I think it is a colonial thing, at least a colonial british thing, as i can't talk for colonial spain. I've lived for multiple years in Britain, New Zealand and America, and am familiar with Australia and Canada. You see this in these countries as a way to distinguish them from each other, because they all have basically the same heritage. This means they need to stress there differences. This is most easily seen between Aussies and Kiwis, though many people aren't aware of this as they're smaller countries.
This is mindless chest-puffing on behalf of these countries, but goes unnoticed by the wider world. Of course when america does it everyone looks. As for britain, it is still fundamentally a class system and thus looks inwardly for comparison. There are no big British superheros because Britain very rarely sees itself as a whole, you have Scottish, Northern Irish and welsh, and then England has its very important classes. (Though people will deny it, but what are chavs except for a PC word for lower class?)
urrhh… where the hell would other countries than the US get enough money to make such a movie?
Sigh.. you know, technically the Norse Mythology is.. duh, Norse and Scandinavian.. and Scandinavian was original collected under Denmark. that makes Thor Danish and he gets a movie to this summer.
But dude, what American calls a low budget movie, we call.. are you kidding me that's a lot of money movie O.O
We simply don't have the budget, and not the reason to rise to budget, I mean, who would go into cinema and pay to watch a Swedish or German movie trying to be like Hollywood but don't have nearly as much money, or an actual Hollywood movie? I am Danish and the pick is not that hard. Beside, European people have pretty much infiltrated Hollywood anyhow.. did you know there was three different Danish people nominated for Oscars last year? and we are only 5 mio people in the entire country.
Sigh… ok Bob got from entretaining to “stupidly entertaining”
As a brazilian, the country who has won the soccer world cup for 5 times, the whole time champion and all that stuff it's kind of a BIG deal here. But I gotta say, we are so much more than that, so does all the other contries.
First of all, we do have national heores. If you bother to watch movies other than superhero/geeky flicks, you are probably aware of “The Elite Squad 2” Brazilian movie. The biggest success of our cinema history, telling the history os a cop who fights corruption. That's our hero, right there. So do the french have theirs, in their comics and movies, British, Middle Easterns, etc etc etc. Hell, You go as far as mentioning Street Fighter and forget that in a JAPANESE game, the JAPANESE Ryu is the hero!! The main character!! Yay Japan, Banzai!
No, the rest of the world don't have the cinema industry you guys have, don't have Michael Bay waving flags, don't need to show that every time. Every country has its heroes, its history, and are proud, and ashamed of it. Us Brazlians are responsible for a genocide in Paraguay, so yeah, even in being assholes the North Americans aren't alone. And just because YOU don't see it, it doesn't mean don't wave our flags, and we do it. It's just, you guys are way more annoying doing that, and oh, your very fucking media doesn't care to show that, unless it's in the World Cup, hence, your ignorance.
I get that the show theme is just for you to talk about the stuff that comes into the top your mind, and it's alright to not know about other cultures, I wouldn't know about the Austrailian Heroes if you ask me (Except fot Ned Kelly, badass!), but that really came out ignorant assuming the rest of the world don't “root for their own team”
Also: Hollywood makes movies with heroes from countrys outside North America. But they put american white pretty people into their roles… Yeah….
Kinda lost it there at the end Bob, but still watchable.
I don't know if you're open to suggestions for The Big Picture but, how about a tangent on how Warner Brothers missed an opportunity to get a lot of free publicity for a WW 2 set Wonder Woman flick off of Captain America?
Not sure where you are getting your info but Canada has its own heroes and franchises. One of my favourite shows in the 90s was Psy Factor. It was like a vastly better x files populated by nothing but canadian character actors. The issue is it is almost impossible to sell them abroad since by and large american viewers don't like anything that isn't set in and or around the united states. Which is why
And the US was on its way to becoming more popular, you know, before the nation as a whole decided that the last 50 years of racial progress in the country was quite enough and it was about time being overtly racist and bigoted became a legitimate political strategy.
I heard rumors of an Eternauta movie adaptation by Lucrecia Martel, but haven't read nothing solid about it.
For those that don't know, El Eternauta is kinda THE Argentinean hero comicbook. The plot draws many parallels with the dictatorial regime oparating during the time of its first publication. The author (Oesterheld) was a political activist and was ultimately “disappeared”, so it's kind of a great deal in our country.
On the other hand, Lucrecia Martel is pretty good arthouse/indie director, but hardly the kind of person that you'd expect to understand the subtelties of a 50' politically-heavy pulp.
BTW, did I mention that it's a 50s pulp sci-fi about a group of crafty survivors dealing with an alien invasion? If it's not edited in english, I think it might deserve some scanlation (with translation notes) love. Seriously: you'll all love it.
Lest I remind everyone that Wolverine is Canadian…… and he's had four movies already……… yeesh……
Gotta be honest with ya Bob, not really digging the new show as much as your other two. Eagerly awaiting you bitching about why I shouldn't see Skyline back on Escape to the Movies.
The character is but there's nothing particularily canadian about him. Much like superman he's been largely absorbed by american culture with many people completely ignorant of his roots.
