No words do justice to that photo.

I have to vent here, if you let me. I just saw Little Ashes and I am blown away — he was 20 years old! Why did everyone keep saying he could not act for years and some even now? How lazy can these critics and journalists get? He does not just act, he brings these characters to life, he embodies them. If it was some big shot director making that movie, it would have been an Indie hit instantly, I think. It was even better than that Corbet’s little movie which got its share of praise, where again his pal saved the day with that odd little twist in the end — otherwise the movie is ludicrous with its (stupid) leap from a difficult child to a dictator.

I have to say something else too. Pattinson’s Batman choice is genius and he is no technocrat but I think he realizes something instinctively, the connection between action packed superhero stuff and big screen movies and that there is no way to avoid them. Much of Hollywood has tilted that way in the recent past because those are the types of content still suitable for the big screen in a theater. With the advent of streaming technologies and video on demand, a family drama or romcom or whatever can easily be streamed on a big screen TV at home and it is understandable if no one wants to go out of their way to a theater to watch those. My PhD topic was on network architectures for Video on Demand and streaming way back in the late 1990s and I had predicted then that the Internet would be the vehicle to fully realize such applications and here we are. I don’t think the theater thing will be fully replaced with on demand, streaming mode but Amazon/Netflix type are cutting into the traditional way of delivering cinema pretty fast. And the Pandemic perhaps helped them in that respect with more people used to getting their content the small screen way. It is disappointing that Nolan got the short end of the stick last year.

You are spot on PM about both Little Ashes and Rob’s performance and also about Amazon/Netflix cutting into traditional delivery and the pandemic helping it. I was always adamant about going to cinema, but given the last year I’ve become more adapted to watching movies on streaming. But I did go to cinema for Tenet because some films need the big screen experience.

True fact Sue