u/Wu_Tomoki — reddlx

AAA publishers should have a Nightdive style initiative

I was just thinking about game preservation with playstation ending physical releases, how bad these big publisher are at making their games available for modern systems and consoles.

They have so many games on their library and it's just there lost taking dust, and this is specially bad in the videogames industry, the music and film business are much better they have remasters and new editions of classic albums and movies all the time (there's so many old movies that got rediscovered because they get a new 4k remaster).

These big publisher are so obcessed with live service games to get continious revenue but that could be acomplished if they threated their catalogue better, like a bunch of old games selling over time will be more lucrative than betting everything in the new shining AAA that costs 300 million dollars. I think about a company like EA, sure a new port of Dante's Inferno for modern consoles will not sell 10 million copies like the annual sports game but a bunch of these classic games being re-released will sell much better over time and create or revitilize the fandom around the IP, imagine an Ultima Collection, a james bond collection with the 2000s EA games; so much potential and they do not care.

And the thing is people will play these old games in one way or another it can be emulation, piracy or old hardware with used copies all of which the publisher gets nothing, they are literally not making free money. And if you want to see what a successful version of this is look at what capcom is doing, in the last 10 years their business model became selling their catalogue, they have remasters, ports and collections of most of their franchises (incredible how many mega man collections they made) and every time a new game is announced it generates interest in the catalogue and if one person becomes a super fan of the franchise is likelly they will buy more games. I feel like capcom cracked the code and all of these big publishers should follow.

This is a publisher thinking on long-term

We are seeing the playbook happening in real time with onimusha, it was a dead IP and they made a remaster of the first game, then the second and now is releasing a new game. It creates a virtuous cicle the old fandom playing the remaster/port/collection and wanting a new one, the new game is announced and it gets new players interested in playing the old games. The dino crisis 1 and 2 release on GOG and steam sold like 300K copies, this is as close you can get of free money.

And these big publishers like EA, Activision, Capcom, Konami, Sega has such a big catalogue that it's not possible for nightdive or any single studio to work on the catalogue of all of them so each of should have a team like nightdive or digital eclipse dedicated in re-releasing these games in collections, ports and remasters. It's minimal investiment for long term stability and continuous revenue.

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u/Wu_Tomoki — 3 days ago

▲ 37 r/blankies

Christopher Nolan is in his David Lean era

I was just looking at some posters and behind the scenes from david lean movies and I was surprised by how much of the marketing was just "this is a david lean movie", post lawrence of arabia his name was really big and became synonymous with epic films. All posters from his post-lawrence movies has his name on top of everything, it's unusual to see posters from that time with all the actors names so small. I feel that nolan has achieved a similar status, like up until dunkirk the marketing still has something like "from the director of inception and the dark knight" but after that it’s just "a christopher nolan film" that's the marketing (and IMAX). Dunkirk, Oppenheimer and (apparently) The Odyssey are very david lean esque as well.

Comparing the two filmographies is actually impressive how Nolan avoided the Ryan's Daughter problem, that movie was David Lean trying to make a "straightforward" romance/drama in line with some of his earlier movies (like brief encounter) but using the scale of his later movies (shot on 70mm, huge vistas and locations). However this perceived mismatch of scale and story did not go well with critics, David Lean took 14 year to make his next movie because of the reception of Ryan's Daughter.

Nolan could have had his Ryan's Daughter with Oppenheimer, a movie that has a character driven story more in line with his earlier movies like Memento and the Prestige, but Oppenheimer has enough scale to be comparable with dunkirk or tenet and not feel like a step down. That's something I think Nolan is aware with the whole IMAX apparatus he has, he will not make a palette cleanser or small character story in between big projects. Like if in the future he does a horror movie it's probably with a big scale like an HP Lovecraft adaptation or something.

In the blank check episode of Peter Weir's The Way Back griffin mentioned how Weir didn't want to go back to smaller dramas like dead poet's society, he wanted to keep making movies on a big scale and I think that clash of big canvas movie with "small" story is what's happened in Ryan's Daughter. Peter Weir also got very david lean esque with his two final movies.

