Gallery of the Absurd Brangelina Collector Plates. Hee
Tractor Facts smart piece on Carrey & Deschanel in Yes Man
The House Next Door interesting Doubt review. Negative but it's good for counterbalance. This film has definitely been coddled due to its solid performances
Hollywood Elsewhere Baz not taking Australia's failure well?
Webster's Is My Bitch Brad & Ang make each other Christmas gifts. (Awww... who else here loves Running on Empty and their similar birthday tradition?)
CarpetBagger discovers the Life Magazine Oscar archives. Yummy
Tribeca Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and 'Manly Men' movies
Coffee, Coffee and... RIP Robert Mulligan
Obsessed with Film looks at the weak box office for the new Will Smith & Jim Carrey vehicles
NY Mag Fug Girls '10 things we learned from fashion in 2008' includes applause for Marion Cotillard, boos for Evan Rachel Wood and more
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8 comments:
I watched Running on Empty for the first time yesterday because of your recommendation on your podcast some weeks ago and i loved it. Great script. I don't have any christmas o birthday tradition though
Omg that pleases me so much to hear.
The negativity surrounding Luhrmann and Australia is just ridiculous. I mean, is this the movie to hate this season? And the critics didn't even hate it as much as the media is making it out to be. Jeff Wells is a tool, and everyone knows how he can't stand the director. Jeff's fans must be the same way, because their comments are ridiculous. So Luhrmann makes movies that scream, "Look at this!" Big f*cking deal. The man has more artistic value than most other directors out there. It makes me sick that people are saying he should stop making movies.
yes, most artist go through this at one time or another. the trick is how they come back from it.
i worry that it's not in his soul to do but i think it would be so cool if Baz tried something small and intimate (not giving up his style but just trying something on a miniature scale) like Aronofsky did after THE FOUNTAIN with The Wrestler.
that said, i think The Great Gatsby (incidentally my favorite novel) is a really strange idea for Baz. I'd much prefer to see him doing Wicked as was originally rumored.
Yeah, 'Gatsby' may be a bit much and I really can't see success from it, no matter how perfection-driven he goes with it.
A smaller film, perhaps, but not without the Baz charm. He shouldn't aim for epic again, yet still take a risk through an easier vehicle.
Whatever the case, I'll be watching...
The one thing that Australia will teach Fox - or whatever studio he chooses to go to bed with - is that he needs to stick to a budget of $50mil. Considering he's had this three mainstream movies all gross between $45m-$55m I think that says something. His movies always make much more internationally too, which helps push him into profit. Something I'm not sure will happen to Australia unfortunately.
Although give him $75m and the property of Wicked and I'm certain he'd make a profit. Considering Moulin Rouge! cost only $50m I'm sure he'd make it work perfectly.
Thanks for the mention. Stay warm.
(BTW, Dodsworth is the one Wyler I have in my DVD collection, and I previously had it on tape.)
I've admired Baz, love love love! Moulin Rouge - and disliked Australia to pieces. Ok, whatever, we all make mistakes. It's the whining that I find tiresome - so I'm not only supposed to support his film, but his overblown ego as well? Sorry, I didn't sign up for that. I don't agree with attacks based on personality (as opposed to addressing the issues) but it seems to me that Baz is indulging in that "you all hate me, wah wah wah". Grow a pair, Baz - or borrow a pair from your wife.
I'd love to see Baz actually learn from this and come back with even better films (how else do we grown if we cannot learn from our mistakes?) but I don't think his ego would allow him to admit his own errors or blame anybody else but - everybody else. (its the studio, it's the filmgoers, its the critics, it's everybody else's fault.)
He took money from the AUS gov't, negotiated a larger than usual chunk for himself, made outsized claims that this movie would be the savior of the AUS film and tourism industries, PLUS a box office bonanza PLUS an awards magnet - it's his own fault when he sets outsized claims, creates oversized hype, and then the whole thing sinks like a lead balloon when the film itself can't live up to it. Of course, even a very, very good or great film couldn't live up to the two years of hype - so why even do that to yourself? Why make such claims? he really seems to believe his own fantasies of himself.
Just make a film, within budget and within limits, have other voices willing to say "no" (as opposed to "Baz is a genius!") and set constraints, and stick to the path you set out on in the first place. It's become clear that Baz's films are all about him - ME ME ME - and therefore he takes the criticism personally - "ME ME ME it's all about ME!"
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