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| Posted By: Rough Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 312 | America's taste in movies The #1 films at the box office over the last month or so have struck me as humorous, to say the least. Okay, "The Passion" was #1 for about a month or so, from mid Feb til mid March. I thought it might go back up to #1 over Easter (it still could) but it still had a good run regardless,and has become one of the biggest films of all time. I thought it was a great film (albeit overrated). Now, here's where it gets interesting. "Dawn of the Dead" premiered at #1 when it came out a few weeks ago, bumping "Passion". "Dawn of the Dead" was actually the working title for "The Passion", but...I digress. I'm still waiting for Killah's review of the zombie flick, but he's probably down at Myrtle right about now. About two weeks ago "Scooby Doo 2" premiers at #1 (I personally think it will be the best of the series...you know, like "Godfather 2"). And now, as if it couldn't get any more bizarre, this past weekend the capper, as "Hellboy" premiered at #1. What an eclectic mix of flicks. I think it says somthing about us...what I'm sure I don't know. From Jesus to Hellboy and everything in between. Ahh, maybe that's just America! DIO/ROUGH 2004 |
| Posted By: Jake Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 310 | RE: America's taste in movies I think it just proves that the cinema "as in going to the movies" biz is dying. Maybe it isn't dying, but maybe the people who are going, aren't the brightest bulbs in the attic. Or maybe the average age going is late teens/early 20's? Just speculation on my part. I could be wrong but I think the majority of my country (USA) doesn't really care about what's # 1 at the box office. Do you really care about Ben or Jenniffer, etc? To be honest, the only time I go and pay 8 or 9 or 10 bucks now is when my old lady drags me to the mall, and says, meet me back here in 2 or 3 hours. And that's me escaping for a matinee, at matinee prices... Myself? I'd much rather be sitting in the lazyboy with pause, available on my remote, my fridge full of leftover chineese or pizza, and either some good wine or cheap beer. I haven't seen any of the movies you mention Rough. I'll wait for them on HBO, Showtime, or VHS/DVD. I understand that we all need recreation, and so forth, but these days I am ankering to stay closer and closer to home. I watch CNN and get all the drama I need lately! |
| Posted By: JSK Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 301 | RE: America's taste in movies Hey guys - Well I just got back from Myrtal Beach and my God what lovely women you southerns have !!! Although a great time it sadly won't make it to the big screen. So it brings us to talking about Hollywood sell-outs !!! I just love it when you hear them say on the commercials - "The must see movie of 2004 !" "The blockbuster movie of the summer!" "It will leave you speachless" Crap like that before the film is even out !! I heard about this movie HELLBOY and could only think is this how creative these twits are becoming ? How friggin stupied does that movie look and sound? And , it still made it to #1 !?! Lots of kiddies just had to spend their mommies alamony money that weekend . If Brittney Spears dropped a load on camera and just sat there looking over it for an hour people would actually go see the damn thing ! POOPS SHE DID IT AGAIN ! 9 bucks for a ticket. Normally , you go with someone else so its an easy 18 bucks . Then a medium sized popcorn in the range of 4 bucks !?! Now its time to force it all down with watered down fountain soda which costs about 2.50-3.00 . Your looking at an easy 30 bucks even if you skip going out for dinner before hand. The only thing I look forward to is that the place I go doesn't charge for parking , but that too will someday change I'm sure . I can just imagine what the Canadian's pay to see our flicks or what the Brits pay to see their hogwash? All I can say is there better be lots of nudity and violence . I usually ruin it for people at chick flick films . I sit there pointing at the screen making a ghastly sound like I'm crying like a retard (LOL) Seriously I do . Its bad enough I do it right here at home . The wifey usually grabs me or gives me that look of "shut up" whenever a "sad scene" comes on at the theaters knowing I'll ruin the moment for the Julia Roberts style films. 90% of the time people in the theater laugh their asses off, but ofcourse the wife isn't so pleased : ) But, then theres nothing worse than the annoying little bastards that thinks its funny pointing their red lasers on the screen on the woman's body parts and stuff. I just can't believe all the remakes that are coming out. Like Dawn of the Dead . Which although was a cool flick just didn't have what the first one had which was more gore and just the feeling of you yourself being stuck inside a mall full of flesh eating zombies .That wrong, uneasy feeling of being scared. I didn't like the ending , but I could see its done so they can make another remake "Day of the Dead" . If you saw the first DOTD its a bit like it , but just goes into more detail about how these zombies are on a much global scale. That part I liked . And although it was based on the first film they refresh it up enough so it isn't the same drama and diolog. But, during one scene(in the remake)you can see a lady inside a car fighting in the back seat with a zombie woman. Kinda disturbing more than anything else . Right along the lines of crystal films , but with even worse looking women ! Ok,thats a joke ofcourse . Now I hear they are making a wonderwoman movie soon. Not sure who would be casted in that roll? Marie Carrie possibly ? Watch em **** that one up and put Ja-lo or however you spell her fat-assed name as the star. Hollywood is all about selling out. Theres about 40-50 indi films this year alone that are better than the garbage they are making us see right now! The problem is for those you either need to know the exact playing time and find a theater that runs the film. Or wait a month or two until they release it quickly to video/dvd. Unlike the Hollywood films they keep em in the theaters long enough so you accidently go to them. And warn it won't be out on video until 2005. Its like rock shows and sports for me. I usually go to 2 each a year. The rest I can see on tv where I already pay an outragous amount for cable .Or be an idiot and pay for music like I do . JSK |
