caracas1914
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Posts posted by caracas1914
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24 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:
Demise is far too strong a word. They might someday be eclipsed by Disney+, once all Disney's IPs have shows coming out in a continuous pipeline. The fact they're halfway to Netflix's subs in a year and a half is pretty damn impressive.
Like I said I'm not at all surprised Disney+ made a huge splash. Will they surpass Netflix? I think it depends if they can get deals in place like what they got in India, but again Netflix is trying to penetrate as much those same markets.
So Netflix projected to have 205 million subscribers by April 1, and domestically in the US it's already increased their pricing as was expected, while Disney+ practically gave it away to get new subscribers at least here in the States, which was a smart move, but it will be interesting what happens going forward when they inevitably Disney has to raise prices.
The genuine growth is in the international market, and that's anybody's guess how that will look 3-5 years from now.
Can anyone crack the China Market with the Governments' tightly controlled social media policy?
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I understand that Disney+ plus uses the acquired Indian app Hotstar so that 30 % of Disney's subscribers are from India.
That is the next big thing to see, how the international market pans out. I do think Netflix still has a huge headstart advantage in how "international' their model is, as as far as content and variety of programming.
Where else can I can see a Finnish detective series and then switch to a South African drama and peruse the first season of a Spanish singing competition, while also having a South Korean situation comedy in my watchlist?
It was obvious Netflix were not going to continue be the only game in town, but for example, getting this new deal where they get SONY movies , etc shows how they mix original programming while still trying to get synergy with new releases by traditional production companies.
Without a doubt there will be financial fallout from all these new streamers coming out, but I'm not surprised Disney grew as fast as they did with their huge archive inventory and they have the big pockets, however I do think that the demise of Netflix predicted by some is premature. They grew too fast & too large before others finally responded.
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I have to confess I'm not a big fan of Father/Daughter coaching in the WTA.
Caveat: there maybe some glorious exceptions I'm overlooking..
From Stefano Capriati down to today's Paterfamilias Kenin, and Gauff there's to me this pattern of seeming controlling /unhealthy balance of family dynamics, plus the implied message ad nauseum that *only* Father Coach knows their daughters well enough to make them successful in tennis and in some cases an almost pathological desire to infer they are the only legit coach the player has. (Monica Seles, etc.)
The worst cases are well documented, such as Aravane Rezai , Jim Pierce, Damir Dokic, Mirjana Lucic's dad, etc, but even lesser cases such as Marion Bartoli's dad quitting his medical profession to guide her career fulltime struck me as creepy, especially when Marion told him to leave the stadium on several occasions.
My one somewhat qualified exception was Richard Williams who, for all his quirks, stated early that the goal was to make his daughters self sufficient and successful enough that they wouldn't need him around anymore , which eventually happened and he exited stage left. (Add his health issues and divorce from Oracene) Plus the Williams sisters eschewed the oh so common practice of looking incessantly at the coaches/parents box for validation/affirmation.
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NFL Thread
in Sports
Well so with Tom Brady's contract extension last month the Tampa Bay Bucs freed up another 19M and with that they became the first SB winning team since 1977 to keep/resign all their starters for the next season. That defensive unit will be intact.
Those signings don't include Antonio Brown, who Brady likes of course but I doubt it's a priority with Arians. With his baggage, can't see the 32 year old AB getting a great deal with another team.
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On 3/26/2021 at 2:58 AM, Avabelle said:
Agreed re Tom Holland. Daisy Ridley I haven’t seen in anything so can’t comment on her talent. It was just that one appearance on Graham Norton where I found her to be really annoying and obnoxious which is a shame as usually people come off at their best on Graham Norton.
I personally haven't seen it, but apparently there is a revisionist movie (re: Hamlet from Ophelia's POV) called "Ophelia" released a year or two ago, where DR plays the lead character and seemed to get some good critical reviews.
