Cinema Issues: The Demonisation Of The Nuclear Family

When leaving Olivia Wilde’s latest film the Invite a thought occurred, why is it we have so many films showing the death of love or of families but so few these days showing love and happiness.

Could it be the idea that a lot of people in Hollywood are unhappy in their relationships and so reflect that on the big screen perhaps. However, there is also an underlying cynicism that suggests that there is something problematic about straight couples getting together in 2026 and that the nuclear family is a tool for oppression. Hence you see far less of it, to show a woman happy within a nuclear family unit is to suggest that it isn’t the toxic, freedom stealing experience characters such as Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes 3 say it is.

You also have the open promotion of alternative lifestyles where people are shown as happier because they aren’t married. This can be seen in the Invite with the promotion of swinging culture, many modern films have suggested having multiple partners or having meaningless hook ups with no commitments is the only way to be happy, looking at you Splitizville. This reflects the cynicism we have been talking about rather than believing in love and commitment and loyalty, these are all seen as tools of oppression, the only way Hollywood thinks they can be free is to pursue their own meaningless self pleasure from meaningless sex where they can throw the person away at the end.

Look at Charlize Theron who in a Call Her Daddy episode said that she is glad she isn’t married as she could have sex with a man half her age. This is just as problematic as Leonardo DiCaprio throwing away girls when they get too old for him in their early twenties.

The cynicism we have talked about is a reflection of the deeply jaded, perverse nature of Hollywood’s ideas on sex but also the rejection of the love story, in its most traditional form as they view it as oppressive

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Cinema Issues: Trouble In The DCU

So with Supergirl crashing out in almost comical style at the box office, what’s next for DC. In the immediate term what’s next is a Green Lanterns show that is so embarrassed of its source material it won’t even call itself Green Lanterns and Clayface a film no one was asking for. However in terms of what’s next as a broader more heady topic the idea is likely a movie back towards the hardcore fanbase and masculinity. Superman last year had a soft more feminine form of masculinity and Supergirl this year de-centred men as they are toxic okay. Look at how well it worked out for them Superman didn’t reach the heights they wanted it to and Supergirl will cost them money. You can already see this movie towards the hardcore fans, by the fact they have fast tracked the Deathstroke and Bane film.

The fact is as unpopular as it may be Superhero films are aimed for a male audience, the vast bulk of comic readers and people who attend these films are men, as such making Superhero films for women or for softer men when may like more will result in box office failure. James Gunn seems to like championing this kind of soy boy masculinity, look what he did with Peacemaker over time, however, Gunn’s influence is likely shaky, he’s up for a contract renewal in 2027 as co-head of DC and he doesn’t have a lot to recommend him, particularly if Clayface fails.

What is very curious is the brand damaged control. After Supergirl flopped, the toxic fans of the film screamed everyone who didn’t like it was a misogynist and attacked them. However Gunn, Alcock and the rest of team DC stayed quiet which is odd for this kind of thing. Normally victim narratives are spun up. There was the fan hit piece in the New York Times screaming about “misogyny” whilst ignoring the misandry of Ms Alcock, which could be seen as doing damage control for the studio. However, even in Peter Safran’s statement wherein he acknowledges that Supergirl is a flop he doesn’t say a word about the fans. It’s very curious.

A lot is now on Clayface if that too flops then you would imagine the incoming Paramount takeover will not look favourably on Gunn’s DCU and may wipe the slate clean.

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Cinema Issues: Gender, Sexuality and Modern Pixar

For anyone watching Toy Story 5 it becomes clear from the off that there is something insidious under the surface. This is the entire subversion of gender roles. Now this has been explained away by staff as “how little girls play” however this was clearly a deliberate creative choice. Kenna Harris even admitted there were other versions of the play sequences yet they went with the ones they did.

Remember after a string of recent flops Pete Doctor said that the studio would get back to making films for everyone, it sure doesn’t feel like it.

When looking at Toy Story 5 and asking question why did it do that, you only need look at the creative team. Harris was the co director, she has never directed anything major for Pixar before, she was brought in with veteran Andrew Stanton. She is also a woman who views herself as being non binary, showing that to the core of her identity is disputed ideas around gender. One cannot jump to blaming her immediately as Stanton and the wider team at Pixar would have had to sign off on the charges to the characters.

