Cinematic Disappointments and Fandom Toxicity

You are tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek I am your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining me in

this endeavor for the off -the -cuff episodes

is Mike boost ninja powers. Oh, I thought you're

gonna let me say my name so I could bumble it.

Oh, yeah That's okay though Inside joke I I screwed

my last or screwed up my my nickname on the show

It's crazy so Yeah, I think we should get into

this before I start doing some kind of a crazy

meltdown mentally and yeah before you start losing

your ability to speak in straight sentences Yeah,

I start going there. Okay So I was kind of spitballing

some different ideas and one of them was I'm

gonna go for the cinematic disappointment since

that seems like the most fun to attack at the

moment. Okay. So I was kind of I kind of came

up with this idea based on the fact that you

know we're kind of in that age of everything

is a sequel, everything is a reboot. or a combination

thereof. And the fact that the internet is so

full of... Winy babies? Yes. And, you know, I

kind of have it too, to some extent. I mean,

everybody does, a little bit. But again, it kind

of boils down to a little bit of the headcanon.

Then again, there's also the films that are reboots

that are completely unnecessary that... Kind

of spurn this You know it just popped into my

head. Okay. I I realized it's like okay, so The

turning point for Geekdom and I think film internet

like geek geek slash film internet. Okay for

me the turning point When the internet became

toxic from a from a geek standpoint from my perspective

the internet turned toxic when the first Transformers

movie came out. 2007? Yeah, and I don't feel

like it's ever recovered from that. I kind of

agree with you in a sense, because that was about

the point that all of the fans started going

bananas over... You destroyed my childhood, blah

blah blah. Yeah, or the ones saying, you know...

Rate my childhood like yeah, I was trying to

avoid that. Yeah, and That was back when you

could throw that word around and it was just

you know Yeah as serious as it is now obviously

but that literally popped into my head just now

When we started this conversation because I was

like when do I recall? the internet just like

turning toxic towards like everything and I I

honestly think It was transformers And We're

not here to talk about you know Geek cast radio

has talked Ad nauseam about the transformers

movies. I'm sure oh, yeah among other things

with the franchise in Michael Bay But like I

feel like that is where like it just went geek

geek film geekdom on and that was like at the

That also happened to be like the epicenter like

kind of like the almost the explosion of Social

media like that was like kind of like the summer

that Twitter was available right like well that

was that was the like the 2007 was also like

when like Apple I'm gonna say something here,

and I don't want to catch any flag for it in

the comments, but 2007 was when the first iPhone

came out And it came out the same weekend that

Transformers came out. And that was like, you

all of a sudden had like, yes, there were devices

that had the internet in your pocket, and you

could do a bunch of things, and Facebook was

a thing. But like, that moment, like everything

changed. Like that was when everything changed,

because all of a sudden it was like, you then,

after the eye, like there was the, there was

Transformers, and you. You ruined my childhood

and then you've got the Apple the iPhone Android

debate like that came shortly thereafter and

all that like crap and You know But I Think you

know that that's just where I feel like it went

the internet turned toxic around geeky things

And maybe maybe just before that I had my head

stuck in the sand like I would talk in an echo

chamber with my friends I wasn't as exposed to

So many sources of information. I think that

that's about the time too that a lot of Podcast

starts started to to be grown and it kind of

show up was about that time about 2006 2007 and

then you get into because I mean I remember when

The Dark Knight came out But I don't remember

when Batman Begins came out because it was before

all the like because I remember joining Twitter

in 2008 I believe and it was out, you know, like

the year before or something and it's It's kind

of crazy when you sit there and you look at it

I think Dark Knight was 2008 Yeah, so I mean

that kind of makes sense I started seeing a lot

of social media people joining it for one and

then people Well again remember it like I feel

like 2008 is kind of like when things like 2007

2008 when the when the smartphone revolution

was happening. That's when the social media stuff

started taking off like Twitter like I didn't

even sign up for Twitter until summer of 2008

and that's when I got the the The second generation

iphone and that's when apple released the app

store And all of a sudden was like I was like,

well, I should check out this twitter thing,

you know I mean that that that's why I signed

up because I knew that you could comment Comment

directly to people like you know, it wasn't it

like the people that I was listening to podcasts

of anyways We're getting off. We're getting off

track bad Cinematic movies I guess for me though

like Can preface this by saying what I've always

said because you brought up like the remakes

and the reboots and stuff like that like I have

zero Nostalgic baggage for anything And Like

so anytime I've seen like a reboot I'm like,

all right I'll check it out or a remake even

if it's something that like I love as a kid like

I'll check it out It's like, you know, I want

to see if it can be done better Like there is

no one way to tell a certain story. It's like

getting a new writer on a comic book. I mean,

how many times have they told the origins of

like X -Men or or Spider -Man or Batman or, you

know, like I do. I do admit, though, like with

the Spider -Man franchise, rebooting the thing

three times inside of a decade. That's a little

excessive. Yeah, that's that's a bit ridiculous,

but. Yeah, I mean I I think the way that I could

approach this topic though is like Movies that

like you wish you would have walked out of or

that you did walk out of like Like I only ever

walked out of one movie and that was cider house

rules And it wasn't content related like The

opening of that movie I believe like focuses

on abortion. I think for an abortion clinic I

think it could be wrong. I've never seen the

movie. I watched the first ten minutes and My

girlfriend at the time and I we just weren't

feeling it So I walked out. I don't know if that

really counts as a disappointment given that

I haven't seen the whole movie After that though

Daredevil, 2003's Daredevil, with Ben Affleck.

