Month: July 2023

WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

In 2008, nobody knew that Marvel’s Iron Man would be a success.  They had an idea of where they wanted to go IF the movie was a financial success, but I don’t think anybody was ready for how successful Iron Man would be.  Not only did the movie essentially relaunch Robert Downey, Jr.’s career, it re-energized people’s interest in the comic book movie genre.  A post-credit scene in Iron Man revealed what the plan for the future was:  Colonel Nick Fury wanted to talk to Tony Stark about his Avengers Initiative.  That was perhaps the single most important post-credit scene in the entire MCU.  So, over the next few years, we would see Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man 2.  All of this led up to what could be considered the biggest comic book movie so far: The Avengers in 2012.  The Avengers was a smash success that brought together some of the greatest superheroes in Marvel’s lineup, which also included Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Hulk.  Well, at the very end of the film, we got a glimpse of the Mad Titan, Thanos.  Right then, we knew exactly where Marvel was going with the MCU: Infinity War, one of the biggest events in Marvel Comics’ history.  The Avengers capped off the first Phase of the MCU.  Over the next 6 years, we would see sequels to each main hero.  Some were…not as good as the others, but they were still good.  Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man would put the finishing touches on Phase 2.  Phase 3 was where the big stuff goes down.  Here, we got new heroes in Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel.    Infinity War hit and it took film industry by storm.  The story would finish with Endgame, which would essentially end the Phase on a very emotional level.  While Spider-Man: Far From Home was technically the LAST entry in Phase 3, the real ending was Endgame.  It was bitter-sweet because we end up losing two of the biggest heroes the MCU had seen: Iron Man/Tony Stark and Captain America/Steve Rogers.  It was a great conclusion to 23 movies.

Unfortunately, Phase 4 is where things start going downhill.  The first movie to be released in Phase 4, was unfortunately released during the pandemic three years ago: Black Widow.  This was a questionable start because the character had died in Avengers: Endgame.  Not only was the movie not that great, it was released on Disney+ and theaters at the same time.  But this was also the phase that started expanding the MCU into the world of television with shows like WandaVision and Loki.  One of the biggest strengths of the first 3 phases was that you didn’t need to be all caught up on them to figure out what was going on.  They were connected, sure, but Kevin Feigi made the movies accessible to everyone.  Well, that changed with Phase 4.  Because unless you saw WandaVision, you wouldn’t understand why she was the main villain of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.  Some of the nuance was going to get lost on people who didn’t watch the show.  Phase 4 was also where the quality of the movies was all over the place.  You had some real standouts like Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and maybe Eternals, but everything else during this Phase was a mixed bag.  This was where I decided to step away from the MCU.  Thor: Love and Thunder was one of the worst comic book movies I had seen in years, which was weird because Ragnarok was so damned good.  Add on top of that, nobody knew where the MCU was going.  Who was the Big Bad?  What were the stakes?  These movies were all over the place.  One of the prevailing theories was that each movie was in its own contained universe.  Well, now that we know where the MCU is going NOW with the Multiverse Saga, that theory kind of makes.  Or, just hear me out, the answer’s much simpler:  There was no plan.  Like Lucasfilm did with Star Wars, Marvel had no real plan for Phase 4.  It felt like they were making things up as they were going along.  Honestly, the moment I heard they were going to go deep into the Multiverse, I started seeing red flags.  It’s such a convoluted concept where it’s really easy to screw things up.  It’s not looking great for Phase 5.

