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Movie Bob talks about why Hollywood stinks!

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Dreamer Since: May, 2009
#1: Feb 7th 2012 at 10:25:31 AM

In his latest The Big Picture, Moviebob talks about why Hollywood sucks now. It kinda invokes the Milkman Conspiracy that Hollywood is essentially so screwed up and unoriginal due to crappy accounting. But, I'd like to ask tropers, how do you think the industry could get out of this hole, and more importantly, will they? I'd love to see what people who know how the industry works, like Buscemi, have to say on this topic.

edited 7th Feb '12 10:25:55 AM by Dreamer

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#2: Feb 7th 2012 at 10:38:58 AM

It's not the accounting. It's the industry basically being run by teen boys.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
Prowler I'm here for our date, Rose! Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
I'm here for our date, Rose!
#3: Feb 7th 2012 at 11:32:57 AM

"Independent film is NOT a nickname for 'good movies that don't cost a lot of money'. It actually means something, or at least it used to."

Let's show that to everybody.

edited 7th Feb '12 11:33:18 AM by Prowler

Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#4: Feb 7th 2012 at 3:19:44 PM

[up][up]More like "Old dudes who only cater to what (they think) young men want."

Not that it matters. We'll still get shit movies either way.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#5: Feb 7th 2012 at 4:18:54 PM

[up][up] My definition of independent is "a movie that was made without the help of a major studio".

As a result, this makes movies like Red Tails, Hugo and Terminator 2 more indie than Juno, The Descendants and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
TheSollerodFascist Since: Dec, 1969
#6: Feb 8th 2012 at 2:23:01 AM

I think the term "indie cinema" itself has moreorless gone the way of "art cinema" by now. The debates can be divided into "as mode of film practice" (what Buscemi said) and "as institution". On the most popular scale of things, the latter has taken the denotation. The "American originals" in the category like John Sayles and his less-mainstream minded partners strive in the practice of it, but their message needs to be taken up by new talent. It's totally possible now that the Miramax mirage has faded and that commentaries on the Hollywood mainstream seem to be as they are here.

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#7: Feb 15th 2012 at 8:45:33 AM

Here's how they can get out of it. Produce good films without "predicting" how profitable they will become, because if they're good, people will pay. To. See. Them.

.... guy talks INCREDIBLY FAST, dude!

edited 15th Feb '12 8:56:47 AM by kyun

absolclaw Since: Jan, 2001
#8: Feb 15th 2012 at 9:07:34 AM

Until Hype Backlash/Poor advertising/Whatever else usually dooms a movie not from within the production kicks in.

Extreme64 Since: Dec, 1969
#9: Feb 15th 2012 at 11:42:36 AM

[up][up] I'm confused. You're saying that if Hollywood makes good films, then people will go see them and they'll become huge hits, right? So you're saying box office and quality DO work together? I'm sorry, but that's definitely NOT what I hear when I ask film buffs why the Transformers films or the Star Wars prequels grossed so much. I hear then that a movie's quality has nothing to do with how much money it made. Seriously people, make up your minds.

I think people who think Hollywood is producing nothing but crap now need to seriously lighten up. Maybe if people like this acknowledged that what's "crap" and what's not depends solely on the viewer, and it's an opinion just like what kind of food or clothes someone likes is an opinion, then they wouldn't be so freakin' bitter. Hollywood is fine right now. There are films for everyone. There's summer blockbusters, Oscar-winners, indie films, comedies of all kinds, horror films, whatever. So can't we all just get along?

metaphysician Since: Oct, 2010
#10: Feb 15th 2012 at 2:33:26 PM

OTOH, there is such a thing as quality. A Blockbuster isn't automatically bad, nor is it automatically good. Its a genre/style of its own, with its own elements, that can be done well or poorly.

So, for example, lambasting the first Transformers movie as being "bad" because it has relatively poor acting and a simplistic plot is missing the point. Those facts, while true, are also irrelevant. It was a good movie, because it had great spectacle ( SFX and action scenes ), and the characters were likable enough.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com
LDragon2 Since: Dec, 2011
#11: Feb 15th 2012 at 3:23:35 PM

[up] Moviebob just hates Michael Bay. That's why he can't see anything good in Transformers.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#12: Feb 15th 2012 at 3:25:45 PM

I've liked a few of Bay's films but Transformers is just irredeemable.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
LDragon2 Since: Dec, 2011
#13: Feb 15th 2012 at 3:30:08 PM

[up] Which one? Because if you are talking about the second, then I agree 100%. However, the first and third weren't THAT bad.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#14: Feb 15th 2012 at 5:11:26 PM

All of them. The series has had many flaws (overlength, lack of plot, slow pace, badly written and acted characters and visual effects that just aren't very good) but Bay did nothing to fix those problems.

If you had shaved an hour from each of the films, put the focus on the Transformers, did better effects (something like what Real Steel did, which combined traditional effects with CGI) and gotten good actors in the leads (my suggestions: Anton Yelchin and Kat Dennings with an Emile Hirsch type as the main adult), you could have had something. Instead, it's just dull and overblown.

edited 15th Feb '12 5:11:51 PM by Buscemi

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
LDragon2 Since: Dec, 2011
#15: Feb 15th 2012 at 11:06:17 PM

[up] Really, because I found the effects to be one of the highlights. Yes they were mostly CG, but all the car stunts and even the wing suit scene were all mostly real.

Besides, it's based of a cartoon that was meant to sell toys. Not saying it couldn't be deeper, as Beast Wars and Prime proved, but I think the films, minus the second, did their job as action films competently.

Then again, I'm not as critical, so we probably think differently.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#16: Feb 15th 2012 at 11:15:42 PM

To me, most of the effects looked fake. In the last twenty years, visual effects costs have gone up (due to CGI) while the ability to make it seem real has gone down. Also, CGI ages badly. While you have movies that are heavy in practical effects like The Thing or Independence Day age well, other movies like Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump are starting to show their age. While their have been cases where CGI has been used well (the above mentioned Jurassic Park until recently, The Mask, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and the recent Red Tails), most uses of CGI are done poorly and just look like a cartoon with a chrome finish.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
LDragon2 Since: Dec, 2011
#17: Feb 15th 2012 at 11:35:37 PM

[up] That I definitely agree on. While CG should be used for some parts, it just can't beat the authenticity of real effects with real sets and characters. Still though, I do give credit to Michael Bay for t least using real sets and effects whenever possible, ie the wing suit scene.

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