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Post by eJm on Feb 5, 2022 5:32:26 GMT -5
So the solution: more Oscar bait, depressing slave and holocaust films and stuffy documentaries for everyone! Let’s go! /s We’re not lamenting the lack of “Oscar bait” at the movies. It’s that any movie that isn’t gonna make like a billion dollars is probably not gonna get made. There’s rarely any mainstream movies with original concepts or that are just straight up weird. It’s possible to enjoy comic book movies and also acknowledge that the film industry being obsessed with them is stifling other artistic endeavors. Yeah, that’s just it, right? Like I said, Nightmare Alley probably would have been a bigger release yonks ago but it got shoved to the side and made into streaming bait. But if it ain’t going to make a guaranteed profit of a massive amount, it ain’t going to get any prominence. Which sort of sucks. Nothing about movies is going to change when we live in a world in which people care more about Spider-Man nostalgia than their health and their very lives while in a pandemic. And posts like these are sort of the hyperbolic equivalent of using “Pokémon Go To the Polls” as a tagline. It doesn’t really help the discussion because it boils it down to simple points that are way more complex.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Feb 5, 2022 6:22:10 GMT -5
Hasn't bandwagoning always been a problem with Hollywood though? How many attempts at replicating Star Wars sprang up during the initial trilogy? How many attempts at duplicating Independence Day were there? How many attempts at making another Arnie or Sly wisecracking asskicker hero were there? You can't blame one particular genre for Hollywood's longstanding risk averse nature, these hypothetical alternate blockbusters wouldn't be made if superhero movies weren't a thing, we'd have more Jack Reacher/Mission Impossible/James Bond ]/whatever style action hero and the same complaints would be made by people who can't get their projects made.
One thing that stuck with me from my time in the Transformers fandom, a Hasbro employee said something along the lines of 'Walmart don't want the next big thing, they want more of the thing that sold well last summer.' when explaining why it was difficult to get anything not movie related into stores, same goes for movies unfortunately. You need execs willing to roll the dice on projects and creators to get new stuff made, same as it ever was.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Feb 5, 2022 6:26:29 GMT -5
And again, I say this as someone who loves movies period and does want to see more variety on the big screen. But I’m sorry, if a big studio puts out something that I think looks fun, they’re getting my money because I like to have fun watching movies. If that makes me a corporate sellout, then I’m putting on the suit and tie. I second that. Do I approve of even a tenth of the shit Disney pull as a corporation? f*** no. But they put out movies and shows that entertain me, and I'll happily part with a little bit of my disposable income in exchange for more. And if a more ethical content producers put out other content I like? Why yes, I'll pay them too.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 5, 2022 7:06:10 GMT -5
Hasn't bandwagoning always been a problem with Hollywood though? How many attempts at replicating Star Wars sprang up during the initial trilogy? How many attempts at duplicating Independence Day were there? How many attempts at making another Arnie or Sly wisecracking asskicker hero were there? You can't blame one particular genre for Hollywood's longstanding risk averse nature, these hypothetical alternate blockbusters wouldn't be made if superhero movies weren't a thing, we'd have more Jack Reacher/Mission Impossible/James Bond ]/whatever style action hero and the same complaints would be made by people who can't get their projects made. One thing that stuck with me from my time in the Transformers fandom, a Hasbro employee said something along the lines of 'Walmart don't want the next big thing, they want more of the thing that sold well last summer.' when explaining why it was difficult to get anything not movie related into stores, same goes for movies unfortunately. You need execs willing to roll the dice on projects and creators to get new stuff made, same as it ever was. Statistically? Never to this degree. There’s never been an era where there’s been less variety in genres made available in wide theatrical release. And yeah, Disney’s pretty evil, but so is literally every other corporation in existence. “No such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism” and all that, as the fault lies not with us as individual consumers but with larger systems that encourage things like corporate mergers, mass layoffs, environmental degradation, abuse and exploitation of global labor (including children), etc. Coca Cola is going to have union organizers in Central America murdered regardless of whether I buy a two liter of Coke Zero or not. Again, let’s get away from personalizing or essentializing things; the *system* is screwed up, much more so than we are for, say, enjoying a big budget spectacle now and then or buying a pair of jeans that was made in an awful sweatshop where there are no labor protections. …Also, Nobody #%^*in’ ruled. Very glad I caught that one in theaters. Gonna try seeing Jackass this week then maybe the new Hercule Poirot one while it’s out.