| Posted By: BigChris Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 298 | RE: America's taste in movies Hellboy isnt as bad as you might think. Dont knock it until you try it. I mean its not ****ty Doo 2. Anyway Shaun of the dead is going to blow everything else away...(he says clutching his ticket like his life depended on it) |
| Posted By: Geordie George Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 291 | RE: America's taste in movies Yeah, Shaun of the Dead looks good, one of the few multiplex zombie experiences I can handle these days (irony alert). They`ve just recently closed the old art deco style cinema in Neucastle & the only stylish alternative is the arty cinema across the road with a habit of holding gay & lesbian festivals when you just want to see a Marx Brothers double bill. I did try to see The Passion, but some fool kept pretending to cry at the sad bits, interupting me pointing at christ`s goolies with my laser pen. |
| Posted By: alfonsothefan Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 286 | RE: Hey killer, lets connect these dots... Hokayyyy.... I guess I can speak for a goodly portion of the 50 & over crowd by saying that -- in choosing whether to buy a $9 ticket and sit between kids on one side and horney toads on the other, with the potential of falling asleep & losing my $$ OR.... paying $18.95 + tax @ Costco and I'll be able to see the damn thing whenever I want -- Is it ANY wonder that original run crap is seen by pimply assed kids, hormone driven couples and peeps with the IQ equal to the sizemoniter richter scale of the largest earthquake in Missouri? IOW -- about 3.6? Gimmee liberty/a dvd or a flick tick with the sick pukey public? It's a no brainer. btw GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (oh, Coyote & Mighty Ducks fans, sorry -- nothing or no more for you I'm afraid hehehe) atf |
| Posted By: Rough Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 282 | RE: America's taste in movies Yeah, you're right Fonz, the movie industry (along with the music biz and everything else under the sun) is geared for the teens. I generally only go when there's something that really needs to be seen on the big screen (like "Return of the King") or something I'm just REALLY dying to see (like "Ladykillers", the latest from the prolific Coen Brothers...hilarious!) Killah,glad you got to check out some Southern hotties down at Myrtle. Nothing like Myrtle Beach during spring break....I've done some partying down there! :) :) I just saw a news story on the "Oleson Twins"....only they don't want to be called that anymore. They want to be addressed by their "proper names" (whatever the hell those are). Man, I have a feeling that, now that they're 18, they are going to raise some hell! I betcha they'll put the Hiltons and the Bush sluts to shame. Fast forward about 15 yrs...you just KNOW that those two will be in and out of friggin' rehab every month! Ooooooh..now here's a thought.."Tag Team Catfight: Olesons v. Hiltons"! I wonder if Leege or someone could paste that fantasy together in living color! DIO/ROUGH 2004 |
| Posted By: Bear Posted On: Apr 7, 2004 Views: 276 | RE: America's taste in movies In reality, most things like movies and music have been produced primarily for the teen crowd since the 1950's. Even the WWF appeals strictly to teens -- check out their commercials. It's obvious that their demographic is teenage boys. Frankly, that's all right with me. I mean, once upon a time I was teenager too, and I can even remember that far back. What really bugs me now is finding a plethora of red bell peppers in my microwave dinner. That really ****es me off. |
| Posted By: Dio Posted On: Apr 8, 2004 Views: 255 | Dawn of the Dead I went to see his with my Auntie Mavis. I do recommend this film; a real rollercoaster ride of a movie for the MTV generation, and a decent first film for director Zack Snyder. Comparisons with the first movie are inevitable, and here are the differences. The first film is a true gore horror, the latest, an action thriller. In the first, we have an ongoing social commentary on consumerism. Now, that is missing. Humour in the first is widespread throughout; in the remake, it is slight. Those are the main differences. Nevertheless the new version is a good movie and well worth seeing, it is interesting for those who saw the first one in the way our changing social world has moulded it's evolution. We no longer parody the consumerist world we live in as witnessed in the first movie, this is due to the reason that we have now become the zombie's in the first movie. We don't have time any more for slow moving flesh eaters slouching about, we now need frenzied fast running plagued creatures on the attack en masse to keep our attention. An interesting cameo appearance is seen again in the remake from Tom Savini who also made an appearance in the original movie as one of the biker guys; this time we see him as the hard talking County Sheriff. Savini was the special effects and makeup artist on the original Dawn of the Dead movie. Many people will note the difference in the level of gore between the first blood and guts movie to the second more evenly placed gore scenes. An interesting explanation for the level of absolute gore in that first movie stems from Savini's experiences in Vietnam as an American soldier. His