I enjoyed most of the Marvel movies, but two problems emerged:
1. After Avengers: Endgame in 2019, it felt like there was no story left to tell. That movie was the natural climax.
2. Introducing Disney+ into the mix was a huge mistake. Now you have to keep up with the shows as well as the movies to stay current. Too much homework.
Incidentally: if "Civil War" *is* a bellwether, it's because it's a blockbuster aimed squarely at the domestic box office. Conventional wisdom is that most blockbusters these days make all their money in the foreign market, and thus a ton of film genres (particularly the rom-com) have either died off or migrated to Netflix because they don't do well overseas. If we *are* on the brink of a new Cold War... Hollywood probably can't count on "Avatar 3" running up the score in Chinese theatres.
I want to agree with the premise of this piece! But I think it's wrong to assume that the post-blockbuster future looks like smart mid-budget A24 films, instead of a never-ending deluge of chintzy Blumhouse crap. "I Saw the TV Glow" did great on the festival circuit and is getting lots of great reviews (including from me! I can't stop thinking about it!), but it's only grossed ~$4 million at the box office. By contrast, "Tarot" - a PG-13 ChatGPT-ass schlockfest that no self-respecting adult would admit to watching, let alone reviewing - cost $8 mil to make and is going to easily clear $50 mil at the box office.
I can agree on most points, but not this one: “ The superhero films, increasingly forgettable, ultimately suppressed whoever was playing Thor or Spider-Man or Hulk because it was the intellectual property, in the mind of the fan, that came first—not the actor putting on the costume.” As a woman, I definitely disagree with this premise, as Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth were the REASON I went to see the movies. lol!
I champion your optimism & general assessment. It seems one of the silver linings of the deluge of content across all media is that the shiny cultural products of old simply cannot stand up to the niche offerings across all platforms.
Given how cinematic (and literary) video games have become, for example (here's looking at you, Last of Us 2), the explosives promises of cinematic yore just don't really stand up to films like "Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods," either, which is as close to the frontline as any human cinematic experience has ever been.
Of course, there's a certain horrifying-if-not-grotesque aspect to all of the "realness"; fake blood is no longer needed with the way violence is glorified today (the scene with Jessie Plimpton in "Civil War," for example, shook me deeper than all of my years researching & writing a novel about Nazis in Poland), but whatever this new era spells is certainly something beyond the cheap thrills of fireballs and hot people. Here's to steeling ourselves--and remaining awake--for whatever comes next.
Americans want political propaganda. Period. They just want it from the other side. They aren't willing to admit anything else is possible. We are not going to have any successors to "Barbie" or any more Wes Anderson extravaganzas. The future big hits are going to come from right-wing Trumpist political satire and thrillers, the more brutal the better. Think "The Turner Diaries" or in a more refined way Tom Wolfe's white bucks stomping in a human face forever.
I have two no three major concerns that I look to be address in TV or movies. First is catastrophic climate change. I have two no three major concerns that I look to film or TV to address. First is the catastrophic climate change. Don’t look up was a brave intervention that seems to have had no effect on the Democratic race although it should. Second is the attempts of organizers to unionize workers at Starbucks and Amazon. We see no reflection of this in any media creation even those written by unionized writers. third is the ongoing Effects of misogyny otherwise known as
woman hating that has resulted in an epidemic of murders of women by men and an epidemic of eating disorders by women full of self hatred because they don’t look like Barbie. I could never cheer a movie that perpetuates any of this. decades ago Jennifer Lopez of all people made a really good movie called enough, way better than the Barbie nonsense which by the way promotes the Incel movement by creating these unreal fantasies of what women should look like.
I enjoyed most of the Marvel movies, but two problems emerged:
1. After Avengers: Endgame in 2019, it felt like there was no story left to tell. That movie was the natural climax.
2. Introducing Disney+ into the mix was a huge mistake. Now you have to keep up with the shows as well as the movies to stay current. Too much homework.
Excellent article. I thought this was good as well: https://open.substack.com/pub/pricepoint/p/how-hollywood-lost-touch-with-the?r=9jp9&utm_medium=ios
Incidentally: if "Civil War" *is* a bellwether, it's because it's a blockbuster aimed squarely at the domestic box office. Conventional wisdom is that most blockbusters these days make all their money in the foreign market, and thus a ton of film genres (particularly the rom-com) have either died off or migrated to Netflix because they don't do well overseas. If we *are* on the brink of a new Cold War... Hollywood probably can't count on "Avatar 3" running up the score in Chinese theatres.
I want to agree with the premise of this piece! But I think it's wrong to assume that the post-blockbuster future looks like smart mid-budget A24 films, instead of a never-ending deluge of chintzy Blumhouse crap. "I Saw the TV Glow" did great on the festival circuit and is getting lots of great reviews (including from me! I can't stop thinking about it!), but it's only grossed ~$4 million at the box office. By contrast, "Tarot" - a PG-13 ChatGPT-ass schlockfest that no self-respecting adult would admit to watching, let alone reviewing - cost $8 mil to make and is going to easily clear $50 mil at the box office.
I can agree on most points, but not this one: “ The superhero films, increasingly forgettable, ultimately suppressed whoever was playing Thor or Spider-Man or Hulk because it was the intellectual property, in the mind of the fan, that came first—not the actor putting on the costume.” As a woman, I definitely disagree with this premise, as Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth were the REASON I went to see the movies. lol!
I champion your optimism & general assessment. It seems one of the silver linings of the deluge of content across all media is that the shiny cultural products of old simply cannot stand up to the niche offerings across all platforms.
Given how cinematic (and literary) video games have become, for example (here's looking at you, Last of Us 2), the explosives promises of cinematic yore just don't really stand up to films like "Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods," either, which is as close to the frontline as any human cinematic experience has ever been.
Of course, there's a certain horrifying-if-not-grotesque aspect to all of the "realness"; fake blood is no longer needed with the way violence is glorified today (the scene with Jessie Plimpton in "Civil War," for example, shook me deeper than all of my years researching & writing a novel about Nazis in Poland), but whatever this new era spells is certainly something beyond the cheap thrills of fireballs and hot people. Here's to steeling ourselves--and remaining awake--for whatever comes next.
Americans want political propaganda. Period. They just want it from the other side. They aren't willing to admit anything else is possible. We are not going to have any successors to "Barbie" or any more Wes Anderson extravaganzas. The future big hits are going to come from right-wing Trumpist political satire and thrillers, the more brutal the better. Think "The Turner Diaries" or in a more refined way Tom Wolfe's white bucks stomping in a human face forever.
I have two no three major concerns that I look to be address in TV or movies. First is catastrophic climate change. I have two no three major concerns that I look to film or TV to address. First is the catastrophic climate change. Don’t look up was a brave intervention that seems to have had no effect on the Democratic race although it should. Second is the attempts of organizers to unionize workers at Starbucks and Amazon. We see no reflection of this in any media creation even those written by unionized writers. third is the ongoing Effects of misogyny otherwise known as
woman hating that has resulted in an epidemic of murders of women by men and an epidemic of eating disorders by women full of self hatred because they don’t look like Barbie. I could never cheer a movie that perpetuates any of this. decades ago Jennifer Lopez of all people made a really good movie called enough, way better than the Barbie nonsense which by the way promotes the Incel movement by creating these unreal fantasies of what women should look like.