But I don’t know what to write.

Last night, I watched the 88th Annual Academy Awards (otherwise known as “The Oscars”). That is nearly 100 years of cinematic history, and I have to post something, anything, about it (don’t I?). But I don’t know what to write.

Leo (finally) won, Stallone (sadly) lost, and Spotlight (kind of) upset. Old memes are falling. New memes are rising. And everyone is talking about diversity. But I don’t know what to write.

This is the one awards show I watch every year (sorry, Emmys. don’t care about you, Grammys. and, srsly, fuck off Golden Globes) and have watched every year for as long as I can remember. But I don’t know what to write.

I love movies. Good movies (I tell people that The Godfather: Part II is my favorite), bad movies (but we all know it’s Road House) and even god awful movies (I am literally watching Magic Mike XXL as I type this). But, everybody now, I don’t know what to write.

This all leads me to the big question – “Is there anything new to say about The Oscars?” I could tell you my opinions of the show (too long, somewhat underwhelming, Chris Rock was funny, if a bit one-note), but they’re no different than anything anyone else is probably saying. And even more so, like the show itself, they’ll be forgotten in a day or two, if that. Which leads to the bigger question – “Are the Oscars even still relevant anymore?”

And the answer is, especially with ratings at their lowest in 8 years, maybe not….? Maybe they never were? I don’t know, and I’m not sure anyone else really does either.

By all accounts, I am an old(ish) (very) white man with a bit of a cynical streak (given that, shouldn’t I be in the Academy?), but I’m also still that 11-year-old kid who gets emotionally invested in these awards. Who was sad when Stallone lost and ecstatic when Brie Larson won. Who even, maybe just a little, misses those weird dance numbers. And who is happy when people who seem to genuinely love what they do, and work hard at it, are rewarded.

I don’t have all the answers. Hell, I don’t even have all the questions. But what I do have is this place, our podcast and an opportunity for discussion.

And with that, I close out this post not sure exactly what I wrote, but at least I wrote something.

Check us out next week as Loren and I try to tackle those big (and bigger) Oscar questions.

From the couch,

–RDT

 

 

 

Episode #3 – The Schwartz Awakens

On the episode this week, our illustrious hosts Loren and Ryan (aka RDT) discuss…

  • The potential Lethal Weapon TV show
  • 10 Cloverfield Lane
  • Pee Wee’s Big Holiday Trailer
  • Kindergarten Cop 2???????
  • Julianne Moore to play the villain in Kingsman 2.
  • THE Predator
  • Blade Runner 2
  • John Wick: Chapter 2 – 2/10/17
  • Mary Poppins 2
  • Maybe no Punisher spinoff after all

All that, plus a look at what’s going on in the Star Wars universe.

One quick note, once again, we had some audio issues (we’re still learning) and had to do some cutting. It was only about a minute and a half, but it was pretty good stuff. Do we need a Han Solo movie? Are these characters (at least some of them) more interesting the less we know about them? Why do we need to know where Boba Fett came from? We were sad to lose the content, but it sounded horrible. Regardless, we’d love you guys to weigh in on those topics too.

As always, please check us out at hollywoodpicturenews.com, facebook.com/hollywoodpicturenews and, on Twitter, @HWPicNews.

Also, if you could, please rate and review us, we’d really appreciate it.

Episode #2 – Skullpoopl et al…

This week on the podcast, Loren and Ryan (RDT) discuss…

  • Haley Atwell’s new pilot and how it might affect Agent Carter
  • Agents of SHIELD’s (I’m not typing out the periods every time) mid-season trailer
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 new cast additions, cast photo and the start of production
  • Netflix’s new season 2, part 1, trailer for Daredevil
  • Warner Bros. final Batman v Superman trailer
  • The Flash’s trip to Earth 2 (and win in the ratings)
  • And Azrael (not the cat) showing up on Gotham

Plus we take a deep dive into Deadpool and what its success might mean for comic book movies going forward. FYI, spoilers at 32:39 through 52:20.

Check us out at HollywoodPictureNews.com, Facebook.com/HollywoodPictureNews and, on Twitter, @HWPicNews.

Also, if you could, please rate and review us on iTunes, we’d really appreciate it.

Han, ma boo-kee!

