Topic: IN A NUTSHELL (Read 20388 times)

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #60 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:04:36 AM »

Regarding the weekend gross total for "Fahrenheit 9/11" (from MSNBC):

<<“Fahrenheit 9/11” opened in 868 theaters, a wide release for a documentary but narrow compared to big Hollywood flicks. The film averaged $25,115 a theater, compared to $7,190 in 2,726 cinemas for “White Chicks.”

Distributors Lions Gate and IFC Films plan to put “Fahrenheit 9/11” into a couple of hundred more theaters this Wednesday, when competition heats up with the release of “Spider-Man 2,” summer’s most-anticipated movie.>>

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #61 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:06:00 AM »

I WON'T DANCE, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #62 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:06:45 AM »

SWW,

I absolutely did not believe you about the pretzel salad. Then I found umpteen recipes on the net, each variation more tempting than the next. And each more nutritious:

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 519
Total Fat: 28.2g
Cholesterol: 62mg
Sodium: 615mg
Total Carbohydrates: 64.1g
Dietary Fiber: 1.7g
Protein: 5.8g

bk · « **Reply #63 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:32:33 AM »

Yes, by all means, you may try to guess the play.

What I find specious about this whole thing is that somehow the author and/or Dramatist's Play Service don't think Chicago or San Francisco are major theater towns - this play has had multiple productions in each of those cities.

Also, there is another play by a much more noted young playwright with many more credits than our author whose play we were offered immediately - the licensing organazation was willing to send a contract today.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #64 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:36:06 AM »

Actually, BK, I have heard of Rob Kendt...He used to be the editor of Backstage West. And has lately become a regular reviewer for the LA TIMES. They doesn't mean necessarily that his review is right.

Speaking of the LA TIMES, I was at a Bar-B-Q yesterday when I met Al Martinez, regular Times columnist and occasional screenwriter (created the show, Jigsaw John). Delightful fellow.

The greatest disaster film I know was my own poor KULL THE CONQUERER, which was supposed to be a mature adventure film for adults embracing Robert E. Howard's dark, brooding visceral prose and got turned into a rolling juggernaut of illogic and cartoon campiness.

Farenheit 9/ll's weekend performance is astoundingly impressive whether the estimate turns out to be a million or so off or not...though I suspect it is fairly accurate.

Michael · « **Reply #65 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:37:56 AM »

I'm kind of partial to Hurricane (John Payne and Raymond Massey) Great special effects that still are pretty good by today's standards.

Also like the Poseidon Adventure

San Fransico (Clark Gable) some of the special effects in this film were better than Earthquake!!

Not a disaster film, but the Tornado in The Wizard of Oz is top notch.

The High and the Mighty although I haven't seen it since I was a child on tv.

When Worlds Collide. The flooding of NYC

George · « **Reply #66 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:47:16 AM »

Well, I don't know too many disaster movies, but I do like "The Poseidon Adventure," as do a lot of others.

As for the trial, it got postponed because the defendant's lawyer was "at death's door," according to the judge. We were free to leave after sitting in the courtroom for about an hour, doing nothing. We have to call back tomorrow night (a "Yentl" reference), so we're still in the running.

Now I'm off to lunch.

bk · « **Reply #67 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:48:49 AM »

Re Assassins: Part of the "new" way of producing - go online and tell everyone you're closing early UNLESS there's overwhelming support and ticket sales - then you MIGHT just be able to extend. That way, if people fall for it, they do, and if people don't fall for it (more likely in the case of that show) they close.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #68 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:50:32 AM »

Like MbARNUM, I also enjoy THE LAST VOYAGE with Robert Stack rescuing his daughter Tami Marihugh by make her crawl across a board over a whole in the floor.....several decks deep!

POSEIDON & INFERNO of course....but there is also THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (a decade after it STOOD STILL) and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN and the similar THE SATAN BUG!

Michael · « **Reply #69 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:53:24 AM »

I have narrowed it down to three plays by two well playwrights and an actor turned playwight. Patient A by Lee Blessing, The Dazzle by Richard Greenberg and Boom Town by Jeff Daniels. I am leaning towards Patient A because I think it can give Tammy a chance to shine.

Michael · « **Reply #70 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:54:51 AM »

I was hoping Assassins would have stayed opend to September I had planned to see it.

Jed · « **Reply #71 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:56:52 AM »

Quote from: Noel on June 28, 2004, 09:50:30 AM

DR WEL raises an important point. From time to time I rage at the regionals, since they seem so cowardly in their show choices, so reticent to go beyond the tried and true. But, if that's what their audiences are demanding, well, I can't fault artistic directors for listening to their audiences.

