[Weekly Update] Am I getting old or are movies getting real talkative.

To escape the heat, I'm currently sitting in the a movie theater to write this update. Yet somehow, the air conditioning in this theater is nowhere near enough.

I thought movie theaters are supposed to blast their AC until you freeze to death. But I guess cost cutting measures hits our temperature, too.

Anyway, why am I in the movie theater anyway?

CHANNEL UPDATE

Well, because since last night, our borough has been in total blackout. No electricity, not even street lights or traffic lights. And since everyone is trying to use their phone data, cellular internet is also super slow. THis is why I have to find a quiet and comfortable place to work. Naturally, I came to the movie theater, my natural habitat.

That unfortunately also means our next video is being forcibly delayed. The script is mostly done, but I still have yet to edit it down to a final draft, let alone record the narration. Luckily, it's a relatively simple video on Deshdrohi, so the editing process should be quick.

The real problem is that our channel is getting further and further behind schedule. Once electricity is back, I'll have to do some rescheduling and swap things around. The next few videos will all have to be smaller scale videos about individual films. Hopefully that doesn't hit our view counts too hard.

So, if you have any singular movie you'd think we should talk about, let me know.

Anyway, I'm watching Inside Out 2.

The movie is so... talkie.

Speaking of which.

MEDIA TALK

I'm not joking, I'm 20 minutes into Inside Out 2, and the film has yet to have a continuous stretch of 30 seconds without dialogue. While the pacing, the animation, and the humor are top notch (especially the 3DS character), the constant dialogue pushing the film forward is very tiring.

The whole time I'm watching this, I'm being reminded of the old Pixar that made Wall-E, Toy Story 2, and Up. At the risk of sounding like a boomer, these old classics feel much more cinematic. That is, the quiet visual storytelling, the use of light and shadow, and the wider composition feel much more like something that's made for a movie theater.

Yes, I know this sounds like a conspiracy, but knowing you lots, I think you'd agree, too. Inside Out 2 looks and sounds like a made for streaming sequel. At least it feels like it was planned to be, until Disney executive boosted the project into a theatrical production. It's made to be constantly attention grabbing rather than to immerse. Its main competition isn't with other movies, but with YouTube and TikTok. The moment it quiets down, the kid is gonna look down at their phone and open Instagram. So, it has to keep talking.

Slightly off topic but, the voice recording in this movie sounds kinda... off. I can hear the recording booth in a lot of the voice lines. I supposed I like this way more than Nolan's infamous sound mixing. I'm just saying the voices don't sound like they are coming from the characters on screen. Let me know if it's just me.

Back to the topics at hand. I suppose you can factor that in for another reason why streaming is changing cinema. With streaming becoming a bigger and bigger part of film distribution, films have to compete not only in marketing, but viewer attention and retention. In this market of constant shifting eyeballs, movies cannot afford to be a pull medium like books, and have to be a push media like music videos, something that engages with you rather than you engage with it.

And this brings me to a much bigger cultural shift I'd like to talk about: The on-going shift towards catered experience. At this moment, generative AI is slowly filling in a niche in which users and talk to simulations of people who they like (mostly in the adult industry, mind you). Dating apps are opening up the world for you to choose others based on their looks. The endless quick and disposable content means bad experience is just as fleeting as the good ones. The need for commitment is fading, as it is generally treated as a "price for happiness", or a barrier of entry. What's wrong with more easily accessible satisfaction?

Unlike the classic older generation belief, I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. The world changes, and life becomes easier. That is a good thing. I do, however, lament the the fading of the immersive cinematic experience, or rather, the market of it. Young people enjoy Wall-E as much as any of us who grew up with it. But they will have a much harder time finding such experience, as they will inevitably being drowned out by much louder movies.

And that's my thought for the week. As I sat here, watching the ending of the excellent Inside Out 2, I'm both happy that good movies are still being made, but also sad that I'm no longer the core demographic of filmgoers. Such is life, I guess. Growing old means something will have to be leave behind. I wish cinema as an art will continue to prosper.