Another one response for Jack Ryder

Martin Scorsese is well-known for his soundtracks, Jack. Hell, Rolling Stone Magazine even has an A to Z guide on his soundtracks. Goodfellas? Mean Streets? Casino? The Departed? The Color of Money? He was one of the more prominent early directors who had a knack for finding the right song to kick a scene into the right mood. He was doing it decades before Tarantino. This is just showing your ignorance on that front - so you probably shouldn't argue more and that front. Check out Rolling Stone's list, it's great: (https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-lists/martin-scorseses-music-an-a-to-z-guide-to-the-directors-soundtracks-20125/). So clearly you have no knowledge regarding your first argument that Scorsese "works with a composer". He's the godfather of perfectly using pop and rock songs in film - everyone else that does it now, does it - whether they know it or not - because Scorsese popularized it.

How about writing for the characters and having them display their feelings through their actions instead of having lyrics do it? You're breaking writing rule #1 - you're telling instead of showing the story - you're just doing it with lazy or too-on-the-nose soundtrack choices. Songs should be used to set a mood or energy, not tell the story. That's your job, not a shitty song's job (seriously, some of the songs on that White Tiger soundtrack made me want to stab my eardrums with an ice pick). You managed to pull it off well with the Numero Uno soundtrack. While I didn't care for the musical act chosen to supply the music, I got a good idea of the proper mood and energy for the piece. You keep getting needlessly defensive when your song choices are criticized. My job is to review the studio's film output, and give my honest opinion. If a soundtrack sucks, it's my job to let potential audience members know what they're getting themselves into.

Worry about doing your best at your job, Jack, and quit whining about me doing mine.

Sincerely,
Jeff Stockton

"Dear Jack Ryder"

As many of you have probably read by now, Jack Ryder has decided to use his latest podcast to try to take pot shots at me in order to stir the pot and stay relevant before he is shut out at the Golden Reel Awards. I considered addressing that in one of my regular articles for the studio's blog, but that really just doesn't seem like the proper avenue. So now I present to you, The Roundup: Extra Innings, a side blog I will occasionally contribute extra content to. With that said, the first bit of extra content will be a letter I have penned.....




Dear Jack Ryder,

I'm not why you felt the need to drag myself and James Morgan into your podcast. It was pretty out of the blue, and even Phil Dolan seemed a little uncomfortable having to talk about all of that when it should be left in the past.

I maintain that Lewis Tan could not act his way out of a paper bag. What's his claim to fame prior to The Grind? "Secret Service Lobby Guard #1" in Den of Thieves? One episode of "Iron Fist"? He's not a good actor. Acting simply isn't his strong suit. Tons of successful films star people who can't act. Drew Barrymore built a whole career thanks to that. We all know that Tan was cast for his physicality, and not his acting prowess. He didn't carry the film, Jack. He beat up some bad guys. Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista and Michelle Yeoh carried The Grind to success, not Tan.

Concerning the soundtrack of Standing Back... Let me ask you something, looking at the some of iconic sports films, how many of them feature songs that are related to the sport? Does Major League open with a song about baseball? No, it opens with a song about Cleveland. Randy Newman composed The Natural, if anyone could pull off making the song about the sport it would be him, but did he do it? No. It would be weird and distracting. Maybe one song would be fine, like John Fogerty's "Centerfield" in Bull Durham. That movie was a comedy though. I maintain that a soccer drama doesn't need a bunch of soccer-related songs to remind you that you're watching a movie about the most boring sport there is (might as well be watching the grass grow with how little scoring there is). The movie was decent (except for those terribly distracting doctor cameos), but the soundtrack was one of its many issues. "First of all it’s football, second of all there are 3 songs with connection to football and do you think there would be songs about baseball in a football film?" As for that comment, I have no idea what that means. You made a movie about soccer and filled it with soccer-related songs, Jack. Nobody is saying you should have included songs about another sport, that is just ludicrous. I can just imagine the producers of Space Jam asking the director to include a bunch of baseball-related songs. Songs don't have to directly correlate to the subject matter of a film, and often when they do it's either as a joke or it's distracting. In Standing Back it was a distraction.

Now for the "sellout" comment. I am a film critic by trade, Jack. That is my job. It's not like I came out of nowhere. Just like anyone else, I paid my dues. One day, after a certain incident my profile rose. After all of that drama, I was offered a position on said blog to do the same job - the job I've been doing for ages. If you were offered a more high-profile, more lucrative job than what you currently have, would you turn it down, Jack? That's not selling out. That's accepting an opportunity that I earned through skill and hard work. Why me doing my job bothers you so much, I'll never know. I will continue reviewing your films with an open mind (even when they are about painfully boring sports). I'm not going anywhere.

- Jeff Stockton