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7 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:
The only place we part company (although maybe it's just semantic) is I didn't feel it was a matter of "agency" that drove Fern, I felt it was her specific personality as someone more comfortable being alone than together--possibly because depression had settled over her for understandable reasons. (There must be people who are capable of being part of a settled community until some life trauma happens, like a death or a loss of that entire community--at which point they change forever.) Many people prize a sense of agency and are able to also value connection. Fern wasn't one of them, and the movie was a superb character study, in addition to all the other things it was.
I certainly agree with what you said, per her personality , that's why I almost added "at this point in her life" when opining why Fern turned away from both offers. It's very nuanced; she was dealing with grief still from her husband's death, it's implied strongly she and her sister are not particularly close (perceived POV of sis that Fern abandoned the family, etc) and TBH the David Straitharn character I deliberately called "quasi boyfriend" because the interest certainly seemed more on his part. With agency I meant it didn't seem that those two offers were her thought out choices, perhaps because of her personality they weren't' attractive to her, and also more like thrust on her by others who thought she needed them.
However, she did seem to connect somewhat with others in the Nomad community. I do think that the downturn economically in the company town that triggered her nomad existence, could have been the catalyst for being even more withdrawn, if it hadn't happened, I could certainly see Fern in her company house for years. However she had the double whammy of her husband's death and displacement.
So yes, you're right it was a great character study of an interesting person in Fern.
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4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:
The sugar beet harvest is obviously seasonal, and the Amazon job is, too--Amazon hires extra people for the Christmas rush, and at some fulfillment centers, it recruits people in RVs and pays for their campsite for that period. When the rush period is over, so is the job, and the free campsite.
Working at Wall Drug isn't seasonal, but living in a van there year-round isn't an attractive prospect. Being a camphost in an RV park often provides only the campsite and no actual pay, which can help defray expenses for retirees who are on social security or have a pension, but people without sources of income like that need cash in hand.
Being a nomad is way for Fern and the others to survive, and not just an adventure. I'm pretty sure none of them ever thought, "When I get into my 60s, I want to do backbreaking work, and live in a vehicle because that's all I can afford." But then they do it, and might find that the challenges are surmountable, and that they don't mind (or might even enjoy) moving from place to place, and the freedom that is available if they're not completely broke at a given time. Or it might be that they just convince themselves that they like it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
But that could be a reason they might choose to continue to do this instead of getting a permanent job, or staying in one area. Assuming they could get a permanent job--we saw Fern being told that there weren't any positions that she was suited for and she might consider retiring instead of continuing to work. That's generally not the case with the jobs on the seasonal circuit--as long as your body can take it, you can work.
Agree with all of this. What I liked about the film was it showed that a lot of these nomads are very resourceful, but grudgingly or not, were now focused in maintaining this lifestyle. I thought it was telling that when Fern lists her work history, she’s not without skills ( did some teaching ) but it ‘s more the local economy has no opportunities open for her to hunker down financially in one spot.
The two opportunities the film shows she has to get off the road, ie living with her sister or accepting her quasi boyfriend’s offer to move in with him in his son’s house, while not bad choices comfort wise, don’t really give Fern her own agency. To me it’s plausible why she would turn them down.
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Saw "Dancing Lady" last night. If I'm not mistaken that's Joan Crawford's actual singing voice along with Fred Astaire, , it lacks the "perfect" sound of so many dubbed voices.
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3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:
Chaos Walking hasn't been well received but I've not seen any reviews that criticise her performance, or that of Tom Holland (who, by the way, is in an oddly similar position as Ridley, with one mega-franchise under his belt and a couple of middling drama movies, yet no one is wondering about his career).
I first noticed Tom Holland years ago in "The Impossible" and he got actually get a lot of critical acclaim and awards,; I was duly impressed Holland more than held his own in scenes with Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, Ditto in "Edge of Winter" and "Lost City of Z". Whether that translates to stardom outside of SM I can't say, but on screen the kid has wattage IMO which was clear even before he did the first Spidey movie.
