ENOUGH with EW's RENT movie obsession!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 11:23pm

I am so sick of reading about Entertainment Friggin Weekly's ridiculous hyping of the RENT movie... the thing doesn't even OPEN until November.

Apparently I am the only one who remembers EW's review of RENT when it opened on Broadway. Snide and snarky, they said it was "'Cats' in Doc Martens." Funny line, but didn't make a lick of sense. My subscription happened to expire with that issue and I didn't bother renewing and that was the first step I took in severing my connection to The Entertainment Industrial Complex.

Screw Entertainment Weekly, screw their hype. Clearly their parent company is connected in some way to the studio that produced RENT. Or maybe they've retroactively discovered an affinity for felines in clunky boots?

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 11:29pm

Or maybe they're reading this board?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 11:30pm

Isn't their theatre coverage usually pretty crappy?

They're probably more willing this time around because it's a movie, and not a show; they probably like movies better.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 11:36pm

Yeah, well, tough.

And apparently even the little lemmings that get obsessed with box office figures for movies couldn't be lulled into the theaters by the likes of EW and Access Hollywood and all that crap that spoonfeeds them "exclusives" and "clips" every three minutes. Because movies are just pale imitations of good things, like reality, and acting.

SCREW EW, that's MY motto.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 11:48pm

Great posts. I wasn't aware until now that you had any interest in Rent.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:11am

Sure, in '96 and '97. I have such a fond memory of watching the OBC perform Seasons of Love at the Democratic National Convention on TV and then walking to Tower Records to buy the cast recording at midnight on the day of release.

And I am looking forward to the movie. I just couldn't give a crap about Entertainment Weakly jumping on the bandwagon at this point. And another thing, WHERE THE FRICK WERE THEY FOR HEDWIG WHEN THAT WAS A MOVIE?

[Plum]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:25am

Rent is being released by Sony and EW is a Time Warner venture, so I'm afraid we'll have to attribute this to plain old overhype.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:27am

Oh I bet there's a connection somewhere. Three degrees of corporatization and all that.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:39am

What, the fact that entertainment reporters tend to be sheep isn't explanation enough?

[etoile]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:44am

I'm putting the DVD on this year's Christmas list.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:55am

Apparently EW is having an impact on someone besides us...

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9129
Oscar loves musicals and all that jazz
Kim Hollis: And musicals like Grease, Chicago and Moulin Rouge! have done phenomenally well overseas, so I would expect Rent and The Producers to get some significant attention.

David Mumpower: Rent is a sleeper contender for The Oscars that nobody is talking about yet.

Joel Corcoran: I heard the stage version of Rent already was a big hit in London.

Reagen Sulewski: I'm not ready for the phrase, "Chris Columbus, Oscar winning director" just yet.

Kim Hollis: That's exactly what I was just thinking, Reagen, but the trailer is just fantastic. It absolutely gives me chills, even.

Reagen Sulewski: And yet, Akiva Goldsman has an Oscar for screenwriting and the world didn't end.

Tim Briody: Is anybody talking about the Oscars yet?

Reagen Sulewski: They may just cancel them this year, Tim.

David Mumpower: They're only six months away, so they should be, Tim. Since the movies have all blown, though, there is not much point.

Kim Hollis: Well, Entertainment Weekly had a feature a few weeks back, so the answer is actually yes.

David Mumpower: There are only eight releases I have not seen this year. I was just counting yesterday and I realized I disliked more than half...and I consider myself easy to please. Just a brutal year for cinema.

Joel Corcoran: "Crash" will be nominated at least twice in every category, and win everything except "Best Documentary."

David Mumpower: ...if the Awards season ends today.

Kim Hollis: Yup. This year does afford some smaller-scale stuff a better shot than it usually has, though.

Tim Briody: Here come the penguins!

David Mumpower: Do penguins have any particular vulnerabilities? Maybe we should be researching this a bit more.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 1:36am

Rent is a sleeper contender for The Oscars that nobody is talking about yet.
Well, duh. No one's talking about it because it hasn't even been finished yet, let alone opened.

Now I don't mind the promotion of the movie, because I wish it would have all the success in the world, but I really hope it doesn't reach the point of being over-hyped. I was too young know about EW's previous opinions of Rent, but considering the Hollywood hierarchy it subscribes to (movies, network TV, cable TV, reality TV, soaps, commercial work, rodeo clown, Broadway), I'm not really surprised that suddenly the movie is getting all this mainstream attention.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 1:44am

"No one's talking about it because it hasn't even been finished yet, let alone opened."