Side note: We should talk more about how Doctor Zhivago is in the top 10 box office of all time adjusted for inflation, that's insane. What the Lawrence of Arabia blank check clearing does for you.

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u/Wu_Tomoki — 7 days ago

▲ 36 r/blankies

Do you think Hugo is the most "spielbergian" of the Scorsese movies?

Maybe it's the whimsical flair or the childhood wonder aspect but I've alsways thought that, I'm really glad I've seen this for the first time when I was around 12 years old because it was the right age and it is still one of my favorites from scorsese. Also looking in retrospect there's some fabelmans parallel with george melies being in the movie.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 9 days ago

▲ 29 r/blankies

THX 1138 is a great feature film debut

It's been a few days since I've watched THX 1138 and I'm still thinking about the movie, I wasn't expecting to like it this much. I don't see people talking about it as one of the best directorial debut but I think it is (at least for big Hollywood directors), on his first go George Lucas created a great dystopian sci-fi world.

THX reminds me of Blade Runner, I would have seen it sooner if someone told me "George Lucas' first film is like a proto blade runner", the world feels so big even with a small budget. The movie isn't perfect, it's a bit slow and confusing in the middle but it did stay with me. I've watched a 35mm print scan of the original cut, the CGI director's cut (the only version available in blu ray) looks dreadful in the comparisons.

On a side note, if blank check ever do a full series on George Lucas (hopefully the original cut of THX is available on 4k until then) what do you think could be the patreon episodes? I think More American Graffiti, Radioland Murders and Red Tails are the prime candidates for Lucas adjacent movies that could fit.

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u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 12 r/blankies

James Gray's filmography or why Tarantino's 10 movie idea is redundant

I find the Tarantino Idea of only doing 10 movies as a constructed career really redundant because auteur directors, if they can follow their creative impulses (aka don't get lost making paycheck jobs), will have connections and themes that unify their filmography. I don't understand why Tarantino (who never did a paycheck job as director) is so afraid of making a bad final film if he makes more than 10 movies.

Some of the best examples of directors with unified filmographies are Wes Anderson, James Gray and Christopher Nolan, in some ways each of their movies are sequels of one another. James Gray for example:

Little Odessa, the yards and We own the night are a trilogy of crime and family stories. Then Two Lovers feels like exploring the romance parts we didn't see in The yards and we own the night, some parallels with the characters of charlize theron, eva mendes and gwyneth paltrow.

The immigrant continues the idea of seeing the feminine perspective with a story of immigration in the 1920s and the American dream, the godfather films are criticized for not having good roles for women and The immigrant feels like a reversal on that. The lost city of Z takes place in a similar time frame in the beginning of the 20th Century and is almost an inverse of the immigrant it's not about immigration but colonialism, a story about a man having to live up to his father legacy but ultimately finding something more in the end.

Then Ad Astra takes the idea of exploration and colonialism to sci-fi space exploration as a film about not only a man living with his father's legacy but also as allegory of reaching your father in the sense of finding (or not) god, finding something more in life (just like lost city of z).

How do you follow up the sci-fi epic about finding your father in space? You tell your autobiographical story about your real parents, Armageddon time is the opposite of Ad Astra. In Armageddon time we look for the past to see how is shaping the present while Ad Astra is looking for the future to understand the present. Gray's next movie is Paper Tiger and that one started as a literal sequel to Armageddon Time, we can expect similar themes about family (and is a crime story so it will follow thing's from his first 3 movies as well).

I'm very glad I've binged most of Gray's movies in order because he is one of the best directors working today and his filmography is in constant evolution. James gray is like if the platonic ideal of 1970s american movies was a person, very inspired by Friedkin, Scorsese and (mostly) Coppola.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 41 r/blankies

Will the first episode in the Scorsese blank check series be a double feature ?

Is there enough to talk about Who's that knocking at my door and Boxcar bertha separately or can they bundle the two like they did with the kubrick series and park chan wook?

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u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 219 r/boutiquebluray

Is the full original cut of THX 1138 the next grail in 4K restoration/blu-ray?

Now with Warner/Clockwork releasing The Devils in its original form is the full cut of THX 1138 (the one Lucas restored in 1977) the next big thing we should ask for?

