Humpday: Just Another Bromance?

Maybe not.
Humpday. Written and directed by Lynn Shelton. Starring Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, and Alycia Delmore. Opens today (July 10, 2009).

It’s been a decade since Ben (Duplass) and Andrew (Leonard) were the bad boys of their college campus. Ben has settled down and found a job, wife, and home. Andrew took the alternate route as a vagabond artist, skipping the globe from Chiapas to Cambodia. When Andrew shows up unannounced on Ben’s doorstep, they easily fall back into their old dynamic of macho one-upmanship.
Late into the night at a wild party, the two find themselves locked in a mutual dare: to enter an amateur porn contest together. But what kind of boundary-breaking, envelope pushing porn can two straight dudes make? After the booze and “big talk” run out, only one idea remains—they will have sex together…on camera. It’s not gay; it’s beyond gay. It’s not porn; it’s art. But how exactly will it work? And more importantly, who will tell Anna (Delmore), Ben’s wife?

Here’s the Sundance trailer:

I think I might see this movie…

Are You Ready to Get Ridiculous?

In response to my previous post about pay discrimination in Hollywood, an anonymous commenter pointed out the following:

“Although I agree that women should be paid the same in all industries, your breakdown of the top grossing movies fails to recognise that apart from Sex and the City there were major male actors in each of the films, whereas the male movies listed featured the men as the main star of the film surrounded by a supporting cast.”

That got me thinking. While it was impossible to account for every single factor that might’ve contributed to the actors’ salaries more than doubling the actresses’ salaries (actors/actresses who produced rather than starred in a film, actors/actresses who released more than one film in the previous year, actors/actresses receiving residuals from past work, worldwide box office gross versus US box office gross, etc), my main goal was to illustrate the fact that lead actresses didn’t seem to be fairly compensated for their films based on skill-level (measured by Oscar nominations and wins), US box office gross, and the overall critical reception of their work, when compared/contrasted with the male leads’ compensation.

But, like I said, that anonymous commenter got me thinking. Is it possible that male leads are usually the main attraction in their films, surrounded by an anonymous supporting cast, while female leads tend to star in more ensemble-driven films, surrounded by a cast of prominent male actors?

So I decided to use the list of films from my previous post on pay discrimination to attempt to get to the bottom of this. My ultimate goal: to discover if a trend exists where male leads star in their “own movies” whereas female leads tend to blend in with the rest of their cast (which often includes major male actors). Or, do we merely view male leads differently than female leads, seeing the female leads the way our society sees women in general: as helpers, partners, and assistants rather than leaders?

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Kung Fu Panda: Angelina Jolie’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $215,395,021
Cast: co-starring Jack Black, well-known ensemble cast, including Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, and Lucy Liu

Analysis: Most of the posters only featured the Panda, and the previews did the same, mainly focusing on Jack Black in the title role. While Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winner, as is Dustin Hoffman, and they are by no means minor players in the film industry, it’s safe to characterize Kung Fu Panda as a Jack Black movie, since it was essentially marketed as such.

Verdict: Jack Black movie, supported by a prominent male and female cast.

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Marley & Me: Jennifer Aniston’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $143,084,510
Cast: co-starring Owen Wilson as love interest, well-known supporting cast, including Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner, and Alan Arkin

Analysis: The promotional posters either featured the dog only, or they featured all three: Aniston, Wilson, and the dog. I’m not sure how to characterize this movie, as the dog seems to carry as much star-power as the actors. Given that Aniston and Wilson both have some box-office draw, I’ll call this what it is: a draw. (But I really just want to give it to Marley.)

Verdict: Aniston/Wilson movie, supported by a prominent male and female cast. And a dog.

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Mamma Mia!: Meryl Streep’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $143,704,210
Cast: well-known ensemble cast, including Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, and Amanda Seyfried

Analysis: Meryl Streep is in this (and many film posters exclusively promoted Amanda Seyfried).

Verdict: Meryl Streep movie (with special shout-out to Seyfried) supported by a prominent male cast.

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Sex and the City: Sarah Jessica Parker’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $152,595,674
Cast: well-known ensemble cast, including Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, Candace Bergen, and Jennifer Hudson

Analysis: Even though this is an ensemble comedy, Sarah Jessica Parker narrates, and most of the promotional posters focused on her. The film also benefitted from its success as a TV show, where SJP’s job as a columnist took center stage.

Verdict: Sarah Jessica Parker movie, supported by a prominent female cast.

