Going to the movies just got worse
And a legendary podcast calls it quits
Going to the movies just got worse at AMC Theaters
What’s the worst part of going to the movies today? There are a lot of things to choose from like:
High ticket and concession prices, bad projection and sound, facilities in disrepair, rude and inconsiderate people in the theater with you and of course endless trailers and commercials that play before the movies. This pre-show content spans as long as 30 minutes these days, after the listed start time
And well, AMC just announced that they’re adding even more ads before films. According to Bloomberg, “Starting July 1, AMC theaters will feature a ‘platinum spot’ that’s shown on screens right before the start of a film.” The reasons for this are obvious: The theater business is hurting and AMC needs the money.In fact, it said this new ad slot will provide quote “vital revenue.”
So on the one hand, it sucks to have to sit through more ads, but on the other hand, at least this will help keep theaters open? And if you’re thinking, ‘OK well I just won’t go to AMC theaters then,’ Regal and Cinemark have already been doing this for years.
AMC even said that was part of their decision, “Our competitors have fully participated for more than five years without any direct impact to their attendance.”
Don’t you just love how everything continues to just get slightly worse?
Marc Maron is ending his landmark podcast WTF after 16 years
Maron was one of the first comedians to get into the podcasting game, starting his interview show WTF With Marc Maron on September 1, 2009. Since then he’s done nearly 2,000 episodes and reached 1.1 billion listens. He’s spoken to giants like President Obama, Paul McCartney, Carol Burnett, Robin Williams, and Lorne Michaels.
Over time he has been become an institution in the medium, and his conversations are always thoughtful, deep, and unlike any other on the interview circuit. He announced the news on his show Monday, explaining that,
“It really comes down to the fact that … we’re tired. We’re burnt out. And we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done. This doesn’t mean I’m never going to do something like this again. But for now, we’re just wrapping things up.
It’s okay. It’s okay to end things. It’s okay to try to start some other chapter in your life. It’s nice to be able to end things on our terms. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to do things the way we want to do them and now this is part of it. Ending it the way we want it to end”
As sad as I am to lose this show, you can’t blame him for being burnt out and wanting to end on his own terms.
Maron explained that because of the podcast “My life changed dramatically … So many things happened because of setting up a mic in my garage. But this is a full hearted decision. It’s the right decision for me. It’s okay. It’s okay for things to end. It’s just time, folks.”
Disney is being sued over alleged sexual harassment on the set of Doctor Odyssey
Because for some crew members, this show was anything but a pleasure cruise. In case you’re not aware, ABC’s Doctor Odyssey is a relatively new drama, comedy, medical show hybrid, that’s set on a cruise ship, co-created by Ryan Murphy, starring Joshua Jackson, Phillipa Soo, and Don Johnson.
It’s in the news because 3 women who worked in the props department on the show are suing Disney and 20th Century television claiming they were sexually harassed by their boss and then retaliated against.
Their complaints are against assistant prop master Tyler Patton, who’s wife Tammie Patton was head prop master. They accuse him of making “sexual comments and unwanted touching”
Per THR and the lawsuit, he “allegedly referred to one of the crewmembers as “mumbles” and told her to “swallow the cum before you talk.” He allegedly made frequent “that’s what she said” jokes, regularly texted others pornographic materials, grabbed women crew members’ butts, placed his arm around them and gave lingering hugs.
One of the women then reported him to the studio HR department ad her union. Mr. Patton was then fired but according to the lawsuit. His wife “Tammie Patton started to retaliate against the plaintiffs by assigning them demeaning tasks and threatening their employment.” And then the entire props department, including the 3 women, were all fired from the show
The lawsuit accuses Disney of “wiping” the Prop Department “clean to avoid having to deal with any remaining employee-relations issues” and says these 3 women have also been blacklisted from working for Disney or 20th Century studios in the future.
Adolescence just broke a remarkable record on Netflix
And it has me optimistic about the future of TV. Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne’s miniseries Adolescence premiered on Netflix back on March 13 and it quickly became a sensation thanks to its important subject matter and impressive one-shot filming style.
But it turns out, the show has been a bigger hit than likely anyone imagined. As Deadline reported Tuesday, Adolescence is now the 2nd most popular English language series in Netflix history. In roughly 80 days it’s amassed 141.2 million views, surpassing Stranger Things season 4, which lodged 140.7 million its first 91 days.
It’s bigger than hugh hits like Dahmer, Bridgerton season 1, The Queen’s Gambit, and The Night Agent. While Wednesday season 1 holds the belt with 252.1 million views in 90 days. Adolescence doesn’t really have a shot at beating that, but this is still great news because it shows quality content can still rise to the top.
Netflix is kind of a mid factory and a lot of its shows and movies are very average, but Adolescence is excellent, challenging, and revolutionary in many ways and so if that can work on the service, perhaps we’ll get more like it in the future.
Now all that said, will Adolescence hold onto its number 2 spot? Stranger Things’ final season this winter might knock it from its perch.
Tom Cruise broke an insane Guinness World Record while making Mission Impossible 8
Because of course he did. Like all Mission Impossible movies, Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning featured some really wild stunts from Tom Cruise. Including a lot of free diving underwater, hanging off actual flying planes, and parachuting.
And it was that last one that caught the attention of the people at Guinness, as Cruise just set the record for the most burning parachute jumps done by an individual after jumping out of a helicopter. Which I didn’t even know was a record you could break, but this is Tom Cruise we’re talking about.
He did 16 burning parachute jumps total. They shot the stunt in Drakensberg South Africa and rehearsed it for weeks on end. The helicopter went up to 75,000 feet, Cruise then jumped with a flaming chute and then he cut himself from free from it and deployed a backup parachute. And for a lot of the takes Cruise also had a 50 pound camera attached to his body so they could get close ups of his face during the stunt.
I would end this story by saying, “how could Tom Cruise ever top this?” But you know he will, so why even bother.