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As the AFI FEST concludes, Clint Eastwood’s taut courtroom thriller “Juror #2” saw better reviews than Bob Zemeckis’ Tom Hanks drama “Here.” Screen Talk co-host Ryan Lattanzio wrote a positive reaction but upon further refection, finds flaws, including the de-aging techniques used on Hanks and Robin Wright, the “Forrest Gump” costars. Anne Thompson wonders if Zemeckis’s obsession with technology has helped his filmmaking.
Eastwood’s movie is opening on just 50 screens nationwide, with no current plans to expand. Why is Warner Bros., his studio home for decades, which benefited from box office and Oscars from such films as “Unforgiven,” “Million Dollar Baby’ and “American Sniper,” treating the 94-year-old so badly? Because studio chief David Zaslav has lost the belief that a straight, no-frills drama like this can perform at the box office. Does a movie have to be an event now to lure audiences? At least the studio is promising an awards campaign.
The Gotham Awards nominations are selected by committees of mostly critics and programmers, and while we can expect Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”) and Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) to be in the Oscar race, many other Gotham nominees will turn up at the various critics’ groups. Still, Gothams mentions may send awards voters to check out more titles.
Our special guests this week are the CEO Pete Micelli and co-founder Jack Whigham of the four-year-old Range Media Partners, a management, investment, and production company with 150 employees that is using new technology to prepare such clients as Tom Hardy and Rita Ora for the future. One of Range’s projects is “A Complete Unknown,” which Whigham has seen, and while he may be biased, he’s upbeat on the Bob Dylan film starring Timothée Chalamet, one of the last to be unveiled this awards season.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
