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Let's Make A Hollywood Hall of Fame!

Sports and Music both have Hall of Fames. Even some other organizations have a Hall of Fame. Hollywood does not. The closest they have is the Walk of Fame. So let’s create the first Hollywood Hall of Fame. It will be specifically for Directors, Actors, and Actresses. Let’s keep our first set of entrees to 5 per category. I have listed some criteria below. Who would you like to see in the Hollywood Hall of Fame?

 

Criteria:

-Sustained excellence over a minimum of 25 years

-Must have at least an Oscar nomination (winners preferred)

-Box office profitability taken into account

-Must have been a part of multiple iconic movies

-Each year would see a minimum of 1 and maximum of 5 people per category (our first induction will have 3 dead and 2 alive people in each category)

 

**Here are my first entrees into the Hollywood Hall of Fame (stats taken from IMDB.Com)

 

Directors:

-Alfred Hitchcock (0 Oscar wins, 5 nominations – “Psycho”)

-Stanley Kubrick (1 Oscar win, 13 nominations – “A Clockwork Orange”)

-John Ford (4 Oscar wins, 6 nominations – “The Searchers”)

-Steven Spielberg (3 Oscar wins, 15 nominations – “Saving Private Ryan”)

-Martin Scorsese (1 Oscar win, 12 nominations – “The Departed”)

Actors:

-Marlon Brando (2 Oscar wins, 8 nominations – “The Godfather”)

-Paul Newman (1 Oscar win, 10 nominations – “The Verdict”)

-Laurence Olivier (1 Oscar win, 11 nominations – “Spartacus”)

-Jack Nicholson (3 Oscar wins, 12 nominations – “The Shining”)

-Daniel Day Lewis (3 Oscar wins, 12 nominations – “Lincoln”)

Actresses:

-Katharine Hepburn (4 Oscar wins, 12 nominations – “Bringing Up Baby”)

-Ingrid Bergman (3 Oscar wins, 7 nominations – “Casablanca”)

-Bette Davis (2 Oscar wins, 11 nominations – “All About Eve”)

-Meryl Streep (3 Oscar wins, 18 nominations – “The Devil Wears Prada”)

-Jane Fonda (2 Oscar wins, 7 nominations – “Nine to Five”)

 

**Using the criteria above, who would you like to see put into the Hollywood Hall of Fame? Keep in mind, if you put someone else in for the first set of entrees, you must take someone from above out.

Do Superheroes Need An Origin Movie?

So far most superhero movies have started with an origin story. Batman, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Superman, Thor, and Wolverine have all had their origin stories told. Some multiple times. Other major characters have been able to exist without solo movies and origin stories though. Black Widow, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, X-Men, etc. are major characters that we know little about. All have had varying degrees of success at the box office, so my question is; do superhero movies need origin stories?

The answer to this question is not a yes or no. The true answer is somewhere in between. I will explain the different possible answers below.

*Yes – Superhero movies need origin stories:

Despite recent success, comic book fans and superhero fans are still a niche group. Studios are trying to attract casual fans, not hardcore fans. They know hardcore fans will already purchase tickets to their movies. Studios want to bring in new buyers in order to gain repeat customers. They want people seeing their movie multiple times. A great way to do this is to explain to the fans what they are watching. Telling an origin story is a great way to make a fan feel as though they are a part of something from the beginning. These origin stories can explain a lot about a character. It helps fans become invested.

*No – Superhero movies do not need origin stories:

As stated above fans know little about Black Widow, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, X-Men, etc. That has not decreased interest in those characters. Marvel and Fox have had great success without relying on a tired formula of movie making. We know little about most of the villains in these movies too, yet some have become immensely popular. We know nothing about the Joker and he may be the best character from all of these movies. This is proof that movies do not need origin stories in order to gain fan appeal and profits.

