TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

Madame Web looks like it might be good. Or it could be another Marvels. Trailer at least looks good.

Tru Calling...

[HVC]

Madame Web looks like it might be good. Or it could be another Marvels. Trailer at least looks good.

Tru Calling...

I have no recollection of this show, but reading the synopsis there are definitely similarities

[Josquius]

Tru Calling was fantastic.
One of many great American Sci fi/fantasy shows of the era to hit early cancellation.

[Josquius]

On you wouldn't complain if they were white... I do recall a few years a movie named Gods of Egypt attracted a fair bit of controversy for its cast of north European descent people.

You complained about that?

To the level I'm complaining here? Perhaps.
I've definitely scoffed at blondie jesus a hell of a lot.

[Sheilbh]

Ralph Richardson was a fantastic Gladstone though. 

And Richard Harris was a superb Cromwell

I'm with Shielbh here, my only real complaint is the age.  70 yo instead or 30.  Aren't there capable 30-40 yo Hollywood actors to play the role, no matter the skin color?

I think it will change the entire tenor of the film and I'm not sure for the better.

But I also think this is a general Hollywood thing. It feels like the older big (male) stars are lasting longer and none of the younger generation have quite taken off in the same way - that might be a side effect of the MCU that their action star-ness is tied up with a specific character/franchise rather than themselves? It feels like they need a breakout hit of their own, but also that producers will quite often turn to a Washington or a Tom Cruise for those roles?

[grumbler]

IIRC Fuchida claimed that, when he was at the Tokyo trials (as a witness) and told an American officer who he was and that he had planned the airstrike on Pearl, the response was "Really? We thought it had to be Germans!". I am paraphrasing from memory, I don't have his book at hand.

Fuchida is an extremely unreliable source.  His work has been entirely dismissed in Japan.

[Tamas]

Ralph Richardson was a fantastic Gladstone though. 

And Richard Harris was a superb Cromwell

I'm with Shielbh here, my only real complaint is the age.  70 yo instead or 30.  Aren't there capable 30-40 yo Hollywood actors to play the role, no matter the skin color?

I think it will change the entire tenor of the film and I'm not sure for the better.

But I also think this is a general Hollywood thing. It feels like the older big (male) stars are lasting longer and none of the younger generation have quite taken off in the same way - that might be a side effect of the MCU that their action star-ness is tied up with a specific character/franchise rather than themselves? It feels like they need a breakout hit of their own, but also that producers will quite often turn to a Washington or a Tom Cruise for those roles?

Maybe because these grandpas are the last Hollywood movie stars and there will never be new ones.

[celedhring]

Viper's encyclopaedic knowledge of 2000s semi-obscure fantasy shows never ceases to amaze me 

But I also think this is a general Hollywood thing. It feels like the older big (male) stars are lasting longer and none of the younger generation have quite taken off in the same way - that might be a side effect of the MCU that their action star-ness is tied up with a specific character/franchise rather than themselves? It feels like they need a breakout hit of their own, but also that producers will quite often turn to a Washington or a Tom Cruise for those roles?

Yeah, there's a lot in that. Denzel is one of the handful of actors that can make a movie happen (within reason) just by being cast in it, and will make people interested in the movie just because he's in it. Di Caprio is the youngest actor I can think of with that kind of starpower (he's a bigger star than Denzel).

One American producer once told me that older stars just sell much better abroad. People are just much more familiar with them, they are not as tuned in with the culture cycle as Americans or - to a lesser extent - Europeans. Local distributors consider buying a movie with a recognizable star like them a safe bet.

[Sheilbh]

I wonder if it's also just waning Hollywood dominance?

Chinese movies are big earners now and (almost) at the same level with things like CGI/effects etc. Turkish historical dramas have millions of viewers. It's like K-Pop etc in music. The US cycle is less of a global cycle now.

