Written by Luke Barnes

I have been gone for a long time now, life and doing a master’s degree will do that to a person, but what better way to return to writing these pieces about films and reviews and what not then with a highly controversial post. In this article I will be talking about the very recent news regarding Melissa Barrera and Scream 7.

Again a little preface before we get into it, if you don’t like my views don’t come after me they are just one person’s opinion, there are plenty of other people who will have a different take to them that you can blindly follow.

Before we get into it I just want to say that the Gaza situation is awful on both sides and the point of this piece is not to comment on it, or to really state my political opinion either way. I want to talk about an actor being fired from a film that is all.

I think the whole situation reflects points I have been making for a long time, actors should remain a-political and do their jobs without trying to be activists on social media. Again this a point that will upset the people on X who make their whole personalities based around how much of an activist they can be and how they are the only thing standing in the way of injustice, but as these people won’t want to admit life isn’t twitter.

Again from a studio point of view I can see exactly why she was fired and it makes a lot of sense, you want actors that will bring audience in, not turn them off, say it with me you don’t want divisive movie stars. All Spyglass needs to do is look at The Flash and what happened there they kept someone around who was incredibly divisive and the film tanked, now I am not comparing Miller to Barrera in terms of conduct rather in terms of how they are divisive. Yes, you may be screaming but what Barrera said isn’t controversial she said what me and my friends and echo chamber on X have been saying for a long time, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the world agrees with you. What Barrera has said has been called hate speech by Spyglass so again that would turn off a big section of your audience for a potential film wouldn’t it. Yes it won’t turn you off but they need more than your small twitter circle for a film to be profitable.

Again liberal Hollywood is starting to be shown that audiences don’t want to hear them preaching, they don’t want stars that tell them how to be or how to live their lives, they don’t want stars that force their politics down your throat on TikTok. What made someone like Will Smith or Nicole Kidman so popular in their peaks, they were movie stars not activists, you looked to them to give you some escapist entertainment not preach to you. Again, a star needs to bring in an audience and keep them together, not act as a divisive force.

From a business perspective it makes totally sense.

As a fan of the series this is murky as a lot of the stuff they set up in the last film will now be lost, though they could pivot to Jenna Ortega or bring back Neve Campbell with a nice big pay raise and just ignore it. I think the ideas of the rest of the cast walking out is stupid, you might get one or two more who leave but they will be blacklisted so most won’t as they’ll play the game, also the idea of bringing Berra back is likewise not happening as she keeps doubling down on her ‘hate speech’ so she’s done and likely her career is over, and ultimately you can have as many campaigns on X as you like it won’t change the fact that she is controversial now and will divide the audience so they will keep her far away from this franchise now.

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Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about AI, the writer’s strike and a few other issues effecting Hollywood right now. I will preface this by saying that I accept that a lot of the arguments out there on AI are quite alarmist and likely mine will have elements of that as well. However, I intend for this piece to talk about the possible real world implications when it comes to entertainment and as such will try and keep hyperbole, such as how AI will wipe out the human race, out of what I am about to say.

Now when it comes to the idea of AI written films a lot of people are worried, there are striking writers worried about losing their jobs, there are other people in other areas of production who are starting to worry that they may be replaced by AI as well, and then there are cinephiles and lovers of going to the cinema that are worried AI written films will make them already more generic then they already are.

In all of these areas I would argue that the worry is earned. One must believe that Hollywood executives probably can’t wait to start using AI and announce cost saving measures, IE firing all the writers or firing most and keeping a ghost crew around to punch up AI written scripts and to qualify for awards. People are greedy and always want to extend their profits, as such I think it is right that writers are striking and the topic of AI is becoming incredibly relevant to their demands.

Likewise, I find something incredibly depressing and dystopian about the idea of customised films. In this frame I am talking about one of the possible uses of AI in films, which would see studio approved AI design films directly for consumers and meet their specifications may even featuring them in the lead. That sounds incredibly off putting to me and like the death of the film industry because at that point where is the talent, where is the heart, where is the craft it is all gone in place of gluttony infused consumerism that would remove the human component entirely. One would have to imagine that a lot of these AI made film experiences would be the same and would be misused, such as someone inserting themselves into a cinematic sex scene with a certain star they like, and whilst this basically boils down to elaborate VR softcore porn, it still feels creepy. Moreover, in that example the star would likely have signed away their rights to whichever studio was putting out the film experience which is then customised by the user to have a sex scene and in that do whatever they want, which would be incredibly short sighted on the part of the star.

