Riz Ahmed is Ruben, a metal drummer whose hearing is rapidly deteriorating to oblivion in “Sound of Metal.” He happens to be dating Lou (Olivia Cooke) the singer of their metal duo band Blackgammon. When Ruben’s hearing starts to go and, eventually, in horrifyingly authentic ways, disappears, Lou becomes the voice of judgment, but only as his girlfriend.
Read more‘Run': Twist-Filled Hitchcock Ripoff is a Suspenseful Yarn [Review]
Writing a review for a movie such as “Run,” much like anything by Alfred Hitchcock, is risky, as you walk that fine line between revealing too little and revealing too much of the plot. I’ve decided to try find some kind of middle ground, because you should really go in with as little knowledge of the plot as possible.
Read moreThe Haunting of Bly Manor will Keep You Up at Night
Just in time for Halloween, Netflix dropped its latest hit series: The Haunting of Bly Manor.
The nine episodes were released all in one go, giving horror fans the chance to binge it all ahead of October 31 - or to save it for the day itself.
Read more‘Wonder Woman 1984' Officially Set for HBO Max Premiere on Christmas Day
As we speak, “Wonder Woman 1984” is six weeks away from its global Christmas Day release. Shockingly enough, the Gal Gadot-starring superhero sequel is now officially set to hit theaters on December 25th with an exclusive run on the HBO Max streaming service that same day. The industry is truly crumbling.
Read more‘One Night in Miami’: Relevant and Fictionalized Depiction of Black American Legends is a Dud [Trailer]
Don’t believe the hype, actress-turned-director Regina King isn’t, all of a sudden, some seasoned director who delivered a “great” movie during the fall festival season. No, her “One Night in Miami” actually deserves to be called the most overpraised movie of 2020.
Read moreSpike Lee's Next Film Will Be A Musical About the Origins of Viagra
Despite a pandemic permanently shutting down the industry, Spike Lee had a very busy year - he gave us the critically-acclaimed (but highly overrated) “Da 5 Bloods,” and the extraordinary David Byrne concert documentary “American Utopia.” And it looks as though he will continue to be productive in 2021 as he has just announced what his next cinematic endeavor will be.
Read moreVanessa Kirby is a Major Best Actress Contender in ‘Pieces of a Woman' [Trailer]
The Vanessa Kirby-starring “Pieces of a Woman,” dated by Netflix to be released in select theaters on December 30th, will be available via streaming on January 7th, 2021. I saw this fantastic movie at September’s digital edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, Kirby is almost guaranteed an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, maybe even a win, here’s a snippet from my review:
Read moreMartin Scorsese's ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Starring De Niro and DiCaprio Starts Shooting in March
Martin Scorsese was supposed to start shooting the $200 million production of “Killers of the Flower Moon” back in March, but then the pandemic hit and, much like every other shoot in Tinsel Town, a delay happened. ‘Killers, which is set to star Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, is an adaptation of David Grann’s novel, scripted by Eric Roth.
Read moreDavid Fincher Kinda, Sorta Implies Orson Welles Was Overrated
It’s hard not to love a straight-talking David Fincher doing press whenever he has a new movie out. Fincher, this time around at least, is giving us more exciting press junkets than the actual movie he is currently promoting. I’ve seen his latest “Mank” three times, not because I am absolutely in love with it, but because it was such a letdown on first viewing that I desperately wanted to like it the second and third time. Its tackling of “Citizen Kane” scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz will no doubt adhere to the tastes of the producers in the Academy aging voting body who’ve always had a nostalgic yearning for the Golden-Age milieu depicted in Fincher’s film.
Read more‘The Climb': Euro-Inspired Indie is as Shallow as its Characters [Review]
Here’s a clever indie comedy, maybe a bit too clever for its own good, dealing with an utterly dysfunctional bromance. “The Climb” is directed in a highly stylized fashion by Michael Angelo Covino, who also co-wrote the screenplay and stars alongside Kyle Marvin.
Read moreChadwick Boseman and Viola Davis Are Oscar-Worthy in ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'
Here come the first reactions to Netflix’s upcoming awards season contender “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and, yeah, it sure looks like not only do we have a Best Picture juggernaut, but Oscar-worthy performances from Viola Davis and, most intriguingly, the late Chadwick Boseman.
Read more‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Screens For Critics This Weekend
The late Chadwick Boseman’s film final will be the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” You’d be a silly person not to think that, at least on paper, this has the potential to be a serious awards season contender.
Read moreFour Big Losses on the Silver Screen That Made a Point
In the age of online gambling, a traditional roulette or blackjack table can rightfully feel exotic to anyone. This is especially true in 2020, when casinos are either closed or a mere shadows of their former selves. Today, the JackpotCity online casino offers its players a complete Las Vegas gambling experience complete with table games, slot machines, various card games, and even real-life dealers who handle the cards and spin the roulette wheel remotely, through video streaming. All this without the need for a mask or social distancing, just one tap away. The big win is often part of movies and TV episodes as a side story - sometimes, in turn, it’s a big loss that sets the wheels in motion. Today, let’s take a look at some of the most important gambling losses that serve as a trigger for an entire story.
Read moreChristopher Nolan Tries to Defend the Inaudible Sound Mixing in His Movies
Much like most Christopher Nolan movies, the dialogue in “Tenet,” at key moments, sounds inaudible; Nolan’s sound editing and mixing is and has always been so atrocious that one wonders why he never fixes it given that it’s become a common complaint from his detractors. In “Tenet,” the indecipherable booming bass muffles out what his on-screen characters are saying, and it does become detrimental since the film is heavy on expository dialogue.
