Not all tours can be translated into film.
Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” movie keeps chugging along. It’s made over $250 million worldwide.
But Beyonce’s “Renaissance” movie is another story. On its second Thursday, “Renaissance” dropped a whopping 74%. Last week it was $5 million. Last night it was $1.279 million.
The total now is $23 million. Beyonce and Jay Z spend that on lunch.
Where is the audience for “Renaissance”? Maybe they’re waiting for home video,
Editor’s note: Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” opens today. A kind of docudrama, “Origin” is like a PBS miniseries of ideas. -RF
Here’s our report from the premiere:
As the swanky premiere of Ava DuVernay’s new film, “Origin,” at Alice Tully Hall last week, made evident: this director is fearless. Taking “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” a 2020 best-selling book by Isabel Wilkerson, DuVernay created her own genre, taking the lessons of the book, folding them into the narrative of the writer writing the book, and adding elements ripped off the headlines.
The film starts with the actual soundtrack of Trayvon Martin’s murder, significant because this horrible killing put the situation of innocent black men at risk on the proverbial map. But on the geographic map, DuVernay’s reach brings together key far flung places — Germany, India, the United States — to show how caste, not race, is instrumental in understanding how the powerful subjugate others, dehumanizing, creating cultural divisions, separating targeted groups from equal status.
Lately, research into the Nazi agenda illustrates how antisemitism of the 1930’s was informed by the study of how Americans constructed slavery. Filming in Berlin, DuVernay’s fictional Isabel, in a fine performance by Aunjanue-Ellis Taylor visits the famed Jewish Museum archive. The film transitions to a story about a Nazi party member who refused to signal “heil” because he was in love with a Jewish woman. Having stripped Jews from citizenship, confiscated their property, murdered them, the concentration camp system seems a logical consequence of this ideology—if you claim supremacy–no matter how baseless, heartless, inhumane, and self-serving.
The caste system in India works on a similar level of dehumanization. Focused on the Dalits (Untouchables), the film depicts men neck deep in sewage—an image you cannot unsee.
The story of artist Al Bright makes for a riveting mini-movie, when as a 9-year old he was not permitted into a swimming pool with his teammates. That he was led around the pool on a rubber float, repeatedly told not to touch the water, is hilarious in its pointlessness, if it were not a sad reminder of the basic stupidity of segregation.
A party hosted by Darren Walker, head of the Ford Foundation followed at the penthouse with David Remnick, Charles Blow, the exonerated Central Park Five, Brigitte LaCombe, Linda Jablonsky, RosaLee Goldberg, Myles Frost who plays Trayvon Martin, and Finn Whitrock, the movie’s German lover, attending. Stan Walker, from an indigenous tribe in New Zealand, wrote the movie’s final song, and sang it for the audience. Slimmed, impeccably coifed, and gorgeous in a sequined gown, DuVernay greeted guests. When asked how she got the title, “Origin,” she was quick to respond: “If I called it Caste, no one would come.” Smart, just like this important film.
Good news for Madonna fans: her European tour has been a hit, and so far we haven’t heard about any missed shows or cancelled performances.
A few years ago, Madonna’s Madame X tour became infamous for axed shows.
And here’s ticket news: there are plenty of seats available for Madonna’s four upcoming shows at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Regular seats are shown on Ticketmaster with highest price of $400 for each night.
Resale tickets are all over Stub Hub. There are many, many empty rows, particularly in the nosebleed areas, where you can buy 21 seats at a time! There are also plenty of 10 seat blocs available. Can you see from up there? Well, there are huge video screens. Bring binoculars! (Do they still make them?)
This means there will be a lot of action on the plaza in front of Barclays on December 13, 14 16, 18, and 19. Bring lots of cash and make your deal as close into the entrance as possible. Tell them George Costanza sent you!
PS There seem to be a lot of radio giveaways, plus some record label sponsored events with raffles.
Here’s a taste of the action:
Sorry to say the Gayle King-Charles Barkley ratings on CNN are beyond awful.
On Wednesday night, for its second week, “King Charles” scored just 466,000 viewers. That was down 50K from last week, or 7%.
Second place Alex Wagner on MSNBC had 1 million more viewers. Sean Hannity on Fox had 1.5 million more.
“King Charles” is a bad idea, and apparently no one wants to see it. King is a great broadcaster, and Charles is a sports hero. But why they are together, and what they are doing is a mystery.
I’m sure Gayle knows this is a disaster. But what is she going to do? King runs the CBS Mornings five days a week. Her plate is full. If she’s planning headline making interviews, they’ll be on CBS, not here. So far CNN isn’t really promoting “King Charles” because they don’t what it is either.
Last night, King and Barkley interviewed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. It sounds like when Joe Franklin used to interview, say, Henry Kissinger and Loni Anderson, something so desperately inappropriate and unequal in importance. Pick one or the other. I don’t think anyone wants to hear Charles Barkley interview Blinken on any subject except may be his guitar playing.
Bring back Don Lemon. Give him celebrities at 9pm. Or give it to Anderson Cooper. The only solution to knocking off Hannity and Maddow is a Larry King-like show with the right person hosting.
There are media layoffs going on everywhere. Most notably, Conde Nast, where the New Yorker just canned a bunch of people including their Culture Editor, and Vanity Fair is said to have dumped staff even though an unnamed source said that wasn’t so in a separate interview.
The sad truth is that the advertising world has dried up, not just for print but for online as well. Plus, Vanity Fair’s web traffic and circulation are way down.
Earlier this week the News Guild of New York filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Conde Nast. The Guild says Conde Nast was spying on staff before they were laid off. Yikes.
