Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 03:55:25 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Lion King remake

Started by madhair60, July 11, 2019, 09:51:55 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

bgmnts

Fair point.

Although look what happens when you do give one guy full control (prequels).


Noodle Lizard

A friend not too long ago was baffled by the idea that "him from Swingers" was directing these huge movies (Iron Man, Jungle Book, now this).  But aye, as per St_Eddie's post, studios are currently more interested in hiring gullible and malleable cogs to "direct" these big-budget productions - if they already have a bit of a profile for being "one of Monica's least popular romantic interests", all the better.  At the very least they can hold their own on the press circuit.

Recently, they've gone more the route of using "indie" directors whose "indie" films have essentially been desperate pleas to gain entry to and work within the major studio system (Colin Trevorrow, J. A. Bayona, Gareth Edwards etc.)

Maybe the definition of "director" is changing, though.  Maybe rather than it referring to the executor of a singular vision, it's now more akin to being a floor manager and PR face for a vision concocted by countless different people and board-rooms over countless years.  This is the strategy that allows you to churn out dreadful films which nobody really likes and still break box-office records because it's meticulously designed for nothing other than to get people to buy tickets for it.

Increasingly, I'm suspecting a trend of studios playing into how shite their films are through showcasing obviously unfinished work in early trailers and promotional images (see Jurassic World, Aladdin, Sonic etc.), deliberately garnering negative attention in order to drum up interest in an otherwise dull final product.  Honestly, these are barely even films now, they're simply aggregators of "what works".

This Lion King remake looks absolutely shit.  I guarantee you everyone working on it knew that (except the actors, perhaps).  Technologically impressive, but otherwise inane and pointless and almost comical.  Everyone still gets paid.

bgmnts

Like Adam Sandler films, but not almost comical.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on July 16, 2019, 10:24:50 PM
A friend not too long ago was baffled by the idea that "him from Swingers" was directing these huge movies (Iron Man, Jungle Book, now this).  But aye, as per St_Eddie's post, studios are currently more interested in hiring gullible and malleable cogs to "direct" these big-budget productions - if they already have a bit of a profile for being "one of Monica's least popular romantic interests", all the better.  At the very least they can hold their own on the press circuit.

Recently, they've gone more the route of using "indie" directors whose "indie" films have essentially been desperate pleas to gain entry to and work within the major studio system (Colin Trevorrow, J. A. Bayona, Gareth Edwards etc.)

Aye.  Ridley Scott talked about this in a recent intereview with Vulture...

Quote from: VultureVULTURE: You've watched other people take over franchises you've made. How often are you asked to do that? Has Kathleen Kennedy offered you a Star Wars movie?

RIDLEY SCOTT: No, no. I'm too dangerous for that.

VULTURE: Why is that?

RIDLEY SCOTT: Because I know what I'm doing. [Laughs.] I think they like to be in control, and I like to be in control myself. When you get a guy who's done a low-budget movie and you suddenly give him $180 million, it makes no sense whatsoever. It's fuckin' stupid. You know what the reshoots cost?

VULTURE: I can't imagine.

RIDLEY SCOTT: Millions! Millions. You can get me for my fee, which is heavy, but I'll be under budget and on time. This is where experience does matter, it's as simple as that! It can make you dull as dishwater, but if you're really experienced and you know what you're doing, it's fucking essential. Grow into it, little by little. Start low-budget, get a little bit bigger, maybe after $20 million, you can go to $80. But don't suddenly go to $160.

VULTURE: One of the problems with the studio system at present is that there isn't that middle ground anymore. There's low-budget, and there's $160 million.

RIDLEY SCOTT: And you get killed.

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on July 16, 2019, 10:24:50 PM
Increasingly, I'm suspecting a trend of studios playing into how shite their films are through showcasing obviously unfinished work in early trailers and promotional images (see Jurassic World, Aladdin, Sonic etc.), deliberately garnering negative attention in order to drum up interest in an otherwise dull final product.  Honestly, these are barely even films now, they're simply aggregators of "what works".

