26.000 a year. That is getting harder and harder with the new media content models. But their is a bigger question. Why should you have to earn money to deserve health care coverage?
“The jig is up”, “The Nanny” star said on Thursday. The business model has changed by streaming and AI. The old agreements no longer works. Before streamers, a series order was twenty episodes, today that is now eight to ten. Performers earn less money in a production season. The other battle with streaming services is financial transparency and residuals. Residual checks in the past were based on viewer counts and ads, on streamers it is based on subscriber numbers. My advice to SAG, “Good luck trying to get real numbers from a technology company.”
AI is a big bone of contention as productions could soon replace actors with artificial performers or their likeness. Reusing the image in different films, shows or commercials without paying the actor. Would a studio exploit talent too such a level? Ask the decedents of the Three Stooges about their relationship to Columbia Pictures.
A war of attrition is now being fought. Studios on one side and talent on the other. The new media moguls are just as imperial as their predecessors. Disney honcho Bob Iger told CNBC the union demands are not realistic. Meanwhile, the corporate head got a $4 million annual raise to $27 million with additional options, not bad if you can get it. Of course he gets to use the corporate jet.
Make no mistake, a lot is at stake, an industry coming to terms in a new reality. Workers are tired of being exploited. Corporations under pressure from Wall Street to pay dividends. Throw in new technologies that could swallow them all. These elements could be a Hollywood Blockbuster script.
Asylum seeking in Europe is a hot topic on the continent. Lisa Gerig explores the subject through reenactments of the process in Switzerland.
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What is happening in Hollywood? It was suppose to be easy. The business model was based on acquiring Intellectual Properties, then turn them in media franchises across every platform. Simple. A movie here, a television show there, spin off’s in every directions. Audiences would pay to see their favorite characters in new adventures time and time again.
Apparently the audience did not read the memo. One major release after another has stumbled. The big studios have hit a box office wall of underperforming films or out and out flops. It was not suppose to be this way. It is one thing when a movie disappoints, it’s a panic attack when a eco-system faces collapse.
The Disney and Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES and THE DIAL of DESTINY recently opened with a soft $60 million weekend in take. The $300 million production needs to earn over $700 million to break even. That number seems unlikely given the drowsy reviews of the James Mangold film. Harrison Ford’s fifth and last outing as the iconic adventurer seemed set to be a spinoff for a more modern story. Unlikely given Disney could lose as much $500 million on the time traveling saga. Disney head Bob Iger’s having acquired George Lucas’s creations for over $4 billion in 2012 has fans asking what was the point? Four STAR WARS productions each one worse than the other, now the nail in the coffin, a below average Indy movie.
The other Burbank powerhouse studio, Warner Bros finds itself moving into pray mode. The $200 million dollar THE FLASH struggled to cross the $100 million mark at the US box-office. The CGI heavy DC Comic production did not click with ticket buyers. Given that parent company Warner Discovery is in $50 billion debt, certainly alarm bells are ringing in the head office. After all, colorful tight pajamas were written in as a major revenue asset for the media giant.
It is looking more and more fatigue is taking hold of cinema goers. The lack of originality and pandering works have driven away ticket buyers to screaming on social media about Hollywood’s dismal releases.
Hollywood has learned, again, there is no such thing as a sure thing. Will this make studios change course? Disney announced new STAR WARS films. I would almost rather be on Alderaan watching the Death Star hover than sit through another instalment of the now soul less galactic saga.