Negromancer News Bits and Bites from May 7th to 13th, 2023 - Update #21

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  ABC has cancelled the Hilary Swank-led drama, "Alaska Daily," after one season.

MOVIES - From THR:  Oscar-nominee, Willem Dafoe, is joining "Beetlejuice 2," which is due Sept. 2024.

TELEVISION - From THR:  The CW has cancelled "The Winchesters," the prequel to its long-running fantasy drama, "Supernatural," after one season.  The broadcast network also cancelled "Kung Fu" after three seasons.

From CBR:  Executive producer, Jensen Ackles, is not ready to let "The Winchesters" die in the wake of its cancellation by The CW.

MOVIES - From CBR:  Despite saying that he would NOT, Dwayne Johnson apparently does appear as his character "Luke Hobbs" in the upcoming "Fast X."

MOVIES/TRAILERS - From EW:  There is a trailer for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3." The film is due in theaters Sept. 8, 2023.

DISNEY - From Variety:  Disney+ is adding Hulu content for a "one-app experience" to begin later this year.  The price for Disney+ will increase, also.

CANNES - From Deadline:  FilmNation is bringing is Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie to the Cannes film market.  Callas was a Greco-American opera singer (soprano) who was one of the most influential of the 20th century.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  NBC's "Night Court" reboot welcomes back actress Marsha Warfield, who starred as "Roz" in the original series.

SCANDAL - From CBSNews:  A federal jury in New York City found former President Donald Trump liable for battery (sexual abuse) and defamation in a civil trial stemming from allegations he raped the writer, E. Jean Carroll, in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.  She was awarded $5 million total in damages.

MOVIES - From Variety:  "Beetlejuice 2" is set for release September 6, 2024.  Original stars Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return.  Jenna Ortega, the star of Netflix's "Wednesday," will play the daughter of Ryder's character, "Lydia Deetz."

SCANDAL - From THR:  Marvel Studios star, Jonathan Majors ("Kang the Conqueror") appears in court virtually to answer the assault charges against his girlfriend from March 25th.

MOVIES/TRAILERS - From Variety:  Warners Bros. has released a trailer for "Met 2: The Trench," a sequel to the 2018 hit, "The Meg." Both films star Jason Statham.

AMAZON - From Deadline:  Amazon Studios has formed Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, which will license Amazon original and the MGM library to the international market.

BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro:  Th e winner of the 5/5 to 2/7/2023 weekend box office is Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" with an estimated total of 114 million dollars.

From Here:  A Negromancer movie review of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" by Leroy Douresseaux.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  CBS has uncancelled "S.W.A.T." The police drama will return for a seventh and final season.

From Deadline:  A surge in ratings could not save "S.W.A.T." from being cancelled by CBS.  The last episode of this current season (the 6th) will serve as the series finale.

OBIT:

From Variety:  The Spanish-born American graphic artist, Frank Kozik, has died at the age of 61, Saturday, May 6, 2023.  He designed the album cover art for Queens of the Stone Age's 1998 debut album, "Queens of the Stone Age" and for The Offspring's 1998 LP, "Americana."  He also designed concert posters for such musical acts as Butthole Surfers, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Soundgarden, to name a few.

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WRITERS STRIKE:

From Deadline:   President Joe Biden speaks on the Writers Guild of America strike.

From Deadline:  Retaliation! The studios have starting informing writer-producers who have "overall" and "first-look" deals that such deals are being suspended.

From Deadline:  Retaliation!  Prolific HBO creator, David Simon, who is best known for "The Wire," is one of the many writers who have had their overall deals suspended the studios due to the WGA strike.  Simon has been with HBO for 25 years.

From Deadline:  The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike.

From Deadline:  Disney, HBO/HBO Max, and CBS have sent letters to showrunners (the TV equivalent of film directors) instructing them to return to work, inspite of the writer's strike.

From Deadline:  The WGA's chief negotiator, Ellen Stutzman, talks about the state of the writers' strike, including the lack of engagement on the part of the strike's other party, AMPTP.

From Deadline:  What went wrong between the WGA and AMPTP? What could they not agree on that led to a strike?

From Deadline:  The site explains the WGA strike: the issues, the stakes, movies and TV shows affected, and how long it might last.

Review: Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" Remake Offers Good Performances

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Insomnia (2002)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some violence and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
WRITER: Hilary Seitz (based upon the screenplay by Nikolai Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjaerg)
PRODUCERS: Broderick Johnson, Paul Junger Witt, Andrew A. Kosove, and Edward L. McDonnell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dody Dorn

CRIME/THRILLER with elements of drama

Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Martin Donovan, Hilary Swank, Paul Dooley, Nicky Katt, and Maura Tierney

Christopher Nolan, the director of the fantastic Memento, follows his breakthrough masterpiece with Insomnia, a remake of a 1997 Swedish film of the same title. Which is better? One is foreign film, and the other is big budget Hollywood production; although the plot is basically the same, they’re two different films.

Al Pacino is Will Dormer, a famous and an acclaimed homicide investigator with books to his credit. He and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are dispatched to Nightmute, Alaska, a town where the sun doesn’t set during the summer, to investigate the shocking murder of teenage girl. While in pursuit of the killer (Robin Williams), Dormer makes a horrible mistake (which he later learns the killer witnessed) and he compounds his error by covering it up. Suddenly, Dormer engages himself in a terrific juggling act. He has to deal with the killer, a wily fellow. Also, a bright, young detective, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry), is assigned to investigate the crime scene of Dormer’s “error,” and there are stars in her eyes, as she’s a huge fan of his. Further complicating matters, the lead, local detective, Fred Duggar (Nicky Katt) is a young stud who doesn’t like the big city investigator sniffing around his territory.