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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Feb 5, 2022 7:31:36 GMT -5
I saw Parallel Mothers and Moonfall in the same theater this week. I sometimes feel like the “Blank is killing cinema!!” crowd doesn’t actually know what’s playing in what theaters any more.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Feb 5, 2022 7:32:47 GMT -5
Hasn't bandwagoning always been a problem with Hollywood though? How many attempts at replicating Star Wars sprang up during the initial trilogy? How many attempts at duplicating Independence Day were there? How many attempts at making another Arnie or Sly wisecracking asskicker hero were there? You can't blame one particular genre for Hollywood's longstanding risk averse nature, these hypothetical alternate blockbusters wouldn't be made if superhero movies weren't a thing, we'd have more Jack Reacher/Mission Impossible/James Bond ]/whatever style action hero and the same complaints would be made by people who can't get their projects made. One thing that stuck with me from my time in the Transformers fandom, a Hasbro employee said something along the lines of 'Walmart don't want the next big thing, they want more of the thing that sold well last summer.' when explaining why it was difficult to get anything not movie related into stores, same goes for movies unfortunately. You need execs willing to roll the dice on projects and creators to get new stuff made, same as it ever was. Statistically? Never to this degree. There’s never been an era where there’s been less variety in genres made available in wide theatrical release. And yeah, Disney’s pretty evil, but so is literally every other corporation in existence. “No such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism” and all that, as the fault lies not with us as individual consumers but with larger systems that encourage things like corporate mergers, mass layoffs, environmental degradation, abuse and exploitation of global labor (including children), etc. Coca Cola is going to have union organizers in Central America murdered regardless of whether I buy a two liter of Coke Zero or not. Again, let’s get away from personalizing or essentializing things; the *system* is screwed up, much more so than we are for, say, enjoying a big budget spectacle now and then or buying a pair of jeans that was made in an awful sweatshop where there are no labor protections. …Also, Nobody #%^*in’ ruled. Very glad I caught that one in theaters. Gonna try seeing Jackass this week then maybe the new Hercule Poirot one while it’s out. I am NOT f***ing "unethical" for my entertainment choices, in any way. Period! You know what, ya'll? I'm out of this thread. This is pissing me off too much. I feel like I'm being guilt-tripped for stuff I've always enjoyed unfairly, because of some "capitalist" BS. Nice to know I'm contributing to the end of the world for thinking cartoons and superhero films were entertaining. I'm not going to muse twenty-four-seven on "oh no we live in an evil system and hellscape" while I'm trying to entertain myself. That ain't happening.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Feb 5, 2022 7:49:29 GMT -5
I really don't know what to do with myself right now. Now I just feel like an idiot for being a fan of these things, basically.
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Post by eJm on Feb 5, 2022 7:58:36 GMT -5
I am NOT f***ing "unethical" for my entertainment choices, in any way. Period! You know what, ya'll? I'm out of this thread. This is pissing me off too much. I feel like I'm being guilt-tripped for stuff I've always enjoyed unfairly, because of some "capitalist" BS. Nice to know I'm contributing to the end of the world for thinking cartoons and superhero films were entertaining. I'm not going to muse twenty-four-seven on "oh no we live in an evil system and hellscape" while I'm trying to entertain myself. That ain't happening. Dude, not being funny but I have no idea how you took “Don’t make it a personal thing about people’s choices, the system is messed up and we should be finding ways to solve that” to make it something completely personal to you. Nobody wants you to feel bad about seeing the stuff you watch. Not a single person in the damn thread does. You watching superhero movies is not contributing to the end of the goddamn world. Now I’m going to leave this thread because I’m getting heated about you getting heated for no good reason.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Feb 5, 2022 8:14:23 GMT -5
I am NOT f***ing "unethical" for my entertainment choices, in any way. Period! You know what, ya'll? I'm out of this thread. This is pissing me off too much. I feel like I'm being guilt-tripped for stuff I've always enjoyed unfairly, because of some "capitalist" BS. Nice to know I'm contributing to the end of the world for thinking cartoons and superhero films were entertaining. I'm not going to muse twenty-four-seven on "oh no we live in an evil system and hellscape" while I'm trying to entertain myself. That ain't happening. Dude, not being funny but I have no idea how you took “Don’t make it a personal thing about people’s choices, the system is messed up and we should be finding ways to solve that” to make it something completely personal to you. Nobody wants you to feel bad about seeing the stuff you watch. Not a single person in the damn thread does. You watching superhero movies is not contributing to the end of the goddamn world. Now I’m going to leave this thread because I’m getting heated about you getting heated for no good reason. Fine. I apologize if I'm taking all of this the wrong way.
