I Have Proof That Hollywood Is Running Low on Ideas!

[SSLFan]

proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Spartans)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhero_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_Movie)

In the words of Oscar, yuck!:grouchy:

Has anyone noticed this trend of movies these days? It seems they've been popping up almost everywhere. At first it was funny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_Movie), now it's just annoying. Anyone feel me on this?

I find this the perfect example of the lack of good scripts Hollywood has to offer. It's just plain sick.:p

Your thoughts?

[Colbynfriends]

Those movies are funny the first few times you see it, but then it starts to get old.

[wwfpooh]

Those movies are funny the first few times you see it, but then it starts to get old.Parody movies aren't my cup of tea, but I can why others like it.

[Oscarfan]

I don't think parody films means that they're running out of ides, they'r just not using good ones.

The best parody films , IMO, are Scary Movie 1 or 3 and Spaceballs.

[D'Snowth]

The best parody films , IMO, are Scary Movie 1 or 3 and Spaceballs.I kind of liked "'Hot' is a Three-Lettered Word" myself. :p

[Oscarfan]

Aw, you're too kind. :coy:

[Winslow Leach]

I don't think Hollywood is quite that desperate yet. The day they greenlight something called The Crazy, Kooky Octopus That Devoured Eight--Not Seven, But Eight--Sara Lee Cheesecakes, Then Ended Up With a Not-So-Happy-Tummy is when we should worry...or not...:p

[Oscarfan]

I don't think Hollywood is quite that desperate yet. The day they greenlight something called The Crazy, Kooky Octopus That Devoured Eight--Not Seven, But Eight--Sara Lee Cheesecakes, Then Ended Up With a Not-So-Happy-Tummy is when we should worry...or not...:p

That was a horrible movie, the acting was tacky and SFX wher lame and fake.

[ryhoyarbie]

I don't think the independent scene has ran out of ideas, as they're more about characters and story telling more than anything else.

Hollywood these days is about money, money, money. Take a look at The Dark Knight. It's made tons of money, money that's going back to all the big guns at Warner Brothers.

[Ilikemuppets]

Hollywood these days is about money, money, money. Take a look at The Dark Knight. It's made tons of money, money that's going back to all the big guns at Warner Brothers.Well that true. But at least it was a god film and not a waist of money.

proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Spartans)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhero_Movie)
proof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_Movie)

In the words of Oscar, yuck!:grouchy:

Hmm... I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.:search: LOL!:coy:

[Winslow Leach]

That was a horrible movie, the acting was tacky and SFX wher lame and fake.

Tell me about it, man!

The Goose That Won the West was far superior...

[Oscarfan]

Tell me about it, man!

The Goose That Won the West was far superior...

What about the sequel? Sherrif Goose vs. Bobcat Boy was cool

[Drtooth]

Hollywood these days is about money, money, money. Take a look at The Dark Knight. It's made tons of money, money that's going back to all the big guns at Warner Brothers.

But that was a quality movie. it wasn't a bunch of flimsy SNL/MadTV skits weaved into an unfunny and uneven movie. One they actually spent money and time making. The worst part is that I've had an idea for something like this for a while, and now I can't do it. But it would have been quality material. Not just flimsy "the Year in review movies sketch comedy the film."

I LOVE parodies myself. but quality, well done stuff. If Hollywood needs to keep making parody films, get Dick Debartolo and other Mad Magazine writers to show'em how it's done.

[Winslow Leach]

What about the sequel? Sherrif Goose vs. Bobcat Boy was cool

Not as cool as the third in the trilogy: The Goose, The Geese, and the Geesier, a.k.a. Fowl Play in Tombstone.

[D'Snowth]

This thread suddenly got stupid quickly.

[Vic Romano]

Date Movie was decent, Epic Movie was horrible, I haven't seen the others. As far as parody movies go Not Another Teen Movie is spectacular, I loved that one.

[frogboy4]

Date Movie was decent, Epic Movie was horrible, I haven't seen the others. As far as parody movies go Not Another Teen Movie is spectacular, I loved that one.

I loved Teen Movie too. I saw it in the theaters with a date several years younger than me that didn't catch all the 80s references. I was cracking up the whole time.

As for the other films, most of them are by this Friedberg/Seltzer team that appears to be churning out assembly line spoofs rather than taking the time to craft a good one. I learned something as a video clerk - spoof movies, just like sci-fi/horror and "blue" movies, no matter how bad will almost always see a return for years to come. That's why studios don't seem to waste time making them good. They really don't have to.