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On 3/15/2021 at 10:36 PM, katha said:
I've not been convinced by anything she's done outside of Star Wars so far, unfortunately. She becomes strangely bland/forgettable IMO. SW is a very specific blank slate/self-insert action movie character and I'm not sure that the skillset that had her do well in that setting necessarily translates well into roles where she needs to be more distinct.
It might also be a case of bad judgement from her/her management, where they don't know what suits her and chose projects for her that don't really have here stand out and don't do well in general. Boyega has shown much better judgement so far IMO. Though I'm also coming to suspect that he is also just a better actor.
Daisy Ridley may be the female version of Orlando Bloom, who did fine with the role of Legolas in LOTR, but doesn't have enough charisma or distinctiveness to standout in any other roles.
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1 hour ago, Dani said:
It’s not complicated for me. If a role requires darkening the actor’s skin to make the appear more ethnic it crosses a line I’m not comfortable with. Angelina Jolie was made up to look like a person of color and that is the heart of my problem with it.
Again, not for me. Of course, the people involved are excited to see Jolie or Affleck play them in a movie because their are no bigger actors but that’s the heart of the problem for me. Hollywood is extremely racist and these issues are symptomatic of the larger problem.
Of course it's uncomfortable to many. Is it simply not just about skin color or non resemblance to the character portrayed, though. My point about Alec Guinness was that not that long a ago, a white prestigious actor would not be questioned portraying an ethnic role, even if it didn't require darkening makeup, so it's not as simple as that. There are even ethnic actors who have been used to portray other ethnicities, such as Max Minghella, a Chinese/Italian actor who was used to portray an Indian character in "Network".
Hollywood is racist, but it doesn't mean there aren't complications/nuances in every different scenario to others.
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Again, complicated. Ben Afleck portraying Tony Mendez in “Argo.”
QuoteJR: A lot of Hispanic moviegoers when they found out that the name of Ben’s character was Tony Mendez they immediately thought - “why is Ben playing a Hispanic character?” Ben is obviously not Hispanic. No one has been able to get a legitimate answer on the matter, until now. Were there ever discussions at any point, maybe even from Ben, to have a Hispanic actor play you and maybe just have himself concentrate in directing?
TM: Never heard of it.
JR: Did you feel okay with Ben Affleck playing you as opposed to maybe somebody else?
TM: Yeah, but I don’t think of myself as a Hispanic. I think of myself as a person who grew up in the desert. If I had been in a different family circumstance, I might have felt that way. But, mostly, my family was at odds with each other in a playful way, they weren’t talking about heritage in that regard.
JR: In the Hispanic film community, there is much debate surrounding this topic. Many Hispanic actors feel they’re progress halts when Hollywood decides to place an anglo star name in a Hispanic role. When you see Ben portray you on screen, do you feel he represented you with integrity? The right way? Did you see yourself in him?
TM: What I already knew about Ben was that he was a real diligent creator down to the fine nobs in the clumps of dirt and so forth, that he was real. What I found about him when he’s acting is that he does the same kind of due diligence on the part he’s playing. A lot of things I kind of discovered about myself he had already up picked on and was portraying them on the screen.
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15 hours ago, Dani said:
If only. Fisher Stevens in Short Circuit is the most blatant example I can thing of after that. Rob Schneider’s entire career was made up of playing different racist stereotypes. Then there’s Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart, Ben Affleck in Argo, Ralph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson and Johnny Depp in Lone Ranger as very recent examples. The list is very long.
Don’t remind me of Fisher Stevens,
The Angeline Jolie/Marianne Pearl casting: here it gets complicated:
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/mighty-heart-casting-stirs-debate-over-race/
QuotePearl says it’s is a nonissue. “This is the story of a group of individuals,” she wrote in an e-mail, “and how they chose to behave as opposed to a group of people seen through the prism of race, color or religion.
“I chose Angie for who she is not what she looks like.”
