Random Summer Thoughts – Movies

About the movies

• Is anyone else having a hard time taking Ryan Reynolds seriously as the Green Lantern?
• Maybe I would’ve bought it if his superhero sidekicks were a guy, a girl, and a pizza place…?
• If you doubt me on that, you should check out this article by Bill Simmons.
• It’s about the illusion of stardom and how smoke and mirrors (or billboards and trailers and product lines) take advantage of how little we know about measuring success in Hollywood. Tinseltown isn’t run by a wins-losses-runs-scored kind of statistics game. So with a little marketing drama, viewers can be convinced actors are “stars” even when all their recent flicks flopped to terrible reviews.
• Simmons names 24 male actors he believes are real stars (I’ll go ahead and give away “the shocker”. Ryan Reynolds isn’t among them.)  These are people whose names, associated with their abilities, apart from the script or the formula can sell the movie.
• One of the *real stars* is Johnny Depp.
• Who by the way still gets the smoke and mirror marketing campaign.
• But who doesn’t even need it. And Hollywood knows that. That’s how they get away with billboards like this that don’t even have the name of the movie on it.
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• They don’t need to name the movie. Their franchise, built on Depp’s back, transcends words.
• Were you not watching when the movie opened and Disney’s magic kingdom logo appeared on the screen? They actually added a skull and crossbones flag waving above the castle.
• Even Mickey Mouse will drop his enchanted children’s wonderland and throw some bones on his flag for a real star.

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• Although if you want to be more cynical, you can read this tongue-in-cheek review which highlights–in visuals–just how “original” the newest movie of the series is.
• (And yet, clearly there will be a Pirates of the Caribbean 5. You stayed for the scene after the end credits, right?)
• In other news, I don’t think Paramount will attach the Transformers logo to their building, no matter how many times they send it to the box office with a different number dangling from the title.
• Whine all you want, Decepticons,  you’re just not Johnny Depp level stars.
• I feel the same way about Batman, which is coming out with another movie in 2012. This one is called The Dark Knight…oh wait, I mean, The Dark Knight… Rises. See the difference?
• Hint – It’s the word “rises”. I.e. TOTALLY. Different. Movie. Not like all the other ones.
• I know, I know. Who doesn’t love a little nostalgic return to superhero-dom? It’s just that even when you attach cult-icon Christian Bale, who swooned us into memorizing his musical numbers in Newsies back in 1992, you still got your tenth take on a character whose breathy perma-whisper reminds you of what it would be like if Bryan Adams was a superhero.
• They still have some cool smoke and mirrors like the snazzy poster below though.
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• With the illusion of stardom confusing us all, I’m sort of liking that movies have gone from box office offerings to a whole portfolio of viewing options. I still love THE EXPERIENCE of a good movie theater, but some films are absolutely perfect for some microwave popcorn and Redbox, Netflix and OnDemand.
• There’s less to lose here. My only dilemma: Does anyone’s pre-set popcorn button on their microwave actually pop a full bag without burning? I have my doubts.
• While movies have always been a sweet spot with me, some of you are figuring out that STORY’s newest venture has lured me into thinking more about film-making.
• Our first short film was shot in Charlotte, North Carolina over Memorial Day. Here is a photo of director Jared Hogan while we were on set.
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• And we just had a meeting with a production and development company for a world-scale project that will be launched very soon.
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• In fact, if you’re passionate about capturing meaning and faith in films that don’t suck, I’d even go as far to suggest you roadtrip it to one of the meetups we’re hosting around the country or, at the very least, drop me an email some time and tell me about your passions. There may be some things we need to talk about. =) [email: sarah-at-storychicago-dot-com]

[For random summer thoughts about zoos, click here]