northerncrane4 said:Dark Star is a total masterpiece.
Honestly? It’s almost there. Forgot about that little flick. Basically my second favorite after Creature, man... heavy psych stuff. Space surfing, hell yeah!...🙂
Carpenter just can't stop blowing it. His early stuff was mid at best, but I guess you gotta give him some credit for the production value. Everything else? Absolute garbage. Except for 'The Thing,' obviously. It still blows my mind that the same guy who directed total trash like Escape from New York, They Live, and Prince of Darkness actually made a masterpiece... not to mention those 90s flops.
It’s a shame Cameron didn't follow up Titanic ten years later, but hey, his choice—he wasn't hurting for cash or anything. Can't recall Killer Piranhas, but like redowl90 said, the man hasn't really made a movie that was just... mediocre. It wasn't even bad, it just wasn't good. If you had to pick his weakest link (besides Piranhas), it'd be the first Terminator. And honestly, I'm just waiting for Alita. Sounds like a decent enough replacement for that project I probably won't miss anyway—Avatar—which Cameron isn't even filming despite having the whole treatment ready.
Even if you look at those 60-something screenshots and think everything’s lost compared to the theater experience, it's not a total disaster because they use pan and scan. Basically, the TV format shifts to follow the main action from the original frame... So in this specific shot, the camera could start all the way on the right side of the cinema frame and just slide left to keep up with the guy walking through the scene.
lepa.pametna@neudata said:Still at it... I'm saying the same thing: War of the Worlds is definitely gonna be the best bang for your buck movie of 2005...
I'm ready. Send over the posts. what... Is that you on your profile pic?... 🙂
Whatever, man. Say what you want, who's even gonna stop you? Honestly, with a smaller budget, he'll probably be even more profitable... 😛 Look, just to make this more interesting... I’m telling you, they won't even see the biggest profits in America. Let alone globally... actually, scratch that, they won't even hit that. Check back with me at the end of the year and we'll see who actually called it... 😁
Look at that avatar... you wouldn't believe it, some weird little sphere thing. Like it's actually trying to pass itself off as a vegetable or something, but whatever...
slylynx16 said:The top pick is definitely Star Wars : Episode II - Revenge of the Sith which should pull in anywhere from $500,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 on an $115,000,000 budget. Not exactly a massive shocker for the bettors and analysts, so...
So you mean half to a full billion in worldwide earnings? Yeah, probably. But hitting $400 million in the US alone seems like a stretch, it could easily stall just under $300... who knows. :P Either way, trying to call all these numbers is impossible, and those budget figures you mentioned are just ballpark estimates with at least a 15% margin of error. That $200 million figure for War of the worlds (which'll let someone buy a Rolls Royce lol) was just some press hype from early production. The actual number is closer to a hundred mil—Steven Spielberg is cheap like that. Plus, the movie itself isn't gonna be some Independence Day sequel, it's more of a drama.
Look, I don't wanna kill the vibe here, but my guess is War of the worlds pulls in maybe $200-$300 million in the US and hits somewhere between $500-$800 million worldwide.
Also, I'm betting Batman Begins stays under $200 million domestically. Kingdom of Heaven already bombed in the States, so if it somehow scrapes together $65 million there, fine. Harry Potter will probably hit around $250 million in the US, and King Kong could go anywhere from $150 to over $300 depending on how good it actually is. There. No biggie... 🙂
Double check this with them just in case things changed, but here’s how it went down: when you apply, you gotta turn in your own script or story, somewhere between 3 and 10 pages.
The first round is basically a general knowledge test with a heavy lean toward movies (though they might throw in some technical stuff, like asking what a "ramp" is), but honestly, it covers everything—art, architecture, music, literature, all that jazz. After that, you write an essay based on one of three prompts they give you. Usually, it’s one movie topic, one TV topic, and then one mixed bag.
That’s pretty much it. Just wait a few days to see if you made it to the second round. If you do, the second round involves writing a story. For example, they’ll give you an excerpt from a story and you have to weave it into yours so it actually fits. It doesn't matter if it's the beginning, middle, or end, but that snippet has to be a seamless part of your piece.
Then you watch a movie, and the next day, you head in for the interview. You’ll end up reading your story out loud since they haven't read it yet, and then they’ll grill you about it, the script you originally submitted, the movie you watched, and whatever else random crap pops into their heads.
Pro tip: don't waste your breath studying technical textbooks; they don't care about that kind of stuff and probably won't even ask. Instead, go catch some Broadway plays a couple of months before the exam, and if you can, hit up a "serious" concert. You also need to be loud and clear, no stuttering. Stand your ground if they try to provoke you, and for the love of god, stay away from answers like "I don't know," "I'm not sure," or "they're all equally good."
