Han Solo, Kevin Smith, Collider, and Cinema versus Fads

The target audience for movies may be those 15 to 35, and supposedly mostly males. But even though there have been advances in cinema, there is no calmative reserve of cinematic knowledge built up and shared with each generation of filmmakers. One might expect that the wealth of movie-making experimentation has added up to something for which there is a consensus, but somehow it is controversial for one to say that the director most fluent in screen grammar is Mr. Steven Spielberg. There is what might be considered a "punk" sensibility that could include the Dogme '95 fad, as well as The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity, where actually having a vision as to camera placement and sequence of shots becomes irrelevant. Some will call this "cutting edge" and others will call it hackery, an effective way to disguise having no observable talent in directing the attention of the audience. *************************************************************************************** One battlefield for this argument may be the firing of Lord and Miller as directors of the young Han Solo movie at the behest of co-writer Lawrence Kasdan and producer Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm. Various youtubers and other outlets on the internet have played up the issue of youth versus the old guard in a fit of age-ism. Josh Trank was the first head scratcher of a choice to direct a Star Wars stand-alone film, because his one breakthrough film was a mostly hand-held quazi-documentary style film Chronicle with a strong script by Max Landis; it seemed odd that this would stand as evidence that he fit the Star Wars groove. Then his reported uncommunicative behavior on Fantastic Four led to his dismissal from the Lucasfilm gig. Some fans breathed a sign of relief, even though the directing of Fantastic Four - taken on its own merit, apart from fan expectations of the content - is reassuring and steady for the most part and not ramshackle. His breakthrough had been a viral short called A stabbing at Leia's 22nd Birthday, so that must have put him on Lucasfilm's radar. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^********************************* The youth versus old guard spin is false. Watch the 22 Jump Street making of extras and you see the loose approach of Miller and Lord. This agitated me when they got the gig. Kasdan is the draw and the reassurance. If he conceded to those directors, his name would be a false label. If he removed his name and that of his son, it would hurt Kennedy and Lucasfilm unjustly. Recruiting a Josh Trank or Miller/Lord is marketing. Having Kasdan is creative DNA. If you have handed in a great script (one worth shooting), and the apparent writing is the one effort through which you will be judged, you want directors who DIRECT THE AUDIENCE with appropriate shot choices that bring it to life. To that end, the visual stylists should be at the top of the list, not those who are mainly known for shooting generic coverage recording improv. THAT should be the issue. I like the actors in a Christopher Guest movie or Anchorman and I laugh at those, and even the Jump Street movies are amusing, but that isn't cinema. Some people feel if a movie is Star Wars or super heroes or action adventure or horror it is trash -- but on the contrary that is where the BEST directors are NEEDED. They aren't needed for hand-held weepy social issue movies which will get awards for choice of subject matter anyway. If you are worried about not enough women or two many whites, put Iranian director Ana Lily Armirpour on a Star Wars. She has the right attitude. She prefers Zemeckis over Jarmush, and that bodes well. If a director or actor can't have faith in a screenplay, their priorities may be out of whack. There DOES have to be a side to take in this. Kennedy and Kasdan want to make a Star Wars movie, not a 22 Jump Street in Star Wars drag. ###################################################################################### There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. Especially the larger the family. When that family fills an entire hall, or has a large internet reach, there tends to be compromise. There is no such thing as truth for the whole family, at least the honest conveyance of it, using the same principles. Larger the family, the more watered down or obligatory-positive it may have to be. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// As a fan of pre-podcast Kevin Smith, I hate to use him as an example even if it makes a point but ultimately there may even be people on Collider panels and other loud, gesticulating youtubers I do like and listen to despite my pet peeves. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Are people clicking on the latest blog or v-log or discussion to glean some sort of information, or merely to feed the algorithms affirmative data? Insert loud, high-energy greeting here, followed by personal updates on anyone involved as if it is necessary to know their personal habits and not merely to pad the running time and create a false rapport with the viewer. ****************************************************************** There have been a few times when I felt waves of utter falseness from the youtube facade of Kevin Smith. 1/ He fully embraced the GhostBros canard and the Sony-inflated stats on how many detractors rejected the 2016 Ghostbusters remake merely out of sexism. 2/ When some advanced screenings for Wonder Women were promoted as being just for female fans, Kevin jumped on the band wagon of scolding male fans who supposedly complained of being excluded. 