Why I Am Not A Studio Executive (Or A Populist)
By Tom the Dancing Bug asks a good question: what’s the dillio with all these lame movies about big families? If I’m not imagining it, the terrible-looking Rene Russo vehicle this weekend will be followed up in short order with a sequel to the same movie when it was made with Steve Martin. But looking at the boxofficemojo dailies, the question answers itself: Cheaper By The Yours, Mine and Ours is making almost as much per-screen as Walk the Line. Depressing. On the other hand, I’m definitely going to see The Ice Harvest (black comedy? Ramis? Cusak? Thornton? Yes please!), which seems to be belly-flopping. Generally, if you want to know what’s going to make money, put out exactly the opposite of what I like and you’ll be in good shape.
Speaking of which, there’s Rent. I’ve never seen the musical, and…well, I guess I should keep quiet, as nothing can ignite a comments firestorm like criticizing popular middlebrow musicals that provide Uplifting, Morally Edifying Thoughts about Important Social Issues, so I’ll just say that 1)although I was going to say after seeing the preview that Chris Columbus was the ideal director for the project, that’s not strictly accurate–given the redeeming social value, this seems more like a Schumacher gig, and 2)particularly since I once was exposed to the score on CD, I’m entirely persuaded by Carina Chocano (“”Rent” is commodified faux bohemia on a platter, eliciting the same kind of numbing soul-sadness as children’s beauty pageants, tiny dogs in expensive boots, Mahatma Gandhi in Apple ads…How is anyone supposed to get behind a guy whose “films” are just home movies of the homeless and his soon-to-be homeless friends?…Or behind a blocked songwriter who spends an entire year agonizing over a song that turns out to be a bunch of moldy cliches set to power chords?”). But I’m willing to say nothing further on the subject if its partisans will stop claiming that the score has anything to do with “rock” in anything other than the way that Good Charlotte has something to do with punk…