What movie are you watching right now?

[Axm]

Lincoln.
God, after watching it now for the 3rd time now it never ceases to amaze me how great the dialogue is. Also im kinda drunk so that impresses me more.
I can obviously still type though but for real... it took me awhile to do this.

[AnimeGamer183]

I was watching the news today and they were explaining how they made transformers age of extinction to do well in china. Parts of the movie take place there apparently, and they even hired popular chinese actors to be in the film. Apparently cinema is booming in china, and they opening up many new movie theaters there, and in order to make a summer blockbuster work, you need some kind of international presence.

I am pretty disgusted by all that. What happened to making a genuine movie and having it be popular because of the quality of the film itself? Not by giving nods to an international crowd and hope it ends up in a pay day... I wasnt gonna go see it anyway, but its really sad what they have reduced the awesome craft of film making into just to make a buck. Greed runs rampant.

thoughts kenny?

[Kenny]

That gives me alot of hope, actually.

Mostly because a dream project of mine is an existing asian franchise.

[AnimeGamer183]

So you think its ok to intentionally put marketable chinese elements into an american franchise like transformers for no other reason than to make sure it performs well in that country/internationally?

Kind of like when blizzard chose to put the pandas in WoW? same principle here. No other reason than for marketing. Is that not considered low or selling out?

[Kenny]

That gives me alot of hope, actually.

Mostly because a dream project of mine is an existing asian franchise.

But to answer your question, if the story is unaffected and I'm still suspending my disbelief...who cares?

[OL]

A variety of styles, goals, and intentions exist in every form of entertainment, and it might be a little short-sighted to think that any particular one is actually "wrong." Every medium out there has always had elements that are made specifically with no other intention than to make money. That's just the nature of a world that runs on currency. Of course it qualifies as selling out, but that's nothing new.
I mean, it's probably a little silly to expect any sense of artistry out of a movie about sentient, transformable robots riding other dinosaur robots while hanging out with Marky Mark. The makers of something like that obviously aren't concerned with the integrity of their "craft."
It's the theatrical equivalent of a Taylor Swift song, or one of those Xbox 360 games that was available exclusively from Burger King several years back. The only reason something like that gets made is because folks might buy into it. As long as entertainment has been profitable, this kind of stuff has always existed. It's on a grander scale now, sure, but that just goes along with how much bigger the potential audience is.

Or was the concern more along the lines of the fact that they're trying to appeal to the Chinese, specifically?

[Kenny]

We're the Millers.

It's pretty rare to see a comedy that has a justifiably good storyline AND is actually funny. What a rich concept.

[AnimeGamer183]

Exactly OL and no it wasnt cause just cause it was chinese, thats just what it happened to be this time I suppose. I just find it kind of pathetic they went to so far just to dig deep into that territories pockets and like they are a drove of zombies everyone just falls in line and then MUST... GO SEE... MOVIE... GUURRRRGGHHHH. But yeah, apparently projections indicate this movie is the summers biggest film, and im trying to figure out where the appeal is at all.

[Sonikku]

So you think its ok to intentionally put marketable chinese elements into an american franchise like transformers for no other reason than to make sure it performs well in that country/internationally?

Kind of like when blizzard chose to put the pandas in WoW? same principle here. No other reason than for marketing. Is that not considered low or selling out?

Hollywood is purely a numbers game. That's why they tend not to have a black guy as a lead outside of the exception that is WS, they look at demographics and follow a formula built to maximize what they believe to be the biggest turnout and biggest cash return as soon as possible. It's the same reason they put things in solely for the sake of appealing to a certain audience as well as part of why it's so difficult to get a project green lit with an R rating instead of the generally more lucrative PG 13.

[Kenny]

^Nail on the head. Hollywood spends so much money on these projects they want to make sure they not only get their investment back but also make a nice profit. Then they go to their accounting firm where they allocate the money in several ridiculous ways so they can officially report a "loss" so they don't have to pay everyone involved in the movie their contractually obligated net profits.

I also heard this new Transformers movie is the worst one yet. Good thing I ain't planning on seeing it but I pity the fools who hated the last two who go and see it ANYWAY. If Bay finally steps down after this one, I'll be watching them again probably. He's the sole reason why they've been complete shit.

[Riku Rose]

Iron Man 3 was partly filmed in China and was part funded by the Chinese government. It also had scenes filmed exclusively for the Chinese audience with some of their biggest stars. They didn't add anything to the story and the movie didn't suffer from them not being included in the western version. So in the long run who gives a fuck? I imagine it will be the same situation here. It would be different if Transformers had a scene where Optimus Prime fills up at a Shell garage before heading off to the final battle and showing off the product like in Wayne's World.

I most likely won't see Transformers unless my friends end up going and ask me to tag along. I've never had a problem with the films, all I want from that franchise is robots punching each other and awesome action scenes which is what you get. It's strange how people react to the films being like that as if Transformers could be some award winning series. Still Michael Bay said the other day something along the lines of. "Let the haters hate and complain, They all still go and see it and we get their money."

[AnimeGamer183]

And a quote like that is enough for me to boycott bay all together. what a pompous prick.

[OL]

Well he's pretty much summing things up, honestly. People keep going to see them, regardless of how much they declare that the movies suck.
He doesn't even enjoy making these flicks though; he said a few years ago after the second one (I think) that he hates putting all this effort into these big giant movies and having people shit all over them, and that he'd really like to make something much smaller for his next movie (didn't turn out that way; probably contractual junk). Truth be told, these kinds of movies really do require a lot of work to make, and it ain't an easy job in the least. People can scoff at him like he has no ability whatsoever because the stories are weak, but it takes other talents entirely to put together these huge effects-driven movies, and he clearly has those talents in spades. It's a ton of organizational work, to a degree far above many other films.

That being said, aside from a few scenes here and there, I still haven't seen a single Transformers flick. As much as I love giant robots in other ventures, these ones hold almost no appeal to me whatsoever. Not sure why exactly... maybe it's the fact that they're sentient, rather than being piloted or remote-controlled. Probably kind of an odd distinction to make, but hey, it's all about the details for me.

[Kenny]

Pttth, I want Transformers to be on the same level as Avengers, Independence Day, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and other big time blockbusters. And in that I want it to be epic and have a coherent storyline at bare minimum. People complain alot about ID4 but I think it's an awesome summer blockbuster so even if it has its dumb moments, I never noticed them.

Even the action in Transformers got really boring after awhile cause I couldn't see what was going on (I blame the close ups on the super detailed robots) and didn't care what was happening (cause the story and characters sucked). I guarantee you if you give the franchise to someone like a pre-Avatar James Cameron who can cook up a great storyline and still attain the awesome action, people will look back at the Bay films and go "why the ever living fuck did I like this shit in the first place?" The first Transformers was really close to being this way until they went "fuck it" at the sequels.

And Bay did do a smaller film, it was called Pain & Gain with Dwayne Johnson and Marky Mark. It wasn't very good, which sucks cause Bay has a great visual style. I still wanna see The Rock despite The Island being the only Bay film I ever liked so far.

[OL]

And Bay did do a smaller film, it was called Pain & Gain with Dwayne Johnson and Marky Mark.

Oh shit, that was his? Didn't even realize.
Gotta say, the guy has squeezed an awful lot of work into a pretty small amount of years.