Reminder because in these days of eternally popping new content, important innovative ideas are old hat before most people have heard of, understood, or assessed them:
Netflix is on the predictable middle of the process of enshittification as explained in Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin’s CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM. Having established dominance they are now cannibalizing their competitors. When the competition is gone or neutralized they will then begin extracting as much as possible from their customers, and they are preparing that now.
Eventually we will have a hollow shell that exists only to hold the market space and to extract and pass on residuals to the shareholders
This movie is the weakest of the three: boring, doesn’t trust the audience and doesn’t give them much to play along with the whodunnit. Felt like watching a box-checking exercise.
Really enjoyed this one. I've seen a bevy of movies with the Man of Science/Logic and Man of Faith juxtaposition - honestly, I'm a sucker for these. But in this case, the paradigm isn't only about trying to explain a phenomenon. It gets stretched further...or in a different direction. The Man of Faith here differs from the Man of Logic, not because he is applying a supernatural explanation to a complicated question, but because he is not primarily concerned with the explanation (ie physical vs spiritual). He cares about the guilty and their prospect for forgiveness. Blanc, is of course, compelled by the desire to answer whodunnit? Or at least, until...well, I won't spoil anything.
Provides snarky remark that should the family want to gather around the TV on Christmas Day OKC and San Antonio are going to do it all over again at 1:30 Central Time. Absolute appointment television. Then Houston and the Lakers have the 7:00 game.
It serves the greedy NFL right that they may have 3 borderline meaningless games which could not have been predicted to start the season. (The Chiefs may need every win they can get.)
The Glass Onion movie dug such a deep black hole of shallow awfulness that I don't think I can continue the series. I'm so sick of this bullshit that everything has to be a franchise now then I'd rather down check a possibly ok movie on principle and spend my time watching something else new and different.
From Sonny Bunch "You can reveal the guilty but you cannot redeem them; that’s a choice they have to make for themselves." Yes, applies to politics, too? we loved the 3rd Knives Out movie, saw it at Alamo on Thanksgiving
Thanks for the review of the latest “Knives Out” murder mystery. I also don’t care for stereotyping people in films by social class, although truth be told, in my experience a “entitlement mentality” seems to inhabit the psyche’s of rich people more than poor folks, despite what you hear from right wing sources.
And Sonny, I share your concerns about the longterm viability of the theatre experience if very dominant streaming services come to distribute their product in anti-competitive ways. Isn’t this reminiscent of the famous antitrust case right after WW II where the theatre chains and studios were separated to avoid issues like a studio distributing their films only to the theatre chains they owned, and keeping other studios’ films our of their theaters? The Supreme Court’s decision ended the vertical integration of the studio system, and I hope todays antitrust authorities examine the acquisition of WB very carefully.
I’m fortunate to live in an urban area with a very nice “art theatre” nearby that has four screens, has a variety of film courses, and exhibits not only “art” films but classic films and current films like Oppenheimer and Nuremberg (but I generally prefer the classic films). And recently, when Eddie Muller came by our area with his film noir festival I discovered a new grand theatre about 25 miles away where the “czar of noir” was exhibiting his films. What a beautiful old theater with gorgeous architecture and a huge balcony. I hope these theaters don’t disappear. They give us a communal viewing experience…and nobody talks back to the screen!
Thanks for laying out the best case scenario for the WB sale. It give me a tiny bit of hope for the future of cinema. I wish that more content was available on discs though. And thanks for the review of "Wake Up, Dead Man". It will make a nice holiday palate cleanser between all of the college bowl games. ; )
I love reading mysteries and some TV adaptations and films are pretty good, like Dark Winds. Looking forward to this next installment in The Knives Out .... love Daniel Craig's portrayal of Benoit Blanc. I also love Andrew Scott. Your review made me queue it up!
I usually watch dramatic fims and series from the UK because I find Hollywood productions formulaic and predictable, but you had me at Daniel Craig, Andrew Scott, and Glenn Close.
