Shazam’ Star Zachary Levi Calls Out Hollywood For Output Of “Garbage” Content
Shazam’ Star Zachary Levi Calls Out Hollywood For Output Of “Garbage” Content
Zachary Levi is causing a stir once again with his comments about Hollywood. The Shazam! star was at a fan event where he called out the film industry for the “garbage” content they out…
He's not wrong, but there a couple of problems:
A) Your average movie goer isn't capable of telling from a trailer if a movie is going to be garbage or not. Heck, your average movie goer can't tell from watching THE MOVIE if it's garbage or not.
B) Levi's last flick, while not exactly a hot mess, wasn't exactly great either. The Skittles product placement was 110% un-necessary and backpedaling to go "no, no, it's a family movie, see?" lowers the bar for family movies.
Just looking at this year, Cocaine Bear and The Machine probably didn't need to happen.
I feel like you can't really watch trailers anymore nowadays, they tend to give away a lot of the story already. For example, I watched the trailer for the Meg 2 and it already gave away most of the twists and who would die. I know that they have to try and hype you up but it sucks when they basically spoil the movie.
Your opinion on trailers is nothing new and you're not wrong. But then you went and chose MEG 2 as your example??? 🤔 Like that movie was an Agatha Christie mystery or something?! 🤣
This comment reminds me of right as I was about to watch The Meg, someone told me they were blown away by the twist. "Bro, wait for it, holy shit" and "the twist" was the most predictable thing that could have happened. The fucking shark died with most of the movie left to go, how is ANOTHER SHARK a fucking crazy twist??
Just to note, this is so not new that the original trailers for the original release of Planet of the Apes spoiled the ending way back in 1968. And here we are today......
I think it's more an American thing.
Look at the Arrietty Trailer:
UK version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQXi1bKfiTM
US version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMe7PavaRQ
Your average movie goer isn’t capable of telling from a trailer if a movie is going to be garbage or not.
Of course not. A trailer is just an ad. That's like expecting to be able to tell if a smartwatch is good after watching an ad.
So a possible solution could be professional/expert reviews. We need to be able to trust them though (no bought reviews etc.) and they shouldn't be snobbish against pure entertainment movies. Unfortunately this will only work if people actively seek out those reviews (at least I can't think of a way to actively push the reviews to the consumers), which does not work as long as movies are consumed in order to not think. Which they will be as long as they are as shitty and brainless as many are right now.
We used to have that back in the day with Siskel and Ebert. Two, classically trained film reviewers, who had a show that aired the week before the films they were reviewing were due to come out.
Of the two, Ebert would go easier on pure entertainment movies than Siskel would. They didn't always agree, but when they did, you could be assured it was either really good or really bad.
We don't really have an equivalent in this day and age with review embargoes and such.
Cocaine Bear was freaking awesome! Sometimes people don’t need an amazingly deep experience and just want to relax and enjoy themselves and have a good time.
I don't know about Cocaine Bear but you're absolutely right about the "amazingly deep experience".
On the other hand, I don't need a movie to treat me like a drooling idiot either. Which is more or less the topic at hand.
Hard agree. Cocaine bear was such a fun movie!
I would argue your second statement in A) assumes that a movie can objectively be rated good or bad. Plus it also seems to claim to know exactly what people want to see from a movie. Never s fan when someone seems to say, "I know better than you do what you like."
I'll agree a trailer doesn't always do a good job. But to claim a person can't tell if what they watched is good is hardly a statement a same person would make. Possibly a narcissist would say it. Or someone else full of themselves.
There is obviously technique that can be graded, but that doesn't make a movie.
Movies can absolutely be objectively rated good or bad, all the component pieces can be good or bad, writing, acting, directing, pacing, hell, even lighting, editing and special effects.
The problem is your average movie goer can't tell the difference. Sure, if something is ESPECIALLY bad like the visual effects in the Flash, they'll pick up on that.
Quite more often something can be entirely awful and the reaction is "Well, I had fun..." That doesn't make it "good".
I agree, movies are art and art is (mostly) subjective. Not everyone likes going to the Fast and Furious movies for example but the audience that's there for it tends to love it. Same with things like Star Wars or Top Gun. All you can objectively say is whether the movie was technically shot well and for that you need knowledge of making movies.
I'm bone-tired of movies that
foliofollow the Save the Cat! formula beat-for-beat. There have been some great ones: The Matrix, Big, and The Mighty Ducks are three of many, many examples. But, Good God, it gets boring.One of my biggest regrets in life is studying storytelling and scriptwriting because it made me aware of the freaking save the cat thing and ruined movies (and a lot of modern storytelling) forever for me. Well, "biggest regret" may be a bit of hyperbole, but you get it.
I can't watch a movie that is following the model non-cynically, and since most movies do follow it, well...
It's also made me dislike when an industry tries to push that there's an objectively correct way of doing something in an artform, but that's another story entirely.
I made the mistake of pointing out the Blue and Orange marketing trick to my wife, and goddamn it once you see it, it's EVERYWHERE.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrangeBlueContrast
I hadn't heard of the "Save the cat" method before. Hello rabbit-hole.
Same. After a bit of reading, I'm now certain I will see this structure in everything.
Just spent two hours researching it. Shit, now I'm gonna notice it EVERYWHERE ...
Save the Cat! formula
Huh. I've never heard of this before. I played through The Matrix in my head while reading a Save The Cat guide and it's strikingly accurate.
The same guy who likes joe rogan and jordan peterson
Comments like this contribute nothing. Sure it's true but it has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation at hand and is unnecessary.
Instead let's have a discussion, do you think Hollywood has had a stream of Garbage content lately?
Yes, streams of piss-soaked garbage content such as Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. They and their fans are braindead morons that are driving the dumbing-down effect that they themselves want to complain about.
EDIT: Also given Levi's controversial opinions, which he readily claims he has lifted directly from aforementioned podcasters, we should probably be concerned as to what he considers "garbage."
Sure, lets hear about integrity of art from someone who associates himself with people who are epitome of dissociated academic inauthenticity.
I'm with you here. I'm beyond tired of this immediate branding of people as wholely disregardable because they have some unsavoury opinions. People can simultaneously hold good and bad opinions. You're not a bad person for agreeing with an idea held by someone you mostly disagree with.
Tom Cruise is a culty weirdo, but he's also a phenomenal actor, so we like his movies. In all likelihood, Hitler enjoyed sandwiches, but that doesn't mean sandwiches are bad.
Follow ideas for their own sake. The idea that Hollywood pumps out a lot of garbage is correct and agreeable no matter who says it.
who?
You didn't watch Chuck back in the mid 2000s?
Yeah idk either
Agreed, Shazam 2 was garbo.
