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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#341

Post by fsloth »

socalgal2 wrote: post #230

If Sinners and One Battle After Another are up for movie of the year then it's no wonder no one is going. One is a fun but ultimately forgettable horror action movie. The other is a movie that just based on its major theme would attract less then half the country and even in those remaining is a very polarizing movie. It's up for best picture because to preach, not because it's actually good.

I’m also in the camp ”I respect the authors but here am not impressed”

Regarding wider adoption ”One Battle Another” is incomprehensible mess unless you are familiar with US. I understand the white supremacist conspiracy but nothing else makes sense _at all_. I trust when people say it’s super intelligent but I just don’t have any of the context.

Sinners is a cool music video that is about 5x too long - the few dances are really nice, some of the characters have very strong presence and few dialogues really are strong but … I would not categorize it as industry leading in anything unless the industry reference points are super low

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#342

Post by datsci_est_2015 »

dyauspitr wrote: post #338
datsci_est_2015 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These same people wouldn't bat an eye at paying $14 for a food truck grilled cheese and leave a tip. This seems weirdly condescending, especially since I think these two things are very related. There are two types of $14 food truck grilled cheese in my experience: The first type is usually found at farmer’s markets or free city events where the cheese will be local and artisan, and the bread will be local and arti…

> the cheese will be local and artisan, and the bread will be local and artisan, and it’ll be pretty freaking good, and remind you that you can make incredible food with simple ingredients. Simple ingredients should be cheap. It’s fucking cheese and bread, stop trying to normalize $15 for it. The raw ingredients are milk and wheat, both of which are incredible cheap.

You’re disregarding training, labor, and the intangibles of culture and tradition. Those things should be cheaper, but in America we’ve basically all but destroyed bakery artisanship at the altar of capitalist efficiency, so its rarity has now made its products more expensive. Cheese is in a slightly better position, but only barely, and very regionally-dependent (Wisconsin and Oregon, for example).

So yeah, I don’t disagree, it should be about half the price if we had better artisan programs in the US. But I don’t think wonder bread and Kraft singles should set the bar for grilled cheese pricing.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#343

Post by mschuster91 »

ozim wrote: post #325
mschuster91 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you got a house of your own, yes. If you are in an urban area and are not a millionaire, you probably live in some kind of apartment or studio. And yes, you can stick up a projector and a good surround system... but it might be that the builder cut corners on the floors and your neighbors already come knocking when you are talking , much less turn up the audio system to a tenth of the sound pressure a good cinema…

I do live in an apartment and I am far from a millionaire. I don't have any of the problem - but I don't have "cinema sound system" as I mentioned whatever I have must have just clear sound and clear doesn't mean loud. I don't need "sound experience" to enjoy a movie.

> I don't need "sound experience" to enjoy a movie.

Unfortunately, most cinema movies are not properly remastered in their audio tracks, but keep the original cinema mix. That results in very silent dialogue (which is not a problem in a cinema, at least as long as people behave and don't yap around all the time) and very loud sequences particularly in action shots.

When you now give such a movie to your usual home theater setup, you have to turn up the volume enough so you can understand the dialogue and either constantly turn it down whenever it gets heated or live with neighbors complaining.

Straight-to-streaming releases usually don't suffer from that problem, because they are made and mixed for normal users streaming on their laptops with shitty speakers. Note I said usually, because Disney's Star Wars series are still mastered for decent setups with dynamic range.

