Studio executives have been sitting around scratching their heads or their backsides and wondering why in the world movie going is dropping off. They're blaming DVDs, they're blaming cable, they're blaming all kinds of things.
Well, we just came back from the premiere of "Green Street Hooligans," a film that every single major studio passed on distributing, and I can tell you with full confidence that at least one factor in audience erosion is that studios can't discern quality when it's right in front of them.
And quality is what "Green Street Hooligans" most certainly is. It's easily the most riveting two hours I've spent at a movie this year. Elijah Wood plays a disconnected, frustrated college dropout who sojourns to England and becomes involved in a "firm"--a gang, if you will, of cocky, proud, hard-drinking, fight-seeking football (not "soccer," please) hooligans. When Wood's character tries to compare the rivalry between certain rival firms as "Yankees and Red Sox," he's corrected with "More like Israelis and Palestinians."
What unfolds is a fascinating tale of brotherhood on numerous levels, and the ultimate futility of lives lived in violence and vengeance. It is, quite simply, a brilliant piece of movie making.
Yet every major studio passed. Insanely, they claimed that it glorified violence, making it seem like a positive means of solving problems. Any person with an IQ above that of a kumquat who sees this film will realize that the studios completely and totally botched it. It takes some serious stupid to think this movie is a celebration of violence.
You absolutely must see this film. You must get all your friends to see it. And as soon as you do, you must go and plug it long and loud on your own blogs and get the word out. Not just because it's a fantastic movie. You must see it to send a message to movie executives, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent. They have to be told that they are insane to pass up high quality films such as this one. They have to be told that audiences are not getting it up for the movies because they want to see something other than the latest paint-by-numbers action flick or play-it-safe romantic date movie. That movies such as "Green Street Hooligans" deserve studio support and audience attention.
Also, on Kathleen's blog, she'll be writing about the film as well (and since she used to hang with football hooligans in London, she knows about this stuff personally) and also posting a photo of Ariel with Elijah Wood.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at September 9, 2005 12:26 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentinghollywood hasn't known its head from a hole in the ground for a while. there are a ton of great movies that fall through the cracks in favor of the flavor of the moment's vanity project.
i urge people to support legitimately good movies when they are out. every time crap like dukes of hazzard is numero uno at the box office, my soul shudders.
While seeing that, go ahead and skip Serenity. Oblivion did it better first anyways.
Fight Club, Kill Bill, and Sin City are films that glorified violence. Not that there is any thing wrong with that ;)
"Fight Club, Kill Bill, and Sin City are films that glorified violence."
No argument. I'm not claiming the reasoning of the suits makes any sense. I'm just relaying what they said.
PAD
although not a movie, I'd just like to say I miss Farscape.
JAC
As an ambulanceman working in that very area "More like Israelis and Palestinians." is perhaps the best description I've heard yet.
Still...keeps me in business...
(Off to see it today or tomorrow and see if I can spot the locations they used).
I saw the crowds lining up for a screening yesterday at the Union Square Cinemas. PAD, were you at that one? Coz I swear I saw somebody who looked like you in Forbidden Planet beforehand, but I wasn't sure, and even then I'm likely to think "don't bother the guy with your gushy fanboy praise even if it IS him"...
Anyway, you just made this a must-see film for me. Thanks!
Hollywood is too stupid to realize that, on the whole, nobody give a damn for all these pathetic remakes and such.
There's a distinct lack of originality from the major studios right now.
With the way people are viewing going to the theatre right now, I don't think it'll take long for people to start ignore comic book based movies altogether as well, since so many of them are coming out.
Did the studios pass on a script or the actual movie? While I'm more than willing to see better movies made, I'm not the studio exec whose job is on the line when he puts out 100 million dollars on a preproduction option. Playing it safe and putting the pap out there that will give me a good ROI from the emptyheaded idiots is a safer bet. Further, had the studios grabbed this film, it wouldn't be the movie you like so much.
Independent production companies are the only hope for quality in movies.
Hmm, sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.
Speaking of great new films that are low on people's radar screen, I saw "Red Eye" the other day and was greatly impressed. I'm not a big fan of Wes Craven's horror stuff (in all fairness to Wes, however, I'm not a big fan of most modern-day horror stuff, period), yet I found "Red Eye" to be very well-written and directed, and suspenseful in the same vein as a classic Hitchcock film. It was one of the few times this year I've seen a film and actually felt I got my money's worth.
"Did the studios pass on a script or the actual movie?"
The actual movie. It was already made, it was screened for them (you know, like films are at Sundance), and the studios were afraid of it.
Now that I think about it, comparing it to films like "Fight Club" and "Kill Bill" aren't really valid, for the simple reason that those are films which create their own reality. In this instance, as Tom Reynolds notes above, "Green Street Hooligans" is a slice of "real" reality. So the studios figure it's okay to make flights of fancy with ten times the violence level and profit off that. But make a film with far less violence, but depicted in a realistic manner and depicting the ultimate futility of such a life, and they'll throw whatever crap excuse they can at it to avoid it.
