Happy Thursday. Hopefully everyone went out and voted on Tuesday. Welcome back to Jacob’s Letter, a free pop culture newsletter full of puns and occasional badly-PhotoShopped dog photos.
In case you’ve missed it, a failed demolition attempt on a building in Dallas not far from where I live has left this raggedy monument to resilience, dubbed The Leaning Tower of Dallas, it finally came down Monday, two weeks after it was supposed to be demolished. Here’s a dumb PhotoShop of Nova with the tower when it was still standing.
A whole lot of pop culture news happened since this newsletter last went out. Everything from Bob Iger to Tyler Childers to Mulan will get at least a sentence in this newsletter.
But first, we’re going to check in on some snow dogs.
They’re all good dogs
I wrote a roundup of Disney’s past movies featuring snow dogs in honor of the release of “The Call of the Wild” last week. Check out the list here, featuring everything from “Togo” to “White Fang,” at Book & Film Globe. I haven’t seen “Call of the Wild” yet, but “Togo” is one of the best animal movies I’ve seen in a long time.
What about Bob?
Bob Iger stepped down as Disney’s CEO Feb. 25, dropping the mic on a 15-year tenure that saw the acquisition of Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox and saw one of the best box-office years (2019, where seven of the Top 10 earners came from Disney) in company history. Another Bob, Bob Chapek, who was Disney Parks, Experiences and Products chairman, took over as CEO effective immediately.
Iger will stay on as Disney’s executive chairman until the end of 2021. Those speculating that this move is because of health reasons or some vast conspiracy are mistaken; this is a victory lap move on Iger’s part. He’s leaving his role on top of a huge tenure. Chapek’s hire is a pretty good indication of where the company’s horizontal integration of film/theme park/merchandise is headed, but he has huge shoes to fill.
And don’t forget, Walt Disney was never CEO of his own company. Staying in an executive chairman role, which historically has focused on creative endeavors for the company, is ultimately a more impactful role than CEO. Iger’s not going anywhere.
Guilty Harvey
On Feb. 24, a Manhattan jury found Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree. He was acquitted on two counts of predatory sexual assault, the most serious charges he faced. He still faces multiple civil lawsuits and other rape and sexual battery charges in Los Angeles.
His sentencing in the New York trial is scheduled for March 11.
At least 100 women accused Weinstein of sexual assault after one accusation was profiled in an Oct. 5, 2017 New York Times expose, effectively launching the #MeToo movement.
May he rot in prison.
Everyone gets a headline
Like I said, a lot happened this last week, so I’m just going to quickly go through the rest of the headlines, stream-of-consciousness-Drudge Report-style.
First up, The Alamo Drafthouse Season Pass is apparently available everywhere but where I live (Taylor somehow got through the waitlist quicker than me, which weirdly offends me) … The “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” Blu-Ray release will have no deleted scenes, so fans wishing for the #AbramsCut will have to wait … Speaking of “Star Wars,” a new lucrative publishing deal will expand the Star Wars universe even further through books, comics and graphic novels. And that’s not to mention the “Rise of Skywalker” novelization, which is rumored to have some truly crazy plot developments in it … Martin Scorsese’s next film is going to be a Western. The adaptation of “Killers of the Flower Moon” will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro … Normally, film ratings aren’t news, but Disney’s upcoming live-action version of “Mulan” will be its first remake to be rated PG-13, for “sequences of violence” … If you thought I was done talking about “Parasite,” you’re wrong. President Donald Trump apparently took issue with the South Korean film’s win and played to his base and pined for the days when films like “Gone With the Wind” won … “Parasite” will also be coming to Hulu on April 8, if you haven’t seen it yet, and will get a Criterion Collection Blu-Ray release at some point in the near future. It also just surpassed “The Dark Knight” as the highest-reviewed film on the social movie reviewing site Letterboxd … A recent #FilmTwitter controversy involving a film critic who was bullied almost to the point of suicide by a movie director caused an entire film blog to shut down. This newsletter essay about filmmaking and empathy by Drew McWeeny gets to the emotional heart of the matter, and this writeup by Vulture explains exactly what happened … Tyler Childers’ song “Feathered Indians” just got certified Gold by the RIAA, which is hopefully an indication of greater things to come from the Kentucky country artist … Adventure writer Clive Cussler died Feb. 24 at the age of 88. His books were the basis for many films, including “Sahara,” starring Matthew McConaughey … In that same vein, the “Sahara”-inspired video game “Uncharted” just stepped closer to a film adaptation, with “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer on board and actor Antonio Banderas attached in some capacity … the fifth “Indiana Jones” movie is now delayed indefinitely after Steven Spielberg said he would not direct … and finally, “No Time To Die” has been delayed until November amid COVID-19 fears.
