Gawd, don't get so emotional. 🙄
In This Week's Edition: Pixar tries to make a mini comeback from it's recent slump as well as a number of endearing "smaller" movies for the anti-animation crew out there.
THE QUOTE 🎬 💬
“There you have it, folks. Young love.
Full of promise, full of hope, ignorant of reality.”
hint: Taylor Swift’s best acting ever?
THINK THOUGHTS 💭
Holy crap, Sony bough them. They really bought them.
…?!?!
Oh, lol, no, definitely not Paramount - that situation is still very much a shituation.
Sony Pictures bought Alamo Drafthouse, my “home” theater and a beloved chain due to its legitimately tasty food and alcohol (served steathily at your seat), strong stance against talking / phones during movies, pretty incredible pre-movie programming, free(!) DVD rental service and overall vibe. There’s a milieu there that you just don’t find at other theaters, outside of revivals or one-offs.
This is a big deal for multiple reasons, but the main one is that for decades, this had been illegal. Due to what’s known as the “Paramount decree,” which made it that Hollywood movie studios were not allowed to own theater chains as they previously had (“vertical integration” is the business term here). The issue was the US Government didn’t like how studios would lock up a theater with their own movies for long periods of time, shutting out competition. Read the Wikipedia entry if you’re feelin’ completist (it’s actually hugely significant beyond just the movie industry). But the Justice Department got rid of this rule in 2020, saying the realities of the modern world make the previous situations impossible, and there has been discussion about if, or more likely when, a national theater chain would get bought1.
“When” is now apparently!
As a patron of the Alamo, I’m definitely skittish on how this might affect their operations, even if “they” say things will be the same for now, but a year from now? 5 years? 10 years?
But what’s more, does this mean other studios will get into the mix and look to acquire chains? I mean, I would strongly consider it if I were controlling a media empire.
I remember wondering during my time at Paramount why there wasn’t more integration between studios and theaters, but was scoffed at and told they needed to stay starkly separate. It always felt antiquated to me because that disconnect is why I think there’s often a disconnect between studios and their end customers. “We” had no direct relationship with the moviegoer outside of marketing to them, so you had no ability to learn or cultivate a deeper relationship. Obviously streaming has changed this, but I think there is still massive opportunity within the theatrical market - outside of say, rewards programs. I honestly think it could help studios produce better content for people as they could work to get feedback from consumers and beyond that, have a more vested interest in making the theater experience the best it could be. Whereas now they can kind of toss up their hands and go, whelp, not under my control. Anyway, suuuuuper curious to see how this plays out.
As for the actual Paramount, de-facto owner Shari Redstone made her own decree, saying the most likely suitor to buy her business, Skydance, is no longer a viable option. It forced her “Office of the CEO” trio to finally address everything with employees by saying, well, not much. If I were still there I’d definitely be pruning my LinkedIn page.
Maybe The Alamo is hiring?
NEWSY BITS 👾
Pixar CCO Says Live-Action Remakes Bother Him: “I Like Making Movies That Are Original”: the CCO is Pete Docter, as in the Chief Creative Officer (essentially the CEO of Pixar). A bit bold when your parent company Disney is on a tear of doing exactly that - i.e. making “unoriginal” live-action remakes of their classics. But I like it. Stake, planted. 🥩 (←not that one silly) - Variety
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) 📝
Ultraman: Rising - The Flix made a movie based on the *ahem* ultra popular Japanese brand / franchise about human looking aliens who save earth from kaiju (read: Godzilla like creatures). The twist here is “Ultraman” has to raise a baby kaiju while also handling his normal responsibilities, which includes getting over his own massive ego. Sounds a bit adult for a kid’s movie, but the (limited) reviews are actually pretty positive saying that while it’s a bit of a flattening of a traditionally Japanese story - though it is mostly set there - it still hits enough good points to make it worth plopping your kiddo in front of. Streaming on Netflix Friday
The Dead Don’t Hurt - I meant to feature Viggo Mortensen’s latest directorial effort a couple weeks ago when it came out, but failed. Womp womp. However, in that time I’ve actually see a bit of a swell for the movie with lots of good media coverage for the western that looks to both honor the genre and somewhat subvert it - in large part by focusing on the experience of women of the era (namely Mortensen’s wife in the movie, Vicky Krieps). The reviews are very into it, saying there’s lots of craft and things you’ll expect while shifting the lens (literally and figuratively) just enough to surprise. Playing in Limited Theaters Now
