You've read it here before... you'll read it again.
Why do studios choose - CHOOSE - to put themselves in an adversarial position with film critics and writers on movies where they need the support of film critics and writers?
I just don’t get it.
I have heard negative buzz about Frost/Nixon… and I have dismissed it all. Today, I am hearing more negative buzz about the film… and I will dismiss it all when it comes to how I eventually feel about the film. The movie is everything. I know this material and these performances. I expect the film to be quite good.
Not the point.
The point is, why put Los Angeles’ movie writers into an emotional tizzy about being behind the curve by letting the film’s review drop in both trades and in Peter “The Blogger” Bart’s joke of a blog before the majority of L.A. press is even invited to see the movie? It just doesn’t make sense. There is ZERO upside. None. There is not a single argument about why this makes sense that makes sense.
There is an argument for sitting on Milk until right before its premiere in San Francisco. There is reason to hang on to Revolutionary Road until Vantage decides that it is The Moment. God bless Fox… I hope they have Australia in a condition in which it can be shown before too long.
It’s not just about hiding the movie. It’s about creating an unbalanced review environment on purpose. It’s just a bad, bad idea.
Universal CHOSE to put the film in London today… they CHOSE to show it to trade reviewers in Los Angeles before the London screening… they CHOSE to let Peter Bart abuse his role as editor so he could deliver fodder for his blog before others (Lionsgate got sucked into this on W. as well, with the TV junket as cover for his embargo break)… they CHOSE NOT to invite or show it to any reviewing press see the film, even under a strict embargo, before reviews would run in trades that have become nothing more than minor movie websites that hock their wares all across the web like any good geek site…
And now, instead of getting a variety of voices - great, good, mediocre, bad, and indifferent - talking about the film, they have some movie lover in London playing critic, Bart blogging, a yawn of a Variety review… and nothing positive to show for it, only bitterness that has to be overcome.
Don’t show your movies. I do not object. Or show them to everyone. Show them to select, but not laser-narrow groups. But don’t try to tiptoe through the critical tulips. The only thing you ever end up with is dirty, smelly shoes, which is really a shame when a movie doesn’t deserve to live with the stench.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2008/10/kicking_frostni.html