Jörg Buttgereit (the cinematic genius who brought us Nekromantik and Schramm) made two Captain Berlin films (I'm not sure if that counts though because that of more of a parody)
kids these days think Gurren Lagaan is the most epic because besides FLCL, IT IS. fuck G Gundam. if anyone involved in the creation of that festering boil on the ass of the Gundam franchise still owns their homes, then there is no justice in this world.
The point about G Gundam here is that it basically fits the description in this weeks 'Bigger Picture' very neatly. National teams fighting for World domination in a tournament every 4 years. It' just mindless imaginative fun.
@Nathan, the Gundam franchise come to a creative climax in the 90´s, G Gundam, Wing and X (i'm ignoring turn A). Everything that came after that: Seed; 00 etc. was just a Rehash of the original 0079 story. And they all suffer from that modern anime trend in which a slowmotion-waterdrop is the penultimate fylosofical depiction and sunbeams on rooftops can depict an entire scene.
Bob I love your work. It's incredibly informative and I largely agree with what you say but the faces you use for the Big Picture get extremely tiresome and annoying. Do what you want it's your own blog but I have to tell you I fucking dread having to see those stupid faces especially the the one tilted to the side in stupid confusion. Grr! Does anyone else feel this way?
clarification: i never liked Wing either. the only Gundams i've ever given a shit about were the original Mobile Suit Gundam and 8th MS Team. if it's not from the One Year War or it's after effects, i'm not interested, and even when it is half the time i still don't care. G Gundam pissed me off primarily because it has no connection to Gundam or it's numerous themes in any way whatsoever. even Wing had something to say, and made an interesting world of morally ambiguous characters and questionable power structures on both sides of the conflict du jour. G Gundam was a sub-par(at best) fighting tournament anime with Gundam mech designs slapped on it to make it sell better. fuck that show.
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
I think it is a colonial thing, at least a colonial british thing, as i can't talk for colonial spain. I've lived for multiple years in Britain, New Zealand and America, and am familiar with Australia and Canada. You see this in these countries as a way to distinguish them from each other, because they all have basically the same heritage. This means they need to stress there differences. This is most easily seen between Aussies and Kiwis, though many people aren't aware of this as they're smaller countries.
Have a look at this silliness:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2007/01/2008525122354992534.html
or this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwiana (I couldn't find a link to something equivalent done by Kiwis to the australians)
This is mindless chest-puffing on behalf of these countries, but goes unnoticed by the wider world. Of course when america does it everyone looks. As for britain, it is still fundamentally a class system and thus looks inwardly for comparison. There are no big British superheros because Britain very rarely sees itself as a whole, you have Scottish, Northern Irish and welsh, and then England has its very important classes. (Though people will deny it, but what are chavs except for a PC word for lower class?)
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Yea because the Street Fighter movie worked so well the last two times they tried it.
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urrhh… where the hell would other countries than the US get enough money to make such a movie?
Sigh.. you know, technically the Norse Mythology is.. duh, Norse and Scandinavian.. and Scandinavian was original collected under Denmark. that makes Thor Danish and he gets a movie to this summer.
But dude, what American calls a low budget movie, we call.. are you kidding me that's a lot of money movie O.O
We simply don't have the budget, and not the reason to rise to budget, I mean, who would go into cinema and pay to watch a Swedish or German movie trying to be like Hollywood but don't have nearly as much money, or an actual Hollywood movie?
I am Danish and the pick is not that hard.
Beside, European people have pretty much infiltrated Hollywood anyhow.. did you know there was three different Danish people nominated for Oscars last year? and we are only 5 mio people in the entire country.
LikeLike
Sigh… ok Bob got from entretaining to “stupidly entertaining”
As a brazilian, the country who has won the soccer world cup for 5 times, the whole time champion and all that stuff it's kind of a BIG deal here. But I gotta say, we are so much more than that, so does all the other contries.
First of all, we do have national heores. If you bother to watch movies other than superhero/geeky flicks, you are probably aware of “The Elite Squad 2” Brazilian movie. The biggest success of our cinema history, telling the history os a cop who fights corruption. That's our hero, right there. So do the french have theirs, in their comics and movies, British, Middle Easterns, etc etc etc. Hell, You go as far as mentioning Street Fighter and forget that in a JAPANESE game, the JAPANESE Ryu is the hero!! The main character!! Yay Japan, Banzai!
No, the rest of the world don't have the cinema industry you guys have, don't have Michael Bay waving flags, don't need to show that every time. Every country has its heroes, its history, and are proud, and ashamed of it. Us Brazlians are responsible for a genocide in Paraguay, so yeah, even in being assholes the North Americans aren't alone. And just because YOU don't see it, it doesn't mean don't wave our flags, and we do it. It's just, you guys are way more annoying doing that, and oh, your very fucking media doesn't care to show that, unless it's in the World Cup, hence, your ignorance.
I get that the show theme is just for you to talk about the stuff that comes into the top your mind, and it's alright to not know about other cultures, I wouldn't know about the Austrailian Heroes if you ask me (Except fot Ned Kelly, badass!), but that really came out ignorant assuming the rest of the world don't “root for their own team”
Also:
Hollywood makes movies with heroes from countrys outside North America. But they put american white pretty people into their roles… Yeah….
