The Big Picture: The Numbers
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I have yet to see anything he's made that's really good. I saw both hellboy movies and was meh. Hellboy 2 had easily the worst comic villain of all time. I could have easily defeated him despite my lack of super powers....just beat up his sister instead of hitting him. The effect is the same, honor be damned. He only posed a threat because the heroes suffered from plot induced stupidity over and over.(especially Abe....what a tool.)
As for this video staing the obvious then Bob trying matyr geek culture...oh please. Get off your cross. (so you start using it as a sub weapon heh.) I'm glad Scott Pilgrim failed horribly, for same reason the Watchmen just broke even. Had either been a smashing sucess then we'd seen cash grab sequels forced upon properties that were never intented to have them. I think the way played out was ideal....the movies were made they broke even. We got a decent product(scott Pilgrim was alright, but not the second coming some forums love to make it out to be.), but we won't see a pointless sequel. I mean how would have a cash grab of Scott Pilgrim or the Watchmen been any better than any other cash grab hollywood does?
I actually kind of revel in the fact geek culture got it's day lights punched out by jocks on yet another level. This in a perfect world anything original would automatically succeed and what isn't wouldn't ever be made be at all is crap. I happen like the way the world works myself, and the idea something is entitled to success based on a trait not merit is worse than what we currently have. I like see weaklings get beat down because I'd hate live in a world that promotes weakness and entitlement.(more than it already does in the US. Vay Victus..suffering to the conquered. If you suck..enjoy the bitter taste of defeat so you have motivation to push to be better.) You earn what you do based on performance. If the score card is money...then either do what you believe what get you the most if that's your goal. If you want to tell the story you want to tell, then be prepared to pay consequences if it horribly fails. If you can't afford to lose then do it. It's that simple.
Originality is NOT the high road. It's just a different road. I mean monkey poop pies are original but doesn't mean people should rush out to get them. Originality is overrated since most ideas in the end are just a rehash of something else. In case of Scott Pilgrim it's very much like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind with geek references. The fact it's a barrage of geek references instead of jock world ones doesn't somehow make it more entitled to success. It's just an aesthic you prefer over the usual. It's not somehow inheritly superior because you like it.
If you're on the Escapist... There's a good chance(better than odds of asking 100 random people on the street.) you're probably part of the target audience for Scott Pilgrim. (and other project mention.) it's a niche audience in the end...and probably should have had a much smaller budget. Someone screwed up....it's not the publics fault. It's whoever greenlighted the budget/ or spend the tons of cash on it without really promoting the film properly. There was a cluster F**k of factors going against this film.(doesn't help Michael Cera's performance was flatter than week old soda. He didn't have enough swagger be Scott Pilgrim.) I blame poor planning and low demand for this.
Not because the world made of idiots because something I like failed.(This people are stupid because they like different stuff needs stop Bob...you're a Moron if you believe that.I mean little kids like my niece and nephew loved the transformers films...you like picking on lil kids Bob? That is why sweeping overgeneralizations is bad. ) That's a fool's way out. You're no better than the public if you lack so little imagination to see how this movie could have worked out fine. I don't see as noble for people throw money at projects without fear...I see it as stupid. If I was an invester I'd be ticked off if people were blowing my hard earned cash on Scott Pilgrim. I'd want them to take few safe films because trying any riskier moves again too.
Which I remember seeing a quote...If Scott Pilgrim were a real person He'd probably pirated his own movie rather than pay for it. That probably didn't help this movies cause. Alot of people who would have enjoyed it didn't pay to see it. I did, along with a ticket for the girl I was seeing at the time. (who probably sees me as an evil Ex now heh.) I bought on blu ray, and actually skipped the expendables. (I've yet to see it in fact.) I did what you would have liked Bob, but I am minority and I'm ok with that.
I hate to say I think bob is entirely right in this.... but the logic is there, example sited, and now I am just sad for it. I am glad I saw Scott pilgrim in theaters though now. Really I am more angry at movies like the fast and the furious being made than I am at good movies not being made....
That was one of the best the big pictures that I have seen.
I have wondered for a while if there are more people in the sort of demographic that films like Scott Pilgrim are aimed at that would be easily able to/happy to pirate the film. If this was the case then those sort of films would be taking massive hits at the box office.
I'm not saying that all the people who wanted to see the expendables (to use movibobs example) are incapable of pirating but I know a lot of people who watched in online after my partner and I recommended it to them after seeing it in a half empty cinema.
I have wondered for a while if there are more people in the sort of demographic that films like Scott Pilgrim are aimed at that would be easily able to/happy to pirate the film. If this was the case then those sort of films would be taking massive hits at the box office.
I'm not saying that all the people who wanted to see the expendables (to use movibobs example) are incapable of pirating but I know a lot of people who watched in online after my partner and I recommended it to them after seeing it in a half empty cinema.
This video should have ended with:
"I'm Bob, and that's the big picture...
...*****."
It would be appropriate, given the content. Another spot-on commentary on the movie business.
"I'm Bob, and that's the big picture...
...*****."
It would be appropriate, given the content. Another spot-on commentary on the movie business.
That is depressing, but at least the good movies are probably the ones people will remember. All of these mass produced blockbusters could go the way of disco (obviously a lot of people were listening to it, but they won't admit it now).
hmm. . .
I wonder if that would make good movies a better long term investment.
hmm. . .
I wonder if that would make good movies a better long term investment.
