May 26, 2023
It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means we’ve reached the (unofficial) beginning of Summer. It also means that the most important time of the year for the movie industry is in full swing. Earlier this month we saw the premiere of the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. The film did pretty well at the box office, but not at the level of some of the bigger Marvel titles. It seems like interest in the MCU might be waning and the creative minds at Disney and Marvel need to ensure they can keep the box-office juggernaut going.
Last weekend saw the debut of the ridiculous new Fast and the Furious film, Fast X. I did check this one out and can confirm that it lives up to the preposterous nature of the previous entries in the franchise. The story is cliched and corny most of the time and the stunts (the real reason we see these movies) were impressive, but they’ve moved into superhero territory with how outlandish they were created. It might be time to put this franchise in the garage permanently, although there is at least one more installment planned.
With more big titles on the way in the next few months (The Flash, a new Spider-Man animated film, the return of Indiana Jones, and the showdown between Oppenheimer and Barbie), Hollywood is feeling good. The television world has also been going strong, with the prestige shows winding down ahead of the Emmy submission deadline. This weekend will see the series finales of two of my favorite shows in recent memory, Barry and Succession, on HBO Max. Actually, let me correct that. It’s just Max now. In case you missed it, the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery has been rebranded and now includes content from Discovery+ if you are into that sort of thing. So, all is good in Tinseltown, right? Well, not so fast.
Last month, I outlined some of the business pressures facing the streaming services and production companies. A soft economy, ballooning budgets to produce content for streaming services, and pressure from investors to turn subscribers into earnings have left the corporations with tough decisions. We’ve seen a long pattern of layoffs, scuttled shows and movies, and a general focus on “quality over quantity.” But there was another big event that occurred on May 1st that has shaken Hollywood’s ecosystem.
It All Starts With a Story
Say what you will about fancy special effects, brilliantly-executed action sequences, or a lavish production design. There is one thing for certain – a movie or television show is not going to work if there is not a solid story with a tight screenplay to make it operate at a high level. Look at Succession – it’s the best show on television right now. The production design and casting are brilliant. You feel like you live in the world of the mega-rich and dysfunctional Roy family when you watch each episode. But what makes that show hum is the writing. The storytelling and dialogue are just off-the-charts perfect. When a television show doesn’t work, more often than not, it’s due to a terrible story, stilted dialogue, or both. In the long history of Hollywood, screenwriters have been an integral force in the success or failure of movies and television shows, and most of the time they are underappreciated for their contributions. The Writers Guild of America, the union that represents television and film writers, set out to change that this month.
On May 1st, the WGA went on strike, as part of their dispute with the production studios in Hollywood, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in the negotiations. The last strike by the WGA was in 2007, before the explosion in streaming services, and this dynamic is at the root of the disputes between the two sides. There are typical disagreements that you’d see in any strike (for instance, compensation and benefits), but there are some key issues that have led industry experts to predict this strike will last several months.
First up is the money. The writers have been squeezed on compensation for their work over the last several years. Twenty years ago, writers would benefit from signing on to write for a 20 episode network show, and receive residual payments when their shows were aired as reruns for years afterward. That dynamic no longer exists. Streaming services contract writers for shorter seasons and pay writers upfront with little profit sharing on the backend. Production studios have also tightened up the concept of the “writers room” where a group of writers would work together over several weeks and outline, write, and refine an entire season. The studios would rather a small number of writers work on a show only when needed and the WGA feels like their industry is turning into a “gig economy” job. The writers room concept has been a huge development tool for young writers to learn the trade and eventually advance to run their own shows.
Another major issue the WGA is frustrated about is the lack of reward when a show does well. Before the streaming wars, if a show performed well in the Nielsen ratings (publicly available data), writers could earn bonuses for their work. But, streaming services share very little data about how many people watch their shows, cherry-picking data that helps them look good on earnings calls. And in most cases, there is no differentiation for compensation for the writers of a monster hit (like Stranger Things) vs. a show that barely resonated with viewers and was quickly canceled.
The last major bone of contention is the potential use of AI in screenwriting. Sidebar: I’m convinced ChatGPT is the 2023 version of “Crypto is the future.” I don’t seriously think that studios are going to have an AI algorithm write an entire script with zero input by a screenwriter. If they do, good luck, because it’s going to suck and no one will watch it. Although plenty of shows that suck get a lot of viewers, so what do I know? Anyway, the WGA asked the studios to guarantee no use of AI in writing scripts and the studios refused to negotiate on that point. Oy vey.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Well, most shows shut down immediately. Even if scripts were technically finished, it’s still hard to film a movie or television show without writers on set. Well, you can do it, but it’s likely going to suffer. That’s because the best shows and movies course-correct on stage when they see something is not working. This is especially true in comedies. If you film a scene as it was written, and it’s not quite funny, it’s helpful for the writer to be on set to suggest a different line or different nuance to the scene.
