Episode 853: What’s on the Agenda?
Tyler and David discuss those who assume critics have an agenda as well as Secret Invasion‘s opening titles.
What could possibly be the agenda behind not liking Sound of Freedom? Could it be that the movie sucks? No, there must be an agenda!
Battleship Pretension is a movie discussion podcast started in 2007 by Tyler Smith and David Bax. Since then, we’ve done live comedy shows, written reviews, commentaries and more.
Battleship Pretension is a film discussion show and a film review website founded by Tyler Smith and David Bax. Beginning in March 2007, Battleship Pretension the show (known to fans simply as “BP”) embodies the type of laidback, free-flowing conversations had by lovers of film around the world. Battleship Pretension the website is dedicated to being a destination for those seeking worthwhile opinions on current releases, be they foreign, independent, studio pictures, theatrical, home video releases, etc. From its meager beginnings in Los Angeles, Battleship Pretension has amassed a worldwide audience and readership. From Germany to Korea to Australia, people have tuned in to share in Tyler and David’s love of film. As Battleship Pretension’s following continues to grow, the purpose remains the same: Reach out to the international cinephile community, invite them to join in the discussion and perhaps even start one of their own.
Good show.
Tyler you are sounding better. It is great to hear your voice again.
On the topic of AI, ever since Facebook and Google demonstrated their text-to-video AI last December I knew this would be a Titanic sea-change in all digital video media. Since then the technology has progressed rapidly in those few months. Just before typing this I was creating videos on the Pika Labs Discord server, where you can find videos of squirrels smoking weed. (That wasn’t my prompt, but you know I downloaded the video.)
Honestly the SAG strike already seems like it is too little too late. If a studio doesn’t want to pay some background actor for the use of their likeness, they can just create a metahuman in Unreal Engine with a randomly generated likeness. Considering the continuous decline of box office returns, it is unlikely that major studios will want to continue to spend money on needlessly expensive films.
I don’t think this is going to be the end for most writers and actors. This technology will give people millions of creatives who have not been able to create films an avenue to create their own films. I believe that we are going to see a boom in independent film production in the coming years.
One example I would point to of critics clearly being disingenuous and not evaluating based on the artistic merits of the work itself is with the public downfall of Louis C. K. Basically every pop culture site loved his FX show, which set the template for a lot of their later comedies, but once he was persona non grata they’re pretending they didn’t. In the case of Roman Polanski people are capable of admitting he made good movies even if he’s not a good person, but his older films have been regarded as classics for long enough their stature is firmly in place.
Is that true about Louis C.K.? I haven’t seen those denials that his show was great. I’ve definitely seen people say that his post-scandal stand-up is bad but I can’t weigh in on that.
– David
I remember the AV Club presenting a list of the best TV shows of that decade. There’s zero chance Louie wouldn’t have been on there (since it got good reviews while it was on, and they like the shows that really only got to air because of it) if it weren’t for the scandal. I want to link to this comment from “gnaghi”, but unfortunately Kinja and their choice of a slideshow format means one can’t go there automatically and must dig in with multiple clicks to reach it:
https://www.avclub.com/1839776866
Wow, yeah. I can see the big-picture justification for leaving it off but I would have at least made reference to it if it were my list.
– David