Happy Friday! Here’s a look at some of the stories that have been front and center in Hollywood these past few days. The Oscar Race is underway, with leading contenders like “The Shape of Water” and its director Guillarme del Toro, vying for the Oscar along with some dark horses such as 22 year old Timothee Chalamet who is nominated for Best Actor for Call Me By Your Name.
Best Actor bets are on Gary Oldman for his portrayal of Churchill in Darkest Hour, but past winner Daniel Day-Lewis is also up for Phantom Thread, as well as fellow Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Roman J Israel, Esq) and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out).
The Best Actress category features first time nominee Sally Hawkins, who played the mute cleaning woman in The Shape of Water up against Oscar winner Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), the “legendary’ Oscar winner Meryl Streep, who is nominated for The Post, plus Margot Robbie in I, Tonya and Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird.
In Theatres: Fifty Shades Freed is out, and mercifully brings the series based on the best-selling book to an end. The reviews have not been kind. Also out is the much-anticipated Black Panther superhero film, which has garnered good reviews in early release. Clint Eastwood directed the 15:17 to Paris film, based on true events, and it has had mixed reviews.
There’s an article in 6 Degrees Magazine about the highest grossing movies, and at Friday Flix, we listed the top ten a few weeks ago. The all time biggest grossing movies, both Number 1 & 2 were directed by the same man: James Cameron. Cameron directed both Avatar and Titanic.
The latest Star Wars offering just made the top ten list, which means there are two of the highest grossing films in history from the Star Wars Franchise. Disney, as we know, owns the Star Wars franchise, so the total number of films from the Disney franchise in the top ten list is five, meaning half of these big box office winners are Disney films.
The good news here is that there are creative forces at work that have helped to shape these films…from James Cameron’s innovative cinematography to the development of CGI that began when George Lucas started Industrial Light and Magic over thirty years ago (See the excerpt recently published on our blog from 6 Degrees of Film.)
And “Girl Power” is more of a force than ever in film-making, with Frozen and the introduction of the Jedi Novitiate Rey in the Star Wars franchise. But there are still far too many films that rely on thin plots and comic book premises, CGI rendered story lines and weak plot points that have brought us to where we are in the film industry. Films that simply churn out the same tired super hero stories in sequel after sequel with formulaic plots and overly simplistic characters have become the standard in Hollywood filmmaking. And unfortunately, it sells.
There are approximately three-count ‘em…three, films on the list of top ten films that are not sequels or have not been made into a series. Frozen has had spin-offs, but it is the only animated film to make the list. This speaks to the rising tide of women and girls who clamor for strong female role models, beginning with little girls who want to see the heroine carry the film for a change. Titanic was a ‘one-off’ for obvious reasons, although I would never say never in this environment. And the Avatar sequel is in the works, though Cameron has delayed the announcement of a definite opening date for several years.
Films like Lady Bird, The Florida Project, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Shape of Water still get made. There are original projects, great writers and talented actors and directors who give us wonderful and creative films despite the long odds. But the overwhelming trend in recent years has been to stick with the predictable models and continue to churn out the ‘chum’ of sequel-mania. And the list for 2018 doesn’t indicate many changes anytime soon.
Coming Soon: But when something comes along that looks interesting, original, creative and fun, we will be right up-front cheering the film along! There’s a unique entry from Wes Anderson coming soon called Isle of Dogs, which is a stop-motion film; and Ron Howard is directing Solo: A Star Wars story, which should be entertaining.
Sundance Film Festival featured The Kindergarten Teacher, and Joaquin Phoenix has received lots of buzz for his performance in the upcoming You Were Never Really Here. Check out the Film Comment Podcast: “I loved it when I was a kid”, talking about movies that the critics saw and remembered from their childhoods. It’s always fun to look back on those movies we loved, and sometimes to cringe when we watch them again and realize they weren’t always great cinematic gems, but then again, sometimes we enjoy them even more when we see them after all these years!
Until next week, have fun and see you at the movies!
Six Degrees of Film 