*Maybe:

Some comic book characters have transcended comic book fame. They are now firmly entrenched in pop culture lure. I believe most people, not just fans, know about Bruce Wayne seeing his Mother and Father shot in front of him. Most people know about Peter Parker seeing his Uncle Ben die. Most people know Superman is an alien raised in Smallville, Kansas. Most people know Captain America is a super soldier who was frozen for many years. Some origin stories do not need to be retold every time a character is rebooted or remade. It is lazy film making. On the other hand, some characters should have an origin story told. Movie goers know little about lesser known characters. The internet can explain a lot, but that would require fans to do some research. Not many people want to do homework before they see a movie.

*Depends:

There are pros and cons to having an origin story or not having an origin story. I think the best option really depends on how it is done. Some movies stray from the character’s comic book origin. Comic books and movies are different though. They require different types of storytelling. What works in a comic book may not work in a movie and vice versa. Fans will only get mad when a movie is bad or the core characteristics about a character are changed. There are also different ways to give some background information on a character without a full blown origin movie. Flashbacks, character exposition, and reveals can all be used instead of a movie starting from the very beginning of a character’s superhero life.

CM Punk Signs With The UFC

The UFC has signed Phillip Jack Brooks aka CM Punk (nothing against him, but I am not calling any person by their alias). This signing is a move that will divide fans. Some are excited. Some are mad. Some are confused. Good for Phillip Jack Brooks though. It is a brave decision to decide to fight. Especially against some of the best in the world. He is no longer working as a professional wrestler and needed a job. This is a great opportunity for him. People are only as valuable as what they are able to negotiate. This signing does bring up some topics of discussion about the UFC though. Let’s look at a few of the angles.  

Sports Angle

-From a fighting perspective Phillip Jack Brooks instantly becomes the worst fighter in whatever division he decides to fight in. He is currently 36 years old and does not have a traditional martial arts background. He has never taken an amateur or professional fight. There are literally hundreds of fighters in the world who could beat him. The UFC decided to give him a roster spot instead of someone more deserving. They will probably have to give other undeserving fighters a roster spot in order to create match-ups for Phillip Jack Brooks. To his credit though, he has been training jiu-jitsu and MMA for a little bit and will have access to some world class coaching, trainers, and partners before his first fight.

Business Angle

-The UFC has tried to position itself as a sports entity for many years. They have tried hard to go from niche sport to mainstream sport. The UFC is not a sport though. It is a business. Mixed martial arts is a sport. The signing of Phillip Jack Brooks should make this clear. He is a celebrity with great name recognition. The UFC is hoping he will be able to bring in professional wrestling fans and casual fans. They want to sell merchandise and they want to sell pay-per-views. Phillip Jack Brooks can do that. He is a great personality with even better microphone skills. He will be able to advertise himself and the UFC better than most fighters on the UFC roster.

Marketing Angle

-I wrote about how the UFC has a marketing problem a couple of weeks ago. Here is the link: http://dspeaker.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-ufc-has-marketing-problem.html. The Phillip Jack Brooks signing increases my argument. The UFC is hoping Phillip Jack Brooks will become a star a la Brock Lesnar. These are two completely different people though. Brock Lesnar had an amazing amateur wrestling background, fought before entering the UFC, and was an amazing athlete. The type of athlete the UFC had never seen before. Phillip Jack Brooks holds none of those attributes. Make no mistake. This signing is all about marketing. The UFC does not expect him to compete for a championship. They expect him to increase interest and viewership and sell a bunch of Reebok “CM Punk” gear.  

I have nothing against Phillip Jack Brooks. I am not a professional wrestling fan, but I actually like him as a person. I have seen some interviews with him and he is a likable, well-spoken person. This move smells of desperation though. The UFC tries to act as if it only employs the best fighters in the world, but that is false. They are in denial. They only employ some of the best fighters in the world. People should relax though. Having Phillip Jack Brooks take a few fights in the UFC will not soil the product. Love it or hate it, this is happening.

Are DC & Warner Bros. Wasting Will Smith?

