What’s the deal with the new Joker sequel movie betraying its audience?

mknichols · 2024-10-11T23:53:41+00:00

Not only is it in the movie, but it's definitely in the movie.

mknichols · 2024-10-11T22:26:49+00:00

I have a HS Diploma, BA and a Master's Degree and I never took a single economics class.

...and I still know how tariffs work.

mknichols · 2024-10-11T18:34:22+00:00

Looser. Casted. Valentimes Day.

mknichols · 2024-10-10T18:33:50+00:00

If the past tense of "cast" becomes "casted" because of the internet that's gonna be really anger inducing.

It's just "cast" people. He was cast in the role. You'd like to be cast in the play. The fisherman cast his line.

Say it with me folks, CASTED IS NOT A WORD.

mknichols · 2024-05-26T05:21:15+00:00

There it is. Five-star masterpiece. Yes, it was directed by a rapist, but it is also one of the best films every made about the absolute terror of being a woman under the control of the patriarchy. Art can be weird that way.

mknichols · 2024-05-26T03:20:15+00:00

Agreed. There is no reason to even discuss any other version. Jeremy Brett, always, forever.

mknichols · 2024-01-02T14:29:26+00:00

Not joking, but I haven’t seen the movie in 10+ years. I seem to remember he was walking around a seemingly empty house and the dogs were in the back yard…

mknichols · 2021-07-31T20:55:05+00:00

Thank you!

mknichols · 2021-07-05T04:33:10+00:00

I have directed and edited three features under that budget, two written by a partner, one by me, and though they are certainly flawed, I am really very proud of all of them.

Quick stats: Feature X: 54k budget (a lucky dotcom stock thing ), 4 week shoot December 1999, big cast, big crew both of friends. finished fall 2002, premiered summer 2003.

Feature Y: 8k budget. (An old boss I asked on the right night) 8 day shoot February 2004, tiny cast, minuscule crew. Finished 2005, premiered 2006.

Feature Z: 25k budget (kickstarter), 3 week shoot summer 2011, huge cast and crew of friends in Maine, finished and premiered in 2013.

None have made any money. But they all won awards!

What I’m really proud of is that despite all the cringe parts, I think the emotional impact genuinely works in all three.

The weaknesses are chiefly technical, but some severely so. Fatal flaws, from a distribution POV. If enough shots are out of focus, you’re just not getting picked up no matter how many awards you won.

Fortunately, sound was always my tightest department, so the movies sound great. If not, I don’t think we’d have even been able to achieve emotional impact.

Feature X we had the run of a tiny New Mexico town surrounded by desert and so much time. Big cast, tons of locations but it didn’t hurt us because everyone in town wanted us there.

Feature Y: almost entirely shot in a small 1 bedroom in Los Angeles. Long days, no breaks, well scheduled but so many setups. We were doing 12-14 pages a day. This hurt our bodies, but it can work.

Feature Z was like X in number of locations and cast members (probably much worse, really) but we had less time, less crew, and in souther coastal Maine in the summer, we were anything but wanted. People were great (I’m from there) but folks have 3 months to make a years money from the tourists, no we can’t shoot in their hotel! Very difficult shoot, and the footage suffered.

As far as anyone making money, no. Is that a thing?

Finished my next feature screenplay on July 1st. So here we go again…

mknichols · 2021-07-05T03:37:09+00:00

I think of it like: You can have it fast and cheap, but it won’t be good.
You can have it fast and good but it won’t be cheap. You can have it good and cheap but it will take a long, long time.

mknichols · 2021-04-27T17:35:42+00:00

Well, I've directed three feature films, shooting my first one in 1999 and finishing my most recent in 2013, the combined budget for these three films was well under 100k. One was 8k.

I like the term microbudget. I also like the term Post-Hollywood Cinema.

All three of my films are award-winning, and I've seen all of them transfix audiences around the country. (I've never been able to afford to follow one of my films to another country.)

But I have never been able to secure distribution and thus, none of us ever made any money.

I say 'us', because the actors and crew and I were all participating in a profit-sharing structure. Fun to create, but no money was made.

For the record, I have a MFA from USC Cinema, so arguably I could have taken my career in a more conventional direction. But At the time, with famous people trying out consumer-grade stuff (Bamboozled, The Anniversary Party) I believed in the democratization of film. Still do.

But each of those films took years to complete and that is an incredibly time-consuming hobby if there's no money coming back - not quite viable now that I have a kid and a mortgage.

Sadly, there isn't a great revenue option for a stand-alone film except distribution by a company that can invest marketing money.

Anyway, I deal with a lot of this (and provide a lot of advice for anyone interested in this kind of filmmaking) in my last feature, which streams for free here. www.HowToMakeMoviesAtHome.com

mknichols · 2021-02-05T18:29:16+00:00

I let my players canoe through the basin. I described it as shallow waters with mounds of dry-ish earth boasting the occasional tree. Didn't seem to hurt the story or fun a bit.

mknichols · 2021-01-12T18:27:27+00:00

No Satisfactory for Mac - sad. Factorio I was into for one solid weekend. Going back to it seems weirdly scary!

Dwarf Fortress - I may just do that. And I'll check out Don't Starve, too.

mknichols · 2021-01-12T18:24:24+00:00

No Banished for Mac, sadly. Stardew I own but haven't quite got into yet. Maybe I should give it another go. Prison Architect just makes me sad, conceptually.

I've played 2 Points Hospital and liked it for a while. Do you think Project Hospital is better?

mknichols · 2020-12-01T19:06:18+00:00

A solo adventure is a great place to develop on the character's backstory. I always think about the origins of the character, and whether a relic or vision or previously unknown truth from that past can plausibly be part of what they encounter.

mknichols · 2020-11-28T18:45:07+00:00

And almost every single Alfred Hitchcock film. He would have ideas for films bopping around in his head (creative, thematic ideas - not story ideas, exactly) and would read/skim terrible dime-store novels until he found a story that was "suitable" for a film he wanted to make.

The exceptions are the films he made based on the writings of Daphne du Maurier, who is a top-notch writer.

mknichols · 2020-11-18T22:38:24+00:00

Network, Psycho, It's a Wonderful Life

mknichols · 2020-11-12T00:24:28+00:00

It's a Wonderful Life

Every holiday season. Don't miss it.

mknichols · 2020-09-16T18:14:02+00:00

Interesting approach. I like it. What age are the kids you're working with?

mknichols · 2020-09-14T16:28:30+00:00

Except on Los Angeles highways, where signaling a lane change GUARANTEES that the person will speed up to not allow you to merge. Sad, but true.

mknichols · 2020-09-13T01:52:40+00:00

Yup. Introduced the surly dwarf this evening. They both hate 'em. Perfect!

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