JRPC wrote:

Dinostar77 wrote:

Wonder Women getting the highest review scores for a comic book movie since the Dark Knight. Have DC finally nailed with a JLA character? Booked to go see it on Friday.

That's simply untrue.

Not even close.

Apparently it is true, kinda:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/5/30/15715322/wonder-woman-rotten-tomatoes-score

It seems that a few studios and producers are kicking up a fuss over RT again in the wake of what has been seen as under performance at the box office by Pirates 5 and Baywatch. They are placing at least some blame at the low RT score for putting people off.

The Rock has also been very vocal on twitter about a 'disconnect' between the critics and fans, and Brett Ratner (Baywatch director) had a moan about how these types of films used to be critic proof. I'm not sure either argument holds up but obviously in their interests to deflect attention away from the reliance on existing franchises or properties and no mention of how the ballooning cost of going to the cinema may be making audiences much more picky about what they watch.

I haven't seen either film yet so it may even just be as simple as them being shite. Pirates should certainly have been retired by now.

We now have a generation or two who don't have the expectation of someone say of my age. A cinema trip then was more of an event. I can remember certain films that the extended family went to see. There are lots of reasons why that isn't the case any more; technological and social.

A cinema trip now is something to kill an hour or two that facilitates a minute or two of social media conversation. Tired, clapped out ideas like Pirates wrung within an inch of their life is just one example of why cinema (not film) just isn't as good any more. I've no doubt there are independent productions worthy of attention but they don't have the distribution channels.

Movies instead of films. Theme park rides instead of stories and characters. I love a big daft film but it needs balance because the target audience is now so skewed to the younger viewer. And chasing the high of an action sequence ultimately leads to dissatisfaction.

Whilst books are still what they were (if anything they are better), films and video games seem to have taken a bit of a nose dive in some respects. Technology has had an impact such that convenience has resulted in a compromised experience.

To think that the blurry days of VHS actually usurped the cinematic experience still surprises me. I can remember a friend "watching" a piss poor pirate copy of ET and wondering what was wrong with his head.

If one looks back at the quality of pioneering 80s arcade games there is a sophistication behind their simplicity that modern games are only now matching. The fidelity of Asteroids for example with its physics and delicate balance were certainly far in advance of what the 2600 version could offer. Subsequent generations of hardware still haven't bettered the original.

Vented about this enough -but Mr. Baer always saw his invention as something friends and family would play together. I still share his disappointment in how they have turned out.

As for TV? Assuming its relevance (which is a rather big assumption) where would it be without HBO? What on earth has happened to the BBC?

Sorry for the OT rant. I feel they are all linked. Quality just isn't valued any more - maybe convenience has something to do with that?

@davy

I think a fair bit of that is nostalgia talking. There are still films that the whole family go to see, and while some of them are shite (go fuck yourself, Lego Movie) some of them always were.

And there are plenty of games friends and family play together. Playing Zelda with my daughter is one of our favourite things. When I was her age I played Asteroids, Space Invaders, Frogger, Pitfall 2, etc. but the magical feeling I got from those games was no stronger than the one she gets from Zelda. In fact, I'd argue that Zelda is far more captivating, a beautiful world with a strong cast of characters.

It's always a case of what resonates with you personally and when you're younger things can be far more enchanting. If you compare your all-time favourite things with the current mainstream, you'll find things lacking but there has always been a lot of junk in films, tv, games and books.

(I'm not having a go at you, I just think quality still bobs around in the sea of trash, in much the same way it always has)

Most of my favourite films come from the 1970s so I could happily agree that there has been a decline in the mainstream since then and that there's a pace, intelligence and bravery with regard to new ideas, that seems lacking today.

But time has also erased from memory most of the shite that was produced in that decade.

The majority of my favourite games and film come from the more recent era. There's a fuckton of brilliance out there if you don't let the cloud of nostalgia sweep over you

Cosby wrote:

poprock wrote:

Box office takings for modern cinema are skewed by the holders of unlimited cards. Those thousands upon thousands of people who go see any old shite at the pictures because ‘it’s free innit’. Those inflated box office figures feed back into the film studios and encourage them to keep making crap. At least, that’s my theory.

That may be part of it but from a previous job at UGC (now Cineworld), I recall that each unlimited transaction gets processed as a much lower priced ticket when compared with your average adult ticket as this is where the distributor's cut of the takings comes from. It was at that point about two thirds less so while it might boost takings it's not by the normal amount so probably not quite as visible as you might expect. In the early days a few distributors threatened to boycott UGC as they were concerned it would result in lower earnings but obviously not as much as pulling your films from all those cinemas altogether. Possibly a pointless story but I always like when this otherwise useless information becomes relevant.

Intriguing. I had always assumed that something like that must be going on in the background.

trippy wrote:

@davy I think a fair bit of that is nostalgia talking. There are still films that the whole family go to see, and while some of them are shite (go fuck yourself, Lego Movie) some of them always were. And there are plenty of games friends and family play together. Playing Zelda with my daughter is one of our favourite things. When I was her age I played Asteroids, Space Invaders, Frogger, Pitfall 2, etc. but the magical feeling I got from those games was no stronger than the one she gets from Zelda. In fact, I'd argue that Zelda is far more captivating, a beautiful world with a strong cast of characters. It's always a case of what resonates with you personally and when you're younger things can be far more enchanting. If you compare your all-time favourite things with the current mainstream, you'll find things lacking but there has always been a lot of junk in films, tv, games and books. (I'm not having a go at you, I just think quality still bobs around in the sea of trash, in much the same way it always has)

You are quite probably correct. I am all too aware that nostalgia plays a huge part of what I said and I always talk on this subject with a great deal of  caution. Don't think it's entirely down to that - For example, I was quite underwhelmed by Star Wars when I was 11 - I can remember thinking half way through - "is this it?". Empire was mind blowing though.  The fact is I am tired of being underwhelmed and disappointed by cinema. I don't consider myself to be all that demanding but cinema consistently delivers below what I think I'll get. 

Now maybe it's the same nostalgia that causes it - but I really want to enjoy cinema and can't. The thrill of the early arcade made a huge impression on me which is why I feel the same way about games. 

I read more in my youth and I think books are better now. That could be because reading when older grants you more insight and you see more than the narrative - so what I lose in cinema I gain from literature.

Pretty sure cinemas make precious little on the film takings - much the same as petrol stations with fuel, and newsagents with papers and tobacco.

It's all the other stuff they sell you once you cross the threshold.

I would say the price of the cinema ticket at cineworld is precisely set to drive people to unlimited. There are two cinemas in the town centre and both charge about half the standard ticket price and the student ticket price is half the normal price too (which is way more than the classic ten per cent)

Don't underestimate competition either. If there are two cinemas near each other, they'll likely be keeping each others prices lower than average.

A new multiplex opened near my old place in Cardiff and started doing £3 tickets for any film, any time. Our head office made the call to match them and it stayed that way for a couple of months. The other cinema outside the city centre kept ticking along with their usual prices. That's an extreme example of course.

Odeon has the advantage of free parking too.

All good info, thanks chaps. It’s always interesting to learn a bit more from behind the scenes.

The vue is four pounds a ticket too

Films are still good guys my degree gives the authority to me say so

happy to help