witnessing of severed limbs, open wounds, guts hanging out, heads blown apart was the raw data he used in the constructs of what he created in that first movie. He said in a recent interview that the zombie's we see in the first movie and the resulting gore was his recreation of the shocking damage to the human body he saw during the war. The recreation of this blood and guts gore he witnessed could never be accompanied by the fear he experienced on the battlefield. The sights of human bodies having been savaged by attack he became desensitized to as the war went on like most soldiers, but that level of absolute fear experienced by many US soldiers could never be recreated. The remake is thus an action thriller compared to the first movie's gore horror; both good movies really, and well worth seeing the new one if you get a chance. A warning though - First, don't do as 80% of audiences do in most cinemas when they walk out during the end titles assuming the film has ended... it hasn't, the true end of the film occurs in short segments as the end titles are rolling; well worth keeping your seat to watch what actually happens to the crew in the conclusion. So go see it, the pyrotechnics are better, the direction is tighter and we have an action thriller ready and prepared for a modern cinema audience. 'Shaun of the Dead' - Could we actually have a decent British movie here for once? It's looking promising so far on the trailer clips. Simon Pegg writes good TV comedy, some of you may wish to look up 'Spaced' which was a very good comedy he wrote for two seasons on Channel 4. Toodle pip Dio |
| Posted By: Dio Posted On: Apr 8, 2004 Views: 254 | Geordie George "I did try to see The Passion, but some fool kept pretending to cry at the sad bits, interupting me pointing at christ`s goolies with my laser pen." [Geordie George] He gets funnier by the day this canny lad. |
| Posted By: legion Posted On: Apr 9, 2004 Views: 245 | RE: America's taste in movies good show I saw called 'The Directors' which chronicles the rise and fall of the artist/auteur type Director in the 60's and 70's who gave us so many creative and original movies for a brief while - (Bogdonovich, Polanski, Coppola, his buddy George Lucas, Spielberg, DePalma, Scorsese, blah blah blah they all hung around together and made masterpieces until the damn studios figured out a formula and took over again, only to churn out the krap and sequels to krap we now call movies. So that's what happened to all the good movies in the good old days. |
| Posted By: alfonsothefan Posted On: Apr 9, 2004 Views: 242 | RE: America's taste in movies Ya, it's too bad that studios fall into the trap of a 'cookie cutter' formula and that we end up seeing "Jason Part XX--Jason goes to Iraq" or whatever. Sad. You'll note that some of the best stuff done nowadays are the indys-- especially some of the Afro American stuff. Anyway, if he hadn't had the $$, Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" would never have been made. The same mommy mavens who 'protect us from....' (fill in the blanks) would have ALL said "why...you can't do that!!" Yeah sure. Whatever. Cinema is supposed to make one think as well as entertain. That's why I never watch commercial tv, only the History channel, the snooze and sports. Belee dat. atf |
| Posted By: JSK Posted On: Apr 9, 2004 Views: 239 | RE: America's taste in movies Dio- Great review of the film. Funny thing is I heard more people angered by the way the zombies now ran like Jesse Owens instead of walking around like Leege is right now :) I basically thought "How will anyone get a way from them !?!?!" But, to most die-hards its like ****ting on an alter. Never saw 29 or 49 days ... whatever that horror movie was that came out last year, but people were compairing it to that one. Ofcourse more enjoyed Dawn of the dead 2004 a bit more. You didn't need to be a horror movie fan to like it either. I didn't mind the film. It was action packed yet slowed down enough to enjoy all the more. Although sticking to the same plot line (them in a mall) I'm glad it went a little different from the 79 script. The humor was just enough and I don't think they over-killed anything. Besides there was quite a lot of humor in the first one, but it was more creepy humor considering how graphic that film was.I think back then people missed it. I am glad STEVE got it in the end although he was a well deserved riot! "DEADISH!" (ok, I just blew it for some!) I do think they sold out when they played "disturbed" at the end of the movie and no I didn't move from my seat although my wife was standing in the isles waiting for me when the movie was so called over. The elevator version of "down with the sickness" was cool though. Not only was Tom S. was in this film, but the original "black dude" from the 79 version was in it also. Remember the priest/holyman talking about how when theres no room in hell the dead will walk the earth? Well, that was him . Ofcourse less buff and a bit more grey. Plain and simply I loved the film and wasn't let down at all. Infact, I didn't expect much from a newbie producer working on a cult classic that everyone expected to fail. Not a bad job at all. I just can't wait for "The day of the dead" remake which is already being talked about. Hopefully, they don't have them talk like they did in the original. That was so F-ing weak/lame. Oh yeah, did you catch the zombie chick fighting the woman in the car? (LOL) JSK |
| Posted By: Big Chris Posted On: Apr 9, 2004 Views: 232 | RE: America's taste in movies Shaun of the dead is great, a really really good film, very funny, and a few gory moments. Is it as good as Dawn of the Dead. Hard to say really, Shaun goes more out for laughs. Having seen both in one week Im all zombie filmed out. Audience laughed all the way through, although the film loses it a bit near the end. Its got to be better than that Love Actually bollocks anyway |