{"id":8113,"date":"2022-11-19T10:56:44","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T15:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=8113"},"modified":"2023-04-23T14:14:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T18:14:11","slug":"billy-bob-thorntons-doomed-all-the-pretty-horses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/billy-bob-thorntons-doomed-all-the-pretty-horses\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Bob Thornton&#8217;s All the Pretty Horses had everything going for it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-rating-star\" style=\"text-align:left\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\"><p><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2b50<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2b50<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2b50<\/span><\/p><span style=\"display: none;\" itemprop=\"worstRating\" content=\"0.5\"><span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"display: none;\" ><span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"display: none;\" ><span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"display: none;\" ><span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"is-rating-unfilled\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"is-rating-unfilled\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"display: none;\" itemprop=\"bestRating\" content=\"5\"><span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"is-rating-unfilled\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n\t<path class=\"is-rating-unfilled\" fill=\"#993300\" stroke=\"#993300\" d=\"M12,17.3l6.2,3.7l-1.6-7L22,9.2l-7.2-0.6L12,2L9.2,8.6L2,9.2L7.5,14l-1.6,7L12,17.3z\" \/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span><span itemprop=\"ratingValue\" class=\"screen-reader-text\" content=\"3\">Rating: 3 out of 5.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The doomed <em>All the Pretty Horses<\/em> should have, by all rights, been a golden ticket for all involved. Let&#8217;s run through its pedigree and prestige factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>based on an acclaimed novel with popular name recognition<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>directed by an indie darling<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>screenplay by a proven specialist in adapting novels to film<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>starring beautiful young up-and-comers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>score by a notable musician\/producer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>distributed by a household-name movie company known for boffo box office and landing major awards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, a heavily compromised version underperformed and was widely panned, demoralizing director <a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tag\/billy-bob-thornton\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"1324\">Billy Bob Thornton<\/a>, alienating musician <a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tag\/daniel-lanois\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"108\">Daniel Lanois<\/a>, and generally disappointing everyone. Thornton&#8217;s presence in the tabloids at the time may have contributed to audiences not taking him seriously. But the key to understanding what what went wrong is, unsurprisingly, Miramax and &#8212; trigger warning! &#8212; Harvey Weinstein. Yuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Biskind&#8217;s book <em>Down and Dirty Pictures<\/em> is an essential history of the indie boomlet within the 1990s movie industry. Particular attention is paid to the illustrative saga of Miramax, for whom Thornton had made a tremendous splash as writer, director, and star of <em>Sling Blade<\/em> in 1996. Studio cofounder Harvey Weinstein was riding high at the time for his marketing acumen, but was simultaneously loathed for interfering in the artistic process &#8212; to the point where he was known within the industry as &#8220;Harvey Scissorhands&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Damon and Henry Thomas in All the Pretty Horses\" class=\"wp-image-8116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-thomas.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Damon and Henry Thomas wonder what went wrong.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Biskind relates how Weinstein forced Thornton to excise more than an hour from his initial 3-4 hour assembly cut, partly out of understandable practicality (a shorter running time would allow theaters to run more screenings per day) but also petty retaliation for Thornton&#8217;s refusal years before to similarly abbreviate <em>Sling Blade<\/em>. Thornton has since asserted that the assembly cut was just that, and distinct from his intended 2 hour and 42 minute cut. However unjust the butchery may have been, it&#8217;s hard to imagine how Thorton thought he could possibly get a nearly three-hour-long film into theaters without having a contractual right to final cut, even under a hypothetical producer less ruthless than Weinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Orson Welles met similar obstacles during the making of <em>The Magnificent Ambersons<\/em>, he struggled for the rest of his life to continue making movies his way. Biskind heartbreakingly describes Thornton as beaten down and defeated, to the point where he suffered health issues. In the coming years, Weinstein&#8217;s far worse abuses of power would become more widely known. In light of how he abused and exploited women, the stifling of a few movies may seem rather unimportant. But it is a pity that this particular one is so compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Pen\u00e9lope Cruz in All the Pretty Horses\" class=\"wp-image-8114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-cruz.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pen\u00e9lope Cruz has more chemistry with this hat than she does with Matt Damon in <em>All the Pretty Horses<\/em>. Seriously though, she looks fantastic in this hat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s difficult to judge how I might have experienced the film if I had not known ahead of time that it was so heavily edited, but it does feel <em>off<\/em> somehow. It has notably uneven pacing; weirdly accelerating through some plot developments with choppy montages, especially in the opening sequence when Cole (<a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tag\/matt-damon\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"2127\">Matt Damon<\/a>) is forced to leave his family ranch, but slows down to a pensive crawl for others. The romance between Cole and Alejandra (<a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tag\/penelope-cruz\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"2125\">Pen\u00e9lope Cruz<\/a>) feels inert, and the looming threat from her powerful, overprotective father (Rub\u00e9n Blades) never materializes. It&#8217;s hard to guess whether the full film fleshed any of this out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Miramax was not averse to letting finished films sit on the shelf if deemed not of box office or award value &#8212; or, perversely, if insurance incentivized them to strategically <em>not<\/em> release them. Miramax also doesn&#8217;t have much of a history of releasing special editions for the home entertainment market, even for their biggest pictures. So for a movie that was not a success in its ostensibly more commercial Scissorhands incarnation, it&#8217;s interesting to note that Miramax did entertain the release of the director&#8217;s cut of <em>All the Pretty Horses<\/em> on DVD, but Thornton and Lanois refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses\" class=\"wp-image-8117\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-damon-prison.