There's a debate to be had about the impact of that on storytelling, as straight-to-streaming these days is produced with the movie/episode on a side screen while people are doing something else, so everything that you would normally see on a screen is verbally described by actors, but that's another debate entirely.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#344

Post by jrowen »

fhdkweig wrote: post #322
jrowen wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently watched A League of Their Own and Die Hard . In my opinion, these movies are just categorically different from what's being made today, are still totally compelling start to finish, and really capture the magic and the high art of the golden age of cinema. I truly believe movies were just better 30-40 years ago. That was the era of "every second counts." Every second has meaning and purpose and adds someth…

> I truly believe movies were just better 30-40 years ago. That's the problem with nostalgia, you don't remember all the bad movies you had to watch just to get those two gems. Someone probably suggested those movies rather than you stumbling onto them. That's pretty much the job of a critic. Siskel and Ebert in the 1980s would often talk about the pain of having to sit through hours of awful movies every week just s…

I'm talking about the best of the best though, the top of the form at the time. Yes those are classics and for good reason. But there were also lots more. Lucas, Kubrick, Spielberg, Lynch...feels like they just don't make 'em like that anymore. It's crazy that in some ways nothing has really eclipsed a movie from 1977 and we're still awash in its glow.

I tried to provide specific examples and contrast with something in the current zeitgest. I'm open to counter-arguments. I liked Barbie and Oppenheimer, both were well-done, but I don't think they'll stand up with the greats. I admit that I don't watch as many movies now but what stands out in the past 10 years? What has captured the zeitgeist like The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings?

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#345

Post by jdprgm »

WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

Where do you live? I'm in a HCOL area and just checked that same combo for a Friday night premiere and it's more like ~$70.

The markup on concessions has always been a thing but it really is just insane to think the unit economics on 2 sodas and a popcorn must be like 50 cents and selling it from $26 (in my area). Clearly they must make the most money this way but it is just crazy that anyone outside of significant disposable income even considers buying concessions. It's priced in such a way where anyone outside of the top 5% income brackets should just laugh at the price and view it as an extreme luxury good and not ever even consider buying anything.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#346

Post by MonkeyIsNull »

msabalau wrote: post #244
epolanski wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest competition for movies is actually from Youtube. While the streaming business led to a growth of the movie industry, pre Covid and pre strikes at least, it's difficult to compete when millions of people can produce good content for low prices. On top of that, it doesn't help that movies stopped innovating, 2025 box office was entirely dominated by prequels and sequels. I don't care about avengers, I reall…

Maybe one could reasonably blame on-line video and or video games if this were a global phenomenon. But it isn't. China and India are going gangbusters. Japan is thriving and doing strong work. Nigerian cinema is projected to hit 3 million ticket sales for the first time this year. The UK--is at least stealing work from Hollywood with tax breaks. Korea had a rough patch, which they turned around by doing more mid-mar…

Everytime I see a trailer for an american film I feel like it's the same crap just re-hashed with different actors and the same plots over and over again. Give me something original. Something from Japan, Turkey, India, someone with a new idea. The Koreans? Yup, they push the boundaries of story telling. For example the School Nurse Files, that was either one of the best or the worse series I've ever seen. I'm still trying to figure it out. No way a Hollywood studio would take a risk like TSNF.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#347

Post by bdcravens »

lazystar wrote: post #98
NeutralCrane wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely no way The Game Awards got more viewers than the Super Bowl. I’d love to see a source because I have serious doubts.

games are global - NFL is solely american.

They do show the Super Bowl internationally however. I had a client in Brisbane who talked to me about it, as he had been watching it. The international audiences don't have to be fans of American football to take an interest in it for social reasons (the same way people watch sports they don't care about during the Olympics)

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#348

Post by bdcravens »

throwaway81523 wrote: post #240

I can hardly wait for "vibe cinema". Type in a prompt and a 2 hour epic AI slop film comes out. Not much different from Hollywood is now making the hard way.

We're already seeing that in the format of short-form serials on TikTok.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#349

Post by dboreham »

tyjen wrote: post #157
WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

The last movie we attended people were incredibly disruptive throughout the film, to the point that it was difficult to focus on the film. Some people enjoy screaming, laughing, and talking as part of the experience, but it's apparently been normalized beyond my tolerance threshold. Add in the cost and overall movie quality decrease of Hollywood productions, and it's difficult to justify. Presently, we watch foreign…

In the US there's also a non-zero chance that you'll be shot in a movie theater.
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