I read the whole thing as a free subscriber to woketopia and was frothing to comment. The ONLY reason I have watched movies for the better part of 70 years is story. The writers in Hollywood don't know how to write stories anymore and it seems unlikely they will ever write stories again being employees of a propaganda mill. Perhaps they will die off and some new operations will replace them. I hope so!
I’m very particular these days about which movies I will watch. I rarely go to the theater either. I think the last time I went was in 2017/18 for Peter Jackson’s WW1 ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ and then the new Top Gun more recently.
The best movie I’ve streamed recently was last night on Netflix , 2020 film called ‘Minari’ by director Lee Isaac Chung (American of Korean ethnicity). It’s a sort of autobiographical flick, set in early 1980’s Arkansas. If you watch it, do so with subtitles on, to get full effect.
Actor Will Patton plays Paul and his performance was a stand out.
This film was classified as a foreign language film, but to me was 100% an American story. I think it resonated because I also lived in tough-economics mid west as a child, during these early Reagan years.
I admire your ability to endure the wokeness of Netflix. We abandoned it years ago and plan never to go back. I watched Jackson's film too; first rate story telling. When and if Minari escapes to the real world I'll use your recommend to watch it.
I sometimes use this website to pre select, then check out reviews and trailers before popping the corn. This screening method works about 50% of the time. But sometimes I get 15min in and the BS detector goes up and I have to nope out.
I've always preferred reading serious books to watching movies, so it takes a movie to be touted as really good before I'll even consider watching it. Most movies these days are either too action-figure oriented or too woke to hold my interest. I liked comic books as a kid, but I've long since outgrown them, so I don't want to watch comic book stories on screens. I like more serious movies with some complexity, but I don't want to be preached at with simpleminded sloganeering. I guess I'll just stick to books.
Quite frankly, I hope Hollywood continues to stay married to the Democratic world view. Many they both get flushed down into the whirlpool of sewer they so richly deserve! As long as they continue to put this tripe out there, the easier it is to see their agenda. And by the way, just imagine the complete surprise if some woke woman ever tries to “defend herself” against an assailant who isn’t afraid to strike a woman! After all, for the last 4 years all we’ve seen are women kicking ass on every show and movie. (And no, I’m not a woman hater, I AM a woman!)
It used to be fun going to the movies…and then they started preaching to us.
At first it was just the people…self aggrandizing clowns like Di Nero, Babs, Meathead, etc. telling us from their exalted positions that they were smarter than we were and that we we should listen to them and think what they tell us to think.
But then came the wonderful world of woke where historical roles were filled according to quotas rather than authenticity. (Bridgerton comes to mind)
The entertainment industry has become all about them rather than the public who is supposed to enjoy and support their work. And so, for me at least, it’s time to move on.
When 'Top Gun Maverick' saved Hollywood after the pandemic, I had high hopes it would be rewarded at the awards ceremonies. It should have been, but wasn't. I guess that wasn't surprising but it was disappointing because it was the perfect opportunity to win us back - an old fashioned, great movie that everyone loved with a star who has made more for Hollywood than almost anyone else. Not saying that's why Hollywood is struggling, but maybe it's one of the symptoms?
I watched Civil War. I didn't pay for it. An American civil war...a film topic so profoundly alive with ideas and possibility for storytelling your average community college film department when asked to write a short story about the topic would probably write the next best seller. What did the genius writer\director make it about? Four unlikeable, vainglorius, dead inside journalists travelling the eastern seaboard doing unlikeable and cowardly things while witnessing wanton murder and destruction. At the end there is an execution and they all take pictures of it. That's the entire plot. Yeah, you are onto something. It's not that they can't write a plot anymore...they can barely write about humanity anymore. I went into that movie expecting the worst but at least to find someone likeable or normal...and came out of it feeling sick - and it wasn't because of the violence - it was because the main characters were souless drunken monsters. If that's what Hollywood wants to produce, I'm out.
(To be fair, Dumb and Dumber is one of my favorite movies.)
US movies have sucked for a long time. The quota system put in place for Oscar consideration was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Issues include:
--Too many sequels or remakes because there is no originality any more.
--Checklist actors fill character roles even if this makes no sense or has been overdone. For example, must every couple nowadays consist of a black and white person?
--Talking too fast and sound effects and music drowning out dialogue.
--Boringly predictable story lines and always success at the end.
One reason you don’t mention here is the rise of large streaming platforms such as Netflix. A lot of original content is now released directly to these streaming sites, and people now have huge tv’s with perfect picture quality and surround sound systems in their living rooms, so they don’t even bother going to the theaters anymore.
But yeah, even the streaming content is too woke and low quality for me, though I did enjoy 3 Body Problem on Netflix.
Bret Easton Ellis's in his non-fiction book White and his novel The Shards describes how important movies were when America was in its Empire stage. The 1970s were the movie decade and now few people care.
Very pithy comment and so true
“They can’t give the people what they want because they don’t know the people anymore.”!
Amr Australia
I read the whole thing as a free subscriber to woketopia and was frothing to comment. The ONLY reason I have watched movies for the better part of 70 years is story. The writers in Hollywood don't know how to write stories anymore and it seems unlikely they will ever write stories again being employees of a propaganda mill. Perhaps they will die off and some new operations will replace them. I hope so!
I’m very particular these days about which movies I will watch. I rarely go to the theater either. I think the last time I went was in 2017/18 for Peter Jackson’s WW1 ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ and then the new Top Gun more recently.