 

star-wars-logo

We live in a world of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). No longer is a series of progressively shittier and shittier sequels enough (although it looks like the Terminator franchise is still trying…). As with anything in Hollywood, success breeds copycats. (“They made money doing that thing that made sense for them. So we should do that thing too!”) Warner Bros’ DCEU (DC Extended Universe), spinning out of Man of Steel, launches next month with the legal proceeding of Batman v. Superman. And Universal recently cast Tom Cruise as Van Helsing and Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man for their Monsters Universe. Trust me when I say these are all things we will be discussing in the coming weeks/months/years.

Not one to be left behind by their cinematic brethren, Star Wars’ first theatrical spinoff, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, releases in December of this year, with the recently confirmed an as yet Untitled Han Solo, umm, solo movie coming May of 2018. While Rogue One will deal primarily with new characters, Untitled Han Solo is the Han Solo origin story we’ve always wanted (or not). Below, Loren and I take a look at the rumored casting shortlist of those young actors looking to fill the shoes of Harrison Ford.

  • Miles Teller
    • RDT: While a pretty good actor (see Whiplash, don’t see Fant4stic), I just don’t see it. I also get major douche-chills from him.
    • Loren: No.
  • Ansel Elgort
    • RDT: Though I’ve seen The Fault in Our Stars, I’m probably not familiar enough with his other work to say one way or the other, but I will anyway. He’s like a poor man’s Miles Teller. (See above.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Dave Franco
    • RDT: My preferred Franco, but still, meh.
    • Loren: No.
  • Jack Reynor
    • RDT: All I’ve seen of his work is Transformers: Age of Extinction. I have nothing else to say.
    • Loren: No.
  • Scott Eastwood
    • RDT: Son of Clint, I literally haven’t seen a thing he’s been in. (Though if/when they recast Wolverine, based on looks alone, he gets my vote.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Logan Lerman
    • RDT: This kid seems to show up on every genre casting shortlist. I believe he was in the running for at least the last 2 Spider-Man reboots. Anyway, too baby-faced.
    • Loren: No.
  • Emory Cohen
    • RDT: Awful in Smash, but great in Brooklyn. Also, looks super douchey in his official IMDB photo. So…maybe? (But probably not.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Blake Jenner
    • RDT: Oh shit, that’s this guy? I saw him on Glee and Supergirl and he was fine, I guess. Blah.
    • Loren: No.

Literally as I was drafting this post, 2 more (rumored) frontrunners seem to have emerged. (This is the internet, so take it all with a grain of salt.) They are:

  • Taron Egerton
    • RDT: I liked Kingsman. But, yeah, I dunno.
    • Loren: No.
  • Alden Ehrenreich
    • RDT: He’s getting a lot of buzz off of Hail, Caesar playing a character nothing like Han Solo. That’s not to say he couldn’t play Han Solo. I just don’t think he should play Han Solo.
    • Loren: No.
  • How about an unknown???
    • RDT: This may be the best (only) option. I feel like the actors above are bringing too many preconceived notions to the part. Maybe it’s me (and maybe I’ll be wrong), but I don’t see Han in any of them.
    • Loren: No.

Final thoughts:

Loren: The fact of the matter is I don’t want anyone to play a young Han Solo besides young Harrison Ford. We already got all we needed about his backstory from the Original Trilogy. It’s a story that doesn’t need to be told. It’s a bit of a different situation than we had with Young Indiana Jones in Last Crusade and the Chronicles where we have actually seen this character age in real time from a young man to a grizzled veteran and having someone else play him will always feel wrong. But mainly, I think that there are so many other Star Wars Stories we can be told, either using pre-existing characters (Obi-Wan, Bounty Hunters) or completely new characters (Rogue One). I mean I’ll still see it, because it’s Star Wars, but I’ll always hold to it being superfluous and unnecessary.

RDT: Yes.

From Hollywood,

–RDT and Loren

SkullPoopL

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Can we all take a moment to bask in the awesomeness that is Deadpool?

From the “leaked” footage to the genius marketing efforts, some of which are seen below, to the hilarious social media presence.

But that means nothing if the movie isn’t good. And it is, good. Really good. Really fucking dirty. REALLY fucking funny. But also really, really good.

And it seems like I’m not the only one who thinks that either.

84% on Rotten Tomatoes

Record breaking $12.7 million Thursday night. (My $15 was part of that!)

On track to blow away all records and projections with a $100 million (or more) opening weekend gross. 

Loren and I will be having a (not so) spoiler-free discussion of the flick this week (he hasn’t seen it yet) and what this could mean for R-rated super-hero movies going forward.

Hope you give us a listen.

From the couch,

–RDT