Skip to main content

Thoughts On M. Night

 As you know, I am a fan of "good bad" movies -- and that got me thinking about M. Night Shamalamadingdong (sorry - I can't help that). He is not really my thing ... but =>

With the utmost respect for his craft, using what I think is the highest praise - he is the Roger Corman of $20M movies. M. Night has self produced his last 5 movies - they ALL make their budget back in the opening weekend. All of his movies except for his very first "Wide Awake" made more than they cost (averaging 8x their budget). If you just count the $40M or less movies, there are 6 of them - the return is 12x. For the ones over $40M, the return is 3x.

This is a 52 year old person -- He seems to have decided he doesn't need / want to work with a major studio - he makes a movie every 2 years -- he will be making movies for another couple decades if he wants to.

Like his movies or not - it is hard to not be impressed by his ability to work that business and produce a product that consistently sells for a profit. That is why I give him the RC award. He has earned it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Midnight Run (1988)

 I need to add one more to my [perfect movie] list: "Midnight Run" (1988). I don't think I had seen it before until now. It holds up well, it is very quotable, shot and edited really well. You can understand how this guy made "Beverly Hills Cop" four years earlier. I do think the secret of this (and BHC) is character. These characters are really well written and played. Charles Grodin is giving a master class in playing down beat against DeNiro's comedic version of "Taxi Driver". Yaphet Kotto looks like he is going to have an aneurysm - and Dennis Farina is truly a scary Chicago mobster. Added bonus - Danny Elfman soundtrack.

Sinners (2025) - who are your people?

A Southern Gothic tale - with all the symbolism you care to find from that genre. What does it mean to belong? How does a community treat its undesirables? What role does religion play in defining good and clean? What do you have to give up to be part of the clan? This movie probes some very deep stuff.  If you just want the top-level show without all the questions this flick evokes - you get gangsters, vampires, and blues music. It is all the magic I found in a Pizza Hut Supreme when I was a kid. Wonderfully grotesque metaphors. Moving scores. Impact through sound design, camera focus, tracking, color palette and lighting. This movie is brilliantly made.  I am trying to put my finger on a performance that is stand out, but I can't really. It is quite an ensemble. I think if there is one series I loved it is when Stack goes to get supplies for the party: that negotiation with the girl by the truck, the greeting at the 'black' grocery, the shooting, the '1-shot' wher...

Roman Holiday - a perfect closing scene

Roman Holiday: Never have the stakes been so low. And seldom has the romp been so much fun. This movie is effervescent. The sensibility of it fantastic. There is even a character arc for all the mains if that is what you want - Peck falls in love. Hepburn grows up and realizes she is a woman on a mission in control of her agenda. Albert even has his heart show up at the end - really all of them go through something in a very naturalistic way that I feel is unusual for film (certainly for 1950's US films). I do think that Eddie Albert deserves special mention - he is severely handsome and hilarious.  It may be mostly the beard, but he reminded me of Rob Cook. His character keeps getting dumped on his backside and getting his pants wet. He tries to 'help' and ends up in some slapstick shenanigans more than not. I don't know about the time around the release, but his performance is undermentioned in comparison to the other two these days. The closing scene where she knows ...