tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post8555403491304505510..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Jeff Katzenberg says today's movies suckBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-76699445107630160322014-10-12T19:06:08.755-07:002014-10-12T19:06:08.755-07:00I stopped going to the movies a few years ago. The...I stopped going to the movies a few years ago. They are simply unwatchable. Hollywood is run by idiots!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63892711592674837532012-01-05T21:43:56.617-08:002012-01-05T21:43:56.617-08:00Yep, today's movies suck. They lack the depth...Yep, today's movies suck. They lack the depth and intensity that the movies of yesterday did. I've rented many movies from Netflix/Redbox lately, and I can't remember one that I wanted to see again. How sad.Donaldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-38161866838359398552011-11-02T22:08:36.553-07:002011-11-02T22:08:36.553-07:00Digital has played a big part in the decline of mo...Digital has played a big part in the decline of movies. Movies are filmed with digital cameras now and broadcast with digital technology. In the old days, it was filmed with analog cameras and broadcast with analog technology as well. Film has been replaced by circuits. It's changed the entire feel of music, movies, TV, and photography. You don't have the same feel you had in the 70's and 80's for example. Going to a movie now is a different experience than it was back then because of what digital has done to it.steve2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-48666873029407236892011-07-22T11:57:15.776-07:002011-07-22T11:57:15.776-07:00Sadly, it's all about marketability. Here'...Sadly, it's all about marketability. Here's what's waiting for us :<br /><br />Steven Spielberg presents Scrabble.<br /><br />Tagline : You've read the words now see the movie.<br /> <br /><br /><br />Michael Bay's Trivial Pursuit 4. <br /><br />Tagline : Forget the questions. The answer is always more explosions.<br /><br /><br />We might even get a Ouija board film directed by McG... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204977/<br /><br />*sigh* It's just depressing.Kev86noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39580745515659591362011-07-22T09:41:55.526-07:002011-07-22T09:41:55.526-07:00The likes of Katzenschwartz and Harvey Weinberg ar...The likes of Katzenschwartz and Harvey Weinberg are part of the problem, not that they'll EVER acknowledge it; PS- NO ONE wants another Tree of Life, not even Che Guevera supporter Sean Penn...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-5236636268382611722011-07-22T07:55:39.704-07:002011-07-22T07:55:39.704-07:00I'm going to disagree with Jeff. Hollywood is...I'm going to disagree with Jeff. Hollywood isn't run by greed. It's run by vanity.Jonathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-41823882358952141472011-07-22T06:46:34.931-07:002011-07-22T06:46:34.931-07:00I think you've confused "affect" and...I think you've confused "affect" and "effect." Time to dig out the Strunk & White.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688301329863871296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-19640836775320098442011-07-22T00:44:08.093-07:002011-07-22T00:44:08.093-07:00To paraphrase: Whenever I hear a Hollywood produce...To paraphrase: Whenever I hear a Hollywood producer (or CEO, etc) complaining about the appalling level of this years models, I take out my checkbook. I think you're more correct about this being an attack on 3d and competition. <br /><br />It's silly to hear complaints from either the Eisner/Katzenberg era, or the Katzenberg era and pretend that bankers, financial tricks and Hollywood are not all one bond that they participate in. It's as old as tThe joke about registering profit on a picture is old (no picture does apparently). Let's face it, Katzenberg appeared on the Apprentice, not some arts discussion. And he brought the "Ernest" series as well.<br /><br />This is ancient stuff. A bluff. The discussion about movies becoming the need for things being blown up is as old as Second City TV's parody show about just that, blowing things up. Most of this discussion around the corporate take over of cinema was run through in the 1980s (product placement, sequelizing, bloated salaries > anyone remember Demi Moore's salaries? and the like...)