The other difficult part of the situation is that a lot of television producers are also members of the WGA, so they are technically on strike. A high-profile example of this conflict just unfolded recently. Disney told Tony Gilroy, the showrunner for Andor, that he needed to continue his producing (i.e. non-writing) responsibilities for the second season of the very popular Star Wars show. When you think about that demand it’s kind of silly. How could Gilroy separate his “producing” brain from his “writing” brain while working day to day. What if he decided a line of dialogue didn’t work while filming a scene? Because he is on strike, he is forbidden from changing it. After Gilroy received a lot of negative feedback from his fellow union members, he stopped his production responsibilities on the show and basically told Disney to pound sand. Filming is continuing, but without the showrunner involved, which is usually not a good thing.
The immediate effect of the strike will be felt in television shows, with inevitable delays in upcoming seasons. If a show was in the middle of production, they might be able to figure out a way across the finish line. If it hasn’t started yet, the delay will push things back. But, will anyone really notice? In 2007, the vast majority of television viewing was on the broadcast networks. If we didn’t get the big fall premieres, that was noticeable. But, there is no such thing as a “television season” anymore. Shows just appear on a streaming service or network for people to watch. Will anyone care if there is an 18 month window between seasons of their favorite show, instead of 12 months? With so many streaming options and so much content produced over the last decade, there is plenty to watch. For that reason, I think the studios have the upper hand here for the time being. One caveat will be if they start to feel pressure from a decline in subscribers. There are many viewers who subscribe to a service to binge the new season of their favorite show, then cancel it the next month. If the firehose of new content starts to slow down, and the subscribers come back more slowly, you might see the studios start to give into some of the demands.
In the movie world, the impact won’t be as dramatic. You’ll likely see some sort of “production gap” where a year or two from now there will be a dip in major new releases. The bigger impact could be projects that have to change writers, directors, or actors because the strike causes a massive scheduling conflict when productions get rolling again. For instance, word came out a few weeks ago that production work on the next film from Paul Thomas Anderson shut down. Anderson writes his own screenplays, so it’s natural to expect him to support the union and stop working. Speaking of directors, there is also a potential strike coming from the Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild in the coming weeks. If those strikes happen, the pressure for resolution will increase.
It’s also interesting to think about this conflict from the studios’ perspectives. You’re talking about a wide range of companies, each with different motivations. Some own traditional studios and broadcast television networks (Disney, Paramount, Comcast). Others are just studios producing content (Sony). You have the big streaming bully who doesn’t care about television networks or movie theaters (Netflix). Then we have the result of a megamerger loaded with debt and drastically cutting costs (Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO). Lastly, you have the tech giants who are still figuring out what they want to do in this space (Amazon, Apple). It’s going to be hard to get this group to agree on anything, which may drag this process out even longer. For now, enjoy the tons of content you have been meaning to catch up on, because new shows and movies are going to dry up pretty soon.
This Month’s Highlights
Ok, let’s move on from the gloom and doom of the writers’ strike to something more enjoyable. I saw a few really good movies in May, and one that I can tell you to avoid at all costs, despite the charisma of the film’s star.
First up is Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. Director Guy Ritchie is best known for his British crime films, notably Snatch and The Gentleman, as well as the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey, Jr. Earlier this year, we saw Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, a typical Ritchie action crime story with some dry comedy mixed in, primarily from Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant, the best parts of a decent (but not great) movie. A few weeks ago, I saw his newest picture, which is a big departure from his usual stories. The Covenant features Jake Gyllenhaal (one of my favorite actors) playing an Army veteran who is rescued by his squad’s interpreter after being captured in Afghanistan. After coming home, Gyllenhaal decides to go back to help the man who saved his life escape the war-torn country. If you like these kinds of stories, it is very well done, with a good combination of action, suspense and drama. Gyllenhaal is excellent, as is Dar Salim, who plays the interpreter. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is now available to rent on demand.
I am usually not a fan of true-crime documentaries, but I am usually game to try a narrative version of these stories, even if it is a well-known tale. Boston Strangler tells the story of the hunt for the serial killer who eluded capture in the early 1960s from the vantage point of two reporters who covered the story for a Boston newspaper. Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon portray the writers who pursue the story through interviews with the police and witnesses who may have seen the killer approaching their victims or leaving their homes. The film features some predictable storylines for a 1960s movie – the women experience sexism in the workplace, most of the cops don’t take them seriously, and their jobs put pressure on their marriages – but I didn’t find that aspect too distracting. Instead, I was impressed with the performances of Knightley and Coon, as well as Alessandro Nivola as the one detective who helps them out. The film also does a nice job of pointing out that these cases don’t always get tied up in a neat bow like their fictional counterparts. If you are weary of movies with these themes, don’t worry – it’s not too scary or violent. Boston Strangler is now streaming on Hulu.
