Comments on: Oscar to DVD Watchers: Drop Dead!

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:18:16 +0000

By the way, for the record, my favourite kind of movie is a good Hollywood movie. They just don’t seem very good at making them anymore. (Asian films actually seem much better at it these days.)

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:15:19 +0000

As you say, they don’t seem very forward thinking. They seem quite backward. Which is too bad for them and everyone. Rather than fighting change they should be trying to move with it and perhaps even direct it.

They’re really dealing with a number of issues, not just one (”piracy”). Many people feel the theatre experience isn’t all that great anymore (cell phones, talking, badly framed projections etc.), while the home experience has improved with HD, bigger TVs, sound systems etc., and, yes, the product out of Hollywood being a bit too cookie-cutter.

It strikes me that in many ways their own marketing is killing them. The more they try to control things, the less control they seem to have. (Not sure that made sense but it did in my head.)

By: Hyperion

Hyperion — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:10:44 +0000

I think the first half of the telecast could be summed up with the motto: “Hollywood: Saving the World, One Movie at a Time.” Then the onslaught of “go to the theatre!” propaganda, partially driven by Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban and his decision to simultaneously release a movie in theatres on DVD, and you had to amend the motto to: “Hollywood, Saving the World One Movie at a Time, but only if you pay 13.95 for a ticket and 10 bucks for popcorn.”

By: helen

helen — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 07:54:02 +0000

Hmmm, I only go to the theatres to watch action films. Yep, all the explosion and mayhem…. simply bcos my home theatre is not spanking enuff! lol

Here in my town, a cineplex ticket cost RM8 which comes to about US 2.30. A DVD cost US 2.30 too…. (piracy)

Disclaimer: I course am against ahem, piracy…..

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 06:23:05 +0000

I don’t like going to out to movies nowadays, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you. What I wanted to say is that Stephen King said in an interview that he goes to his local theater all the time. I was impressed.

By: claire

claire — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 05:01:15 +0000

Having done my share of work as a below-the-line crew member, I can say it’s total bs that piracy hurts them. You get a day or week rate while you’re working on the film and when it’s over, so’s your paycheck. The only people it hurts are actors eligible for royalties or people with points (a percentage of the profits).

The music during the acceptance speeches was totally distracting, mixed too loud, and a mood killer to boot!

I thought Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep had the best bit of the night.

By: modigli

modigli — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 04:53:10 +0000

This years Oscars were pretty bland. And I’m still shocked that Crash won. It was a decent movie - but BEST PICTURE?! I don’t think so.

That whole pimp thing kinda freaked me out, too.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:34:51 +0000

My favorite line was: Do you think if we tore down that statue, Hollywood would become democratized?

I am sublimely disinterested in whether or not Hollywood wants me to spend more money at the multiplex.

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:10:37 +0000

I was very sorry that you didn’t win an Oscar this year Neil. I know you weren’t nominated and so it was a longshot, but still. Remember what the Lubbavitcher Rebbe always said about the Mets: Vaight’l nexcheer bubbe!

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 01:52:20 +0000

Karla, uh-oh… I like the Tony Awards even better.