I’m setting the TiVo for Bubble
Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, Bubble, opens in theaters today. I’ve hardly read anything about the movie itself, because all the publicity is about the unique (some say troubling) distribution strategy: reducing the traditionally months-long window between the theatrical release and the DVD release to mere days.
Of course, DVDs have always come out a few days after a movie. They’re called bootlegs.
The film is also debuting on HDNet movies tonight. I wasn’t sure we got that, but it turns out it’s been there all along, right at channel 78. So that’s where I’ll be watching it.
Also, I had assumed screenwriter Coleman Hough was a pseudonym for Soderbergh (like “Peter Andrews” the cinematographer), because Hough’s only real credits are Soderbergh’s indie movies. But then I found an actual article about the woman.
So I apologize for doubting her existence.
Articles
January 27th, 2006 at 10:03 am
I missed Bubble at the Toronto fest, but everyone I talked to who saw it there didn’t care much for it. Even so, I like that Soderbergh goes back to his indie roots every now and then and experiments with ideas outside the Hollywood system, even if I don’t always like he results; just as I always appreciated Miles Davis for continuing to innovate, even when I didn’t always like the music.
January 27th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Just curious: can your TiVo actually record HD? Or was that just a nicely turned phrase?
January 27th, 2006 at 11:27 am
We sprang for the HD TiVo from DirecTV. Which is pretty good on the whole, though it doesn’t have some of the newer software upgrade features, like folders.
January 27th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
I’m down too. HDNet is great actually. I’m seeing films via plasma screen in HD for the first time. The Untouchables, Midnight Cowboy etc.
It should be interesting…
January 27th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
HDNet is pretty cool. My only problem is they run the same movies over and over again for months on end. Great when they’re showing Blade Runner, not so great when they’re showing something else. And I highly reccomend tivoing Higher Definition with Robert Wilonsky. Great showbiz interview show.
January 28th, 2006 at 5:37 am
I think the simultaneous roll out strategy would ultimately end theatrical distribution. It is greedy and short sighted, I commend the theaters owners who stood up and refused to show this film.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:08 am
I just started getting into HDNet. Higher Definition is pretty cool. I can only record the HD content through my cable box DVR which will only record about 10 hours of video. My Tivo could do a low-res recording but what’s the point. I think the thing with the HDNet is in time you will start seeing a lot more programming, especially original programming. Remember when cable was ramping up. The Great Santini was on about four times a day. Every day!
January 31st, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Saw it. Boooooorrrrrrrinnnnnng. If this had been made by a first time filmmaker with no budget, I would call it a commendable effort. But coming from Soderbergh with a budget of 1.3 million, it was wholly unremarkable.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:31 am
So, Netflix joined the game also, and Bubble was shipped to me a day before its release, so it would arrive on the day of its release. The DVD had some neat extra features too, like a) and interview with the screenwriter who John thought didn’t exist and b) the real lives of the actors in the movie, all of whom didn’t have an acting background per se and who were local residents of the tiny town it was filmed in. Martha, for example, recently retired in real life from 24 years with KFC.
Overall? I liked it. And short. I love short.