This feels like a continuation of a studio that has one thing one the mind, remember when they forced in a same sex kiss into Lightyear, or when Pixar staff were upset as had to remove the larger LGBTQ+ themes from Elio. Clearly they want to push gender stuff and LGBTQ themes though their kids films, which is dicey.

To answer the Elephant in the room about what they did in Toy Story 5, we can answer in 3 parts.

Jessie- is now far more masculine and aggressive, during the romance scenes with Buzz she is mostly disinterested and focused on her anti tech crusade, she isn’t shown as having any softness bar once.

Woody- as the former male leader character is humiliated, no one respects him, he has to fight with buzz about who get the number 2 position under Jessie. In his interpersonal relationship with Bo he is shown to also be dominated.

Buzz- arguably the most notable case. Buzz was hyper masculine in previous films as he was a space ranger action hero toy. Now he is bumbling, seemingly unable to do anything without Jessie, he gives another male voiced toy the kiss of life at the start of the film. Then you have the wedding sequence at the end of the film, after the proposal Buzz’s leg twists up as is traditionally feminine, Buzz is given away as is what happens to women, Buzz gets the ring put on him first (again women), and Buzz is dipped for the kiss (again submissive). Then you have the fact he’s wearing a skirt, people scream oh it’s a kilt, it’s funny isn’t it we don’t remember Buzz being Scottish before this film. They knew they would get a backlash to him wearing a skirt so added in this cop out.

Not only is it character vandalism, but also one has to ask why are they doing this. Why are they trying to destroy traditional masculine elements and traditional feminine aspects within a film aimed at kids. What the film presents you with is a world wherein men act like women and women act like men, can you see the message there.

Pixar as a studio has made it’s bones very clear about what it wants to do, and why and if this sort of stuff bothers you, you shouldn’t be watching their films. It shows how deeply out of touch Hollywood is from reality

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Cinema Issues: Cancelling A Show After One Season

Today we are doing something a bit different and doing a bit of a PSA. So if like us you’re getting tired of seeing posts whining about various shows canceled after one season, wherein the poster didn’t understand why it has happened, the idea here is to explain to them once and for all, so they stop being tedious.

1- It is all about ratings, no not critical scores, viewing figures/ratings. It doesn’t matter if there is a right wing backlash to the show they don’t have the power to end it, it doesn’t matter if there is a loyal audience if it is small. How it has always worked is if the show doesn’t hit the ratings target it gets canned.

2- Sometimes shows get second seasons as they are bought up front or developed for two seasons. This then contractually overrules ratings issues. Look at the God Awful Halo TV series for an example of this, it was commissioned for two seasons and so it got a second season despite terrible ratings.

3- The only thing that matters is you watching it, talking about it online and buying merch, these things send the correct corporate signals. Boycotts and petitions after a decision has been made change nothing in most cases.

4- Businesses aren’t charities they don’t give a show 5 seasons to find an audience, not in the hyper competitive world of streaming you aren’t either a hit out of the gate as something like Squid Game was or you aren’t and then cancelled.

5- You aren’t entitled to a second season, when you start a show you aren’t entitled to an ending either. Check yourself.

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Cinema Issues: Audiences Inability To Wait

The other day there was supposed footage from Avengers Doomsday doing the rounds, supposedly leaked. It was in incredibly bad quality and was quite hard to watch. Looking at the view count clearly a lot of people had looked at it.

However, this is a symptom of a wider problem. People used to be able to wait for things to wait for a trailer, to wait for the film to come out, yet now people are getting excited and rushing to see a poor quality leaked bit of test footage that likely won’t even make it into the film.

This does a disservice to fans as it shows them as being desperate, fans shouldn’t be desperate they should be more discerning and only want to see the best possible version of the footage that is actually finished.

Sadly it is unlikely to change anytime soon.

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Cinema Issues: Hopefully The Last Death Of Doctor Who

Making it cheaper, won’t fix the fact no one is watching.

This week against the cries of us being stupid and wrong, we were proven right in our assessment of Doctor Who. It wasn’t in fact a stunning and brave success story with better ratings than ever before, and Disney leaving with their money mattered. Who knew, we did, but the Doctor Who fans wouldn’t accept it.

