(Via Slashfilm) Whether it got the okay from the WGA or not, the point is clear: writers may need to find other jobs if the strike lasts long (or worse). What isn’t clear is whether the time spent making this video couldn’t been better spent actually trying to handle the negotations…

Posted on October 29th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Politics | No Comments »

The last couple of years I’ve held a grudge against the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in fact it pretty much started when Ryan Seacrest got his star. Once it was considered a great honor to be given a star by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, recognizing your talent and staying power. Now, you get a star because your movie premieres next Friday or your CD drops next Tuesday.

So with that in mind, I’m beginning what will hopefully be a weekly feature on this site: Undeserving Stars. I’ll be pointing the finger at people who get a star only because their public relations manager bought it for them. On occasion, I’ll be placing certain special conditions, such as “should have it temporarily taken away due to {whatever they did}.”

Today’s pick: the latest recipient, Ricky Martin.

Why? Because he didn’t make a name for himself until like 20 years after he began performing, had 1 or 2 hits, then disappeared from the mainstream. All of a sudden he reappears with a new CD and a star.

Posted on October 26th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Undeserving Stars | No Comments »

Below is the trailer for Repo: The Genetic Opera. I don’t know what to say, other than this is really, really horrible! This is like Snakes on the Plane horrible! The music is straight out of the 80s.

Posted on October 26th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Bad Movies | No Comments »

Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan is stuck between a rock and a hard place; George Clooney dropped out of his next movie, White Jazz. Since Clooney was the only name attached to the movie (Charlize Theron is only rumored, according to IMDB), chances are the movie will be put on the backburner by the studio. So he can either work to put White Jazz back on track, or move onto another project (in this case, Killing Pablo, based on a biographical book on drug kingpin Pablo Escobar).

How to decide? Easy: put both screenplays on your website and let everyone else choose for you.

This is what Carnahan had done on his own website. Unfortunately, the studios didn’t approve this move, so they had him take them off (but guess what, they’re still there! Click here for the White Jazz screenplay, and here for the Killing Pablo screenplay! Both required Adobe Acrobat, btw. Don’t forget to post your comments on the script on Joe’s blog!)

It’s understandable why the studios made Joe take down the scripts, technically the scripts are the studio’s property, not his. And of course they don’t want anyone knowing how the movie ends! But it’s still an interesting method of getting a movie made, to include audience feedback before the movie even exists. Maybe a modified method, involving a treatment or even just a pitch instead of the entire script, would satisfy both the director and the studios.

I myself have considered using a similar tactic; as an amateur moviemaker producing shorts on my own dime, I have to be selective about where I put my efforts, and then again about where I submit it to (festivals and such) once it’s finished (it costs a lot of money to submit to many festivals). I had 2 movie ideas that I thought I could produce concurrently and then based on how well they do on sites like Youtube, Myspace, etc., the better would be submitted to the festivals.

Posted on October 25th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »

I don’t really see this affecting the movie side of things much, but it’s still an interesting development.

According to Defamer, word in the secret lair of studio execs is that they now WANT the Writer’s Guild of America to go on strike next month, after their contract expires (btw, who the hell decides to make a contract expire on Halloween??). Apparently the execs are so mad at the crappy shows that have been premiering this season, that they’ll use the strike as a chance to abort all the ones that are failing, which is just about all of them. Although if they’re willing to go that far, I wouldn’t be surprised if even the GOOD shows get cancelled.

So it’s almost like the studios themselves are striking! “Oh, you want to strike? Okey dokey! Be sure to pick up a job application on your way out, ’cause your shitty show won’t be here when you come back! HAHA!”

Posted on October 22nd, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Television, Politics | No Comments »

This week at ShowEast, a huge convention for the movie-exhibiting types, Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks (he’s the K in SKG, btw) announced that by 2010, there will have been as many as 18 3D movies. And I don’t mean 3D like Toy Story was 3D, I mean “put on these glasses and things will jump at you” 3D.

Which is great (save for the higher movie ticket price), this post isn’t to bash 3D movies. It’s merely to bring up a point that affects me and I’m sure thousands if not millions of people, which is that some of us have eyesight that doesn’t jive well with 3D glasses.

My left eye sees about half as far as my right; as a result, I’ve yet to experience a 3D movie where I’ve actually been able to see the 3D jumping at me. It has worked a few times, but I really have to strain my eyes for it to work. It may be the same thing that prevents me from seeing that floating pirate ship in those Magic Eye posters that were all the rage back in the early 90’s.

So maybe ol’ Katz oughta consider making some prescription 3D glasses for people like me, eh? Whaddya say? I give you $20 for the movie, you give me $600 3D glasses? Deal? Deal.

Posted on October 19th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Technology | No Comments »

Let me preface by saying I can understand where he’s coming from; moviemaking is indeed a business, and the business can’t succeed if it doesn’t make money. And a movie can’t make money if people are downloading it for free online.

But c’mon, that’s not why Hostel Part II tanked at the box office. According to this interview on MTV.com, Eli Roth blames piracy, and goes as far as saying that the type of people who would watch his movies are the ones that do the most pirating; “I don’t want those fans,” are his exact words. So basically he’s saying, “fuck those of you who like my movies.”

But if you read between the lines, what he’s really saying is, “the reason why Hostel II tanked is because everyone was downloading it instead of paying to watch it.”

Hmmm… could it just be that no one gave a crap? No, piracy is why Hostel II only made $18mil in the U.S. over 4 weeks (the first one opened to $19mil, by comparison). It had nothing to do with the bad marketing choices (what’s with the trailer in German?) or the fact that it just looked lame.

Posted on October 18th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Bad Movies, Piracy | No Comments »

“Not Taiwanese enough” is how Anne Thompson over at Variety described Ang Lee’s latest movie Lust, Caution, after it was denied a nomination for the upcoming Academy Awards. Apparently, in order to qualify as a foreign movie, your entire crew must be from the same country.

Check out Variety Asia for a more diplomatic explanation.

So there were a few crew members on Lust, Caution that weren’t from Taiwan. It doesn’t even say which crew members. For all we know it could be the caterer or one of the drivers. How sad would it be if the Academy denied an Oscar nomination to your movie because your fucking caterer wasn’t the same nationality as you???

Posted on October 18th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Politics, Oscars, Foreign Movies | No Comments »

What the hell happened? I’ll tell ya: the company that was hosting this website, Jatol, took off! Those fuckers! Ya I was only paying them like $30 for the whole year, but it’s downright rude for them to disappear off the face of the earth after only giving me 6 months of service!

Anyways… I didn’t have a back-up of the site, which brings me to the next point: Mainstream Movies Suck is undergoing a revamp. Yes, I’ll continue to post movie reviews, but I’ll be expanding into an opinion blog to truly delve into why mainstream movies suck (more the industry than the movies themselves).

So hang tight for a little while; although I didn’t have a back-up, good ol’ Wayback Machine has got copies of all of them, which I’m scavenging when I have free time (not much these days). Soon this site will be fully operational and kicking even more ass than before (which wasn’t much).

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »