deacdiggler
"Well known member"
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2011
- Messages
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Meh. It was okay at best. Mildly entertaining but not as funny as 2.
Meh. It was okay at best. Mildly entertaining but not as funny as 2.
wait not as good as 2? that was awful
So it was 1>2>3? That makes sense. It's all a money grab at this point anyway.
I've heard that it's more of a straight action/chase movie than a comedy. Either way, Todd Phillips is one of the worst directors working today.
And RJ, your ineptness in understanding film continues to amaze me. I'd recommend this book to you, and if you don't read it, keep this quote in mind: “A prime characteristic of satire: its double-edged ambiguity. Nothing is inherently funny, satiric, tragic, or absurd. Context and perspective are all.”
If you want to make it personal we can.
Rookie, the "context" of the movies you have been suckered into believing are "satires" is that the director, producers and stars invent stories after the films flop to cover their asses and keep them in the game.
They realize that if their big budget flops are seen as that their futures are less bright. They understand there are pseudo-intellectuals like you and and other internet hipsters who can be led like lemmings to "cool insights".
What you don't get is this is a huge business that is most often based on "what have you done lately". There is an entire industry that does nothing other than trick people like you.
DC, I can give you an indication of how things work even before one scene has been shot.
I don't remember the exact year. It was something in the 86-88 span. Peter Bogdonovich and Larry McMurtry came up with a sequel to their great movie The Last Picture Show. It was the less memorable Texasville.
A friend was working on the film and asked if I might be able to help find financing. Another friend arranged for a meeting with one of the world's largest PR/media firms. It was owned by a Japanese group and had close to double digit billions of revenues at that time.
My two friends,Bogdonovich and I went to their LA office to make a pitch. As we were led into the conference room, there was a Korean guy sitting in the corner. The other door opened four Japanese guys in their late 20s/early 30s entered. Before they went to their seats each gave us their business card. Then their boss came in. He was introduced to us by the most senior other guy. The person who did the introduction handed us the big guy's card. They sat down.
We made our presentation. They thanked us and we left.
I was puzzled. I asked my Japanese friend what the dynamic was. She told me if they invested and it was a success the others would uniformly give credit to the boss. If it broke even or lost a little, it would be on the young Japanese guys. If it failed, the Korean guy would get blamed.
That may be a little drastic and racist on their part, but it's not that unusual.
At studios, people's jobs are on the line. If you don't think, they would tell line people what to say to try to cover for a flop, you'd be mistaken.
Another example was about the same time, Jack Nicholson made an awful movie. My friend's father's company was tasked to put together a trailer to make the movie look funny or good enough to get anyone to the theaters. After the first two days (and I mean two days. They worked 18-20 hours/day), they asked the director and producer for the out takes. Finally, they a a scene that didn't make the final cut to use to trick people.
The Grisham movie The Rainmaker also did this as do many other movies.
It's basic marketing. Film companies and distribution companies will do whatever they need to do to sell the movie.
I've been at screenings when we've been asked questions, "will this work as a comedy?" That's a dead giveaway that the film sucks and they are looking for a way out.
" I'm talking about reading a film, and most often that involves going beyond the surface of "what is it about." Just because you seem to have some deep seated hatred for film theory doesn't mean that it isn't a valid exercise."
Again with the baseless insults. Take a deep breath buddy. I have no hatred for them. I have a better idea how it works than you do.
To show you how late some of this happens, when the movie Ed TV came out they were so scared that they were doing screenings and even re-writes a week before they shipped the prints.
If you are crisis mode and need someone to thing something to help you, you'll do what you have to do.
It's creative and sometimes funny to see.
RJ, I have no idea what argument you are even trying to make any more.