There is a lot of ground for things to go wrong, and for the sake of bias it is worth saying that maybe AI could improve cinema in some way, especially within animation making the overworked animators jobs a little easier, but at the same time there is more than enough reason to be concerned.

To break from my hyperbole rule for just a minute I would frame the AI debate within filmmaking as a battle for the soul of the industry and the human heart that beats within it, because you best believe if it is widely adopted their will be mass layoffs.

If you enjoyed this piece, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, customised film recommendations to suit your personality and tastes, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

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Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about this year’s Oscars and the winners and losers from it, as well as some of the online responses to the results and how the latter reflects the messy and unpleasant current state of film discourse in the current year.

Straight off the bat I want to say Angela Bassett wasn’t robbed, her performance in Wakanda Forever was fine and the film itself was aggressively mediocre. With the current declining quality of MCU films they really shouldn’t be nominated for Oscars as they simply aren’t worthy of it, and probably only get the nominations because Disney get all the voters some really nice gifts and own the telecast. The response to Jaime Lee Curtis winning over Bassett was equally toxic. Many people only took to verbally abusing the actor and calling her and the Oscars racist because there preferred winner didn’t win, not only does that dilute the term incredibly, it also highlights where the discourse is at these days when it comes to cinema, it something happens that you don’t like then the people have to be ists and phobes because God forbid you can’t have your way. I don’t want to be the person ranting about kids today, but people need to realise that they can’t tantrum something into being and abusing a good actor because you don’t like that she won over someone else just makes you look bad. For what it is worth I didn’t think she should have won for the film she did and would have probably given it to Kerry Condon myself, but it was clearly a lifetime achievement award for Curtis and that is okay, the Oscars does that kind of thing.

Outside of the Best Supporting Actress drama I quite liked the results, I am glad Everything Everywhere All At Once got a lot of love, though I do think that maybe it is becoming a little overhyped and I thought it was nothing short of amazing that Brendan Fraser could comeback after all the horrible things that have happened to him over the years and win Best Actor, it truly was an inspiring moment and one that I doubt anyone could not find moving.

My one complaint on the way out would be that The Banshees Of Inisherin didn’t win at all, as I thought it deserved at least some Oscars love, but ah well. 

If you enjoyed this piece, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, customised film recommendations to suit your personality and tastes, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

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Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the idea of studios and franchise masters being at war with the fans, and the relationship between fans, properties and those that run them.

Both sides are quick to draw first blood, fans will say that they have been harassed and called names by studios for not liking changes to IP, and studios will say that there shows/films have been the subject of trolls and abuse with the cast and crew suffering as a result. Both insist that the other can’t be right and that they are totally in the right. However, this simply isn’t possible.

Like with many things in life a compromise solution seems to be the most likely outcome, and by that I mean both sides have points that are true about the other and both have hurt and continue to hurt the other in a lasting war of attrition that only serves to ruin once beloved franchises. Can fans be toxic? Oh boy yes. I have seen first hand the way some people get bent out of shape over changes to IP, sometimes this comes from a purist argument other times from a more prejudiced place, however fans seem to believe that they have a right to be able to control what happens in IP’s they like and to be able to have their way. Whilst this is true to an extent in that people can vote with their wallets and have films flop if no one turns up, this is all the power fans have and sometimes they have to accept that these mega franchises are going to go in ways they don’t like and that they can’t stop it. That doesn’t give them the right to then harass, bully and intimidate people as that is surely the wrong way to go about it. If you don’t like the look of a film don’t watch it.