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From the movie&#8217;s brief foray into a ruthlessly bleak world more characteristic of Cormac McCarthy&#8217;s oeuvre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Weinstein had disliked Lanois&#8217; unconventional guitar-based score, despite his fame and proven success with <em>Sling Blade<\/em>, and commissioned an entirely new, more conventional one from Marty Stuart. Lanois now proudly refuses to license his original score in any form, and Thornton will not release his director&#8217;s cut without it. Thornton and Lanois are still close friends, as evidenced by his appearance in the documentary <em><a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1434\">Here Is What Is<\/a><\/em>, so it&#8217;s safe to say the conflict is not between them. Hopefully now that Weinstein split from Miramax in 2005, the company folded in 2010, and Weinstein is finally incarcerated, cooler heads might allow the proper release of the definitive film and score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another ray of hope is that <a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tag\/cormac-mccarthy\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"1499\">Cormac McCarthy<\/a> has since become an even bigger literary superstar &#8212; having been selected for Oprah&#8217;s Book Club and enjoyed successful film adaptations of his novels <em>No Country for Old Men<\/em> and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/cormac-mccarthy-road\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3487\">The Road<\/a><\/em> &#8212; and perhaps his hard-earned Hollywood clout might help a definitive version of <em>All the Pretty Horses<\/em> see the light of day. The counterargument is that his collaboration with Ridley Scott, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-and-cormac-mccarthy-make-an-odd-couple-in-the-counselor\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"5763\">The Counselor<\/a><\/em>, was itself a bizarre fiasco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>All the Pretty Horses<\/em> is probably one of McCarthy&#8217;s most palatable works, which I don&#8217;t intend as a backhanded compliment; it is more accessible in comparison to his more characteristic poetically bleak tone. Its back half (the protagonist&#8217;s imprisonment and an extended chase sequence) is closer in spirit and tone to the likes of <em>Blood Meridian<\/em>, but its core elements of friendship and romance provide some relief from the brutality of his resolutely cruel literary universe. As the first volume in a loose trilogy called <em>The Border Trilogy<\/em>, Thornton&#8217;s film could very well have kicked off a motion picture franchise. Revisiting or continuing this saga is unlikely to say the least, but it would be welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All the Pretty Horses should have been a sure thing, but was doomed by interference from one of history&#8217;s most notorious studio executives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1623,1324,1499,108,46,2126,2127,2129,2125,2124,2128,210],"class_list":["post-8113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1623","tag-billy-bob-thornton","tag-cormac-mccarthy","tag-daniel-lanois","tag-drama","tag-harvey-weinstein","tag-matt-damon","tag-miramax","tag-penelope-cruz","tag-ruben-blades","tag-sling-blade","tag-western"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/all-the-pretty-horses-poster.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-26R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5868,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/bad-santa-utterly-wallows-in-its-bah-humbug-tone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":0},"title":"Bad Santa utterly wallows in its bah-humbug tone","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"This from the director of Crumb and Ghost World? The big pleasure of Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa is definitely that it utterly wallows in a bah-humbug tone, a welcome tonic to the seemingly perpetual holiday season. I write this in June, and I'm afraid to so much as blink, lest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Billy Bob Thornton and Lauren Graham in Bad Santa","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bad-santa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bad-santa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bad-santa.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bad-santa.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bad-santa.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":173,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-ice-harvest\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":1},"title":"The Ice Harvest","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I think, but I'm not sure, this is supposed to be a comedy. Honestly, The Ice Harvest is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. It apparently aspires to be a comedy of villainies along the lines of Bad Santa, extending even into the casting of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ice Harvest","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":809,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/im-not-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":2},"title":"Todd Haynes deconstructs Bob Dylan in I&#8217;m Not There","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I always find it interesting to ponder my preconceived notions of a movie after I've actually seen it. The marketing and buzz on I'm Not There mostly centered on two talking points: the quirky device of multiple actors all playing incarnations of Bob Dylan, and Cate Blanchett being just plain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;4 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I'm Not There","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1434,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":3},"title":"Daniel Lanois Maximizes the Room in Here Is What Is","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Lanois is a unique musician, as gifted a singer-songwriter in his own right as he is a collaborator and producer. I originally came to recognize his name after finding it listed in the credits of many key items in my music collection, including Peter Gabriel's So and Us, U2's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/daniel-lanois-here-is-what-is-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":685,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/king-of-kong\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":4},"title":"Kill Screen: Seth Gordon&#8217;s The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"First, full disclosure: I work for the movie company that distributed The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. My miniscule role in marketing the film was limited to designing the official movie website, and I am under no obligation or prohibition to write this review (which happens to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;4 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/king-of-kong-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/king-of-kong-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/king-of-kong-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/king-of-kong-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/king-of-kong-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5703,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/l-a-takedown-is-the-rough-draft-for-michael-manns-masterpiece-heat\/","url_meta":{"origin":8113,"position":5},"title":"L.A. Takedown is the rough draft for Michael Mann&#8217;s masterpiece Heat","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally, finally,\u00a0finally\u00a0had the opportunity to cross L.A. Takedown off my movie watchlist \u2014 a largely unavailable holy grail that I've been desperately curious to see for\u00a0years. If director Michael Mann had not reworked this material into the masterpiece Heat, L.A. Takedown would probably be pushed so far down his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3 Stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"L.A. Takedown","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/la-takedown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/la-takedown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/la-takedown.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/la-takedown.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/la-takedown.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8620,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113\/revisions\/8620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}