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The Critical Drinker absolutely nails it. South Park Panderverse.

transmaster

transmaster

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The Critical Drinker's review of South Park's Panderverse finally put a proper possessive of this whole issue. It was "Barbie" that pulled me up short. I realized "Barbie" was a biting comedy. How can a movie be "woke" when the Barbieverse has always been this way since the introduction of the Barbie doll 1959. I am not the gender that dotes on "Barbie" I know ladies in their 70's that are. I should have talked to them about the Barbie Movie and not watched the wazoos on YouTube. Were I am coming from is the stupidity of ruining money making franchises to kowtow to Social Media piranhas. Than blaming the fans for not lining up at the Cinemas to watch this stuff. Hollywood does not seem to realize they are not the center of the arts and entertainment universe anymore. There are other countries that are producing TV series, and Movies that blow away most of what the big studios are making.

An example of this is the Russian movie Mira (2022). I Spotted the trailer on YouTube. Looked via my VPN in the EU and found it but it did not have English subtitles. I watched a little of it but I wanted to wait for subtitles. The basic story is a petulant teenage girl, and her estranged father who is on board the Mira Space Station who keeps watch over his daughter from orbit. They detect an incoming meteor storm from a shattered asteroid, or comet? ( no subtitles ). The father contacts his daughter to warn her what is coming and helps her get to safety. Her frantic race to safety, and her father watching and helping is the whole story. Her frantic escape efforts pulls you in as she over comes each setback. I saw all this in the short period I allowed myself to watch it. The major studios can no longer make a simple action movies like this. It cost 6 million USD to make. Just think how many movies Disney could make like this with the 200 to 300 million they are now spending on one movie that loses money.

 
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I still would not watch any of them. I want something more than an action movie (that is usually thin on the plot).

I watch movies with a good story and good character development. This usually means, independent films, and some of them even come out of Hollywood.
 
I have commented on this countless times, only to find members I revere having issues with my comments.

One does not elevate one segment of society by denigrating another.

Today's movies, by and large, are indeed pandering, and the tail is now wagging the dog.

As ducati pointed out, there are lots of independent, foreign and smaller style movies that are still telling good stories, strong character development, and satisfying resolutions.

Hollywood's fixation on capes and indestructible "heroes" has run its course. The green screen jerkoff is trite and cliche.
 
The reality of the independent studios is refreshing Look, as in Mira, Sisu, Extraction. Bølgen (The Wave) etc. The movies from South Korea, Japan, and some of the efforts of Bollywood. Japanese Anime all of these top the CGI bloated junk from Hollywood.

Here is a good one for you. Disney's live action Snow White. It is acknowledged this dog is going nowhere as it is so it has been postponed until 2025. Rumors have it the 7 They/Them's are being replaced by CGI dwarfs, I wonder how much that is going to cost?
 
Fair, but what I'm getting at is that there are plenty of things I've seen expecting mindless entertainment and got just the mindless part.
 
GChief said:
Blasphemer... some of us with big brains still enjoy mindless entertainment and can watch these kinds of movies for what they are... mindless entertainment. :thumbsup:
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C'mon, man. You're an exceptionally smart guy. The "plots", as they are, are as easily deducible as basic arithmetic, the acting is high school drama class quality, and the big fight scenes are one indestructible person attempting to harm another indestructible person.

But, you do you, man. I shan't tell anyone what they should enjoy, or what they're permitted to enjoy. That's up to the individual.

I gave up around the Justice League period, and haven't watched WW 1984, Black Panther, Black Adam, Blue Beetle, Flash, or the new Shazam (or the original).

It's just way too much of a once good thing, and THIS is coming from a comic book junkie.
 
GChief said:
Blasphemer... some of us with big brains still enjoy mindless entertainment and can watch these kinds of movies for what they are... mindless entertainment. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
I'm pretty tired of superheroes. I'm tired of special effects replacing plots, writing, and acting. I'm tired of reboots, I don't want to see Fast and Furious 37, I don't want movies destroyed by the mindless imposition of "inclusivity." Remaking "Patton" with Queen Latifah isn't going to cut it. Nor is presenting a fictionalized account of something (very loosely) "based on a true story" count as historical fact. People and events can be problematic, it adds to the story. Life is complex, embrace it.

Rant complete
 
hopeless said:
I'm pretty tired of superheroes. I'm tired of special effects replacing plots, writing, and acting. I'm tired of reboots, I don't want to see Fast and Furious 37, I don't want movies destroyed by the mindless imposition of "inclusivity." Remaking "Patton" with Queen Latifah isn't going to cut it. Nor is presenting a fictionalized account of something (very loosely) "based on a true story" count as historical fact. People and events can be problematic, it adds to the story. Life is complex, embrace it.

Rant complete
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All that applies to you, probably why you said "I'm" ;)

Don't think the studios are stupid, they know what the market wants, as in consumer electronics most of us are not the market.

And refer to my post #7.