Yeah, I remember that. I think that, if we don't

count Cider House rules, I think that was my

first ever cinematic disappointment, was Ben

Affleck's Daredevil, and then after that would

probably be 2006's X -Men 3. Yeah, I mean I started

having a lot of that around Around the third

films of a lot of these superhero franchises.

Honestly, I don't think that For me, I've had

a lot of fun with any of them like when it comes

to the spider -man films the The the whole Some

of the Marvel ones there aren't very many that

have hit three I think it's just I think there's

only two of them that have hit hit three, but

Iron Man 3 I didn't really care for all that

much, but Iron Iron Iron Man Thor and Captain

America have all hit three okay well Captain

America wasn't too bad and Thor was actually

really fun, but Which was honestly to me better

than the first two, but I think that's because

also they kind of took some chances to Yeah,

they hit their they hit their stride they know

what they they They finally figured out what

to do with Thor Where the first two movies? I

don't feel like they did I didn't care for those

at all and For me like a lot of it has to do

with I think that because they're pumping out

so many Franchise films Feel like we're getting

like it not not necessarily like a lot of Overkill

on it, but I think that they're trying to shove

too much nostalgia in it and I think that that's

partially what's hurting it because even like

the JJ track you look at you know in the darkness

and it was chock full of it and Then you go to

Beyond and there was barely any of it there.

Oh The nostalgia thing. Yeah, like like Well,

that's because, and you and I have talked about

this before, Into Darkness is like, it's a remake

of Wrath of Khan. Yeah. And when they could have

done, again, we've had this conversation, they

could have done so much more with it. I mean,

you should put a link to our, if you can find

it, put a link to our discussion about Into Darkness.

Know I like I like franchise films. I like being

able to be invested in things To have things

look forward but the Marvel stuff and this is

why this is one of the reasons why I'm I'm I

was I was rooting for Zack Snyder's DC movies

the Marvel stuff Well, the quality of it has

gotten better like the okay The visual quality

of the Marvel movies has gotten a lot better

the writing and the storytelling has gotten a

lot better But I feel like it's they've got it

down to a science. Like they know. Like. They

know what's going to work now, like they've got

the formula, and I feel like, you know, you know

what you're getting before you get into it, like

the DC stuff, I was still rooting for having

no idea what I was going to get. And you still

I still have it with the DC movies because it's

so scatter shot. Like, they make one movie and

they decide they're gonna change the entire direction

and then they make another movie and they're

gonna change the direction again, you know? Yeah,

there's, there's, yeah, I totally understand

that. So, but, I don't have a whole lot, like,

there are movies that, like I said, that I walked

out of one and really didn't care for. I didn't

walk out of Daredevil, I sat through the whole

thing for better or worse. Um... Like I've had

some reboots for instance like looking at you

know Total Recall or RoboCop RoboCop I didn't

mind it, but I didn't like it either But I didn't

really care for much for the original so I guess

it kind of goes hand -in -hand like the total

recall like I like the updated CGI, but I didn't

I didn't care for the film overall. I preferred

the first one but But then like looking at Jumanji's

sequel that was just fun and reinventive and

not really stepping on nostalgia It was just

kind of playing with the theme and then going

with it Right, which I didn't mind I I do want

to see the new Jumanji. It just it it just looks

like fun Oh, it is. I've seen it. It's I figured

it's it's enjoyable. I actually laughed at points,

but Yeah, I find that and I don't know what it

is like the more we know and this kind of ties

back to the other thing of the the trailers and

the and everything else but it seems like the

more we know and the more we're able to converse

about it on social media the more it kind of

goes to a More spins out of control. Yeah, it

spins out of control and you just get a crap

-throwing contest of you know Everybody that's

in their opinion. I mean, that's the old that

I mean, it's kind of like you only hear about

the bad things Yeah, right like you I I've said

that so much about just relationships in general

right like you you never hear like Not relationship

advice here, but you never hear about like when

there's a good relationship You you only hear

about when a relationship is bad, you know Movies

are the kind of the same way too like you usually

end up with a whole lot of negative takes on

things More so than you hear like positive Yeah,

I don't know it's just it I don't I Keep trying

to jump on the train and I keep falling on my

face Well, it's they're actually saying that

even even in terms of like just movies in general

That even ticket sales are down. It's the worst

in 25 years, right? Yeah, I saw since 1992 Okay.