After the disaster that was Thor: Love and Thunder, I decided to check out of the MCU, as I said.  But I wanted to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever first.  Thankfully, it was a fantastic movie and it ended Phase 4.  I’ll be honest: I haven’t seen anything MCU-related since.  I lost interest.  Ant-Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 haven’t done anything to change my mind.  I haven’t seen them, and I don’t really plan on it, either.  Nor have I watched any of the shows, but from what I’d been hearing, they’re not great.  Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you not to watch all this stuff.  If you’re a die-hard fan of these movies and shows, knock yourself out.  Enjoy it.  I encourage you to enjoy it.  But I do feel obligated to tell you that the MCU has truly lost its way.  There have been articles about DC Arrowverse creator Marc Guggenheim saying that Kevin Feige should think about rebooting the MCU.  I don’t think it’s a bad idea.  Right now, there’s just way too much content to consume and not enough hours in the day to do it.  The MCU, along with Feige, have been stretched too thin.  To paraphrase Bilbo from The Lord of the Rings: The MCU feels thin, like butter spread over too much bread.  I’m going to tell you why it’s needed, and it’s the same reason why the DC Universe is getting rebooted: The content isn’t good enough to sustain the momentum that the MCU needs.  People are getting tired of mediocre movies, and Phase 4 was loaded with them.  With the recent Secret Invasion mini-series on Disney+ falling flat on its face, the need for Disney and Marvel to pull back is becoming clearer with each passing day.  As someone who has been on board with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe from day one, the stuff that’s been happening lately has been breaking my heart.  I don’t want the MCU to fail.  It’s the biggest movie franchise in the world, but decisions have been made over the past 4 years that I feel have dragged the MCU through the mud.

Meh is what I’m feeling about the MCU right now.  So, how would I go about rebooting the franchise?  Well, we know that Kevin Feige is planning on bringing in the Fantastic Four and the X-Men at some point, and I think that’s where it needs to happen.  But would it have to be a complete reboot like what James Gunn is planning with the DCU?  It may have to come to that.  The brand is in danger of being permanently damaged because of mediocre story-telling and writing.  They would need to do what the MCU started out doing: Something simple.  Start with basic character-building movies like Iron Man.  Phase 1 is the perfect example of how you kick off a cinematic universe, so Marvel could use Phase 1 as a blue-print to introduce new characters and stories.  Start smaller, and then go big for a semi-finale.  It worked for the first 3 phases, so I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work here.  Instead of Iron Man and Captain America, you start with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, two of the most well-known teams in comic book history.  Ultimately, it’s going to come down to box office numbers to determine what happens.  Right now, with the writers and actors on strike, it’s going to be a good long while before a reboot even happens.  Marvel wants to finish off Phase 6 by 2027, so the earliest that we would see a reboot happen is about 2028 or 2029.  Perhaps the question that I should be asking is this: Can I be convinced to come back to the MCU before a reboot happens?  Honestly?  I don’t know.  Phase 4 was catastrophically disappointing for me.  And so far, Phase 5 is not succeeding in making me want to come back.  The MCU is not in a great place right now.  I think Warner Bros. and DC have an opportunity to steal the thunder from Marvel in the next 2-3 years with Superman Legacy and Batman: Brave and the Bold if Disney and Marvel don’t get their acts together.  Those are my current thoughts on where things stand with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.  I don’t know.  If any of you are fans of the MCU, what do you think?  Should there be a reboot, or are you okay with the way things are going?

Released: July 2023

Director: Greta Gerwig

Rated: PG-13

Run Time: 114 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Genre: Comedy

Cast:
Margot Robbie: Barbie
Ryan Gosling: Ken
Issa Rae: Barbie
Simu Liu: Ken
Kate Mckinnon: Barbie
Alexandra Shipp: Barbie
Kingsley Ben-Adir: Ken
America Ferrera: Gloria
Ariana Greenblatt: Sasha
Will Ferrell: Mattel CEO

If you told me 5 years ago that not only would I see a movie about Barbie, I would watch it on its opening weekend and I would enjoy the hell out of it, I would’ve had you thrown into the sea.  Well…it’s 5 years later, the Barbie movie is here, and it’s the opening weekend for the film.  You know what?  I went to see it this morning and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Look, I’m a guy, so I grew up playing with Transformers, He-Man, and G.I. Joe.  So, Barbie was clearly not on my radar as a kid.  Each of those other toy lines that I mentioned got movies made of them, so it was very strange that Barbie never got a movie of her own.  She’s got a movie of her own, and it’s great.

