Welcome to Movie Musings with Laremy, a weekly feature that dives into the weekly happenings around the cinematic landscape.
1. Sundance 2010 Begins…
The two biggest films seem to be Howl and The Runaways. The first film, Howl, stars James Franco. It feels like an Oscar film, given the subject matter. That subjectmatter?“Franco will play Allen Ginsberg in Howl, a film about the obscenity trial into the poet’s eponymous Beat Generation work.” Back in 1996 The People vs. Larry Flynt picked up two Oscar nominations, so why not Howl? Next up, when you’re talking about The Runaways, you’re talking about a final verdict on Kristen Stewart. Can she act? Can she carry a film?She’s had Sundance fare before (The Yellow Handkerchief) but never anything due for a wide release. Her take on Joan Jett may finally clue us in on her future. Is she stuck as Bella Swan? Or will she be gunning for awards? So it should be an interesting (if overlyblizzardy) Sundance Film Festival.
2. Avatar Gains Even More Momentum.
But if you’re the only one left running in the race, do you still need momentum? By taking home Best Director and Best Picture at The Golden Globes Avatar slammed the door on Hurt Locker and Up in the Air‘s shot as Best Picture from The Academy. Kathryn Bigelow is still looking good to become the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar, but Cameron’s 3-D spectacle is the only game in town where the Academy Award for Best Picture is concerned.
Bonus Random Thought: Avatar is also going to crush Legion, Tooth Fairy, and Extraordinary Measures this weekend, the sixth straight crown for the film, joining Titanic, the last film to pull that off.
3. MacGruber Takes Over The Internet.
The trailer was all over the place this week! That said, there’s no reason in the world a full-length film about MacGruber, the Saturday Night Live character, should work.But perhaps that’s the genius of the thing, when you’re starting from zero you’ve got nothing to lose. Don’t think I’m down on the skit either, because I enjoy the 20 second bits, I’m just logically pointing out that 90 minutes is longer than 1/3 of a minute.
Bonus Random Thought: Not to get all legalistic, but why can’t the creators of Macgyver sue MacGruber? It would be an extremely difficult fair use vs. copyright infringement case… but you could certainly make the claim that MacGruber is now parodying Macgyver for pure profit, and not legitimate criticism. I couldn’t see them going after SNL (because how do you determine how much an individual skit helps a show profit?) but I could see Paramount TV asking Rogue and Universal Studios some tough questions. I know I would.
4. The SAG Awards!
My favorite part of The Screen Actors Guild Awards? The “My name is celebrity X, and I’m an actor” opening, right at the top of the program. That can’t be topped. They used to take it much more seriously, as if they were saying “and I save lives” but lately they’ve been using it to comic effect, a la, “I’m Tom Cruise, and I’m an actor.” So at least they’ve responded to my overt laughter, and are now aiming for a few wry chuckles. Now then, I’m not sure how much The SAG Awards matter, especially this year when the Actor’s slots seem pretty much set, but that opening is not to be missed. Plus, how many awards shows are you going to see on TNT this year?
5. Spider-Man 4 is Too Cheap?
Mr. Cargill laid out, on this very site, a compelling reason that Spider-Man 4 should be more expensive, and should be filmed largely in the United States. I can’t disagree with the second part of the theory; with the economy struggling it would be nice to see studios spending domestically. But as to “Spider-Man should cost more than $80m”portion I’m forced to disagree. Necessity is the mother of invention, and good dialogue doesn’t cost much. Plus, I’m largely convinced that studio overhead gloms up a lot of budget. That’s the sort of thing that shouldn’t be rewarded by an efficient economy. So if they can make a great Spider-Man 4 for $80m, why wouldn’t they? That’s still more money than you or I will ever see in our lifetime. They should be able to do effects cheaply these days as there is 30+ years institutional knowledge. More importantly, we’ve all got to pull for a day where dynamic films can be made inexpensively, democratizing the process, setting artists free.
On that note, I hope you all have a much warmer weekend than me. If Park City gets hit by a blizzard, I’m liable to be buried.
Checkout last week’s Movie Musings here
Laremy is the lead critic and senior producer for a website named Film.com. He’s also available on Twitter.
