General Movie Discussion

The ratings for the Oscars were worse then they were last year.

If they keep up this PC/SJW anti-Trump crap at the Oscars, then the ratings are going to down to the mid-low 20 something million. Even liberals and center-lefters are getting sick of this trash.

To be honest, the last time I cared about the Academy Awards (I refuse to call them the Oscars, especially now that they've become such a joke) was back in 2004, when The Return of the King won every award it was nominated for, tying with Titanic and Ben-Hur. Since then, it's been a fairly ho-hum or downright aggravating affair, with occasional spikes of interest.

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

To be honest, the last time I cared about the Academy Awards (I refuse to call them the Oscars, especially now that they've become such a joke) was back in 2004, when The Return of the King won every award it was nominated for, tying with Titanic and Ben-Hur. Since then, it's been a fairly ho-hum or downright aggravating affair, with occasional spikes of interest.

It's safe to say that Millennials-i.e. people our age-know that the Oscars are pretty much drawer pieces. Nice to have, but no big loss if you don't have them.

I wouldnt say it's not a big loss if you dont have one, I mean it's kinda sorta the Super Bowl of film and people take that sh*t seriously.

Dead2009 wrote:

I wouldnt say it's not a big loss if you dont have one, I mean it's kinda sorta the Super Bowl of film and people take that sh*t seriously.

Except that the Super Bowl, everybody knows who the two best teams are. Not only that, but at least people know they are good. With the Oscar nominated movies, half of those that are nominated the GA has never really seen or care about. And those that do usually lose or win Oscars for positions that nobody has heard or sadly, care about.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

If they keep up this PC/SJW anti-Trump crap at the Oscars, then the ratings are going to down to the mid-low 20 something million. Even liberals and center-lefters are getting sick of this trash.

Again, would you kindly keep the political opinions to yourself, thanks.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I find it disgusting that a country that supports rouge nations like Iran and North Korea controls so much of our entertainment industry. I find it more so that all these leftists in Hollywood complain about how America sucks, yet before this, very few of them were critical of China since the Tienanmen Square massacre back in 1989, let alone talk about the fact that Mao killed at least 45-50 million and at most 80 million. If all these actors and actresses do speak up, then it's going to be far too late and they only have themselves to blame for not speaking up before all this happened.

Disgusting? What in the actual ??? Sure China has dirty dishes, many of which are still unclean, but let's not pretend US is in some other untouchable level.

And in any case, those things shouldn't have any bearing when it comes to films industry.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Dead2009 wrote:

I wouldnt say it's not a big loss if you dont have one, I mean it's kinda sorta the Super Bowl of film and people take that sh*t seriously.

Except that the Super Bowl, everybody knows who the two best teams are. Not only that, but at least people know they are good. With the Oscar nominated movies, half of those that are nominated the GA has never really seen or care about. And those that do usually lose or win Oscars for positions that nobody has heard or sadly, care about.

Obviously, but my point was the Oscars are THE awards to strive for, kinda like how the Grammys are for music or the Emmys are for TV.

Mistral wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

If they keep up this PC/SJW anti-Trump crap at the Oscars, then the ratings are going to down to the mid-low 20 something million. Even liberals and center-lefters are getting sick of this trash.

Again, would you kindly keep the political opinions to yourself, thanks.

He's got a point though, these award shows the past few months have been pretty political and they dont need to be. Nobody wants to tune into one of these to see every A-list celebrity taking a shot at Trump and his policies every chance they get. There's a time and a place for it, and one that's supposed to be about film isnt one of them.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I find it disgusting that a country that supports rouge nations like Iran and North Korea controls so much of our entertainment industry. I find it more so that all these leftists in Hollywood complain about how America sucks, yet before this, very few of them were critical of China since the Tienanmen Square massacre back in 1989, let alone talk about the fact that Mao killed at least 45-50 million and at most 80 million. If all these actors and actresses do speak up, then it's going to be far too late and they only have themselves to blame for not speaking up before all this happened.

Disgusting? What in the actual ??? Sure China has dirty dishes, many of which are still unclean, but let's not pretend US is in some other untouchable level.

And in any case, those things shouldn't have any bearing when it comes to films industry.[/quote]

Oh, so you want pro-Chinese propaganda in your movies from now on? No chance of a Tiananmen Square massacre documentary? Because within a few years, that's what's going to happen. I'm not going to deny that the handling of the Native American population and the Japanese internment isn't a blight. It is. But that pales in comparison to what Mao did in his reign, which I mentioned above. To say that and our blights are the same is moral relativism at its worst.

This is like letting in German filmmakers into America in the late-1930s and doing nothing but make pro-Nazi propaganda or letting in Soviet filmmakers in America in the mid-1950's and having them make pro-Stalin/pro-Russian propagandea.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Oh, so you want pro-Chinese propaganda in your movies from now on? No chance of a Tiananmen Square massacre documentary?  Because within a few years, that's what's going to happen. I'm not going to deny that the handling of the Native American population and the Japanese internment isn't a blight. It is. But that pales in comparison to what Mao did in his reign, which I mentioned above. To say that and our blights are the same is moral relativism at its worst.  

