Robert De Niro has sent out a statement about the end of his 20 year marriage to Grace Hightower. They are each very nice people and I hope everyone gets this:
“Grace and I have two beautiful children together. We are entering a period of transition in our relationship which is a difficult but constructive process. I honor Grace as a wonderful mother and ask for privacy and respect from all as we proceed to develop our roles as partners in parenting.”
Everything must come to an end. And so “Springsteen on Broadway,” a wonderful show that made millions of dollars for the Boss, will finish on December 15th. The next night, the 16th, Beethoven’s birthday, we can all see it on Netflix. This may break Netflix in one showing. I was lucky enough to get a single ticket way back at the beginning of the run in fall 2017. Bruce is mesmerizing, funny, totally engaging. And of course the songs speak for themselves. Patti Scialfa appears toward the end and makes soulful harmony.
PS Sony Music releases the CD soundtrack two days earlier– on December 14th– and they need it after a dry year of no hits. You will want this CD, not just the download. Pre-order at amazon. Kudos to Springsteen manager Jon Landau, Springsteen tour director George Travis, and Landau Management partner Barbara Carr.
We had high hopes for Mariah Carey’s “Caution” album. It got pretty good reviews; we really liked it. “Caution” entered the iTunes chart on Friday at number 4, and was high up on Amazon.
When the numbers were settled it seemed like “Caution” sold a respectable 40,000 copies with another 10,000 in sales from streaming.
There was a lot of celebrating.
But a new week began Friday in the music charts. Since then, “Caution” has dropped into the 30s on iTunes. On Amazon, it’s number 237. According to BuzzAngle, there have been between zero sales since Friday or maybe as 174 in streaming of singles.
This much is true: “Caution” has met a quick demise after one week. Can it be saved?
It’s unclear. Mariah is just one of many older acts who get a first week of sales on a new album, and then poof– they’re gone. The records get no airplay, which kills them fast, even if they’re very good. The top 40 is cluttered with crap, mostly. And the average age of the acts singing them is 12. We old folks listen to the new music of old friends and say “this sounds like a single.” But a single doesn’t matter if no one will play it.
Mariah will swallow a bitter pill on this, but she won’t be alone. (It does make you wonder who bought those 40,000 copies.)
One comparison: Cher has sold just 59,000 copies of her ABBA Album “Dancing Queen” in eight weeks of release. And that’s considered a success!
Oscar season has begun in earnest.
At Cipriani Wall Street, the good betting was on Glenn Close winning Best Actress in the Gotham Awards for “The Wife.” She lost, to Toni Colette, who wasn’t even there. That was one of many headscratchers. Close took it all in good stride, but I say she’ll get the last laugh come the Oscars.
Ethan Hawke won Best Actor for “First Reformed,” and Paul Schrader won Best Screenplay. Schrader also directed “First Reformed.” Let’s hope this helps him.
Best Feature went to “The Rider,” a contemporary Western made with untrained and unknown actors, shown in Cannes in 2017. Huh? The betting again, was on half a dozen other films from “First Reformed” to “Eighth Grade” to “The Favourite,” which picked up the ensemble prize. But “The Rider” won and I suspect that’s the last we’ll see of it, so congrats to the people who made it.
Hawke, and Willem Dafoe– who received a rousing tribute from Laurie Anderson– delivered the best speeches of the night. One thing of note was that great filmmakers like William Goldman and Bernardo Bertolucci were each given a shout out to note their recent respective passings. But the applause for them was muted. Do people not know who they are? Is it generational? What is going on out there?
Today– Tuesday– we get the National Board of Review winners. This is always nuts. It’s a group of fans who pay heavy fees to see films and then go to a swanky dinner. Last year the big winner was “The Post.” It’s all about getting stars into the ballroom, My hunch is they go hard for “A Star is Born” to get Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. “Green Book’ isn’t their type of film ordinarily. (I’m not sure if there are more than 2 black members of the NBR.)
On Wednesday we get the far more professional New York Film Critics Circle winners. So hold on.
PS Nice to see actors like Alessandro Nivola and Patricia Clarkson giving out top prizes last night. Also, Regina Hall is just swell. So is Kathryn Hahn. And goodbye to Joana Vicente, who’s leaving the Gothams for the Toronto Film Festival. She will be sorely missed.
BEST FEATURE
The Rider
Chloé Zhao, director; Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Mollye Asher, Chloé Zhao, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
AUDIENCE AWARD
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Morgan Neville, director; Morgan Neville, Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma, producers (Focus Features)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
RaMell Ross, director; RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim, producers (The Cinema Guild)
BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD
Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade (A24)
BEST SCREENPLAY
First Reformed, Paul Schrader (A24)
BEST ACTOR
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (A24)
BEST ACTRESS*
Toni Collette in Hereditary (A24)
BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (A24)
BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – LONG FORM
Killing Eve, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, executive producers (BBC America)
BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – SHORT FORM
195 Lewis, Chanelle Aponte Pearson and Rae Leone Allen, creators
Bernardo Bertolucci, famed director of “The Last Emperor,” and “Last Tango in Paris.” among others, is dead in Paris at age 77.
He’d been ill for years and was confined to a wheelchair. But I was lucky to meet him in Cannes a few years ago, and it was very exciting. As controversial as “Last Tango” was — and is even today — “The Last Emperor” is one of the greatest movies of all time. It won 9 Oscars in 1988 and is a zenith in movie making. If you’ve never seen it, you must.
Bertolucci also made some other wonderful films including “Stealing Beauty,” “The Sheltering Sky,” and “The Non Conformist.” His movies were lavish, sumptuous, and brimming with excess. He also collaborated on the greatest “spaghetti Western” of all time, Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
Bertolucci’s death comes on the heels of another great director’s demise. Nicholas Roeg died last week, director “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “Don’t Look Now,” and “Performance,” among others. He as 90.
