Weekend Thread - Actuals: H&S 25.3, Scary Stories 20.9, TLK 20.2, Dora 17.4, OUATIH 11.6, Racing in Rain 8.1, Kitchen 5.5

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, Thanos Legion said:

Why not? If you lack so much faith in your movie that you aren’t willing to be saddled between a 300 DOM and a 200 film like a month apart, I feel like you shouldn’t have made that movie in the first place because that’s honestly some pretty tame competition.

$200M-300M are really heavy competition heh.

 

But nothing will move (probably) since most movies are too locked into their release dates now to move up. 

[JB33]

Just now, Thanos Legion said:

Why not? If you lack so much faith in your movie that you aren’t willing to be saddled between a 300 DOM and a 200 film like a month apart, I feel like you shouldn’t have made that movie in the first place because that’s honestly some pretty tame competition.

Agreed. It seems like studios have TOO much respect for franchise films, which is why we're getting schedules like this year. Sure, September kicks off with the sure-hit IT 2 but there's plenty of breathing room during the rest of the month for more films to do well. With the cancellation of The Hunt, only FIVE more wide releases are slated in September after IT 2. Come on now. It's like it's Endgame. IT 2 is going to be big but it's not going to swallow up the entire month.

[JB33]

6 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

Ad Astra could break out. 

Of course it could, and more could break out too. That's my point. September can fit more than just...

 

The Goldfinch

Hustlers

Ad Astra

Rambo: Last Blood

Abominable

 

...after IT 2.

 

I repeat: if they're ready, I think some films can be subtracted from the absolute glut of small to mid-size releases in November and moved to September.

 

 

[Porthos]

Just now, JB33 said:

What do you think of the decision to cancel the release @Porthos?

I think its dumb and stupid for multiple reasons.

 

First off, by the time the film came out (late Sep), the controversy of the latest rash of gun violence would have subsided (yes, I know there is the possibility for more mass murders in the meantime).

 

I am... Rarely in favor of knee-jerk cancellation/postponement of these sorts of things as I think it gives far too little credit to actual moviegoers/TV viewers.  Not like this is a new thing, as it dates back all the way to the reaction to the Columbine murders.

 

Secondly, it is an undeniable fact that certain bad-faith actors in the political sphere had suddenly made this film a cause célèbre, and they're gonna get emboldened by this.

 

Now one shouldn't take the reactions of the Acting in Bad Faith Brigade completely when making decisions.  In fact, one should try to ignore them as much as possible. 

 

But if it turns out that Universal got spooked by Trump and Fox News ratcheting up the noise and deciding to just punt the movie in a straw that broke the camel's back sort of way?  Just a bad signal to send, even if it is unintended.

 

And that's not even getting into the artistic merit debate at all.

 

So, in summary:  It's shortsighted, gives far too little credit to the GA, and encourages all the wrong sorts of folks.

[filmlover]

4 minutes ago, JB33 said:

Of course it could, and more could break out too. That's my point. September can fit more than just...

 

The Goldfinch

Hustlers

Ad Astra

Rambo: Last Blood

Abominable

 

...after IT 2.

 

I repeat: if they're ready, I think some films can be subtracted from the absolute glut of small to mid-size releases in November and moved to September.

 

 

Problem with that is that it's such short notice and people's schedules are locked in as to when they're filming other projects and won't have time for premieres/promo. It's why moving back is easier than moving forward.

[JB33]

Just now, filmlover said:

Problem with that is that it's such short notice and people's schedules are locked in as to when they're filming other projects and won't have time for premieres/promo. It's why moving back is easier than moving forward.

Good point. Films moving forward rarely happens, unless it's by a week or something. Ah well, what can you do?

[charlie Jatinder]

Can we just skip to November already. I hate summer.

[JB33]

1 minute ago, Charlie Jatinder said:

Can we just skip to November already. I hate summer.

Good God, I thought I was the only one!

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

1 hour ago, TalismanRing said:

Absolutes about acting are ridiculous - most actors use a combination of skills and theories and there's not even one way to do or school of Method.

 

A few points:

 

Method - as a movie acting trend in America - you're off by a couple of decades - began in the 1950s-  The Actor's Studio, Strassberg, Adler - Montgomery Clift, Brando, Newman, Geraldine Page, Julie Harris etc

 

The Drama Center - UK - Method (one of several but the first and most well known).  Some alumni

 

DDL (Extreme method actor) - A Room with a View - Comedy. 

 

Drama Centre uses psychophysical techniques. They work with LMA, tempo rhythm and physical centres and have for a long time. LeCoq is infused throughout their entire first year. It isn't "method" in the least. Simply looking at the Wiki page will tell you that the whole philosophy there is based on active analysis. 

 

There is not a single Drama School in the UK that employs or teaches method acting. Not one. 

