I appreciate this piece. Watched Ballad of a Small Player tonight based on this recommendation and am glad I did. I find your work most useful when it steers me to good movies with low Rotten Tomato scores (e.g. After the Hunt) or genre films that normally wouldn’t interest me (yes, Predator: Badlands). I am likely to find I like things you liked that RT didn’t. Can’t say that about any film critic since Roger Ebert died.
There is no art to baccarat. It is a game based entirely on luck. That may even be the point. This character who is all artifice walks a tightrope where his shoddily constructed identity can be unmasked in a moment. He has no skill but is willing to risk everything on the desperate chance that luck will favor him.
Thank you so much! I read your complete post and will certainly go to see them. Others have articulated better the problem with trying to see dramas in “real” theaters. Don’t know if it is a similar problem in Europe. My Swiss brother in law never goes “to the cinema”. My husband and I love going, also like the streaming services. Agree about the audio with streaming. I do like discovering films on Netflix, etc. Watching a small, French film now on Netflix.
I saw Ballad of a Small Player and really appreciated it, and I liked it. I just listened to your pod with the author about the movie, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". I would love to go back and watch older movies, and I'm always watching out for new independent movies at my local independent theaters. I'd like to know how to get a hold of them to watch them. I know Sonny mentioned that he purchased "The Man...Liberty Valance", and watched it in 4K, but I am not sure how that works. Sorry for the dumb question, but aside from Bend OR, there are no Blockbusters anymore.
Sonny's right: we no longer care about "grown up" movies. Can you imagine something like almost any Cassavetes film, say, "A Woman Under the Influence" getting made and shown in theaters today? I didn't think so. Although even in his day, his movies were not for sissies. That said, Colin Farrell started out much too pretty, and so was assigned to films best suited to too-good looking men.
But lately, wow. His performance in the Inisherin film with Brendan Gleeson- that was an actor. Farrell may be turning out to be one of those guys whose looks had to fade a bit, to finally land roles demanding talent, that, probably was always there. But not allowed to shine until a little age, weariness and wear- now on the face. And the related emotions allowed to emanate from regions within. I'll certainly be tuning in to the "Small player" on NF.
I find that the audio on streaming has been so compressed and mangled that I constantly have to adjust the volume because it goes from way too loud to way too quiet. Never have that issue in a theater. But sadly, most good films are "blink and they're gone" from the theaters. It must be so frustrating for all of the sound engineers and other techs who work so hard to get the best sound for a film, only to have their hard work destroyed in the streaming process.
Just another aspect of the degradation of our culture. It’s incredibly sad. Hopefully the billions they make from all the schlock will continue to fund at least some good movies. Blue Moon is excellent.
I read you every Friday !! Regardless.But while I have you,I just watched Eddington last time on HBO... HELP!! WTF was that all about.Was it the dumbest movie EVER or do I just lack the sophiscation??
I read all of the posts and reviews and see none of the movies in theatre or streaming. Oh well, blame the schools that forced me to be literate and the pandemic which killed my interest in watching things.
We live in a small rural city (~40k) with a Regal, which is the only game in town. We rarely get these sorts of movies. If we do they are 1) not advertised in advance 2) typically only for a weekend and 3) time share a screen with other movies meaning that there’s even fewer available viewings than normal. It’s a self defeating cycle. Having finally hunted down the trailers after hearing about how poorly the opening weekend went, we would have seen both Christy and Die My Love but neither is available anymore days after opening, if they were available at all. Wicked on the other hand has posters, trailers being pushed to me via multiple platforms, and is in heavy trailer rotation.
Thank you for brining this up! This was my experience in the last two towns I lived in. I remember being frustrated when Silence played for like one week a town over, and the Banshees of Inishiren didn't play at all.
Dramas were always the type of movie I never "planned" on seeing or went to in a big group outing. I would just go sort of spur of the moment by myself or with a buddy on a rainy afternoon or Dark evening November-February. But when these movies play twice a day for like two weeks, I just don't make it, it's really frustrating.
People turned out to watch Oppenheimer, which is about as talk-y a three hour movie can be. But I was able to go because it was playing on three screens of my local theater for weeks on end!
I agree with others who say the time at a movie theater is too short.
I wanted to see the Springsteen movie and it was only in local theaters a week . There were a few limited show times after that but pretty late start times and not during the day.
The new Wicked movie will probably be around a while but movies these days don't stay long enough to build an audience or are poorly promoted.
It's sad. But I do run across these types of films on streaming. I know nothing about them. But nothing else is on and I think, "Why not. I can always turn off". By the time the film ends I'm excited and wonder how I never heard about this film (though, I probably did here at the Bulwark...lol).
Availability outside the coast is also an issue. I very much wanted to see Kiss of the Spider Woman in the theater but missed it because I didn't go in the first week.And i'm dying to see Blue Moon right now, but it's not playing anywhere within forty miles of me. (upstate NY)
i think the other thing is that for a lot of people, if they're going to go to the trouble of going to a theater, they want to have fun and be entertained. regardless of the quality of these drama films, i don't think most people would call most of them "feel good" movies. i think that also goes into how some people started to call MCU films less "movies" and more "amusement park rides"
I read your entire post-and I am one of those who have not seen a movie in a theater for probably five years. Thank you for writing about these movies.
