Writers' Strike

posts about #writersstrike more →
So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
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Grey_Area
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
The writer's strike is the reason I'm such a lousy lay.
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FiorenzaDampt
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
Hmmm... could it be possible that in some cases the studios (after realising they'd have less product to release because of the writer's strike) just wanted to space out the revenue to later quarters in the year? Hoping, of course, that they'd have hits on their hands.

I've heard it mentioned that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back from November 2008 to July 2009 because of finishing touches in post-production, but I wonder if it's because Warner Bros didn't necessarily need another box office hit in 2008 after The Dark Knight provided such a fantastic bottom line for their fiscal year. 2009 was shaping up to be bleak, thanks not only to the writer's strike but the recession as well, so why not push back a surefire box office hit like HP so that this year wouldn't like a total loss compared to 2008?
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Charlie Jane Anders
06/15/09

@FiorenzaDampt: Yeah, both Potter and Trek were pushed back from late 2008 to summer 2009. And I bet you're right that was a factor with some of these movies. Avatar was supposed to be a summer 2009 film too.
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Purple Dave
06/16/09

@FiorenzaDampt:
The official statement was that they had an opening in the summer lineup, which would be a more profitable time for a big blockbuster movie to premiere than November.
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goldfarb
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
Splice is a Canada/France co-production and as such not at all affected by the Writes strike...

and Natali has been working on the film for about 10 years so a 'script' has been around for a while...

as for the long VFX work, we finished ahead of schedule :)
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Charlie Jane Anders
06/15/09

@goldfarb: Yeah I'm pretty stoked for this film... it looks really insane and awesome.
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CSX321
06/15/09

@goldfarb: I'm curious about Splice. I've been something of a fan of Sarah Polley since her days in Avonlea. She's good.
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goldfarb
06/15/09

@CSX321: that's Road to Avonlea to you!

we can't wait for Splice to come out...
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Anekanta - Go Play!
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
Really, there's no excuse for any film being impacted by the strike. If they didn't have a real writer or a finished script, and they went ahead and made a movie anyway... well, they deserve to fail.

A contractor who goes ahead and builds the house before the foundation is poured is just an idiot.
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Charlie Jane Anders
06/15/09

@Anekanta: People would be complaining bitterly if there were a lot fewer movies this summer because they didn't get scripts together fast enough. I can just imagine the anguished discussions.
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Agent69
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
Oh please, Trek is way better than Iron Man, and IMO even better than insultingly pretentious Dark Knight.
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ParryLost
06/15/09

@Agent69:You know, this is not the first time I see people favourably comparing the new Trek film to films and shows they found to be "pretentious." So "no-brainer action-packed story full of holes" = "not pretentious" = "good." Huh. You know, I hope you won't accuse me of being pretentious if I say you're setting the bar a bit low there. Maybe works that at least try to be more than just a bunch of flashy noise, like the Dark Knight (which I thought was pretty good), are, erm, a *good* thing?
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EinhornIsAMan!
06/15/09

@Agent69: I'm sorry that any superhero not about a brilliant engineer who magically builds an iron suit and escapes from captivity is a pile of pretentious shit. Christopher Nolan was and is an excellent filmmaker. Bale can definitely come of as a pretentious cock, but I found all of Nolan's previous works excellent without being pretentious.

A movie that tries to tackle some challenging themes and tells a good story about the subjectivity of good and evil and the fight against crime is pretentious? No.

The Dark Knight:
Ambitious? Yes
Overhyped? Yes
Pretentious? No
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Purple Dave
06/16/09

@ParryLost:
Even Hermes Conrad couldn't limbo under that bar.
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tetracycloide
06/16/09

@Agent69: i'm trying to imagine how inferior and unimportant i'd have to feel to get the impression the dark knight was being pretentious but it's just not coming. if anything the dark knight was unapologeticly simplistic.
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zanyzapper
06/16/09

@TheDayIsMine:

Boring? Yes

I didn't think that thing was ever going to end. After what felt like an hour I asked my wife if it was about over then looked at the clock and it had only been 30 minutes. Good grief! I kept saying "ok, something can happen now." The whole plot with the Chinese seemed totally unnecessary - what it set up could have been done much tighter some other way.
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Purple Dave
06/16/09

@zanyzapper:
Ah, you're from the Michael Bay shool of moviegoing, where you boil off anything that even remotely resembles plot until you have a nearly pure 'splosion reduction ready to serve.
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Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments
06/16/09

@Purple Dave:

Lower than a limbo stick during carnival time, and that's as low as limbo sticks go!