All is well in Barbieland.  Barbie wakes up perfect as usual with daily life in Barbieland never changing and always happy.  However, one night, Barbie decides to ask everybody about death, and ever since then, things start changing.  Her fake food is burned, her showers are cold, and she’s got flat feet.  It’s a crisis.  So, she goes to see Weird Barbie to figure out what’s going on.  It seems she’s aware that she’s a toy, but she thinks everything in the real world is perfect, so she has to go the Real World to find answers.  Well, the Real World is not what she thought it was…oh, and Ken is along for the ride, too.  I was not expecting this movie to have a story that’s as smart, deep, funny, and moving as it is.  It’s absolutely about the female experience, and as a guy, I don’t fully understand some of the issues that are at play.  The movie is clearly self-aware about what it is and what it represents.  It embraces the concept of Barbie, but it also makes fun of it at the same time, while deconstructing the ideas that brought the toy line into existence.  It’s a lot smarter than I thought it was going to be.  It definitely hammers home the messages that it’s trying to convey.  This movie’s going to piss people off.  And by people, I mean those pathetic little incelulites that are ridiculously insecure about themselves.  You know, like Ben Shapiro.  Yeah, I’m not the target audience, but I walked away with a smile on my face.

This movie is beautifully made.  There’s a LOT of pink, but you really should know that going into a movie about a girl’s doll.  I have to admit, Barbieland is stunning.  Yeah, it’s clearly plasticy, but it’s incredibly crafted.  The details are on point.  Even the transition from Barbieland to the Real World is amazing.  It’s simple and not overly CGI’d to hell and back.  The costume designs are out of this world.  Even if you’re not familiar with the toy line at all, I’m pretty sure you’d recognize some of the Barbies.  The acting is great.  I swear, Margot Robbie was genetically engineered for this role.  Not only does she look like Barbie, she inhabits the role, even when the character is going through some things.  Her Stereotypical Barbie is the emotional core of the film.  Ryan Gosling as Ken?  Perfect casting, that.  He steals the show whenever he’s on screen.  But his chemistry with Robbie’s character can’t be outmatched, even with the likes of Simu Liu who plays another Ken.  Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie is one of the highlights.  Kate’s always been really good at playing quirky characters.  I loved her in the 2016 Ghostbusters remake.  Will Ferrell doesn’t get a whole of screen time as Mattel’s Ceo, and there are times when the movie seems to forget that he exists.  Just as well, I’m not a huge fan of Ferrell.

The writing in Barbie is SHARP.  The jokes come quickly and hit hard, especially when it comes to the idea of patriarchy.  Yeah, some insecure men are going to bristle at that, but it’s also incredibly true.  In a movie about a girl’s doll, strong character development was really unexpected, especially with Margot Robbie’s character.  The way she goes from being the typical Barbie to one having an existencial crisis and then to one who is finally coming to grips with the Real World and how it actually works.  Even America Ferrera’s Gloria gets some meaningful moments.  Also, this movie has some pretty good musical numbers.  It’s not a musical, but it’s got some moments right out of one, and they are AMAZING, especially when Ryan Gosling’s involved.  He’s an incredibly talented actor, so he does all of his singing and dancing.

As someone who really enjoyed the Transformers and G.I. Joe movies, they kinda pale in comparison to Barbie.  Barbie was smart enough to not take itself seriously, while promoting really strong feminist ideas that could benefit EVERYBODY.  It’s funny, it’s goofy, it’s colorful, and it’s spectacular.  But it’s also very endearing in a lot of ways.  It doesn’t just make fun of the whole Barbie idea, it embraces the idea of what Barbie could be in the future.  The doll hasn’t really been relevant in a long time, but I think this film could help people and Mattel approach the toy line in a different way.  I will say this, though.  This movie really isn’t a kid’s movie.  I think kids will have a good time with it, but there are ideas in this movie that will go over their heads.  For average film-goer, though, this is a delightful movie.  Yeah, I loved it.  I’m not ashamed to say it.  It’s a really good movie.