By that logic, no one would be talking about MUNICH - the frontrunner that's still filming.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 2:12am

But most of the people who follow Oscar buzz aren't the most perceptive through this point in the year---their current predictions are always obvious and way off until late Fall when the films have mostly opened and buzz is clearer. They mostly list films by past Oscar winners and nominees and are often off by two - three nominees.

Very few Oscar buzz folk online have keen eyes to catch with no one having seen a film what the nominees will be this far in advance. For example, I'm currently impressed with folks who realize that Felicity Huffman is a big contender for Transamerica instead of just listing the Renees, Nicoles, Charlizes, etc.

It will be interesting to see if Rent and The Producers go head to head at the Oscars--and if either is even a contender for the big prize. It's certainly is Munich that has the most buzz at the moment--which as was said seems silly as it hasn't even finished production!

[toodramatic]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 2:50am

God, I wish everyone in the media would give all this theatre hype a rest. Every time I open a magazine or turn on the tv, its 'theatre this' and 'theatre that.' And its ruining americas youth too! They run home from school flip on the MTV to hear the latest showtune...its just sad. Not to mention people driving around blasting Sondheim like it was going out of style. Seriously, they need to just give it a f***ing rest, I mean why do we have to hear about silly things like theatre, when we could hear about important things like Benifer and Bradjelina. I think I speak for everyone on Broadway World when I say we need to hear about less theatre in the media.

[TennesseeTwang]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 4:09am

Hee. That's cute. But I suspect this hype is mostly reaching people who are inclined to see it anyway.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 9:11am

Once something tickles EW's fancy, they hold onto it for dear life. Like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". I was SO SICK of seeing that pop up everywhere in their magazine after awhile. I think they liked seeing the title in print or something.

But it's a good magazine otherwise. It has articles on the films, not gossip about the stars. If anything, they just mention so and and so is dating so and or or broke up with so and so and let it go. Too bad other magazines aren't like that.

[itstheM]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 11:17am

How can you tell them not to talk about a movie? They are an ENTERTAINMENT magazine and all of their recent articles have been about movies coming out this fall. If they had not mentioned Rent everyone here would have been pissed off too.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 11:54am

Yes, but I am not everyone. I resent EW's hyping the movie of RENT because I remember their negative review of the same cast (mostly) when the show opened on Broadway. And if they're suddenly so hot for a movie musical, why didn't they hype Hedwig when that brilliant movie came out?

I resent EW because it sucks and people here keep posting and linking every mention and photo and rent related burp that the magazine deigns to post. Why not just let the movie open and not make people who aren't already psyched about the movie as most people here are SICK TO DEATH OF HEARING ABOUT IT by September?

[musicnmath]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:02pm

While some people *here* may be sick of hearing about it by November, most of the known world will not. I admit to having my fill of SOL at this point, but that's what I get for spending so much time on a Broadway board.

Namo, why are you so upset that EW changed its mind on Rent? Their negative comment was 10 years ago. I've changed my mind on a few things since then too. (Not to mention their writers are surely different). I'm glad they've come around to thinking Rent is good stuff (the story. who knows yet about the movie), and that they want to make sure they create a buzz for it. What's wrong with that?

As for Hedwig...I don't know. Rent is a mainstream movie, Hedwig is not. Or maybe they just didn't like it. Then again, maybe that opinion will change over the years too.

[DBillyP]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:11pm

Perhaps the RENT publicists are simply doing a good job ...

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:17pm

And I will say one thing again..

Who remembers the PHANTOM Oscar hype BEFORE the movie came out? "Oh yeah it's going to be nominated for BEST PICTURE for sure! "Emmy will be the BEST ACTRESS, it will happen!"

Anyone remember all that?

[Plum]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:22pm

Who was saying that? Mainstream media or the Phantom fans here?

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:25pm

I honestly can't remember. Anyway I see a lot more RENT oscar hype here than from the mainstream media.

Anyway. I think too many fans are really hoping RENT to turn out like CHICAGO. But I sincerly just can't see that happening.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 12:34pm

Not with Columbus as director, unless he's made some kind of unprecedented artistic quantum leap. If Rent is in line with his previous work, it'll be competent but not really special, and definitely not Oscar material unless it's an extremely thin year.