As a lapsed Catholic boomer, I found Wake Up, Dead Man unexpectedly affecting. It had me very close to tears several times as it reminded me, as nothing has for the past forty or so years, just what faith can mean to someone who has it, or at least seeks it, in earnest. Plus, the acting returned to the fine balance the first one had achieved between scene chewing and genuine acting chops. That was lost a bit in Glass Onion. Plus, Daniel Craig played Benoit with a touch more authenticity and vulnerability this time in a way that, in conjunction with Josh O'Connor's terrific work as Father Duplenticy, also hit home with this aging male boomer. I did not have "aging gay Louisianan detective and young, formerly delinquent New York priest" on my bingo card for the buddy movie pair of the year.
Glass Onion is one of many from the pandemic era I felt needed one more pass on the script. It's still good, but much like the film "Babylon," it needed one more round of script edits to get it as tight and focused as it could be
Netflix's strategy isn't just to keep movies out of theaters. It's also to keep them off discs. You can buy a 4k bluray of the original Knives Out movie. But there doesn't appear to be a DVD, bluray, or 4k bluray of the sequel, Glass Onion, readily available. (Apparently there was a very limited number of blurays produced.) The only option is to stream it. Ugh.
They are not the only ones. I really like the FX Fargo series. And I have the first 3 seasons on disc. But seasons 4 and 5 are not available. It makes me sad.
Yeah an underreported element of this deal: what happens to WB’s disc-licensing. Their own releases, yes, but also the license deals with Criterion, Arrow, etc. (I think they’ve licensed some stuff to Arrow, not 100% sure on that.)
We are talking about the Trump Admin here, there aren't going to be any guarantees other than a guarantee that Trump somehow gets a piece of something, somewhere.
He's already declared, "I will be probably involved, maybe involved in the decision. It depends."
"Depends" is the name of an adult incontinence product, not of the prospects that he'll be yet again pissing on ethical and legal standards by involving himself in a business deal that should be absolutely none of his business, because he has a personal grievance against one of the entities that are included in the bill of sale. Thus making his participation (coughs, clears throat) paramount in him getting what he wants out of it: revenge, or revenue; or most likely both...
Reminder because in these days of eternally popping new content, important innovative ideas are old hat before most people have heard of, understood, or assessed them:
Netflix is on the predictable middle of the process of enshittification as explained in Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin’s CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM. Having established dominance they are now cannibalizing their competitors. When the competition is gone or neutralized they will then begin extracting as much as possible from their customers, and they are preparing that now.
Eventually we will have a hollow shell that exists only to hold the market space and to extract and pass on residuals to the shareholders
This movie is the weakest of the three: boring, doesn’t trust the audience and doesn’t give them much to play along with the whodunnit. Felt like watching a box-checking exercise.
Really enjoyed this one. I've seen a bevy of movies with the Man of Science/Logic and Man of Faith juxtaposition - honestly, I'm a sucker for these. But in this case, the paradigm isn't only about trying to explain a phenomenon. It gets stretched further...or in a different direction. The Man of Faith here differs from the Man of Logic, not because he is applying a supernatural explanation to a complicated question, but because he is not primarily concerned with the explanation (ie physical vs spiritual). He cares about the guilty and their prospect for forgiveness. Blanc, is of course, compelled by the desire to answer whodunnit? Or at least, until...well, I won't spoil anything.
Hadn't seen that approach before.
Provides snarky remark that should the family want to gather around the TV on Christmas Day OKC and San Antonio are going to do it all over again at 1:30 Central Time. Absolute appointment television. Then Houston and the Lakers have the 7:00 game.
It serves the greedy NFL right that they may have 3 borderline meaningless games which could not have been predicted to start the season. (The Chiefs may need every win they can get.)
Update: Chiefs eliminated
The Glass Onion movie dug such a deep black hole of shallow awfulness that I don't think I can continue the series. I'm so sick of this bullshit that everything has to be a franchise now then I'd rather down check a possibly ok movie on principle and spend my time watching something else new and different.
Wake Up, Dead Man surpasses The Glass Onion is shallow awfulness. It was annoying beyond imagining.
From Sonny Bunch "You can reveal the guilty but you cannot redeem them; that’s a choice they have to make for themselves." Yes, applies to politics, too? we loved the 3rd Knives Out movie, saw it at Alamo on Thanksgiving
Thanks for the review of the latest “Knives Out” murder mystery. I also don’t care for stereotyping people in films by social class, although truth be told, in my experience a “entitlement mentality” seems to inhabit the psyche’s of rich people more than poor folks, despite what you hear from right wing sources.