Ah….physical media: More reliable than streaming, and more reliable than a local politician.  Well, at least with physical media you can hit pause or eject it.  Can’t really do that with people, especially politicians.  Legal issues and all that jazz.  Anyhoo, I’m back again with some of the most glamorous movies to ever hit the home video market…and by glamorous, I usually mean crap.  But hey, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, am I right?  Right?  In all seriousness, I picked up a bunch of stuff since the last Haul, so let’s not waste any more time:

Knights of the Zodiac – Sony Pictures

This was quite a surprise, actually.  It’s based on a manga called Saint Seiya, and is about this kid that supposed to become the Pegasus Knight to protect a young woman who is the reincarnation of Athena.  Yes, THAT Athena.  It’s actually a pretty original story that follows the Hero’s Journey almost to a tee, but from a visual standpoint there’s a lot going on.  There’s some really good action here, despite some of the CGI being iffy.  It’s a low-budget film after all.  What interested me in the film was the cast.  Mackenyu plays Seiya.  Makcenyu is the son of the late great Sonny Chiba.  The film also stars Famke Janssen of James Bond and X-Men fame, and we’ve also got the legendary Sean Bean.  Nick Stahl is pretty fun as the bad guy Cassios, but Mark Dacasco is kind of wasted in his role here, which is a shame, because he’s incredibly talented.  Overall it’s a pretty decent action flick.  It’s just a shame that it bombed at the box office because the studio had no faith in it.  So, a sequel is unlikely.

Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar – Uncork’d Entertainment

I love my science fiction movies.  I love my really smart sci-fi like Dune, Arrival, and 2001.  But I also like my junk-food sci-fi like Independence Day, Cyborg, and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.  Space Wars has more in common with Spacehunter because of how damned goofy it is.  It stars Michael Paré and Olivier Gruner.  Is it great?  No.  The story is fairly generic about a space trucker named Kip and his daughter as they try to evade space pirates and giant monsters.  It’s just bonkers on so many levels, and I think the actors are in on the joke.  Still, it’s pretty fun if you’re willing to go all in on a cheap DTV sci-fi adventure.  I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse than this, so there’s that.

Sisu – Lionsgate Studios

If you’ve ever enjoyed watching Nazis getting wasted in movies, you’re in for a treat here.  This movie is about a Finnish gold miner who lays waster single-handedly to a small company of fascist thugs.  It IS a gory movie, but it’s oh, so satisfying when the Nazis get turned into red mist.  It’s glorious and the movie never strays from that concept.  It’s clear to me that the film-makers really HATE Nazis.  It’s beautifully shot with mostly practical effects.  If you like your action movies with a side of slaughtered Nazi, Sisu will scratch that itch and then some.

Black Dynamite – Sony Pictures

Black Dynamite is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time.  It’s not just a send-up of blaxploitation movies, but it embraces that off-the-wall cinematic style.  It’s very influenced by the blaxploitation movies of the early 70s, while Michael Jai White’s Black Dynamite is a riff on the late Jim Kelly(Enter the Dragon).  It’s so over-the-top, but it’s really fun.  Michael Jai White has some really amazing comedic chops in addition to being one of the best on screen martial artists in the world.  Even the supporting actors are amazing.  The last act of the film is just bonkers.  So, yeah, I definitely recommend this one.

Irreversible – Altered Innocence

Oh, boy.  Where to start with this one.  Irreversible is one of the most notorious French films of the last 22 years.  The film follows two men(played by Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel)as they seek revenge against a man who brutally assaulted the woman they love(Monica Bellucci).  On the surface it might seem like yet another rape-revenge movie, but how the film unfolds makes it incredibly unique amongst its peers.  Most movies tend start from the beginning of the story.  Irreversible begins with the film’s end credits, and moves backward from there.  The act of revenge comes very quickly, and from there you see the two men try and find out who is responsible, and then you get to the assault itself which goes on for an excruciating 9 minutes.  All this happens in the first 43 minutes of the film.  After that, you see all three characters in happier times, but the first 43 minutes cast a really dark shadow over the rest of the film, because you know what eventually happens.  It gets pretty tragic.  One of the key themes of the film was that “time destroys everything.”  Now, the copy of the film I got comes with a “straight” cut which means the movie plays out like every other movie, but in some ways, that diminishes the film’s power.  People walked out of the premiere of this film cursing Gaspar Noe while others praised him for such a uniquely crafted film.  It’s a tough one to sit through, but it’s powerful, and the performance by the main three are stellar, with Ms. Bellucci being the standout.