This is like letting in German filmmakers into America in the late-1930s and doing nothing but make pro-Nazi propaganda or letting in Soviet filmmakers in America in the mid-1950's and having them make pro-Stalin/pro-Russian propagandea.

You're highly polarizing it and squeezing the truth by bringing up just the most radical examples. If we started counting all the terrible things both countries have done - and are still doing - the list making would go on still next year even if stayed online 24/7 writing things down.

Also, if you moan against bringing domestic US politics to the film industry, why do you want to promote hostilities even further here by criticizing international politics in relation to films?

I'm not a fan of nationalism and blind faith/admiration/responsibility for specific countries. Hell I almost went to prison for not wanting to do mandatory 6-12 months of national labor for males in my country - army conscription or civilian service - because I don't feel any national identity or responsibility for anyone (in the end I did perform the civilian service though for practical reasons). Nationalism is man made concept and only few centuries old, before that there were many national identities yes but most lands were kingdoms or empires tied up together for other reasons.

I try look at the different regions of the world with some sort of objectivity based on things that have been done, and are currently ongoing, but without becoming too attached to them. That being said, I am kind of forced to be "engaged" over the direction US takes world because they are essentially the world leaders and direct the way everything flows, whether that is economics, environment, culture or war. Yes even nuclear war.

There's actually a very interesting book by Thomas F Madden called the "Empires of Trust", which draws similarities between the ancient pre-Imperial Roman Republic and United States. It argues that just like pre-Imperial Rome, US is not only isolationist republic state built upon foundations of other older cultures, but it also does alliance structures around the world in order to push the barriers of "outside world" ever more far away from the home land.

Mistral wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Oh, so you want pro-Chinese propaganda in your movies from now on? No chance of a Tiananmen Square massacre documentary?  Because within a few years, that's what's going to happen. I'm not going to deny that the handling of the Native American population and the Japanese internment isn't a blight. It is. But that pales in comparison to what Mao did in his reign, which I mentioned above. To say that and our blights are the same is moral relativism at its worst.  

This is like letting in German filmmakers into America in the late-1930s and doing nothing but make pro-Nazi propaganda or letting in Soviet filmmakers in America in the mid-1950's and having them make pro-Stalin/pro-Russian propagandea.

You're highly polarizing it and squeezing the truth by bringing up just the most radical examples.

Also, if you moan against bringing domestic US politics to the film industry, why do you want to promote hostilities even further here by criticizing international politics?

That being said, I am kind of forced to be "engaged" over the direction US takes world because they are essentially the world leaders and direct the way everything flows, whether that is economics, environment, culture or war. Yes even nuclear war.

Then shouldn't you be engaged over what both a resurgent Russia and a more aggressive China is doing as well? After all, both those countries wanted, and still do want to replace the US as world leaders. Why else would China want to be a player in Hollywood? I'm just pointing it out.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Mistral wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Oh, so you want pro-Chinese propaganda in your movies from now on? No chance of a Tiananmen Square massacre documentary?  Because within a few years, that's what's going to happen. I'm not going to deny that the handling of the Native American population and the Japanese internment isn't a blight. It is. But that pales in comparison to what Mao did in his reign, which I mentioned above. To say that and our blights are the same is moral relativism at its worst.  

This is like letting in German filmmakers into America in the late-1930s and doing nothing but make pro-Nazi propaganda or letting in Soviet filmmakers in America in the mid-1950's and having them make pro-Stalin/pro-Russian propagandea.

You're highly polarizing it and squeezing the truth by bringing up just the most radical examples.

Also, if you moan against bringing domestic US politics to the film industry, why do you want to promote hostilities even further here by criticizing international politics?

That being said, I am kind of forced to be "engaged" over the direction US takes world because they are essentially the world leaders and direct the way everything flows, whether that is economics, environment, culture or war. Yes even nuclear war.

Then shouldn't you be engaged over what both a resurgent Russia and a more aggressive China is doing as well? After all, both those countries wanted, and still do want to replace the US as world leaders. Why else would China want to be a player in Hollywood? I'm just pointing it out.

China wants to make money.

Also I think Americans need to understand, that just like they have certain... anxiety against some other countries, it's the same for outside world in relation to them. No not in religious or racial or cultural terms, I mean in relation to the power of US. As US basically controls the "fate of the Earth" currently, but only the citizens of US can actually influence that fate and the rest just have to watch in sidelines, there is frustration over the situation. And I'm talking on grassroots level here. Of course on actual national level there are usual political and economical agendas, obviously post-Soviet Russia and emerging China want to get foothold on control (just as US does), but that's just usual power play that's been going on since the birth of major civilizations thousands of years ago.

But this is now political discussion and it must end. If this forum doesn't tolerate religious discussion (even though the one thread you had locked up some time ago wasn't even trying to bash it really) and if politics is supposedly just as forbidden topic by forum guidelines, then this discussion should fade away as well.

China wants to make money, sure, but also they hold power over the US companies they bought...they can easily tell their distributors what they can and cant show in their films because it may or may not offend the Chinese and it's really going to hit the fan.