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Post by "American Cream" Dusty Loads on Feb 5, 2022 9:22:42 GMT -5
They have been thriving though. For years. I loved marvel comics when I was younger cuz they managed to have smart (sometimes a little hamfisted) social commentary and superheroes fighting aliens and shit. These movies have completely sterilized that. Any social commentary in them is very surface level and half assed. You could say I’m expecting a lot from a big budget franchise backed by one of the most evil corporations, but idk, I just think it sucks. Gee, thanks for implying that some of my favorite animated movies of all time are “evil”. So I have to feel guilty for going back to watch not just the Avengers, but Lion King? Are the writers and artists who put all that work into entertaining millions of people evil too? Because big company bad? That doesn’t put me in the Last Night In Soho mood, man. I’ve said it like 3 times in this thread already: THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH LIKING DISNEY/MARVEL/STAR WARS MOVIES. No one is attacking you. Go see as many as you like, it’s fine. Somebody criticizing something you like is not an attack on you. I honestly can’t believe I have to explain this.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 5, 2022 9:37:14 GMT -5
I saw Parallel Mothers and Moonfall in the same theater this week. I sometimes feel like the “Blank is killing cinema!!” crowd doesn’t actually know what’s playing in what theaters any more. And like I said, there's a couple smaller sized films out this week that I'm going to try to see, as well. It doesn't change that there's far, far fewer of them out there in actual theaters getting far, far less advertising and eventually playing for far less time in theaters. Nobody's said we're at 100% saturation by franchises, but it's still a very marked shift over the past decade or so.
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Post by wildojinx on Feb 5, 2022 10:08:45 GMT -5
I'd argue that the MCU have moved on from being just "comic book movies". I mean, I havent read any recent comics, but I do know that there are characters who are significantly different from their MCU counterparts, and vice versa. Same with DC movies and comics.
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Post by thechase on Feb 5, 2022 11:26:59 GMT -5
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Post by Fade is a CodyCryBaby on Feb 5, 2022 12:19:27 GMT -5
I’m 100% surprised it made that much. The MCU is basically like modern wrestling. Not always for me but immensely entertaining to see old timers get upset by it rather than embrace it. I disagree. I was thinking about this recently but neither of the two mains (WWE or AEW) manage to do what the MCU has done which is A.) Appeal to a mass market. And B.) Appeal to the hardcore fans. One specializes in one, while the other specializes in the other. It could be argued WWE caters to some of the hardcore fans & that AEW has appealed to a wide audience but certainly not at the level of balance and success the MCU has achieved.
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Post by Famous Rocking Chimes on Feb 5, 2022 13:34:03 GMT -5
Nothing about movies is going to change when we live in a world in which people care more about Spider-Man nostalgia than their health and their very lives while in a pandemic. Well this is a terrible take. Cinemas are open, therefore we’re allowed to use them. Sorry for people wanting to enjoy themselves for a couple hours while the world goes to hell in a hand basket.
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Post by Hurbster on Feb 5, 2022 15:59:00 GMT -5
For me, I'm a big fan of the MCU movies for the most part. Yes, there is one I can't bloody stand and another couple that are as boring as heck. But as a whole, big fan.
Roland Emmerich? A one-trick pony who desperately wants to do family drama.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Feb 5, 2022 18:33:49 GMT -5
Statistically? Never to this degree. There’s never been an era where there’s been less variety in genres made available in wide theatrical release. I'd say a changing media landscape, increasing studio consolidation, the shift to streaming and covid have a lot to do with everyone becoming even more risk averse rather than one genre crushing all comers. The big pillars of the cinema of yesterday are subsidiaries of others and the past decade is filled with failed attempts at making blockbusters in other genres, look at The Lone Ranger, John Carter, The Dark Universe films, Cats... Well, don't look at that one, the goggles do nothing.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2022 18:54:41 GMT -5
Nothing about movies is going to change when we live in a world in which people care more about Spider-Man nostalgia than their health and their very lives while in a pandemic. We can't do both? I went to a socially distanced theater that enforces mask rules and I'm vaccinated. Sorry I saw a movie though.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 5, 2022 19:11:22 GMT -5
Statistically? Never to this degree. There’s never been an era where there’s been less variety in genres made available in wide theatrical release. I'd say a changing media landscape, increasing studio consolidation, the shift to streaming and covid have a lot to do with everyone becoming even more risk averse rather than one genre crushing all comers. The big pillars of the cinema of yesterday are subsidiaries of others and the past decade is filled with failed attempts at making blockbusters in other genres, look at The Lone Ranger, John Carter, The Dark Universe films, Cats... Well, don't look at that one, the goggles do nothing. That's kind of been my point the whole thread: the conglomerate studios want only guaranteed hits, so we get superhero movies and really well established franchises. Disney tried with John Carter and Lone Ranger, but those weren't established enough to the modern public (and in Lone Ranger's case was pretty lame, generally). If things ever shift to another franchise that gets this kind of guaranteed bank that's where the studios will all flock to, but either way the days of multiplex variety are numbered.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Feb 5, 2022 20:37:26 GMT -5
Nothing about movies is going to change when we live in a world in which people care more about Spider-Man nostalgia than their health and their very lives while in a pandemic. I feel like that's a pretty wide net to cast. I saw Spider-Man in the theater, but I also saw it in the middle of a day in a fairly lightly packed theater where I wore a mask any time I was around anyone and sat by myself as far from other people as I could get (and in general everyone in the theater was pretty spaced out), and I only even saw it because my power was out for three days so I had nothing better to do, plus I'm both vaccinated and boosted. Don't assume just because someone felt like taking some leisure time means they don't care at all about the pandemic.
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