3/ When Chris Lord and Phil Miller were fired by Lucasfilm from the Han Solo movie, Kevin and his co-host Mark totally missed the point and spent most of the segment praising those directors. Maybe being an insider and not wanting to lose a job or alienate those directly involved counts against being blunt. An internet presence is not just an end to itself but a platform of cross promotion. So maybe it would not be savvy to say that Paul Feig was naive in thinking the continuity of Ghostbusters would not matter and that hitting re-set would be just fine, and maybe there was half a second where some kids on twitter had their complaints artificially elevated and inflated by a marketing bot before the fast majority of us fanboys found out way to the opening weekend of Wonder Woman and got in just fine. And maybe there are people who value the choice of post-modern directors who are more about letting actors interject alternate variations on a script. ************************************************************************************************************** Maybe Lawrence Kasdan and writers in general should just accept the arbitrary vision of directors who bring to the table merely a willingness to goof on the material and riff on it rather than take it as read and get down to visualizing it and knowing how to use the frame to direct our attention withing the content that has been provided. Maybe Kevin has more of a kinship for a Feig or the Lord and Miller approach, which appears to be awfully loose as shown in behind the scenes DVD extras for 22 Jump Street. Mark had a funny line where he said, "Maybe there is a world where Lawence Kasdan is the draw getting people pumped for the Han movie." D'ya think?!!! The Kasdan hand in it is the only draw for me. When I heard Lord and Miller had been chosen as directors, of course I thought they must have to appease the ageist internet as if the "new" way to "direct" a movie is what we all need. If it is Jump Street in Star Wars drag, it will be a disaster. And we all knew that from the... jump. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It is one thing for a director to recognize a flawed script and help guide it, but quite another for the director to have nothing much to offer other than input on the script. Because once THE definitive screenplay is done and approved by all, the team is going to need an actual director to do the directing. Someone might be a presence that puts an improv motor-mouth actor at ease, but it should be called what it is. There are some fun-loving sets full of writers posing as actors instead of bringing to life a fine-tuned script. Riffing and joke-o-rama sessions don't engage the heart and give it flight, let alone embellish a galaxy far, far away. ************************************************************************************************************** A Lord and Miller or a Paul Feig will keep getting work as long as people like them and maintain friendship with them. But it won't be prompted by their stellar instincts of how to present a scene. My GOD! Is Star Wars an entry-level job? Or Ghostbusters? What if Paul Verhoven directed a Han Solo movie? It would be properly storyborded by his own hand and every shot would count. Why isn't there more discussion and appreciation for the actual DIRECTING? ************************************************************************************************************** When people say a director is a "genius," look at who is saying it. An actor who gets to improvise or make up the script completely or just wander wherever he/she wants and lets the camera catch up may consider the director a genius. "He says nothing," they typically say of "actor's directors." A cinematographer who is essentially a de facto co-director conceiving many of the shots will consider the director a genius for having not intruded actual direction. The writer who sees the complete script verbatim brought to live with no ideas from the director will sing the praises of the director. The director who is actually the producer and makes all the calls and raises the money and gets distribution deals is the kind of director a producer might be delighted to honor by adding their own name as producer to be along for the ride. That's the one area where the director with little or no talent might have to do something: to do the producer's job. But in most all other areas, the less creativity the director contributes, the more his or her reputation as a co-operative genius well liked by others will be secured. ************************************************************************************************************** This of course doesn't help those of us who are writer-directors who like to storyboard everything and know the movie we are setting out to make. We might get stuck having to take on the other jobs because we are "difficult." ************************************************************************************************************** Great to learn trickles of information that the star of Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich was the first to complain about the directors going off the rails with their "vision" which included "Ace Ventura" wacky directing, which indeed sounds like a career-killer. This takes Kennedy and Kasdan off of the hotseat as top-down bosses. It also supports the view many of us have (okay, a small minority of us) that Miller/Lord is a far cry from the Cohen Brothers or even Farrelly brothers in terms of expressing an artistic voice to cherish, nurture and protect. It is odd to see that the imdb page already has Rob Howard listed ALONE as the director of the Han film, regardless of who shot first. *************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Child Brides | June 14, 2017 Part 2 | Full Frontal on TBS

It seems like such an avoidable problem. A kid shouldn't be able to get married, and (though I hate abortion) a little girl should not be able to go full term. The law should claim on grounds of size there is too much risk to the life of the pregnant girl. The fetus should routinely be tested against the DNA of the male and he should go away to prison on that evidence.