 

I didn't make any claim about when the Method was popular in the states. I just named a few actors who erroneously are associated with being 'Method' when in fact they were mostly drawing from Adler - who isn't Method and is only vaguely associated as so because she also taught at the actor's studio - and from Michael Chekhov.

 

"Not one way or school of method" - True. But there is defined terms of what "method" is. Using emotion and objectival work to generate behaviour is "method", contrasted with psychophysical performance/method of physical actions/active analysis which is using behaviour and objectival work to generate emotion.

 

Method acting is inextricably linked with Lee Strasberg, whose methods did/have done considerable damage to the quality of US acting in spite of Adler, Meisner and the other actual greats of US acting training.

 

Some people like DDL have made a version of method work for them. Very, very rare and - as with DDL's case - usually a home-brewed version of it following training in another area.

 

Room With a View is a naturalistic very light comedy. Not broad or gestic. Same skill set. 

 

And as for absolutes about acting being ridiculous - I agree! That's why Strasbergian Method acting is so bad. It is an all-encompassing approach to characterisation based on vague approximation and narcissism.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[Legion Again]

36 minutes ago, filmlover said:

$200M-300M are really heavy competition heh.

 

But nothing will move (probably) since most movies are too locked into their release dates now to move up. 

300 is getting decent, but 200 isn’t big competition. That’s a medium sized movie. Looking at teens by the 3rd weekend. 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Just last year, Universal lived through First Man being derailed as "unpatriotic" despite showing American flags eleventy hundred times throughout  (including on the moon) and clearly calling the space program an American achievement. They could probably see the writing on the wall with The Hunt between the Fox News attacks and the likelihood of more mass shootings making the movie difficult to advertise if not impossible. What was the tracking? If it was not great anyway, maybe Universal decided navigating the PR headaches and risking Russian hackers being sicced on them a la Sony was not worth it.

 

What else might move to its slot right fast?

[TalismanRing]

1 minute ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

Drama Centre uses psychophysical techniques. They work with LMA, tempo rhythm and physical centres and have for a long time. LeCoq is infused throughout their entire first year.

 

I didn't make any claim about when the Method was popular in the states. I just named a few actors who erroneously are associated with being 'Method' when in fact they were mostly drawing from Adler - who isn't Method and is only vaguely associated as so because she also taught at the actor's studio.

 

Method acting is inextricably linked with Lee Strasberg, whose methods did/have done considerable damage to the quality of US acting in spite of Adler, Meisner and the other actual greats of US acting training.

 

Some people like DDL have made a version of method work for them. Very, very rare and - as with DDL's case - usually a home-brewed version of it following training in another area.

 

Room With a View is a naturalistic very light comedy. Not broad or gestic. Same skill set. 

  

Method acting starts with Stanislavski.   Drama Center is Stanislavski based along with Vakhtangov and Malmgren teachings.  You claimed Method wasn't taught in the UK.   It is.

 

The damage Strassberg did to American acting.  Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Julie Harris, Montgomery Clift, Geraldine Page -  oh the horror their bad acting inflicted on the cinema.

 

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

7 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

Method acting starts with Stanislavski.   Drama Center is Stanislavski based along with Vakhtangov and Malmgren teachings.  You claimed Method wasn't taught in the UK.   It is.

 

The damage Strassberg did to American acting.  Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Julie Harris, Montgomery Clift, Geraldine Page -  oh the horror their bad acting inflicted on the cinema.

 

 

Method Acting doesn't start with Stanislavski. If you define Stanislavski as "Method Acting" then the term is interchangeable with "naturalistic acting" - nobody who learns naturalistic acting doesn't use him as a platform as far as I'm aware so it would render the term useless.

 

Stanislavski has two branches: method acting and method of physical actions. He himself shifted from the former to the latter of the course of his life, moving away from the magic 'if'/emotional memory formats that is the basis of "The Method" and towards psychophyscial approaches of the type taught at The Actor's Centre.

 

The former supposes that one can use emotion and objectival thought to generate behaviour. This is what Strasberg taught. This is what 'Method' Acting was popularised as and is still taught as a viable method - thankfully to a lesser degree nowadays - in the US. 

 

The latter supposes to use behaviour and objectival thought to generate emotion, as a means to generate larger scale behaviour. This is what Adler tought, and is what is taught in the UK. 

 

And those actors all studied under Stella Adler as well.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[TalismanRing]

12 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

Method Acting doesn't start with Stanislavski. If you define Stanislavski as "Method Acting" then the term is interchangeable with "naturalistic acting" - nobody who learns naturalistic acting doesn't use him as a platform as far as I'm aware so it would render the term useless.

 

Stanislavski has two branches: method acting and method of physical actions. He himself shifted from the former to the latter of the course of his life, moving away from the magic 'if'/emotional memory formats that is the basis of "The Method" and towards psychophyscial approaches of the type taught at The Actor's Centre.