Turns out telling your main demographic, straight white men that they aren’t welcome anymore and that you’re making a show for the LGBTQ+ community isn’t a great way to get your show another season. The fact is the LGBTQ+ community is less than 20% of the world’s population as such you shouldn’t cater big franchises to them as they aren’t enough for the returns. Individual low budget small films or programs sure but not major franchises.

RTD, the cast and the BBC got high on their own supply and thought that they were making revolutionary content that would save us all from the imagined “far right” when in fact all it did was destroy the brand. People got sick of the constant white man bad narratives, and guessing how many drag characters would be in it week to week.

Right now it’s not officially cancelled as they haven’t said that but then again do they need to. It has no showrunner, it has no actors, it lacks the funds it needs to keep going, they couldn’t even make a Christmas special and AMC their new American partners are more interested in the straight white male era of Doctor Who not what it became.

For those of you who will screech it’s always been woke, there is a difference between presenting different view points left and right in programming and having you make up your own mind. As there is with teaching you moral lessons as relevant to the plot. Whereas modern Who feels the need to pause the episode turn to the camera and then give you a 5 minute speech about why white people are evil, or possibly if it’s feeling adventurous why straight men are bad.

This will always be remembered as the era when RTD said you couldn’t have a disabled person play a villain as it would be ableist and so changes the entire cannon of the show.

Hopefully it dies for the final time and RTDs career meets the same end as the Duffers and the Game of Thrones Duo.

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Cinema Issues: The Future of Star Wars

Lets reflect, the Mandalorian and Grogu has flopped and been upstaged by two indie horror films. The sequel trilogy is reviled and was diminishing returns. Solo flopped and most of the Disney + shows have been cancelled after one season.

It is pretty safe to say Star Wars isn’t in a healthy way. The issue as far as we see it is that new audiences don’t care about Star Wars, attempts to broaden the appeal haven’t worked, so what needs to happen is to reawaken those who have lost interest or left the fandom but once cared. This may be impossible but it’s the only card left.

What needs to happen to restore trust with these old fans is firstly some accountability, the management needs to admit failure, and needs to punish the actors and creatives who openly spat on said fans. Calling them often things like bigots, trolls or pathetic, these actors and creatives need to be fired in a public show that things are changing.

From there a consultation period is needed wherein Star Wars asks it’s hardcore fans, including the members of the Fandom Menace which it has long hated what to do next. Fans should pick the direction be it towards the Old Republic or Legends stuff. Doing this allows fans to feel heard and to feel like they have some ownership of the franchise again. This will inevitably be met with criticism from the left wing press who will scream how they are letting bigots win. What Lucasfilm and Disney should do is use the left’s logic back on them and say no Star Wars is for everyone including the fandom menace people. Having these media types upset will score them more browny points with the people they have alienated.

After that choose the best director for the job, and the right cast. Do away with anything relating to DEI and cast on merit, involve the fans again to a degree in the production stage of things. This is unorthodox however, Star Wars has alienated fans so so much and is in such a bad shape they should almost carry out their next film as a Kickstarter, sans asking for money, in order to restore trust.

You also need to commit to the course of action and to have an outline and a plan for where the story is going. One of the greatest issues with the sequel trilogy is that there was no plan.

If you can restore fan trust and bring back on board those you lost with the sequels and the wider Disney Star Wars era then you might have a chance at saving Star Wars.

However, they’ll most likely just sell it off as it’s a loss producer now.

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Cinema Issues: Masters of the Universe, Sexual Depravity, And Hollyweird

He-Man has released at the cinema, we have a review out on site, and is proceeding to struggle with audiences, however, that’s not what we are here to discuss today. We are talking about the idea of Hollyweird.

Firstly this is a film aimed supposedly at two groups, adults who watched the cartoon and have nostalgia and also little boys. The film forces in a conversation on toxic masculinity that the kids won’t get and the adults have heard before. Why they do this is obvious Hollywood constantly needs to preach the message.

Secondly, remember what we said about the audience well there is an awful lot of sexual content in this film particularly LGBTQ+ stuff, this seems odd in a film that is aimed at kids.