QuoteIn the book upon which the film is based, Pearl writes that Daniel lovingly dubbed her “my mulatta.” Of her Cuban-born mother, Marita Van Neyenhoff, she writes: “She was colored, and she had a Chinese grandfather. Clearly there was Spanish and African blood in her, and who knew what else. I felt like history had worked really hard for me to enjoy being a bit of everything.” (Her father was Dutch.)
Says “A Mighty Heart” director Michael Winterbottom: “To try and find a French actress who’s half-Cuban, quarter-Chinese, half-Dutch who speaks great English and could do that part better — I mean, if there had been some more choices, I might have thought, ‘Why don’t we use that person?’ … I don’t think there would have been anyone better.”
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I'm wondering if Alec Guinness' Dr. Narayan Godpole a Brahman Hindu professor, is the last example of a well known white actor portraying a different ethnicity(this case, Indian) in : "A Passage to India" from 1984? IIRC Dr. Godpole is not suppose to be a mixed race character.
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Let's be real, since JLSC turned out to be a showcase for the new streaming HBO MAX there was no need for a 2 1/2 hour theatrical release.
4+ plus hours fills the bill.
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Loved the violence then topped off by the humor at the end of "Blood Simple". Mistaken identities and black humor; what a fine cocktail the Cohen Brothers perfected in their first film.
Behind closed doors, the Frances McDormand thinking she's defending herself against her estranged husband.
"Well Ma'am if I see him, I'll sure give him the message."
That line kills me.
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Have heard about if for years and I finally got to see "The Last Flight" a 1931 Richard Barthelemes movie about a quartet of World War 1 flying veterans who are adrift in post-War Paris.
IMO It's more "Hemingway" than anything out there as far as its portrayal of the Lost Generation. The atmosphere of postwar Paris/Europe is evoked well, and the film has hardly dated.
Cynical and dark, it's no rosy depiction of the physical and mental psyche of damaged veterans, but quite blunt in telegraphing there is no "cure" for them, or as one commander describes them "spent bullets" that are still living. Helen Chandler as the rich girl who joins their escapades is just as damaged in her own way and she is fantastic.
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Ponderous, gloomy, pretentious, too dark, etc. are all adjectives aptly used on Zack Snyder but at the same time I'm glad we have his version.
The overall story still drags (Steppenwolf will never be an interesting villain even if you created a thousand cuts, and for being a veteran actor it's uncanny how Ben Affleck's Batman sucks the air and energy out of any scene he's front and center), but there is , dare I say it, an epic grandeur to some of the Snyder passages.
That type of visual beauty you don't usually get in the peppy Marvel movies that was the template Whedon glued on. The Amazons defense of the Mother Box, Aguaman's connection to the sea, etc, Other than Affleck, I think the character arcs of the other heroes are fleshed out well, and even the new actors/characters introduced, such as Ray Fisher , Ezra Miller, Jason, are more than up to the task. Connie Neilsen's Queen Hipployta, is pitch perfect with how she projects so much with her presence.
Sidenote: DC universe is just always weird to me, there are the fictional Metropolis, Central City, Gotham, etc and than clearly London, Paris, etc in the "real world".
I know everyone says this is a one and out, but the cynic in me wouldn't rule out a sequel down the line if the money justifies it...
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On 3/18/2021 at 6:30 AM, Milburn Stone said:
I can't bring to mind the actual Ava vocals right now. But I think MGM was generally right to dub. Even actors who are "passable" will be disappointing in songs that are musically challenging or iconic. I'm glad Audrey Hepburn wasn't dubbed in Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I'm glad she was dubbed when she sang I Could Have Danced All Night.