I have this fantasy that audiences (subscribers and the like) will one day rise up and say "Enough. We're tired of seeing the same dozen musicals again and again. Give us something new to see or you'll never see our butts in your seats again!"

It's sobering to read the truth (in WEL's post) that audiences are doing just the opposite, saying "DON'T you dare give us anything new or interesting. More of the same please, and lots of it!"

I share this frustration with you, DR Noel. I spent the last six seasons with a summer stock company that does nothing but those Golden Age shows year after year. If it was written after 1964, it's as if they've never heard of it (with the strange exception of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which they are doing for the second time this summer). Due to being based in a Bavarian theme town, they do Sound of Music every year (this is year #10), along with two other shows per summer. Year after year, we get busloads of blue-hairs who just LOVE to see SOM and the other standards time and time again. A couple years back, our artistic director decided to take a chance on Man of La Mancha, and even that did relatively poorly at the box office. Ah well, the tried and true have kept the company in business, and seeing as they started with a $10,000 budget in 1995 and now operate on a $750,000 budget, you can't really fault the choices.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #72 on:** June 28, 2004, 11:59:08 AM »

Quote from: Michael Shayne on June 28, 2004, 11:53:24 AM

I have narrowed it down to three plays by two well playwrights and an actor turned playwight. Patient A by Lee Blessing, The Dazzle by Richard Greenberg and Boom Town by Jeff Daniels. I am leaning towards Patient A because I think it can give Tammy a chance to shine.

I thought about The Dazzle and Boom Town, too. But I'm going with Key Exchange by Kevin Wade.

MBarnum · « **Reply #73 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:09:20 PM »

OH, I had forgotten about HURRICANE and SAN FRANCISCO...some serious demolition going on in those two films!

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #74 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:24:14 PM »

As far as disaster-type movies go, I'm very partial to "Airport" and "The Poseidon Adventure." "The Towering Inferno" has some extraordinarily good moments but is far more "soapish" in its story line. John William's score is a tremendous plus.

"Poseidon" is good storytelling with just a smidge of overwrought moments (I want to bitch-slap Carol Lynley's "Noni" every time she whimpers and whines).

"The Rains Came" is a whopping good movie, too, with Myrna Loy and Tyrone Power and a great flood. It's remake, "The Rains of Ranchipur," has a wonderful music score by Hugo Friedhofer, but you really appreciate the flood when it turns attention away from the very scheming Lana Turner who tries her best to seduce Richard Burton (whose character is meant for far greater things than she) and then pouts when he elects to save hundreds of villagers rather than visit her in a makeshift hospital. The original is definitely the better film.

"Twister" is a lot of fun, though.

"On the Beach" doesn't blip on my "disaster" radar...it's about the after-effects on humanity. It's implied, but there are no scenes of disaster. I think of it as adult drama with a what-if bent.

Jennifer · « **Reply #75 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:27:24 PM »

Wow, I think the PaperMill schedule for next year looks like great. And I don't understand why people would want to see the same shows year after year.

But I suppose the powers that be must consider these things when choosing their shows.

Panni · « **Reply #76 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:27:49 PM »

Nobody else picks ON THE BEACH? Or is it not considered a "disaster film." I think a nuclear holocaust might fit in the disaster category... but I may be wrong.

Jennifer · « **Reply #77 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:31:07 PM »

Hmmm speaking of condiments, not that they sell them here, but has anyone tried the new low carb ones?

I see commercials for them all the time on tv.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #78 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:32:04 PM »

DRPANNI - I guess I was disappointed in ON THE BEACH because there was a LOT that was talked about re:destruction....but not much really shown.

I finally thought....being at a younger age then....that nuclear destruction would have been preferable to ALL that blathering in the submarine...all that talk talk talk....

Jennifer · « **Reply #79 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:36:55 PM »

I don't normally watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, but there is nothing on in the summer and Showcase (I think this is a Canadian station) just started showing them last week.

Well I just went to the HBO site because I wanted to see how many episodes were left (they've shown 2). Cause I really want to see The Producers episodes.

Well guess what. You guys just finished season 4 and what I'm seeing now is season 3. So I guess it will be a very long while before I see what I wanted to see (unless by some miracle they go right into Season 4).

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #80 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:37:52 PM »

The low-carb, no-carb "fad" is potentially very injurious to everyone's health.

Everyone needs complex carbohydrates as part of their diet. Avoidance of them to shed pounds will not help your body or your health. It's tradiing one bad for a different bad.

Exercise, eat smaller, more nutritious portions. Avoid saturated fats whenever/wherever possible (try to stay below the RDA -- a Mounds bar contains 50% the RDA of saturated fats). Eat "less" glucose (i.e. sugar) than you normally do, but don't deprive yourself of anything you like.