Hollywood hasn't run out of ideas. Crummy films have been around since the invention of cinema. They just used to not be so heavily promoted!

[Ilikemuppets]

Tell me about it, man!

The Goose That Won the West was far superior...Wow! Judging from the name of that and the over all tome of this posts that the movie was not the best movie. That speaks volumes!:p

[Drtooth]

As for the other films, most of them are by this Friedberg/Seltzer team that appears to be churning out assembly line spoofs rather than taking the time to craft a good one. I learned something as a video clerk - spoof movies, just like sci-fi/horror and "blue" movies, no matter how bad will almost always see a return for years to come. That's why studios don't seem to waste time making them good. They really don't have to.

Hey... I'm just saying Mad Magazine has been churning out satirical film parody articles since the 1950's, and with recent exceptions, they've all been gold.

I think the main problem is they started by parodying a genre, and somehow they felt that they need to parody every single movie that came out that year. This year, the movies didn't even come out. They made fun of them SOLEY on the trailer (Something Cracked Magazine did in spades). They feel they need to make a reference to everything, and make them cheap jokes at that.

If they, however, made fun of one MAIN movie and added in elements of others sparingly, they'd have something. Even Robin Hood Men in Tights was a higher quality parody for that reason. They made fun of one film, and parodied the conventions and cliches of the film itself.

[ryhoyarbie]

Spoof movies can be good, like Scary Movie or Not Another Teen Movie, but the latest ones are pretty dumb at best. I tried watching Date Movie and turned if off after 15 minutes.

By the way, the "wassuuup" bit in Scary Movie is still gold in my book. Now that's funny, especially when ypu have the ghostface bad guy with a bottle of booze with a smiley face.

[Drtooth]

Can I just say I thought this thread was going to be how they constantly remake the same films over and over, and now we're in an extended period of annoying producers remaking every single movie from the 70's and 80's?

[wwfpooh]

If they remake Roger Rabbit, it had better as heck be quality entertainment!

[Drtooth]

If they remake Roger Rabbit, it had better as heck be quality entertainment!


There is no call and no reason to remake Roger Rabbit. Like there's no call to remake or make a sequal to Snow White.... Even if Disney had the greed to pull off such a stunt, I doubt Amblin would want any part of it. Hense why Bonkers got a cartoon show that bares striking similarity to Roger Rabbit.... It was originally a Roger Rabbit cartoon, but Amblin wouldn't have their part in it.

[wwfpooh]

I was making use of the fact that the original was a quality success and trying to do it again in a day and age of constant corporate mergers and monopolizing would be--personally--a bad idea.

[Drtooth]

Plus, they still need to remake every single horror movie of all time, first... and at the rate they're going, it won't be too long...

[Colbynfriends]

Plus, they still need to remake every single horror movie of all time, first... and at the rate they're going, it won't be too long...

I know what you mean. They remade Halloween, and there about to remake Nightmare on Elm Street, and Child's Play (that one I'm actually exctied about though. but it seems weird since the film is only 20 years old)

[Oscarfan]

Plus, they still need to remake every single horror movie of all time, first... and at the rate they're going, it won't be too long...

Uh, ever heard of Scary Moive 1-4?

[Ilikemuppets]

I know what you mean. They remade Halloween, and there about to remake Nightmare on Elm Street, and Child's Play (that one I'm actually excited about though. but it seems weird since the film is only 20 years old)Yeah, that time between things like remakes just gets shorter and shorter for some reason.

Uh, ever heard of Scary Moive 1-4?There should have never been a 3 or 4 if you have to ask me as that is when the creators left the franchise.

Wasn't there a "not another parody movie" or something?

[ryhoyarbie]

Plus, they still need to remake every single horror movie of all time, first... and at the rate they're going, it won't be too long...

The only thing Hollywood needs to remake, from the horror films to whatever, is crappy movies that no one cares for. Like "Glitter" with Miriah Carey, or "From Justin To Kelly", or any of the sequels for "A Nightmare On Elm Street", the "Fright the 13th" films, etc.

[Sgt Floyd]

I hate parody movies. I hated scary movie one to eleventy-six, I havnt seen any other movies but I fear that if I watch them I might lose a couple dozen IQ points or worse, my brain completely liquifies

I generally dislike remakes, but I did like Rob Zombie's Halloween.

And when they start making sequels to horror movies...Child's Play was good. Bride of Chucky? What the heck, man?
The Grudge was bad to start with, why make a worse sequel?

