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Everyone in the movie biz was waiting for “No Time to Die” to lure theatergoers back into multi-plexes.
But now, a Marvel movie from Sony has done the trick one week early.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” scored a whopping, record breaking $90.1 million opening weekend. That’s $20 million more than Marvel-Disney’s “Shang Chi” just a couple of weeks ago. “Carnage” is now the biggest movie of the pandemic era.
“Carnage” is now the second biggest October weekend opener ever, just behind 2019’s “Joker” with $96 million.
What does this mean for the James Bond film? In the UK, “No Time to Die” is already setting its own records after opening on Friday. So stay tuned…
“Diana: The Musical” is just atrocious. We are so lucky to not to have to see it in person on Broadway. Instead, it’s on Netflix. Unoriginal doesn’t begin to describe it. The so called songs are derivations of 70s rock songs, sounding a lot like bad Elton John even worse semblances of The Who.
The worst of these things completely rips off Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door.” He can really call his lawyers now.
The real shock is that people, smart people, spent so much time, money, and effort on this awful project, and during a pandemic. There is no book. It’s just a timeline of Diana and Charles’s relationship, set to banal rock stylings. There are no actual songs–the singing is simply dialogue put to “music” that is without theme or sense.
The cast is uniformly bad save for Judy Kaye, who does her best knowing she’s trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Roe Hartrampf, who plays Charles, cannot sing. He must not try again. Jeanne de Waal is not vocally prepared to take on all of this sludge. She also makes Diana look like a frumpy kindergarten teacher. The real life person I felt sorriest for was Captain James Hewitt, who is reduced to being Diana’s boytoy.
The plot? Like I said, it’s just the timeline, and a few facts become alternative ones as Joe DiPietro tweaks them, inventing things that never happened. We finally rumble to the point where Diana and Charles divorce and then jump ahead to her death — skipping quite a lot including Dodi Fayed and a few others along the way. Poor Dodi– erased from history by a musical.
Who are these people? They are cut out figures from People magazine, without any soul, history, depth, or background. We have no idea what they’re doing or why they’re doing it, and neither do they. They are one dimensional caricatures.
The problem with these musical biographies of people who’ve died after celebrity is that there is no happy ending. We will leave the Michael Jackson musical feeling that way, and certainly plans for a Whitney Houston musical will also end in tears. It’s not going to work to just delete the parts of a story you don’t like to get a musical to work on stage.
As I wrote in the prior item, “Diana” isn’t really selling advance tickets. Its prospects are not encouraging. Maybe it seemed like a good idea once, but by now it’s not and should be abandoned before anyone else gets hurt.
PS The musical excises all mention of Prince Philip, any of Charles’s siblings, the doctor Diana dated before she died, Diana’s brother (also named Charles), and so on. After watching “The Crown,” you might call this Royals for Dummies.
Yesterday was October 1st. And believe it or not, “Diana: The Musical,” began playing on Netflix.
The Broadway show was in previews before the pandemic. It’s scheduled to begin previews again on November 2nd.
In between the producers had the idea to show it on Netflix. The whole show. What did they know that we didn’t?
There was no press release from Netflix or from the show. There was no ballyhoo. It just…happened.
The result: just eight reviews. Seven of them are negative. That’s 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not good.
The only positive review isn’t really that great. Stefan Kyriazis of the Daily Express (UK) wrote:
“Sure, it’s superficial and tells us nothing new but, really what can any of those other films and TV series actually reveal that isn’t already out there? At least this whips by in two hours with some catchy tunes.”
The other reviewers are not insubstantial. They are CNN, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, Christy Lemire from RogerEbert.com. They are brutal. Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian wrote: “Not since the Cats movie have I literally shouted from my seat: “What? What? WHAT?”