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What Happens in Vegas: Cameron Diaz’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $80,199,843
Cast: co-starring Ashton Kutcher as love interest, anonymous supporting cast, including Rob Corddry, Lake Bell, and Jason Sudeikis

Analysis: Who cares? This movie sucked and Diaz/Kutcher could’ve been replaced by other actors and it probably wouldn’t have made a difference. They both got equal billing and promotion, and since it’s a rom-com of sorts, and rom-coms rely on, you know, a romantic relationship, it too is a draw.

Verdict: Diaz/Kutcher movie, supported by an anonymous cast.

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(Sandra Bullock: did not star in any films in 2008)

Analysis: From what I can gather, she produced several films/owns a production company, so that’s where her loot came from.

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Four Christmases: Reese Witherspoon’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $120,136,047
Cast: co-starring Vince Vaughn as love interest, well-known supporting cast, including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Jon Favreau

Analysis: Same deal—it’s a rom-com, so yeah. I’d like to argue that Reese Witherspoon’s Oscar win trumps Vince Vaughn’s whole schlubby-funny-guy thing, but the unfortunate reality is that the success of rom-coms doesn’t usually depend on the actual quality of the actors/acting.

Verdict: Witherspoon/Vaughn movie, supported by a prominent, mostly male cast, with the exception of Spacek.

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Australia: Nicole Kidman’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $49,420,849
Cast: co-starring Hugh Jackman, anonymous supporting cast, including Shea Adams, Eddie Baroo, Ray Barrett, and Tony Barry

Analysis: Love, or something. I never bothered to see this gem, given the reviews, but if the movie poster is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure it’s about love and Australia. Nicole Kidman has won two Oscars and everyone loves her, so I’m tempted to call Kidman the main attraction. Except! Hugh Jackman is totally Wolverine!

Verdict: Kidman/Jackman movie, supported by an anonymous cast.

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Beverly Hills Chihuahua: Drew Barrymore’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $94,497,271
Cast: well-known supporting cast including Piper Perabo, Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Cheech Martin, Edward James Olmos, and Jamie Lee Curtis

Analysis: Um.

Verdict: Talking Chihuahua movie, with Barrymore’s voice supported by a prominent male cast (and Jamie Lee Curtis).

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Leatherheads: Renee Zellweger’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $31,199,215
Cast: co-starring George Clooney and John Krasinski, anonymous supporting cast, including David de Vries, Rick Forrester, Malcolm Goodwin, and Matt Bushell

Analysis: Zellweger barely got mentioned in the promotion of this film and seems to have been relegated to the infamous barely-there role-as-female-love-interest. Didn’t they show her in the previews literally cheering from the sidelines?

Verdict: George Clooney movie, supported by an anonymous male cast.

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Indiana Jones: Cate Blanchett’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $316,957,122
Cast: co-starring Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf, reasonably well-known supporting cast, including Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, and John Hurt

Analysis: I actually think this is a tough one. Blanchett = brilliant Oscar-winning actress, so it’s hard to exclusively call this for Ford. But in reality, would people have gone to see this if Cate Blanchett’s role-as-villain had been played by another actress? Yes.

Verdict: Harrison Ford movie, supported by a prominent actress (Blanchett) and a mostly male cast.

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Get Smart: Anne Hathaway’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $130,246,343
Cast: co-starring Steve Carell, well-known supporting cast, including Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin, James Caan, and Bill Murray

Analysis: I watched the first fifteen minutes of this before turning it off, and it appeared as if Carell and Hathaway had a whole equal partnership going on. But I have to admit, I was only talked into watching it because someone reminded me that Steve Carell is hilarious. When I realized it was the worst fifteen minutes of a film I’d ever seen, I lamented that Hathaway chose to be a part of it.

Verdict: Carell/Hathaway movie, supported by a prominent male cast.

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(Halle Berry: did not star in any films for 2008)

Analysis: I don’t know man, I don’t know.

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The Other Boleyn Girl: Scarlett Johansson’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $26,814,957
Cast: co-starring Natalie Portman and Eric Bana, anonymous supporting cast, including Jim Sturgess, Mark Rylance, David Morrissey, and Kristen Scott Thomas

Analysis: This film was all kinds of offensive. The marketing mainly focused on the casting of Portman/Johansson as vengeful sisters, (fighting over a man) so I’m only barely giving it to Johansson, since she’s the actual “Other Boleyn Girl” … and the supposed heroine.

Verdict: Scarlett Johansson movie, supported by Bana, Portman, and an anonymous, mostly male cast.

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The Reader: Kate Winslet’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $34,111,418
Cast: co-starring Ralph Fiennes, anonymous supporting cast, including Jeanette Hain, David Cross, Susanne Lothar, and Alissa Wilms

Analysis: I had no idea who else was in this besides Kate Winslet. And she won an Oscar (finally) for this role.