No one is more excited about the upcoming Suicide Squad movie than me. I love the concept of the government employing criminals for near impossible missions. My hope is that it mirrors the success of Marvel’s formerly unproven property, Guardians of the Galaxy. The DC animated universe did such a great job with the Batman: Assault on Arkham movie. I imagine the live action version will borrow some aspects of that. While the cast for Suicide Squad is great, one person sticks out to me; Will Smith. Could DC be wasting his talents?

Will Smith will be playing the character of Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot in the Suicide Squad movie. While hardcore fans may know who he is, casual fans do not. He is a hired assassin and the world’s greatest marksman. Fans of Marvel could compare him to Bullseye, who was portrayed by Collin Farrell in Daredevil.  

Why Will Smith though? A bunch of actors could have played this role. While he has taken a step back in recent years, Will Smith is still an A-list actor. He has been nominated for two Academy awards and has a number of successful blockbuster movies to his name. I really feel DC could be wasting his talents by putting him in an ensemble cast. Perhaps they feel they need his star power and name recognition for this movie to be successful. If we have learned anything in recent years though, it is that you do not need superstars to produce box office results. Especially when it comes to superhero movies.

If DC is looking to bring Will Smith into their universe, a bigger character may be a better fit. The Green Lantern reboot is scheduled for release in 2020. Playing the role of John Stewart could be great for everyone. Ryan Reynolds is not coming back and DC would like fans to forget about that movie. Why not introduce John Stewart to the masses than? The move could also add even more diversity to the DC cinematic universe. This would be great since they are trying to distance themselves from Marvel.

It was not too long ago that actors laughed at the proposition of being in a superhero movie, so I am glad times have changed. I am excited Will Smith will be playing Deadshot. I know he will do a great job with the character. I just think if he had waited or negotiated differently, a better opportunity could have presented itself.

My Superman Video Game Idea

Superman is one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. He is the quintessential superhero. He has had his own comic books, merchandise, television shows, movies, and video games. The quality of each has varied, but there is greatness scattered throughout the different mediums. Except for video games. He has been featured in some quality video games, but he has never had a truly great solo video game. Why is this?

My theory is that he is just too much of a superhero. His only real weakness is kryptonite. He is strong, fast, can fly, has x-ray vision, laser eyes, freeze breath, strong skin, a healing factor, etc. He has just too many super powers for gamers. Gamers want to feel somewhat vulnerable. They want a challenge. They want to experience some difficulty while potentially being able to lose. So here is my idea for a Superman game:

Lex Luthor has finally realized that he can’t beat Superman alone. No one can. He decides he needs to build a team of villains to all attack Superman at the same time. He realizes there is strength in numbers. He recruits seven villains to assist him; Amazo, Bizarro, Brainiac, Doomsday, General Zod, Metallo, and Parasite. Together they form a plan to defeat Superman.

As Superman is flying around Metropolis helping citizens he sees Bizarro destroying a building. Superman engages and a fight ensues. As the fight rages on the rest of the villains ambush Superman. They beat him badly. After Superman is so weakened that he can’t move, Lex Luthor uses a machine that drains each of his powers. Lex Luthor gives each villain a different super power to hold onto and they disperse. He doesn’t kill Superman though, because he wants him to see what it is like to live as a normal human. Now that Superman is out of the way, the villains command evil soldiers of theirs to attack and destroy the city. Even without his powers Superman will not stand by and watch this.

The gameplay would consist of Superman running around an open world beating up the evil soldiers. He would be able to sustain damage and could potentially die. He would gain experience points and money from each soldier he beats up. He would use the money to buy first aid kits, energy drinks to keep him awake and give him endurance to run, and different costumes. There would also be different challenges and mini games scattered throughout the city.

Superman would interrogate the defeated soldiers in order to find out where each of the seven boss villains are hiding. Each villain would have an elaborate puzzle Superman would have to solve in order to get a power back. After he gets a power back he would be able to use it. The power would not be the normal strength Superman is used to though. He would have to defeat the boss villains and more evil soldiers to level up the different powers he re-acquires. After Superman re-acquired all of his powers and leveled them up to normal strength, he would fight a special ninth villain – Darkseid.

