movies

[JL21]

If anybody has any hard-to-find stuff they want to see, now is the time to ask, because Karagarga (a private torrent tracker with an awesome library of rarities) has a sitewide freeleech for the next 4 days. Let me know.

[Jocephus]

[Famous Mortimer]

No Retreat, No Surrender

From the poster and the presence of Van Damme, I'd have never guessed in a million years that it was a sort-of Karate Kid movie. Feels like two separate films weirdly spliced together too.

[33anda3rd]

I don't understand why the big studios don't aim for the $30 million range and just put a little more effort into finding the right script/director. Skip the big name actors. Its more work, but hard to believe it's any less certain given all the big budget flops out there. I guess you gamble big and hope for a big win.

I wonder the same thing. Knocked Up costs $30MM and makes $220MM in box office (still going in DVD, VOD). If it flops it's just $30MM. If it hits, you multiply your investment by 10. You can make 8 Knocked Ups for the cost of 1 Hobbit. Silver Linings Playbook cost $21MM and made $236MM worldwide BO. You can make 11 SLPs for one Hobbit. (Speaking of that movie and the state of what's made, why in the heck has no one except Russell in this one given Robert Deniro a decent role since Jackie Brown? He's Robert Effing Deniro, and he's doing Rocky and Bullwinkle movies and Stiller romps and playing off that intolerable Billy Crystal. Does no one want to produce a movie for grownups with Deniro?)

Back in the 70's it was the opposite in many ways - more personal and challenging fare at the cinema, lots of lousy TV.

You're right, and you probably don't have to go back to the 70s. We had that big late-80s through mid-90s indie phase with Tarantino, Linklater, Anders, etc. Most of the risks are taken on TV now.

From an artistic standpoint, making "The Hobbit" a trilogy was disastrous.

I liked it better when Jackson the man was bloated and his films were kind of lean.

If anybody has any hard-to-find stuff they want to see, now is the time to ask, because Karagarga (a private torrent tracker with an awesome library of rarities) has a sitewide freeleech for the next 4 days. Let me know.

Nightcrawler?

[jim]

I'm not sure why but movie prices have barely gone up in 20 years. Theaters barely make any money off the movie itself, so any need to increase revenue is reflected in the concessions. That's where they make their money.

Edit - forgot this - theaters make more the longer a movie plays. The first weekend they make nothing in most cases off tickets. The way the business works now with big opening weekends and steep drop offs, that helps force the concessions up. In the old days of course, movies might stick around for weeks if they were performing decently. Theaters love Titanics and Avatars when they come along.

We go almost exclusively to a place near here where tickets are $5 a piece. I don't mind springing for over-priced popcorn. Of course the theater is like a god damned fun house, the hall ways are really narrow and dark and lean this way for the first few feet and then that way the next few feet and then back the other way. Fun fun fun getting behind an older person with a walker, which is about 80% of the audience. Also there is sticky stuff on the floor that has been there since who knows when and no drink holders. We won't go to theater 4 because it smells like vomit.

So in other words, it has character.

[JL21]

CNN is showing Life Itself- the Ebert documentary- tonight.

[jim]

I'm not sure why but movie prices have barely gone up in 20 years. Theaters barely make any money off the movie itself, so any need to increase revenue is reflected in the concessions. That's where they make their money.

Edit - forgot this - theaters make more the longer a movie plays. The first weekend they make nothing in most cases off tickets. The way the business works now with big opening weekends and steep drop offs, that helps force the concessions up. In the old days of course, movies might stick around for weeks if they were performing decently. Theaters love Titanics and Avatars when they come along.

We go almost exclusively to a place near here where tickets are $5 a piece. I don't mind springing for over-priced popcorn. Of course the theater is like a god damned fun house, the hall ways are really narrow and dark and lean this way for the first few feet and then that way the next few feet and then back the other way. Fun fun fun getting behind an older person with a walker, which is about 80% of the audience. Also there is sticky stuff on the floor that has been there since who knows when and no drink holders. We won't go to theater 4 because it smells like vomit.

So in other words, it has character.

edit:

http://www.glenarttheatre.com/History.htm

Almost 100. The pissers are something else too - two urinals that are against each other. You are going to make contact with the person next to you. I feel like Joakim Noah boxing out a defender for a rebound to get space to go.

[Vidor]

If anybody has any hard-to-find stuff they want to see, now is the time to ask, because Karagarga (a private torrent tracker with an awesome library of rarities) has a sitewide freeleech for the next 4 days. Let me know.

I would like to see 1909 D.W. Griffith short "Lady Helen's Escapade". Make it snappy.

[Vidor]

Watched "Gimme Shelter". Dark and disturbing. Very much a 'Lord of the Flies' vibe at that Altamont concert.

[docellis]

Watched "Gimme Shelter". Dark and disturbing. Very much a 'Lord of the Flies' vibe at that Altamont concert.

I love that documentary. I need to watch it again.