I agree with this 100%.  I've long said the art of popcorn movie making is dead, generally speaking.  By and large, they're not movies anymore; they're bland sausages, designed by committee and focus tested to death, in order to offend no-one and appeal to everyone, rolling down a conveyor belt and straight into the consumer's mouth.  To an extent, populist entertainment has always been this way, but there used be different flavoured sausages; ones with herbs; others with spices.  They'd have a unique flavour and certain people would prefer certain styles of sausages to others.  Nowadays, all the sausages are the same; pale and without taste.  If you've had one, you've had them all.

colacentral

Yeah but Ridley Scott is thick as shit so I wouldn't listen to a word he says about anything.

Urinal Cake

Luckily the world is so shite they get away with it.

The Internet and digital video were supposed to solve a lot of the mid-tier issues but apart from Netflix I don't see that happening.

Movies are becoming what I guess the circus was before tv etc. A bit of everything to entertain yourself and the kids.

Internet based serialisation is essentially killing the format off artistically.


Josef K

Saw this yesterday. It looked stunning, the environments were photorealistic in places and you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for real life (if you were middle aged and your eyesight was starting to go bad).

Other than that, entirely pointless. Missed out a lot of the better comedic beats from the original, new music was fine, Beyonce was kinda bad.

Billy Eichner & Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa is the only thing that makes it worth seeing. I'd watch a spinoff with their characters. If only there was a precedent for it.

BritishHobo

It is a shame, all this. I remember reading a good article a few years back springing from Colin Trevorrow, about what's been discussed here, directors of small but well-received indie movies being thrust onto enormous productions. There's a big gang of directors who've had kind of an artificial trajectory; what could have been a career where they learned and grew, telling unique and personal stories, learning different ways to frame and edit them, becomes something where they're just handed insane amounts of cash and have to pretty much bland their way through a film every aspect of which has already been planned and approved by one of the biggest corporations in the world. Then again they must make shitloads of money, and I work for fuck-all, so I can't exactly turn my nose up.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Josef K on July 23, 2019, 08:55:27 AM
Billy Eichner & Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa is the only thing that makes it worth seeing. I'd watch a spinoff with their characters. If only there was a precedent for it.

Eventually Disney will run out of popular films to remake, so look forward to the "live action" remake of The Lion King 1½ (2027), at which point failure to bow down to our all-conquering-all-knowing-almighty Mouse Overlord, by buying multiple tickets and mountains of merchandise, will be punishable by death.  Such a happy, bright and cheerful future awaits us.  Almost like a Disney cartoon...

phantom_power

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on July 16, 2019, 10:24:50 PM
A friend not too long ago was baffled by the idea that "him from Swingers" was directing these huge movies (Iron Man, Jungle Book, now this).  But aye, as per St_Eddie's post, studios are currently more interested in hiring gullible and malleable cogs to "direct" these big-budget productions - if they already have a bit of a profile for being "one of Monica's least popular romantic interests", all the better.  At the very least they can hold their own on the press circuit.

Recently, they've gone more the route of using "indie" directors whose "indie" films have essentially been desperate pleas to gain entry to and work within the major studio system (Colin Trevorrow, J. A. Bayona, Gareth Edwards etc.)

Maybe the definition of "director" is changing, though.  Maybe rather than it referring to the executor of a singular vision, it's now more akin to being a floor manager and PR face for a vision concocted by countless different people and board-rooms over countless years.  This is the strategy that allows you to churn out dreadful films which nobody really likes and still break box-office records because it's meticulously designed for nothing other than to get people to buy tickets for it.

Increasingly, I'm suspecting a trend of studios playing into how shite their films are through showcasing obviously unfinished work in early trailers and promotional images (see Jurassic World, Aladdin, Sonic etc.), deliberately garnering negative attention in order to drum up interest in an otherwise dull final product.  Honestly, these are barely even films now, they're simply aggregators of "what works".

This Lion King remake looks absolutely shit.  I guarantee you everyone working on it knew that (except the actors, perhaps).  Technologically impressive, but otherwise inane and pointless and almost comical.  Everyone still gets paid.

