Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2014

Perhaps the trouble why films today, are so generally lifeless is..
(1) An film actor is expected to perform , not to or against another human performer but more often to a green or blue screen. Imagine an actor going home to a spouse /partner and being asked, "How did you go with the other actors today??!!"
(2) The excellence of their acting 'result' can largely depend on what later then - the CGI or editing people decide to do with the actor's 'contributions' -if they could be called that. The actor , when actually producing 'their contribution' on any given day -has no reference , or inking of consequence -down the line - what it will be, to their career. Today in such a work pattern framework.... an actor's artistic reputation can 'be screwed' through no fault or ill behaviour on their own behalf.
Under such operating conditions the long enduring and admired 'silver screenstars of the past- most would also be like today's '5 minutes of fame creatures'. Also spat out , when their name unfortunately happens to appear, being attached perhaps to just a couple of the myriad comic book or computer game inspired financial flops, Hollywood is forever so good at producing - for audiences with an intellect level of say a rated 50 IQ. at best.

 

One questions whether you should personally lower yourself to attempt to do, such a menial mental exercise .

 

Whenever I see or hear of that Star Wars title, I want to giggle : Revenge of the (what??!!) 'Sith'. Did we hear right ? Reminds one, of that rather- never talked about - 'in polite company' embarrassing medical condition, people can catch.

 

I'm impressed that they managed to go the whole article without pulling out a certain old William Goldman quote.

 

Good piece on the Winners and Losers of the Summer 2014 box-office at Indiewire...

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...vies-2014-20140827?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

Lots of interesting conclusions and surprises. I wasn't aware that the Melissa McCarthy movie did ultimately make money.

 

This means more McCarthy movies in the future. Very bad news.

I read the Indiewire article and didn't realize that "How To Train Your Dragon 2" grossed almost $600M. Wow. I read somewhere, probably last month, that the film bombed and the studio was firing many people.

 

Yes, Dragon 2 kind of underperformed that first weekend, to the point where Dreamworks stock plummeted like 10% in one day and they announced layoffs shortly afterwards. It's a sad world when a movie can make $600M but still be considered a "disappointment."

 

Well, there is hope that the disastrous numbers for "Sin City: A Dame To Kill For" means no more Frank Miller movies.

 

Godzilla 2014...with special Guest star! GODZILLA.

 

Wow, John Favreau's Chef pulled in $30m? That's quite a feat.

 

I dunno. There are still very artistic films in which technology is in the service of art, and the final result at least has an organic "feel." One movie I've often cited that I think achieved that -- and made money and won a ton of awards and got great reviews -- was The Artist. So not everything has to have that whole artificial/CGI/Transformers vibe. There are some truly honest, decent films that tell real stories and don't just go by the numbers.

And I also think there's still a place for the blow-'em-up-real-good crowd. I have zero problems with Captain America, Avengers, and Guardians. The stories make sense, they have a real plot, the characters are interesting, and they're entertaining and not boring. There's a very fine line to walk with mass-entertainment like this; Man of Steel would be an example of a film that I think was commercially successful, but I didn't care for very much. It's OK, but not very good; not my kinda film.

I'm not a fan of the Sin City thing where everything is artificial, everything is contrived, everything is overly-planned, everything is CGI, and the whole movie feels like a storyboard. I think there's a way to make a comic book movie that feels a lot "lighter," for lack of a better word. Sin City was just too heavy-handed, like a sledgehammer. Also not my kind of film... but I didn't like the first one very much, either. Expendables 3 I walked out of. Just too stupid.

 

Mission Accomplished.

 

like this guy

 

Trust Me ? I Know What I Am Doing.

 

As much as I love Spielberg movies (in general), way too often I feel so manipulated in the audience, I feel like all I'm looking at are filmed storyboards. Jurassic Park is like that. I like the film very much, I like the performances, I love the direction, the editing is impeccable, the VFX are uncanny, the lighting is beautiful... but it's very, very contrived. On the other hand, it's so damned entertaining, I just throw up my hands and go, "aaaaaa, it's fine."

I'm hopeful that directors like J.J. Abrams are now saying, "you know, there's way too much CG in movies these days," and they claim they're going to make new films with more reality and less effects. We'll see.

 

I have been watching the Movies network in LA 13.3 46-2 This tv5.3
I wish movies were made like there were about 15 yrs ago .
Too me that when movies were still good till the CGI beast reared
it's ugly head. I have many back issues of cinefex from early 80's
It so wonderful I lived during those times when movie still seemed
like they had magic to them great actors great stories and pretty
much no computer effects in those days I don't hate Cgi, but, like Stan
Winston said, Cgi is tool and should work to together .
Some movies seem like one big cartoon now.
Where the great actors now? either retired, deceased or Hollywood
turned there back on them .
JJ is in Love , Love........ CGI I don't think anything will change his mind.
Hollywood will have to go bankrupt before things will turn around. Till
then some people will pay silly money contrived crap along with over priced
stale popcorn.

 

Doh, this is not good:

Film Industry Has Worst Summer Since 1997

The times be tough...

 

It would take a rare film to get me to put up with going to the cinema these days, certainly nothing this year.

 

if the lineup of movies scheduled for 2015*2016*2017 doesn't turn things around then nothing will, let's face it 2014 has been a dud and rightfully so

 

I'm hardly surprised 2014's proved to be the worst for the industry in a while - there hasn't been a single film that's made me or the other half want to set foot in a cinema since X-Men: Days Of Future Past. We consider ourselves very much average, yet none of the great tentpole films have caught our interest, and to be honest I'm looking forward to Interstellar more than anything coming out until November... the rumour it's going to include the first proper trailer for Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is merely a cherry on the already delicious-looking cake's icing, as far as I'm concerned (for the record, I'm interested in this one beyond its visuals, so maybe that wasn't the most ideal metaphor)! Even if this doesn't end up happening, it's going to speak volumes that a single* movie coming out much later in the year could potentially surpass everything else over the previous six months or so for us, at least, especially when that's supposed to be when the biggest money is traditionally made in the business.

*Would it be wrong to admit that neither of us can wait for Dolphin Tale 2 as well?

 

Oh yes I can't wait for three more sequels Dolphin Tale goes to Hawaii

 

I share that perception. Like looking at a building and seeing the architectural blueprint. It would be interesting to see what Spielberg might do with a really tight budget that forced him to be resourceful. Or I always thought he should do a modern detective movie on location in a city that hasn't been shown much, like Minneapolis or San Antonio or Cincinnati.

 

I was wondering when those apparently so -steroid -excited old hams , decided to star in 'The Excretables' series: they similtaneously also, were going to decide to call it a day on their acting careers.