I appreciate this piece. Watched Ballad of a Small Player tonight based on this recommendation and am glad I did. I find your work most useful when it steers me to good movies with low Rotten Tomato scores (e.g. After the Hunt) or genre films that normally wouldn’t interest me (yes, Predator: Badlands). I am likely to find I like things you liked that RT didn’t. Can’t say that about any film critic since Roger Ebert died.
There is no art to baccarat. It is a game based entirely on luck. That may even be the point. This character who is all artifice walks a tightrope where his shoddily constructed identity can be unmasked in a moment. He has no skill but is willing to risk everything on the desperate chance that luck will favor him.
Thank you so much! I read your complete post and will certainly go to see them. Others have articulated better the problem with trying to see dramas in “real” theaters. Don’t know if it is a similar problem in Europe. My Swiss brother in law never goes “to the cinema”. My husband and I love going, also like the streaming services. Agree about the audio with streaming. I do like discovering films on Netflix, etc. Watching a small, French film now on Netflix.
I saw Ballad of a Small Player and really appreciated it, and I liked it. I just listened to your pod with the author about the movie, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". I would love to go back and watch older movies, and I'm always watching out for new independent movies at my local independent theaters. I'd like to know how to get a hold of them to watch them. I know Sonny mentioned that he purchased "The Man...Liberty Valance", and watched it in 4K, but I am not sure how that works. Sorry for the dumb question, but aside from Bend OR, there are no Blockbusters anymore.
Sonny's right: we no longer care about "grown up" movies. Can you imagine something like almost any Cassavetes film, say, "A Woman Under the Influence" getting made and shown in theaters today? I didn't think so. Although even in his day, his movies were not for sissies. That said, Colin Farrell started out much too pretty, and so was assigned to films best suited to too-good looking men.
But lately, wow. His performance in the Inisherin film with Brendan Gleeson- that was an actor. Farrell may be turning out to be one of those guys whose looks had to fade a bit, to finally land roles demanding talent, that, probably was always there. But not allowed to shine until a little age, weariness and wear- now on the face. And the related emotions allowed to emanate from regions within. I'll certainly be tuning in to the "Small player" on NF.
I find that the audio on streaming has been so compressed and mangled that I constantly have to adjust the volume because it goes from way too loud to way too quiet. Never have that issue in a theater. But sadly, most good films are "blink and they're gone" from the theaters. It must be so frustrating for all of the sound engineers and other techs who work so hard to get the best sound for a film, only to have their hard work destroyed in the streaming process.
Just another aspect of the degradation of our culture. It’s incredibly sad. Hopefully the billions they make from all the schlock will continue to fund at least some good movies. Blue Moon is excellent.
Sonny,
I read you every Friday !! Regardless.But while I have you,I just watched Eddington last time on HBO... HELP!! WTF was that all about.Was it the dumbest movie EVER or do I just lack the sophiscation??
But here it was the cast that did pull me in .
I read all of the posts and reviews and see none of the movies in theatre or streaming. Oh well, blame the schools that forced me to be literate and the pandemic which killed my interest in watching things.
I must be weird. I read this newsletter from start to finish and quite enjoyed it.
We live in a small rural city (~40k) with a Regal, which is the only game in town. We rarely get these sorts of movies. If we do they are 1) not advertised in advance 2) typically only for a weekend and 3) time share a screen with other movies meaning that there’s even fewer available viewings than normal. It’s a self defeating cycle. Having finally hunted down the trailers after hearing about how poorly the opening weekend went, we would have seen both Christy and Die My Love but neither is available anymore days after opening, if they were available at all. Wicked on the other hand has posters, trailers being pushed to me via multiple platforms, and is in heavy trailer rotation.
Thank you for brining this up! This was my experience in the last two towns I lived in. I remember being frustrated when Silence played for like one week a town over, and the Banshees of Inishiren didn't play at all.
Dramas were always the type of movie I never "planned" on seeing or went to in a big group outing. I would just go sort of spur of the moment by myself or with a buddy on a rainy afternoon or Dark evening November-February. But when these movies play twice a day for like two weeks, I just don't make it, it's really frustrating.
People turned out to watch Oppenheimer, which is about as talk-y a three hour movie can be. But I was able to go because it was playing on three screens of my local theater for weeks on end!
I agree with others who say the time at a movie theater is too short.
I wanted to see the Springsteen movie and it was only in local theaters a week . There were a few limited show times after that but pretty late start times and not during the day.
The new Wicked movie will probably be around a while but movies these days don't stay long enough to build an audience or are poorly promoted.
It's sad. But I do run across these types of films on streaming. I know nothing about them. But nothing else is on and I think, "Why not. I can always turn off". By the time the film ends I'm excited and wonder how I never heard about this film (though, I probably did here at the Bulwark...lol).
Availability outside the coast is also an issue. I very much wanted to see Kiss of the Spider Woman in the theater but missed it because I didn't go in the first week.And i'm dying to see Blue Moon right now, but it's not playing anywhere within forty miles of me. (upstate NY)
i think the other thing is that for a lot of people, if they're going to go to the trouble of going to a theater, they want to have fun and be entertained. regardless of the quality of these drama films, i don't think most people would call most of them "feel good" movies. i think that also goes into how some people started to call MCU films less "movies" and more "amusement park rides"
I read your entire post-and I am one of those who have not seen a movie in a theater for probably five years. Thank you for writing about these movies.