Verdict: 100% Kate Winslet movie, supported by Fiennes and an anonymous, male/female cast.

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Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $316,957,122
Cast: co-starring Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf, reasonably well-known supporting cast, including Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, and John Hurt

Analysis: We already went over this. Blanchett. Brilliant. Doesn’t matter.

Verdict: Begrudgingly given to Ford.

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Bedtime Stories: Adam Sandler’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $109,993,847
Cast: co-starring Keri Russell and Guy Pearce, reasonably well-known supporting cast, including Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths, Lucy Lawless, Courteney Cox, and Carmen Electra

Analysis: Adam Sandler was the only person in this film they even attempted to promote, which is good news for all the other actors associated with this piece.

Verdict: Adam Sandler can have it, with support from a prominent female/less prominent male cast.

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Hancock: Will Smith’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $227,946,274
Cast: co-starring Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman, anonymous supporting cast, including Jae Head, Eddie Marsan, and David Mattey

Analysis: It’s a Will Smith action movie, what more can one say? Sure, Charlize Theron is an Oscar-winning actress who plays the role of “very important sidekick” next to a world famous action hero, but just check out the ridiculous movie poster if you need confirmation.

Verdict: Will Smith movie, supported by Theron and random men I’ve never heard of.

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Meet Dave: Eddie Murphy’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $11,644,832
Cast: co-starring Elizabeth Banks, anonymous supporting cast, including Gabrielle Union, Scott Caan, Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, and Mike O’Malley

Analysis: Has Eddie Murphy ever been in a movie that isn’t an Eddie Murphy movie? Again: movie poster. (Bonus points for anyone who can find me a film poster that features a female lead like this. Hint: one of the films on this big ass list does it.)

Verdict: Eddie Murphy movie, supported by Banks and less well-known actors.

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Knowing: Nicolas Cage’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $79,911,877
Cast: anonymous supporting cast, including Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne, Lara Robinson, D.G. Maloney, and Nadia Townsend

Analysis: I think the phrase “anonymous supporting cast” is enough of an analysis.

Verdict: Nicolas Cage movie, supported by an anonymous male/female cast.

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(Tom Hanks: did not star in any films for 2008)

Analysis: I’m pretty sure Tom Hanks makes money just by existing.

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Tropic Thunder: Tom Cruise’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $110,416,702
Cast: cameo/supporting role by Cruise, well-known ensemble cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Ben Stiller

Analysis: No one really knew Tom Cruise was in this, and many people didn’t recognize him even as they watched. I kind of love that. Were there any women in this movie?

Verdict: I’ll give it to any one of the other prominent male cast members who isn’t Tom Cruise.

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Horton Hears a Who!: Jim Carrey’s highest grossing film of 2008
Gross: $154,388,002
Cast: well-known ensemble/supporting cast, including Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, and Amy Poehler

Analysis: They promoted this as a Jim Carrey/Steve Carell comedy, but Jim Carrey is Jim Carrey and Steve Carell made Evan Almighty. It’s a kids film, though, so maybe none of that matters.

Verdict: My 4-year-old niece doesn’t give a shit, so neither do I, supported by a prominent male/female cast.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Brad Pitt’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $127,490,802
Cast: co-starring Cate Blanchett as love interest, reasonably well-known supporting cast, including Julia Ormond and Taraji P. Henson

Analysis: Cate Blanchett’s performance in this captured me much more than Brad Pitt’s performance, but I guess the Academy feels like they’ve already given her enough Oscars. Ultimately, the stand-outs were the women: Blanchett and Henson. But Brad Pitt has a bunch of kids with Angelina Jolie and he even dressed up in some kind of old man disguise for this film, so I really don’t know what to do here. I’m taking a cue from the movie poster.

Verdict: Pitt/Blanchett movie, supported mainly by a female cast of mommies and love interests.

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(Johnny Depp: did not star in any films for 2008)

Analysis: Remember when Johnny Depp wore that cut-off-at-the-waist football jersey in Nightmare on Elm Street?

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Burn After Reading: George Clooney’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $60,338,891
Cast: well-known ensemble cast, including Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Tilda Swinton, and John Malkovich

Analysis: I just watched this five days ago and was totally surprised by the focus on McDormand and Swinton. All these people have either been nominated for Oscars or won Oscars, and it’s definitely an ensemble-driven film. So, sorry Clooney, this doesn’t exclusively go to you.

Verdict: Everyone, equal weight given to a prominent male/female cast.

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Body of Lies: Russell Crowe’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $39,380,442
Cast: co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, anonymous supporting cast, including Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, and Ali Suliman

Analysis: I actually couldn’t remember what the hell this movie was, so I looked it up and even then I still didn’t remember it ever existing. But apparently it made money. So who do I give it to, Crowe or DiCaprio? The suspense!