 

The former supposes that one can use emotion and objectival thought to generate behaviour. This is what Strasberg taught. This is what 'Method' Acting was popularised as and is still taught as a viable method - thankfully to a lesser degree nowadays - in the US. 

 

The latter supposes to use behaviour and objectival thought to generate emotion, as a means to generate larger scale behaviour. This is what Adler tought, and is what is taught in the UK. 

 

And those actors all studied under Stella Adler as well.

 

You're changing the goal posts all over the place if you're denying Method acting started with Stanislavsky.  That Method branched out and or evolved from there and was taught and interpreted differently does not negate where it first originated, nor does it change that it's taught in various forms.  To deny The Drama Center teaches Method when it was proclaimed as the first school in the UK to teach Method is ridiculous.  Again, most actors draw from multiple sources and approaches, and usually latch on to what works best for them as an individual or what works best for a certain role.  It's rarely so dogmatic as you're proclaiming.

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by TalismanRing

[filmlover]

28 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

Just last year, Universal lived through First Man being derailed as "unpatriotic" despite showing American flags eleventy hundred times throughout  (including on the moon) and clearly calling the space program an American achievement. They could probably see the writing on the wall with The Hunt between the Fox News attacks and the likelihood of more mass shootings making the movie difficult to advertise if not impossible. What was the tracking? If it was not great anyway, maybe Universal decided navigating the PR headaches and risking Russian hackers being sicced on them a la Sony was not worth it.

 

What else might move to its slot right fast?

Nothing, in all likelihood, since everything set for the next two months is pretty much locked in. Universal already has a movie on that date (DreamWorks Animation's Abominable) anyway.

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

22 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

 

You're changing the goal posts all over the place if you're denying Method acting started with Stanislavsky.  That Method branched out and or evolved from there and was taught and interpreted differently does not negate where it first originated, nor does it change that it's taught in various forms.  To deny The Drama Center teaches Method when it was proclaimed as the first school in the UK to teach Method is ridiculous.  Again, most actors draw from multiple sources and approaches, and usually latch on to what works best for them as an individual or what works best for a certain role.  It's rarely so dogmatic as you're proclaiming.

 

Why am I changing the goal posts?

 

Did you ever say Stanislavski started the Method? No. Did I? No. So why act like I'd agreed to something? 

 

I know in pretty considerable detail the curriculum from the Drama Centre. I literally have friends who trained there. It uses Stanislavski because literally everywhere that teaches naturalism does. It doesn't teach and has never tought Method Acting unless your definition of "Method Acting" just means "Stanlislavskian acting" and thus "naturalism".

 

Again, Emotion memory PREVENTS the actor from drawing from multiple sources and approaches. That is exactly why it doesn't work.

 

Ultimately though we seem to not exactly disagree anyway, we just interpret the word "Method" in different ways. I maintain the term is too associated with Strasberg not to mean emotion memory focused acting. If you don't and just used the term to mean Stanislavski, then we weren't really disagreeing the first place. I'd just use the terms Stanislavski 'system' as the catch-all where you use 'method'. Which I suppose is just semantics.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[Alex SciChannel]

Why do we even call this site box office theory if we are just gonna talk politics? It’s boring. Can we please stay on topic. @Charlie Jatinder Please silence them with your weird gif/pic box office riddles.

[The Futurist]

Jennifer Lawrence tought herself how to act by watching Dumb and Dumber and Step Brothers.

Method.

Edited August 10, 2019 by The Futurist

[Geo1500]

1 hour ago, Charlie Jatinder said:

Can we just skip to November already. I hate summer.

 

Nothing really exciting releases left in the year except Maleficient 2, Frozen 2, Jumanij 3 and Rise of skywalker perhaps you can add spies in disguise

Edited August 10, 2019 by Geo1500

[tawasal]

2 hours ago, Porthos said:

I think its dumb and stupid for multiple reasons.

 

First off, by the time the film came out (late Sep), the controversy of the latest rash of gun violence would have subsided (yes, I know there is the possibility for more mass murders in the meantime).

 

I am... Rarely in favor of knee-jerk cancellation/postponement of these sorts of things as I think it gives far too little credit to actual moviegoers/TV viewers.  Not like this is a new thing, as it dates back all the way to the reaction to the Columbine murders.

 

Secondly, it is an undeniable fact that certain bad-faith actors in the political sphere had suddenly made this film a cause célèbre, and they're gonna get emboldened by this.

 

Now one shouldn't take the reactions of the Acting in Bad Faith Brigade completely when making decisions.  In fact, one should try to ignore them as much as possible. 

 

But if it turns out that Universal got spooked by Trump and Fox News ratcheting up the noise and deciding to just punt the movie in a straw that broke the camel's back sort of way?  Just a bad signal to send, even if it is unintended.

 

And that's not even getting into the artistic merit debate at all.

 

So, in summary:  It's shortsighted, gives far too little credit to the GA, and encourages all the wrong sorts of folks.

Well played by the right wing media and politicians.