I think the better ones in the list could be made, but they'd suck if they tried to attract every demographic and a global market, which is true for pretty much every film. Here's a list of the...
I think the better ones in the list could be made, but they'd suck if they tried to attract every demographic and a global market, which is true for pretty much every film.
Here's a list of the films with links to IMDB and the plot. One of the years and one of the titles was wrong. No idea where the author got their info from.
the list
As Good as It Gets (1997) - A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Something's Gotta Give (2003) - A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.
Blazing Saddles (1974) - In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
Life of Brian (1979) - Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
Female Trouble (1974) - A spoiled schoolgirl runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitch-hiking, and ends up as a fashion model for a pair of beauticians who like to photograph women committing crimes.
Gremlins (1984) - A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.
Police Academy (1984) - A group of good-hearted, but incompetent misfits enter the police academy, but the instructors there are not going to put up with their pranks.
Porky's (1981) - In 1954, a group of Florida high-school guys try to help their buddy lose his virginity, which leads them to seek revenge on a sleazy nightclub owner and his redneck sheriff brother for harassing them.
Titanic (1997) - A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Soul Man (1986) - To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.
Tootsie (1982) - Michael Dorsey, an unsuccessful actor, disguises himself as a woman in order to get a role on a trashy hospital soap.
Manhattan (1979) - The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Driving Miss Daisy Crazy (1990) - A man or woman with a boring partner puts porn videos on in order to get them interested, and the couple then end up so enthusiastic they become the porn movie for the next couple with one uninterested party.
The Color Purple (1985) - A black Southern woman struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over four decades.
Mr. Mom (1983) - After he's laid off, a husband switches roles with his wife. She returns to the workforce, and he becomes a stay-at-home dad, a job he has no clue how to do.
Sixteen Candles (1984) - A girl's "sweet" sixteenth birthday becomes anything but special, as she suffers from every embarrassment possible.
Revenge of the Nerds (1984) - At Adams College, a group of bullied outcasts and misfits resolve to fight back for their peace and self-respect.
Air Force One (1997) - Communist Radicals hijack Air Force One with The U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a Veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.
Ordinary People (1980) - The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.
The Reader (2008) - Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
You've Got Mail (1998) - Book superstore magnate, Joe Fox and independent book shop owner, Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.
In the spirit of the title, if not the article: The other day, I saw Ridley Scott's new film The Last Duel. It got me thinking whether Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon could be made today. Or if it would...
In the spirit of the title, if not the article: The other day, I saw Ridley Scott's new film The Last Duel. It got me thinking whether Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon could be made today. Or if it would get made, what sort of a reception it would have. Light spoilers follow for both films.
Many reviewers have pointed out similarities between these two films, most importantly that they both centre around a rape and they both tell events from multiple conflicting perspectives. There are important differences, however. One is that The Last Duel underlines that one of its stories is the objective truth -- the raped woman's point of view. The other is that while still directed by Scott, the female character's point of view was at least written by a woman.
When I walked out of the theatre, it bothered me that The Last Duel insisted on telling us in no uncertain terms which of the three points of view we should consider the truth. In Rashomon, it is impossible to really say what actually happened in the forest and who is a victim and who is to be blamed, and that is a major part of its allure. But as I thought about it more, I realised that at this point in time you probably couldn't really tell a story about rape in the manner of Rashomon without attracting heavy criticism. And for a very good reason, too. In the case of The Last Duel, the decision to underline that there is not only an objective truth, but a moral one as well, seems both correct and natural.
In addition to its questioning of truth in this narrative context, Rashomon's presentation of its rape story would likely also be heavily criticised today. As good a director and storyteller as Kurosawa was, the film certainly operates through a fairly pronounced male gaze, even during the sections narrated by the female character. I wouldn't say that Ridley Scott's camera is perfect in this sense either, but I think the female point of view comes across better there.
Ultimately, these are two films that share some narrative and structural similarities but tackle quite different themes. The questions that Rashomon asks have not become outdated, nor has its overall brilliance become lesser over the years, but I think some aspects of it would have to be approached quite differently if the film was made today.
The sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, is the movie that couldn't be made today, not because it's problematic but because the studio gave the director complete freedom and big budget to go...
The sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, is the movie that couldn't be made today, not because it's problematic but because the studio gave the director complete freedom and big budget to go completely wild.
After these [script] ideas fell through, the studio returned to Dante, who agreed to make the sequel after receiving the rare promise of having complete creative control over the movie. 1
That's true but both of them are really big names but also make safe movies. Gremlins 2 is still a unique in that it has that feeling of "I may not be able to do this ever again so I better go...
That's true but both of them are really big names but also make safe movies. Gremlins 2 is still a unique in that it has that feeling of "I may not be able to do this ever again so I better go nuts". And that may have been the case considering what happened with Joe Dante's career after that.
And there's definitely people around that would love to have those budgets and liberty today, is just that studios won't give them that kind of money unless they prove to be safe bets first, but that's business.