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Oh, and I forgot!!
In Brazil we don't have eletric monkey people, in case you guys are wondering…
Capcom just likes to screw with us… goddamn capcom….
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Jason Statham as Union Jack.
fucking. hell. yes.
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Kinda lost it there at the end Bob, but still watchable.
I don't know if you're open to suggestions for The Big Picture but, how about a tangent on how Warner Brothers missed an opportunity to get a lot of free publicity for a WW 2 set Wonder Woman flick off of Captain America?
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Bob, it was made 16 years ago and it´s called (Mobile Fighter) G Gundam
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I wish people didn't assume too much about Captain America…
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@ Bob
Not sure where you are getting your info but Canada has its own heroes and franchises. One of my favourite shows in the 90s was Psy Factor. It was like a vastly better x files populated by nothing but canadian character actors. The issue is it is almost impossible to sell them abroad since by and large american viewers don't like anything that isn't set in and or around the united states. Which is why
And the US was on its way to becoming more popular, you know, before the nation as a whole decided that the last 50 years of racial progress in the country was quite enough and it was about time being overtly racist and bigoted became a legitimate political strategy.
@ ROB.
You forgot that it was AWESOME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwyVV5_orBo
Kids today think Gurren Lagann is the most epic series. They know nothing.
Also, Lumber gundam FTW.
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@lucas neumann
I saw that movie in film class. It is awesome.
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I heard rumors of an Eternauta movie adaptation by Lucrecia Martel, but haven't read nothing solid about it.
For those that don't know, El Eternauta is kinda THE Argentinean hero comicbook. The plot draws many parallels with the dictatorial regime oparating during the time of its first publication. The author (Oesterheld) was a political activist and was ultimately “disappeared”, so it's kind of a great deal in our country.
On the other hand, Lucrecia Martel is pretty good arthouse/indie director, but hardly the kind of person that you'd expect to understand the subtelties of a 50' politically-heavy pulp.
BTW, did I mention that it's a 50s pulp sci-fi about a group of crafty survivors dealing with an alien invasion? If it's not edited in english, I think it might deserve some scanlation (with translation notes) love. Seriously: you'll all love it.
LikeLike
Speaking of comic book movies, the Green Lantern trailer is up Bob:
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/trailers/green-lantern-trailer-crash-lands-online-and-requests-you-remove-your-pants.php
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Lest I remind everyone that Wolverine is Canadian…… and he's had four movies already……… yeesh……
Gotta be honest with ya Bob, not really digging the new show as much as your other two. Eagerly awaiting you bitching about why I shouldn't see Skyline back on Escape to the Movies.
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@ Kraft
The character is but there's nothing particularily canadian about him. Much like superman he's been largely absorbed by american culture with many people completely ignorant of his roots.
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Mind you Origins was pretty damn Canadian, that's probably part of the reason it sucked.
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Jörg Buttgereit (the cinematic genius who brought us Nekromantik and Schramm) made two Captain Berlin films (I'm not sure if that counts though because that of more of a parody)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269048/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323908/
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@ Bob
let that one get away from you a bit, did ya?
@ Rob & Dave
kids these days think Gurren Lagaan is the most epic because besides FLCL, IT IS. fuck G Gundam. if anyone involved in the creation of that festering boil on the ass of the Gundam franchise still owns their homes, then there is no justice in this world.
LikeLike
The point about G Gundam here is that it basically fits the description in this weeks 'Bigger Picture' very neatly. National teams fighting for World domination in a tournament every 4 years. It' just mindless imaginative fun.
@Nathan, the Gundam franchise come to a creative climax in the 90´s, G Gundam, Wing and X (i'm ignoring turn A).
Everything that came after that: Seed; 00 etc. was just a Rehash of the original 0079 story. And they all suffer from that modern anime trend in which a slowmotion-waterdrop is the penultimate fylosofical depiction and sunbeams on rooftops can depict an entire scene.
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Bob I love your work. It's incredibly informative and I largely agree with what you say but the faces you use for the Big Picture get extremely tiresome and annoying. Do what you want it's your own blog but I have to tell you I fucking dread having to see those stupid faces especially the the one tilted to the side in stupid confusion. Grr! Does anyone else feel this way?
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… dude, you just made me want an Alpha Flight movie in the WORST way. o.o
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@ rob:
clarification: i never liked Wing either. the only Gundams i've ever given a shit about were the original Mobile Suit Gundam and 8th MS Team. if it's not from the One Year War or it's after effects, i'm not interested, and even when it is half the time i still don't care. G Gundam pissed me off primarily because it has no connection to Gundam or it's numerous themes in any way whatsoever. even Wing had something to say, and made an interesting world of morally ambiguous characters and questionable power structures on both sides of the conflict du jour. G Gundam was a sub-par(at best) fighting tournament anime with Gundam mech designs slapped on it to make it sell better. fuck that show.
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ummm there is a huge tournament with fighters all over the world, its called MMA. Once again proving you dont know what your talking about.
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