Ghostlight - you don’t imagine most construction workers are starring in productions of Romeo and Juliet, but this one is, although only after a random encounter and in large part because his home life is in turmoil. But it ends up changing his life. Sounds like “movie stuff,” and even if that’s true, the reviews are universally endorsing it and say it gives a lot of pathos to what one might otherwise see as a “pedestrian” life. From the creators of Saint Francis if that means something to ya. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday
BRATS - “Brat Pack” member Andrew McCarthy made a documentary where he interviews (some of) the rest of the members of the (in-?) famous crew who really really hated their moniker. It’s more a nostalgia play than critic fodder, but the reviews out there say McCarthy at least does something interesting with his time - even if it doesn’t include talks with Molly Ringwald or Judd Nelson. *sad face emoji* Streaming on Hulu Thursday
Reverse the Curse - David Duchovny wrote, directed and stars in a movie about a distant father obsessed with the Red Sox, whose son returns as he battles cancer. It’s more upbeat than that reads, but reviews say the tone is still a bit scattered even if it can be pleasing enough at times. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday
NOTABLE NEW RELEASES 🎟 & 📺
Inside Out 2
Disney adults. They are a real actual thing! Hell, I know of at least one who reads this newsletter on the regular. 👀 They are a… special sort of adult. Adorned with all the official merch their credit card limit will allow, one could posit they’re stuck in a sort of never-ending maturation, but I think their… obsession(?) is often more a longing for something past or as a way to escape from a sometimes difficult world. Even if that level of fervor ain’t my thing I can usually bring myself across the threshold of empathy.
But then there’s the “anti-animation” adult. A breed of moviegoer almost diametrically opposed to the Disney adult and one I’ve oft mentioned in this newsletter, usually with a sense of, I don’t want to say disdain, which is far too harsh, but you could say exasperation. Because while I get people have their preferences, their rigidness in their stance against anything considered close to a “cartoon” makes me want to abduct them and Clockwork Orange their ass with the best of the genre until they break (editor’s note: *slyly grabs phone and slowly readies to call 911*).
I think it’s clear Pixar is the studio that has broken past this mental barrier most often and allowed even the “antis” to delight in the world of animation. One where houses can fly by balloon and a film can go 35 minutes without words and be the most enjoyable time you spend with movies all year (hell, decade).
But Pixar has had a bit of a downturn recently with their best recent works (see: Soul, Luca and Turning Red) “stuck” on Disney + because of the bullshit and their recent theatrical releases getting a somewhat muted response (see: Lightyear and Elemental). So it tracks they’re trying to come back strong by following up one of their best. The original Inside Out was a massive success both critically and with viewers in when it came out in 2015 because it did an excellent job at visualizing and making a relatable story out of a messy experience we all go through in some form or another. Well, except maybe the psychopaths among us. 🔪
In the sequel they’re basically just doing what they did with the Toy Story franchise and taking the world to it’s next logical point. Which in this case, is puberty. It’s not quite “period,” which Turning Red alluded to, if didn’t quite vocalize, but it is again a life event nearly everyone can identify with and somewhat novel for a type of film which usually tries to keep bodily functions anesthetized to the point of blandness.
Though that’s on the outside, most of the action still takes place inside, where Joy (again voiced by Amy Poehler) captains the emotional center of Riley, who is now 13 and having to deal with her internal changes, but also external ones like friends leaving her as they go to different high schools. Suuuuuuxx. Feel you girl.
The result is something critics are still finding quite endearing, even if it copies the same basic structure as the first - i.e. Joy (+ the entire original crew of Fear, Anger, Sadness, Disgust) being tossed out of the controls after new emotions, namely Anxiety plated by Maya Hawke, hop in their to muck shit up.
Will it be enough to entice those “antis” by being a revelatory experience like I mentioned above? Doesn’t seem quite to that level, but if you’re one of those unyielding animation discriminators, I ask you, why do you hate Joy?
Because she would really like to know.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 36 mins | PG | 🍅: 91%
TRAILERS! ⏯
Paddington in Peru - the adorable bear is back and the only real question is whether this will be the next best reviewed movie of all time.
My Spy The Eternal City - the original must’ve killed on digital, because after it basically had a non-theatrical release at the beginning of “the bullshit,” you wouldn’t have expected a sequel. Or at least I didn’t, but Dave Bautista is back as a CIA agent mentoring a kid in the continuation of this now, I guess franchise??
We Were Dangerous - a well reviewed movie out of SXSW about a group of girls in 1950’s New Zealand who are sent to an island because they’re “trouble.” Looks affirming AF.
Piece by Piece - it’s a Pharrell biopic / doc using digital Legos? K…
Although most people thought it’d be Netlfix, Amazon or Apple. Cuz they riiiiiiiich.