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Maxwell Lord posted:Also Star Wars really was unlike anything anyone had seen ever. It had antecedents in Kurosawa and Flash Gordon and so on but nobody had put the pieces together before. The Matrix probably comes close.
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Jun 9, 2016 19:05
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Alhazred posted:The Matrix probably comes close. As another poster said, it's Harry Potter. Aside from earning boatloads of money, it has an extremely wide age-range of fans, relies on extremely expansive world-building, and has fostered a really active fanfiction and collector community that far overreaches the scope of the stories alone. It's not surprising that spinoff materials set in the same world are a thing, and likely will be for decades. Also, the primary plot essentially happens in the middle of the story, and it's a giant pastiche of other successful genres (e.g. it's partly a Hardy Boys detective mystery, partly a Hero's Journey fantasy narrative, partly a YA teen social drama...)
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Jun 9, 2016 19:23
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Xealot posted:As another poster said, it's Harry Potter. Arguably that's more true about the books than the movies.
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Jun 9, 2016 19:35
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The tag team of Lucas and Spielberg changed film in a much more drastic and revolutionary way than anything else that's come along since, Harry Potter included. Before Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T, stuff like Harry Potter would have been considered B movie material regardless of how many books were sold. Lucas and especially Spielberg brought the craft and artistry of New Hollywood, but their genius was in combining that with old school B-movie sensibilities. It changed everything, stuff like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and every one of these comic book franchises wouldn't exist if that ground had been broken.
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Jun 9, 2016 19:35
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Basebf555 posted:The tag team of Lucas and Spielberg changed film in a much more drastic and revolutionary way than anything else that's come along since, Harry Potter included. Before Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T, stuff like Harry Potter would have been considered B movie material regardless of how many books were sold. If anyone bought the Mad Max Blu-Ray anthology, I highly recommend watching the "Madness of Max" bonus DVD. Having been born after the first one (and thankfully not been exposed to the English overdub), I never realized what the original Mad Max brought to film, as it was all old hat by the time I comprehended a movie.
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Jun 9, 2016 19:41
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I wouldn't attribute New Hollywood's capacity to elevate low genres to Spielberg and Lucas so exclusively. Gangland crime stories, or horror stories, or spy thrillers were all pulpy shlock genres in previous years, too, but Friedkin and Coppola managed to elevate all of them in the ways you're describing. I assumed the whole high-low tendency was generally true of lots of 70's-era directors, from Spielberg to Scorsese to Kubrick to Ridley Scott. But definitely, Harry Potter isn't novel in terms of film craftsmanship. I just meant, abstractly, the entire popular phenomenon (of books, movies, etc.) has grabbed people today in much the way Star Wars did in the 80's. The Matrix was deeply influential on genre filmmaking, but nobody's clamoring for a "Matrix Origins: Merovingian" spinoff or whatever to scour every corner of that world. I guess I'm not stating my terms clearly enough.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:11
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Xealot posted:The Matrix was deeply influential on genre filmmaking, but nobody's clamoring for a "Matrix Origins: Merovingian" spinoff or whatever to scour every corner of that world. I guess I'm not stating my terms clearly enough. That's because Matrix 2 and 3 were terribly botched. Had either managed to live up to the first Matrix, I have no doubt that people would clamor for it.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:15
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Xealot posted:I wouldn't attribute New Hollywood's capacity to elevate low genres to Spielberg and Lucas so exclusively. Gangland crime stories, or horror stories, or spy thrillers were all pulpy shlock genres in previous years, too, but Friedkin and Coppola managed to elevate all of them in the ways you're describing. I assumed the whole high-low tendency was generally true of lots of 70's-era directors, from Spielberg to Scorsese to Kubrick to Ridley Scott. You're not wrong of course, but I still think Spielberg and Lucas were the keystones of the whole thing. I think the film industry would be more or less the same today if The Exorcist never existed, and I don't really agree that something like the Godfather is an example of what we're talking about. But take Star Wars and Spielberg's ridiculous string of hits out of the mix, and who knows what kind of movies we'd be watching today.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:24
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Wasn't there some talk of a fourth one? Panned or not, M2&3 still made a lot of money.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:24
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Basebf555 posted:The tag team of Lucas and Spielberg changed film in a much more drastic and revolutionary way than anything else that's come along since, Harry Potter included. Before Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T, stuff like Harry Potter would have been considered B movie material regardless of how many books were sold. Less about genius and more about exploiting/enhancing the puritanism of emerging PG13 ticket-sale demographics. Basebf555 posted:
More interesting ones. Fewer Michael Bay films, more George Miller films. edit; I shouldn't say that, Transformers is at least interesting as time-capsule satire. BeanpolePeckerwood fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Jun 9, 2016 |
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Jun 9, 2016 20:26
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david_a posted:Wasn't there some talk of a fourth one? Panned or not, M2&3 still made a lot of money. They couldn't make a fourth one because all of the talented fight choreographers and stunt people had retired to their own private island thanks to Keanu Reeve's gifting them his salary.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:26
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Xealot posted:
In terms of casting and scheduling it was. I mean they got a group of kids and used them relentlessly for EIGHT MOVIES. "OMG, gotta get this poo poo done before any of them get old!" My Lovely Horse posted:So I just got to Beyond Thunderdome. Give it a couple weeks, then watch it again. That movie benefits from repeated viewing more than any of the others.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:40
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Yeah not gonna lie I loving love thunderdome.