<br />Each summer sucked. That's rarely when great movies come out. <br /><br />The point is television improved greatly on non-sitcom levels, the more serious series (HBO, etc.) and keeps reinventing itself with shows like "Pawn Stars", "Storage Wars" and the like, which are free and can be disposable and fun. And while the "Madagascar" films were fine enough, the more flexible, TV cartoon series spin-off is excellent. <br /><br />Going to a movie is simply too expensive an event, either to experiment with or to just see the same old formula. Television rules for the time being - that's the better news out of this.A_Homernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81668335143780891412011-07-21T22:23:23.465-07:002011-07-21T22:23:23.465-07:00This may be a particularly bad year, but movies ha...This may be a particularly bad year, but movies have sucked for the past decade. (Of course I'm generalizing, as there are, every year, some terrific films.) I thought maybe I was just turning into an old curmudgeon, so it is nice to know that JK agrees.Ceramic tilehttp://www.plasticcardonline.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-48490997617862834212011-07-21T21:18:04.801-07:002011-07-21T21:18:04.801-07:00When Pulp Fiction came out I loved it because it w...When Pulp Fiction came out I loved it because it was different and unexpected and had smart dialogue and fresh ideas, but I was stupid because I actually thought that people who make movies would see it and decide to improve the way they do things. I should've known that nothing would change, there would just be a few Tarentino copycats popping up (like Guy Ritchie).<br /><br />I have a problem with making money or even flat-out greed, but it bothers me when people make movies and with all the money they have to spend they don't bother trying to make an interesting story or a fun script.RJ Battleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16471044119182414902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69809363493854028722011-07-21T20:48:08.571-07:002011-07-21T20:48:08.571-07:00Jeffrey Katzenberg is just doing the perennial pos...Jeffrey Katzenberg is just doing the perennial poseur move of attacking the public's tastes by attacking the quality of entertainment. In the end, Katezenberg himself is one of the people who has brought us to the juncture of chasing every idea of what the public will want to see.<br /><br />Of course we need to chase that. Has anyone put money into dog poop flavored ice cream? No? Why? Because no one would want it. It's a priori logic so obvious it could stop a bus. The problem is cynical sticking to what people think works on the one hand, and self-kneecapped abortive attempts at originality on the other. Between those two things alone, more of the same, and original but not too original, Hollywood would suck without any other defects. Of course, Hollywood has defects a plenty.<br /><br />We could go over the endless accounting trickery, the celebrity mill mentality, the churn of talent because everyone thinks they can hit it big but there's not nearly enough work to go around for everyone, etc., etc., etc. But, Katzenberg is again part of that machinery.<br /><br />It's not greed. Blaming greed is fashionable for juvenile people who refuse to accept human acquisitiveness. He's just tossing that out there to get the Morton Downey Jr. fist pumping audience effect. What he's really doing is throwing stones at the audience by way of bouncing them off the industry. Hollywood has just been a little more incompetent at chasing the moving target than in years past. People need to get a grip and remember that an economic situation such as that at present is going to raise anxiety and cause bad thinking. Katzenberg should just chill out.Wojciehowiczhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06962614928769270439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8010982352266501012011-07-21T18:27:00.974-07:002011-07-21T18:27:00.974-07:00Those kind of bending-the-fourth-wall jokes are as...Those kind of bending-the-fourth-wall jokes are as old as movies themselves--even Garbo did it in NINOTCHKA ("Ve vant to be alone."). Personally, I find them hilarious when done well.cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13818074089583998962011-07-21T15:37:21.755-07:002011-07-21T15:37:21.755-07:00Chris said...