I'm not sure this is anything different to how things have always been. Certainly in the days of the studio system before your Coppolas and Spielbergs changed things up. How many directors did The Wizard of Oz have?

Mister Six

I think the point is that the studio system was a bad thing, and we don't want a return to that.

Although things tend to come and go in cycles, and I imagine we'll see the rise of new Coppolas in a few decades, as the current model of spending $250 million on eight films in the hope that one of them will break a billion is patently unsustainable.

Timothy

Quote from: St_Eddie on July 24, 2019, 01:52:25 AM
Eventually Disney will run out of popular films to remake, so look forward to the "live action" remake of The Lion King 1½ (2027)

That would be awesome. Especially if they add dialogue. That film was great.

Jungle Book, Beauty Beast and Aladdin were great.
Mary Poppins 2, Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo were quite dull.

Might see this next week with unlimited cinema pass to escape the heat but don't have high expectations.

greenman

I'm not sure Scott is the best advert for a "sensible" older director given that his best film was notoriously over budget and his more recent career would at best be viewed as one of bland competence.

The idea that mid budget films have dried up I think has more credence although I would say its moreso ambitious mid budget films that have largely vanished, replaced by bland adult dramas(normally staring Hanks or Streep) and probably based on some worthy cause 95% of the audience already agree with. Actually Scott as producer is another good example of that in the way Blade Runner 2049 couldn't stay around say $50-60 million, it had to balloon up to $180 million.

Honestly I think blockbuster wise the recent era isn't nearly as monolithic as its talked up as. Its true that you generally have more studio control than the 80's but I think stylistically there is a massive difference between say JJ Abrams and the better Marvel films. The former is horrible formaulic blandness resorting to every cheap trick it can but the latter I think has often shown a good deal more ambition and risk.

The real successes with Marvel have tended to be comedy directors since I think shows you the franchise has far more in common with say Zemeckis or Reitman than it does Lucas or Spielberg.

phantom_power

Quote from: Mister Six on July 24, 2019, 11:55:09 AM
I think the point is that the studio system was a bad thing, and we don't want a return to that.


Tell that to the golden age of cinema

Shit Good Nose

Mrs Nose and little Nose saw this yesterday.

Mrs Nose thought it was okay, surprisingly so as she'd worked her expectations down very low after reading some reviews.

Little Nose was bored through most of it, apparently.


I have no desire to see it whatsoever.

EOLAN

Quote from: phantom_power on July 24, 2019, 07:53:52 AM
I'm not sure this is anything different to how things have always been. Certainly in the days of the studio system before your Coppolas and Spielbergs changed things up. How many directors did The Wizard of Oz have?

4 I believe. With one of the biggest films of all time 'Gone With the Wind' having a big impact.
Richard Thorpe started; wasn't liked by the producer and was fired. Dorothy was in a blonde wig in that version so little of his stuff would have made the film. George Cukor took over; changed a bit of the design but having helped set up the film he had to leave to do with 'Gone with the Wind'. Victor Fleming took over and filmed a lot of the film; but his predecessor Cukor was fired from 'Gone With the Wind' so Fleming got the call to take over King Vidor came in and primarily did a lot of the B&W Kansas scenes. Meanwhile Fleming having filmed predominant amounts of 'Gone With the Wind' couldn't finish it with Sam Wood finishing that off.
Still two of the most revered films today; although 'Gone With the Wind's Civil War and somewhat romanticism of the Old South and the empowerment of the husband over his wife makes it somewhat problematic; while no one really cares all that much about the Silver/Gold standard allegory of the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Anyway; going to see the Lion King next week. Really want to hate it but fear I am going to think it's grand (in the Irish sense of it being meh - alright rather than grandiose).

St_Eddie

Quote from: EOLAN on July 25, 2019, 11:19:02 AM
...while no one really cares all that much about the Silver/Gold standard allegory of the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Pray, tell?

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: St_Eddie on July 25, 2019, 01:30:47 PM
Pray, tell?

