The /Filmcast: After Dark is a recording of what happens right after The /Filmcast is over, when the kids have gone to bed and the guys feel free to speak whatever is on their minds. In other words, it’s the leftover and disorganized ramblings, mindfarts, and brain diarrhea from The /Filmcast, all in one convenient audio file. In this episode, Dave, Devindra, Adam, and Peter discuss the Grayskull script, whether or not The Happening will bomb, and how annoying cutscenes are in gaming. In addition to Alex from Firstshowing, we’re honored to be joined by El Mayimbe of Latino Review, who provides us with some fantastic industry insider perspectives. Join us on Monday night when we review Dreamworks’ latest, Kung Fu Panda.
Download or Play Now:
Subscribe:
Topics Discussed
- Grayskull Script Review
- The Hollywood System
- The Happening: Success or Bomb?
- El Mayimbe’s script review of “The Green Effect” will be responsible for The Happening’s failure
- That Indiana Jones book
- Why Star Wars: Clone Wars will be awesome
- Poor people like movies too
- Terminator 4 Spoilers
- Star Tours
- Fanboys
- Kristen Bell’s photo
- Spiderman casting news
- Prince of Persia
- Hobbit Casting News
- Hellboy 2
- The necessity of cutscenes in gaming
June 6th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
i didn’t really care for the point el mayimbe was making, about ‘getting annoyed’ by all the secrecy people take with their scripts. where’s the mystery/magic when these guys get the scoop and then blab all over the internet about it?!
i GAURAN-FUCKING-TE if el mayimbe (or any other bloggers for that matter) wrote/created something they wanted to keep for a surprise, and release on their own tems, he would be FURIOUS if some dude got ahold of it and spread it all over the internet. i fucking promise you he’d be pissed. and now he just said he loves to spoil an m night script - so this guy gets off on spoiling another mans hard work?! i don’t care how shitty m nights new film may be, only a real asshole takes pleasure in spoiling another mans surprise/hard work. ahh! he just said m night should “grow up”?!? is this hypocritical prick for real?!
why don’t ya’ll call him on the hypocrasy/assholeness instead of kissing his ass?!
it’s ok to do your best to get the scoop, but to have the audacity to say it’s annoying when they try and protect their hard work!? c’mon man, get over yerself and admit WE’D ALL BE JUST AS PROTECTIVE OF OUR OWN WORK.
ITS ALOT EASIER TO CRITIQUE THAN TO CREATE.
part of the fun about releasing a highly anticipated project, is the final drop on the public. and yes, if you don’t wanna read it - don’t. but don’t get all high and mighty when the creator gets upset at you for dropping spoilers every fucking day.
i love this new ’roundtable/podcast’ that you guys got going, but this was just a sad display of back-patting. most of these guys can’t even handle some rude words on a message board, i can’t imagine how they’d do when someone makes it their job to spoil a film they have poured their soul into. and again, TO HAVE THE BALLS TO PICK ON SOMEONE FOR TRYING TO KEEP SOME MYSTERY TO THEIR FILM!
June 6th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Orange: I’m not sure who said the exact comments, and thus who you are directing this towards, but my point is that movies which put extra security measures up to protect spoilers being leaked to the internet, usually suffer greatly due to this fact. Look at Crystal Skull for example. Basing decisions on Fear will usually never lead to good results.And while I certainly understand why filmmakers are angry about spoilers, I think they focus on the issue way too much. I cant think of an example where spoilers hurt a movie. I think that most everyone who runs or writes for movie sites are film fanatics at heart, and would never post anything that could ruin a movie. If Empire Strikes Back came out today, I would never reveal the twist ending before hand. Even El Mayimbe usually only talks about the first one and a half to 2 acts of a film, and while I havent read all his script reviews, and could very well be wrong, from what I can tell he has been very protective over those type of spoilers. And I understand this isn’t the compromise the filmmakers want to make, but its the world we live in.
