Hollywood's disconnect

Yahoo! News ^ | July 26, 2005 | Michael Medved

[DM1]

man i went to see War of the worlds and it SUCKED big time
the original was so much better - hollywood makes crap nowadays

[Borges]

You put the director of Saving Private Ryan in the same group with Olver Stone??

[Borges]

The original had little to do with the novel. This one did. It's a great film.

[Sam the Sham]

Check the YTD figures on boxofficemojo.

Down from 2004, 2003, and 2002.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/?view2=ytdcompare&view=releasedate&p=.htm

[bmwcyle]

Pop Corn is cheaper, no chair kicker behind me, I can pause, One $3.99 or $1.99 price

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Those are about the very reasons I don't go either.
The theater I would go to if I did has turned out to be a hangout for rude smart aleck kids.

Becky

[excalibur1701]

I've always wondered why they base their performances on the dollar sign. I find it amusing when a film becomes the biggest grossing film of all time, yet, the ticket prices have skyrocketed and keep spiraling every year. Why don't they base it on number of "Ticket Sales" instead? At least that would be an accurate way to judge things, year by year.

[Jedidah]

I saw "War of the Worlds," and if there was intent to make it a parable re: Iraq, they failed pretty badly.

That said, it was just a dumb/stupid/terrible movie and Tom Cruise laughable.

"Cinderella Man" is excellent, even for someone who thinks boxing is abhorrent. True story, good values, highly recommended.

[DM1]

OH PLEASE
they alien ships were buried???!! come on we never noticed them - sorry not in the novel they landed in ships like the first movie.
ALiens BEAMED into these ships - sorry they physically landed again in ships
Tom Cruise has to tell the military that the shields were down - sorry her majesty's military figured that one out in the novel as well.
Aliens looked like ID4 aliens - sorry they were more squidlike and had beaks in the novel.
they kept certain SCENES from the book that did not work - the ferry was in the book since people were trying to flea the British coast - who the heck decides to head for a ferry that moves slow when you can head to the interior with more places to run
The first movie adapted the book in a much more realistic way.

[hsalaw]

"Medved needs to get a life. All he does is rag on Hollywood."

Works for me. I get a good laugh reading about Hollywood's disconnect from reality.

[Borges]

Not all tickets cost the same. However adjusted for inflation the list of all time highest grossing films becomes quite different...

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

[Borges]

Niggling plot holes aren't all that important in a film like this which sets out to do nothing more then induce tension and suspense. It's filled with one visual inspiration after another. No one knows where to put a camera like SS.

[unlearner]

Hollywood studios and distributors can fix this problem if they:

1. Make more movies that appeal to families, Christians and conservatives. This market is under served.

2. Enhance the movie going experience. The idea of 3d is a good one. Other technologies or approaches might get more people to go see movies on the big screen. For example, local actors could be employed to mix live performance with a film. These things are challenging because they mean retrofitting existing theaters (not owned by distributors and studios) to accommodate new innovations.

3. (This will be unpopular but necessary.) Up the price for DVD sales for rental distribution and offer a lower priced DVD a few months later targeted to consumers.

[DM1]

I respectfully disagree
first you made an argument saying it was more "like the book"
i mentioned areas where it was not, so now you change tacts to camera angles
basically this movie was nothing more than "lets watch Tom cruise run around".
It could have been MUCH MUCH better with a better plot which was not hard to do and much less "star-centric" to give a bigger and better picture.
Face it man it sucked royally - nothing more than the usual CGI thrown up on screen with a pretty boy running around

[libs_kma]

Spielberg spews lefty garbage too.

I did see Saving Private Ryan too, but that was before last election season. Last season was for me was when they just went too far.

Before that, all of their mutterings were just annoying. Then it became more than that. I don't need their moveies and they don't need my money.

Its a pretty good arrangement.

[discostu]

Sounds like the Spiderman movies, or last year's Incredibles.

[Miss Behave]

I love that billboard, martin. And I love those black, square, back window stickers that say: "W," and underneath: "Still The President."

Ha!

[Borges]

The POV and sense of mounting dread couldn't have been evoked any better. It's one of the 5 or so best films Spielberg has ever made. The relentless focus on Cruise was what made ti so formally engaging. If you want to see a formulaic diaster movie ee Independence day. This was something else entirely. The poetic evocation of responding to some inexplicable calamity. And I've never seen a summer film so relentlessly grim. Audiences were walking out silently!

[Borges]

Oh OK you're just thinking collectively. I thought you meant something specific with SS.

[El Sordo]

I think this sums up Hollywood's outlook quite well:

Supposedly one Hollywood exec was overheard shouting this into his cell phone regarding the success of The Passion:

"Okay, what the ****, let's make a Jesus flick. But

---

, loose the ******* controversy....."