(excited about Futurama's return)
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Purple Dave
06/16/09

@Evil J:
Also excited, but a bit more hopeful that the return to their rightful format will also signal a return to their previous level of quality. The movie-sodes barely rise to the level of the least funny regular eps when they're at their best.

@Evil J:
They did explain the Joker's origin. Two of them, even, just in case you didn't like the first one.
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Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments
06/17/09

@Purple Dave:

I liked that ambiguity, but I did hear at least one person who was kind of like "So... why was his face like that?" walking out of the theater.

I hate questions about origins when the story Alfred told pretty much explained that his origin doesn't matter since he is what he is; that there was no motive, no event that would create a psychopath like the Joker.

Then again, that's for people who don't need it spelled out for them (not talking about you, just bitching about people who perceive the film as "dull"... they're usually the type of audience that kind of liked Batman & Robin).
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Purple Dave
06/22/09

@Evil J:
I think it's been pretty well established that noone liked Batman & Robin. Anyone who says they did is lying just to piss everyone off.
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Dr Emilio Lizardo
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
I think some of those movies you listed (Transformers, Wolverine) are using the strike as an excuse for bad writing. The first transformers and the last 2 X-Men movies had pretty craptacular scripts while the writers were still working.

And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?
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Purple Dave
06/16/09

@Dr Emilio Lizardo:
"And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?"

Did some newspaper reporter recently lose a drunk-bet where he had to have his name legally changed to G.I.Joe? No? Then "no" to your question as well.
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Plague
06/15/09

In reply to So When Does The Writers Strike Stop Ruining Movies?
I don't think any of these films were impacted by the strike- in any meaningful way.

So, they won't have that crutch to use if they fail.
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causeiambetta
01/06/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
very well researched and put together article!
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/06/09

@causeiambetta: Thanks! We do our best. :)
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MelodyNugglet
01/06/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
From which movie is the image at the top of this article?
Thanks
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/06/09

@MelodyNugglet: It's Transformers 2.
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jesustonight
01/06/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
the wolverine movie doesnt need helpt to suck the most overused boring unengaging of the xmen

and now there making a movie all about him.

the xmen sequels were bad enough

this is going to suck BALLS
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/06/09

@jesustonight: Well, it's not *all* about him... there are going to be like a dozen other X-Men in it.
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Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
01/05/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
I'm surprised some of these films had scripts in the first place!
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NotChoinski
01/05/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
So, this proves you don't need writers to make a movie suck?
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Dejanus
01/05/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
I hope Salvation turns out well, not that I trust Mcg looking at his credentials.
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/05/09

@Dejanus: You know, I should write a post about this... I actually think McG is a fine director. The first Charlie's Angels was a pretty great movie. It was only because the sequel sucked so incredibly much that everybody has a bad taste in their mouths about him. And the name, which he's apologized for enough by now.
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BullfightsOnAcid
01/05/09

@Charlie Jane Anders: The first Charlie's Angels hooked me when it had Crispin Glover flying through the air as a master martial artist.
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ClaytonCerberus
01/05/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
The terminator series was actually in the can for at least a year or two before it was released. It was the writer's strike that made it available to have a market, because while the major programs had no new episodes to air, studios could use what they had packaged like Terminator and sell it as "new". There was no "9 month gap" for this show... If I could only dig up the original article about this show I could prove it to you. The first series pretty much used all its budget on the first couple episodes, which is why the season finally was so lame of the 1st season was so tame...

- Evan
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/05/09

@ClaytonCerberus: Actually, you're half right. The pilot of T:SCC was done nine months before it aired. I myself watched it the previous spring or summer. But after the show was green lit, they still had to produce the rest of the season. And the show ran out of time to film any more episodes after about episode nine. Josh Friedman has said this in many, many interviews. I don't think it was a budget issue, just a time constraint.
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Mister Adequate
01/05/09

In reply to Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
Er... why couldn't Abrams just tell the actor to speak the line?
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Charlie Jane Anders
01/05/09

@Mister Adequate: Because both Abrams and Lindelof are WGA members.... they couldn't do any writing, even adding one line, during the strike. Maybe I should clarify that in the article... :)
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