Fifty Shades

[bellamyspiano]

It's truly baffling that authors like Dan Brown or series like the Millennium books were able to become such world-wide hits.

I wouldn't really put those two in with all the shit books at present. I would say they are pretty damn good books, actually.

And hey, guys, there is nothing wrong with a fun, light read from time to time. Not everyone is up for intense, complicated plots in movies and books. I enjoy getting stuck into some shallow smut with a dashing hero, gorgeous wench and horrid villain. Does that make me dull and boring as a person? No.

I just think that some of the comments in here have been a tad harsh.

[ooragoth]

I have to agree here on all counts.
I mean its understandable and I give credit to the guys who made the expendables, it was an homage to the old B action movies of the 80's and 90's. Basically it was never supposed to be a good movie just a mash up of all the action heros they could convince to join. Its the same thing with turning these low brow easy read books into movies. They do it because they already have a fan base they are almost gaurenteed to get into the theater and they have a huge merchandising tie in already set. Prime example is the whole bird-pin thing from The Hunger Games was a very minor plot point that in a bigger more complex movie they would have glossed over, instead they made it prominent and used it to sell books, lunch bokes and millions of 10 cent pins for 20 bucks a pop.
The problem is you have two generations of people brought up on what the lowest common denominator would find entertaining. Where reading, sophistication and intelligent creativity have been shuned and ridiculed, all the while, stupidity (Jackass anyone?) indulgent egotism (Twitter?) and reguritation of knowledge (insert any educational institution here) have been exaulted as social excelence. We have gone from peaceful protests like the million man march and slogans of elegance like "make love not war" to the occupy movement, where many had no idea what they were protesting, and "no peace no pussy". Meanwhile the system that puts out entertainment be it books, movies or music has grown and incorportaed moving farther and farther from the system that once was in close contact with the "average joe". As a result they went from serving everyone what they wanted to serving everyone what they would take, to me at least its equivalent to a restaurant turning into a prison cafetieria, and with such deadened dulled pallets; what people will take is some pretty nasty stuff.
A large part though of what makes these movies so expensive is the actors. As someone said you need recognizable names to release something globally, thats why there are so few up and coming actors and actresses in movies as compared to say, 20 years ago. You do well in one movie and make a name, even with a small part, and you become an instant star. The issue is though that they are still being paid more than they are worth for no other reason than to increase thier recognizibility. An actor who is good in one movie and gets paid 100 000$ for another might be recognized, but if you pay them a 800 000 they have money to make moves, fly aound, be at awards shows and movie openings, to show off, and be recognized by that many more. The funny part is hollywood considers that stingy. Its not shocking that they need big blockbusters to make insane amounts of money when actors are getting paind 20, 30, 50, hell 70+ Million for a role that takes maybe a year or two to finish.