Remakes and Sequels

The Movie Blog posted an article today that the Terminator rights are for sale.

One of the readers left the following comment:

Why do people latch onto franchises that should have died ten years ago? Maybe it’s time to create new icons, instead of just reinventing old ones. Is Hollywood just that lazy now. No new Terminator or Pirates of the Caribbean. WHO CARES! Nightmare on Elm street and Friday the thirteen we’re better when I was a kid. Leave nostalgia alone.

Also why do we absolutely need trilogies. Why not have stand alone’s. Why make a franchise out of every movie. They will get your money anyways, so why not get some entertaining value in something new?

We have the responsibility to ask for better product, not rehashes of old used stock.

I fully and completely agree. Hollywood needs to come up with new ideas for movies. Some films based on past work are really good (last summer's Star Trek), but that's still using old ideas as a crutch.

Omegle Conversations

Tonight on Omegle I:

• spoke with the singer of All Seeing Love
• pretended to be a Kryptonian in an alternate universe. I spoke to a Zyrogonian. We discussed how we patched into Earth's internet.
• introduced someone to Nerdfighteria.
• quoted the first half of All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter and the other person filled in the rest.
  
• spoke to a rover on Jupiter about his journey and loneliness. He asked me which house and year I was in at Hogwarts (Ravenclaw, 7th).
• talked about dimensions in the universe with an artist.
• quoted song lyrics that were oddly relevant to the other person.
• explained the basic premise of Paper Towns.
  

Losing Faith in Hollwood

Where are the original ideas? So many recent movies are based on a book or a cartoon or an action figure. I don't want to see another remake or another sequel. I want to see films that were written to be films. I'll even take "inspired by a true story" or "based on true events." I'm tired of seeing recycled stories. I even feel sad now when I find out a movie was based on something else when I thought it was an original idea.

I've written about this before. I'm not saying we shouldn't have remakes and sequels, but they shouldn't be the majority of what's in theaters. There are a limited number of plots and character types, but there are infinite ways of mixing elements and telling a story. We need to see more of those ways.

Health Care in the U.S.

The other day I was thinking that if the U.S. implemented a public health care system, more people could start their own businesses and work independently without worrying about health insurance. Then John Green posted a video today where he talks about how public insurance can help economic growth.

Go watch.

A Disney Childhood

Disney bought Marvel last week. Several sites reported the news, including io9. My thoughts went to the horrible possibility that the Jonas Brothers could guest star in the next Iron Man film. Could Disney de-claw Wolverine? Commenters across the internet had similar thoughts about how Disney might influence the portrayals of Marvel characters. The current movie deals concerning Marvel characters are staying intact, though, so Disney can't touch current projects. Even so, I doubt Disney would interfere with Marvel too much. Marvel is plenty successful on its own.

My concern is not about Marvel/Disney mash-ups. It's about control over children's media.

Disney already has a firm grip on the girls' demographic, ages 5-13 or so. The princesses are still popular and Disney's influence sky-rocketed with the additions of High School Musical, Hanna Montana, and the Jonas Brothers.

Disney lacks the same kind of access to the same demographic for boys, and that's why it bought Marvel. In ten years, the current contracts and holds on Marvel characters will expire and then Disney will have full access to children's media for girls and for boys. Disney will be a huge creator and distributor of comics, cartoons, live action shows, movies, action figures, toys, video games, and clothing for children and young teens. Bigger than it is now. All under one empire.

I don't want Disney to have a monopoly on childhood. I don't think anyone should. Children should have access to media from various creators and the freedom to choose what they want to watch or buy, but media mergers condense that access. Even ten years ago, I had a dozen TV shows to choose from on Saturday mornings. The media doesn't offer that many options anymore.

Growing media empires mean less ideas and less diverse content. Less creativity to stir children's imagination. More of the same re-hashed characters and plots that are perfect to watch in a daze, zombie-like.

I don't want the primary option for kids in the future to be Disney. I want to see kids get excited about the next Pixar film.

Oh, wait.

The mark of an excellent film

I have a confession to make. I have never seen Fight Club in its entirety. I know "The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club" but I had never seen any of the film until tonight.

I flipped through channels and stopped when I saw Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in an airplane scene. I had to stop and see what it was. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were in the same frame--it had to be good.

I started watching at the airport scene and somewhere between there and when Pitt dictates the rules, I knew I was watching Fight Club. Norton's narration wasn't about fighting yet. Nothing on screen referenced any of my sparse knowledge about the movie, but I knew without a doubt what I was watching.

That's the mark of an excellent film--when you know nearly nothing about the movie, miss the beginning, and still know what you're watching before the plot gets going (without looking it up on IMDB or waiting for the name to pop up in the corner of the screen). This works mostly with older films. They leave a strong enough impression that you recognize them before seeing them. I watched the first bar scene and thought, "This must be Fight Club." Just like that.

I promise I will watch Fight Club start to finish at some point. I need to watch more Edward Norton films in general.

An observation: I knew the twist in the movie before it was revealed. (I won't spoil it in case there's anyone else in the world besides me who hasn't seen Fight Club.) The same thing happened when I watched A Beautiful Mind for the first time and somehow I don't think knowing the twist before it comes into play diminishes either film.

One really great thing about TV is that you can accidentally watch movies. I don't know how many times I flipped channels and came across something that looked interesting and ended up enjoying a movie I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. It's the only way we have to catch a film by chance.

The hiatus didn't stick

My original reason for putting this blog on hiatus until December was that I needed to focus on other things over the next few months. I'm spending a semester abroad so updating sites really shouldn't be high on my list of priorities. I thought it best to put Digital Fare on hold for a little while.

That would have worked. I've gone long stretches of time without blogging. The problem is, I still come across things I want to blog about and a voluntary hiatus shouldn't stop me from writing them here.

So I'll blog when I blog. Please don't expect regular updates.