The only thing released in Blu-ray is that horrible CGI sludgy director's cut of the film from 2004.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 8 r/blankies

I'm currently watching the don bluth movies for the first time and is interesting how as a disney competitor some of his movies actually carries one of the main traits of the previous disney competitor fleischer studios: The perspective of tiny creatures in contrast with the human world.

The secret of nimh is a lotr style epic fantasy, but it's just rats in some farm. The cat is called dragon; harvesting season in the farm is like a great time of destruction where everyone has to move. The movie is full of this style of perspective worldbuilding, something ordinary for humans that for the rats has a different meaning and scale. An American Tail is similar, immigration story but from the perspective of the rats and their society.

Then there's Thumbelina which is Disney Princess meets Mr Bug goes to town, a clear homage to fleischer. I loved how bizarre this movie is, the animation is so detailed that sometimes it borders on that Zelda CDI creepiness, the bugs are all crazy and it has like 4 or 5 sub-plots happening at the same time, this is an insane movie I felt like watching speed racer for the first time.

The secret of nimh and An american tail don't have the visual style or cartoon logic of fleischer but Thumbelina is trying it's best to emulate that. From what I can remember the disney movies that do this style of tiny creature perspective worldbuilding are Cinderella and The princess and the frog, but even then it's not the main focus, the human perspective is more important.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 1.3k r/animation

I was completely surprised by this movie, the animation is so expressive and over the top with some of the most funny villains in this type of movie (the gags are even funnier than the ones in Pinocchio). I can't believe Fleischer studios only made two movies, the history of feature film animation could have been completely different if Fleischer studios had kept making movies.

A bug's Life, Antz and Bee movie are very similar to this movie, on the first go Fleischer nailed the worldbuilding of anthropomorphic bug society in one movie. Also If you have seen Secret World of Arrietty you can see the DNA of mr bug goes to town in the difference of the miniature people world and the normal human world, Miyazaki and Ghibli love this movie they have shown in their museum and helped the release of the DVD in japan.

Aside one or two visual gags with racist stereotypes (unfortunately very common at the time) I like everything about this movie, so great.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 50 r/criterion

I've just seen these movies for the first time in regrettable quality, simply there isn't good restorations for Gulliver's Travels (1939) and Mr Bug Goes to Town (1941).

These are some of the first feature length animated movies, they are as important and pioneering as disney's snow white and pinocchio but it seems like nobody cares to make a good modern restoration and put it on blu-ray. They are in a gray area of public domain but paramount holds some of the copyright (and the original elements I assume). Mr bug in particular has such an impressive animation that it's baffling how there's no 4k blu ray available, watching this movie is like discovering movie canon you can easily see the trough line between it and A bug's life, Antz, Bee Movie and even Secret World of Arrietty (Miyazaki and ghibli are super fans, they even showed it in their museum and helped the release on dvd in japan).

Criterion is so rigorous with their release quality and valuing the cultural importance of the movie by itself that at this point they seem like one of the few companies that could do this properly, kino lorber announced a mr bug goes to town blu ray but it was canceled because the master paramount provided was in low quality. These movies need to be saved.

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago

▲ 27 r/blankies

I've just watched these two movies.

Gulliver's Travels is interesting and funny with the gags having a similar humor of the dwarfs in snow white but it's a very simple movie, impressive animation but more on the historical curiosity side of things.

Mr Bug goes to town, however, is super impressive. The story is actually surprising, is about a landlord sabotaging the insect town in order to marry the daughter of the honey shop owner, but the movie has a greater plot of the urban human development affecting the house backyard where the insects plan to live. The clash of the human world with the insect world is so well-made, you can see how this is the seed for movies like A Bug's Life, Antz and Bee Movie. Also Ghibli presented this movie on their museum and released a DVD in japan around the time they made Secret World of Arrietty, another movie that shares DNA with this one.

I'm having morbid curiosity to what Griffin would think of Mr Bug, I love when they talk about animation (They had such smart insights on Henry Selick's filmography, they did great on that one). It is a shame that these movies don't have good restorations, the best versions are on the internet archive.

Mr Bug Goes to Town and Subtitle

Gulliver's Travels

u/Wu_Tomoki — 2 months ago