The Irishman (2019)

D

DLD

Major Contributor
Aside of the scenes requiring VFX, this was shot on a 35mm film.

It looks great. Would it look much different if shot, let's say, on Alexa? Splitting hairs.

 
Just came back - thought Pesci was the best thing about it. I wont remember a thing about the film tomorrow. Unfortunately...
 
Mitch Gross said:
And 0% from old school corporate theater chain owners.
Click to expand...

This is an interesting topic (post #4, from 11/04) because one would think these would be the basic variables - time in theaters, premiere on a streaming service (in this case, Netflix), the advertising budgets and the ticket revenue split. Off reports, Netflix was giving a month to the theater chains, which is enough to generate 85%-90% of a typical movie gross. There must have been other stumbling blocks in the negotiations.
 
It sounds like the “establishment” is the one that lost out, because they didn’t want to bend. The traditional studios didn’t want to make it, because of the budget, so Netflix stepped up and the theaters were even offered up to 45 days of exclusivity, but that wasn’t good enough for them. I admit, that sometimes it is pretty late in a movies theatrical run when I actually go see it(I saw the Revenant the last showing on the last night it played and I was the sole soul in the theater), but I agree that most of the box office money is probably made during those first few weeks/month, so they should have taken the 45 day offer that was supposedly offered.

I do enjoy going to the theater under the right circumstance, but this isn’t the 80’s and 90’s where if you want to watch a movie at home, it’s on a 27” SD analog CRT and being played back from a VHS VCR or on crappy analog cable. Large HD and 4K flat panels are ridiculously affordable and Blu-ray and HD/4K streaming are widely available and affordable, too. Heck, by Christmas I’m probably going to be swapped over from my current HD rear-projection set to a 120” 4K HDR front projection system for not too much more than my first 720P set was in 2004/5. And my sound system may not be as powerful with as many speakers as the theater, it’s still 5.1 with a sub that literally shakes the window panes and can cleanly go louder than you can comfortably stand it in the room. Plus my recliner is way more comfortable than the chairs in the theater and I can get my popcorn just right...
 
It's the slippery slope argument. Theater chains want to keep a minimum 90-day window even though they would make the vast amount of their money in the first three weeks. The problem is that the model is both antiquated and complex. Distributors keep the lionshare of revenue from the first few weekends, and exhibitors are incentivized to keep movies playing by increasing their share over time. But it used to be that a movie would release to hundreds or maybe a couple thousand screens on opening weekend, then platform out or maintain for a long tail. Now its 3500 screens for a typical release and a 40% drop off in revenue on the second weekend is common. So theater chains are pretty screwed either way. That's why popcorn is so expensive - it's just about the nly money they keep.

I still think their stand against Netflix and The Irishman was a mistake. They could have argued that a 3.5 hour movie must have an intermission and they could have argued for Roadshow-style IMAX level pricing. Charge $25-$30 ticket and a 4 hr. window (with previews and intermission), and a 45-day window is just fine, especially as it still means that The Irishman would only be playing at premium venues throughout the country. And an intermission means a second chance to sell snacks.
 
The recliner is the key. As is the size of the microwave.

As to the negotiations, both sides must be looking at this long term. Bend a notch now and surrender a strong negotiating position later. The whole business is undergoing huge changes. Some streaming services will choose more of a TV type lineup - miniseries, comedy, etc. - but Netflix has already gone after the feature film portion of the industry and some (i.e., Spielberg) ain't too happy about that. Surely, others will follow suit. Then the big advantage goes to the streamers with the ability to control the marketing costs on the global scale. And then you revert to the "I've got a 65" 4K OLED and a kick-ass surround sound system" idea and you slash your movie going forays by two thirds. Which means that, regardless of the "Irishman" fallout, the theater chains are up the Schitt creek.

On the positive side for film fans, the "middle class" features in the $20M-$40M range are due for a return.
 
I go to the theater a lot less but would hate to see them go away completely.

Sure, the audio and video quality is near enough nowadays in my living room. I can match the food quality and easily beat the price.

