I also never quite got a grip on Summer Wars. I got this sense that the pacing and storytelling was not at all designed or intended for me (as an American viewer, watching subs). But I would never argue it was a “bad” movie, or even that it didn’t work. I just got the sense that I was not the right judge of it.
If there are cases to be made for it, I’m all ears.
Or “zany to the max” as one might say.
Column 5, after coming out: “I just want to be.”
I have so many questions.
I worked for a major CDN for quite some time, and there was no shortage of divination and reading-of-tea-leaves regarding who was up, who was down, who is surviving and who will get acquired in the content provider space. OTT media was easy money until everyone rolled out multi-cdn solutions and started putting the screws to each vendor for better prices. It was brutal, but I learned a lot about business watching it happen.
How much of all that AAPL buyout discussion do you think was 100% hopium? Sure Paramount had assets and means, but why would Apple want to acquire that and not rent it? Let studios claw at each others heels to produce viable content while AAPL sits back and pays a premium to choose the best bargain. Apple+ was never interested in being #1; the service is just table stakes at their scale (like Paramount Plus one might argue). AAPL’s business is manufacturing lifestyle products and hype. How was Paramount expecting their acquisition to bolster those pillars?
What was your vantage of the Ugly Sonic debacle (circa 2019)?
What did other execs have to say about Mother! (2017)? It was a beautiful disaster and I loved it, but it couldn’t have had many fans internally.
This CBS/Viacom tug of war had to be brutal as well, but the entire enterprise seems to be all under the Paramount umbrella now. Any regrets?
My guess: distribution breadth and advertising spread are based partly on how much interest the trailer gets. And the trailer gets more interest if people get teased for it.
“But,” you protest, “isn’t that what teasers are for?”
I would think so, but maybe cutting one of these is easier, and teasers rarely have info about release dates (aside from the actual film release year, usually).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The original article is here, but paywalled:
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-streaming-losses-top-1-billion-year
I’d like to know if this accounts for it being a value-add service for Apple, something additional they can bolt into other services to entice a sale (iCloud bundles, third party subscriptions like T-Mobile service, credit card bonuses) where the company receives bulk backdoor support as part of the partnership.
That’s the reason you see Apple and Amazon branching out like this. They aren’t intended to be money-makers; they’re loss leaders.
WB just posted a first-look trailer-for-a-trailer:
Happy to help! I hope you like them!
Another vote for Patheon. The first season is a bit predictable, but things get genuinely interesting in the second and final season. The series got a really wonky release, and I’m not even sure season 2 is streaming anywhere (aside from random youtube uploads and other places).
Jérémie Périn, the director of Mars Express, has made some other works that are definately worth checking out:
Kaiba (2008) - This is one of the early works of Masaaki Yuasa (Inu-Oh, Keep Your Hands of Eizouken!, The Night is Short Walk on Girl, etc) and probably one of his weirdest. It’s a super chibi depiction of a cyberpunk dystopia where bodies and minds are completely disconnected, following a mysterious central character with amnesia and a giant hole in their chest. Not all of it makes complete sense; it’s one of those stories that starts mid-way through and you get filled in on the before and after as you go. It’s ultimately worth it for some tremendous dramatic turns and an art style that is utterly unforgettable (not exaggerating).
Aeon Flux - Depending on your age, this may be new to you. This is a series of MTV-produced short films and a short run series of relatively disconnected anthology stories in a futuristic dystopian world as a barely-dressed spy does lots of freaky, violent sci-fi spy things. If you’re looking for animated sci-fi stories and haven’t seen this yet, put it on the top of your list (purely as a seminal work for fans of the genre).
I’ll assume you’ve seen Arcane.
Carol and the End of the World (2023) - This is more along the lines of a personal dramatic story that happens to sit within a sci-fi setting. I really enjoyed sitting with this (aside from the penultimate episode, which seemed to have nothing to do with anything and almost certainly completely went over my head). There’s humor here, but it’s pretty thin and dark. I would not call this a comedy.
Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow series of shorts - Three short films from the minimalist animator whose work I’m delighted to see maturing and becoming so much more complex and interesting as the years go by.
Lately, I keep coming back to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s soundtrack to Arrival.
If Rax was still around, Peter Dinklage’s deadpan delivery would have made a great rebooted “Mr D” mascot.
Jacob Elordi is SHAFT
I… ugh. I want to enjoy Invincible, but the show is soooo flat. I don’t know if it’s an art style thing, or narrative, or voice work, but I’ve got zero emotional connection to any of these characters. I think it’s the direction, specifically the storyboarding and pacing. You don’t get quiet moments with the characters feeling feelings. Every little bit you get is just enough to drive the plot forward, and it’s over as quickly as possible to jump back to plot, exposition and action. Jason Mantzoukas has a terrific voice and outstanding comic timing, so I feel like he has the chops to pull off a good redemption arc (like they tried to this season), but the character never felt endearing, ever. He never got a chance to make that character feel truly lived-in. Maybe it’s the demonstration of struggling with consequences that’s missing.
Compare all this to Bojack Horseman. That show has no shortage of plot, but you FEEL everything those characters are going through. And it’s rough. When good things and bad things happen to those characters, you feel it. Elation for small victories, churning guts for unearned evasion of consequences.
I haven’t read the Kirkman books, but I know how he likes to play with plot vs audience expectations, and Walking Dead was 100% about “and now what…?” consequences. Are the vibes that the show is serving just not pulling off something subtle that the comic manages to achieve?
Solid article. I imagine the folks at the cyberwire podcast will be doing more digging over the weekend for a solid summary come Monday.
I tune in to Gender Rebels. They don’t post episodes frequently, but they’re a fine hang.
Director of Longlegs, The Monkey and Gretel & Hansel. Son of Oscar-nominated actor Anthony Perkns (the original Norman Bates).
I think it depends on the distribution agreement. For a big-budget, major studio release you might see one or two trailers like that (featuring this card), but exhibitors can put whatever else they want in there as well. AMC is the absolute worst about this.