That list was quite crap. Very unfocused, some of the arguments boiled down to: "Oh, this genre of movie doesn't do that well anymore, no way will Hollywood create another." About two or three of...
That list was quite crap. Very unfocused, some of the arguments boiled down to: "Oh, this genre of movie doesn't do that well anymore, no way will Hollywood create another."
About two or three of the items on this list are the racist or heavily prejudiced movies we got in the seventies which were a product of their time and wouldn't come out today. Those are the ones I'd agree with, though didn't we get a more modern To Kill A Mockingbird movie as well as a (more controversial) sequel to the book?
Brokeback Mountain was also an odd choice because I'm pretty sure LGBTQ representation in cinema has increased since?
Also. on the subject of Revenge of the Nerds... quote below:
There’s a big heaping dose of gross ‘80s sexual politics here, particularly in the bit in which one of the main characters tricks a woman into having sex with him by making her think that he’s her actual boyfriend.
Even putting that aside, a “nerd” comedy in 2021 isn’t going to look anything like this. Unlike in the ‘80s, geeks and goobers pretty much run the entertainment world now. Even in The Big Bang Theory, the dweebs mostly all had solid relationships and well-paying jobs while spending their free time “geeking out” about globally popular pop culture entertainment.
They're also still churning out teen comedy movies where it's a bunch of high schoolers or college students trying to get laid. I mean... American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules came out last year. It may not have been another main entry to the series and another shitty spinoff but apparently those films are doing well enough that they feel the need to do more.
I think the better ones in the list could be made, but they'd suck if they tried to attract every demographic and a global market, which is true for pretty much every film.
Here's a list of the films with links to IMDB and the plot. One of the years and one of the titles was wrong. No idea where the author got their info from.
the list
In the spirit of the title, if not the article: The other day, I saw Ridley Scott's new film The Last Duel. It got me thinking whether Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon could be made today. Or if it would get made, what sort of a reception it would have. Light spoilers follow for both films.
Many reviewers have pointed out similarities between these two films, most importantly that they both centre around a rape and they both tell events from multiple conflicting perspectives. There are important differences, however. One is that The Last Duel underlines that one of its stories is the objective truth -- the raped woman's point of view. The other is that while still directed by Scott, the female character's point of view was at least written by a woman.
When I walked out of the theatre, it bothered me that The Last Duel insisted on telling us in no uncertain terms which of the three points of view we should consider the truth. In Rashomon, it is impossible to really say what actually happened in the forest and who is a victim and who is to be blamed, and that is a major part of its allure. But as I thought about it more, I realised that at this point in time you probably couldn't really tell a story about rape in the manner of Rashomon without attracting heavy criticism. And for a very good reason, too. In the case of The Last Duel, the decision to underline that there is not only an objective truth, but a moral one as well, seems both correct and natural.
In addition to its questioning of truth in this narrative context, Rashomon's presentation of its rape story would likely also be heavily criticised today. As good a director and storyteller as Kurosawa was, the film certainly operates through a fairly pronounced male gaze, even during the sections narrated by the female character. I wouldn't say that Ridley Scott's camera is perfect in this sense either, but I think the female point of view comes across better there.
Ultimately, these are two films that share some narrative and structural similarities but tackle quite different themes. The questions that Rashomon asks have not become outdated, nor has its overall brilliance become lesser over the years, but I think some aspects of it would have to be approached quite differently if the film was made today.
I have absolutely no clue why Gremlins couldn't be made today.
The sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, is the movie that couldn't be made today, not because it's problematic but because the studio gave the director complete freedom and big budget to go completely wild.
That's true but both of them are really big names but also make safe movies. Gremlins 2 is still a unique in that it has that feeling of "I may not be able to do this ever again so I better go nuts". And that may have been the case considering what happened with Joe Dante's career after that.
And there's definitely people around that would love to have those budgets and liberty today, is just that studios won't give them that kind of money unless they prove to be safe bets first, but that's business.
That list was quite crap. Very unfocused, some of the arguments boiled down to: "Oh, this genre of movie doesn't do that well anymore, no way will Hollywood create another."
About two or three of the items on this list are the racist or heavily prejudiced movies we got in the seventies which were a product of their time and wouldn't come out today. Those are the ones I'd agree with, though didn't we get a more modern To Kill A Mockingbird movie as well as a (more controversial) sequel to the book?
Brokeback Mountain was also an odd choice because I'm pretty sure LGBTQ representation in cinema has increased since?
Also. on the subject of Revenge of the Nerds... quote below:
Not a film but... Has this writer ever watched Silicon Valley before? There is a notorious scene where the Pied Piper team are talking about how quickly they could jerk off every guy in the auditorium during their 10 minute presentation, and effectively come up with a new compression algorithm from that conversation.
They're also still churning out teen comedy movies where it's a bunch of high schoolers or college students trying to get laid. I mean... American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules came out last year. It may not have been another main entry to the series and another shitty spinoff but apparently those films are doing well enough that they feel the need to do more.