Yeah, 20 years. Yeah, they're saying that In

theaters as of this year, they they'd sold One

point two three nine billion tickets, which is

down almost, you know from one point three something

billion tickets from last year It's yeah. Okay.

Wait. Okay. Now. This is where we get into the

nitty -gritty of the thing I haven't read the

article. I haven't read it either. Okay Do there's

not much there. Well, I mean, are they just talking

tickets? Are they talking like money? Because

if it's tickets sold I get why the numbers are

going down and that's because a lot of theaters

are doing the the recliner upgrades where you

sacrifice like two or three seats for one seat

and so you can't you can't pack as many in but

you You know you jack your ticket price by 50

to 100 percent to make up for that difference

in cost right so like it's It's one thing to

say ticket sales are down that I get but if you're

gonna say But is what I'm interested to know

is is box office revenue down because that's

kind of what you assume I I think I will box

office revenue was even lower this year compared

to Like on films that were projected to make

more as a whole and it didn't And there was there's

another Article I was reading somewhere else.

I can't remember where but where they were saying

that You know the the movie theaters are trying

desperately to get people's butts back in the

seats Yeah, this box office mojo thing is just

about tickets sold yeah, it's not about This

is nothing about money. Although I do know that

it is down I don't think that the box office

was the you know, I don't think there's a core

I don't think that it's the lowest box office

in 25 years. It's just the lowest amount of tickets

sold. So it's like, it's all, it's all in the

headline, right? It's all in how you spin it.

Yeah. Like I'm sure like this was like the lowest

year in like the last like decade maybe, but

not 25 years. So, but yeah, I, I don't know.

It's, I think it's hard to talk about films that

I feel were like a disappointment. When we've

got you know when we kind of started down the

whole the internet is being toxic Fandoms being

toxic but it's the one thing I do find weird

though is like I was thinking about this the

other day because somebody posted like a tweet

about all the fandoms that were toxic and they

didn't include like Marvel fans I Think Marvel

fans are just as toxic as any other fan Oh, yeah.

Especially the ones that can usually be heard.

And now you've got fans that are going to boycott

Warner Brothers for a Zack Snyder cut of Justice

League. You heard that one? No. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, this country's priorities are so out of

whack. Oh, I know. We're sitting here worrying

about, you know. cinematic vision and everything

else and There's worse things going on all around

us sitting here getting on soap boxes to complain

about films and Which you know in a sense we

kind of are but we're not doing it it destructively

either Yeah Um I'm just looking at my collection

and trying to think if there's anything else

I could bring up that's a I found to be a disappointment,

but it's like if I found it to be a disappointment.

Why would I have it in the house? Okay, here's

something Films that are a couple of films that

you can think of that people told you or critics

said were absolute garbage and you do not have

that opinion Like you like you actually like

You liked it while like the vast majority of

people that you know Didn't care for it I mean

the majority of the films I watch I don't necessarily

depend on critics because I have my own opinion

of them based on the franchise and whatnot but

You know I can think of that as in terms of TV

But I really don't read anything on the The the

film side of things as far as what they make

Well like Like John Carter of Mars or John Carter

is the actual title that movie was like universally

panned just like the Lone Ranger Yeah, and they

were bad. I Like John Carter well John I didn't

I didn't see enough of that one too. I kind of

tuned out but the The Lone Ranger was terrible

Got another one cowboys and aliens How did that

one fail That one just looked awesome. Actually,

but I Tried watching it once and I made it like

halfway through like and that was me sitting

at home watching it really like yeah Yeah I just

it didn't it did not It did not draw me in so

eventually I just found myself not watching it.

So then I just stopped watching it They were

oh, okay. I've got a couple, but they weren't

cinematic. They were Netflix releases, but they

were still films The reason Adam Sandler stuff

I was gonna say they're all Adam Sandler films

aren't you up there are They make his old stuff

look like gold I My wife who's You know the biggest

Adam Sandler fan actually was like nope I'm I'm

done shut it off And she made it like, I think,

15 minutes into one of them. And then the other

one, she's like, I want you to screen it for

me so that you can tell me if it's worth watching

because I don't want to waste my time of 15 minutes.

She's like, I'll never get that back for my life.

And yeah, that was some of the more recent ones

that I've had to deal with. I liked Bright. I

haven't watched that yet. Well, everyone seems

to hate it. I liked it. Part of me wishes it

was more of a... I wish it was a series rather

than a movie. Yeah, I heard that. It did pretty

well to the point that they're making a second

one now. Yeah, which is great, but like I said,

I wish it was like a series kind of like, you

know, Stranger Things or like the Marvel stuff.

But I don't know, what did the listeners think?

That would be an interesting topic of what they

think or consider to be cinematic disappointments.

Yeah, let us know on the Facebook page or the

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yeah all right so until next time get altered

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