One similar story was very disappointing and I would recommend you avoid it. To Catch a Killer stars Shailene Woodley as a detective helping the FBI (led by Ben Mendelsohn) track down a gunman who has gone on a few devastating killing sprees. I like these two actors a lot and this film received pretty strong reviews and I was stunned how disappointing it was. Let’s just say that if I were to envision a predictable script filled with cliches that could be written by ChatGPT, this would be it. Don’t bother with this one.
Before we get to my favorite new release of May, let me warn you about another film to avoid at all costs. Despite early reviews that ranged from lukewarm to terrible, I made the decision to see Hypnotic, the new film directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City and the Spy Kids franchise) starring Ben Affleck as a father in search of his missing daughter. The plot of this movie is so convoluted and centers on people having the ability to mentally command others to do whatever they want (think hypnosis on steroids). You can tell a movie is awful when it features constant exposition, where one character explains to another character what has happened and what is currently happening, in an effort to also explain the plot to the audience. This film is laughably bad. Hypnotic is now playing in theaters, but don’t go see it. Instead, watch Affleck in Air, one of my favorite films of 2023 that is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The best movie I saw in May is one that I have had on my radar for several months. Still: A Michael J. Fox Film premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. We all know Fox’s story – the huge television and movie star in the 1980s and 1990s who had his life and career upended at a young age by Parkinson’s disease. Being a child of the 1980s, I was a huge fan of his work – Family Ties was a staple in our house and I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen Back to the Future in my lifetime. He was a beloved star who dodged scandal throughout his career and someone you always rooted for. When he made his comeback to television with Spin City in the late 1990s after a rough stretch of mediocre movies, it was a nice story. Alas, he was in the fight of his life at that time and we didn’t know it.
Still is a very interesting documentary, both in the story that it tells and how the director chose to tell it. The actor and activist (his foundation for Parkinson’s disease research has raised over $1 billion in donations) tells his own story through narration and interviews, as well as old clips from his heyday. There are also recreations of events in his life with actors, a device I usually don’t like, but they didn’t bother me too much. It’s also a crisp 90 minutes, which is kind of nice in today’s era of overstuffed storytelling, and could have been longer without feeling bloated.
One aspect of the film that I struggled with at first was the choice to integrate scenes from Fox’s movie and television career to help emphasize points in his story. That may not sound like something unique, but let me provide a few examples. Conventional documentaries would show clips of him on Family Ties while telling that portion of his life, which this movie does. But while Fox describes working tirelessly to film Family Ties during the day and Back to the Future at night, we see a scene where his mom on Family Ties says to his character, “Alex, you’ve been working nonstop for two weeks.” In another scene where he describes going to Hollywood for the first time, we see his character from The Secret of My Success arriving in New York City, eager to strike it rich. When he describes his excessive drinking after his Parkinson’s diagnosis, we see his character from Light of Day walk into a bar and order a beer. This happens a lot in the movie and it might not bother you, but it took me out of the movie a number of times until I got used to it. That being said, it’s a minor point and only film nerds like me might bump on it.
Throughout the film, we get Fox’s whole life story, including the debilitating impacts of his disease. Fox doesn’t hold back in describing (and showing us) what Parkinson’s has done to him, but there is no pity party. He uses his brilliant sense of humor and courage to appreciate living each day to its fullest, while raising awareness and money for treatment and a cure for a disease that has damaged his body, but not his spirit. The scenes with his wife of 35 years, Tracy Pollan, and his children were particularly moving and I could have used more of that footage in the film. This is a sad story at times, but very inspiring as well. Despite the unconventional storytelling techniques, I highly recommend Still: A Michael J. Fox Film, now streaming on Apple TV+.
Speechless….
As I shift away from movies for a moment, I honestly don’t know where to start with this next topic without breaking the record for hyperbolic comments in one blog post. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Taylor Swift in concert at Gillette Stadium with my daughter and her friend. We have been anticipating this show for months, and having followed online reports of the tour so far, the excitement continued to build ahead of the show, in which Taylor covers each of her albums in mini-sets dedicated to each era of her career.