Verdict: Who cares—didn’t this go straight to DVD? (Men supporting men.)

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Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr.’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $318,298,180
Cast: co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow as love interest, well-known supporting cast, including Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Paul Bettany, and Jon Favreau

Analysis: Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow! Oh wait, that doesn’t mean anything? Just check out our review of this movie here.

Verdict: Robert Downey Jr., supported by Paltrow and a prominent male cast.

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(Denzel Washington: did not star in any films for 2008)

Analysis: I love you, Denzel.

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Four Christmases: Vince Vaughn’s highest grossing film for 2008
Gross: $120,136,047
Cast: co-starring Reese Witherspoon as love interest, well-known supporting cast, including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Jon Favreau

Analysis: See above. Even though Vaughn could be a good actor if he wanted to, it doesn’t really matter in the simplistic world of rom-com.

Verdict: Witherspoon/Vaughn movie, supported by men and Spacek.

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So, did I learn anything from this exercise? What the hell was I trying to do again? Oh yeah, depress the shit out of myself, and this:

… discover if a trend exists where male leads star in their “own movies” whereas female leads tend to blend in with the rest of their cast (which often includes major male actors) …

Well, the male leads who star as the “main attraction,” surrounded by a mostly anonymous supporting cast include George Clooney in Leatherheads (this one’s tricky since Zellweger and Krasinski co-star and probably don’t count as “anonymous” ha, but whatever), Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories, Nicolas Cage in Knowing, and Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave.

One could argue that films like Iron Man and Indiana Jones and Hancock and The Other Boleyn Girl—films that relegate prominent lead actresses to the status of sidekick and/or love interest (and for that matter, go on ahead and add The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to that list)—while the men go off and save the world and/or run the world and/or do shit in the world, and shit, might as well fall into the male-lead-as-main-attraction category.

I think maybe I just convinced myself that they do. Fuck.

Okay, so, the female leads who manage to star as the “main attraction,” surrounded by a mostly anonymous supporting cast include, um … Kate Winslet in The Reader?! That’s it? I guess Ralph Fiennes isn’t even anonymous, but neither are Zellweger and Krasinski, and I gave Clooney Leatherheads! Take that, film industry!

I’m depressed.

It appears, from this list at least, that female leads either co-star with a male lead in romantic comedies, or star in films that include a prominent supporting cast, (Mamma Mia!, Sex and the City). Clearly, we could use more Tomb Raiders and Changelings (go Angelina!) and whatever other movies our actresses have starred in as the “main attraction” who’s surrounded by a mostly anonymous supporting cast.

Can we make a list, please? Because I’m pretty sure I was wrong when I suggested that the audience might only be viewing female leads as helpers, partners, and assistants; the film industry actually fucking treats them that way.

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Bonus Movie Poster

Movie Preview: Sorority Row

Sorority Row. Starring Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Margo Harshman, and Julian Morris. Written by Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger, and Mark Rosman. Directed by Steward Hendler.
imdb synopsis: College juniors Cassidy, Jessica, Claire, Ellie, and Megan are sorority sisters sworn to trust, secrecy and solidarity, no matter what. But their loyalty is tested when a prank at a raucous house party goes terribly wrong and Megan ends up brutally murdered. Rather than confess to the crime and risk destroying their bright futures, the girls agree to hide the bloody corpse and keep their secret forever.

And then they all get stalked by some mysterious killer in a hood (Scream) who knows their secret and sends them videos and pictures of their secret (I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and … is there another one)?

What the hell? I realize this is a remake of the 1983 film The House on Sorority Row, but does every misogynistic horror film from 1983 really need a remake? Here’s what I’m betting on: gratuitous nudity, possibly in hot tubs, girl-on-girl hate, or, you know, murder. I’ll just stop there.

Look, let me be the first to admit that I don’t exactly have a high opinion of most sororities in general, especially given many of their well-known hazing techniques (body-shaming one another by circling “problem areas” in marker, etc). But this film will most certainly take on a they-all-deserve-to-die theme, with the audience identifying exclusively with the killer, as the killer picks off the girls in one hilarious bloodbath after another.

While a film like Mean Girls tries to take a decidedly feminist slant in the end, at least in the way it addresses the issue of female competition for men, female slut-shaming, and the subsequent abandonment of sisterhood (I have some problems with this film, but that’s for another post), a film like Sorority Row promises to use the idea of sisterhood as some kind of commentary on … what? Female incompetence?

Face it, when women get together man, I mean, watch the fuck out! You might, like, die!

