Warren Beatty retains Dick Tracy movie rights to 2027
As pulled from this Mastodon post with a screencap from another social network:
In 1990, Warren Beatty made a Dick Tracy movie. But no one would let him make another one, and even tried to do a TV show without him. He got so mad he decided to find a loophole in his contract and get decades of petty revenge.
Every couple of decades, he makes a no-budget 20-some minute TV special where he complains to Leonard Maltin while wearing his old costume, and releases it unannounced in the middle of the night on TCM. This week, at 85 years old, he premiered his new one, called Dick Tracy Zooms In. He didn't even have to show up on set. However, he has gone to court to make sure that they legally count as sequels, and thus renew his rights to the character. He does this solely so that no one else can legally use the character for anything.
This new special will make the character his until 2027, when Dick Tracy goes into the public domain and anyone can use him for free.
This is art. This is some A+ Andy Kaufman-level trolling. I will never watch either of these specials, because the whole point is that they are unwatchable, low effort, and awful enough to be a middle finger to some bean counting whipper snapper who made Warren Beatty mad in the 90s. But I am so happy they exist. I'd rather know these bird flips by an old man taking a grudge to the grave are in the world than a Dick Tracy Disney+ show staring Chris Pratt.
I completely agree with the original author's feeling that this is some Andy Kaufman-level trolling.
PS - Fuck the American copyright system.
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Man, rewatching Casino Royale and Jesus does Bond take some beatings in that movie. From the poisoning to the awful car crash as he avoids Vesper.
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A few Bond thoughts
Just rewatched 'No Time To Die' and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It wasn't great, but I will remember fondly Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond. I still feel Pierce Brosnan is my preferred Bond, but I can't deny the raw power and animalistic tenacity Craig brought to the series.
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Bullet Train (2022) - Four Lady Bugs Out of Five
What a crazy and over the top movie. A neon lit, Tarantino-ver-the-top, and with an incredible soundtrack. A good way to spend my already altered mental state of sickness this morning, cuddling with dogs, and watching it on Netflix.
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania trailer
Jonathan Majors remains the actor who I am most excited to watch in any role.
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"Glass Onion's Start Tells You The End"
Spoilers abound in this post. Skip now if you don't want anything spoiled.
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Rian Johnson breaks down the pier scene in Glass Onion
Not any real spoilers in this that I discovered, but I still think you should avoid it until you've seen the movie.
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My 2022 Movies
Sat down tonight and attempted to collect all my movies watched this year. I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of. I'll update it as I think of them. There are a number I haven't seen yet but will eventually.
Loved it
Everyone should watch these movies.
- Bros (2022) - A fantastic love story. I really loved it and seeing Billy Eichner act and not just run down the street screaming at people.
- Glass Onion (2022) - Watched it last night and absolutely loved it. It might be better than the first.
- The Woman King (2022) - Fantastic. I am a huge fan of Viola Davis.
- Weird: The Al Yankovich Story (2022) - Watched this in a crummy hotel with my brother and it will be a "core memory" for the rest of my life. But even aside from the means of how I watched it, it is a fantastic absurdist comedy.
Liked it
If it sounds like your thing, consider my recommendation you watch it.
- Doctor Strange and Multiverse of Madness (2022) - I believe my description afterwards was "It was a very Sam Raimi movie.
- Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022) - I had no idea what it was going into it and I loved it.
- Spirited (2022) - Ryan Reynolds and Will Farrell are just so damn likeable.
- The Courier (2020) - Watched this with my wife and mother-in-law. It was fine. If you enjoy purposefully paced period pieces, this is for you.
- The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022) - We didn't know what we were getting into with this one, and we didn't particularly care for what we got.
- The Lost City (2022) - A fun romp comedy, but not a lot of meat on the bone.
- White Christmas (1954) - I might have seen this when I was younger but I have no real memories of it. So we finally watched it this week and it is a charming story.
Meh
Your call on whether to watch it or not.
- Death on the Nile (2022) - I love Agatha Christie but found this movie completely underwhelming.
- The Adam Project (2022) - There's been worse and it almost crests into "Liked it" but I just never see myself rewatching it, which is the other threshold between Meh and Liking it.
- The Batman (2022) - I'm a sucker for Batman movies. Initially I put this in "Liked it" but as I was writing this, I remembered all the things I disliked about it.
- The Gray Man (2022) - Formulaic and easily predicted.
- Thor Love & Thunder (2022) - I wanted to love it, but the story just lost me and I couldn't bring myself to care.
- Top Gun Maverick (2022) - Vacuous Americanism. Like Chinese food, an hour after leaving the theater I found zero desire to discuss or think about the movie further.
Disliked it
You should probably pass.
- Falling for Christmas (2022) - Watched it with friends and booze. Don't do it unless you have both.
- Moonfall (2022) - It just wasn't good.