And yes, John, that was me at FP yesterday and then the theater, along with Kathleen and Ariel.
PAD
I can't find it playing anywhere on Long Island.
The film looks, on first appearences, like a brit-flick by the name of "I.D"
It was also a look at the uber-violent world of the footy hooligan. It too, was very good.
"Insanely, they claimed that it glorified violence, making it seem like a positive means of solving problems."
What the hell? That's the premise of every action movie ever.
Peter David: And quality is what "Green Street Hooligans" most certainly is. It's easily the most riveting two hours I've spent at a movie this year. Elijah Wood plays a disconnected, frustrated college dropout who sojourns to England...
Luigi Novi: Hopefully it'll be better than Everything is Illuminated, in which he plays a disconnected, frustrated guy who soujourns to Russia. I heard such great things about the book, but when I saw the movie in early June, I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. Between his odd habit of putting every little piece of flotsam he finds into little baggies, like some mad investor in Ziplock with OCD, the annoying Russian guide, the boring stretches and the inscrutable flashback sequences, I just didn't get it.
I'll wait for the trades.
Sigh. It was funnier in the thread that got deleted.
I guess what they say about timing is true.
I promise I'll go see the movie.
Studio executives are afraid to rock the boat unless they have no other choice and nothing to lose. And while most of them realize that most of what they're putting out is crap, (or at least I hope so) they stil;l have jobs to do, IE, putting out movies. Add to that a sense of nostalgia for the good ol' days (which, as I recall, weren't so good themselves...) and there you have the glut of remakes, retreads, and safe prospects. They also have to remember that most people go to movies to see STORIES, not such and such actor and forget any ideas about stuff being too cerebral for for most people. Go back to the simpler things when you're m,aking movies, give your characters some depth, and the people will come.
And now I have to find a sitter for Boo while Stace and I try to see this movie...
The other thing to remember is that it isn't just studio execs whose jobs are on the line. They have to worry about everybody that might get laid off if the studio's fortunes decline.
Hard to remember in the face of crap like STEALTH, but true nonetheless.
Totally. I haven't seen a movie since May.
Then again, the declining viewership isn't surprising, if the biggest movie of the summer was "Dukes of Hazzard", a remake of a TV show that was not, to be totally honest, all that entertaining in the first place.
I suspect it's because movies have become a Major Business (if I may state the dazzlingly obvious), and Major Businessmen dislike risk the way Howard Hughes disliked germs. In their view, it's better to churn out bland product that will make a few bucks and drive merchandising sales, rather than to risk putting out a well-made film that becomes an utter bomb.
But on the positive side, it's been fun reading the vitriol in Roger Ebert's movie reviews increased until he reached a transcendent pinnacle in his review of "Deuce Bigalow 2".
"... in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent."
I love it when PAD gets Jeffersonian.
Now ... what are the odds of this fine film coming to BFE Kansas (if you'll pardon the redundancy)?
Dunno--Creative Screenwriting Daily gives it 1 star and says:
"Green Street Hooligans is a well-directed, visceral film, supported by some powerful performances from a stellar cast. Alas, there is no such strength in the story. The paper-thin plot is predictable at almost every turn. The various ambushes and narrow escapes of the GSE can all be seen coming, and many of the plot twists are telegraphed so early in the story (the identity of the legendary Major, for example) that the true shock is realizing they were supposed to be surprises. Perhaps the biggest twist in the film comes when a disgraced member of the GSE doesn't kill himself after a pathetic night of drinking alone by London Bridge, instead returning to the firm for a predictable last-minute rescue. The story grows so weak at points that it's even forced to fall back on clumsy voiceovers from Matt (which sound like they've been lifted from Fight Club and Terminator 2).
"
They wrap it up with:
"Some Oscar nods may come out of this for acting and directing, and well they should, because this film is another example of professionals doing wonderful work when they're given nothing to work with. Green Street Hooligans is not a horrible story, but it lacks anything new, fresh, or remotely clever that could let you call it good.
"
The comment about the voice over is valid. Believe it or not, it was added in to ram home the notion that "violence is not good" that was too elusive for movie execs to parse. I think that was a mistake. The rest of the review is nonsense. "The ambushes can be seen coming." Yeah...twenty seconds before they occur. It's like knocking a western where the settlers are crossing the plains and then you pull back to show the Indians in hiding behind the mountains and saying the subsequent ambush was telegraphed. Of course, when something DOESN'T go according to what the reviewer thinks will happen, he bitches about that as well...and leaves out major spoiler oriented comments about the "predictable last-minute save" that renders the outcome somewhat shocking.
Look, all I'm saying is...I thought it was brilliant, powerful, and thought-provoking. If your taste is usually in accord with me when it comes to movies, then take my word for it.
PAD
I saw a 20 second clip of this (of Frodo running in slow mo after leaving a game) on *ahem* The Insider *ahem* today, and hot daymn, the description of the movie and the clip made me want to see it. Immediately.
Considering where I live, that'll probably about 6 months from now when it hits DVD. If I'm lucky.
Dagnabit. Looks awesome, though.
