The Big Picture: The Numbers

[RA92]

I'll stop regarding Transformers and Expendables fans with contempt the day I stop looking down on Twihards.

Ain't gonna happen, lowest common denominator.

 

[enclsam]

Oh for the love of, I'm angrier than I thought I could ever be. I don't even like Horror genre stuff but a movie based on a Lovecraft book backed by such talent and power and skill, that I would see and heck it might be the thing that finally gets me into horror movies. But noooooo the idiot legions of the world decided they'd rather watch *censored* people riding around in import cars and making macho jokes at each other while having boring gun fights with giant robots sometimes visible through the fog who don't do anything but say stupid things.

This is why we never have nice things, because no one wants to be smart, they all want to follow the crowd, and hey you know what I bet quite a number of the people who made fast 5 possible didn't even want to see it all that much, they just didn't want to be caught not in the appearance of not liking something all their idiot friends liked, that's the horror of high school, not the bullying or the segregation, the conformity that keeps people from wanting to do what they want to do for fear of being shunned.

You know what, something has to be done, no not writing to Universal, they can kiss my *censored* for all I care for passing on a project that might have finally gotten me into the movies for horror. If I can get the chance I'm boycotting the next big action grabber for morons like the expendables or Fast 5, and if anyone says they're anticipating a movie like that, or transformers 3, I'm going to shun them and treat them like the crap they deserve if they refuse to change their choice, then tell them these reasons and add "people like you are the fault we can't have nice creative things. So you can *long expletives deleted*

The sad thing is is that if Del Toro does get to do his dream, he's going to have to do it as a puppet show by this point (comparatively speaking) and not only will he not have the power he wanted behind it, but it will not be as successful because the rather crappy budget he'll have to settle for will make the CGI either non-existent or as low grade as the PS1.

To you, idiot legions of the world who let this happen, stop going to the movies and buying video games, do something more beneficial, like skydiving, or join PETA (so you might be too busy making an as of yourself that everyone hates), or submit yourself for drug testing, or I don't know, buy cigarrets and drugs instead of movie tickets so not only will those movies get less money you won't be around much longer to create these problems, or anything that would do better than giving crap like that money it should never have.

Yes that was harsh, but I'm just ticked here and I had to get this off my chest, plus I had impacted wisdom tooth surgery today so my mouth is quite sore as well.

Thank you Moviebob, your continued crusade for good taste against these legions of morons is one of the few things I see actively working to help the creativity of humanity, too bad those idiot legions will never see this or take it seriously.

Oh I know, perfect solution to get rid of those idiots, give them all copies of every Jackass show and movie ever made with the "don't try this at home" disclaimer removed, that should thin their numbers

Totally agree with you. It's really bad when good movies, based on great authors never see a green light because of some testosterone junk.

Sometimes I begin to understand why Hanibal Lector was killing greedy morons.

 

[Firerush]

Oh for the love of, I'm angrier than I thought I could ever be. I don't even like Horror genre stuff but a movie based on a Lovecraft book backed by such talent and power and skill, that I would see and heck it might be the thing that finally gets me into horror movies. But noooooo the idiot legions of the world decided they'd rather watch *censored* people riding around in import cars and making macho jokes at each other while having boring gun fights with giant robots sometimes visible through the fog who don't do anything but say stupid things.

This is why we never have nice things, because no one wants to be smart, they all want to follow the crowd, and hey you know what I bet quite a number of the people who made fast 5 possible didn't even want to see it all that much, they just didn't want to be caught not in the appearance of not liking something all their idiot friends liked, that's the horror of high school, not the bullying or the segregation, the conformity that keeps people from wanting to do what they want to do for fear of being shunned.

You know what, something has to be done, no not writing to Universal, they can kiss my *censored* for all I care for passing on a project that might have finally gotten me into the movies for horror. If I can get the chance I'm boycotting the next big action grabber for morons like the expendables or Fast 5, and if anyone says they're anticipating a movie like that, or transformers 3, I'm going to shun them and treat them like the crap they deserve if they refuse to change their choice, then tell them these reasons and add "people like you are the fault we can't have nice creative things. So you can *long expletives deleted*

The sad thing is is that if Del Toro does get to do his dream, he's going to have to do it as a puppet show by this point (comparatively speaking) and not only will he not have the power he wanted behind it, but it will not be as successful because the rather crappy budget he'll have to settle for will make the CGI either non-existent or as low grade as the PS1.