The Medallion – Sony Picture/Screen Gems

I’m not going to lie: The Medallion is not a great movie, and it’s an even worse Jackie Chan film.  Seeing Jackie on wires just didn’t really work.  Especially when you consider that his filmography involved him doing nearly all of his own stunts.  I get that the story involves a supernatural artifact that gives him superhuman powers, but Chan was pretty much superhuman anyway.  Part of the reason why I bought this movie was because Julian Sands played the main villain.  Sands was always good at playing bad guys, and he’s a standout here.  Even for a Jackie Chan movie, it’s too damned goofy for its own good.  Still, getting to see a young Scott Adkins take on Jackie Chan was pretty fun.

The Prodigal Son – 20th Century Fox

I’ll never turn down a good kung-fu flick, and The Prodigal Son from 1981 is one of the best.  The fight choreography in this film is outstanding.  It’s some of the fastest and furiest fighting in the early 80s.  The movie is about Leung Jan, who was a practitioner of Wing Chun, which was made famous by Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee.  Ip Man was initially trained by one of Jan’s students, but would later be trained by Leung Bik, Jan’s son.  I don’t think the movie is really accurate, but it’s very interesting to see the style interpreted here.  It’s pretty goofy as a lot of kung-fu movies of this era were, but with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao in the lead, it’s one of the most memorable.

The French Connection – 20th Century Fox

The French Connection is a Gene Hackman movie that was recently in the news for the wrong reasons.  It’s based on actual events where Hackman plays real-life cop “Popeye” Doyle who helped make one of the largest drug busts in American history.  The controversy was about a 6-second clip early in the movie where Hackman’s talking to Roy Scheider about certain kinds of people.  6 seconds were apparently cut out of the streaming versions of the film.  Disney got some serious backlash for it, but they haven’t fixed it, because…Disney.  This is actually a very good movie.  The car chase towards the end of the film is one of the greatest put on film, because its real.  It was all improvised and the didn’t have time to do it again.  It was insane.  Do yourself a favor and find a physical copy of this movie and watch it.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

As someone who has no real vested interest in the whole Dungeons & Dragons thing, I found this movie to be pretty damn good.  Which is more than I can say for the previous adaptations.  It’s such a beloved property that a lot folks weren’t sure that the film could live up to their expectations.  As a result, the film bombed.  That sucks because this movie does a pretty good job of easing newcomers into the whole thing.  It also helps that you have a stellar cast that includes Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, and Michelle Rodgriguez.  I’ve gone on YouTube and checked out people playing the game, and this movie plays out almost exactly like the way those games play out.  It’s a lot of fun, with pretty good action, and a decent story.

All Quiet on The Western Front – Netflix

This is one of the rare times when Netflix releases their stuff on physical media.  It was likely they struck a deal with a distribution company to let it happen, but it’s absolutely one worth having, especially if you’re a fan of war movies.  In fact, I would argue that Western Front is more of an anti-war movie.  It pulls no punches in showing you the horrific reality of trench warfare during World War I.  It’s emotionally devastating, especially when you see that the kids at the beginning of the film were excited to go the front.  It’s brutal and the stunning cinematography makes the warfare uglier.  Definitely worth having in your collection.

Avatar: The Way of Water

I didn’t catch this movie in theaters when it was released 6 months ago, to my great regret, but I’ve gotten very picky about which 3.5 hour movies I’m willing to sit through with complete strangers.  This is an outstanding sequel.  James Cameron nails it again in terms of visuals world-building.  In fact, the CGI here is a lot better than the first movie, which still holds up incredibly well.  The film’s focus on family is one of the best aspects of the film.  Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully’s family is incredibly fleshed out.  Zoe Saldana has never been better as Neytiri.  Even Stephen Lang’s Quaritch gets more to chew on.  He’s still a bad guy, but there’s more to him than just being a mustache-twirling villain.  It just sucks that we’re not getting another movie until late 2025.  Dammit.

Cliffhanger – Sony Pictures

This movie does for mountain climbing what Jaws did for going back in the water:  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  In all seriousness, Cliffhanger is one of director Renny Harlin’s best movies, and it’s one of Stallone’s best roles.  The movie starts off shocking enough with a tragic accident when Stallone’s character fails to save a climber.  It’s haunting.  But it’s also a heist movie that’s thrilling from beginning to end.  John Lithgow’s villain is one of the most ruthless that I’ve seen in movies during the 90s.  It’s all done on location with the exception of one sequence, and it’s the reason why I don’t like climbing.  I also don’t like falling.  It’s an awesome movie, check it out.