This is how I hear complaining about movie and music on AK


 
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transmaster said:
The Critical Drinker's review of South Park's Panderverse finally put a proper possessive of this whole issue. It was "Barbie" that pulled me up short. I realized "Barbie" was a biting comedy. How can a movie be "woke" when the Barbieverse has always been this way since the introduction of the Barbie doll 1959. I am not the gender that dotes on "Barbie" I know ladies in their 70's that are. I should have talked to them about the Barbie Movie and not watched the wazoos on YouTube. Were I am coming from is the stupidity of ruining money making franchises to kowtow to Social Media piranhas. Than blaming the fans for not lining up at the Cinemas to watch this stuff. Hollywood does not seem to realize they are not the center of the arts and entertainment universe anymore. There are other countries that are producing TV series, and Movies that blow away most of what the big studios are making.

An example of this is the Russian movie Mira (2022). I Spotted the trailer on YouTube. Looked via my VPN in the EU and found it but it did not have English subtitles. I watched a little of it but I wanted to wait for subtitles. The basic story is a petulant teenage girl, and her estranged father who is on board the Mira Space Station who keeps watch over his daughter from orbit. They detect an incoming meteor storm from a shattered asteroid, or comet? ( no subtitles ). The father contacts his daughter to warn her what is coming and helps her get to safety. Her frantic race to safety, and her father watching and helping is the whole story. Her frantic escape efforts pulls you in as she over comes each setback. I saw all this in the short period I allowed myself to watch it. The major studios can no longer make a simple action movies like this. It cost 6 million USD to make. Just think how many movies Disney could make like this with the 200 to 300 million they are now spending on one movie that loses money.

Click to expand...


I agree with you on Barbie BUT a movie, or tv show, can be good and still pander. Barbie and Ted Lasso are two of the more recent good movies that pander heavily. And to the extent that it's going to push away audience and that's ok. What Barbie and Ted Lasso did fairly well was keep the noise down. They didn't go off on fans they didn't make declarious statements that easily backfired they just let the work to the talking (for the most part). On the flip side you have movies, like Bros., and tv/streaming shows, like Cowboy Bebop, that just flat out weren't good became easy targets when the actors got stupid in interviews.

I do think the pandering overall is detrimental. I mean anyone watching what's been going on at Disney for the last few years can't possibly say otherwise. Disney can't keep themselves or their actors(actresses) from saying dumb stuff. Just make good movies and tv shows and nobody cares in the end.
 
ra7c7er said:
I agree with you on Barbie BUT a movie, or tv show, can be good and still pander. Barbie and Ted Lasso are two of the more recent good movies that pander heavily. And to the extent that it's going to push away audience and that's ok. What Barbie and Ted Lasso did fairly well was keep the noise down. They didn't go off on fans they didn't make declarious statements that easily backfired they just let the work to the talking (for the most part). On the flip side you have movies, like Bros., and tv/streaming shows, like Cowboy Bebop, that just flat out weren't good became easy targets when the actors got stupid in interviews.

I do think the pandering overall is detrimental. I mean anyone watching what's been going on at Disney for the last few years can't possibly say otherwise. Disney can't keep themselves or their actors(actresses) from saying dumb stuff. Just make good movies and tv shows and nobody cares in the end.
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The problem is that Disney thinks they are making good movies. Well, they are making movies they think are good for us, so it isn't really pandering as it is pummeling. And the paying public is tired of being beat about the head with the messaging.
 
The thing is Barbie was Barbie, they did not try to switch her to being a man, a woman of color, just Barbie, The Ken was always considered a lesser side kick. The Barbie doll never had a personality it had to be developed.
 
transmaster said:
they did not try to switch her to being a man, a woman of color
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I do not see the problem with this. Its an actor playing a part, who gives a crap what gender or race they are? Well I have my thoughts about that... but it does not belong here on AK.
 
gadget73 said:
sometimes the mindless entertainment is a little too mindless.
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Like Extraction and Extraction 2? - mindless violence.
I stopped watching the first one after the bad guy threw a kid off the roof as an example to the other kids,
just to make the point that, yes, he really was a bad guy ...
That's pandering ...
But we watched the Panderverse "film" last night - pretty funny in places,
over the top excess in others, as is the style of South Park.
 
...when South Park tackles (or fumbles) a piece of social commentary...you know we're about to jump the shark...vis a vis that idea or "moment" of cultural expression/reflection...pop or otherwise...
 
South Park frequently wields a double edged sword of satire, cutting both ways that some miss.

Productions don't have to be "popular" to provide entertainment to those that relate to, and appreciate them, tho popularity relates directly to the bottom line as a motivator to find the next successful theme blockbuster.

I don't necessarily see every production about or directed to my broad mixed demographic, tho' I can appreciate and relate to honest portraits of them in realistic settings. I appreciate the recognition and affirmation they communicate for underdogs traditionally demeaned and ridiculed by entitled self-ritious populist-pandering social bullies.
I honestly don't understand the idealization of bullies as leadership role models, it's seems counter to my understanding of principled civics.
 
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