That...sucks. I mean seriously, that movie would have been f*cking awesome. Scott Pilgrim (which I own and saw in theatres) was literally one of the best movies I've ever seen. I'm still very sad it didn't make nearly as much money it deserved. *Sigh*
I'm open to a lot of movies of many different types. Sometimes, I think you do just need a "The Expendables" type of movie. It's action to its simplest. I loved it and I don't and will never regret enjoying it. But I also enjoyed Scott Pilgrim, I tried to get my Mom to take a look into it but when it came from Netflix she looked at it and completely passed over it even though I think she would have liked it too. It is always sad when good movies get completely skipped over. I also had heard from multiple sources that the new Pirates movie was terrible. I didn't see anything really horribly wrong with it, enjoyed it just fine. But I do completely get a lot of the things Movie Bob says on movies like The Expendables and Pirates 4. After watching his reviews for the Transformer movies, and then looking back on them (at the time I really enjoyed them) I did a 180 on my thoughts for them. I still found them "amusing" but, rather dull and unimaginative etc. Pretty much what Bob says about them in his reviews comes to mind and he says it better then I ever could. Anyway that's my 2 cents.
First The Jimquisition extols the virtues of Call of Duty, the same sort of popular, low-risk, "safe" investment represented in film by the Expendables, and then Bob puts this out. Are you fellows trying to have an Extra Consideration without having to write?
It is a sad day for one when he figures out the extent of the overall damage done by an overemphasis on the bottom line, and boy is it everywhere. My namesake Ed the Sock used to have long rants about how the state of the music industry was pimping Britney clones and just add water boy bands instead of taking a chance on new artists, and how the current attitude would have denied us things like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or Nirvana as they represented big risks at the time. (Ed's off that music network now, as is most music in favor of Gossip Girl)
From there, let's try comics: Runaways on "hiatus" (though likely canceled) and indy sellers struggling while Batman and Wolverine are in every other book.
TV: Reality TV dominates, sci-fi dramas can't even get on the sci-fi network as they draw fewer viewers than a conspiracy theorist with a chalkboard.
Video games: Final Fantasy fill in the blank and endless halo and call of duty clones (not to mention ports and remakes). The World Ends with You goes unsold.
And yeah, in movies you can't get much more represenative of pandering than the Espendables: a low rent action flick that did nothing creative but people feel obligated to defend because of all the "star power" in it. People foget Bob liked the A-Team, which was essentially the same movie with more money spent on chorographing action scenes and less in big name actors.
Sadly, with cries against "elitism" in this country, somehow we're the ones that have to change and accept merit in derivative crap, rather than the masses at least having to accept they like derivative crap and take the attached stigmas.
From there, let's try comics: Runaways on "hiatus" (though likely canceled) and indy sellers struggling while Batman and Wolverine are in every other book.
TV: Reality TV dominates, sci-fi dramas can't even get on the sci-fi network as they draw fewer viewers than a conspiracy theorist with a chalkboard.
Video games: Final Fantasy fill in the blank and endless halo and call of duty clones (not to mention ports and remakes). The World Ends with You goes unsold.
And yeah, in movies you can't get much more represenative of pandering than the Espendables: a low rent action flick that did nothing creative but people feel obligated to defend because of all the "star power" in it. People foget Bob liked the A-Team, which was essentially the same movie with more money spent on chorographing action scenes and less in big name actors.
Sadly, with cries against "elitism" in this country, somehow we're the ones that have to change and accept merit in derivative crap, rather than the masses at least having to accept they like derivative crap and take the attached stigmas.
Great video, only flaw in your logic is assuming that Scott Pilgrim was a good movie.
My opinion aside, Scott Pilgrim didn't fail because people are too ignorant or stupid to get it.
It failed because it was catering to a smaller demographic. The nerds/gamers, and lets be perfectly honest, we nerds/gamers are a fickle damn bunch who will nitpick the shit out of something until nobody enjoys it. Sure there are people who love this film, but there are a lot more who dislike/hate it. It failed on it's own merits, and the expendables had nothing to do with it. Stop blaming the general movie going public for not watching a movie they had no interest in, to begin with.
My opinion aside, Scott Pilgrim didn't fail because people are too ignorant or stupid to get it.
It failed because it was catering to a smaller demographic. The nerds/gamers, and lets be perfectly honest, we nerds/gamers are a fickle damn bunch who will nitpick the shit out of something until nobody enjoys it. Sure there are people who love this film, but there are a lot more who dislike/hate it. It failed on it's own merits, and the expendables had nothing to do with it. Stop blaming the general movie going public for not watching a movie they had no interest in, to begin with.
The worst part about this is not the failure for good movies to more frequently succeed[footnote]Though that is really tragic.[/footnote]. No, the worst part about this is that it signifies how disappointing the vast majority of Americans/humans are. The fact that a movie like The Expendables[footnote]Which provides no new material or any intellectual depth[/footnote] was more successful than a movie like Scott Pilgrim is completely discouraging.
Though, I am speaking on The Escapist's forums, so I'm sure that, like I, many of you have already known this for quite a while. In that case, allow me to quickly label myself as Captain Obvious.
Though, I am speaking on The Escapist's forums, so I'm sure that, like I, many of you have already known this for quite a while. In that case, allow me to quickly label myself as Captain Obvious.
To Redd the Sock, pretty much everything you said I have to agree with. Biggest thing driving me crazy lately is all the damn reality TV shows and much of the crap Sy-Fy's putting out lately. But I have to disagree with the Expendables comment, at least for myself I don't defend it because of its Star Power. I'm sure I'd enjoy the A-Team about the same as I enjoyed the Expendables, I knew what I was getting when going to see it. Pure action movie, nothing special, nothing new. That was fine and it rocked (imo). The problem is over doing it and using those kind of movies as an excuse to not make anything that is actually new and good and creative. A few pure action movies a year should be fine as long as that's not all that's being made.