To you, idiot legions of the world who let this happen, stop going to the movies and buying video games, do something more beneficial, like skydiving, or join PETA (so you might be too busy making an as of yourself that everyone hates), or submit yourself for drug testing, or I don't know, buy cigarrets and drugs instead of movie tickets so not only will those movies get less money you won't be around much longer to create these problems, or anything that would do better than giving crap like that money it should never have.

Yes that was harsh, but I'm just ticked here and I had to get this off my chest, plus I had impacted wisdom tooth surgery today so my mouth is quite sore as well.

Thank you Moviebob, your continued crusade for good taste against these legions of morons is one of the few things I see actively working to help the creativity of humanity, too bad those idiot legions will never see this or take it seriously.

Oh I know, perfect solution to get rid of those idiots, give them all copies of every Jackass show and movie ever made with the "don't try this at home" disclaimer removed, that should thin their numbers

Totally agree with you. It's really bad when good movies, based on great authors never see a green light because of some testosterone junk.

Sometimes I begin to understand why Hanibal Lector was killing greedy morons.

Thank you, though I will back off slightly an say I understand taht Universal is a company that needs money to exist, and while I resent them for passing on such a great project I at least comprehend why they green lit Fast 5, I still hate that the did but I at least comprehend why, they need to stay in business.

Frankly I still want to give out those undisclaimered DVDs of Jackass to the idiot legions and hope they imitate the stunts to their own penalty, either too crippled to get into the theater, or they have to spend all their money on their stunts and the hospital bills and lawsuit protection instead of giving it to bad movies.

 

[enclsam]

Oh for the love of, I'm angrier than I thought I could ever be. I don't even like Horror genre stuff but a movie based on a Lovecraft book backed by such talent and power and skill, that I would see and heck it might be the thing that finally gets me into horror movies. But noooooo the idiot legions of the world decided they'd rather watch *censored* people riding around in import cars and making macho jokes at each other while having boring gun fights with giant robots sometimes visible through the fog who don't do anything but say stupid things.

This is why we never have nice things, because no one wants to be smart, they all want to follow the crowd, and hey you know what I bet quite a number of the people who made fast 5 possible didn't even want to see it all that much, they just didn't want to be caught not in the appearance of not liking something all their idiot friends liked, that's the horror of high school, not the bullying or the segregation, the conformity that keeps people from wanting to do what they want to do for fear of being shunned.

You know what, something has to be done, no not writing to Universal, they can kiss my *censored* for all I care for passing on a project that might have finally gotten me into the movies for horror. If I can get the chance I'm boycotting the next big action grabber for morons like the expendables or Fast 5, and if anyone says they're anticipating a movie like that, or transformers 3, I'm going to shun them and treat them like the crap they deserve if they refuse to change their choice, then tell them these reasons and add "people like you are the fault we can't have nice creative things. So you can *long expletives deleted*

The sad thing is is that if Del Toro does get to do his dream, he's going to have to do it as a puppet show by this point (comparatively speaking) and not only will he not have the power he wanted behind it, but it will not be as successful because the rather crappy budget he'll have to settle for will make the CGI either non-existent or as low grade as the PS1.

To you, idiot legions of the world who let this happen, stop going to the movies and buying video games, do something more beneficial, like skydiving, or join PETA (so you might be too busy making an as of yourself that everyone hates), or submit yourself for drug testing, or I don't know, buy cigarrets and drugs instead of movie tickets so not only will those movies get less money you won't be around much longer to create these problems, or anything that would do better than giving crap like that money it should never have.

Yes that was harsh, but I'm just ticked here and I had to get this off my chest, plus I had impacted wisdom tooth surgery today so my mouth is quite sore as well.

Thank you Moviebob, your continued crusade for good taste against these legions of morons is one of the few things I see actively working to help the creativity of humanity, too bad those idiot legions will never see this or take it seriously.

Oh I know, perfect solution to get rid of those idiots, give them all copies of every Jackass show and movie ever made with the "don't try this at home" disclaimer removed, that should thin their numbers

Totally agree with you. It's really bad when good movies, based on great authors never see a green light because of some testosterone junk.

Sometimes I begin to understand why Hanibal Lector was killing greedy morons.

Thank you, though I will back off slightly an say I understand taht Universal is a company that needs money to exist, and while I resent them for passing on such a great project I at least comprehend why they green lit Fast 5, I still hate that the did but I at least comprehend why, they need to stay in business.

