Aaron Sorkin has literally never written anything I didn’t like, nay, love. I just finished his play, The Farnsworth Invention, about the battle between Philo T. Pharnsworth and David Sarnoff about who would patent the television first. Really fascinating read. One of Sorkin’s best abilities as a writer is to take a fantastically huge and complex mound of information and boil it down into a bite-sized hunk. Charlie Wilson’s War was a near-500 page book and the movie is a little over 90 minutes. The substance was absolutely conveyed, and if you’ve never read or watched CWW, you’ll understand a lot more about the current world situation and how the Law of Unintended Consequences ended up leading us to 9/11.
Steve Jobs is an enigmatic, flawed, undeniable genius. Michael Fassbender is one of the best actors without an Oscar. From what I’ve seen (and the trailers have been very sparse on substance), Jobs could get a biopic for the ages and Fassbender could stake an early claim on this year’s Best Actor. Steve Jobs opens against stiff competition in Pan and Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk on October 9th.
Pan isn’t going for the same audience, but The Walk looks like it’s going to straddle demographics. It’s an IMAX 3D spectacle, and it’s also a wonderful true story. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the details of Philipe Petit and what he did, but even I’m tempted to see The Walk on opening weekend, and I’ve been really looking forward to Steve Jobs.
It was a great summer, but it’s nice to be in Oscar bait season again. For every season, turn, turn, turn. Johnny Depp is scary good in Black Mass, but won’t get nominated, because I’m the only person right now who recognizes that the movie is a masterpiece of the gangster genre. Everyone else seems to be kind of “meh.”
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Meh is what I’ve heard so I can’t pop the money for it when we have an October/November like none other due to the Episode VII effect. It’s so good to hear from you, man!
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Thanks! I hope life is finding you well.
You must be happy beyond measure about The Martian. 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes last time I checked. I don’t think Scott’s recent career is a matter of him losing his way. I think some great directors, amazing as it seems, don’t have the grasp of story structure we all assume they do, and need great material to do great work.
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I’m certainly busy, which makes getting the posts I’d like to get up harder than it has in the past. I have been super impressed by the footage from The Martian, but Rotten Tomatoes and I have parted ways. I no longer view them as a reliable metric, especially given Ridley’s 10 year drought. The man made Exodus boring. That’s great material! Andy Weir, though, has been very involved in the adaptation of his novel and that’s so huge for getting a great adaptation. With Sicario and Everest this week, The Martan the week after, The Walk, Pan, and Steve Jobs the week after that, we’re entering the meaty part of 2015. DC is being extremely smart in positioning The Suicide Squad for the August-September doldrums next year. Why studios think people only want to go to the movies every week in May escapes my understanding, but what do I know. I do know that Marvel has its own Scrooge McDuck-sized money bin built on Guardians of the Galaxy money from capitalizing on this time period last year….
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I actually think Rotten Tomatoes is emblematic of everything that’s going wrong with the movie business, but at 95% I have to believe The Martian is not going to be another Prometheus or (shudder) Robin Hood. At this point the critics are probably not in the mood to be kind to Scott. Anyway I’m optimistic, and I didn’t even know the author was so involved. I wish God had had a hand in adapting “Exodus.” It might have been better.
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I think God walked off the set when they cast him as a kid muttering something about HOW IS A TALKING BURNING SHRUB NOT DRAMATIC ENOUGH? ??
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