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The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

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Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#341
The Wachowski's once commented that the Red Pill movement was a message to them telling them to never be subtle again.

Another data point. Most people seem to think that replicants are detected because they are unemotional.

I would prefer filmmakers not assume the least of their audiences, but I would also rather that audiences not give them reason to.

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my pod we've got the theory that more people in the US like anime than domestic pop culture. All the time my son and I have random encounters with people who like Goblin Slayer or Solo Leveling or Bocchi The Rock but never find anybody who is interested in new movies and TV shows. They say Spongebob Squarepants has good ratings -- of course it has good ratings because it is on all the time. People mistake seeing a…

Anime is the US is about a $2.5B industry, whereas just movies and just box office revenue in the US is about a three times that at around $7.5B. Anime is doing great here and growing fast, but I think you are in a bit of a bubble as far as anime. It tends to be a "bubbly" subculture, so not surprising.

Anime is going to explode. Just did some google fu and apparently 50% of millenials and gen z watch anime weekly. Boomers probably watch almost zero anime so once the demographics shift in 30-40 years, you might expect half of all americans to watch anime weekly by these trends. And this is just considering present rates not the fact that these rates have been increasing over time.

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's people repeating the line for confirmation in a scenario where communications weren't very reliable and the information was extraordinary. That's close to the way the conversation would happen in real life.

Sure! I would humbly suggest that we don't go to movies to see -real- real life situations re-presented back to us. I mean, unless you have two comedic geniuses who can really sell yelling down the stairs to ask the partner what they want for dinner, getting met with "HUH???" inching a little closer, and having repeat this three times until you finally just go down and ask in a normal voice. In the right hands that c…

That does not mean some amount of banal reality is an infraction or something bad. It makes movie feel less artificial. The weird thing is when people are so used to artificial, that they reject banal reality as "overdone joke" rather then "scene where people talk normally move on".

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#344

That article felt eerily like AI writing. Lots of words and few ideas, and the ideas they had were poorly explained... Bizarre.

The most fascinating achievement of AI is that so many people became convinced that humans were flawless creators just 3 years ago.

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#345

It seems at least to me that they don't really make very good movies anymore. The last time I remember watching a movie and thinking "That was pretty good" was the Dune films. Before that I can't even remember. I watched Thunderbolts and remember I thought it was the first Marvel movie that wasn't just terrible since End Game and that was primarily due to the Russian guy as a comedy source.

>It seems at least to me that they don't really make very good movies anymore There are plenty of good films out there. Ignore Hollyood, broaden your horizon

I'm open to suggestions...

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#346
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Movies had a century as one of the main stages for global culture. That era is ending, and other things are replacing them, mostly based on computers and internet. If you love movies this is sad, but movies once replaced other beloved things. The world spins on and nothing is forever. Enjoy the ride!

Eben Moglen observed that at one time people were building giant stone pyramids, then the social and technological conditions changed, and people stopped making new ones. That's OK, it's not a sad thing that there are no new pyramids, we still have the old ones and people still find them awesome. And he says maybe big-budget movies are like that too, something that culture will do for a while and then move on to some…

I for one want new giant stone pyramids. :)

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#347
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't that was my point. But if people just go to the food court at the mall and complain there's 90% fast food... Go to a smaller movie theater, go to movie festivals that happen every year in most big cities, you'll see the majority of movies have nothing to do with the few major Hollywood block busters. And comparing Dune, a major block busters to other ones makes no sense when the point was that you need to…

My take is that the movies you see at the arthouse cinema aren't any better than the big movies, they just have a smaller budget. They come out of the same system and would be just as self-indulgent if they had the resources to be.

What on earth??

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to make this point myself. I think my wife and I have seen maybe three or four movies in a theater since COVID. Our theater didn't even close during COVID (they started marathoning older movies like Harry Potter), but once the big companies started releasing new movies directly on streaming services, we realized how much better seeing a new movie in the comfort of our own home can be. So now we just wait…

The thing that attracts me to a theater is the sound system that I'll never have at home. However, on the last couple of ventures to the theater, the sound was too loud. I don't think it was the mix of the audio, but just the theater's volume knob turned to an 11. Would it have been different if the theater was full vs the half empty? I doubt it. It was just too loud. I no longer return to that specific theater

Ask to turn it down. I've done this, I was with my daughter, it was hurting both of us. The cinema staff were totally fine with it, and not surprised.

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2002, watching a movie at home for most people meant flinging a low quality VHS or DVD onto a ~27" tube TV (with a resolution so worthless it might as well be labeled "new years") using a 4:3 aspect ratio pan & scan of the actual movie. Getting anything recent meant going out to the Blockbuster anyways. In 2022, watching a movie meant streaming something on your 50+" 16:9 4k smart TV by pressing a button from your…

I was going to make this point myself. I think my wife and I have seen maybe three or four movies in a theater since COVID. Our theater didn't even close during COVID (they started marathoning older movies like Harry Potter), but once the big companies started releasing new movies directly on streaming services, we realized how much better seeing a new movie in the comfort of our own home can be. So now we just wait…

I can make good coffee at home, but I still love going to coffee shops. It's the same for going to the cinema for me. It's an event. Something about being out in public. Also my local cinema serves beer. I haven't been in ages due to having kids. But I really miss it.

Re: The new literalism plaguing today’s movies

#350
post #341

The Wachowski's once commented that the Red Pill movement was a message to them telling them to never be subtle again. Another data point. Most people seem to think that replicants are detected because they are unemotional. I would prefer filmmakers not assume the least of their audiences, but I would also rather that audiences not give them reason to.

The creator of The Boys has also said he needs to beat people over the head so he doesn't have a similar situation to Mad Men or Breaking Bad, where people think the main character is a hero to emulate
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