The Big Picture: The Numbers

[Gunnyboy]

Fast Five blows Scott Pilgrim out of the water

 

[internetzealot1]

"At the Mountains of Madness"

GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA.

That was my favorite one! It was so fucking scary that I spent the rest of the week looking over my shoulder.

Though I wonder how the film version would have worked. A significant chunk was the discovery of alien history through hieroglyphics (sp).

And I don't think that anything was explicitly rated R.

Anyone who wants to read it can go here:

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.asp

 

[beema]

Man, that blows
I didn't even know Del Toro was making that movie! I definitely would have loved to see it. Lovecraft done right (hopefully) on the big screen? Yes please.
Money talks people, money talks.

 

[Jaebird]

Damn it all... Looks like I will have to actually read the book, instead of waiting for the movie.

In all seriousness, I do hope Guillermo and company find a studio, because I would very much love to see monsters return to the big screen. And to think James Cameron's name being attached to it would have been enough, but oh well.

 

[Hollock]

Since being able to see R-rated movies by myself (since often I can't find anyone to see them with) I've made a point to try and go see every great yet risky movie and or smaller yet fantastic film that comes by. I've also been heavily supporting my local indie theaters. And unless it's oscar season I'm usually the only one there whose hair isn't gray. Even if it doesn't come by and I see a movie that's great online (like super) I'll make a point to find it on demand (I've since paid for seeing it 3 times, getting more and more people into it). I'm trying to 'vote with my ticket' in no small part to you and your show.

 

[gregitaly]

Wait a minute, couldn't some of the blame be foistered upon Del Tormo and his insistence on the project being R rated? I mean, whose to say you can't make a psychological horror film in the constraints of a pg-13 rating? In fact wouldn't it be the mark of a good artist (which del toro is in my opinion) to tell any story you want, no matter the constraint? Yes in a perfect world Del Toro did the right thing and refused to compromise his intention, but as Bobbo pointed out, this isn't a perfect world.

 

[MinionStarwind]

If people keep wanting the same crap over and over, who's stopping the big-name studios from MAKING the same crap over and over.

Someone in the thread mentioned the gaming industry too. Same thing applies. You wan't the same Call of Duty remakes over and over? You want to pay 60 bucks for it? Bam, you get it. In the mean time, innovation gets put on the sidelines for "Commander Neckjaw's Cover-Based Military Shooter XVI".

 

[Innegativeion]

I totally agree with this apart from:
1. The expendables was actually a pretty good film.
2. Scott pilgrim was an incredibly poor film.

1. Expendables very unoriginal film
2. Scott Pilgrim is a very original film

That my friend is a fact, ask anyone here and they will probably agree with me. Originality should be celebrated and supported in the arts, while unoriginal cookie-cutter trash should be forgotten.

The first quote is an opinion, and therefor should have no bearing on Moviebob's point (box office is effing things up), since the opinion is unrelated.

The second quote is a fact, and pretty much what Bob was getting at.

Doesn't matter if you liked the expendables or not. The box office is pushing for unoriginal movies to get made and doesn't encourage quality, while people with great ideas for highly new and original movies are getting the short end of the stick.

 

[MB202]

Great, now I feel miserable, thanks a lot Bob. Still, it's nice to be reminded of all this stuff, and to tell people that as much as we don't want to admit it, box office performances matter.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

More Scott Pilgrim bullshit? Also The expendepals was not that bad. There are worse movie out there like Twilight

don't get your knickers in a twist. bob actually has a significant point this time.

True, but i'm tired of him prasing Scott Pilgrim like it's the spawn of Jesus. Do you want to know why it failed? It has a very small demographig who would go see it.

Yes and no. See I watched Kickass even though I was squarely outside the target audience, because people should give new things a try and entertain different ideas. A good moviecan be enjoyed by anybody who enjoys how a good movie is put together (mood, aesthetic, character development, handling of conflict, etc).

Whilst I might not enjoy that movie as much as another person in love with a very specific genre, I can enjoy the appeal of a good movie in general (as such, enjoyed Scott Pilgrim).

