Comments on: Screwed up Hollywood and Why It Won’t Get Better.

By: ArtsyFartsy

ArtsyFartsy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:46:58 +0000

Truly Great movies to come out this year:
Syriana
Lord of War
The Constant Gardner
Good night and good luck
Crash
Batman Begins (such a fresh take on the batman character with great acting, direction, and photography dont lump this in a remake category and speaking of remakes…)
Charlie adn the Choclate factory – one of hollywoods best directors and best actor (should win some sort of award for Fear and lothing in lv) this version blows the old out of the water.
Munich (way surprised by this one, but despite one random and cheesy ‘climax’ scene…was excellent)

So, there were good movies this year. lots of them. Some of the best of seen with some of the best photography I’ve ever seen. They werent all rated R either (though Im sure some of them would have been rated to your liking somewhere else…you should just go to the cinema in Norway and you’ll be fine). Most of the good movies are indie and you wont see tv spots for them. so dont use that for you guide.

I for one, and…everyone I know (in the age group that spends all its money on entertainment…18-30) went and saw loads of movies in the theater. And we illegally downloaded them. And we bought the dvd. And we bought the xbox game. And we downloaded the xbox game. So…maybe they aren’t so out of touch as you think but maybe…the 35-50 crowd just isn’t who they are making movies for? Just a thought….

By: Bret

Bret — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 00:43:07 +0000

jjohnson,
Yeah. I agree with you there. Of course it can help to pick a different theatre and/or time of day that can help weed some of those out. But there is something to say for a relaxing movie at home, no doubt about that.

By: D. Fletcher

D. Fletcher — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 07:08:24 +0000

Moviegoing in theaters… is on its way out — it’s only a matter of time. Very soon, movies will released simultaneously 3 ways, to the theater, to cable, and to HighDef home disks. And soon after that, the theaters will be dropped out of the equation, except for a very few “roadshow” presentations in big cities.

And in case anybody thinks we’re living at a time when movies are more popular than ever, think again: movies gross more now because of the price, but the very biggest year for ticket sales was 1948, before television got a hold of most viewers.

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 03:42:39 +0000

Bret point Bret. But my concern with the audience isn’t the types of participation you mention, those are fun. But when the someone in the audience is giving a play-by-play to their cell phone I wish I was sitting on my couch at home.

By: Bret

Bret — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:58:37 +0000

jjohnsen,
It’s funny you say that. I agree that i don’t like the rudeness of cellphones and overall bad behavior, but one of the main things I like about going to a theatre for a movie is because I’m there as part of a larger audience. I love when a movie is full where you can hear everyone laugh out loud, applause, scream, cry, etc. It makes the movie that much more entertaining. (one reason I hate these smaller auditoreums nowadays)
The best movie I ever watched in the theatre was in a 790 seat one screener that was sold out for the old 50s 3-D “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Everyone reacted to everything. Everyone reacted to the 3-d effect, booed when the creature appeared, cheered when he was defeated and even whistled when the hot girl appeared! Those were the days…
As for Hollywood, I totally agree with the whole “artist” argument. It’s so true. The problem is that they really are (to a degree) changing the world!

By: don

don — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 21:30:26 +0000

ARJ, ticket sales drop dramatically when DVDs come out. We almost always do not show movies after their DVD date. And no I don’t think the studios will produce 35mm film after the digital conversion is complete for the large chains. Our percentage to the studio wouldn’t even pay for the print copy in most cases. It will either force us to change or force us out of business.

(dimiing bulbs…bulbs cost $600 and last approx. 2,000 hours. Diming usually happens at the end of the bulb life automatically because the bulb is “wearing out”. Extending the usuage can save money, but it does cause a poorer picture quality.)

Hollywood does have a liberal agenda and it doesn’t match most of America, nor our church values.

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:08:51 +0000

Uh, no offense to those under 21 in the post above, teenagers just happen to be the main offenders I’ve noticed of bad behavior in movies.

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:07:52 +0000

My lackof moviegoing has nothing to do with lack of values or crappy remakes (although I don’t usually see those). The theater experience is the reason I watch less movies now. Simple as that. Give me a theater that bans anyone under the age of 21, has reserved seating, and requires cell phones to be turned off, and I’m there every weekend. In other words, make it like my living room, but with a bigger screen, better sound, and a bag of Sugar Babies.

By: Anelie

Anelie — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:00:30 +0000

I think Eric’s post hit the nail on the head. (Having lived in the “LA scene” for a bit, here’s my take.) “Hollywood,” especially execs and producers are a very small cliche of like-minded people. They DO see themselves as “artists” and really do think that they can change the world. They are 99% liberals and feed that into the way they make films, TV, etc.

Take TV for a second. My husband’s favorites were “The Practice” and “Boston Legal.” Every single episode is an attack on conservative values. “It’s just a show,” my husband says. That’s what they want you to think, I say. Truth is they want you to watch those shows and hope it will sway your thinking. Scary.

Another example: the way Hollywood is up in arms against family-editing companies such as CleanFlicks. They say that by taking out the language, sex, and violence that CleanFlicks is taking away the “artistic and creative rights of the creators.” (That’s a direct quote.) Forget the fact that they make money off of every film CleanFlicks edits and that thousands of people WANT to see the picture that way.

Bottom line: Hollywood lost touch with mainstream American decades ago and are mainly out to promote their own views and interests.

By: Bradley Ross

Bradley Ross — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 06:25:00 +0000

I think that Eric Russell makes a good point about many R-rated films going for the predictable modest profit rather than taking the risk to try for a blockbuster in the PG category. I posted a couple of links back in July to a Medved piece and a rebuttal piece on some of this subject.