Of course, we can’t ignore Carol J. Clover’s “Final Girl” theory. She argues in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, that slasher films are obsessed with feminism in that they force male viewers to identify with the Final Girl, the one lone girl who doesn’t die, who gets her shit together, who kills the killer.

And all the men in the audience cheer!

I get that. And I like her theory. But I don’t have high hopes for this particular film to live up to her theory. As I said above, when these girls do a stupid, shitty thing, and one of their sorority sisters dies as a result, I suspect that a major element of you-deserve-what-you-get-haha-bitches will overtake any potential empowering “Final Girl” resolution. I hope I’m wrong.

36th Student Academy Award Winners for 2009

We’re a few weeks late with this but thought it was important to mention.

The 36th Annual Student Academy Awards Ceremony was held on June 13, with Gary Oldman, John Landis, Andreas Deja, and Robert Rehme presenting the awards. Since 1972, the Academy has honored students’ achievements in filmmaking, with past notable award recipients including Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Bob Saget, and Oscar winners John Lasseter and Robert Zemeckis.

From the Web site:

“The Student Academy Awards is a national competition conducted by the Academy and the Academy Foundation. Each year over 500 college and university film students from all over the United States compete for awards and cash grants, with films being judged in four categories: Animation, Documentary, Narrative and Alternative. An outstanding student filmmaker from outside the U.S. is honored each year as well. The presentation ceremony is a popular event that is annually attended by a capacity audience in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.”

This year, out of the thirteen total awards given, five of the winners were women.


Alternative Film

Robyn Yannoukos, University of California, Los Angeles
Gold Medal Winner: “Alice’s Attic”

Documentary Film

Liz Chae, Columbia University
Gold Medal Winner: “The Last Mermaids”

Cassandra Lizaire and Kelly Asmuth, Columbia University
Silver Medal Winners: “The Wait”

Lauren DeAngelis, American University, Washington, D.C.
Bronze Medal Winner: “A Place to Land”

Congratulations, ladies!

You can watch their acceptance speeches and clips from their films here.

Pay Discrimination in Hollywood, Who Knew?

Forbes recently published a list of Hollywood’s top-earning actresses, for films completed within the previous year.

Please note the following:

“As is still typical for Hollywood, our actresses earned significantly less than their male counterparts. Harrison Ford was the top-earning actor this year with $65 million, $38 million more than Jolie earned. All told, the top 10 actors earned $393 million, compared with $183 million for the top 10 actresses.”

Take a look at the 15 Top-Earning Actresses, along with their respective career Oscar wins and Oscar nominations.

1. Angelina Jolie: $27 million

1 Oscar win, 2 Oscar nominations

2. Jennifer Aniston: $25 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

3. Meryl Streep: $24 million

2 Oscar wins, 15 Oscar nominations

4. Sarah Jessica Parker: $23 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

5. Cameron Diaz: $20 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

6. Sandra Bullock (tie): $15 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

7. Reese Witherspoon (tie): $15 million

1 Oscar win, 1 Oscar nomination

8. Nicole Kidman (tie): $12 million

1 Oscar win, 2 Oscar nominations

9. Drew Barrymore (tie): $12 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

10. Renee Zellweger: $10 million

1 Oscar win, 3 Oscar nominations

11. Cate Blanchett: $8 million

1 Oscar win, 4 Oscar nominations

12. Anne Hathaway (tie): $7 million

0 Oscar wins, 1 Oscar nomination

13. Halle Berry (tie): $7 million

1 Oscar win, 1 Oscar nomination

14. Scarlett Johansson: $5.5 million

0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations

15. Kate Winslet: $2 million

1 Oscar win, 6 Oscar nominations

Total Amount of Money Earned: $212.5 million
Total Number of Oscar Nominations: 35
Total Number of Oscar Wins: 9

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And, just for kicks, here’s the Forbes list of the 15 Top-Earning Actors:

1. Harrison Ford: $65 million
(0 Oscar wins, 1 Oscar nomination)

2. Adam Sandler: $55 million
(0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations)

3. Will Smith: $45 million
(0 Oscar wins, 2 Oscar nominations)

4. Eddie Murphy (tie): $40 million
(0 Oscar wins, 1 Oscar nomination)

5. Nicolas Cage (tie): $40 million
(1 Oscar win, 2 Oscar nominations)

6. Tom Hanks: $35 million
(2 Oscar wins, 5 Oscar nominations)

7. Tom Cruise: $30 million
(0 Oscar wins, 3 Oscar nominations)

8. Jim Carrey (tie): $28 million
(0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations)

9. Brad Pitt (tie): $28 million
(0 Oscar wins, 2 Oscar nominations)

10. Johnny Depp: $27 million
(0 Oscar wins, 3 Oscar nominations)

11. George Clooney: $25 million
(for acting: 1 Oscar win, 2 Oscar nominations)

12. Russell Crowe (tie): $20 million
(1 Oscar win, 3 Oscar nominations)

13. Robert Downey Jr. (tie): $20 million
(0 Oscar wins, 2 Oscar nominations)

14. Denzel Washington (tie): $20 million
(2 Oscar wins, 5 Oscar nominations)

15. Vince Vaughn: $14 million
(0 Oscar wins, 0 Oscar nominations)

Total Amount of Money Earned: $492 million
Total Number of Oscar Nominations: 31
Total Number of Oscar Wins: 7