Personally, I usually won’t post any kind of spoiler which wouldn’t be shown in the pre release merchandising/advertising. For example, I recently spoiled Transformers, revealing some of the autobot and decepticon line-up. I’m confident that you will see the entire lineup in the trailers before the film hits theaters.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Ahh pete, no way was i talking bout you! i thought in my rambling i properly singled out el mayimbe (or whatever he’s called) as who i was disappointed in. i’ve re-listened to it a few times, and the arrogance and hipocracy that he continuously spews was just shocking. his quotes like telling m night to “grow up” or that he “loves to ruin a m night script/spoilers because he’s so secretive.” that kinda stuff really pisses me off because i highly doubt he has any real clue how hard it is to make even a 5 minute short film.
i find that you can be very diplomatic, yet very opinionated (like me) when defending a point or presenting an argument. i shouldn’t have rambled for 5 paragraphs, and i don’t know the other guys names yet, but i totally knew when you were speaking cuz it was the rare voice of reason during the discussion. i think you might be familiar with my posts/point of view by now, and i never really lash out like this too often, but after hearing that el mayimbe guy go on and on about how much pleasure he takes in being so devious really irked me. i’m gonna listen again so i can ready my facts - for i will no doubt be crucified, but in no way shape or form was i targeting you man.
i know i’m not your favorite blogger here, but i do got mad respect for what you do on this site, and i totally spread the /film word every chance i get. i guess i felt the need to call this guy out on what i felt were some terrible and elitist (sp?) things to say.
also, i’m fully aware that when you post any kind of spoiler, you alert us, and save it for ‘after the jump’. its a first class move to do that, as others just blurt it out there w/o warning.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:23 am
sorry one last summary, i’m not upset that scoops and spoilers are the world we live in, i was moved to speak out because of the callous and arrogant demeanor this guy carried. there, i should’ve summed it up like that in the first place.
cheers pete, when we gettin those /film t-shirts?!
also, i remember at wondercon you had tried to set up some kind of thing where we were all gonna meet up, get drinks, and put faces to names/screennames…anything like that in the works again?
June 7th, 2008 at 12:25 am
People have to think for themselves guys…none the less, I get what your saying Orange Cinema.
I remember the exact opposite of a bad review happened to me.
I had no intention of seeing Speilbergs A.I. until a friend told me that the film is ruined in the end with “Aliens” (sound familer?).
I remember saying “no friggen way” I then found myself compelled to see the film while still playing in the theater.
Afterwards……
Those wernt Aliens, they were sentient robots, the film blew me away!!!!!
So lesson here is reviews are subject to individuality.
Rotton Tomatoes can kiss my ass! Speed Racer was brillant and 5 years ahead of its time!!
On “Spoilers” alI a can say is keep your doors locked, draft a non-discloser form for all involved and hire those you trust. Pretty simple really.
The fans allways have a choice to stop reading when the Shit…..»…»»Fan. Get it?
Good name for a website?
Copyrite 790 productions.2008.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:56 am
orange: I think you bring up some good points. And for the record, I appreciate your comments, even when I disagree, or you disagree with something I have said, you have brought intelligent debate to the table.
As for the shirts, that should happen by Summers end, we’re just waiting on a new logo (I know, I know… it should have happened yesterday). We were hoping to organize a meet-up at Comic-Con but we’ll have to wait to see what the schedule is like as it might be too busy to arrange something like that.
June 7th, 2008 at 1:28 am
“you have brought intelligent debate to the table.”
thanks pete, really means alot. i promise in around 5 years we’ll be blogging about my first film, and i swear to god you and howard stern are the first people i wanna talk to - and i hope the gang here rips me to shreds! ;)
cheers to pipe dreams!
also, i know you have a film background, ever gonna make one, or write a script? or are you doing so right now?
June 7th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Orange,
You make some very good points here so let me try to respond to them one by one:
1) First of all, yes, you are obviously right that if we had our own original work, we would try really hard to protect it. I don’t think anyone is trying to say that that’s wrong. I’ve listened to the episode a few times (I had to because I edited it) and there are two separate things going on here you seem to be accusing El Mayimbe of that I don’t think we should mix up:
a) El Mayimbe taking joy at “breaking” a script at Latino Review
b) El Mayimbe criticizing people for trying to protect their intellectual property
With regards to A: As I mentioned in the last episode, I think it would be fair to say we work for the enthusiast press (AKA we are “entertainment jouranlists”) and as such it behooves people in our business to try and find out as much information about upcoming entertainment projects as possible. Isn’t that the whole purpose of enterprises such as Slashfilm? As for why/how Mayimbe does scripts in particular, I would venture that he does so because he wants to deliver what fans want, or if he didn’t do it, someone else will and people will go to that person’s website instead. Do you complain when a gaming website finds out details about a game’s plot months early in advance? I guess I would argue that if you don’t like finding out about information that people like Mayimbe get the scoop on, then just don’t read about it, but don’t necessarily criticize people like him who do seek out this information, do so in crafty and mysterious ways, and take pleasure in it. (And I understand that “Just because people want it” isn’t a good reason to do something e.g. tabloid journalism hurts us all. See my point #3 below for my response to this)
For the record, I don’t think B (above) happens at all or if it does, very little. A lot of El Mayimbe’s criticisms are levelled at Shyamalan but he was criticizing Shyamalan NOT for how he tries to protect his own scripts but for how he is characterized in Bamberger’s book, “The Man Who Heard Voices.” Shyamalan basically comes off as an egomaniac, and I think El was calling out Shyamalan on this point.