Renfield – Universal Pictures

There is no reason for this movie to be as awesome as it is.  When I first heard about Nicolas Cage playing Dracula, that kind of informed me what kind of movie this was going to be, and it didn’t disappoint.  It’s a hyper-violent action-horror-comedy.  As awesome as Nic Cage is, Nicolas Hoult brings as much to the table as Renfield.  It’s hilarious, but the action sequences are actually really well-done.  It’s also one of the goriest movies released this year.  It’s total madness, and I love it.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Universal Studios

THIS is the Super Mario movie that we deserved.  The one we got in 1993…well…we speak not of such things anymore.  Honestly, though, this movie is everything I hoped and wanted it to be and more.  Like a lot of people, I grew up with the Super Mario video games, especially on the original NES and Gameboy systems.  This is pure joy.  There’s a lot of fan-service in here, that’s true, but it doesn’t make it hard for newcomers to get into.  You’ve got a stellar voice cast with Chris Pratt as Marion, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser.  It works better than I thought it would.  The animation and visual style is like something you would see in a recent game and it’s just super colorful.  This was Nintendo’s second foray into the movie business, and they hit it out of the park.

Fist of the Condor – Well GO USA

This one’s an odd one.  As a fan of martial arts actor Marko Zaror, I was not initially impressed with this one when I first saw it on Hi-Yah.  I think the ending of the film kind of put me off a bit.  But everything leading up to the ending was fantastic.  It’s a story about two brothers-turned-rivals who seek an ancient martial arts technique.  There are elements of the film which seem kind of goofy, but the fight choreography is stellar with Zaror doing most of the staging himself.  The movie’s beautifully shot and has an old-school kung-fu flavor to it that I appreciate.  I don’t necessarily think it’s one of Zaror’s best, but on repeat viewings, it gets better.

John Wick Chapter 4 – Lionsgate Studios

The John Wick movies have always been over-the-top.  I thought John Wick 3 was nuts.  Chapter 4 takes insanity to a whole new level, and I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing.  There’s so much action in this nearly 3-hour movie that its exhausting.  I don’t mind the escalation of action in most movies, but this is ridiculous.  Yeah, you’ve got some the biggest names in action in the film: Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, and Hiroyuki Sanada, but I can’t help thinking that less is more.  Or at least should be more.  Don’t get me wrong, the action in the film is outstanding.  It’s well-choreographed and the stunts are out-of-this-world, but I really do think they should’ve scaled it back a bit.  It did well enough to warrant another one, but I’m not sure they should.

Sakra – Well Go USA

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Donnie Yen in a wuxia movie.  Sakra is about a man who is accused of murdering his master and parents, so he sets out to find the truth.  The story is pretty standard for wuxia movies, but what makes it different is Yen.  Not only does he star in the film, but he also directs it.  Fight staging is left to Kenji Tanigaki, who has worked on a lot of Donnie’s projects since Kill Zone in 2005.  It’s a stunning film, filled with outstanding visuals, and the acting is top-notch.  If there’s one complaint I have, it that the film relies a little too much on CGI and leans a little too much into the superhero sort of film.  Still, it’s worth looking at if you’re a fan of these kinds of movies.  Donnie Yen is in top form as an actor and director.

Seventeen!  Holy smokes!  That’s a lot.  I didn’t bring up Evil Dead Rise because I did a separate post on that one for a reason.  I recently did a post on the strikes last week, so I will be keeping a close eye on the situation.  I’ll keep you up-to-date as more information becomes available, but don’t expect the strikes to end anytime soon.  So, feel free to check out any of the movies that I’ve mentioned here and I will do another as soon as I buy more.  Thanks for spending your time going through this post, it’s longer than I anticipated, but it’s worth it.  This is Major Tom, signing off.