The trouble isn’t all in magazines. Both Spotify and Tidal streaming services have also just cut their payrolls. And there’s more to come.
Here’s the statement from the News Guild of New York:
Condé Nast management chose to announce layoffs Thursday to the staff at
WIRED, Pitchfork and Ars Technica just as the Guild was going into bargaining, in a clear
display of contempt for the workers who have contributed to the company’s success.
“It’s obvious who is taking the bargaining process seriously and who isn’t,” said Susan
DeCarava, President of the NewsGuild of New York. “Instead of being transparent and
recognizing how difficult this is for people, Condé management is playing games with people’s livelihoods. What happened today is unacceptable and will not stop us from negotiating and fighting for every affected Guild member.”
Condé Nast management announced on Nov. 1 its plans to lay off 5% of its workforce. Since then the Guild has been fighting on behalf of all affected workers, whether they already have contracts or are negotiating first contracts. That process is ongoing and as a result, we cannot discuss the number of layoffs announced Thursday.
Pitchfork Union, WIRED Union and Ars Union are all under contract. Conde Nast Union – which represents workers powering brands such as Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, them., Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Condé Nast Entertainment – has been bargaining its first contract since certification in September 2022. Any changes to working conditions, including layoffs, must be bargained.
DefJam Records founder Russell Simmons has been persona non grata for several years now since lawsuits and allegations against him for sexual abuse and harassment.
Now Simmons, who was a major player in music and philanthropy until everything fell apart, has given an interview to Canadian broadcaster Graham Bensinger.
The syndicated show will be running this weekend. But the show has put up clips on YouTube which you can find here. And here’s a link to past stories about Simmons on this site.
Here’s the main interview. Some of his statements are not fact checked. But this is what he had to say.
The AFI Top Ten Movies and TV shows have been announced. The list for movie is succinct and maybe the Oscar Top 10 also. The only film I’d swap out would be “Spider Man” for “Air.” And where is The Color Purple? (I missed that the first time I read it.) Very odd on that one.
TOP 10 AFI FILMS
American Fiction
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The top 10 TV shows exclude “The Crown,” which if the final season qualified, is a mistake. Also missing is the final season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
TOP 10 TV SHOWS
Abbott Elementary
The Morning Show
Jury Duty
The Last of Us
Poker Face
Only Murders in the Building
Reservation Dogs
The Bear
Succession
Beef
Donald Trump has a severe case of projection.
On social media today he’s projecting his own deficiencies on Judge Arthur Engoron and New York AG Letitia James.
Trump calls Engoron “crooked” — which Trump is, and James “batshit crazy,” which describes Trump to a ‘t.’
He also says that
“we won at the Appellate level” which is not true. The case has already been decided by Engoron, who is now trying to figure out the amount of money Trump has to pay to New York State for lying about his value (business or human).
In fact, last week a NY State Appeals Court lifted the temporary stay on Trump’s gag order in New York. He is prohibited from writing or saying anything abut the court staff or jury. He is allowed, however, to go after the judge and the DA. Listen, they don’t care what he says. He just lies to himself and to his base.
Ellen Holly has died at age 92. The famed African American actress made history on the soap “One Life to Live” in 1968 when she played Carla Gray (the name, obviously was an inside joke0, who passed for white while dating a white man. It was a groundbreaking storyline written by Agnes Nixon and delivered by Holly with art and grace.
“Agnes [Nixon, OLTL’s creator] wanted to take the viewers and have them become involved with a character, believing that character to be one thing,” Holly shared with in an interview here. That way, when the character’s true identity was revealed, if a viewer’s feelings about her changed, “the viewer would have her eyes opened up as to how she must be prejudiced.”
Carla eventually married Ed Hall, played by the legendary Al Freeman, Jr. If they did this story now, both actors would have won Emmy Awards. A young Lawrence Fishburne played her son. Holly left the show in 1973.
Besides “One Life to Live,” Holly had many New York theater credits. After the soap she had a recurring role on the TV version of “In the Heat of the Night.” In real life, she had a long on again, off again affair with actor and civil rights advocate Harry Belafonte.
Ellen Holly was a trailblazer. The picture here from “One Life to Live” may have been the first of its kind on daytime TV. I hope the Emmy Awards will include her next month in the In Memoriam.
There is no end or bottom to Gwyneth Paltrow.
The long ago Oscar winner took the free trip to Saudi Arabia and did a Q&A with the Red Sea Film Festival this week.
According to Variety, she told the crowd that she’s never seen “Avengers Endgame” or “any of that.”
This jibes with an interview she did a few years ago in which she couldn’t remember what had happened to her character in the “Avengers” movies because she’d never seen them.
Since a lot of the audience was described as clutching Marvel memorabilia they hoped would be signed, this must have stung a little. (No one brought shiny plastic eggs to stick up their wazoo.)
One audience member was overheard saying “Too much Goop,” as they left the gathering. This either meant Paltrow only wanted to talk about her nonsensical overpriced business or that the whole thing was “bs.” It could have been either, but was apparently because most of the conversation was to plug the company. Paltrow said: “We’ve just started this very cool food delivery service. I’d love to bring it into the Middle East.”
Paltrow, like many celebs I wrote about recently, had no qualms about attending a film festival in Saudi Arabia despite the country’s lack of civil rights for women, their stand on homosexuality, or the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. (Her Goop customers in Saudi Arabia have limited rights. it’s unclear if they can buy the eggs or other sexually-oriented products.)
Paltrow’s in a league now with Will Smith and Johnny Depp. If they pay for it, you will come.