Again, a lot happened.
Islands in the Stream
“Islands in the Stream” is where I’ll discuss any and all happenings on the streaming front every week, since there’s so much of it now. While you’re here, read my deep dive for WFAA about how diverse the streaming landscape is becoming and read my in-depth analysis of Disney+.
This week:
Disney+ is going through growing pains to remain child-friendly. After a “Lizzie McGuire” reboot got put on hold, reportedly because the direction star Hilary Duff and creator Terri Minsky wanted to go in was “too adult,” Disney decided to move its LGBT coming-of-age show “Love, Victor” (a spinoff of the 2018 film “Love, Simon”) to Hulu because it was “not family-friendly” enough. Meanwhile, a “Proud Family” reboot is coming to the service with the original cast intact. Disney is clearly showing that it wants its streaming service to be the same thing you grew up with and stock its library with familiar nostalgia, at least for the time being. Give it a few years and it might be making as many new shows as Netflix, but with a backlog of content that big, the company might just keep remaking its hits until the end of time.
Netflix has debuted a “Top 10 Trending” list on its homepage. It’s unclear if “trending” means people actually watched the show or if someone accidentally clicked the show’s icon and lingered on it to read the description for a few seconds while the background music played.
Trailer Park
Want more trailer news for all the movies coming out this spring? I have just the thing: Read my spring movie season preview here at jakeharrisblog.com.
“Bad Education”
Hugh Jackman stars as a Long Island superintendent who tries to cover up an embezzlement scandal after a student reporter uncovers corruption going back at least a decade. Yes, I will definitely watch this.
“Candyman”
This 2020 “spiritual sequel” (how many more words is the marketing thesaurus gonna come up with to describe “remake”?) to the 1992 social horror film is produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods”). It looks to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek than the original. That slowed-down version of “Say My Name” is great, too.
Again, for more tailer news, check out my spring movie preview here.
Letter of Recommendation
What I’m listening to:
I started listening to “Carrier,” a fiction podcast about a long-haul truck driver (Cynthia Erivo) who is asked to take a refrigerated truck full of mysterious cargo. Soon enough, she is roped into a conspiracy out on the open road. The sound design here is what’s most appealing. I listen to it when I go out to walk the dogs, and hearing this with headphones on is one of the most immersive sound experiences I’ve heard. It’s kind of like a “Twilight Zone” episode, too, which I always appreciate.
Friday News Dump
A list of online writing I really liked this week:
I can’t tell if this UPROXX interview with Sturgill Simpson is an incredibly savvy, calculated marketing ploy (UPROXX is owned by Sturgill’s record label), a lowkey cry for help or both, but reading a Sturgill interview is always fascinating. (via Steven Hyden in UPROXX)
I don’t say this lightly: As someone who has to wade through a lot of trickery and dis- and misinformation at work, deepfake technology scares the absolute shit out of me, and it should scare you too. (via Andrew Todd in Birth.Movies.Death.)
On a lighter note, Rian Johnson explains a quick way to determine who’s the villain in most modern films based on what brand of phone they have. (Spoilers for “Knives Out.”) (via Christopher Rosen in Vanity Fair)
This article in The Atlantic is one of the most contextual and comprehensive explainers on COVID-19 and its worldwide potential. (via James Hamblin in The Atlantic)
Finally, if there’s anything that will get me to enthusiastically revisit “Uncut Gems,” it’s this piece that effectively argues the film, which revolves around the 2012 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals, is itself structured like a basketball game. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. (via Matt Singer in Screen Crush)
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This newsletter is written by me and edited by my favorite person, Taylor Tompkins. Views expressed here are my own and don’t reflect the opinions of my employer, yadda yadda yadda.
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See you next week,
Jake