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In the past year, the top-earning men made over twice the amount of money as the top-earning women. Perhaps the Oscar info might seem arbitrary; the films that usually gross the most money (summer blockbusters, Apatow, etc) don’t necessarily line up with the many low-budget films that garner Oscar nominations for the performances (The Reader, Rachel Getting Married).

But I still find it disheartening, to say the least, to look at a list where the highest paid women in the previous year, who have won more Oscars overall (arguably the most prestigious award in the history of fucking filmmaking), and who have been nominated for more Oscars overall, still earned less than half of what their male counterparts earned.

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Now, to get really super-crazy, let’s look at the highest grossing films that the top five earning actors and actresses released last year, specifically noting who starred, the exact box office gross, and the overall “fresh” rating on rotten tomatoes (a high percentage means critics thought it rocked; anything lower than 60% usually means it was a piece of shit).

Actresses

1. Angelina Jolie: Kung Fu Panda
Box Office: $215,395,021
RT Rating: 89%

2. Jennifer Aniston: Marley & Me
Box Office: $143,084,510
RT Rating: 61%

3. Meryl Streep: Mamma Mia!
Box Office: $143,704,210
RT Rating: 53%

4. Sarah Jessica Parker: Sex and the City
Box Office: $152,595,674
RT Rating: 50%

5. Cameron Diaz: What Happens in Vegas
Box Office: $80,199,843
RT Rating: 27%

Total Box Office Gross: $734,979,258
Average RT Rating: 56%

Actors

1. Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones … Crystal Skull
Box Office: $316,957,122
RT Rating: 76%

2. Adam Sandler: Bedtime Stories
Box Office: $109,993,847
RT Rating: 23%

3. Will Smith: Hancock
Box Office: $227,946,274
RT Rating: 39%

4. Eddie Murphy: Meet Dave
Box Office: $11,644,832
RT Rating: 19%

5. Nicolas Cage: Knowing
Box Office: $79,911,877
RT Rating: 32%

Total Box Office Gross: $746,453,952
Average RT Rating: 38%

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Basically, the women made much better films according to critics. And while the men grossed more at the box office, by $11.5 million, it’s hardly worth mentioning when you’re talking about $746 million versus $735 million. And yet, the top five actors still earned more than double ($245 million) what the top five actresses earned ($119 million).

Will someone please explain to me how this isn’t blatant gender-based discrimination?

Business Trip Wishes

According to several entertainment sources, a new comedy called Business Trip has been picked up by Universal Pictures. Written by Stacey Harman, the film focuses on four women who take a business trip together and, instead of getting any real business-oriented work done, shenanigans ensue. Apparently, it’s being produced by the same people involved with The Hangover, so I speculate that Business Trip will contain similar comedic elements, but from a female perspective.

How do I feel about this? It’s hard to say. I’ve longed to see a film that focuses on what women actually do when they’re screwing off together. I’m pretty sure they get high sometimes. They might even sleep until noon and not have jobs and live in their parents’ basement at the age of 34 (although probably not in a film about women in corporate America). I guess I’ll at least experience some satisfaction if the filmmakers manage to stick to a few basic rules.

Dear Business Trip filmmakers,

As you work toward developing this film, and if you’re at all interested in breaking some new ground by portraying real women on-screen (rather than the conventional stereotypes of women we’ve gotten so used to seeing) please be advised of the following:

1. Do not cast Jessica Alba, Megan Fox, Katherine Heigl, and Anna Faris, and then parade them around in giant heels, wearing some semblance of revealing business suit-esque attire, probably involving excessive cleavage and certainly showcasing thirty gratuitous inches of bare leg.

2. Do not institute a plot point that involves one of the lead actresses finally feeling complete because she finds a man who rescues her from her horrible life as a lonely, over-achieving corporate executive i.e. childless, feminist spinster.

3. Do not include a scene where one or two or all of these women make out, possibly in a hot tub, but definitely in front of a man, just for the sole purpose of performing some lightweight pornographic male fantasy.