Also, I would say that discussions involving the future of the movie industry due to outside influence is allowed to be discussed as long as it sticks to that topic and doesnt go off on a tangent about our president, the other country's president or this that or the other. Since China controls their media, it would be a matter of time before they tried to slide some of that here.

Here are 2 articles about how China's involvement in Hollywood is a dangerous thing.

http://deadline.com/2017/03/hollywood-china-selloff-caution-peter-bart-1202034644/

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/wanda-lawmakers-raise-questions-about-chinese-investment-in-hollywood-1201868250/

Reminds me of when North Korea freaked the f*ck out when they found out about The Interview and they couldnt release it in theatres because of it.

Hollywood made a movie about the Armenian Genocide. This was basically the proto-Holocaust done by Turkey during WW1. Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, and Angela Sarafyan are in it.

Good. This needs to be talked about and recognized.

I might go see that. Also I hope the line "Empires fall" indicates that it also concentrates on the final collapse of Ottoman Empire after WW1 a little bit more

Angelina Jolie's movie adaptation of her friend Loung Ung's autobiograhpy, First They Killed My Father, about the atrocities of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, will be a Netflix movie.

To be honest, I really wish that this was shown in theaters instead. You don't see many movies that talk about atrocities committed by communists dictatorships. Not since 'The Killing Grounds' anyway.

IMDb has added an F-rating for feminist films.

I give this F-rating my own F-rating. Rated F for Fail.

Jim Gianopulos, the former head of 20th Century Fox will likely get the job as the head of Paramount Pictures. Also, Michael De Luca is being considered as the head of the overseas film division.

I really wish the best for Jim Gianopulos. With Fox, he had something to build on via his predecessor, Tom Rothman, making Fox a very profitable studio. Paramount is over $13 billion in debt and only has the Transformer movie series to learn on as it's cash cow. And given how rapid businesses are "I want change now, now, now", I'm not sure if they'll give him the time needed for him to pull Paramount out of debt altogether, or at least mostly out of it.

Jesus Christ... Kong: Skull Island was bad. Terrible writing, forgettable characters, scarce action scenes, unintentionally hilarious moments and just forgettable in general. I don't recommend it.

Aegyptiacus3 wrote:

Jesus Christ... Kong: Skull Island was bad. Terrible writing, forgettable characters, scarce action scenes, unintentionally hilarious moments and just forgettable in general. I don't recommend it.

+ 1, I saw it yesterday & was very disappointed, 2.5/5 for me, the only good things were the scenery, locations & the visual effects, everything else fell flat for me. Godzilla was better...

I'm seeing it tomorrow... wish me luck guys. Between some initial impressions here and the positive critic reviews, I'm getting concerned. If you want to get incensed, check out the Variety review, written by this guy who called it the "best Jurassic Park" sequel and constantly slagging off JW as some kind of Bayformers level disaster. For Skull Island, I'm going in with cautious expectations, but will probably go in to try and have a good time.

I enjoyed Kong. But the film absolutely lacked something in its characters and story. Pretty much all of them felt so paper thin that I felt absolutely nothing for them. And as far as story there wasn't any reason to. And one of the main characters motivations throughout the film are so one dimensional it's literally "let's do this.......because".

spoiler:

MGM is in talks to get the rest of the rights of thee pix premium cable channel from Viacom & Lionsgate for $1-$2 billion dollars. It already owns much of the rights, but now it wants the whole thing.

Also if I'm not mistaken there was a clear nod to JP on Skull island. 

When Samuel L Jackson's 

Spoiler:

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

I'm seeing it tomorrow... wish me luck guys. Between some initial impressions here and the positive critic reviews, I'm getting concerned. If you want to get incensed, check out the Variety review, written by this guy who called it the "best Jurassic Park" sequel and constantly slagging off JW as some kind of Bayformers level disaster. For Skull Island, I'm going in with cautious expectations, but will probably go in to try and have a good time.

What crack is he smoking? JW >>>> Kong by an absolute mile, JW is like a masterpiece compared to Kong. Kong is like JP3 more than anything...

dance2nite wrote:

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

I'm seeing it tomorrow... wish me luck guys. Between some initial impressions here and the positive critic reviews, I'm getting concerned. If you want to get incensed, check out the Variety review, written by this guy who called it the "best Jurassic Park" sequel and constantly slagging off JW as some kind of Bayformers level disaster. For Skull Island, I'm going in with cautious expectations, but will probably go in to try and have a good time.

What crack is he smoking? JW >>>> Kong by an absolute mile, JW is like a masterpiece compared to Kong. Kong is like JP3 more than anything...

I haven't seen Kong and don't intend to because the subject matter interests me as much as Barbie (even though I do love the 1933 original), but I just wanted to say that in my books JP3 is like a masterpiece in comparison to JW The Variety cross comparison is interesting nevertheless, whatever you think of it. Like some others, I think Qalaxy Quest is the best Star Trek film out there... and it's not even a Star Trek film

I wouldn't recommend it at all. It pales in comparison to pretty much any grounded monster movie.

The sequels for Avatar got delayed.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

The sequels for Avatar got delayed.

*Troyal1 sighs

(But not a complete sigh of shock or surprise)