Frankly I still want to give out those undisclaimered DVDs of Jackass to the idiot legions and hope they imitate the stunts to their own penalty, either too crippled to get into the theater, or they have to spend all their money on their stunts and the hospital bills and lawsuit protection instead of giving it to bad movies.

Hehe, or maybe create an movie about some idiots doing really dangerous stunts, but that stunts will be easy to try at home. But before that maybe try to buy some painkiller's production corp stocks. Double victory: many morons cripled, and you can sell stocks at very high prise.
Edit:stocks not actions

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

"Now, I want you to imagine with me. Imagine a world where sequels are banned. Would this not be a beautiful place? Sure, we'd miss out on genuinely good sequels, but I think that's a small price to pay. Every story would have to be fresh so the writers would have to work extra hard to make the characters relatable; with no sequels, there are no franchises, so there'd be less fandom, so all the nerds will be go off and become doctors and scientists and rid the world of all known diseases; and best of all, endings would have to have some fucking closure. Under this regime, ending [a story] with ambiguous "to be continued" bullshit when you have no idea if you'll even make a sequel will be punishable with prison time. Cautions will be issued for reoccurring themes and metaphors, and remakes will carry the death penalty."

-Ben Crosshaw

 

[enclsam]

"Now, I want you to imagine with me. Imagine a world where sequels are banned. Would this not be a beautiful place? Sure, we'd miss out on genuinely good sequels, but I think that's a small price to pay. Every story would have to be fresh so the writers would have to work extra hard to make the characters relatable; with no sequels, there are no franchises, so there'd be less fandom, so all the nerds will be go off and become doctors and scientists and rid the world of all known diseases; and best of all, endings would have to have some fucking closure. Under this regime, ending [a story] with ambiguous "to be continued" bullshit when you have no idea if you'll even make a sequel will be punishable with prison time. Cautions will be issued for reoccurring themes and metaphors, and remakes will carry the death penalty."

-Ben Crosshaw

Why ban sequels? Ban bad writers and movies.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

"Now, I want you to imagine with me. [...]

Why ban sequels? Ban bad writers and movies.

Well, it's more of a concept that something that should actually happen. But it certainly would destroy viewer and studio complacency, which I think is the point.

 

[Exocet]

While as of right now I'm pissed that the movie isn't coming out in the forseeable future,there is a bit of a bright side to it: the eldritch horrors of the Lovecraft books as seen in a movie would be dissapointing. In the books,you use your imagination to try to get a glimpse of their full horror.In a movie,all the work would be cut out for you and you wouldn't try to break the limits of what your mind can create.

But this is just trying to find a small hint of positive thinking in an otherwise dissapointing turn of events.I still very much want to see Lovecraftian monsters with an R rating on it!

 

[enclsam]

"Now, I want you to imagine with me. [...]

Why ban sequels? Ban bad writers and movies.

Well, it's more of a concept that something that should actually happen. But it certainly would destroy viewer and studio complacency, which I think is the point.

Well, it certainly can.

 

[Lordpils]

Also applies to the gaming world, Troika went under despite making three excellent games and Activision has yet to be punished for it's sins against the consumer. Ask me how that makes me feel.

 

[enclsam]

Also applies to the gaming world, Troika went under despite making three excellent games and Activision has yet to be punished for it's sins against the consumer. Ask me how that makes me feel.

Bad?
I also was really pissed of because closing of Troika. I only played Arcanum but it was one of the best crpgs
that i played.

 

[Treblaine]

Wow a big picture episode that plays it straight and is 100% on the money (no pun).

Though probably the reason this episode is so true is that doesn't give any answers, it just presents the very real problem.

And the problem is movies are made for 13-16 year olds.

WHY!?!? Why won't adults go to the cinema even with an R-rated movie, why won't people who are over 18 drive down to a remote warehouse and sit in the darkness being bombarded with adverts for half an hour before maybe just maybe the films turning out to be good or not.