I'm not even that sure on di Caprio. I'm not sure if his name would carry a big action movie - but that's possibly because in my head he's too Tarantino/Scorcese rather than big standard action films.

I also wonder if there's an element of what star power means now? A lot of stars seem to have earned enough money to then go off and do slightly indie-ish films with slightly auteur-ish directors (as di Caprio has) rather than churning out action film after action film for 20 years. The career path for stars seems different now?

[The Brain]

IIRC Fuchida claimed that, when he was at the Tokyo trials (as a witness) and told an American officer who he was and that he had planned the airstrike on Pearl, the response was "Really? We thought it had to be Germans!". I am paraphrasing from memory, I don't have his book at hand.

Fuchida is an extremely unreliable source.  His work has been entirely dismissed in Japan.

Well they would dismiss Pearl Harbor, wouldn't they?

[Josquius]

Ralph Richardson was a fantastic Gladstone though. 

And Richard Harris was a superb Cromwell

I'm with Shielbh here, my only real complaint is the age.  70 yo instead or 30.  Aren't there capable 30-40 yo Hollywood actors to play the role, no matter the skin color?

I think it will change the entire tenor of the film and I'm not sure for the better.

But I also think this is a general Hollywood thing. It feels like the older big (male) stars are lasting longer and none of the younger generation have quite taken off in the same way - that might be a side effect of the MCU that their action star-ness is tied up with a specific character/franchise rather than themselves? It feels like they need a breakout hit of their own, but also that producers will quite often turn to a Washington or a Tom Cruise for those roles?

Maybe because these grandpas are the last Hollywood movie stars and there will never be new ones.

I'm not sure here... I can think of quite a few stars under 30.
The nature of what is a star is changing of course- the 80s action stars were very much of their time.
But I see no reason why say Timothee Chalmolet might not keep rising.

[Barrister]

I also wonder if there's an element of what star power means now? A lot of stars seem to have earned enough money to then go off and do slightly indie-ish films with slightly auteur-ish directors (as di Caprio has) rather than churning out action film after action film for 20 years. The career path for stars seems different now?

I think it goes to the decline of the mid-budget movie.

Hollywood seems to make either indie movies, or huge-budget tentpoles.  In order to justify a big-budget tentpole in part you want a guaranteed star in the role - and yes those are often big budget action movies.  But with no mid-budget movies to help make new stars You're stuck going back to the same stars of before.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah and also I talk about slightly indie-ish/auteur-ish films and they are by crew and how they're positioned in the market, but Apple spent $200 million on Killers of the Flower Moon. I've only seen gossip oon this but I think The Killer is $150 million plus (according to IMDB).

The way those are marketed, Fincher, Scorcese etc those should be films that fall into the mid-budget category.

So in part it's possibly not that the stars are having a slightly different career path but that (for now) because of streamers all movies are big budget.

Edit: And I get there are issues with streaming and it's fucked the industry etc etc.

But as long as it's allowing Scorcese to go around the streamers getting hundreds of millions for passion project epics on violence through America's history and Fincher to make taut unsettling thrillers with Trent Reznor.....then I'm kind of okay with it

[celedhring]

Killers of the Flower Moon is a 3h long depressing historical drama by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo Di Caprio that's made 140m worldwide and counting. Silence is a long depressing historical drama by Martin Scorsese not starring Leonardo DiCaprio that made 20m worldwide.

So that's what makes DiCaprio a movie star. People do come out to watch him. He's probably the most successful drama actor around.

[celedhring]

I wonder if it's also just waning Hollywood dominance?

Chinese movies are big earners now and (almost) at the same level with things like CGI/effects etc. Turkish historical dramas have millions of viewers. It's like K-Pop etc in music. The US cycle is less of a global cycle now.

Chinese movies don't play well outside China though. They make gazillions, but they are essentially domestic plays.

It is true though that one of the good things that streaming and digital have brought is that it's much easier for local industries to reach audiences outside their domestic markets.