What a lively year for the movies, from the Barbenheimer phenomenon to the dual strikes that rocked the industry to the continuing controversy over the use of AI and I promise you this piece is written by an actual human being and not AI because prior to starting I had to check all the boxes with traffic lights in them and I got it right on the third try!
Strike one, strike two, we’re not out!
On May 2, the Writers of Guild of America (WGA) went on strike in a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Two and a half months later, SAG-AFTRA went on strike. With Hollywood’s creatives walking the picket lines, production was shut down on all scripted movies and television series, and release dates were pushed back for major films including “Dune: Part Two,” “The Bikeriders,” “Challengers” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” among others.
The WGA strike was resolved on Sept. 27, while the SAG/AFTRA strike ended on Nov. 9. Hollywood went back to work, with the writers and actors winning some well-deserved victories — but we shouldn’t forget all of the technicians, production assistants, craft service workers, satellite businesses, etc., who were sidelined and lost work and benefits during these stoppages.
Did we learn nothing from ‘The Matrix?’
Or “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Robocop,” “The Terminator,” “AI: Artificial Intelligence,” “Blade Runner,” “WALL-E,” “Ex Machina” and “The Creator?”
One of the key issues in both strikes was the use of AI, with the WGA gaining significant deterrents to the studios using artificial intelligence as a screenwriting tool, and the actors winning limits on the use of AI, including a requirement the studios must specify how they intend to use one’s digital likeness, and the stipulation that actors must be compensated their usual rate if their digital replica is used in productions.
Still, there’s no stopping the AI express, as evidenced by the de-aging of actors we’ve seen in a number of films in recent years, including “Blade Runner 2049,” “The Irishman,” “Captain Marvel,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the use of an AI Wilt Chamberlain to narrate the documentary “Goliath,” and the release of a Christmas bedtime story on Calm App featuring the AI voice of Jimmy Stewart, who has been gone for some 26 years. In the case of the movies, some of the de-aging in recent years has been pretty remarkable, e.g., Kurt Russell in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and Sean Young in “Blade Runner 2049,” while other examples look a little rubbery and, well, artificial, as in the digitized versions of Samuel L. Jackson in “Captain Marvel” and Carrie Fisher in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
Don’t be such a Ken, man!
As Greta Gerwig’s candy-colored, whip-smart, hilarious, breezy and exhilarating “Barbie” took the world by storm, a number of faux-macho conservatives got all worked up by what they perceived to be the anti-Ken and deeply woke messaging of a movie about a living doll. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro posted a 43-minute YouTube rant about the film and actually threw a Barbie and Ken doll into a trash bin before lighting them on fire, Ted Cruz claimed a map seen in the film was an example of Hollywood acting “as a mouthpiece for the Chinese communists” and radio host Charlie Kirk said “Barbie” was “trans propaganda” and said the trailer — THE TRAILER — was “the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” and no, this sentence is not an example of AI run amok, this all really happened.
It was a good year for …
Jacob Elordi: “Priscilla” and “Saltburn”
Florence Pugh: “Oppenheimer” and “The Boy and the Heron” (English dubbed version)
Nicolas Cage: “Renfield,’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Dream Scenario”
Bradley Cooper: “Maestro,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
Halle Bailey: “The Little Mermaid,” “The Color Purple”
Matt Damon: “Oppenheimer,” “Air”
Colman Domingo: “Rustin,” “Sing Sing,” “The Color Purple”
Shopping sequels
The trend of reprising iconic movie characters for TV commercials continued in 2023, with Alicia Silverstone and Elisa Donovan returning to their “Clueless” days for a Super Bowl ad for (hold on ... I’m checking) Rakuten, John Travolta starring in a “Saturday Night Fever’-themed ad for Quicksilver credit cards that also featured a cameo from Donna Pescow, and the “Mean Girls” gang (sans Rachel McAdams) getting back together for a Black Friday ad for Walmart. It’s harmless enough fun, and I suppose it means one day we’ll be seeing geriatric editions of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence chasing down a criminal in a “Bad Boys” credit card ad, or how about a wacky “Oppenheimer” reunion spot?
Talk about product placement!
It was the year of the Corporate Origins and/or Product Development story, from “Air” to “Tetris” to “BlackBerry” to “Flamin’ Hot” to “Ferrari” to “Gran Turismo.” Not to mention “Barbie,” which we won’t, because it’s a WOKE PROPAGANDA MOVIE THAT DOES KEN WRONG!
Quirky Brilliance, meet Eccentric Greatness
Three of our best actors delivered three of the best performances of the year playing characters who had more than a passing resemblance to each other. In “Dream Scenario,” Nicolas Cage is an eccentric and unlikable biology professor who has never followed through on the book he intended to publish. In “The Holdovers,” Paul Giamatti is a misanthropic classics professor who never realized his writing ambitions. In “American Fiction,” Jeffrey Wright is an embittered professor who actually HAS published a number of books, but is in a deep slump. These characters travel very different paths, but they’re all brought to vibrant and resonant life by brilliant actors.
How can we miss you if you never go away?
The vast majority of sequels this year were quickly forgettable and mostly unnecessary:
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
“Fast X”
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods”
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”
“Magic Mike’s Last Dance”
“The Exorcist: Believer”
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
“Expend4bles”
The End — The Last Item in this Article: Part Two, Thanks for Reading
We’re still in the Era of Unwieldy Titles, e.g., “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” and “Rebel One — Part One: A Child of Fire.”
It’s enough to make one long for the days of sequel titles that packed a creative punch, e.g., “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” “The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult,” “Dumb and Dumber To” and the immortal “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
