Hang On a Second: We Are the Problem

A few weeks back I saw the wonderful film Lady Bird with my wife and a friend.

 

All three of us were totally swept up by the performances, the script, the directing, and more than anything, the incredibly well told and convincing story.  As the lights came up, the audience started to stir and grab their coats (an action I find pointless in LA, you don’t need coats here ya bunch of wussies) and the conversation I overheard boggled my mind.  The room wasn’t even fully lit and the man in front of me started saying, “That was good, but doesn’t hold a candle to Three Billboards… yadda yadda yadda.” I’ve overheard this conversation many times but this was the first time it really stuck out to me.  Mostly because the movie we just saw addresses this very instinct to react to something the moment you’ve experienced it.  In the very beginning of the film Lady Bird and her mom are listening to an audio book, and when it ends Lady Bird goes to turn on the radio.  Her mom stops her and asks, “Can we just sit with what we’ve heard for a moment?”  I rolled my eyes and laughed with the audience, but I think there may be something to that.

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It’s Our Fault We’ll Never Get The Next Star Wars

Nostalgia is a big part of our current pop culture landscape, but maybe it’s keeping us from getting the next Star Wars, or TMNT, or Doctor Who.

I think it was either Universal Studios’ announcement of their DARK UNIVERSE franchise or the latest round of “Cowboy Bebop is REALLY getting a live-action series” news that I came to the realization that we’ve given the next generation a bit of a raw deal when it comes to entertainment. Much of the movies, television shows, comic books, and pop culture that have defined our childhood have undergone a revival to aggressively cash in on our nostalgia.

 

In some cases I’ve been very receptive to this; see 2012’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which struck a balance between reminding me what I loved about the 80s/90s cartoon, and making something new out of it for a younger generation of turtle fans. Still, it wasn’t new, and I’d be willing to guess that it won’t have the same impact on the new generation of fans that it had on me and my generation. They inherited the heroes in a half shell from us olds, but we saw its origin.

 

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Who Cares About Spoilers Anyway?

Do spoilers matter in our movie marketing? Jonathan doesn’t seem to think so, and can’t wait to tell you all about it!

 

Hey Internet people! I’ve got a problem that I’ve been mulling over for quite some time. Do spoilers in trailers matter? Does a trailer revealing a particular plot point or showing the last moment from the last scene “ruin the experience” for you? For me, the short answer is no. The longer answer? I don’t know. My arc as a moviegoer has gone from trying to avoid anything about a movie until I see it in theaters to being completely ambivalent. I have to be careful around my more spoiler-cautious pals these days because I forget that they might want to go into a movie completely fresh.

 

So, what changed? When did it change? Could this trailer for ATOMIC BLONDE (which I love) be the culprit?

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