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Jun 9, 2016 20:48
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VideoTapir posted:In terms of casting and scheduling it was. I mean they got a group of kids and used them relentlessly for EIGHT MOVIES. "OMG, gotta get this poo poo done before any of them get old!" Also straight-up luck. They cast like a dozen British child actors, and pretty much all of them aged into attractive adults. Nobody's surprised by Emma Watson, but Neville Longbottom? Come on, how did that Aardman Animations creature age up into a ripped, hot dude? I rewatched Fury Road recently with someone who had not seen it, and it became funny the number of times the best explanation as to why something was happening was, "gently caress you. It just is." What are the boils from? What happened to Furiosa's arm? Why are they Norse pagans in Australia? Why do they need blood transfusions all the time? "Because gently caress you. They do. This guy's guitar shoots flames and it's awesome." Fury Road is the total inverse of Jupiter Ascending, a film that goes balls-deep on overwrought imagery and insane plot concepts, but does it with no sense whatsoever of purpose, style, or economy. Nothing but paragraphs of unwanted exposition, and not a single goddamn flame-throwing guitar. Xealot fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jun 9, 2016 |
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Jun 9, 2016 21:25
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Xealot posted:Also straight-up luck. They cast like a dozen British child actors, and pretty much all of them aged into attractive adults. Nobody's surprised by Emma Watson, but Neville Longbottom? Come on, how did that Aardman Animations creature age up into a ripped, hot dude? If I remember correctly, Matthew Lewis actually looked pretty normal for a 10-year-old kid and they had to give him fake teeth to look gawky. They were definitely lucky in getting kids who were not only attractive adults, but actually turned into decent actors. Daniel Radcliffe is all over the drat place now, even if you always see him as Harry Potter.
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Jun 9, 2016 22:34
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I always wonder if that's a chicken-and-egg thing, though. Like, is acting something that can be taught? Would Radcliffe be a successful actor if he hadn't been immersed in the industry since boyhood? Likewise the kid who played Neville - having a personal trainer and stylist through your teenage years probably helps a lot in turning you into a hot adult.
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Jun 10, 2016 01:07
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Yeah, I also wouldn't discount being surrounded by how many established actors as mentors, being worked with throughout their maturation as an actor. Likely avoids the old story of child actors who hit bottom are their first couple of hits, as they got to grow up with the production.
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Jun 10, 2016 03:25
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Fewer Michael Bay films, more George Miller films. Weird choice of example, there's 0 chance you get something like Fury Road without the blockbuster system, or Star Wars mainstreaming sci fi schlock.
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Jun 10, 2016 05:58
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DeimosRising posted:Weird choice of example, there's 0 chance you get something like Fury Road without the blockbuster system, or Star Wars mainstreaming sci fi schlock. Well, Road Warrior is more like Fury Road than Star Wars, so...
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Jun 10, 2016 06:38
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Xealot posted:I rewatched Fury Road recently with someone who had not seen it, and it became funny the number of times the best explanation as to why something was happening was, "gently caress you. It just is." What are the boils from? What happened to Furiosa's arm? Why are they Norse pagans in Australia? Why do they need blood transfusions all the time? "Because gently caress you. They do. The thing is most of those questions can be answered from careful watching. Furiosa lost her arm in some distant combat (which isn't talked about because it's Max's movie, despite what some may say). Joe's religion is a mishmash of random heavy metal bullshit because it sounds cool and kids who've grown up post-apocalyptic won't know any better anyway. I once heard someone describe Joe's religion as a faith built out of Motorhead liner notes. And since I keep hearing people ask about the half-life illness I'm just gonna repost my earlier thoughts on the subject: Prokhor Zakharov posted:I've seen the lumps/tumors thing come up a couple of times in the thread. I'm personally pretty sure that the Warboy's illness/'half life' definition is just plain old advanced leukemia. Leukemia is caused by continued exposure to radiation, can sometimes take years to fully develop, and causes swollen/tumerous lymph nodes. I'll attach some pictures to the bottom to show what I mean, but know that these lymph node abnormalities can even cause swelling inside the throat, leading to difficulty breathing (Nux talking about his mates 'chewing on his windpipe'). Untreated leukemia eventually leads to myeloma, a type of blood cancer that attacks bone marrow. This leads to anemia and bone tumors, and can be primitively treated by blood transfusions, though apparently that'll only prolong your life by about 4-5 years with regular good blood injections. Keep in mind that Miller was a for real medical doctor and all this stuff would be pretty familiar to him. Even People Eaters foot has an explanation, that type of gigantism can be caused by walking barefoot on radioactive soil.