Will “Diana” come to Broadway after all? So far there is little advance sale. I’ve checked a number of dates in November, there are mostly empty houses. Of course, all of Broadway is suffering right now. There’s not much of an advance sale for any show except “The Music Man.” Even “Hamilton” has lots of availability starting in December. COVID and prices are the two reasons, but the former is more than the latter. “Aladdin” opened, closed, re-opened and closed again until October 12th because of COVID. Uncertainty should be the name of a new musical.
It’s possible the “Diana” producers figured they’d sell to Netflix, run the show up to its opening night, and then use COVID as an excuse to close. They can always do a national tour next summer. Away from Broadway, a musical about Princess Diana could have a life. But so far, even critics’ apathy doesn’t spell a promising future.
There was a grand plan for Todd Haynes’ new film, his first documentary, on seminal Sixties rock ensemble The Velvet Underground. They would bring extant founding members of the band like John Cale andMaureen (Mo) Tucker, for a performance at the movie’s premiere. That, sadly, was not to be. The premiere, though, with a posh party at Jazz at Lincoln Center, celebrated the creative energy from which the New York Film Festival emerged, and downtown artists for whom the Velvets were catalyst.
The documentary will debut on Apple TV Plus.
A vivid portrait of the band, yes, “The Velvet Underground” is a deep dive into the historic artistic period of New York in the ‘60’s, especially showcasing the avant-garde filmmakers who shot evocative footage: Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas. The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh is a treasure trove of this rare material. The great Ed Lachman shot the interviews in 2018: Mekas at 96 was first.
The film is an homage to these underground filmmakers as well as to Lou Reed, whose teen years on Long Island, complicated sexuality, and drug use provide the backstory for his artistic development. Studying poetry with Delmore Schwartz, Reed read Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Hubert Selby, Jr., and Arthur Rimbaud. Early on, he proclaimed he would be a rock star.
When Welshman and Velvet classically trained musician John Cale first came to NYC, he gasped at the filth. In 1965, he formed the Velvet Underground with Reed. Performing at Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable multi-media events, the Velvets were soon were managed and produced by Warhol, who also created the iconic banana album cover.
How different were they? The story of a trip to Los Angeles where the Mamas & the Papas sing “Monday, Monday” makes that point. The Velvet Underground’s songs, mostly Reed compositions, speak about human frailty: “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Heroin,” and a personal favorite, “All Tomorrow’s Parties.” The film reinforces their efforts at resistance, so lacking in today’s youth, said Haynes.
At the after party, Todd Haynes, surrounded by his crew—such as producer Christine Vachon — and a who’s who of downtown artists —- Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Alex Gibney, Lee Rainaldo among them—-Lou Reed’s sister and her family—and loyal friends such as Julianne Moore said the archival films, performances featuring the elusive, gorgeous “chanteuse” Nico, were a gift. But add to that Lachman’s richly shot interviews, background colors inspired by Warhol’s portraits.
Some had only attended the Alice Tully Hall screening: Nan Goldin, Julian Schnabel, and Garland Jeffreys. A lovely black & white photo of Reed and widow Laurie Anderson appears at film’s end, but otherwise, she is absent. Lou Reed’s ex-wife Sylvia wanted to know whether the filmmakers were good to Lou. They were reverential.
Andy Serkis’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” swamped the box office with Thursday previews and a Friday opening. The total is $37 million. The “Spider Man” adjacent sequel to the first “Venom” is bringing audiences into theaters like it’s the pre-pandemic days. Hallelujah!
Considering what it is, “Carnage” has a 59 rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which ain’t bad. Critics aren’t impressed, but the audience is getting what it wants. Plus you’ve got a quality cast with Tom Hardy. Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, and Woody Harrelson.
“Carnage” is also a good omen for “Spider Man: No Way Home,” coming December 17th. For Sony, combining with Marvel on these movies is a gift from the heavens.
Benedict Cumberbatch has been in the hunt for an Oscar since we met him. He’s one of our premier actors from “The Imitation Game” to “12 Years a Slave” and a ton of great TV performances.
