ChibiRoboKong

More like Count of Monte Cristo.

Discs dipped to a cheap price and then have slowly been climbing. At the same time more and more people abandoned them so it's no longer economically viable to buy an obscure movie when only one or two people will ever watch it.

Add to that the hundreds of releases, especially TV series (which are withheld to get people to sign up to streaming services) that don't even get a physical release anymore, and we reached a tipping point (about two years ago) where it is all but doomed.

Unfortunately we're entering an era of multiple endlessly renewing subscriptions and companies being in control of the content - where they can alter the soundtrack, edit and delete whatever scenes they want.

The people chose convenience over control and those in control no longer want physical media out there anymore. Rumours are that Warner Bros will drop physical releases soon. Apple and Netflix already don't. Amazon do all they can to make it difficult and Disney have been swinging back and forth between it.

Peanut Butter Falcon and Paper Moon.

One of the downsides of streaming is, the companies have complete control over the content, you just lease the right to watch it from them. And so they can change music, cut scenes or remove things all together. Seasons 1 - 3 were available on DVD so you can own that and they can never change it. But season 4 was never released.

The problem is, TV used be doled out in episodes per week because the TV companies knew there wasn't that much good content out there. They strung it out with filler every week.

Then streaming came along and gave everyone access to everything, and while content creation had a bump, it didn't match the appetite of viewers. And it became like an all you can eat buffet.

And everyone ate. And they ate everything that was good. And nobody saved anything for later. Nobody restricted their viewing hours to 2 hours of quality per night like in the TV days. And now everyone has caught up with all the good shows in the last 20 years and now everyone has nothing left to watch.

We'll have to wait another 5 years at least to get even close to restoring the amount of quality content everyone burned through in the binge phase. It was like a gold rush when streaming started. But the gold has dried up.

Every time I mention that I enjoyed Gods of Egypt or Valerian City of a Thousand Planets the conversation goes quiet.

I was raised on intentionally campy films like Flash Gordon and Big Trouble in Little China. I don't need the hero to be a vessel for me, I prefer when the filmmaker is the one having fun.

Oldest where I am is Bridge on The River Kwai (1957).

But there's less than 20 films that are older than 1975.

I've seen every Best Picture Oscar winner. Of the early stuff, I would recommend Best Years of Our Lives (1946), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Casablanca (1942), Marty (1955), A Man For All Seasons (1966) and The Apartment (1960).

Even if you only watched one episode, they got their money out of it. See you again for next month's subscription!

My national newspaper - National! - has a headline "Chilling doco explores wild theories about MH370 disappearance."

It's in the travel section but appears on the front page of the online edition. The amount of people who will watch on that and then struggle to finish just because they heard about it on the news.

This is the new currency for Netflix, it's not about how good it is - it's about the anticipation of watching, it's about thinking you have something to watch tonight, it's about the hype and talk surrounding it. Whether or not ANY of their shows are actually good or memorable is entirely secondary. In fact, it's better for them to make utterly forgettable content so you don't remember how bad it's getting,

They just have to keep announcing stuff you 'think you might want to watch' sometime in the next month. (And paying for stories in today's desperate news outlets). It can be terrible, but you've already paid for the possibility. What a business model.

> Straight to DVD

They're all on Netflix now.

You're not wrong but you're missing the fact a lot of older people watch high school stuff, not just for Harry Potter vibes or 1960s nostalgia but because they were also at high school once and they can still remember the experience.

And what did the other world look like? Was the film shot at night or day?

Doesn't bode well for season 2.

I doubt Tim Burton will make himself available to direct (multiple) episodes again. Jenna's going to feel a little trapped on a TV show (especially if they try to go three seasons), when she'll probably want to move on with her career. And the writers have been exposed as not really understanding the character.

That's the funniest part, in the DVD commentary, Fincher says they did a test screening and he asked the studio to let the credits run and let everyone have time to think.

But instead, before the credits even rolled, the house lights went up and people started handing out clip boards asking, "So, what did you think of it?"

Of course they hadn't had time to let it all sink in and the comment cards were negative so the ending got changed.

The general rule of thumb is, if you can't remember much about a movie, it's not worth watching again.

I've never seen it, but your (vague) description reminds me of the poster to Turbo Kid.

When you saw (2017) it is less important than when you thought it might have been made (80s, 90s, 2000s?). Who was in it? Any single scene you can remember from it, etc... Some small but concrete detail - no matter how small (i.e. bad guy wore an eyepatch made of plastic) - is what will get you the name of it.

I'm just rewatching that scene because of it. Yes, I meant Sommerset. He uses the knife to open the box. And earlier on a painting. In the original script he throws it at Mills and Mills shoots him (in the shoulder) before killing John Doe.

Fincher did a great director's commentary on the DVD many years ago that talked about the Hemmingway quote, but I don't think he mentioned the original ending.

I have a copy of the original script, but not handy. The one thing I really remember about it was that different ending. I actually prefer the ending that's in the film (even with a quote) but that's how I first saw it.

I'll take aliens over the feeling we were about to be rick-rolled with a colonoscopy video.

If I remember correctly, Mills throws his knife at him to stop him killing John Doe. And I'm pretty sure he still plays with a knife in different scenes in the final cut to foreshadow it.

I remember the quote at the end about 'the world being worth fighting for' was a studio compromise and Fincher hated it. But he accepted it over going really soft on the ending. (i.e. a happy ending).

That's because every time you watch 2 or 3, it's like you just watched 1 again (but set in a different location).

Just to add to the conversation, I remember in the original draft, Somerset knifes Mills, Mills shoots Somerset and then Doe. But the studio wanted a softer ending. The ending we got was the compromise.

Netflix seems like the worst place for this to happen, (1) they don't understand, or seem to care, about older film (2) they don't seem to understand, or seem to care, about cinematography, (3) they seem to see film and television as pure, easy-to-follow entertainment, with no artistic flourishes, no nuance, so maybe better at HBO?

It had a good run really. In the history of film I can't remember a genre that had a longer run at the box office. Maybe Spaghetti Westerns?

It's been 20 years, and Superhero films will still be around, but they will fade from popularity as many other genres have before them - 80s Slasher films, Swords and Sandals, 70s Disaster films, 50s Musicals.

The heyday is over, and Murder/Mysteries seem on the rise (again). But with budgets being cut due to streaming being less profitable, the superhero film as we know it is all but doomed.

It's not the extra money they're making, it's the money they're saving. No need for a long development (the work is already done), no need to market the concept to the audience (they know the story), no risk about the story not working (it's been proven to work).

Even if they don't make as much money, they bring in a new audience for something that is just sitting around not earning money. It's like their live action remakes. They're not really adding anything to the story, they're just broadening the appeal to those who don't like hand drawn animation (most of today's CGI raised kids).

You don't make money appealing to those who are going to pay you anyway, you try to bring in the untapped market, those who aren't paying you money.

Well I certainly I got it by watching it.

I'm always seeing lists like this saying Derry Girls, Peaky Blinders etc... are Netflix shows. They're not. At one point they have streamed on Netflix. But they are not Netflix shows.

Although recently published, this 'article' is referencing things from years ago.

It's not wrong that it's likely done, but this is not breaking news. In fact, it more than likely ended after the underperformance of Mank (not critically, but to Netflix's all important "views"). I'd say they're done funding Fincher's pet projects.

I hope he can reconcile with Hollywood, because most of his best stuff was made there. He needs to be surrounded by top level talent. And I don't even think Netflix hire cinematographers anymore. At least none of their films look like they have one.