Oscar Noms
The Academy released its Oscar nominations this week. Yes, there are movies viewed by more than just the NY/LA set in the nominations. Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: WOW, Elvis and Everyone Everywhere All At Once were all crowd-pleasers. Thus, the Academy has somewhat dodged the bullet of complaints that they never nominate movies people see anymore. Can they now produce a show that will entertain its audience? Or will it become another self-indulgent inside-baseball celebration that no one outside the industry cares about? As I said, we're heading for the latter especially given that the current Academy CEO, Bill Kramer, wants to bring back all the awards to the main telecast, unlike last year, where a few were awarded pre-telecast and then shown in brief clips. This means we'll be treated to a four-hour snooze fest.
Just once, I would like to write or discuss the Academy and the Oscars with a sense of optimism and cheer. The only thing that this year's Oscars will prove is whether or not the films nominated can deliver an audience. With that question finally settled, we can move on to making the show entertaining again.
Timothee Chalamet
AppleTV+ has a new branding ad starring everyone's favorite emo actor, Timothee Chalamet. At first, I thought it was silly to cast Chalamet, an actor more popular with the industry, versus the average moviegoer. However, my wife informed me that he is, in fact, very popular on the Facebook Mom blogs that my wife frequents, so they've got that demo locked up. And he's arguably a more popular choice than Jon Hamm.
Still, the ad itself wasn't what intrigued me the most. I realized that Apple has finally recognized that they have a branding issue with their streamer service. For years, Apple seemed to exist just on being "Apple." They didn't need to do the yeoman's work that so many other brands have to do over the years to ensure consumer loyalty. They already had it in spades. They just had to release a new product, and bam, it was instantly popular. That's how they thought the launch of AppleTV+ would go. Do you all remember the big launch event at Apple Headquarters with Speilberg, Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Evans? They handled it similarly to how they tackle product launches: Announce and let the fans do the work. Alas, it didn't work out that way, and despite having been the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar (Coda), they're still viewed as an afterthought by many a consumer. Hence, the Chalamet ad. An undeniable attempt to showcase all the talent they have going on AppleTV+ but will it be enough?
Apple has been throwing money around to snag many of the town's most prominent projects, and with the hiring of former Disney Marketing Prez Ricky Strauss, they have signaled they realize they have to start getting down into the muck like everyone else and drop the above fray attitude. They still have the inherent liability of not having an additional library of titles to pull from and the confusion of how to find shows. The great Netflix correction and Disney's bumpy ride this year have given Apple the heads up that you can't just keep spending money without any real plan for profitability. The Chalamet ad may help distinguish themselves as a movie star player but will that matter in a world with almost no movie stars left? Everyone rushed into streaming, seeing it as the future of entertainment. Apple more or less said we're Apple, we can do this entertainment thing, no problem. It shall be interesting to see if the ad brings AppleTV+ the success they're hoping for. They threw enough money at it, so let's see how that ROI turns out.
Avatar: Way of Water
James Cameron is a visual master. I saw Avatar: Way of Water this past weekend in IMAX 3D, which is the only way to see it. It was a jaw-dropping visual experience. Having worked on the original, it was fascinating to see how much the technology has advanced in the 13 years since Avatar. Every visual just seemed to pop off the screen, and in true Cameron style, the 3D effects weren't some random creature jumping at you on screen but a completely immersive experience.
However, the movie itself was a complete letdown. All I've written above could have easily been written about a film at a science center versus a cinematic event. Honestly, at times, that's what I was watching. A good 45 minutes of the film feels dedicated to discovering the underworld of Pandora. It was all great to a certain degree, but it felt like Cameron just got so excited about how cool everything looked that he didn't know where or when to stop. The film could have used some trimming because I felt those 3 hours and 10 minutes. The story also felt so derivative. I don't know what happened, but Cameron has lost the storytelling touch he had in movies like Terminator and Aliens. The dialogue was painfully corny, and I'm not sure when Cameron lost respect for the military, but those characters are so cartoonish and ridiculous it almost wholly pulls you out of the movie.
I had high hopes that Cameron would build on the world he created in Avatar, creating a rich mythology that could sustain an additional three movies. Alas, he became obsessed with the visuals that everything else fell by the wayside. With $2 billion in box office thus far, I don't anticipate that much will change for the next installment, but at least I got to see the Oppenheimer trailer in IMAX3D. Damn, that movie looks incredible. Come on, Nolan, don't let me down!
Pages from the Commonplace Book
This week, we hear from English poet Alexander Pope (A. Pope for you DaVinci Code fans.)
"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is seldom found."
Anyone who has ever sat in any pointless meeting or met any number of Hollywood execs knows that truer words have never been spoken.
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