But BC’s performance as Phil, the central antagonist from Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” should do the trick, it’s a fully realized creation of a disarming and unexpected character who powers an entire film himself. He’s like a nuclear generator.
Phil is one of two cowboy brothers in 1925 Montana, men who were raised in a wealthy ranching family. Phil is the vibrant one, Jesse Plemons’ stolid George is the less interesting, responsible brother. From the beginning, something is wrong with their relationship because George, who is always well dressed, can barely tolerate Phil. And Phil, a loner, is blissfully unaware of his brother’s contempt.
George marries Rose, a comely widow played by the incandescent Kirsten Dunst. If you think BC has been waiting around for an Oscar, Dunst was a child star who has gone her own way in a remarkable career. Rose is her best work ever: husband committed suicide, 20ish son is a wan “sissy” (Kodi Smit McPhee). Rose can best be described as someone who has landed in a place and she doesn’t seem to know how or why. She’s almost like a time traveler who lands on this Montana ranch in 1925 randomly. To quote David Byrne: “How did I get here?”
Well, everyone’s going to play the card they are dealt from a cult 1967 novel called “Power of the Dog” by Thomas Savage. Director Jane Campion has apparently plucked the details she liked from the book to construct a screenplay that works. (I’m told the book is even wilder.)
This is a combustible group, these four people, set against magnificent Montana mountains. Ari Wegner’s cinematographer is sumptuous (it’s a great season for landscapes) and Johnny Greenwood’s spare and kind of frightening score reminds a lot of his work in “There Will Be Blood,” which is a good thing.
“Power of the Dog” has been described elsewhere as “noir-ish,” which I guess it is. But it’s also as if “Brokeback Mountain” and “Legends of the Fall” had a movie made by Gus van Sant. With a touch of “Days of Heaven.” And these are also all good things. Campion hasn’t made a movie since 2009, she spent a decade on the great TV series “Top of the Lake.” Her movie achievements are legendary, like “The Piano” and “An Angel at My Table.” Campion likes to live on the cutting edge. The material she’s attracted to is the most unusual. Even when she confronted Henry James for “The Portrait of a Lady,” she made it her own. Nicole Kidman and Barbara Hershey are still resonating from that one 25 years later.
Cumberbatch told me last night at a small reception after the screening at Alice Tully Hall that he used “dream therapy” to create Phil. He and Campion worked on the character for a year. It’s a remarkable invention. I don’t know if a lot of people would venture into theaters for “Power of the Dog” but Netflix will put it at their feet, luckily. This is one time I’m happy to say you will be forced to watch this movie. It’s transcendent. And never boring. You may want to go back and study the clues of this psychosexual horse opera to understand the eventual twist.
Hard to believe, but tomorrow is Sting’s 70th birthday. He looks 40, so there’s that. He was always the youngest of the rock stars. Time flies!
What’s he doing for his birthday? Dropping a great new single, I love this song, “Rushing Water,” from his album called “The Bridge” coming next month.
Tonight Sting is playing a show at the Herod Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece under the shadow of the Parthenon. He joked in an email, “I’m trying to find venues older than myself. It’s getting harder and harder!”
Sting is a mensch, and forever young. Happy Birthday!
Back in February 2020, Billie Eilish released her morose James Bond theme, “No Time to Die.”
The movie then was scheduled for April 2020. It never happened.
The Eilish track didn’t do much. It had a brief run on the charts. Total sales of downloads were just 70,000 to this date. Including streaming, though, she’s 1.1 million in “sales.” Which sounds like a lot but isn’t.
The good news is Billie won a Grammy a year later, in January 2021, for music from a movie. But because the movie was never released, she wasn’t eligible for an Oscar nomination. This year she will be.
Now that “No Time to Die” is out in the UK and coming here next Friday, it’s possible the record will have a revival. In the movie, the song sits there like a wet fish, a limp handshake, a door mat.
