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AlSymerz

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It’s the same with horror, which did the infinite sequel thing first. As long as it keeps making money storytelling is secondary, and if all of a sudden these big budget franchises stop making money the studio just turn the attention to whatever is. The consumer is only partially to blame. In my opinion, yes, it’s true. They keep paying to see the same kind of movie again and again and again, but Hollywood also isn’t offering much in the way of alternatives these days.

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Yeah I can agree that there is more out there that love the shit than there is that avoid it. But for all those that love this also seems to be a growing dislike for what they are doing. Maybe those people are the stupid ones who continually flock to the movies to see things they know they are going to complain about. Maybe Hollywood are the idiots who don't care enough to listen to the dislike because it's not hurting their bottom line.

Netflix and other streaming platforms are realising that profiteering isn't as simple as just making it and the hordes will flock to it because even some of their big name series are showing a downturn in viewers but the price to make them is still rising. Cinemas in this country realised the downturn in the market more than a decade ago and had to offer cheap incentives to get people back. Numbers here are up but we are a thousand miles away from places like the US when it comes to most cinema releases and how long they spend playing to anything more than a 20% full cinema.

It seems to me with such a heavy reliance on CGI these days movies are becoming little more than animated fairy tales and repeats of themselves. Shit half the time they use CGI to remove imperfections from the $5M stars face, (or remove some poor bloke's wedding tackle from his loin cloth because it's deemed to big for a minor audience). With home computing being what it is it wont be long until 8yr old kids can make an almost Hollywood worthy film without the high priced actors and little more than a D grade at school (they'd have got a B if they didn't spend all day fucking around with that computer!).

Maybe that's ideal world thinking. Maybe Hollywood wont ever realise they only cater to some. Maybe the movie watches of this world will always have easy money to throw at lacklustre releases they are only going to pick holes in. I don't really know where the end of it is, but I know the movie world is becoming less and less for people like me. Thankfully though there is still an independent movie industry, it doesn't always create winners but some of the stuff is worth watching.

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2 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

Is it the studios? CGI costs big bucks in a lot of movies, but big name stars cost a lot more, marrying the two means movies have to make a shit load of money just to break even.

 Good CGI is expensive, primarily because it's time consuming. Good enough CGI that's being wrung out of an understaffed, overworked studio is far less expensive than the price of practical effects or legitimately well done CGI, and it can be pumped out at a far quicker pace. When so many blockbuster movies these days are getting cut up, re-shot, and re-edited before widespread release, something has to give to make that summer release date, and good special effects are usually the first thing to go

1 hour ago, AlSymerz said:

It seems to me with such a heavy reliance on CGI these days movies are becoming little more than animated fairy tales and repeats of themselves.

This has actually been an ongoing criticism in Hollywood for awhile. In fact, it was one of the biggest complaints regarding the first Avatar movie. I think people forget, CGI is actually the faster, cheaper alternative these days than doing something with practical effects. That's why it's the go-to for most films

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I heard the new Avatar cost something like $400M to make, that's just fucking ludicrous in my eyes, (but I'm not a fan so my opinion doesn't really matter).

I'd still much rather a real explosion, cost effective or not, than a CGI explosion. I hate CGI explosions, fires, crashes and the like, to me it cheapens the movie and makes me think they are trying for a slapstick comedy. Maybe in space movies or superhero movies where reality is already suspended it's different, but I can't stand seeing a house blow up in some action movie and realising that it's not real.

Awe well it wont be long before Hollywood starts looking for their CGI experts on Fivver so as to cut down the cost of production.

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Yeah...I think they said the new Avatar movie would have to hit 1 billion or something equally ridiculous at the box office just to break even. Last I heard it was closing in on that number, but I don't care enough about the franchise to look into it.

...and yeah, I'd very much like to see a return to mostly practical effects. CGI is a useful tool to enhance things around the edges, but I'm not super keen on using it on everything

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On 1/9/2023 at 1:36 AM, SurgicalBrute said:

...and yeah, I'd very much like to see a return to mostly practical effects. CGI is a useful tool to enhance things around the edges, but I'm not super keen on using it on everything

I think the John Wick movies have been clever about it. Most is practical effects with wires, stunt training etc, but the muzzle flashes and some of the car action is CGId.

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On 1/9/2023 at 12:36 AM, SurgicalBrute said:

Yeah...I think they said the new Avatar movie would have to hit 1 billion or something equally ridiculous at the box office just to break even. Last I heard it was closing in on that number, but I don't care enough about the franchise to look into it.

I was surprised to read this too. I had assumed it would be a flop.

It made me laugh that my wife wanted to go see it but my daughter wasn't interested at all. Despite the fact we watch Star Wars and Marvel films all the time, she couldn't be convinced that seeing a 3 hour film about oversized smurfs was worth it, even if it was a sci-fi extravaganza. I tended to agree.

I was accused "why do you hate James Cameron so much!?"

"I don't!" I replied indignantly. "James Cameron wrote and directed Terminator and Aliens, two of the greatest sci-fi films ever made. I even thought Titanic was great. It's just Avatar wasn't that good. It lost me at 'unobtanium' about 5 minutes into the film." 

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On 1/11/2023 at 1:47 AM, Thatguy said:

Yep. Rather enjoyed No 1, didn't see the point of No 2 and I haven't watched No 3.

From an entertainment standpoint, John Wick has seen increasingly diminishing returns, and it really should have ended with 3, but there's still the occasional bit of novelty to make them worth sitting through. Some of the opening moments in 3, where he gets into a knife throwing fight or kills that man with a horse, were entertaining as hell, and Mark Dacascos was clearly having a blast as the villain, but the middle act is a muddled, boring mess.

I am moderately interested in seeing 4, just because I really want a Hollywood studio to actually use Donnie fucking Yen in a way he deserves, instead of barely letting him do anything, but they really need to end it with this film.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, markm said:

Fuckin' boomers, man

Small technicality, Mr. Crosby wasn't a Boomer. I know many Boomers love CSN, but having been born in 1941 David Crosby was actually part of the Silent Generation (1928 - 1945) which immediately preceded the Baby Boomer generation (1946 - 1964). Doc and Orca and I are Boomers, but my parents, as well as all the members of CSN&Y were of the Silent Generation. 

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14 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Fucking boomers always jumping in to correct people!!

I actually consider myself an honorary member of Gen-X. Most of my friends are Gen-X'ers, most of my favorite bands are Gen-X'ers, and most importantly I couldn't possibly be old enough to be a full-fledged, dyed in the wool Baby Boomer. I've met some Boomers and those guys are old AF.

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