But there's something about a group outing with my fellow human beings that is --- a double-edged sword, don't get me wrong. When it's a guy smoking an e-cigarette in front of me or a baby crying in the back, it's worse. But some of the most fun I've had was at the Alamo Drafthouse watching old movies like When Harry Met Sally, Die Hard, and Back to the Future. Not only was there food and drink, but there were crowd games. For Die Hard they handed out a kit that included a Twinkie (which you ate when McClane did) and even a cap gun that you could fire when the movie had gunfire (they went out on a limb on that one). There were like 5 or 6 things like that.
 
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see the demise of theaters or studios producing major movies, but as everyone is noting, "times they are a changing".

As I said, I do like going to the theater under the right circumstances. I would probably go more often, but two things conspire against that: 1) my GF doesn't like going to late shows(which is 'my jam') and 2) "my" theater has basically gone to the model of their last showing is around 7:00pm-7:30pm during the week(Sun-Thur) except when school is out or holidays. I have gone to a few premieres and stood in-line for that first showing to watch a movie with a theater full of people and there was a certain vibe to it that made it a little more fun, but by far and large, I prefer being alone or just a handful of people. Part of it is completely selfish in nature, so that I can get "my spot" and hopefully not have anyone directly in front of or beside me. And another part is, just not being in a crowd of people. Not that I have any sort of real aversion to crowds or phobia, but a huge part of my work is covering professional and college sports, so I've spent way too much time around huge crowds, sometimes with upwards of 100K people at a time and everything that comes with that. I like being in the action, so to speak, but when I'm not working, leave me alone. Lol. And then we get back to just how good we have it at home, now. We're in a golden age for home viewing and it's only getting better. Once my new power recliner gets in and I transition to my projection system, I may not leave the house for a few days...
 
There's absolutely something to be said for the group experience of watching a movie. Jokes are funnier, drama more intense, action more exciting.

To this day my most memorable cinema experience is seeing a rerelease of Bambi at the first Saturday matinee with 400 little kids and some parents. When Bambi's mom gets it offscreen the wave of "Where's Bambi's mom?" followed by the realization of what happened was incredible. That simply can't be replicated at home alone.
 
combatentropy said:
But some of the most fun I've had was at the Alamo Drafthouse watching old movies like When Harry Met Sally, Die Hard, and Back to the Future...
Click to expand...
What do you mean, "old movies like "Harry met Sally"? It was just released ... OK, 30 years ago, but that was only in ... uh ... (OK, I've seen it dozens and dozens of times and it lost the time reference for me, including all the Meg Ryan's haircuts).

My most interesting experience in a movie theater must have been in 1979 when I went to see the "Superman". The movie was dubbed in Italian. Which was appropriate since we were staying in Italy then. Unfortunately, I spoke almost no Italian aside of "Uno regalo por bambino". But what made it a "live track" experience was that, at the very front of the screen, there was a gaggle of kids, who screamed and yelled at every exciting or opportune moment ... or whenever the mood struck them. The theater and our place of residence was in a small coastal town about 20 miles from Rome and, I assume, this was perfectly fine with the theater owners. On the positive side, whenever their screaming drowned the voiceover, it made no difference to me whatsoever.
 
Mitch Gross said:
There's absolutely something to be said for the group experience of watching a movie. Jokes are funnier, drama more intense, action more exciting.

To this day my most memorable cinema experience is seeing a rerelease of Bambi at the first Saturday matinee with 400 little kids and some parents. When Bambi's mom gets it offscreen the wave of "Where's Bambi's mom?" followed by the realization of what happened was incredible. That simply can't be replicated at home alone.
Click to expand...

Damn Mitch. That's dark. I'm picturing something like Mr. Burns feeding on little kids fear, sadness and tears. Excellent...




tenor.gif
 
Nicely shot movie. Nothing revolutionary insofar as it's Scorsese's greatest hits strung together, nothing really new. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, and the theme of aging and death is - ironically - very refreshing, especially the aging and dying of old gangsters who dispensed death so freely when they were younger, and now, even if not defeated by their traditional opponents, the justice system, are finally brought down by age - death waits on no one. The acting from Pesci was outstanding, and many dialogue scenes are brilliant - especially the one where Pesci gives De Niro the job of killing Hoffa - all done with almost no words, just looks and gestures and silences. Sure it's long, and maybe could be slightly tightened in a couple of places, but overall I feel it's earned its time (at least for me). And may I say on another note, that the music was very well done, which is pretty rare in most films.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top