And was it really nesasary to make thousands of versions of A Christmas Carol?

EDIT: Ok...so maybe hate is too strong of a word. I just really really really dislike parody movies. Now, an occasional reference is fine, its movies like scary movie where everything is poking fun at another movie is what I dont like

[Convincing John]

Well...as for the versions of "A Christmas Carol", there are two I always will love. One of course is the Muppet Christmas Carol. This is the most accurate "children's" version of the film out there. Everyone praises the Disney version...which is horribly innacurate, while Gonzo quotes Dickens' story word for word. (Heck, Mr. Magoo's version got the ghosts in the wrong order and it was still more accurate than Disney!)

The second Christmas Carol I loved is the Patrick Stewart version. Yeah, he was great in Star Trek TNG, but he just made a great Scrooge. He was a very convincing grouch in that one! The image of him with his cane raised (about to smack a kid) appears on the cover artwork!:eek:

Now as for parody films, there is one parody film I do love which has become classic in its own right: Young Frankenstein.

Then, of course, there's a movie made by a parody artist with a parody video inside it: UHF. The critics hated it, but it's become a favorite among many a Weird Al fan (like me).

But there's a difference between these films and the stuff churned out of Hollywood. The above films were made with and by professionals who knew how to make movies. They have talent and know what it takes to make a movie with quality.

The movies out now just repeat each other, hoping to make more money with toilet humor and no quality. The ones mentioned before (Epic Movie, etc.) certainly do. The premise of "incredibly dorky guy is the star" happened in the Austin Powers movies, then in "Master of Disguise", then in Napoleon Dynamite. Now we have "Love Guru"...:rolleyes:

Nowadays, for a "comedy movie" to pass in modern day Hollywood, the requirements seem to be:

1. Toilet humor
2. Overdone sexual innuendo
3. Guys getting hit in the groin
4. Mix and stretch the above items to 90 minutes
5. If the movie does well, rehash it for a sequel. But put two or three new jokes in the trailer to fool the audience into thinking this is a "new" movie.

I'm very glad the live action Cat-in-the-Hat crushed the trend in making live action Dr. Seuss movies. The Seuss classics were beautifully done as books. Then when master animator Chuck Jones teamed up with Seuss, timeless specials and cartoons were made (Grinch, Lorax, Horton). The CGI Horton I have not heard anything about since it premiered and maybe this is a good thing. Chuck Jones animation, like many illustrators, painters, etc. has it's own flavor. Excessive CGI is just too...artificial. (I'll hold my Star Wars rant for another time).

Perhaps Phillip J. Fry put it best: "That's not why people watch TV. Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared. You see? TV audiences don't want anything original. They wanna see the same thing they've seen a thousand times before."

Looks like this applies to films, too.:sympathy:

Convincing John

[JJandJanice]

Yeah these spoof movies are getting out of hand.

I'm just wanting for a spoof movie of spoof movies, and that's what it will be called too "Spoof movie."

I think I just gave Hollywood an idea that will get them to print money. :)

[Vic Romano]

Well...as for the versions of "A Christmas Carol", there are two I always will love. One of course is the Muppet Christmas Carol. ... The second Christmas Carol I loved is the Patrick Stewart version.

What about "Scrooged" with Bill Murray? That's probably my favorite. :)

Then, of course, there's a movie made by a parody artist with a parody video inside it: UHF. The critics hated it, but it's become a favorite among many a Weird Al fan (like me).

Oh man, one of the most over-looked, underrated comedies of all time. Sometimes I wonder if the lack of success of this movie made Al decide not to do any more movies.

[Ilikemuppets]

The only thing Hollywood needs to remake, from the horror films to whatever, is crappy movies that no one cares for. Like "Glitter" with Miriah Carey, or "From Justin To Kelly", or any of the sequels for "A Nightmare On Elm Street", the "Fright the 13th" films, etc.I've never got why people take films like "Gigli" that nobody has ever watch or seen before and it pretty obvious they haven't because of it box office performance and laugh when you just so much as mention it's name.

Its movies like scary movie where everything is poking fun at another movie is what I dont likeThe funny part is and I don't mean haha funny. But it's that it is a movie parodying movies that parody movies.:p I found this odd myself when it first came out.