This article on Wiki gives a good version of events, plus an alternative reading - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

All of which really just shows that people can (and will) read into it whatever they want - also cf. Jim Muro's Street Trash.  Sometimes a film is just about alcoholic tramps melting into a shitter, and playing catch with a dismembered cock and nothing more.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on July 25, 2019, 01:40:02 PM
This article on Wiki gives a good version of events, plus an alternative reading - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

All of which really just shows that people can (and will) read into it whatever they want - also cf. Jim Muro's Street Trash.  Sometimes a film is just about alcoholic tramps melting into a shitter, and playing catch with a dismembered cock and nothing more.

Ah, okay.  Thanks for the link.  I read a couple of paragraphs and that was enough.  Film studenty wanky bollocks.  No, thanks.

Dex Sawash

Quote from: Catalogue Trousers on July 14, 2019, 01:33:21 PM
Yes, astonishingly, there is a way to make The Lion King even more shite.

Elton John's new lyrics "too cynical"

EOLAN

Quote from: Dex Sawash on July 26, 2019, 12:20:20 PM
Elton John's new lyrics "too cynical"

Tim Rice's lyrics surely - or maybe Elton got good old Bernie to do his own spin on them.

EOLAN

Well I saw it.

From the opening; well the photo realistic images were quite underwhelming. I mean the images as in stills were fine but the movements were very computer and not very realistic. Especially the giraffes. As stated in some podcasts; you lost a lot of the emoting in the animals; particularly the lions with the same expression whether they be angry, playful, sad, dead. Also a lot harder to tell the character apart. Donald Glover was very erm, meh; especially when he had to sing. The Beyoncé song seemed to just be a rip-off of circle of life with a little ballady bit in the middle. A lot of the time watching feeling like what was the point having seen the original. The hyenas weren't as humorous this time either.

On the positives. Billy Eichner was excellent and Seth Rogen was surprisingly decent. Somewhat restrained and not much of his chat-show laugh. There part in "Can You Feel the Love (In this Sunlight)" was so much better than Glover and Knowles-Carter. John Oliver maybe not quite as dynamic as Rowan Atkinson but was decent especially when he was being faded out/ignored. While the animal imagery was underwhelming some of the landscape shots were quite good.

Overall; I felt while the film is about how Scar takes over the kingdom from Mufasa and ruins it; I do wonder if the film is anti-monarchy by showing the land of Pumba and Timon seemingly being managed like a co-operative without any ruler being perfectly and beautifully maintained without any threat of  the wrong successor taking over. Although I do support Scar offering an opportunity to the neglected lower classes of the hyenas from a moral viewpoint.

Twed

Do any of the cats in this get cancer?

EOLAN

Quote from: Twed on July 30, 2019, 04:59:57 PM
Do any of the cats in this get cancer?

Maybe testicular cancer; because they all seem to have fallen off.

C_Larence

Quote from: Twed on July 30, 2019, 04:59:57 PM
Do any of the cats in this get cancer?

SPOILERS:

In the post credits scene, Simba and Beyoncé's baby is born, and as the camera pans over him being held aloft by rikishi on pride rock, a white glow emanates from his left eye, seemingly hinting at retinoblastoma and methinks a possible sequel

Replies From View

What kind of animal would Marie Curie be portrayed as, do you reckon?

Quote from: C_Larence on August 01, 2019, 10:26:07 AM
rikishi

... who proceeds to do a "stinkface" on a photo-realistic depiction of Elton John.

Golden E. Pump

I love it in the future when they go to give Moira Kelly an award and Kanye will be on stage saying 'yo I'mma let you finish bitch but Beyoncé had the best Nala voice all goddamn time yo'.

Twed

Quote from: C_Larence on August 01, 2019, 10:26:07 AM
SPOILERS:

In the post credits scene, Simba and Beyoncé's baby is born, and as the camera pans over him being held aloft by rikishi on pride rock, a white glow emanates from his left eye, seemingly hinting at retinoblastoma and methinks a possible sequel
Do you think any of the cats had cancer at the beginning of the movie?

Please, this is important.

druss

Did anyone else laugh when Scar confessed and they did the flashback? I know it was in the original but it just seemed weirdly comical and took the tension out of the scene in this one.