And Sonny, I share your concerns about the longterm viability of the theatre experience if very dominant streaming services come to distribute their product in anti-competitive ways. Isn’t this reminiscent of the famous antitrust case right after WW II where the theatre chains and studios were separated to avoid issues like a studio distributing their films only to the theatre chains they owned, and keeping other studios’ films our of their theaters? The Supreme Court’s decision ended the vertical integration of the studio system, and I hope todays antitrust authorities examine the acquisition of WB very carefully.
I’m fortunate to live in an urban area with a very nice “art theatre” nearby that has four screens, has a variety of film courses, and exhibits not only “art” films but classic films and current films like Oppenheimer and Nuremberg (but I generally prefer the classic films). And recently, when Eddie Muller came by our area with his film noir festival I discovered a new grand theatre about 25 miles away where the “czar of noir” was exhibiting his films. What a beautiful old theater with gorgeous architecture and a huge balcony. I hope these theaters don’t disappear. They give us a communal viewing experience…and nobody talks back to the screen!
I'm still waiting for a DVD or Blu-Ray release of the ONLY season of AMC's Rubicon...
For first time I guessed the perpetrator in a "Knives Out" movie. But I didn't know the "hows" until the end.
Thanks for laying out the best case scenario for the WB sale. It give me a tiny bit of hope for the future of cinema. I wish that more content was available on discs though. And thanks for the review of "Wake Up, Dead Man". It will make a nice holiday palate cleanser between all of the college bowl games. ; )
My first good laugh from Wake Up, Dead Man came when Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) says, "My last chance ticket out of Substack hell...."
I love reading mysteries and some TV adaptations and films are pretty good, like Dark Winds. Looking forward to this next installment in The Knives Out .... love Daniel Craig's portrayal of Benoit Blanc. I also love Andrew Scott. Your review made me queue it up!
I usually watch dramatic fims and series from the UK because I find Hollywood productions formulaic and predictable, but you had me at Daniel Craig, Andrew Scott, and Glenn Close.
As a lapsed Catholic boomer, I found Wake Up, Dead Man unexpectedly affecting. It had me very close to tears several times as it reminded me, as nothing has for the past forty or so years, just what faith can mean to someone who has it, or at least seeks it, in earnest. Plus, the acting returned to the fine balance the first one had achieved between scene chewing and genuine acting chops. That was lost a bit in Glass Onion. Plus, Daniel Craig played Benoit with a touch more authenticity and vulnerability this time in a way that, in conjunction with Josh O'Connor's terrific work as Father Duplenticy, also hit home with this aging male boomer. I did not have "aging gay Louisianan detective and young, formerly delinquent New York priest" on my bingo card for the buddy movie pair of the year.
Glass Onion is one of many from the pandemic era I felt needed one more pass on the script. It's still good, but much like the film "Babylon," it needed one more round of script edits to get it as tight and focused as it could be
Netflix's strategy isn't just to keep movies out of theaters. It's also to keep them off discs. You can buy a 4k bluray of the original Knives Out movie. But there doesn't appear to be a DVD, bluray, or 4k bluray of the sequel, Glass Onion, readily available. (Apparently there was a very limited number of blurays produced.) The only option is to stream it. Ugh.
The only LEGAL option. (cough, cough)
They are not the only ones. I really like the FX Fargo series. And I have the first 3 seasons on disc. But seasons 4 and 5 are not available. It makes me sad.
Yeah an underreported element of this deal: what happens to WB’s disc-licensing. Their own releases, yes, but also the license deals with Criterion, Arrow, etc. (I think they’ve licensed some stuff to Arrow, not 100% sure on that.)
We are talking about the Trump Admin here, there aren't going to be any guarantees other than a guarantee that Trump somehow gets a piece of something, somewhere.
He's already declared, "I will be probably involved, maybe involved in the decision. It depends."
"Depends" is the name of an adult incontinence product, not of the prospects that he'll be yet again pissing on ethical and legal standards by involving himself in a business deal that should be absolutely none of his business, because he has a personal grievance against one of the entities that are included in the bill of sale. Thus making his participation (coughs, clears throat) paramount in him getting what he wants out of it: revenge, or revenue; or most likely both...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-cnn-should-be-sold-as-part-of-any-warner-bros-deal/ar-AA1S6Ye2?ocid=BingNewsSerp