The Darkseid battle would be the most difficult of all, because he would have altered some pieces of kryptonite to mess with each one of Superman’s newly acquired powers. In order to defeat Darkseid, Superman would have to figure out which powers he can use and in what order he must use them to damage Darkseid.

Should Television Shows And Movies Share The Same Universe?

Should television shows and movies share the same universe? Another way of phrasing that question would be, should television and movies crossover or be linked? It is a hotly contested subject between fans. This topic mostly deals with superhero shows and movies, so I’ll focus on those.

Marvel currently has one television show and it does exist in the same realm as their movies. I am talking about Agents of SHIELD. DC currently has four shows and they do not exist in the same realm as their movies. They are Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine.

While I understand falling in love with a show or an actor’s portrayal of a character, shared universes present some problems:

Acting Ability and Quality: For the most part movie actors are better at their craft than television actors. The same goes for production. Movies have a much bigger budget than television shows, so their production value is vastly superior. Especially when compared to network television. There are some exceptions to the rule, but there is a reason movie actors and directors are paid more than television actors and directors. It would be hard to have a shared universe, because the television actor could potentially be outclassed during a movie. It would make them look bad and hurt both the television show and movie product. It would also be difficult to persuade “A-list” actors to do television episodes. Agents of Shield hasn’t had Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, etc.

Continuity and Schedule: There are a lot more television episodes than movie installments. A television show can go through two to three seasons before a movie releases. That is a lot of episodes. It could create continuity issues within the shared universe and end up hurting the show and movie. It also uses up potential characters and plot lines that a movie may want to touch on. Think about all the villains Arrow and Flash have already defeated. Due to actor’s schedules it would also be difficult to arrange a time when the television actors and movie actors are both available to film a new movie.

Fan Confusion: One complaint about Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is why certain characters don’t show up in different movies to help out other super heroes. Imagine if that complaint was doubled. Why didn’t a movie character appear in the show to help? Why didn’t a television character appear in a movie to help? It would create confusion for the common fan. Hardcore fans may be able to rationalize plot holes, but run-of-the-mill fans can’t. It’s important to remember hardcore fans are not the majority. They are the minority.

So there are some reasons why television shows and movies should not share the same universe. I would love it if they did, but objectively thinking, they cannot. There are additional arguments against a shared universe, but I didn’t want to make this too long.

Two Ways Daniel Cormier Can Beat Jon Jones

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are both great fighters. They may very well be the number one and number two fighters in the light heavyweight division. I am truly a fan of both of them. With that being said I believe Jon Jones is going to win their fight easily. I predict he will finish the fight within three rounds. I think he is the better striker, better athlete, and that his length will give Daniel Cormier a lot of trouble. There is a chance Jon Jones could lose though. Here are two ways I could see Daniel Cormier becoming the new UFC champion:

One way Daniel Cormier could win would be to get inside of Jon Jones’ reach. It is easier said than done, but since Daniel Cormier is smaller and shorter than Jon Jones, he may be able to do it. Once inside he should push Jon Jones against the cage. This will limit Jon Jones’ reach advantage and not allow him to use his unique striking. From there he needs to dirty box and go for takedowns. If he can consistently do this he has a chance of beating who I believe is the best light heavyweight of all time.

The other way he could win would be to use his wrestling and take Jon Jones down as much as possible. Again, it will nullify the reach advantage and creative striking of Jon Jones. Daniel Cormier is physically and technically better suited to turn this fight into a grappling contest. Using some ground and pound will also weaken Jon Jones and make it so the fight is not restarted on the feet. Jon Jones has shown some good submission skills, but if Daniel Cormier uses his wrestling correctly he should be able to counter whatever Jon Jones tries to do.

