4 Likes
I am totally convinced Babylon will be viewed as one of the best of the decade in hindsight. The hate for it seemed otherworldly to me. It’s a masterpiece imo and best of the year by far.
Maybe I don’t get the meme but having a perfectly respectful discussion of film in the film thread doesn’t seem to qualify as war to me.
If the MCU goes busto, they’re not going to move all of those resources into critically-acclaimed arthouse movies, they’ll just make mediocre videogame movies or crappy YA book movies instead.
This is a strawman. We were talking about mid budget films like The Fugitive, Silence of Lambs, Point Break, Superbad ect. Those are the films that are squeezed out. Not arthouse films made for under $5m.
I haven’t seen either yet despite being so hyped for both.
Just been too busy with work/poker/wedding planning.
1 Like
Nintendo and other video game IP is definitely the next thing that is going to be tried a ton.
Even in the last few years we’ve had Witcher, LoL, Halo, Mario, Resident Evil, TLOU, uncharted movies or shows.
??? correct it is not war, it was a soft joke as an olive branch hoping that would have any impact on this dynamic, but I have no idea how to safely talk to someone who responds to me like you do, so I will just wish you well on your future endeavors etc etc
1 Like
I figured I misunderstood the meme. I’m terrible at that!
I’m not sure why my writing style comes across as aggressive to you. I certainly don’t mean it that way but it’s my job to express myself and if it is coming off that way that’s obviously my fault. My apologies.
I love vigorous debate and have fun getting my ideas pushed back on so I do the same. What is being perceived as aggression is really just that.
I’ve read a bunch of your writing online and have nothing but respect for you.
TLDR: in my house, hard intellectual debate is how we show love. 
Thank you for reading my stuff.
I understand you do not have malicious intentions. I have watched you interact with people over quite a few years and have attempted to talk to you myself a few times. I find your behavior to be inappropriately rude and hostile for my taste. Your method of dialogue and debate makes me feel like I’m talking to a conservative, even if our base positions and goals appear to be aligned from time to time. I understand that is just your style. I don’t mean it as something anyone should flag or start a ruckus over. I am just backing away from you and hope it’s okay to have explained why I am doing so.
Back to movies. Cheers.
2 Likes
Fair enough.
Point of order: The Witcher was a book long before it was a videogame.
It’s no mystery that most accessible art is also more disposable and, therefore, less transcendent. Humans typically avoid struggle at all costs, particularly in diversions like books and movies and tv. The less leisure time they have, the more they crave simple and ephemeral pleasures: Friends and fast food.
That someone worked really hard on their crappy piece of art shouldn’t require critics to hold their tongues lest the crappy artist’s feelings get hurt. Maybe the criticism will cause them to improve, or stop altogether, find a new slant. Comparative advantage.
It is certainly also true that studios need to keep the lights on by selling garbage to morons. And they might wish the more sublime art they produce would sell better, but ain’t nobody got time for that.
The Nazis, for all of their faults (admittedly), actually produced some lasting art. Unlike MCU.
What’s your favorite?
Whether the MCU is a symptom or a cause is up for debate, but the fact that the current state of mid/high budget movies is badly affected by franchise movies is really not…sure, there have always been sequels but just look at the top 10 at the US box office :
2022
1 [Top Gun: Maverick]
2 [Black Panther: Wakanda Forever]
3 [Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness]
4 [Avatar: The Way of Water]
5 [Jurassic World: Dominion]
6 [Minions: The Rise of Gru]
7 [The Batman]
8 [Thor: Love and Thunder]
9 [Spider-Man: No Way Home]
10 [Sonic the Hedgehog 2]
This is 9 sequels and 1 reboot (although it felt much better than previous years just due to TG and Avatar who are sequels but only to 10+ year old movies)
compare to a random 90s year :
1994
1 [The Lion King]
2 [Forrest Gump]
3 [True Lies]
4 [The Santa Clause]
5 [The Flintstones]
6 [Clear and Present Danger]
7 [Speed]
8 [The Mask]
9 [Mrs. Doubtfire]
10 [Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles]
I’m not familiar with all of those but that’s 0/10 sequels as far as I can tell…tbh there’s only one movie I like in that list but at least none of them will feel like a trailer for future movies / require you to have seen 20 others and 3 TV shows…
1 Like
I don’t hate the Before trilogy but I thought this Letterboxd user review for “Before midnight” was pretty accurate 
friend: can you pass the salad
celine: oh you know what men always do when you talk about salad? they get horny. i’ll tell you the difference between men and women, women are lettuce and men are celery. listen i watched this documentary on a serial killer who asked for a salad for his last meal. jesse would’ve ordered a burger king. i have an american husband. god did you read his book? it’s so embarrassing listen if you read that you know everything. except we did NOT do it in the park. complete bullshit. listen i feel so old now… jesse do i look old? how old are we now? i feel like i always wanted to be older and now i feel too old. jesse if you could change one thing about me what would it be? don’t answer that
jesse: i don’t know if im alive
friend: the salad
Watching Real Genius, I looked up what the other actors other than Val Kilmer and the guy who played an asshole in every 80s movie had gotten up to since the movie:
Mitch: Karate Kid II, working actor, nothing too notable
Mitch’s on-the-spectrum love interest: Had an amazing run from of major movies from 1983 to 1988 (Outsiders, Valley Girl, Revenge of the Nerds), then just quit acting 1988 to be a Zen Buddhist, now runs an acting academy in Canada
Laszlo, the ex-boy genius who lived in the basement of the dorm: Not much, hammer-and-nails actor, OH MY GOD IT’S UNCLE RICO
2 Likes
It’s different from the 90s for sure, this started in the early 2000s.
We’ve basically just gone backwards for culture. And I like a lot of new bands, directors, writers…but what sells is nostalgia.
Rock music, studio comedies and for the most part, original movie IP is dead.