"I heard Jane Leeves say she l...<b>Chris said...</b><br /><br /><i>"I heard Jane Leeves say she liked Seinfeld in Hot in Cleveland and it sounded bizarre to me. What do you think?"</i><br /><br />Actually, it's when her character mentions something that relates to "the show about that radio shrink in Seattle" that you've probably got to start worryng...Tom Quigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12959628996361620134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67375082463617390572011-07-21T15:29:06.133-07:002011-07-21T15:29:06.133-07:00Do you find it weird when, in a show, an actor/act...Do you find it weird when, in a show, an actor/actress mentions another series he/she's been in? (Without their character having any connection to the series).<br /><br />I heard Jane Leeves say she liked Seinfeld in Hot in Cleveland and it sounded bizarre to me. What do you think?Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36405010825360487692011-07-21T14:30:32.266-07:002011-07-21T14:30:32.266-07:00I can only assume that Cars is born out of the nee...I can only assume that Cars is born out of the need for them to fulfil some contractual obligations. I hope it's the case, at least.<br /><br />If the box office bombs this year, then we can only hope it'll ultimately bring about a change. The more frustrated artists there are, the more likely we'll get gold when the tide turns.Johnny Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13302545167970532080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31766500433659072262011-07-21T13:48:43.819-07:002011-07-21T13:48:43.819-07:00It was Hollywood that coined the phrase "gree...It was Hollywood that coined the phrase "greed is good" when making a movie about Wall Street. I'm not sure studio execs in the past green lighted anything except for the purpose of "breeding cash", it is after all what they do. <br />The question is are there a slew of well written, interesting movies that didn't get green lit and if the trash that's out there is making money we're screwed. Could we go back through the years and find the majority of 12 month periods have a majority of the movies that weren't stinkers, I think not, but every year we have a fist full of Oscar winning movies!Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672224572109778657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-18568920303110053052011-07-21T13:25:23.190-07:002011-07-21T13:25:23.190-07:00Even accepting the traditional dictum that 80% of ...<i>Even accepting the traditional dictum that 80% of anything is bullshit, we seem to be closed to 95% -- and in real danger of breaking through the bullshit ceiling....</i><br /><br />Sturgeon's Law (I think his formulation was 90% of everything is crap).DJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88010988372349582532011-07-21T13:04:02.408-07:002011-07-21T13:04:02.408-07:00Sweeping generalization time:
The most original c...Sweeping generalization time:<br /><br />The most original comedy I've seen in 10 years is "Louie," a show that, as I understand it, is made with little to no network supervision. But it's also made on a budget that most people would consider physically impossible. <br /><br />Again, from what I gather, that's an explicit trade off Louis CK made: Let me make my show, my way, and I won't ask you for a lot of cash.<br /><br />The beauty of this is that the show doesn't need to be all things to all people. (And it certainly doesn't always succeed completely -- there's no writing staff helping punch up the scripts, so sometimes there's the odd gap in logic.) But on the other hand, when was the last time you saw a babysitter burst into tears because she was afraid her employer was a hopeless loser?<br /><br />This is the opposite of a "four-quadrant" property. Hell, it might be more like a 1/8 of one quadrant property. But it gives me 30 of the most fulfilling minutes of television viewing I experience every week, and that's saying something.<br /><br />But executives very rarely think in terms of what they stand to gain by spending (reportedly) $250,000 an episode for a (roughly) a million devoutly loyal viewers. <br /><br />They'd much rather spend $200 million on a "Cars 2", meddle extensively with the story line to make sure it's got lots of international appeal, and opportunities toy tie ins, and blah blah blah, and then the end result is an aimless mess.<br /><br />(Literally, "aimless", as in, what exactly are the characters aiming for and how are they planning to get it? I will watch anything -- film, television, sports, BBC-produced programmes about middle-aged guys bickering about cars and/or wine -- as long as you give me a reasonably clear idea what it is the characters want, and I have some faith that I'll enjoy watching the characters go after that goal.)