Hi everyone!

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? I’m back today with this special episode, covering a film that I saw just before the stay-at-home orders were issued in California for the current pandemic. It’s going to be an extended episode, with an update on things here at One Movie Punch, my review of THE REPORT entangled with an essay on how the pandemic has affected the film industry in the short term and the long term, and for those that stick around afterwards, a fun audio drama to tide you over during the extended absence.

We last left you with our review of LETO back on March 14th, which feels like forever ago, and like yesterday. I had been following the news regarding the Coronavirus, and lamenting how little was being done to contain it, when things began to snowball in New York and New Jersey. Folks were already hoarding food, water, and apparently toilet paper. I remember standing in line, prior to social distancing and masks, listening to someone calmly argue with anyone willing to listen that this was all a hoax, even while dropping three months of food into their cart. I can still remember wondering if anyone around me had it, and if I was going to die, and when I got back to the house that day, I let the team know they could put their pending reviews on permanent hiatus.

There was supposed to be a break anyway. I had a Patreon episode planned out that was announcing a three month break for the podcast so I could concentrate on two major projects: First, our website needs a massive update, and every episode we publish makes that task grow ever larger. We know folks can’t find much on our website right now, and we want to change that, while changing hosts. Second, as our team continues to grow, we need a better back-end system to manage our content. I needed some time to work on these projects, and couldn’t do that keeping a daily podcast going on.

You’d think that with the pandemic, and the initial stay-at-home orders, that this would have been a slam dunk. Unfortunately, it was anything but that. I spent the first two weeks at home in a downward spiral, one driven by anxiety over whether I had contracted the virus standing in line, and amplified by the depression which followed each anxiety attack. The only way I could get it under control was to occupy myself, which I did by playing “The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt”. We felt reasonably safe after the first two weeks, but rationality doesn’t do much for anxiety and depression once it gets going.

It wasn’t until about five weeks later (and completing “The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt”) that I came out of my spiral. Distance learning was limping along for One Movie Spouse and One Movie Spawn, and I decided to get to work with all the free time I had, spending more time reading and exercising, and more importantly to you all, spending four to six hours a day taking online training classes for SQL Server and C#, and building a custom application to help automate our process on the back end.

I was making great progress, which came to a screeching halt as our plans were being developed for returning students (and teachers) to school. I was already behind schedule a little bit, and pushed back our restart date to 9/1 to accommodate the delay. Our districts were fortunate enough to adopt distance learning models, but until the final decisions were made, my anxiety and depression cycle started up again. It also meant we had to rearrange our tiny California townhome to accommodate one student and one teacher for distance learning, including rearranging rooms, assembling furniture, and doing some massive cleaning.

It also came with some practical issues in continuing the podcast for the foreseeable future. The pandemic has required quite a few families to make sacrifices to accommodate work and school changes. Our family is no exception. The increased expectations for distance learning this fall now require One Movie Spouse and One Movie Spawn to be online for longer periods of time each day, which makes trying to watch a movie at home nearly impossible. There’s also a lot more housework to be done with three people around all the time, which eats into finding time to manage the podcast. I can’t really go back to producing the podcast the way I was before, at least until we’re done with distance learning, or when it feels safe enough for me to work elsewhere.

What does that mean? Well, it means the regular podcast will be off the air for the duration of the pandemic. The best I can do right now is continue working on the custom application to automate our process as time permits, and wait patiently for our world to go back to some semblance of stability. Once there’s an opportunity to restart, then we will reach out to our critics, collaborators, and fans to figure out a schedule to bring us back on the air. If that’s possible before the pandemic is finished, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, I want to thank you all for your continued support over the past few years. Big up to our sponsors for their contributions! Thank you for all the work from our critics! And especially to you all, our fans, who we hope will be there when we return. Until then, stay safe and healthy! We’ll be back before you know it.

Here we go!

/////

Today’s movie is THE REPORT (2019), the political thriller written and directed by Scott Z. Burns. Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is a congressional staffer who is tasked to investigate allegations of torture by the CIA in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the two occupations that followed. The film also stars Annette Bening as Jones’ boss, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Jon Hamm as Denis McDonough, who eventually became Obama’s Chief of Staff.

No spoilers.

THE REPORT (2019) closes out an excellent year for Adam Driver, whose additional films in 2019 included Oscar-darling MARRIAGE STORY (Episode #668), fan favorite STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (Episode #672), and the campy THE DEAD DON’T DIE, which received mixed reviews. This year follows an excellent filmography, which has also recently included BLACKKKLANSMAN (Episode #225), THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE (Episode #523), and LOGAN LUCKY (Episode #065). It seems like Driver appeared out of nowhere in the last few years, but the secret to his success has been his excellent choices in roles, since about 2012, leveraging regular work on “Girls” to take on a number of films with excellent and notable writers and directors, including Scorsese, Gerwig, Baumbach, and The Coen Brothers. All things said, Driver may also be the best thing about THE REPORT, aside from the uncanny resemblance between Bening and Feinstein, mannerisms and all.