Then, of course, there's a movie made by a parody artist with a parody video inside it: UHF. The critics hated it, but it's become a favorite among many a Weird Al fan (like me).That movie was perfection to me,And so was "Hot Shots"

The movies out now just repeat each other, hoping to make more money with toilet humor and no quality. The ones mentioned before (Epic Movie, etc.) certainly do. The premise of "incredibly dorky guy is the star" happened in the Austin Powers movies, then in "Master of Disguise", then in Napoleon Dynamite. Now we have "Love Guru"...:rolleyes:Tell me about it... Like Austin Power though.

Nowadays, for a "comedy movie" to pass in modern day Hollywood, the requirements seem to be:

1. Toilet humor
2. Overdone sexual innuendo
3. Guys getting hit in the groin
4. Mix and stretch the above items to 90 minutes
5. If the movie does well, rehash it for a sequel. But put two or three new jokes in the trailer to fool the audience into thinking this is a "new" movie.I think you said it put it perfectly!

Perhaps Phillip J. Fry put it best: "That's not why people watch TV. Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared. You see? TV audiences don't want anything original. They wanna see the same thing they've seen a thousand times before."

Looks like this applies to films, too.:sympathy:

Convincing JohnWords to live by! He could not have put it better!

[Drtooth]

1. Toilet humor
2. Overdone sexual innuendo
3. Guys getting hit in the groin
4. Mix and stretch the above items to 90 minutes
5. If the movie does well, rehash it for a sequel. But put two or three new jokes in the trailer to fool the audience into thinking this is a "new" movie.

I don't mind anything if it's at least done cleverly. If you're gonna have someone fart, at least have it serve a purpose.

I have to say, lately in kid's films I've seen less and less poop and fart jokes. Even in Dreamworks's Kung Fu Panda, which shocked and amazed me. (see Dreamworks, you can make a great film without pop culture jokes, random, poorly inserted pop music bits, and toilet jokes). That impresses me so much. Seems like every non-Pixar movie in recent years had to make fart jokes to make idiot kids giggle. Sure, that was funny when I was 5 too... They even had to alter a scene in the commercial for the classic good animated version of 101 Dalmations to have a horse fart. Thankfully they didn't kill the movie by re-editing the scene... but to add a scene that wasn't there for a commercial...? Balderdash.

[Ilikemuppets]

(see Dreamworks, you can make a great film without pop culture jokes, random, poorly inserted pop music bits, and toilet jokes). That impresses me so much.Yeah! I mean Disney learn to do it and they've had their share of that stuff before. It's just they they don't thrive off of it.

[Vic Romano]

If you're gonna have someone fart, at least have it serve a purpose.

This is my life's mantra.

[Ilikemuppets]

I don't mind anything if it's at least done cleverly. If you're gonna have someone fart, at least have it serve a purpose. You mean like to put out a fire? *shrugs*

Anythings more tolerable then Shreks Burping. :p

[wwfpooh]

If you're gonna have someone fart, at least have it serve a purpose.But then, sometimes, it's just in good fun, like when Yakko & Wakko made a lewd reference or two in A!

[heralde]

"I hate a dirty joke I do, unless it's told by someone, knows how to tell it."

Julius 'Groucho' Marx ;)

[wwfpooh]

And he's so right. But then, it may depend on who is telling it.

[heralde]

And he's so right. But then, it may depend on who is telling it.

True, though maybe that could go along with knowing how to tell it, choosing the right person. ;)

[wwfpooh]

True, though maybe that could go along with knowing how to tell it, choosing the right person. ;)The Marx Brothers, classic WB! fare (i.e. Golden Age [Looney Tunes] & Silver Age [Tiny Toons, Animaniacs! Freakazoid! Hysteria! et al]), and even some of Disney's early work, knew the basis of humor...within which to include jokes for all ages (and even the fart and sex jokes were funny, because they were done in a respectful and subtle manner).

[Ilikemuppets]

But then, sometimes, it's just in good fun, like when Yakko & Wakko made a lewd reference or two in A!Question? What is A! Is that the mane of a particular cartoon?

[wwfpooh]

Question? What is A! Is that the mane of a particular cartoon?It's the shorthanded term for Animaniacs!, just as F! stands for Freakazoid!

[Ilikemuppets]

It's the shorthanded term for Animaniacs!, just as F! stands for Freakazoid!Okay than. I have never heard that term before.

[wwfpooh]

Okay than. I have never heard that term before.Now you have. XD

[Ilikemuppets]

Now you have. XDBut I'm not a big fan of it.

[wwfpooh]

But I'm not a big fan of it.That's alright. Each to their own.