4. Do not kill one of them off with a melodramatic deadly-illness twist.

5. Do not include a scene where one or two or all of these women get depressed about a man, and as a result, gorge themselves on any carbohydrate-infused junk food within reach, while simultaneously sobbing (for extra comedic effect).

6. Do not ever allow any character to utter the phrase “cat-fight” … ever.

7. Do not script any of the following: klutzy falling scenes, food fights, cake-decorating, aerobics classes, weepy arguments with Mom, random bursting into song, lip-synching and/or dancing around in pajamas to 60s music, a wedding, an ice-queen who can’t feel, an infantilized, codependent ditz, group slut-shaming, or group competition for a man.

8. Do not even go near “scheming-vindictive-bitch” territory; we get enough of that in the male-dominated comedies of the Apatowverse.

9. Do not try to balance out the characters’ personalities by making one a good, sweet, virginal Madonna and another a fucked-ten-men-in-one-night, “crazy party girl” who dances topless on bar tables with a cigarette in one hand and a tequila shot in the other.

10. Do not make one or more of the characters “baby-crazy” and/or desperate to be inseminated by a gay best friend.

11. Do not turn this into Sex and the City Takes a Business Trip, even though that’s undoubtedly what everyone will encourage you to do.

Good luck!

Love,
Bitch Flicks

Movie Review: Persepolis


Persepolis. (2007) Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud.

I rented Persepolis before the recent Iranian election, and have been thinking ever since about the film.

Persepolis is adapted from the autobiographical graphic novels written by Marjane Satrapi (which I haven’t read), and represents the first graphic-novel-as-film. Other graphic novels have been made into films, but none (to my knowledge) have remained as true to form as this. Visually, the film is lovely, stark, and at times deeply disturbing.

In Persepolis, we meet Marjane, a young girl living in Iran at the time of the Islamic revolution of 1979. The society changed drastically under Islamic law, as evidenced by Marjane’s teacher’s evolving lessons. After the revolution, in 1982, she tells the young girls, who are now required by law to cover their heads, “The veil stands for freedom. A decent woman shelters herself from men’s eyes. A woman who shows herself will burn in hell.” In typical fashion, the students escape her ideological droning through imported pop culture: the music of ABBA, The Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, and Iron Maiden.

While the film is a personal story, it does offer a concise history of modern Iran, including the U.S. involvement in the rise of Islamic law and in the Iran-Iraq war. This time in Iranian history is especially important right now, with the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ensuing protests. One scene in particular depicts a group of people protesting when a young man is shot, bleeds to death, and is hoisted over his fellow protesters’ shoulders–eerily reminiscent of what happened with Neda Agha Soltan, whose public murder has rallied the Iranian protesters and people all over the world.

The history of Iran, while it determines the course of Marjane’s life, really is a backdrop—especially in the second half of the movie. In other words, the film is more about the experience of one woman than a documentary-style account of Iranian history. Once Marjane escapes the society she grew up in, her problems become much more ordinary for a Western audience, more commonplace. She vacillates between different crowds of people. She falls in love and has her heart broken. She feels angst and confusion over who she is and what she wants. She goes home to Iran for a time and, like so many others, ultimately finds she cannot return home.

As evident in the film, Satrapi grew up in a wealthy, educated, progressive Iranian family. They sent her to Vienna as a teenager so she didn’t have to spend her adolescence in such a repressive society, and because they feared what might happen to such an outspoken young woman there. While acknowledging her privilege, not many women in circumstances other than these would be able to accomplish what she has. Satrapi isn’t afraid to show missteps she makes in growing up, either. Young Marjane learns that her femininity, even when repressed by law, offers great power—and shows how she misuses that power. Missing her mother’s lesson at the grocery store about female solidarity, she blames other women for her troubles (“Ma’am, my mother is dead. My stepmother’s so cruel. If I’m late, she’ll kill me. She’ll burn me with an iron. She’ll make my dad put me in an orphanage.”), and falsely accuses a man of looking at her in public to avoid the law coming down on her.

Persepolis is, in every definition of the term, a feminist film. There are strong, interesting female characters who sometimes make mistakes. The women, like in real life, are engaged in politics and struggle with expectations set for them and that they set for themselves. They have relationships with various people, but their lives are not defined by one romantic relationship, even though sometimes it can feel that way.

As much as I like this movie, I can’t help but write this review through the lens of an interview Satrapi gave in 2004, in which she claimed to not be a feminist and displayed ignorance of the basic concept of feminism. I simply don’t believe gender inequality can be dissolved through basic humanism—especially in oppressive patriarchal societies like Iran. I wonder if feminism represents too radical a position to non-Westerners, and if her statements were more strategy than sincerity. Making feminism an enemy or perpetuating the post-feminist rhetoric isn’t going to help anyone. That said, this is a very good movie and I highly recommend it.