The best movie I’ve streamed recently was last night on Netflix , 2020 film called ‘Minari’ by director Lee Isaac Chung (American of Korean ethnicity). It’s a sort of autobiographical flick, set in early 1980’s Arkansas. If you watch it, do so with subtitles on, to get full effect.
Actor Will Patton plays Paul and his performance was a stand out.
This film was classified as a foreign language film, but to me was 100% an American story. I think it resonated because I also lived in tough-economics mid west as a child, during these early Reagan years.
Thanks for this. Have added it to my Netflix Queue. According to Netflix, this film will be leaving Netflix soon. So we'll have to catch it soon.
I admire your ability to endure the wokeness of Netflix. We abandoned it years ago and plan never to go back. I watched Jackson's film too; first rate story telling. When and if Minari escapes to the real world I'll use your recommend to watch it.
I sometimes use this website to pre select, then check out reviews and trailers before popping the corn. This screening method works about 50% of the time. But sometimes I get 15min in and the BS detector goes up and I have to nope out.
https://www.notwokeshows.com/
They don't give people what they want because the artists who know are mostly conservative and can't find work or obtain financing for projects.
Redoing old movies with DEI in mind is a bad idea. The last movie we saw was a Tom Cruise movie. Everything else seems so boring.
There is something sinister in their selection of the term ‘Dei.’
Look up its Latin to English translation.
Coincidence?
DIE is more appropriate. IED works too.
Movies today cut to a new camera view about every four seconds. For whatever reason.
Boomers like myself have difficulty with this constant shifting of camera views and angles so quickly and so often.
And there is the constant left-wing pablum they try to sell all of the time.
The messages are boring and predictable.
I've always preferred reading serious books to watching movies, so it takes a movie to be touted as really good before I'll even consider watching it. Most movies these days are either too action-figure oriented or too woke to hold my interest. I liked comic books as a kid, but I've long since outgrown them, so I don't want to watch comic book stories on screens. I like more serious movies with some complexity, but I don't want to be preached at with simpleminded sloganeering. I guess I'll just stick to books.
How did you interpret this article as a reason to share your story?
LOL I’m sorry for how snarky my comment was. Truly. But my god.
Quite frankly, I hope Hollywood continues to stay married to the Democratic world view. Many they both get flushed down into the whirlpool of sewer they so richly deserve! As long as they continue to put this tripe out there, the easier it is to see their agenda. And by the way, just imagine the complete surprise if some woke woman ever tries to “defend herself” against an assailant who isn’t afraid to strike a woman! After all, for the last 4 years all we’ve seen are women kicking ass on every show and movie. (And no, I’m not a woman hater, I AM a woman!)
It used to be fun going to the movies…and then they started preaching to us.
At first it was just the people…self aggrandizing clowns like Di Nero, Babs, Meathead, etc. telling us from their exalted positions that they were smarter than we were and that we we should listen to them and think what they tell us to think.
But then came the wonderful world of woke where historical roles were filled according to quotas rather than authenticity. (Bridgerton comes to mind)
The entertainment industry has become all about them rather than the public who is supposed to enjoy and support their work. And so, for me at least, it’s time to move on.
I’ll go to movies produced outside Hollywood bubble, Angel Studios. I’ve watched several of their productions and were very impressed.
When 'Top Gun Maverick' saved Hollywood after the pandemic, I had high hopes it would be rewarded at the awards ceremonies. It should have been, but wasn't. I guess that wasn't surprising but it was disappointing because it was the perfect opportunity to win us back - an old fashioned, great movie that everyone loved with a star who has made more for Hollywood than almost anyone else. Not saying that's why Hollywood is struggling, but maybe it's one of the symptoms?
I watched Civil War. I didn't pay for it. An American civil war...a film topic so profoundly alive with ideas and possibility for storytelling your average community college film department when asked to write a short story about the topic would probably write the next best seller. What did the genius writer\director make it about? Four unlikeable, vainglorius, dead inside journalists travelling the eastern seaboard doing unlikeable and cowardly things while witnessing wanton murder and destruction. At the end there is an execution and they all take pictures of it. That's the entire plot. Yeah, you are onto something. It's not that they can't write a plot anymore...they can barely write about humanity anymore. I went into that movie expecting the worst but at least to find someone likeable or normal...and came out of it feeling sick - and it wasn't because of the violence - it was because the main characters were souless drunken monsters. If that's what Hollywood wants to produce, I'm out.
(To be fair, Dumb and Dumber is one of my favorite movies.)
US movies have sucked for a long time. The quota system put in place for Oscar consideration was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Issues include:
--Too many sequels or remakes because there is no originality any more.
--Checklist actors fill character roles even if this makes no sense or has been overdone. For example, must every couple nowadays consist of a black and white person?
--Talking too fast and sound effects and music drowning out dialogue.
--Boringly predictable story lines and always success at the end.
Could it be some are actually beginning to recognize a cesspool when they see it?!
One reason you don’t mention here is the rise of large streaming platforms such as Netflix. A lot of original content is now released directly to these streaming sites, and people now have huge tv’s with perfect picture quality and surround sound systems in their living rooms, so they don’t even bother going to the theaters anymore.
But yeah, even the streaming content is too woke and low quality for me, though I did enjoy 3 Body Problem on Netflix.
Well, basically, because they suck. From story line and characters, to presentation to the overpaid and out of touch actors, young and old.
Bret Easton Ellis's in his non-fiction book White and his novel The Shards describes how important movies were when America was in its Empire stage. The 1970s were the movie decade and now few people care.