As announced earlier, The oscars had a musical tribute to Bond
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These are the cards we have been dealt. How or why it happened doesnāt matter now. The franchise has been sold to Amazon and we move forward from here. A good thing about more regular films is quicker course correction if the ball is fumbled. The taste of a bad film wouldnāt linger for years on end, and the reboot button doesnāt always have to be pushed. Overthinking can be a prison if you allow it to be. If thereās some so called franchise threatening event like DAD 2, just put out another film. I think the show will go on, as it always has.
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The truly great ones are always an exception to the rule.
But if you canāt strive for exceptions anymore you only get the fluff.
For every āRomaā Netflix aquired, for example, there are tons of shows and movies which are just terribly uninteresting, just ācontentā to fill the second-screen goal of streamer entertainment.
It will. But in the manner the 15th season of a once great show goes on, diminished by new showrunners who only manage to stay in profit.
I really donāt mean this as an insult, guys, but what we are witnessing here, is such a shift in paradigm, of such magnitude that the usual and understandable human reaction seems to be āit wonāt be that badā. But it will be.
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Hmm. Awkward. The Oscars never really got Bond.
I did like Conanās Amazon joke.
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Long time reader first time writer - just want to say that Iām super excited about the Amazon deal, which to me means we shall have more frequent releases. The gaps were far too long and must have felt like forever for younger fans. The last couple of films were good in places but unexceptional, and I canāt imagine Amazon would do much worse.
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From THR about the Bond segment at the Oscars:
āI donāt understand why we did away with performances of the nominated original songs ā other than that this yearās original song nominees wereā¦not great ā and replaced them with a strange tribute to James Bond. The latter either was or wasnāt meant to be a bittersweet acknowledgement of the passing of the franchiseās torch from the Broccolis to Amazonās Algorithm, complete with a dance number by Margaret Qualley and a song medley featuring Lisa from Blackpink, Doja Cat and Raye, none of whom seemed exactly matched with the songs they were singing. Might I posit, yet again, that if they wanted to honor the Broccolis, maybe the best way to do it would have been to present Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson with their honorary Oscars as part of the main telecast?ā
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To be fair, it looked and sounded like they did!
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Beat me to it.
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It very may well turn out bad, but Iām just beyond the point where Iām going to pre-judge it before it even happens. Thereās a chance that it can turn out fantastic. Thereās a chance that it can completely tank the franchise and bring about the end of the James Bond character forever. And thereās an infinite number of possibilities in between.
But until they actually announce who will be overseeing this new era of the franchise, who theyāre bringing in to direct this first film, who theyāre casting as Bond, and so on, I donāt really feel the need to jump straight to the thought of itās going to be terrible, especially when Iāve been very much wanting some change in this franchise for a long time. Itās gotten stale, and sticking with the status quo would have just made the franchise even more stale moving forward.
Would Amazon have been my first choice of a studio for Bond to end up at? Nope, but thatās where we are. If the next film ends up being terrible, Iāll critique it just as I have the other ones that I donāt like. But, thereās just too many awful things going on to spend my time hating on a film that I know nothing about, has no producer, director, star, release date, synopsis, and may not arrive anytime within the next couple of years.
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It at least feels like thereās that many.
That is one of the keys. Feels like. I had to check since comic book movies are not something I see regularly. Unless the film is a phenomenon, or the community here strongly recommends it, I pass on the majority of these films.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE was the only Marvel movie released in 2024. DC also released only one move: JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX. But I wonder with all the shows released on streaming platforms, which bear a similarity to, but are not identical with, theatrical feature films, maybe it does seem that there is a glut of the āsame old same old.ā And while these works may be well-made and thoughtfully crafted, a sense of undifferentiation might begin to seep in.
A think a second key is viewer expectations. More and more, viewers go to movies with specific expectations, and are vocal about them. They take a consumerist approach to art, where satisfying consumption is the goal.
In my fashion (and out-of-step with the world, I know), I follow Pauline Kael, who wrote about the thrill of being in a movie theater when the lights go down, and oneās hope are pinned on what will appear on screen.
Are there genres I enjoy more than other? Yes. I am not particularly fond of horror movies, and generally avoid them. But I am in a theatre to discover how this filmmaker will use the formal elements of cinema to tell a story (or not tell a story as the case may be), and what that narrative is (if there is one), and how the film intersects with the contemporary moment and/or reflects/refracts the timeframe of its narrative.
Viewers with demands for particular narratives/stories or personal identity boosts give rise to fan service, and the expectation that desires will be met, and when they are notāwatch out. To take two examples from last year: MEGALOPOLIS and JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX did not meet fan demands, and the retribution was swift.
I agree with SAF that great films have always been the exception, but there are a good number of great films available today. Many are not Hollywood-made movies. For instance, the best animated film I have seen in a long time came from Latvia, and it somehow won an Academy Award last night, beating out corporatist product, which trod familiar/safe ground.
In the last 12 months, I have seen two fantastic films from Vietnam, which does not have a huge film industry, as well as fine films from Eastern Europe. Hollywoodānot as much, since the studios are making fewer films, and risking less and less, as the cost of filmmaking rises.
Amazon wants to sell to as many people as possible. That is how its founder became an oligarch. I do not think anyone here is āhating on a filmā that has yet to be made. But to have doubts that a company such as Amazon, which works for continuous consumption on the broadwast scale, may not be the best home for a franchise that has been handcrafted for more than six decades, is not an odd position to take.
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Dojaās response to getting slammed online for her performance is iconic: āBitch hit some flatsā 
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And this attitude sadly seems to be on the rise, even on this board where, in some quarters, āthis film is not my cup of teaā translates into āthis film is badly written, acted and executedā.
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Absolutely, and wonderfully said.
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From Variety:
ā The idea came later for Margaret Qualley to kick off the Bond tribute with a dance.
āI think Margaret was sort of thought about afterwards,ā Mills said. āI thought that was absolutely incredible. She was great. And certainly, Iām sure theyāre looking now and thinking, this is somebody who needs to be part of the James Bond franchise in some way, shape or form in the next film.āā
That was a sign of the times to come: quality and ability are put to the test when artists are not used to actually being able to deliver their craft live.
The famous music producer Rick Beato whose educational youtube videos are a must for anyone interested in contemporary music predicted that autotune - now employed universally - will give us artists who are not trained professionals anymore but people who rely on having their performance fixed in the studio.
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Indeed, Rickās expertise and insight is an invaluable resource in an industry quickly losing its soul to mass consumerism. Rick and I share the hometown of Atlanta, GA and I have had the opportunity to wax philosophically about music with him at a variety of live music events (BEAT (music of 80s King Crimson), Steve Hackett (former Genesis guitarist), The Musical Box (Peter Gabriel-era Genesis tribute band).
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I canāt bring myself to watch the segment. Thatās probably for the best.
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Itās bad.
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Wow! IĀ“m a huge fan of his videos. The way he can make sense of the most complex arrangement is ear-opening.
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Yeah donāt. Itās embarrassing. Iām still amazed they canāt cut together a decent clip package. Itās just never good when the Oscarās do Bond.
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