Can't disagree that most of Eliza 's songs in My Fair Lady for the most part would be beyond the scope of most non professionally trained singer/actors. Audrey's discovered MFL singing tracks are glaring in her vocal deficiencies, (though it doesn't help they didn't even lower the key for her singing attempts to suit her range) However, I do have a soft spot for Audrey's warbling in "Wouldn't it be Luverly" . Personally per the character and place in the film, I think her singing suits the character better than the dubbed version:
Can't fault
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On 3/13/2021 at 11:08 AM, Lady Whistleup said:
Does anyone know of any good biographies on Ava Gardner? She's one of my favorites despite the fact that the "can't sing, can't dance, can't act" assessment is pretty true.
I have to say I thought she was wonderful in Showboat and her unused vocals are an undiscovered treasure to many. If I'm not mistaken they actually used her vocals on the soundtrack album released for the film?
Here are two excerpts using her own singing voice. In interviews Gardner claimed she listened endlessly to Lena Horne's recordings in preparation. IMO she was very good and I heard it crushed her that after all her work and effort she was dubbed anyways by Annette Warren.
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16 minutes ago, LetsStartTalking said:
This show has run it's course, and the ratings this season prove it (I think at times it has dipped below 1 million viewers during this current season). I'm surprised it has run as long as it did (but then again, the fact that Les Moonves trophy wife was the moderator for so long has everything to do with it). Time to pull the plug and put it out of it's misery.
It would be interesting if it got a reboot one last time
Now If they've given Osbourne the boot, would be annoyed if they give her "cover" just to placate her.
Funny thing about free speech, go ahead and defend it, but you need to be willing to articulate your position. Apparently Sharon perceived she wasn't going to be sheltered from her public twitter (aka stating Pierce Morgan was telling " his truth" and she stood by him) and had to actually EXPLAIN or have consequences to the backlash from her free speech, thus we saw her meltdown.
Osbourne was not ambushed or tricked, and if her cohosts had cards or pre set questions as she claimed, it was just as likely to make sure they articulated their opinion without attacking her personally, but of course she was having none of that. From a position of privilege she didn't expect to have to answer period. I think on her part it was more intellectual panic than anything. People who are used to being catered constantly get flustered when they don't control the setting completely.
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Loved this film.
Avoided the cliche of “rising above your affliction “ to more of the theme ( to me at least) of listening as opposed to simply hearing.
Riz Ahmed so inhabited his role and deserves all the accolades.
Just as impressive was veteran actor Paul Raci who plays the Director of the Deaf Community. He’s one of those actors you’ve seen dozens of times through the decades but can’t quite place. The Director emits such a weather beaten humanity and empathy in trying to help Ahmed’s character.
I’m one of those who are usually annoyed by “background stories” during award season, but reading after the fact how the 72 year old Paul Raci was chosen over several higher profile character actors , partly because he was raised by two deaf parents and is proficient in ASL since childhood, not gonna lie, I hope the man wins the Oscar.
So judge me.
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14 hours ago, Rinaldo said:
In all my studies of R&H, I had never heard the "legal reasons" explanation before, so I tried to track that down. It's stated in her Wikipedia entry, the source being a 1958 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article/interview with Ms. Hall on the occasion of a local nightclub appearance. And so, apparently she was the source of this statement, and very likely those who compiled the Wiki article were sympathetic to her. Otherwise, I have only heard that Richard Rodgers found her no longer vocally adequate for the music, at least by comparison with Muriel Smith, the operatic mezzo who had done the role in London (and also starred in the stage production of Carmen Jones, as well as performing Bizet's Carmen on other occasions). One may regret the substitution (or maybe Rodgers was right... I wasn't there to compare), but it was part of a dubbing-happy era in Hollywood -- look up the incestuous voice ghosting in West Side Story sometime.
One interesting sidelight for South Pacific is that it represents, I think, the first official acknowledgment of voice dubbing on screen. The opening credits include the statement "the voice of Giorgio Tozzi." Tozzi was a front-rank operatic bass (who later performed Emile onstage opposite Florence Henderson -- the cast made a recording), and he apparently had enough clout to demand recognition for his contribution. Previously, that whole area had been a secret, if at times an open one, that was never officially acknowledged.