Lets unpack.

There are comments about fisting, in a film for kids.

Skelator seems obsessed with He-Man’s crotch and thighs, in a film for kids.

There are jokes about giving head, in a film for kids.

And Teela is called a “pussy”, she could have been called a coward or weak, these are synonyms that mean the same thing, but no, sexual language was used in a film for kids.

The film knows what it is doing.

Why does Hollywood think this is acceptable in a film aimed at kids?

Thirdly, this isn’t a purity thing if the film was r rated go for it, but it’s not and it’s aimed at kids as the primary audience. This seems once again like a weird attempt to force sexual topics and conversations into kids films.

Hollywood isn’t safe for children and this shows that in spades.

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Cinema Issues: The Rise In Youth Horror

The last weekend at the box office was truly something unprecedented, two small sub 10 million dollar horror films not from a franchise lapped a Star Wars film and kept it from being #1.

These two films are Backrooms and Obsession, both of which we have reviews up for on the site if you want to check them out.

The question a lot of the trades are asking is what is behind this massive surge in horror. It’s the youth. The under 35 demo is making up a huge amount of the audience for both of these films. What we are here to discuss is why.

Arguments can be made of the fact that Star Wars is an aging franchise and young people just aren’t into it, but we think it’s more than that. These horror films are reflective of online culture both being made my YouTubers, these films talk in a language of memes and references younger people can get. What’s more they feel more authentic, due to the fact that these people were YouTubers first there is more of a parasocial bond than there is with these big directors and Hollywood. This can increase loyalty and ticket sales for people who are fans of these people, maybe they had a chat message read aloud and feel seen by them. There is a drive for authentic voices and with these smaller scale horror films they are being marketed far more personally, the stars are showing behind the scenes clips and doing AMAs and live streams, as well the directors seem more like casual viewers rather than auter cinephiles.

All of this is without even mentioning that horror has been on the rise, these past years people are really into horror right now, so that helps too. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference between more original horror fair such as the two we’ve been talking about and franchise horror such as Evil Dead Burn or Insidious 6. If there is maybe we’ll write another post assessing the situation.

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Cinema Issues: Too Big To Fail, But Failing Anyway The Pedro Pascal Story

Gladiator 2, The Fantastic Four and seemingly the Mandalorian and Grogu all have one thing is common, they either flopped or are predicted to. As we write this piece the Mandalorian is a few days away and it has a low critical rating and bad projections.

What went wrong? Pedro Pascal burst onto the screen after Game of Thrones and Narcos and seemed on a one man mission to take over Hollywood and for a long time he was in a number of things. However, the warning signs were coming.

Pedro became increasingly outspoken, he became worse than Mark Ruffalo and a female equivalent to Rachel Zegler. Zegler at least had the ignorance of youth Pedro doesn’t. He went on blast at the last US election attacking people if they didn’t vote the way he wanted them to, then you had the creepy thing with Vanessa Kirby and the touching, then you had this position on trans issues. Pedro’s brother has delusions that he is a woman as such Pedro defends the idea that someone can become another sex, an idea that is bunk. Pedro also frequently attacks people he deems transphobic or who don’t support the community enough. Can you see where this is going?

Even recently on the press tour for Mando he kissed a late night host on the mouth rather than you know promote the movie. He has become emboldened by the left wing who view him as the perfect modern man to chase this progressive wave.

The issue is as we have seen time and time again in the culture war the dyed hair crowd of bluesky fame, not only don’t come out for the TV and films they spend all day defending against bigots, but when they do they are such a tiny part of the audience the project still fails. As such they shouldn’t be chased.

With his recent string of flops the ground looks set to swallow Pedro alive. Yes the Materialist was a success on a modest budget but in terms of franchise fare it looks like it’s over. If Mando flops those at Lucasfilm and Disney would be wise to hang that dead albatross around Pedro’s neck and blame him and his divisive statements. One wouldn’t be surprised if in a month after the release of Mando if we hear that Pedro has been sacked in the role, possibly maybe even that Reed Richards will be recast for Secret Wars.

Sadly Pedro is just another example of a Hollywood elitist who thought they were an activist rather than an actor.

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