2) El Mayimbe’s scripts spoil a lot of details about the movie but with the exception of a Shyamalan script review, I doubt I would give away the ending in precise detail.
3) Despite the negative impact of what you think an El Mayimbe script review has on filmmakers and the industry, I’d urge you to think of how his work actually can potentially help a movie. For example, his Grayskull: Masters of the Universe review. Was this movie even on your map at all before he wrote about it at Latino Review? It definitely wasn’t on mine. But am I freaking psyched about the possibility of this movie now? You bet. Ditto the Halo script when that first came onto the scene years ago. Does this word-of-mouth buzz translate into helping a movie get made? I’m not sure (but if it doesn’t, then can you say that bad buzz from a script review will hurt a movie?)
Imagine also if he had gotten a copy of the Darabont Indiana Jones script. Wouldn’t reading about that have given us a fascinating look into the making of that movie, and greatly upped the transparency behind its back-allye script dealings? I think so.
But you are right - the sword cuts both ways. In a situation like “The Happening,” a script review giving away the details of the twist might strongly discourage people from seeing it (particularly if they think the twist is completely lame, as they do with this one). It’s complicated but I don’t think it should justify a wholesale dismissal of the man (el mayimbe) and the job that he does.
**
Your support of the podcast thus far (I assume mostly due to Peter and hopefully partially due to the rest of on the podcast) has been very valuable in a time when we’re just getting the hang of things in this new venue. I hope that it will continue. Thanks for listening and please keep the comments coming.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:55 am
The above point #2 should read: “2) El Mayimbe’s scripts spoil a lot of details about the movie but with the exception of a Shyamalan script review, I doubt HE would give away the ending in precise detail.” I love it when a typo completely changes the entire meaning of your point.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:12 am
@ david, i’ll have to re-read all of this, but right away i noticed something you said that i thought i was very clear about. in no way at all was i faulting the man for breaking spoilers, and in fact i specifically said “i understand that if you don’t want to read a spoiler, then don’t.” this is the nature of the beast and i repeatedly acknowledged that. so i’m not sure why that was missed.
i was commenting on his arrogance and disregard for someone elses hard work, and the fact that he was very malicious in a lot of what he said. i’ll have to wake up a little and get my quotes down. or i could quit cluttering up the page and allow others some room!
bottom line, if you re-listen and can honestly say that he is justified and almost heroic in his quest to break news, then that’s just sad. his effort is definately awesome, but his attitude and outlook on pretty much everything - not so awesome.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:17 am
sorry but i had to add this: i’m not familiar with bamburger’s book on shyamalan, but unless it was co-written with m night, then c’mon guys, aren’t we all intelligent enough to know that any writer can skew an idea to their desired image?! (and if m night did have a hand in it, then maybe he is an arrogant ass.)
June 7th, 2008 at 11:20 am
i love how he thinks taking orko out of the script is just so damn awesome. in reality i think it’s the stupid move ever. sure in the new series he was annoying as hell, but he was pretty cool in the original series. not only that, he is one of the very few who actually knows he-man’s true identity. i think a smarter move would be if found a way to make orko badass. and if justin marks was really all that great of a screenwriter that he’s being hyped up to be, he would have been able to do just that. but instead he took the easy way out. and this is taking the motu mythology very seriously? i’m just as much as a fanboy as anyone else and they can all tell you orko had a great deal to do with the mythology of the show. he’s been there since day one.