On the otherside of this divide, studios should be careful to change things that so many people love and only do so when it is in service of telling a good story that can stand on its own, it just makes sense from a business standpoint to keep giving the fans what they want. Moreover, demonising groups of people because they don’t like the direction your franchise is going is never the way, yes sometimes they are trolls, but more often then not they are just fans that are complaining that doesn’t make them a bigot or an ist, labelling people as such just comes across as antagonist and only serves to push people further and further away from your brand and divides the fanbase further, and you need all the viewers you can get. As is often the case it is the best practice to ignore the trolls and not give them the attention they want from you, if the companies didn’t respond to the review bombing then likely they would stop as people get bored and accept that these studios aren’t going to change. Another aspect to consider on this front is that often when studios seem to know that they have screwed up with a project rather than eat crow they instead prepare a narrative of trolls and abuse around their show to try and justify and hide the bad review score and viewing ratings. Fairly often these trolls happen to vote down badly produce/written series that would have failed on their own right, and I find that very convenient. I think the narrative that your show or film is getting bad reviews because of trolls and racists is a much more favourable narrative to you made a bad film/ show and that is why it is so often trotted out.

Ultimately, neither side will back down, the divides in a lot of these communities are too deeply entrenched. However, one thing I will say is that if these studios were smart they would back off and try and mend fences, not just because by not responding to the trolls they will likely go away but also because all that happens when you attack the fans is that you push even more people away from your property which then eats into profits. It is worth remembering that no show/film has an unlimited audience and you can put most if not all of your potential audience off. Sadly the main takeaway from this piece is that film discourse, especially around franchise films is really at an all time low.

If you enjoyed this piece, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, customised film recommendations to suit your personality and tastes, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

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Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the new Lord Of The Rings Movies that Warner Brothers Discovery are making and how this is good, bad and messy for the franchise as a whole as well as for the state of contemporary Hollywood.

So my immediate thought is why? Then I think well they are probably making them to keep hold of the rights, in some rights agreements films or shows based on the property have to be made every so often for the holder to keep them, put very simplistically, so it could of course be that. On the other hand modern Hollywood is going through something of a bad time recently as films which in the pre-pandemic times would be sure fire billion dollar grossers aren’t anymore and the box office as a whole is struggling to recover to its pre-pandemic strength. All of this is because of the cocktail of people not wanting to spend the money going to a cinema, the rise and common use of streaming platforms, and finally the fact that a lot of the films put out these days just aren’t very good, and whilst all of these factors have been around in one form or another in the past the combination of them all happening at the same time is why a lot of cinema chains are facing bankruptcy. Due to these issues Hollywood in recent years has been to become reliant on everything with even a scrap of brand recognition to try and milk it to prop itself up, more often than not this hasn’t worked.

So to get to the subject of new Lord Of The Rings films I think there many ways that this could go wrong and a lot of room for scepticism.  One first has to ask what are they going to adapt, will they be a sequel to the original trilogy? Based on the writings of Tolkien himself and how those films end with most of the magic leaving the world that would seem to be a no. Will it be a reboot? This seems like a more likely idea but also one that would be met with anger and derision from the off, and with the Lord of the Rings fandom very split over The Rings Of Power this would seem to be probably one of the worst ideas they could do, likely it would see a similar effect to the sequel trilogy with Star Wars. Finally there is the idea of a prequel of some form, which to me seems the most logical and wise idea they could do. However, the big issue here would be how does this tie into the Amazon deal and the areas of Tolkien’s work they have access to. Which of course would be a very messy area rights wise and all of this.

To write somewhat as an optimist for a moment if you would indulge me, I think this new LOTR news isn’t inherently bad, as like I said before if they went into the area of the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales and took their ques from that and adapted something more line with those stories or perhaps a fall of Númenor there could be fertile ground for some new content.

However, I think the very worst thing they could do which would almost guarantee these films to be high profile flops for WBD is to remake the original trilogy or I guess even the Hobbit and gender swap/race swap all of the characters in an idea to update these beloved films from not all that long ago. I think to do this, and putting politics to one side for the moment, would be stupid because though WBD could have the momentary bonus of saying ‘look at how progressive we are’ they would also alienate a huge number of fans and people who would show up for the film, and it wouldn’t actually of course be progressive because they would only be doing it as a shallow marketing move rather than as to actually help or champion representation in cinema.

I think right now it is very easy to be negative towards this news and to look at it through mistrusting eyes, modern Hollywood after all hasn’t given much reason for faith, however, the size and potential scope of the loss for WBD that this could represent will mean that their plans will change constantly and be updated so we really don’t know what form this will take.

If you enjoyed this piece, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, customised film recommendations to suit your personality and tastes, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

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