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Jun 10, 2016 06:49
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Lymphoma is another plausible-sounding culprit.
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Jun 10, 2016 06:55
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YggiDee posted:Lymphoma is another plausible-sounding culprit. Probably a mixture of both throughout the population, the lymphatic system really really doesn't play nice with radiation.
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Jun 10, 2016 08:07
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Prokhor Zakharov posted:The thing is most of those questions can be answered from careful watching. Furiosa lost her arm in some distant combat (which isn't talked about because it's Max's movie, despite what some may say). Joe's religion is a mishmash of random heavy metal bullshit because it sounds cool and kids who've grown up post-apocalyptic won't know any better anyway. I once heard someone describe Joe's religion as a faith built out of Motorhead liner notes. And since I keep hearing people ask about the half-life illness I'm just gonna repost my earlier thoughts on the subject: No, of course, "Furiosa's seen some poo poo" and "they have some sort of blood cancer or something" are sound extrapolations. All I mean is, they're not going to have some guy say, "the fumes give them The Sickness....'leukemia' we old ones call it." The film has no interest in devoting time to that kind of thing, and explaining it wouldn't particularly enrich the experience.
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Jun 10, 2016 22:52
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Prokhor Zakharov posted:
I'm leaning towards a massive case of gout; I like to think his namesake as very literal and people aren't really the healtiest food. I mean, people eater is too awesome a name to be wasted in weak metaphor.
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Jun 10, 2016 23:22
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Tafferling posted:I'm leaning towards a massive case of gout; I like to think his namesake as very literal and people aren't really the healtiest food. 
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Jun 10, 2016 23:41
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If you're just eating people then you get all the normal Atkins diseases.
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Jun 11, 2016 00:16
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Basebf555 posted:They couldn't make a fourth one because all of the talented fight choreographers and stunt people had retired to their own private island thanks to Keanu Reeve's gifting them his salary. Wait what? This sounds awesome.
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Jun 11, 2016 00:51
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Not quite that awesome, but something like that: http://uproxx.com/movies/did-keanu-reeves-really-give-away-80-million-dollars/
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Jun 11, 2016 01:34
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Keanu is good and deserved neither all the horrific things that have happened to him nor the typecasting memes the public have grafted onto.
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Jun 11, 2016 08:15
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david_a posted:I, uh, was curious about this and I think it's only the brain that's really bad for you due to prions or something. At least that's what I read until I had to stop because the site included descriptions of what people taste like from notable convicted cannibals It's not that deep, gout can be caused by having too much meat in one's diet.
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Jun 11, 2016 13:54
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One of my former coworkers got gout because he ate pretty much nothing but protein powder.
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Jun 11, 2016 19:07
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david_a posted:At least that's what I read until I had to stop because the site included descriptions of what people taste like from notable convicted cannibals Then you shouldn't google "longpork".
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Jun 11, 2016 21:11
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You should watch Ravenous though.
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Jun 11, 2016 21:15
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Alhazred posted:Then you shouldn't google "longpork". We smell and cook like pork, but apparently taste more like beef.
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Jun 11, 2016 21:22
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Tezcatlipoca posted:You should watch Ravenous though. over a beef stew dinner yes
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Jun 11, 2016 22:49
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A Wizard of Goatse posted:over a beef stew dinner yes And a nice, juicy rare steak to start off.
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Jun 11, 2016 23:33
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TerminalSaint posted:We smell and cook like pork, but apparently taste more like beef. Analogies can only get you far. Ultimately, people taste most like people.
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Jun 12, 2016 00:15
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I suppose that's a fair comparison.
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Jun 12, 2016 01:25
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Alhazred posted:Arguably that's more true about the books than the movies. I would agree. The movie series didn't really hit it's creative and critical stride until Alfonso Cuarón did Prisoner Of Azkaban. I doubt the films would have continued to be such hits, or at least would have largely floated on the reputation of the books, if Chris Columbus was still helming them past Chamber Of Secrets. Maluco Marinero posted:Yeah, I also wouldn't discount being surrounded by how many established actors as mentors, being worked with throughout their maturation as an actor. Likely avoids the old story of child actors who hit bottom are their first couple of hits, as they got to grow up with the production. This is pretty important. I know that Radcliffe had an off-screen friendship with Richard Griffiths, Mr. Dursley in the films, and even credits him with accepting the role of Alan Strang in "Equus", which Griffiths also played the psychiatrist Dysart, as well as the challenge of the nudity for the role.
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Jun 12, 2016 03:11
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Tezcatlipoca posted:You should watch Ravenous though. Once upon a time I was watching Armed Forces Network, and there was a PSA for the Fleet and Family Support Center. It had the main theme from Ravenous playing. I was like "what tha gently caress?" Did someone just think it sounded pretty, or did some military video editor guy just want to convert everyone to that movie all stealthily?
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Jun 12, 2016 03:49
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