BIG NEWS: John Prine, a singer-songwriter aged 71 with no hits at all since his career launched in 1971, is today number 1 on iTunes and on Amazon.com.
What???? Well, to be true, Prine wrote a song called “Hello in There” that appeared on Bette Midler’s 1972 debut, “The Divine Miss M.” And “Angel from Montgomery” has been covered by so many (Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, et al) that Prine may have lived on it all these years. But otherwise, he was a cult favorite, like Ry Cooder, Kenny Rankin or Michael Fremer. I mean, as time went on, John Prine just disappeared into the coffee house circuit.
Prine’s album is called “Tree of Forgiveness” and it was released last April. It sold only 22,500 copies through this past Thursday.
One reason for his sudden ascent to number 1 today might be a piece by Anthony Mason on “CBS Sunday Morning” that ran this morning. We won’t know for a day or two what Mason’s piece did to propel Prine to number 1.
And now we wonder: Will “Tree of Forgiveness” be a surprise Grammy nominee? It seems so: the record biz trade winds have suddenly turned in his favor!
Why is this late fame happening? Who knows? He issues records on his own label, called “Oh Boy.” Is “Tree of Forgiveness” his best album? It only got a 77 on Metacritic. He probably has better records on his resume. But this is the one that will mark his legacy.
According to Wikipedia, Prine has never released a solo single. He’s appeared as a guest artist on two charting singles in 47 years. He does have 3 Grammy Awards– two for Best Contemporary Folk Album and one for Lifetime Achievement/Special Merit. He’s recently been nominated for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mostly, what comes through on “Tree” is something authentic, organic, and totally original. In the current music scene, this must be a shock to the ears of many who’ve been spoonfed crap for the last two decades. So we celebrate John Prine. Magic is still possible.
I could give you a list of movies people haven’t warmed to, and it’s long. But let’s start with the good news.
“Creed II” made a lot more money in its opening than the original. The sequel took in $55 million and set a record for live action films released over Thanksgiving. Who gets rich? Sylvester Stallone and producer Irwin Winkler. Whose star is now so pumped up? Michael B. Jordan, who started out on “All My Children,” made his name in “Fruitvale Station,” made the first “Creed” a hit, and then had box office bonanza in “Black Panther.” Bravo!
The only other movie audiences still want to see is “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They’re up over $150 million and had the smallest week to week drop of any film. Rami Malek really has to get an Oscar nomination.
“Green Book,” the one movie that poses a threat to “A Star is Born” for major Oscars, finally got into the conversation this weekend. They are comfortably on their way, making over $5 million in somewhat limited release. I’ve heard of audiences clapping at the end in real showings, and great word of mouth. And so it should be.
The movie that might have resurrected the reputation of Colorado Senator Gary Hart is a bust at the box office. Launched on Election Day– November 6– “The Front Runner” is pretty much in last place at the box office. Even with Hugh Jackman’s charismatic performance, the movie has made just $700,000 after 19 days in release.
UPDATE: The total as of Sunday night will be just over $1 million.
Senator Gary Hart of Colorado was once the great hope of the Democratic party. He was hip and young and on the right side of causes. Hollywood loved him. And in the Reagan era Gary Hart was top of the list of Democratic hopefuls.
But Hart’s political life came to an end in late 1987 when an affair with Donna Rice became public. The affair became public after Hart was photographed on a yacht called the Monkey Business. She was sitting on his lap. Endless rumors about his womanizing became true, and Hart would not be part of the 1988 election.
It would be four more years before Bill Clinton would become the Democratic champion. And even though philandering was on his resume, Hart had already blazed that trail.
“The Front Runner” is directed by Jason Reitman, whose credits include the excellent films “Up in the Air” and “Juno.” There’s nothing wrong with this film. But Sony Pictures cannot make people come see a movie in which we know the ending, and it still can’t be explained in a logical way. How could Hart have compartmentalized his life in such a way that personal and public wouldn’t collide? And why did his wife, Lee, stay with him?
After all the these years, and having seen “The Front Runner,” we still don’t know the answer. Sony increased the number of theaters this weekend, hoping that Jackman– best known as Wolverine and now a friend of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner– would bring in fans. But Gary Hart is now X Man. He’s just an ex-politician who flamed out. Whatever the movie cost– $30 million?– is pretty much lost.
Remember “Wreck it Ralph”? Now the animated sequel is about to set to a record for Thanksgiving weekend.
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” already has $50 million in sales since Wednesday. If it keeps up that way today and tomorrow, the new “Ralph” will pass Disney’s “Moana” and become the second highest grossing movie that opened on Thanksgiving weekend with $85 million.
The title holder is Disney’s “Frozen” with $93 million.
That also means that Disney could continue to have nine of the top 10 Thanksgiving weekend openers. So far the spoiler has been New Line’s “Four Christmases.”
Sitting at number 13 right now on the Thanksgiving list is “Creed” with $42 million. The new “Creed II” is looking at $55 million. “Creed II” and the new “Ralph” will push “Four Christmases” to number 10, and set Disney back to 8 of the top 10 Turkey weekend movies.
Ryan Coogler didn’t direct “Creed II” but he invented it. He also co-produced it. In 2018 he also co-produced another little film, “Black Panther,” which made just $700 million. He’s 32 years old.
Every paper makes a mistake. The Daily Mail made one briefly this evening when someone accidentally turned actor Chris Pratt from the Guardian of the Galaxy into a real life cold blooded murderer. This is the actual headline they published until cooler minds prevailed and Chris Watts, the evil killer of his own family, was restored to infamy.