The official trailer:

A couple of good articles about women’s role in the recent Iranian protests:

The Nation: Icons of the New Iran by Barbara Crossette

Feminist Peace Network: Memo to ABC: Lipstick Revolution FAIL

Post your own links–and thoughts about Persepolis–in the comments.

Netflix Find Your Voice Film Competition

Via Women & Hollywood.

Visit Netflix, watch clips, and vote for your favorite in their Find Your Voice Film Competition.

Netflix and Film Independent are looking for the next great independent filmmaker and we want you to chime in.

Ten filmmakers were chosen from thousands of applicants from around the country to submit a short video for public vote.

The winning filmmaker receives $150,000 cash production grant, plus turnkey resources like film stock, processing, camera rental, and post-production services, for a total prize value of more than $350,000.

Four of the ten filmmakers are women. Watch the video clips and vote for your favorites.

Opening This Week

The Beaches of Agnes. Starring Agnes Varda, Andre Lubrano, Blaise Fournier, Vincent Fournier, and Andree Vilar. Written by Agnes Varda. Directed by Agnes Varda.

Opens July 1

Check out Roger Ebert’s review here.

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I Hate Valentine’s Day. Starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Stephen Guarino, Amir Arison, and Zoe Kazan. Written by Nia Vardalos. Directed by Nia Vardalos.

Opens July 3

Check out Andrew Barker’s review here.

Misogyny Still Reigns at the Box Office

Despite its abysmal reviews, Transformers: Rise of the Fallen took home the top spot at the box office over the weekend.

Here are some highlights from Rotten Tomatoes:

“It’s a wad of chaos puked onto the big screen, an arbitrary collection of explosions and machismo posturing.” –David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com

“Will insult your intelligence, hurt your eyes, and offend your sense of decency until you worry that your skull might explode while your brain trickles right out of your ears.” –Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper

“A perfectly dreadful sequel that’s the filmic equivalent of a 150-minute waterboarding session.”

–Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

“Put in your earplugs and grab the aspirin. Enjoyable for the [sic] only the easiest to please 10-year-old boys; this deafening, tiresome epic is a skull-splitting hot mess for everyone else.”
–Diva Velez, TheDivaReview.com

And, my personal favorite: “Only an a*****e could have made this film.” –Rob Humanick, House Next Door

I share these snippets to illustrate, if you weren’t already aware, that this movie was clearly made for, and marketed to, young fanboys who like to watch shit blow up. But what else do they like to see? If you guessed “Megan Fox dry-humping a motorcycle,” you are correct.

In a recent interview, Fox told reporters, “Women in movies, in general, are sexy—especially in Michael’s movies. And if you want to make movies that people want to see, that’s part of it. That’s part of the formula.”

The director, Michael Bay, also chimed in. Referencing the shot of Fox sprawled across a motorcycle in hot pants and biker boots, he says, “We got that first shot out of the way, just to get it out for the young boys … and moved on.”

So, according to Fox (and Bay), making movies people want to see entails objectifying and exploiting women. And what’s worse, Fox goes on to say that making these Transformer films and gaining so much exposure (for her hotness) has opened up many doors for her—she’ll soon star in one film opposite John Malkovich and another film penned by Diablo Cody.

This rhetoric reminds me an awful lot of other excuses actresses have made for the roles they choose. Katherine Heigl famously called Knocked Up a sexist film, and then went on to star in a slew of women-friendlier movies, such as The Ugly Truth and 27 Dresses.

And Elizabeth Banks often finds herself in the same predicament: “‘You can go be in a female-driven indie and make two cents and maybe get an Independent Spirit Award, but then you can’t pay your car lease,'” she says. “‘So Vince Vaughn makes movies, he needs a girl to be in it with him, it might be me.'”

I understand and sympathize with actresses in today’s Hollywood climate. Studios continue to argue that actresses can’t open movies, that any successful women-centered film (Sex & the City, Mamma Mia!) is merely a fluke, and that they don’t find it profitable enough to continue greenlighting movies that exclusively focus on women.

I get that it’s a rough climate out there for young actresses especially, but I’m not exactly sure what the solution is. We need more women filmmakers, obviously. And we especially need women audiences to stop seeing every single ridiculous incarnation of The Proposal and He’s Just Not That Into You. While I don’t want to play into the blame-the-victim ideology, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for these actresses to take themselves a little more seriously as actresses and a little less seriously as male fantasies.

Making blatantly misogynistic films clearly pays the bills for them, but at what cost to women as a whole?