I'm in my 20's and I'll tell you I HATE going to the cinema, and I don't think it's just down to how literally immature the movies are. I cannot stand the cinema experience any more:
-the schedule, be there on THEIR time
-the remoteness of driving out there
-the fucking obnoxious fellow moviegoers
-the shitty, tiny, smelly seats
-the crap overpriced food
-you cannot pause the movie to go take a leak
-If the movie is bad it's way too hard to just leave
-bullshit 3D


That's the thing, at home with my HDTV or even by smaller HD-monitor I can get just the same sound and audio quality yet I can start it and stop the movie whenever I want, eat fried chicken, a pizza or whatever. Hell I can run riff-trax, I can pause it and rewind, IMEMDIATELY take the video and edit

Bottom line:

[HEADING=2]I do not care about a controlled experience, I want CONTROL and CONVENIENCE![/HEADING]

That's why blu-ray has failed and streaming services like Hulu win. People moved from VHS to DVD for convenience and control, there is no extra convenience or control moving to blu-ray. There IS more convenience and control streaming and downloading your movies and TV shows.


One thing I can't stand is the adults, the grown fucking men who go to see utter shit like Fast-Five even though it has been so grossly compromised to appeal to 13 year olds.

It's almost as if the movie industry and video-game industry have swapped places in terms of demographics. Movies pandering to little kids, games targeting adults.

Look at the top 10 games of 2010:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops* (360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS) = M rating, 18 equivalent
2. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
3. Halo: Reach* (360) = M rating, 18 equivalent
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
5. Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3) = M rating, 18 equivalent
6. Wii Fit Plus* (Wii)
7. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
8. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2* (360, PS3, PC) = M rating, 18 equivalent
9. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood* (360, PS3) = M rating, 18 equivalent
10. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC)

5 of the top 10 are equivalent R-ratings, 2 of which are sports games. Also I wouldn't say that just-dance or wii-fit had to compromise to get a less-than-M rating, they couldn't possibly have mature content.

Conclusion: the movie industry is fucked. Del Toro should cut his losses and invest in video games

 

[BreakdownBoy]

Expendibles!!!! WTF!!!

Scot Pilgrim was awsome!!!

I want to blame somebody, the American mass audience seems the best choice....

 

[Vyce]

A Lovecraftian Horror movie? Rejected? What a cruel cruel world. D:

 

[Treblaine]

If they took out boobs and swearing, what rating would At the Mountains of Madness be? Even the first Indiana Jones movie has nazis faces being melted off by ghosts and that movie is rated 12.

I guarantee you if Raiders of the Lost Ark went before the censors TODAY it would get an R-rating.

The movie was so close to getting an R-rating it's pretty obvious that the studio used a lot of cajoling to get their way. But since 1981 parents have gotten so fucking hysterical now bleeding bullet wounds can't even make it into a PG-13 film, people shot must crumple and collapse bloodlessly.

 

[maximara]

The really sad thing is this kind of attitude could come back to hurt the studios in the long run.

To understand why once must go back to 20th Century Fox's "Cleopatra" (1963). Started in 1960 the project had been come a money pit nightmare to the degree the bean counters went looking for other projects to kill. They thought they found on in a little black and white WWII picture that was five times Cleopatra's original $2 million budget.

However the producer had enough clout that the movie that the bean counters said no one would want to see because WWII film reception was lukewarm at best and black and white was yesterday's fish got made... and it took off like a rocket. Not only did the "The Longest Day" get nominated for 5 Academy Awards (wining two of them) but it brought in over $39 million domestically.

By contrast in business terms Cleopatra eventually became $44 million disaster that despite its 9 nominations and 5 Academy Awards wins only brought in $26 million domestically and would be know for years as the film that nearly bankrupted the studio.

 

[seule]

this makes me as sad as when i read that the latest pirates of the caribbean was breaking box office records....

 

[kingmob]

Is it just me or was this whole episode a wide open door that was just kicked in?
More like a rant really. I understand where it comes from, but in his capacity as a movie-critic, Bob should try and focus on the movies that do come out. i understand it can be frustrating, but I doubt most viewers watch his reviews to hear him whine some more...

Well, since this is "The Big Picture" and NOT "Escape to the Movies" he is free to rant about he want.

I realize that, I didn't say he wasn't allowed to rant in this show. But he is specifically saying here that a reviewer should also talk about the box office, because of the reasons given in this episode. He is clearly defending doing it in "escape to the movies", so to me anyway it is relevant.

I understand why he feels the need and I of course agree with the logic, but it has no place in a review. In the end that's what he's defending here, but he avoids the reason people don't want to hear such things. It is not because the box office is irrelevant, it is because it is irrelevant for the quality of whatever you are reviewing.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

Money drives the market, not talent, and that's a sad, sad realization. Good segment, Bob, though it's sad to think how much truth is in there.