You are far more likely to lose the weight you want and maintain the weight loss because you've maintained proper nutritional levels and avoided deprivation of favorite foods.

William E. Lurie · « **Reply #81 on:** June 28, 2004, 12:54:19 PM »

Someone mentioned "The High and the Mighty" above. Now that's a movie song that should have been somewhere on the AFI list. My guess is that the John Wayne estate would not let them show a clip so they didn't include the song. I still whistle it whenever I walk onto an airplane.

And speaking of the AFI list, many of the songs on the list were featured in more than one movie, yet only two of them were acknowledged as such ("Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and "Puttin' On the Ritz" which didn't acknowledge the film of the same name it was written for but two subsequent uses.) I found this a little strange.

Panni · « **Reply #82 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:00:47 PM »

Quote from: Jennifer on June 28, 2004, 10:17:47 AM

I think they got really lucky that no big new movies opened last weekend. But it still seems odd to me that they could get such high numbers while playing in so few theatres.

It's not that odd when you know that all the showings in all the theatres were sold out all the time -- and more showings were added, which were also sold out. (I think RLP also pointed this out - so I'm being redundant, but there you go.)

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #83 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:05:11 PM »

Quote from: William E. Lurie on June 28, 2004, 12:54:19 PM

Someone mentioned "The High and the Mighty" above. Now that's a movie song that should have been somewhere on the AFI list. My guess is that the John Wayne estate would not let them show a clip so they didn't include the song. I still whistle it whenever I walk onto an airplane.

I suppose, as Michael Shayne pointed out to me last week about "Lara's Theme" and "Colonel Bogey's March", that the AFI songs had to have actual lyrics in order to qualify.

Quote

And speaking of the AFI list, many of the songs on the list were featured in more than one movie, yet only two of them were acknowledged as such ("Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and "Puttin' On the Ritz" which didn't acknowledge the film of the same name it was written for but two subsequent uses.) I found this a little strange.

A lot of strange things about some of the selections, as far as I'm concerned. I still think that "Do Re Mi" has had a much more longer lasting signifigance on audiences than "The Sound of Music". The same, I think, is true of "Whistle While You Work" over "Someday, My Prince Will Come" and "Chim Chim Cherie" over "Supercalifragilistickexpialidocious" (sp?).

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #84 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:12:39 PM »

Jrand53, DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE a good choice! Director Randall Kleiser and I discussed re-doing this eons ago. It never happened. Edward Judd, the star of that film, play Barrymore the Butler in my Hound of the Baskervilles.

Matt H. · « **Reply #85 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:17:01 PM »

I haven't checked out the reason ASSASSINS is closing early but it's not box-office. The show has been in the 80-95% capacity range during its entire run. Compared to CAROLINE and WONDERFUL TOWN, it's a smash hit. There must be other reasons at work.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #86 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:21:44 PM »

For years, TV Guide has listed a TV movie called The Death of Ocean View Park as one of the best TV movies ever. I finally saw it myself a few years ago and thought, "Huh?" It made Rollercoaster look deep.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #87 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:22:56 PM »

Quote from: Matt H. on June 28, 2004, 01:17:01 PM

I haven't checked out the reason ASSASSINS is closing early but it's not box-office. The show has been in the 80-95% capacity range during its entire run. Compared to CAROLINE and WONDERFUL TOWN, it's a smash hit. There must be other reasons at work.

Maybe someone thought it best to close before the GOP came to town.

Matt H. · « **Reply #88 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:24:18 PM »

I meant to mention how happy I am DR Jose got back his piano books, but PLEASE don't ever leave anything you prize there again. As honest as you hope people might be, temptation is great, and I've learned painful lessons in the past that other people just don't prize your own possessions very much.

Until the DVD of the Lansbury SWEENEY TODD came out a few months ago, I had been without it for over two years because I dutifully loaned it to a director I had worked for before (hard to say no to someone who might use you in a future production), and he promptly misplaced it.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #89 on:** June 28, 2004, 01:34:03 PM »

Let me add that the weekend grosses for "Fahrenheit 9/11" are in no way record-breaking in the grand scheme of things.

It's an off week and it was a new movie, but $20-plus million isn't a speck on the charts when most big new movies open to $75 million to $91 million weekends.

What makes the idea that the numbers were padded seem silly is that studios DO NOT PAD GROSSES. There are people who get cuts and the studios don't generally do much more than UNDER report. The exhibitors will get their cut, the distributor will get its cut and the production company will get its cut. One presumes Michael Moore gets a small slice. And Uncle SAM will surely get his cut, too. Therefore, NOBODY is going to overinflate the grosses 'cause it means folks'll have to be paid more than the movie earned otherwise.

News:

Author Topic: IN A NUTSHELL (Read 20388 times)

MBarnum