Everything else about the film is pretty standard, though, and that has to do with the subject matter. The story of Daniel Jones, and the investigation into CIA torture, is definitely an important story, but doesn’t have a satisfying ending. I don’t think this fact spoils the film, as the only satisfying ending to this story would have been trials and convictions for war crimes by everyone taking part, and that clearly didn’t happen. It’s also not the only example of war crimes being uncovered and remaining unpunished in US history. THE REPORT follows roughly the same investigatory and political machination track as Spielberg’s THE POST (Episode #353), but we get the satisfaction of the Pentagon Papers being published and some form of accountability. If it wasn’t for the cast, I’m not sure THE REPORT would have gotten as much attention as it did.

I don’t think this takes anything away from Scott Z. Burns’ efforts. The film is still a hell of an accomplishment. It just has trouble competing in our ever-changing film industry, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. THE REPORT, along with THE POST for that matter, falls into a growing category of films that can be experienced pretty much identically at home or in the theater. It certainly wasn’t made for the box office, where it only gathered less than $250,000, but it was made for the growing streaming-only market, much like MARRIAGE STORY or THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES for Netflix. As an aside, that’s a secondary reason for Driver’s success – finding recognition through the growing streaming audience.

The pandemic has seen a number of these “theater-independent” films continue to roll out on streaming services, whereas “theatre-dependent” films that try to bank on box office payouts have seen massive delays and declines, along with a few innovative attempts at screenlife films. Disney in particular has been scrambling to develop and solidify its online presence, while managing the previously sunk production costs and the hemorrhaging tourist-driven income of parks and resorts. I’m very much looking forward to the return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to mention all the films that really benefit from a theatrical presentation. But I don’t really want to see BLACK WIDOW or MULAN if it’s not on a big screen first. I also don’t think the $29.99 premium VOD purchase point is going to workout, although I’m curious to see the long-term viability.

That’s one half of what I would call “theater-dependent” films. The other half are films that benefit from having a large audience, one who is especially engaged to see the film. I hesitate to say “audience-dependent”, because there’s a much different vibe between friends gathering at a home to watch a film, and enjoying a premiere with other film fans. The best film I’ve seen during the pandemic that fits this description is THE LOVEBIRDS, which made a Netflix debut in lieu of waiting for the theaters to reopen. One Movie Spouse and I saw the film, and laughed quite a bit, but I think we both knew that seeing this film with a packed house would have been even better, especially for the raunchier parts of the comedy not spoiled by the trailer.

I’ve been really missing both kinds of “theater-dependent” films, mostly because I got a Regal Unlimited pass late last year before everything shut down. It may be the most important distinction the pandemic has made within the industry: that some films require a theatrical experience, and that the industry will remain after this pandemic, in lieu of an all “at home” experience. It doesn’t mean there won’t be fallout among the major movie chains, especially those invested in expensive markets. I fully expect to see some chains go bankrupt and get bought up by Netflix, Amazon, Warner, and Disney as outlets for group-themed premieres of streaming favorites, as well as those “theater-dependent” films. Amazon might have even made a profit from THE REPORT, if they owned a chain to show it in.

THE REPORT is a pretty standard government investigation film, elevated by its above average cast, and anchored by a great performance by Adam Driver as Daniel Jones. Scott Z. Burns leverages the Amazon loss leader model to produce his second writer/director feature, which deserves a larger audience, despite its depressing subject matter. Fans of films about government, or fans of Driver or any of the cast members, will definitely enjoy this film.

Rotten Tomatoes: 81% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 66 

One Movie Punch: 8.0/10

THE REPORT (2019) is rated R and is currently playing on Amazon Prime.

/////

JOSEPH: “And now, what absolutely did not happen back in March 2020, nor will be used as a bridge to relaunch the podcast when conditions permit...”

JOSEPH: “Really not liking the news lately. The virus looks like the real deal. It’s a good thing One Movie Punch Tower is completely self-sufficient, with power, food, air, and water for up to five years.”

EILEEN: “Have we tried any of these items installed by Belko Industries?”

JOSEPH: “No, but I’m sure everything will be just fine. They’re a very trusted name in the industry. Built buildings all around the world. Didn’t go with the neural implant upgrade, though. I mean, I’m not stupid.”

AMY: “What’s that?”

JOSEPH: “Looks like the stay-at-home order has been issued for California. All right, no time like the present to test things out. One Movie Spawn, go press the button for PANDEMIC.”

JOSEPH: “Once that’s pressed, the tower begins sealing up. And we should be able to disable it with no problem... Oh BEEEP!”

AMY: “What?”

JOSEPH: “What button did you press?”

EILEEN: “The one labelled PANDEMIC, like you said, on the end.”

JOSEPH: “It’s activated the nuclear fallout option!”

AMY: “Can we just turn that off?”

JOSEPH: “No, it’s set to lock things out for five years minimum.”

AMY: “Can’t we just call someone to help us?”

JOSEPH: “No. It shuts off all communications. I mean, who was supposed to be left?”

EILEEN: “Wait, you mean we’re trapped in here together for five years? I’m supposed to go to college!”

JOSEPH: “I’ll get started on getting us out, but it’s going to take some time. How much, I’m not sure. You know, it looks like the buttons were switched on the panel! Did you do this?”

EILEEN: “Are you kidding me?!”

JOSEPH: “Did YOU?!”

AMY: “Of course not!”

JOSEPH: “I wonder who did it, then...”