The single is no “Live or Let Die” or “Goldfinger” or “Nobody Does it Better.” It has all the excitement of death, which might be the point. Hearing it you think maybe there IS time to die. Maybe that’s why the producers brought Hans Zimmer in write the score, which is very lively and lets us forget those first, sleep inducing moments.
The real theme song to “No Time to Die” plays over the end credits: Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World.” It’s so much more apt, and its a signal from the producers that they’ll be back with a new Bond series no matter what happened in this movie. It’s also a throwback to “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” which featured Diana Rigg. It was the last song Armstrong ever recorded. Talk about ‘haunting’– this track is the definition.
The final case against him has been dismissed by a Los Angeles judge.
James Safechuck, one of two men who leveled absurd child molestation allegations against Jackson in the “Leaving Neverland” documentary, has had his case chucked from court. His lawyer was supposed to file an appeal to his last court loss and never did.
Safechuck and Wade Robson each participated in the HBO documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” in which they made unfounded and unsubstantiated claims against Jackson. The filmmaker never gave anyone a chance to respond nor did he present any other side to the stories.
Jackson’s Estate is currently suing HBO and the case has gone to arbitration.
In the meantime, both Robson and Safechuck’s cases, filed 7 years ago, have been thrown out of court.
The case brought by Safechuck was dismissed on demurrer almost a year ago on October 21, 2020. He had nearly a year to file an appeal and chose not to. He can still appeal this dismissal of
Judge Mark Young wrote, explaining demurrers: When considering demurrers, courts “are required to construe the complaint liberally to determine whether a cause of action has been stated, given the assumed truth of the facts pleaded.”
You can read the Judge’s complete finding here. But he didn’t buy that Safechuck, as a child, worked for Michael Jackson or his companies, and that Jackson failed “to warn, train, or educate” him. Safechuck’s case, like that of his pal Wade Robson, was concocted to get money from the Jackson estate because Michael– who died suddenly– failed to leave them anything in a will.
The judge wrote that: “Plaintiff [Safechuck] alleged that Jackson was “hired” by Defendants to coach, teach, and mentor minors interested in the entertainment industry. Setting aside Plaintiff’s allegation that Jackson was the President of both Defendants, Plaintiff has failed to allege specific facts detailing what such mentorship looked like (or was supposed to look like) from 1988 through 1992.”
Safechuck’s lawyer, Vince Finaldi, told TMZ, the day after losing the case that he would file an appeal immediately.”We are going back to court of appeal and we are going to win this thing.” Notes Twitter account @MJJRepository, which has done incredible work keeping track of these cases: “More than 11 months later—with four months of extensions granted—he failed to submit even an opening brief, as required to proceed.”
The big surprise tonight on “Grey’s Anatomy” is that they brought back a character from four years ago, seen once, played by Scott Speedman.
Speedman, you might see, resembles Patrick Dempsey, the late Dr. McDreamy and husband of Meredith Grey. Dempsey was unceremoniously killed off years ago.
All of Meredith’s suitors since then have died or been written off. Speedman will try and fill the void.
But the bigger news on “Greys” is that the pandemic is over. The doctors and staff are no longer wearing masks. The show started with a card that read something like, “It was very depressing, we’re sorry it’s still going on, but we’re pretending this is the future and COVID has been resolved.”
It’s sort of like in “Pearl Harbor” when Kate Beckinsale runs into Ben Affleck at the end of the movie and says, “And then the war happened it ruined everything.”
Last season it was all COVID COVID COVID. Everyone wore masks and shields. But that was so 2020.
Peter Gallagher has appeared as a doctor in Minnesota who “knew” Meredith’s mother and has dedicated a research lab to her. Why? My guess is, he’s really Meredith’s father. Kate Burton has returned to play Meredith’s dead mother in dream sequences. Coincidence? I think not.
On “Law & Order,” Chris Meloni looks like Grizzly Adams.