Of course, Daniel Cormier could always land a surprise knockout or submission, but I see those as being highly unlikely. His best bet is to use one of the strategies I explained. He has the wrestling advantage and sometimes being shorter is not a hindrance if footwork is used correctly.

I stand by my Jon Jones pick, but in a fight, anything can happen. Jon Jones hasn’t shown many weaknesses yet, so until I see signs of him not being at his peak I will continue to always bet on him.

What Makes A Great Movie Trailer?

What makes a great movie trailer?

We live in a world where millions of dollars are spent advertising and marketing movies. Merchandise is created. Web sites are established. Posters and billboards are crafted. The list goes on and on. All of these are done so that people will be aware of when a movie is released. Movie studios really want you to see their product. Throughout time though, no advertising or marketing has meant as much as a movie’s trailer.

Trailers are so important these days that most companies commission a third party to create a buzz worthy trailer for their movie. We even have teasers for trailer releases. What makes a great trailer though? It’s not an exact science, but here are some things (in no particular order) that contribute to having a memorable trailer. This is more about modern movies since times and tastes have evolved over the years.

Music / Sounds

-People require more than just visual stimulation. What they hear can be just as important. The music and sounds of a trailer can also provide tone. It allows people to feel or experience something while watching. When fans emotions are engaged it can lead to them being willing to invest time and money into a viewing a movie.

Cast / Director

-Not all movies have “A-list” casts or directors. That doesn’t mean they don’t have great people delivering great performances though. A trailer should allow fans to know some of the actors appearing in the movie and who the director is without having to do research. A lot of actors and directors have a following, so showing or telling about their next project will help to increase profits.

Overview

-There are a lot of movie genres and source material that movies are based off of. A trailer should give fans an idea of what to expect. It should tell them what the movie is about. You don’t want to spoil the movie, but deliver enough information to leave them wanting more.

Visuals

-Almost every movie in Hollywood uses some form of visual effects. Most of the time you don’t notice it. Visuals aren’t limited to effects though. A trailer should also give you an idea of the setting and wardrobe that are going to appear in the movie. When a movie looks good (double entendre) fans are more likely to purchase tickets.

Dialogue

-Most trailers have a few quotable lines. This helps make the trailer memorable for the audience and allows them to share a small part of the movie with their friends. When dialogue from a movie enters the popular culture it creates something that lasts throughout time. The trailer gives fans their first glimpse of what’s to come.

So there you have it. If a trailer can nail those aspects it should be able to drum up some buzz. Of course, not every successful trailer has all of those things. A lot still manage to be great by being different. What do you feel makes a great trailer? Comment below.

The UFC Has A Marketing Problem

The UFC has a marketing problem. As the leader in the MMA community, the UFC should employ all of the top fighters in the world. For Ben Askren and others not to be in the UFC is a joke. It may be contract negotiations holding certain fighters from competing in the UFC, but this article is about marketing.

Some fans say Ben Askren and others are “boring” fighters. Guess what? People say that about Floyd Mayweather Jr. too and he’s the most profitable fighter in the world. He’s largely a defensive fighter with amazing footwork, reactions, and timing. It comes down to marketing. There are “boring” football and basketball teams too and those sports are thriving. Again, it all comes down to marketing. I wrote another article detailing how to fix the UFC (http://dspeaker.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-fix-ufc.html). Let me borrow some lines from that:

Every event poster is the same. Every television special is the same. Every weigh-in is the same. Every fighter’s walkout is the same. Every commercial is the same. Every season of The Ultimate Fighter is the same. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Spice things up. Take some chances. Do something different. The biggest companies in the world invest millions into new and creative marketing. That’s because marketing creates profit.

It appears as if the UFC has lost a lot of the momentum it had a few years ago. It was on the verge of being a mainstream sport. That is no longer the case. Perhaps they can rebound, but I think it will take a new marketing push to do so. “Mega fights” won’t do it. New champions won’t do it. New marketing strategies will. It’s time for change UFC. If you want to increase your profits, it is time to try something new.