Yes, I have also read it was Mr. Rogers preference. I so agree with you that dubbing was so common that it wasn't even thought of as egregious at all. However, in the era of so much dubbing (for example, Marilyn Monroe's singing in "Diamonds are a Girls best friend " is augmented by another unnamed singer for some of the high notes, I just find it hard to believe that the Juanita Hall's singing voice was so substandard that it could not have been tweaked in the studio. That same year Ms Hall even starred in another R&H stage musical , "Flower Drum Song" the year that South Pacific was released. The soundtracks of the movie musicals in those days were many times recorded separately from the actual filming dates.
I cannot verify the credibility of this site , but it does include a quote from Joshua Logan concerning the dubbing.
https://genqueue.tumblr.com/post/42448020004/bali-hai-juanita-hall-s-own-voice-south/amp
QuoteDirector Joshua Logan, in his book “Movie Stars, Real People, and Me” wrote:
“Juanita Hall had her own style of singing and it seemed a shame to miss its special quality in our picture. Still, they were the experts on music and, more than that, my bosses, so in spite of my misgivings, I was forced to say okay.”There is this recent Playbill
https://www.playbill.com/article/category-spotlight-com-141394
and this site that also quotes Joshua Logan:
http://www.neponset.com/brazzi/south.htm
They verify that compared to earlier composers, R & H wielded enormous control on the movie adaptation of their musical. This sites imply that Rogers simply preferred Muriel Smith's singing style, as opposed to unsurmountable obstacles by Juanita Hall's voice.
Groundbreaking, Juanita Hall was the first African American to win a Tony award for best supporting actress in a broadway musical, having played Bloody Mary 1,925 times on stage.
For what it's worth, I'm thinking it's the only occasion I can remember of a Broadway musical cast member reprising their role on the screen (and a Tony award winning role no less) where their singing was dubbed.
Again, Her voice could have been unacceptable or it could be, again as these sources suggest Rogers simply preferred the singing style of Muriel Smith , (another African American singer it should be added ) I will be gentle as possible here, liberties maybe unconsciously taken with a cast member that perhaps would not have been taken so casually with another singing cast member of a musical reprising their stage role. Considering the actual theme of South Pacific that would be sadly ironic.
(Compare Vivien Blaine reprising the role of Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" and her singing being dubbed because the composers' preferred the singing style of, say, the London stage Adelaide) Now to clarify, Oscar Hammerstein was a lifelong progressive civil rights ally , but like so much of what happened in prior eras, the tone deafness of things done is startling looking at it through today's prism.
QuoteOne interesting sidelight for South Pacific is that it represents, I think, the first official acknowledgment of voice dubbing on screen. The opening credits include the statement "the voice of Giorgio Tozzi." Tozzi was a front-rank operatic bass (who later performed Emile onstage opposite Florence Henderson -- the cast made a recording), and he apparently had enough clout to demand recognition for his contribution. Previously, that whole area had been a secret, if at times an open one, that was never officially acknowledged.
Great point. One of the previous websites referenced quotes Logan's book that the casting of Brazzi who apparently couldn't sing a dime was pushed by R& H, though I find it hard to believe they wouldn't have cast him without knowing from the start he was going to be dubbed. Logan makes it seem they were duped into thinking he was capable of actually singing the role.
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2 hours ago, Calvada said:
One I've always liked but sadly is not on the schedule is With Six You Get Eggroll (her last film) which I first saw many years ago and it made me remember my childhood crush on Brian Keith. (Who didn't want an Uncle Bill in their life?) And the film is a who's who of hey! it's that guy with George Carlin, Alice Ghostley, Jackie Joseph, Allan Melvin, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Pat Carroll, Vic Tayback and others I know I'm forgetting. Plus a teenage Barbara Hershey with normal lips in her film debut.
I loved With Six You Get Eggroll , plus it had the extra bonus of the rock band The Grass Roots singing "Feelings".
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Eternals (2021)
in Movies
Now you're just being greedy and overreaching...