Man, you’ve got some seriously weird taste if you think all his movies are actually good. Does that include that Village of the Damned remake disaster? Also, escape from LA is just straight up trash...
It’s not even the main reason, just the trigger: I just got back from seeing Million Dollar Baby at the theater. Now I can't stop overthinking everything... wondering how much better—or maybe worse—it would've been if I hadn't already known the plot. It definitely wouldn't have been as intense without that edge of uncertainty.
And here's the real issue. On one hand, I freaking LOVE reading news about Hollywood production cycles 😁 and following all these massive studio projects... honestly, it's a blast, even if half the stuff I track I never actually end up watching. But at the same time, I feel like obsessing over the behind-the-scenes stuff totally ruins the experience once the movie finally hits theaters.
Once you know the twists, your expectations either skyrocket or tank. Or when I read reviews, my brain subconsciously builds this blueprint for how I'm "supposed" to perceive the movie before I even sit down. And that's bad. Really bad. But I can't help it when I'm constantly plugged in. The fix? Stop looking things up. I try, trust me, I really do... I try not to read a single thing about Oscar contenders or heavy dramas, and I try to limit my curiosity to just action blockbusters and stuff. Doesn't work. All the news is on the same sites, the same feeds. That's how I spoiled Million Dollar Baby for myself; I didn't want to know a damn thing, but there it was, right in the headline.
So HOW do you escape this downward spiral? If I stop following film news entirely, how am I supposed to know what's actually worth my time? I'd be giving up a huge hobby... 😢 slyrider16, help me out here!
rajka said:You mean like when Steve shows some reporter an underwater Walkman and ends up dancing a little bit too? Just listening to it now. 😁
I thought the movie was hilarious. Like, total childhood regression. Bright, colorful, and just good vibes. A buddy movie set in Wonderland.
Finally got it! 😁 Just typing here while nodding my head to the beat. oh yeah. gotta record this on a Walkman for my jogs, feels like perfect high-energy music for that... 🙂
kinda agree with quietdriver3. who even cares? 😁 honestly, I wish some random idiot wouldn't force me to research movies before watching them. i'd love to just show up blind without knowing anything... not even who directed or wrote it. that's how you get a real experience. 🙂
anyway, Life Aquatic is way different from Rushmore or the Tenenbaums if you ask me. those two actually had something to say... Aquatic is basically just one giant joke. the movie is crazier, more over-the-top, more caricatured (is that even a word? 😁). but it's good.
Richard Hernandez13 said:I'm actually kind of scared to watch Life Aquatic. Based on how hyper-stylized everything looks, I feel like Wes hasn't really evolved as a director yet. Too "smart for his own good," if you ask me.
Don't sweat it, the movie's actually good. If you stop obsessing over "who directed this" and just watch what's on screen, it's a blast. It’s basically a giant fever dream—everything from trashy bits to satire, parody, and a ton of weird little scenes just meant to make you smirk. Zero pretension, killer soundtrack (I NEED to find that synth music ASAP), and some great animation/design thanks to Henry Selick. Totally worth a thumbs up in my book. 😁
(Though, honestly, the constant wide-angle lens thing kinda bugs me... even if it's probably his easiest excuse in this one)
Don't forget that Americans have a totally different vibe, culturally speaking. Especially with all the hugging—they seriously hug way more than Europeans or anyone else back home. If you're even halfway friendly with someone, they might just go in for a hug instead of a handshake. I'm not making this up, I've felt it firsthand traveling through several parts of the US...
Man, I’m always the last one to get it. But whatever, a legend on the scale of Mr. Boll (sounds like someone out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie) deserves more than just two threads. He deserves a hundred and two... Boll !!! I gotta check out House of the Dead. That's still in video rental stores, right? The only thing I don't get is why they're even making a movie out of Far Cry. There's zero plot in that game. Just give me a Doom movie any time of the day. (Though this one they're filming sounds pretty crappy)
Two absolute legends of modern Hollywood. Both totally capable of dropping an unexpected masterpiece on an unsuspecting audience. Video game adaptations are their bread and butter. Who’s actually got the better directing skills here?
True, the movie isn't being pretentious. But it’s definitely suffering from something else. It lacks any actual ambition... just zero ideas once the initial concept wears off. At its core, a film is supposed to dance on that line with conceptual art. Like, "here's an ashtray on a table, that's art, deal with it." If I had to sum this thing up in one word? Pointless. (Still, most of the shots look great. You can tell Saint isn't just some hack technician. The music and especially the sound design are top-tier too, really helps set the mood.