<br /><br />Because at the end of the day, if a group of executives are asked to explain why they spent $X amount of money, it is much easier for them to say: Well, we made sure we went after X, Y, Z corporate goals (even though it cost $XXX), than to admit: We made a show with this guy because he has a unique voice, and we thought it was a good fit for our network, and it didn't cost any more than running repeats of "Family Guy." Business objectives always carry the day in a way that actual, personal taste does not. <br /><br />P.S. I know I've confused species here by comparing "Louie" with "Cars 2", which isn't exactly fair, but the mindset of network and film executives is more similar than not.Harriethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00379432615869135630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39158180125369743992011-07-21T12:15:37.753-07:002011-07-21T12:15:37.753-07:00I am so glad greed is now confined solely to Holly...I am so glad greed is now confined solely to Hollywood. And here I thought it was a universal emotion, like lust, bad taste, and self-aggrandizement. <br /><br />I just read James B. Stewart's <i>Disney War</i> two weeks ago. Although it's mainly about Michael Eisner turning into Caligula, it isn't "glory" that Katzenberg smears himself with head-to-toe in the book; it's an organic substance that is more fragrant. (<i>REALLY</i> fascinating book!)D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47569824581954516962011-07-21T11:00:37.172-07:002011-07-21T11:00:37.172-07:00Look, I even found something to like in THOR - so ...Look, I even found something to like in THOR - so I am hardly a movie snob. <br /><br />But I take to heart the comments of people like you, Mr. Katzenberg, Roger Ebert who are accustomed to watching a lot of movies. It can't be much fun to watch a dozen new releases each week.. <br /><br />Even accepting the traditional dictum that 80% of anything is bullshit, we seem to be closed to 95% -- and in real danger of breaking through the bullshit ceiling....Phillip Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08498595633633248863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64622309178584241112011-07-21T10:25:28.237-07:002011-07-21T10:25:28.237-07:00Fortunately in the city where I live we have an in...Fortunately in the city where I live we have an independent cinema, so we can sit down, grab a beer and watch great indie films all year round, regardless of the horseshit flying out of Hollywood and into the multiplexes.<br /><br />Why aren't there more? This one is certainly doing a roaring trade...Garthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647105752623213970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63546685559739696312011-07-21T10:20:13.231-07:002011-07-21T10:20:13.231-07:00Those were strong words coming from the studio hea...Those were strong words coming from the studio head who greenlit multiple "Ernest" movies and almost single-handedly created the career of Pauly Shore.JeffGhttp://blog.bigbeaks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15859592325306331732011-07-21T09:06:22.957-07:002011-07-21T09:06:22.957-07:00Gee, if only he were in a position to make a good ...Gee, if only he were in a position to make a good movie...Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05337222292778119702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62803264088768068532011-07-21T09:05:42.623-07:002011-07-21T09:05:42.623-07:00Ehhhh ... I think pronouncements like this are usu...Ehhhh ... I think pronouncements like this are usually ridiculous. It's like people think Hollywood JUST discovered greed in the last 5 years. Please.<br /><br />Bad movies were made in every decade. Nostaliga washes away the crap in people's minds. People just like to complain.<br /><br />Anyone who says, "They don't make them like they used to," needs to try to do something else.RJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-9422232214296010282011-07-21T08:43:38.409-07:002011-07-21T08:43:38.409-07:00I couldn't agree more with most of it. This ha...I couldn't agree more with most of it. This has been a very underwhelming year, for the most part.<br /><br />I do make an exception for Cars 2 though. It's a pretty harmless, but genuinely fun film. And you can't compare it with the likes of Toy Story and WALL-E anyway. It doesn't have the same goal as those ones.<br /><br />I could blame it on rampant capitalism, but that would be unfair as hell. And there have been some REALLY GOOD films out there in recent years.<br /><br />On the other hand, studios really need to rethink what is the REAL point of making films. Is it to tell a story, or simply to breed cash. You can't rely on only one of those. You have to do it for both reasons.<br /><br />Studios need a serious makeover in leadership, with an eye out for more daring projects. And audiences need to relearn how to behave in a movie theater (I have every intention of checking out the Alamo Drafthouse, as soon as possible).<br /><br />Also, you left out the part where they constantly feel the need to remake original creative films that did well overseas, in order to grab the audience that can't be bothered to read subtitles.Eduardo Jencarellihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14393598179614372710noreply@blogger.com