Pacino is good, and Robin Williams is very good. The film seems to be about the invasion of the societal demands, influence, power, and roles into the personal space of individuals - what they believe and desire to be their roles, needs, and responsibilities. The constant flood of daylight causes Dormer to lose sleep, and the lack of sleep causes his world to blur. Suddenly, his desire to solve the case is in conflict with his checkered past, with his errors in judgment regarding this case, and with his sense of right and wrong and crime and punishment. Williams plays it quiet; his character’s conceit is his wish to control the outer world the way he controls and manipulates the inner worlds of his creativity. There’s a nice test of wills and battle of sanities between Pacino and Williams' characters that could have been lost in the glare of their star power – credit to Nolan for keeping these bright lights in check.

However, I really liked the supporting roles. Donovan’s Hap Eckhart is a nice counterweight to Pacino’s Dormer; Dormer’s high wattage as a famous investigator simply does not faze Eckhart, a by the book, straight laced cop. Donovan correctly plays the character so that Eckhart immediately reveals the cracks in Dormer’s armor, so we know that Dormer’s not so perfect even if that is the public perception of him. Nicky Katt stares Pacino in the eyes and doesn’t blink; his character Duggar keeps Dormer and check so that when Dormer runs amok, he doesn’t completely control the investigation, even if his activities complicates it.

Hilary Swank is all good. Her character Ellie, in a sense, mirrors the victim, except that she survives her mentor and might become a better policeman for it. Perhaps, she won’t be as famous, but her quality and honesty will likely surpass his. She’s the quiet wild card in this movie, and really, she’s the axis. In a world of shifting realities, half-truths, lies, and masks, she strips away the facades to reveal the bare bone facts.

While not great, Insomnia is better than a lot of hackneyed thrillers. Nolan continues to prove that he is already a great director on the strength of just a few films, and the photography by Wally Pfister (Nolan’s partner in crime on Memento), from the opening panorama to the claustrophobic interiors, is gorgeous and perfectly sets the tone. Besides Nolan’s work, this film is certainly worth seeing for its performances, which include one of Robin Williams’s less manic, but still good, performances.

6 of 10
B

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God, I Still Hate This Movie: Million Dollar Baby

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Running time: 137 minutes
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material, and language
DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood
WRITER: Paul Haggis (based upon short stories by F.X. Toole)
PRODUCERS: Clint Eastwood, Paul Haggis, Tom Rosenberg, and Albert S. Ruddy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tom Stern
EDITOR: Joel Cox
Academy Award winner including “Best Motion Picture of the Year”

DRAMA

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian (F.) O’Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Riki Lindhome, Michael Pena, and Benito Martinez

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a crusty boxing trainer with a rep as a great cut man (fixing bloody cuts, bruises, and orifices during fights). Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is in her early 30’s, and her boxing career has lasted because of her raw talent, unshakable focus, and tremendous force of will. Maggie shows up at Frankie’s gym one day and eventually asks him to train her, but he brushes her off because, as he tells her, she is too old and he doesn’t train girls. Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris (Morgan Freeman), Frankie’s longtime friend and the janitor/maintenance man of Frankie’s gym, encourages Maggie to chase her dream. Frankie managed Eddie in the distant past, and Eddie nudges Frankie towards training Maggie. Eventually, Maggie’s spirit and gutsy determination do win over Frankie, and he agrees to train her. They bond, and she rapidly climbs the ranks of women boxers. However, sudden tragedy strikes, and it will test the bond between a girl trying to replace her late, beloved father and a man left lonely by the estrangement of his only daughter.

I really didn’t connect with Million Dollar Baby. From the first frame, I knew that I wouldn’t care for or like this movie. Clint Eastwood’s performance has its moments, but I had to labor to find anything worth paying attention to beneath his gruff exterior, scowling, and gravelly voice. Sometimes, Eastwood’s best moments were quite and subtle – a glance, an expression, or stillness. It didn’t help that there were two raspy-voiced old men in the film. Morgan Freeman’s performance also alternated between flat and lukewarm. He has a few glorious moments (as when he teaches a lesson to an arrogant boxing trainee), but his voiceover reminded me of Harrison Ford’s listless and reluctant voiceover for Blade Runner. Freeman deserves an Oscar, and if he gets it for Million Dollar Baby, it will be a career achievement award because he doesn’t give an award-winning turn in Baby. [Freeman did go on to win an Oscar for this role.]

Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar for her leading role, is pretty good here. She gives a sense of solidness and realness to her gutsy hick girl character, but playing streetwise or common sense hayseeds seems her specialty. Her performance is more like a cakewalk than an achievement. She does, however, shine in the moments when she really has to bring the heat, as in the scene with Maggie’s family. Other than that, Ms. Swank is only a little above ordinary.

Million Dollar Baby is long and morbid, and it reeks of being one of those films made to get awards. In that vein, it reminds me of another overwrought Oscar-winner wannabe, The Hours from 2002. The script, by Emmy-winner Paul Haggis, is a bunch of re-cooked fairytales – the scrappy rural type that comes to the city to make it, the lost father finding redemption in a surrogate, and the wise old black man or (as Spike Lee says) Magical Negro. Eastwood doesn’t do a lot to make this really good, but his score for this film is very, very nice. That and a few other things make Million Dollar Baby decent enough to be a nice film to rent on DVD, but isn’t worthy of being a big award winner.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 4 wins – “Best Picture of the Year” (for which the Academy only recognizes Eastwood, Rosenberg, and Ruddy as producers), “Best Achievement in Directing,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Hilary Swank), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Morgan Freeman); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Editing,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published.”


2005 Golden Globes: 2 wins “Best Director – Motion Picture” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Hilary Swank); 3 nominations for “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood); “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” and (Morgan Freeman)