That being said, a massive rainstorm moved into New England on the day of our concert and we were facing a night of standing in the rain for several hours while doing our best to enjoy the concert. In case you were wondering, the queen doesn’t cancel shows when it rains. No, in fact, she thrives on rain shows. Some of her more iconic shows have been “rain shows.” A few weeks ago, her last show in Nashville was delayed several hours because of a thunderstorm. She still performed her full set, finishing at 1:30 AM. Icon shit.
Anyway, we planned as best we could, kept the positive vibes going, got a little wet on the way to the stadium, got to our seats and realized…..we had covered seats. That’s right. The overhang from the section above us kept us dry the entire night (well at least until we had to walk / swim back to our car – that’s a story for another day). Now, it’s hard to describe in words how hard it was raining that night – I mean it’s just not possible with the written word. So, check out these pictures and video that I saw on Twitter the next day, here, here, and here to get the full experience. In fact, during one of her later songs, her quote was “This is the rainiest rain show that ever rain showed, ever, ever ever.” I mean, it was ridiculous. But did that impact the show? Absolutely not – the show went on just as if it was a perfectly clear night. The dancers, costumes, and elaborate stage production were not impacted at all. I have no idea how no one slipped and broke a bone on the stage, but that’s why she’s the best. Taylor performed the entire 3 ½ hour set while dancing, waving, laughing, and giving everything she had in a performance that electrified the crowd. Speaking of which….
I was not prepared for the Swiftie Nation. I mean, I know her fans are dedicated and rabid, but when the final countdown to the beginning of the show started, the stadium was vibrating. I could feel it shaking with excitement. When she took the stage, the screaming was ear-splitting. In a fun way. There were times throughout the show that I just looked around in amazement at how one individual could have the talent and energy to captivate an entire audience and hold them in the palm of her hand for several hours. And the singing – oh my goodness, tens of thousands of people singing along with excitement, joy, and love throughout every song. Just absolute madness – a nonstop party. I have been to many concerts over the last forty years and I have seen some legendary artists – McCartney, Springsteen, Clapton, Elton John, Billy Joel, and U2, to name a few – I have never experienced a concert like this one and I think I can safely say I never will again.
There was one more reason this was such a special night. My son and I have been to a number of concerts over the years, but this was the first one I attended with my daughter. Our mutual love of Taylor’s music has brought us closer together, including frequent texting of news about a new song, or a funny meme. As I reflect back on that night, I’m so glad that we have those shared memories of a truly inspirational performance by probably the biggest musician in the world today. We kept looking at each other throughout the concert in disbelief at what we were witnessing. What a night. As I said above – true icon shit.
Coming Attractions
Whew. After a busy month, I’m already looking forward to June. In addition to next month being the “month of Steve” (if you know, you know), my wife and I are heading to Yellowstone National Park for a vacation, which should be amazing, and we have decided to welcome a new puppy into our lives. It’s been a tough month since we lost Sadie, but we feel like it’s been a little too quiet without a furry friend in the house. With summer being a great time to have a dog, we will (fingers crossed) meet our new pup in late June.
In the film world, the summer movie season marches on and I have a few June titles on my watchlist. Next weekend will see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the animated sequel to the very successful 2018 film. Also, be on the lookout for Blackberry to rent at home next weekend. The rise and fall story of the popular handheld device has gotten fantastic reviews since it came out a few weeks ago. I couldn’t find a close theater to see it on the big screen, so I will be renting it from home.
June 23rd sees two releases that will probably have very different target audiences. Director Wes Anderson returns with Asteroid City, another star-filled quirky story, headlined by Tom Hanks. The trailer looks pretty strange, so I’m unsure on this one, but will likely see it as I enjoy most of Anderson’s work. That same weekend, Jennifer Lawrence returns in No Hard Feelings, a comedy that looks fantastic. She plays a down-on-her-luck Uber driver who answers an unusual Craigslist ad to earn some extra money. The parents of an introverted college student want her to be his girlfriend, and hijinks ensue. I’m hopeful that this film helps resuscitate the R-rated comedy genre, which has struggled in our era where everyone seems afraid of offending other people. There is another comedy coming in July that I have my fingers crossed will also help keep that momentum going.
Last on my list for June is a film that I am now starting to worry is going to flame out. On June 30th, we’ll see Harrison Ford’s last appearance as the adventurous archeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Steven Spielberg turned over the directing responsibilities to James Mangold (Logan, Wolverine, Ford v. Ferrari) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) co-stars with Ford. I’ve had high hopes for this one, even though the last entry in the Indiana Jones franchise didn’t work very well. But the new installment premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last week and reviews were tepid at best. I’m holding out hope that this one is more aimed at the fans and not the critics and we can have one more fun adventure with Indy.
That’s all for this month’s report. I’ll be back next month with more highlights from the movie world. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.