Posted on 08/25/2009 7:17:53 AM PDT by Bean74
If 2009 is remembered for anything in American cinema, it might be as the year grown-ups and Hollywood finally agreed to call it quits.
This is the year when such slick, star-driven, adult-oriented movies as "State of Play," "Duplicity," "The International" and "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" underperformed at the box office. And when talking-toy movies like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe" raked in millions.
Suddenly, movies for grown-ups are in the cross hairs. "I'm caught up all in it," Spike Lee said recently with a rueful laugh, noting that the sequel to his 2006 thriller "Inside Man" is hanging in the balance. "I'm waiting on Universal," he said.
As it happens, Universal is the studio that has come to symbolize the current plight of movies for adults, having released both "Duplicity" and "State of Play," as well as "The Soloist" and "Funny People," considered box-office disappointments. Last week, Universal Co-chairman Marc Shmuger told the Los Angeles Times that 2009 "has certainly been a humbling year. First, there's a real need to be making movies for less money. Second, there's a real premium on sharper, more marketable concepts. Audiences are clearly seeking escape from their lives."
Translation: Hello, "Paul Blart." Sayonara, "Frost/Nixon."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When my wife stops at the red box DVD rental thing, she gets a movie she likes, and a 2nd one in which “stuff blows up” for me, the Neaderthal. Sometimes she calls me from the box while looking at titles, and says “oh, you’ll like this one. Stuff blows up”.
Add to that a growing trend of taking gratuitous - and completely senseless - swipes at Republicans at every opportunity.
Saw “The Time Traveler’s Wife” two weeks ago; the Eric Bana character is eventually accidentally shot by the wife’s father, a man introduced as “a Republican who hunts”.
Saw “Julie and Julia” last Friday, and there’s a scene where she gets chastised by her boss for falsely calling in sick. The boss says she should appreciate his leniency, because “if I was a Republican I would have fired you”.
They’re showing trailers for an upcoming Sarah Jessica Parker movie where she ends up in Montana in the witness protection program; Mary Steenbergen, playing local law enforcement, picks up a rifle; Sarah Jessica Parker gasps “It’s Sarah Palin!!”
Face it, anti-Republican bigotry is the only bigotry allowed in this country...and it is pursued with smug vengeance.
When you go to a movie and you know that the people starring in that movie are all liberal cowards who wouldnt dream of serving the United States in the military and yet they are playing super-heroes it takes a lot out of the movie. It;s a bit like knowing Rock Hudson would rather be bent over getting hit from behind than making love to Doris Day. It just kind of spoils the effect.
Rock was lucky, he kept his secret long enough to get rich.
If you get tired of re-run movies, don’t complain. You can go to the History Channel and watch “Ice Road Truckers” on 24/7. Or at least that’s how it seems.
parsy, who has seen that shot from under the ice about 10 million times
Went to see Julia last week. Funniest movie I have seen in a long time. Have had some trouble getting tickets as it has been sold out for most of the last three weeks. Interestingly, there were as many guys there as women! Don’t know why Hollywood hasn’t figured it out yet - if it’s a really good movie, people will see it. Did have to sit through about half an hour of commercials and ads for upcoming movies only one of which I would consider seeing. Rest would contribute nothing to anyone’s life.
Why do you want to know?
Reminds me of a truth stated on "3rd Rock from the Sun" over 10 years ago:
"I'm not spending $8 on a movie ticket to watch an alien play with a puppy. For that price, he better eat it."
I don’t really think they’re fading. It’s the schedule. The “big” adult pictures are also generally considered Oscar contenders, Oscar contenders try to release very late so they’ll be “fresh” in voters minds coming vote time. So they mostly get a wide release in December or a limited release in December (gotta be on a certain number of screens by Dec 31 to be eligible) with wide in January. “Adult” movies released in March and April are dump zone movies, things they didn’t think would do that well but they made them so they might as well juice some money out of them and hope the focus groups are wrong.
I grew up in the Boston area with 5 brodcast channels.
I used to love the late movies they showed.
One of my favorites was “The Movie Loft” hosted by Dana Hersey on channel 38 late night.
Or escape from left-wing propaganda.
I think people have learned the lesson that, in Hollywood-ese, "serious" and "grown-up" = a 2-hour political lecture.
Hollywood needs to figure this out. Home theater systems have not only become capable of delivering very high quality picture and audio, but they've become affordable enough to slowly find their way into an increasing number of American living rooms.
Twenty years ago you rented a "pan and scan" VHS tape eight months after the movie left the theaters and watched it from your "big screen" 19" tube TV with one speaker. Twenty years ago nobody talked on cell phones in the theater and the movie was shown after two or three previews (which were just as entertaining to watch). Going to the cinema was a much more enjoyable experience. Not so today.
If I was a studio exec, I'd release the movie on DVD the following Tuesday after opening weekend while there was still a lot of buzz. The DVD would be released two-tiered; there would be the 2-3 disc box set with all the bells and whistles, extras, making of's, cast and crew commentaries, etc. priced to buy and sold at retail stores and then there would be the "movie only" DVD produced for the rental market.
Hollywood needs to understand that there are many adults like ourselves who still enjoy movies but simply aren't going to be persuaded to return to the theaters to experience them.
"Spoiler Warning" next time, please. Just as a courtesy to some of us that would like to see the film.
To know what parts of the country one is more likely to encounter people talking on cel phones in movies. I don’t seem to run into that problem in WNC.
I have never been in a theatre where someone talked on their cell phone and I go to see a lot of movies.
Again, I rarely attend "blockbusters" and "action movies", but on the rare occassions when I do (ie Star Trek or the Star Wars saga), I choose a theater with a more upscale clientele.
Must be the neighborhood. I've encountered it many times back when I used to go to movies in the theater which ended about 5 or 6 years ago. Now the only person talking on a cell phone during a movie is me (while the DVD is paused, naturally).
Sorry... :-( ....wouldn’t really recommend it, tho...Rachel McAdams is adorable, but the story is so silly.
Ummm. Last I checked “Julie and Julia” did pretty well.
It's alright. Most Hollywood fare is so predictable and formulaic these days, I probably would've guessed the ending ten minutes into the film.
Remember when the History Channel used to be known as the “War Channel ( or WWW II )?” I miss that. Guts and Glory Sunday was a must watch for me.
I think the lesser programming choices has to do with dilution as more and more digital channels get added all of the time. My neighbor almost screams conspiracy as basic cable prices go up and some channels are sent to digital cable.
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