Unfortunately, the behaviour of your average cinema-goer is to only watch movies if they fit into a specific genre, or all too familiar cliches.

So behold ... an industry which doesn't feel like it needs to create anything new, or original ... just whatever will pander to any individual group of already established movie-goers.

 

[vivster]

yeah... you missed to wrap it up with "... and this can be applied to any medium, not only film"
then again what good does it do pointing out the obvious

you could've made a short 10s version of this clip with
"People are idiots. I'm Bob. That's the big picture."

 

[The Great JT]

It's a sad fact, the majority of the moviegoing public has a chronic case of capital-s Stupid.

 

[Megacherv]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Call of Duty

Need I really say any more?

 

[saruman31]

Scott Pilgrim sucked. I was mostly wtf-ing the whole time. And of course The Expendables outsold it; it had the greatest action movie icons of all time in it.

 

[Yelchor]

Oh God... Im quite sure the last thing any of us need is Bob making a video that basically sums up to, "If you have different tastes than me, you're a moron!"

I'm not sure why that would reach such a conclusion. Personally I think it'd be an interesting topic of discussion. Several factors comes into relevance such as culture, history and general perceptions of things.

 

[DearFilm]

To everyone claiming this is proof of capitalism favoring the stupid and mentally diminished, I have one word:

Inception.

Original and thought provoking movies make money, but $85 million movies targeted to a exclusive, niche audience with an uncharismatic lead will never make their money back.

Inception was a great and thought provoking film. That isn't what the general public saw when they went to see it. When I would talk to my friends about it, they thought the action was good and the whole dream sequences thing a bit confusing. So that's it, they liked the action. As what was said above, people just want to escape their dreary lives for an hour or two and action is the easiest way to do it. I get into the psychology of the movie with average movie goers, most will just nod their head pretending to understand what I am talking about and add nothing to the conversation. WHY DON'T PEOPLE LIKE THINKING!

I am coming off as an elitist jerk it seems. Oh well...

But Scott Pilgrim was ostensibly built around 7 boss fights. If you're looking for action, there it is... too bad all of these were brief, unengaged, and had no emotional weight behind them.

 

[Snotnarok]

Bob this video upset me, not because you disliked the Expendables, that's opinion and that's dandy. But because you enlightened me on why the Fast and the Furious is still going and better movies aren't being made.

I had this discussion with my brother why Avatar was so popular when it was such a simplistic boring story with it's hippie tone especially when he's made far far better movies (Alien, Aliens, Terminator). His response also upset me, because he catered it to the viewers made it so anyone could get into it and kept it simple for everyone to follow.

Is that really what the masses are? People who can't get behind something because it's got a decent story with the pew pews of guns? Agg.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

It was the marketing that I think damaged Scott Pilgrim more than anything. Sure Universal gave it a good advertising budget (avoiding that typical pitfall) but they totally miss-sold it. As a moviegoer who wants a 'safe' film to see that might not be amazing, but will at least have explosions, I can see why someone might pick the expendables. The expendables also had the help of skilled marketing, even making a big deal of actors who hardly feature in it. The only thing that made me want to see it was Edgar Wright's back catalogue and I definitely made the right decision by going to see Pilgrim.

If you haven't seen it, see it now. (don't pirate it)

 

[AgentBJ09]

...But...I DON'T go around whining to people how underrated it was, how it was a cinematic masterpiece unfairly tossed aside. I like it. That's all that matters. You're starting to sound like those uppity Power Rangers fans who want an R-rated movie with blood and sex so they can turn around and show it to the people who made fun of them for liking a kids' show and say, "LOOK POWER RANGERS IS SERIOUS!!!"...

I honestly had to laugh at that last part.

No Ranger fan in their right mind would ask that of the show. The closest we got to dark and gritty was RPM, and that's good enough. A little blood is fine, though, as is some well written dialogue. The Sentai teams have bled when they got their asses kicked.

------------

That aside, this episode was good, if depressing. It does paint a picture of how the film industry reacts to numbers, and why some of us feel left out when things we would be interested in are ignored.

If Del Toro's Lovecraftian film DOES get made, consider me in line on release day to see it. Lovecraftian horror is often the best out there.