For those that may not have been paying attention, the Writer’s Guild of America(WGA)has been on strike for a couple of months against AMPTP(Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).  Why?  The writers are asking for higher pay and stable pay structure, as well as better deals and contracts about A.I.  AMPTP has refused to even MEET with the WGA about it.  In a recent report by Deadline, it’s come out that the producers and movie studios are willing to starve out the WGA to force them to accept a less-than-acceptable deal.  I guess the producers haven’t learned a damn thing from the last few strikes that the WGA held.  For those who don’t know, the WGA is a union that represents over 11,000 writers for film, television, news, radio, and online outlets.  It’s causing a massive disruption in the film-making industry right now.  But wait!  There’s more:  Over the last couple of days, negotiations between SAG-AFTRA(Screen Actor’s Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists)have failed.  So, what’s SAG asking for? Protection of erosion of income from reduced residuals, unregulated use of A.I, and demanding self-taped auditions.

So, what happens when SAG goes on strike?  Everything shuts down.  Every production that’s not finished and in the can.  That includes movies, television, radio, and streaming.  EVERYTHING.  You can’t have a production if you don’t have people willing to work them.  Between the WGA and SAG strikes, the producers and studios will try and hold out, but they really don’t have the leverage.  They might have if it was just the WGA, but now you have two of the biggest unions in the industry picketing together.  That’s going to force the producers back to the negotiation table.  We, as the audience, might not see the effects immediately, but when new content stops showing up on streaming services, people will start unsubscribing, and people will stop going to the movies when no new movies are being released.  The producers think that Wallstreet and the shareholders are on their side.  Wallstreet is going to turn on the studios in a heartbeat when their wallets start getting hit.  Oh, and before someone asks: No, writers and actors who are part of the unions are NOT allowed to cross the picket line to work.  If they do, they’re kicked out of the union and essentially black-listed.  Unions exist for a reason.  They are there to make money, sure, but they also exist to protect the workers from employers who would take advantage of them.  Unions are the back-bone of the United States, and when you have employers trying to take away their bargaining power, things get ugly, and they should.  The WGA and SAG are not being unreasonable when it comes to their demands.  The producers will have to capitulate or they’re going to continue to lose money.  Considering how financially irresponsible that the studios and producers have been lately, spending a little extra money to make sure that writers and actors can make ends meet doesn’t strike me as unreasonable.  It’s going to be painful for everybody involved.  But the WGA knew what they were in for and they’re in it for the long haul.  I believe the same applies to the actors’ guild.  Now, the DGA(Director’s Guild)has already made their deal with the producers, but they can’t do a damn thing until the writers and actors get back to work.  The producers also can’t just randomly hire people off the streets to write and act.  Well, they can, but it wouldn’t end well for them.

So, the question here is: How long can the unions hold out?  For as long as they deem necessary.  A lot of these actors and writers have side jobs that can help offset some of the pain that they’ll be feeling, but most of them are willing to fight for better benefits.  I don’t the studios and producers can hold out as long as they think they can.  As I said earlier, once Wallstreet starts getting hit, and they will, they’re going to go after the studios to make a deal with WGA and SAG leadership.  The producers can’t sue their way of this because they are also part of a union, the AMPTP.  So, you would think they would understand where the writers and actors are coming from, but they clearly don’t.  This marks the first time in 60 years that both the SAG and WGA have gone on strike together.  While I don’t think that the SAG and WGA are going to get EVERYTHING that they want initially, it will set the stage for future negotiations.  The studios can’t afford to have two of the biggest unions going on strike, so I think they’re going to be forced to negotiate in order for things to get rolling again.  But make no mistake, the effects of these unions striking will be felt for months if not years to come.  The industry is still feeling the effects of the 2007/8 writer’s strike.  That’s how important of an issue this is.  Also, just to make things worse: Disney CEO Bob Iger just recently came out and bitched about the strikes saying the actors and writers were being unreasonable.  Of course he’d say that.  He’s a rich sack of shit who has never had to struggle to make ends meet.  He gets a salary because of his cushy fucking job.  So…FUCK YOU, BOB.  And a big fat FUCK YOU to all the Hollywood execs unwilling to pay the writers and actors what they need to survive.  So, in case you haven’t figured it out: I stand with WGA and SAG-AFTRA.  100 percent.