Look, what the hell does Hollywon't know anyhow? You're talking about the same people who gave us Dips in Hazzard, Starsky and Hutch, Dip Manslut: I'm dumber in Europe and Bewitched (while talking about giving us A-Team and Fall Guy) while at the very same time asking why people are avoiding the theaters in droves. The dimmer bulbs rule.
The problem with sticking it to Hollywon't is finding the film though. I've seen the trailer and wan't to see it. Slim chance that it's coming to an easy to drive to theater even around here in Richmond, VA. I wanted to see The Boys (& Girl) from County Clare and my wife wanted to see Saint Ralph after seeing an online trailer. We have to wait for DVD. We both wanted to see "Night Watch" in a bad way. DVD wait again. Green Street Hooligans is gonna be the same.
"And yes, John, that was me at FP yesterday and then the theater, along with Kathleen and Ariel."
Cool! Still probably wouldn't have bothered you (I'm no stalker), but I was jealous that Kathleen seemed to have gotten the only or last yarn Trillian in the shop.
Then again, the declining viewership isn't surprising, if the biggest movie of the summer was "Dukes of Hazzard", a remake of a TV show that was not, to be totally honest, all that entertaining in the first place.
I'm not sure under what terms Dukes would be considered "the biggest movie of the summer". It was a big movie for its weekend, perhaps, but it was not the widest opener, not the biggest investment, and by far not the biggest box office of the summer films. Dukes has so far done less business than even 40-Year Old Virgin, which came out two weeks later. It's done about half of what Fantastic Four did, well less than half of what Batman, Charlie, or Wedding Crashers did, and only about a third of War of the Worlds.
Warner Brothers passed on Duma, an intelligently crafted movie for children about a young boy and his pet cheetah in the bush in Africa. One of the best childrens movies I've seen in a long time..
Par for the course.
=darwin
Has anyone seen the British movie Football Factory? Its a british made movie which deals with the same topic. I have yet to see Greenstreet but am curious to find out how they compare if anyone has seen the two
Peter, I can't blame the suits for passing.
1.It involves soccer, don't look at me like that. America is not the only one that calls it soccer.
2. Soccer movies don't really have a reputation of tearing it up at the box office.
So your aksing the suits to take a chance on a movie that involves a sport that is behind Football, baseball, basketball, Golf, Nascar and tennis in American TV ratings.
So who is going to want to see this thing Peter?
"Peter, I can't blame the suits for passing."
Okay, I'm going to guess that you haven't actually seen it. So since you haven't seen it, you really know nothing about the quality of the film, and therefore can't have an informed opinion as to whether they should have passed or not.
"1.It involves soccer, don't look at me like that. America is not the only one that calls it soccer."
Soccer--or, more specifically, footage of soccer, takes up approximately five minutes of the total film. The film isn't about soccer. It's about violence, obsession, and family.
"2. Soccer movies don't really have a reputation of tearing it up at the box office."
Right, because "Bend it Like Beckham," which really DID feature football/soccer extensively, merely made back eight times its budget, and that was without a single name actor or actress in the cast.
"So your aksing the suits to take a chance on a movie that involves a sport that is behind Football, baseball, basketball, Golf, Nascar and tennis in American TV ratings."
The suits weren't being asked to put up money to make it; merely distribute it. And, again, football itself is not what the movie is about. Which would be known by people who had actually seen it. Which, I suspect, doesn't include you.
"So who is going to want to see this thing Peter?"
Congratulations. You just asked the same question that various studios asked about that stupid space movie that that Lucas kid was making before they passed on it. And of course, no one would be REMOTELY interested in seeing a film featuring the star of three of the most successful films to hit the theaters in years.
PAD
Not about soccer. And yet...
"Woods plays a disconnected, frustrated college dropout who sojourns to England and becomes involved in a firm of cocky, proud, hard-drinking, fight seeking hooligans. When Wood's character tries of compare the rivalry between certain rival firms as "Yankees and Red Sox" he's corrected with "More like Israelis and Palestinians"
Your words not mine.
I will see your Bend it Like Beckham With "The Game Of Their Lives" Oh and Peter, I hurt myself trying not to laugh when you pulled out Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. :)Yeah, how could the evil suits "not" see the appeal of the guy that played a hobbit now playing a soccer hooligan?
"Not about soccer. And yet...
"Woods plays a disconnected, frustrated college dropout who sojourns to England and becomes involved in a firm of cocky, proud, hard-drinking, fight seeking hooligans. When Wood's character tries of compare the rivalry between certain rival firms as "Yankees and Red Sox" he's corrected with "More like Israelis and Palestinians"
Your words not mine."
Yes, and no where in that description do the words "soccer" or "Football" show up, so your point eludes me.
Look, see the film, don't see the film, whatever. But don't comment on the wisdom of the suits being dumb enough to pass on it until you actually see it so you can know what you're talking about...as opposed to thus far, when you don't.
PAD
Well, I couldn't bring myself to type your
"football (not "soccer" please.)"
I accept your "whatever" :)
how you all green street is an absolutly amazing film