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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#531

Post by jrowen »

fhdkweig wrote: post #423
jrowen wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Big budget films today don't take risks. They go through focus groups and oscar checklists. They are homogenized to the point of banality. Don't focus on the big budget films. If they spend a lot on marketing, it's reeks of desperation. Those great directors you just named were nobodies at the time those films were made. You need to find movies made by the current nobodies. Those are indie films. Go find more indie f…

I didn't see that one, I added it to my shortlist.

Part of my point though is that, for a long time, the big-budget Hollywood stuff was actually "the good stuff." Like people can quibble about whether indie art films were better or not but I think it's pretty well agreed that (some set of) the big name directors and actors and blockbusters were pushing the art form. And it required those kinds of budgets to pull off, and it was seen as legitimately elite status to be given the chance to do it. The crazy complicated shit they did with practical effects and elaborate set building, for example. Teams of visionaries coming together to build deeply immersive worlds. It was a bleeding edge of art, and it attracted those types.

Read about the making of Die Hard. They're legitimately blowing up and ramming SWAT vehicles into a huge office tower in Los Angeles. Alan Rickman of all people is doing crazy stuntwork with flying cameras and real explosions and everything needs to be timed to the millisecond and executed by the whole team. There is no "do it in post", there is no CGI. And you can feel it.

Some in this thread have made the point that it was wasteful and excessive, and dangerous, and exploited labor, and that is all true, but...it was art.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#532

Post by mrguyorama »

rimbo789 wrote: post #228
Yokohiii wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrible historical practices/immoral productions shouldn't the reason alone for such dismissal. Every industry had it's fair share of terrible things. Sometimes, we learn to do better. There are also enough ongoing things to be worried about. Hollywood should implode and hopefully the art form will resurrect for the better. But for me the primary reason is that they don't live up to what they are supposed to do. Cre…

Hollywood was never about making art. It was about making money. That some good art came out of it was an accident of the process. Do I want movies to survive? Sure. But Hollywood as a thing was about vacuuming up every penny it could and that I do not grieve.

In Capitalism, Capital holders are in charge of what gets resources.

If you want to make something non-trivial, you need investment from a capital holder. Even Indie movies spend tons of effort on funding and investment and trying to have cashflow to make something happen.

The death of hollywood does not change this reality, it simply changes which capital holders you must seek patronage from.

Hollywood was sex pests and morons sure, but so are the rest of the Capital holders we have. Big movies will still be beholden to the rich, because the rich are who have capital.

The shape of the system hasn't changed, only the names of the people at the top.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#533

Post by PaulCarrack »

dpark wrote: post #529
snapcaster wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so antisocial. Just go listen to it by yourself in your room if human presence is annoying

This is the typical reply of the inconsiderate. “If my behavior is so problematic, then you should stay home.” The problem isn’t with “human presence”. It’s with the select few who can’t or won’t control their own behavior out of respect for others.

[dead]

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#534

Post by righthand »

delecti wrote: post #508
righthand wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Free” but you pay a monthly subscription. No one seems to know what free means anymore.

Watching a movie using a service the parents were likely already paying for has no marginal cost.

Right your cost is distributed and covered by others. Internet, electricity, a computer are three things not listed in the subscription price. So not free.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#535

Post by jfengel »

acdha wrote: post #331
Jtsummers wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is that? Tickets here are only $7-10 each (except maybe some IMAX or similar showings) and two drinks and popcorn would be $15-25 for two people (size dependent). This is in Colorado. EDIT: I was going off of memory, but matinee/child/senior pricing is apparently $9.75 at the theater I usually go to, evening is $13.25 (I never go in the evening, had forgotten what that price was). They have a two drink and popc…

Here in DC is pretty similar - I just checked the Silver Spring Regal and it’d be $82 plus tax for an 8pm showing tonight. I think part of this is the push to promo/membership programs — if you’re price sensitive, you’re not paying $9.54 for a medium soda (not making that up) so they make their margin on the people who just pay and everyone else gets some kind of discount program which gives the company data mining /…

Just up the road in Laurel, tickets are $17 apiece, for the really nice reclining seats.

I haven't priced the popcorn or drinks, but I don't think they'd add on another $50.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#536

Post by butlike »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #368
bloomingeek wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of off topic, but almost the same can be said for music concerts. During slower or softer songs, people can be heard talking and laughing loudly. I get it, they paid their money, same as us, but we didn't pay to hear them.

People call the classical music audience prudish for demanding quiet during performances, but IMO when you go to a concert it should be ok to shush people who talk during the quiet parts.

On the one hand, you're at a social experience. On the other hand, aren't you supposed to have your senses engaged in a shared experience? The interpersonal conversation diminishes that. On the other other hand, as long as you're having fun and not doing harm, do whatever. As the Master of Ceremonies, I love it. On the other other other hand, talking pushes up the noise floor, making louder concerts a necessity. A louder concert is more dangerous to your hearing.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#537

Post by butlike »

jpc0 wrote: post #517
snapcaster wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so antisocial. Just go listen to it by yourself in your room if human presence is annoying

There is a difference between us all experiencing a shared artistic experience and us hearing about your kids while we are trying very hard to share an artistic experience. I wouldn't complain much about people singing along to a ballad or such but yapping, you can go do that somewhere else.

I'm so split on this. Ultimately I think I land on: "if there's chairs, engage in the shared sensory experience. If it's GA standing room only, it's a party and do whatever."

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#538

Post by butlike »

dpark wrote: post #529
snapcaster wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so antisocial. Just go listen to it by yourself in your room if human presence is annoying

This is the typical reply of the inconsiderate. “If my behavior is so problematic, then you should stay home.” The problem isn’t with “human presence”. It’s with the select few who can’t or won’t control their own behavior out of respect for others.

As a musician I ask if the music is so fragile it can't stand up to some extraneous background noise, is it really worth listening to?

Also, if the music feels bad enough to where people find talking to each other more pleasant than listening, isn't that the fault of the 'sensory experience?'

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#539

Post by alternatetwo »

jimbo808 wrote: post #86

Maybe I'm insane or it's my age, but I can't watch new movies/shows without just seeing propaganda agendas at every turn. Really kills it for me.

It's your age, movies have always been propaganda or had an agenda. Even horror such as Night of the Living Dead, or even Star Wars.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#540

Post by alternatetwo »

radiator wrote: post #232
m-hodges wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should art not of a point of view?

That is the whole point . Since decades, it has a single point of view, failing to represent the majority of the people.

I'm confused what you mean by "single point of view" and "the majority of the people". Please elaborate.
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