My other posts for 2022:
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Movie - 5 out of 5 mysteries
Just watched the movie on Netflix and greatly enjoyed it. I caught part of it, but definitely didn't completely figure it out. Looking forward to watching it again with complete knowledge and spotting things along the way.
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My Christmas Movie Scale
Every year we see the debates regarding whether a movie is or isn't a Christmas movie. Usually done with humorous intent, but sometimes it comes from someone's earnest belief. In the case of the latter, then all that matters is that you believe it, and you can proselytize it to others and try to bring them around to your side.
For me, I think it is more beneficial (and with just as much opportunity for comedy) to move from the binary of "Is" and "Isn't" to a scale. I propose 1-7 for ease while also allowing plenty of granularity.
Below are my example rankings, I welcome feedback!
1
Nothing relating to Christmas at all.
- Waterworld
- Rosemary's Baby
- Everything Everywhere, All at Once
2
A very meager suggested connection, but overall the movie avoids anything relating to the holiday season.
- Batman Begins
- The Sound of Music
3
Christmas occurs somewhere inside this movie as a background event.
- Gremlins
- You've Got Mail
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
4
Christmas plays a role, but the movie largely lives outside of the holiday
- Die Hard
- Trading Places
- Iron Man 3
5
Christmas is in the movie and holiday themes are part of it, but it is not the tentpole of the movie
- LA Confidential
- Mean Girls
- Catch Me If You can
6
The movie is about Christmas, but not entirely
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Just Friends
- Home Alone
7
Fully about and within Christmas
- Miracle on 34th Street
- White Christmas
- A Christmas Story
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Jim Henson's A Muppet Family Christmas
A great crossover of Henson creations: Sesame Street, Muppets, Fraggle Rock, et al.
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25 films, from Iron Man to When Harry Met Sally, added to the National Film Registry
Every year, 25 films are added to the National Film Registry for preservation and posterity, selected based on their cultural legacy within American film history. Films must be at least ten years old to be selected. This year's selections bring the grand total of films on the registry to 850.
Perhaps the most famous film added this year is The Little Mermaid, Disney's animated musical about a teenage mermaid who dreams of being human. The film's induction comes ahead of Disney's live-action remake starring Halle Bailey, which is currently slated for a 2023 release.
Other films added to the registry this year include the prom-gone-wrong Stephen King novel adaptation Carrie (1976), the original Hairspray (1988), the Blaxploitation crime drama Super Fly (1972) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), for which José Ferrer became the first Latino to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
The oldest film inducted this year is Mardi Gras Carnival (1898), a recording of the New Orleans parade that was thought to be lost but was recently rediscovered in the Netherlands. Pariah (2011), a low-budget coming-of-age drama directed by Dee Rees, is the most recent film added.
This year, at least 15 of the 25 films were directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color, queer filmmakers or women.
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Most politically successful movie?
Predator had two actors who went on to become governors, this post on Mastodon got me thinking if there was a movie with more political success.
I believe I have found one which says yes, though it is definitely arguable. I played around on Oracle of Bacon with Reagan. He was in This is The Army with George Murphy. Murphy went on to be a 1-term Senator for California from '65-'71.
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Seeker of Power, a Rene Belloq story
I decided to put Raiders of the Lost Ark on this morning while doing some other things. One of my go-to movies that I can watch an infinite amount of times. This morning I was struck by how much I wish they would reboot this franchise in a new way rather than what looks to be Indiana Jones 5 coming our way.
Here's my idea:
Titled: "Seeker of Power"
- Movie opens with the finale of Belloq's life, a screaming soul racing at his face, and then goes black. Transition screen (X years before...)
- We see young Rene Emile Belloq growing up on his family vineyard, finding an old Etruscan artifact and igniting his fascination with historical relics. Something his family does not approve of, his father expects him to take over their vineyards. And thus he is driven by a constant striving for his father's approval.
- Next is him going to college at Sorbonne, where we meet young Indiana Jones as they become friends, bonding over their family backgrounds, before ultimately Belloq betrays Indy to snatch the Archaelogical Society Prize.
- We see the schism and the betrayal; Belloq tries to make his own way and leaving Indy behind him, and yet by nature of their careers they keep intersecting. Their stories repeatedly interweaving as they chase the same treasures. Imagine the map with flight paths overlapping or racing, etc.
- Then enters the Nazi intrigue as Belloq finds a growing source of money for treasures to be Hitler. And the growing discomfort with the Nazis as a benefactor, but as we've seen - he'll do anything to win. So he does more and more jobs until it leads to the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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Review: Bros (2022)
Katie and I finally sat down to watch Bros, and holy shit is it a good movie. I really enjoyed it.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - 5/5 stars
Katie and I finally got around to watching Everything last night. We had meant to see it in the theater but then life got in the way, and then it just languished in our "eventually" list. So, last night, we finally sat down and turned it on.