Read more‘Mank' is a Playful, Technically Marvelous, But Slight Affair [Review]
David Fincher’s “Mank” will not be a movie with very much mass appeal. It will, however, adhere to the tastes of the producers in the Academy voting body who’ve always had a nostalgic yearning for the Golden-Age milieu depicted in Fincher’s film. This is a very dry, dialogue-driven ode to a bygone era of industry guys wheeling and dealing behind the scenes. Shot in black and white, and semi-inspired by the making of “Citizen Kane,” “Mank” chronicles a forgotten era of Hollywood lore, all seen through the eyes of its misunderstood screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz.
Read moreMost Successful Franchises Based on Movies
It has been a very strange year for movies, with most of the major films expected to have been released in 2020 having been delayed as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Read more‘Wonder Woman 1984' Set For HBO Max Premiere in January?
As we speak, “Wonder Woman 1984” is six weeks away from its global Christmas Day release. That is clearly going to change in the coming days. The Gal Gadot-starring movie is not being released this year, don’t get your hopes up, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in almost every state and so is the wall-to-wall panic-inducing coverage in the media. That won’t end post-election, it could even intensify with Joe Biden theatening to go into a country-wide lockdown.
Read moreLooking at YouTube's Relationship with Traditional Television
When YouTube arrived in early 2005, it existed more as a curiosity than as a serious media force. As one of many different online video providers, its offering of Flash-based media placed it firmly as a middling service. Today, however, YouTube exists as the premier video website for content creators, with a value of over $15 billion.
With this growth has come influence, the likes of which has been unprecedented in its effects on the greater television environment. Both in terms of traditional television cable and more contemporary online systems like Netflix, YouTube continues to be an industry-defining operation. So, what makes it different, and why is its importance only likely to grow?
Amateur Engagement
Of all the standout aspects of YouTube, perhaps the most historically important is its ability to support the arrival and engagement of newcomers. While this was a common feature of many early video-streaming services, few were as developed and user-friendly as the first versions of YouTube.
Accepting even the lowest quality audio-visual footage, provided it fell within standards of decency and rights management, YouTube swung for the fences right out of the gate. Suddenly, millions of people no longer had to rely on dedicated amateur webpages like those from GeoCities to find views, forming communities within YouTube’s early infrastructure.
Source: Pixabay
With the barriers to entry lowered, the online world saw an influx of talent the likes of which the entertainment landscape had never seen. Millions of untapped personalities suddenly had an outlet, without the confines which long defined older systems. Essentially, YouTube was like public-access, with a thousand times the reach.
Building Connections
While many early YouTube channels were devoid of much creative or artistic merit, some managed to stand above. Corresponding to the rise of many other aspects of pop culture, the most popular channels and personalities began to influence other video markets. This contributed to a positive feedback loop between YouTube and new digital television, allowing both to reach new heights.
Most notably, YouTube's rise to the forefront of online entertainment took place during the takeoff of on-demand services. In the video space, Netflix and Hulu laid the way forward. Suddenly no longer a slave to traditional programming timeslots, users had complete freedom on a scale never before seen. Even at an early stage, when connection speeds weren't what they are today, this single advantage proved enough to encourage many users to make the leap.
In essence, this was a natural expansion of prior industries which made the jump between the physical and digital space. Modern incarnations of casino games like roulette online are another example of such a relationship. Operating alongside physical casinos, online games like Quantum Roulette and Dragon Jackpot offer an alternative and sometimes a companion which, just as with YouTube and television, isn’t necessarily a replacement.
Source: Pixabay
By the Numbers
Today, over 1.3 billion people regularly use YouTube, with over a billion videos watched per day. Each minute, 500 hours of footage are uploaded, and all of these numbers are only growing. By comparison, the changes to television are much less reliable, are far less telling of such rapid growth.
For cable television, a massive decline in viewership is understandable. In the 2014-2019 period alone, a 20% decline in primetime viewers was noted, with the total percentage of household cable connections dropping to 78% from 84%.
The reason for this was the rise of paid online streaming services. While existing for some time, the last few years have seen enormous leaps in these forms of connectivity. In 2015, 53% of households subscribed to at least one of the services, in 2020 that number has reached 78% and climbing.
Source: Pixabay
With so much of the world becoming digitized over the last two decades, the rise of some video systems like YouTube to dominant levels was inevitable. What is less predictable and measurable was the total effect that these systems would have on traditional forms of television media.
On a creative level, we know that many techno-cultural aspects were shared, with both sides blending different components to create a new whole. In terms of raw engagement numbers, the relationship is much more nebulous, though trends do at least predict a continuing upswing on the part of YouTube. So, what comes next?
That depends on the evolving relationships that YouTube has with licensing, and the lowering of cost and growing accessibility of global high-speed internet. While, at the moment at least, YouTube exists as an alternative system and companion, there could come a day soon where it instead reaches into the realm of replacement. Whatever the case, for the consumer at least, the coming years should be exciting ones.
‘Let Them All Talk': Steven Soderbergh's Latest Film Was Shot With a Budget of 25 Cents [Trailer]
Steven Soderbergh is a legend of independent filmmaking His latest, the HBO Max comedy “Let Them All Talk,” was shot in just two weeks and was largely improvised by its cast. The film stars Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, and Candice Bergen, who play longtime friends reuniting on an ocean liner in what is being dubbed as a dialogue-heavy film.
Read more‘Mank’: David Fincher Had Gary Oldman Doing 100 Takes of the Same Scene, Amanda Seyfried 200 Takes
David Fincher is notoriously known for doing an obsessive amount of takes per scene, all just to make sure that he gets the best performance from all of his actors and the “perfect shot.” This is the same man who literally had to stop a take because a tiny thread was out of place on someone’s shirt on “Zodiac.” So, yeah, he clearly has a bad case of OCD as well. But so did Kubrick.
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