To be honest, even with hearing the positive reviews, I had very little idea of what it was before we watched. So, to say it wasn't what I expected, would be unfair as I had no real expectations.
It was, to put it mildly, very good. It was engaging and it carried an important message. It was also quirky and weird as hell, but we really enjoyed it.
As I posted on Mastodon yesterday: I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as Michelle Yeoh saw the script for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
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Moonfall (2022) - 2 of 5 moons
I had an itch for a disaster movie, so I turned to Roland Emmerich. It did its job. And now, I'll treat it like a shameful secret and never mention the movie again.
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Weird: The Al Yankovich Story (2022)
I'm spending some time with family this morning, and rooming with my older brother Adam. We had planned to watch this together during the weekend and last night we made good on those plans.
I cannot recommend watching this movie enough. It might be the pinnacle of absurdist comedies, and I am not sure it will ever be beaten. It is silly and wild and features endless cameos in very unexpected roles.
Do not read or watch anything more about the movie, I urge you to go into it blind beyond the premise and just buckle in for the ride.
To speak to my particular scenario for watching it, which I cannot recommend highly enough. Crash with your brother in a divey hotel, get a bottle of champagne, and put the movie on a projector on the room's wall. Then drink champagne and laugh your ass off together. Highly recommend this experience if you're able to recreate it.
Core memory locked.
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Regal Cinemas' owners Cineworld are reportedly filing for bankruptcy in the UK
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the London-based Cineworld is expected to file for bankruptcy in both the UK and US having amassed $4.8 billion in debt. It operates more than 9,000 screens in 751 locations around the world, including Picturehouse and Cineworld cinemas in the UK and Ireland, Cinema City in Europe, Yes Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the U.S. It is the second largest theater chain in the world, following AMC, which has weathered post-pandemic issues partly because of becoming a meme stock.
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Chicken Soup for the Soul bought Redbox - yes really
Rouhana’s company has been on a buying spree for a few years now, strategically acquiring video assets that weren’t able to fully flourish under their previous owners.
- This includes the ad-supported video pioneer Crackle, which Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired from Sony in 2019.
- Other CSSE brands include Popcornflix, Frightpix and Truli. “Each one of these has got its own sort of voice,” Rouhana said.
- By adding Redbox to the fold, Rouhana is gaining access not only to 36,000 DVD kiosks, but also a sizeable digital rental business, a FAST service with 145 streaming channels and a customer loyalty program with 40 million members — something he wants to use as a marketing vehicle for the company’s other services, as well as a source of insights.
- “People do have a life outside of Netflix,” Rouhana told me. By learning about the things people are looking for at DVD kiosks, he hopes to gain better insights to fine-tune personalized recommendations. “We’re very interested in data,” he said.
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Has anyone had AI "watch" movies and then analyze movie synopses and/or movie revews, and then have it do its own synopses and review of movies it has not been trained for? Would be fascinating to see how it did.
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My Hollywood Plan
When I decide to go Howard Hughes and go to Hollywood and make movies, I've already figured out my thing. You know, every director has a thing. M. Night Shyamalan makes movies with twists. Spielberg is simply about making great movies. Christopher Nolan makes blockbusters which you feel smart if you understand (or just say you understand so you don't appear dumb to your friends.) Ron Howard makes movies that tug your heartstrings and wistful for simpler times. George Lucas' is proving that you don't have to be a great writer to make great movies. You know, that sort of thing.
Well, when I decide to go make movies, I want to be known as the director who creates "alternate realities." I don't necessarily mean in my movies, though I might do that too. But when I have a movie come out, I want to pick a theater somewhere in the world like say- Sioux City, Iowa. And what I'll do is everywhere in the world gets the movie, except Sioux City. A theater there gets a movie with a significant difference from the rest of the world's for the first showing, and JUST the first showing. After that the alternate film is destroyed / deleted / erased.
Say, if I made 'Titanic,' Sioux City would get the version where the ship doesn't sink and everyone is rescued and Rose and Jack live happily ever after. Or, maybe, if I made Ocean's Eleven, I'd have a version shown in Icapuí, Brazil that would feature Tom Cruise as Rusty instead of Brad Pitt. Or I'd make Spinal Tap, and the version in Hasselt, Belgium would go to 12 instead of 11.
You get the idea.
I'd refuse to answer questions or ever acknowledge it. Everyone on the film would be contractually obligated to do the same.
Everytime a movie of mine came out, the world would be wondering where the alternate reality would appear. And only after the first film goers left their theater would they find out if they had just been transported to an alternate reality from everyone else.
After I die, my autobiography would come out. And, well... you can guess what I'd do with it.
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The Gray Man (3.5 out of 5 shades of gray)
I wouldn't call it great. It's a good first step for a new action franchise. It sets up the myserious "Six" and dumps him into action against his handlers. They've already greenlit a sequel and I'm not mad about it. Am I clamoring for it? Not really. But I'm a sucker for action movies.
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