“Heresy as it might be, I think there’s actually a core of correctness to some of Zaslav’s thinking on streaming... The big companies don’t need to give us everything anymore - they just have to give us enough breadcrumbs to keep us from unsubscribing”

FYI: Having three people write a couple of paragraphs each is not a “roundtable.” A roundtable involves an in-depth, usually lengthy, discussion of a topic where the participants (usually in the same room at the same time) go back and forth really examining a topic.

This is just a dressed up e-mail thread.

Look, it’s really hard to use copy and paste, ok? You have to press two buttons at the same time, twice!

That kind of comes through in the movies, too, though, doesn’t it? They all seem like they’re really smart, deep films, but as often as not they’re just convoluted and confusing. The more Nolan does the “trick” of making movies non-linearly, the more it seems like a crutch, a distraction to hide other problems.

That particular problem isn’t going to go away any time soon, and will likely only get worse.  Studios right now are all looking to have multi-hyphen everything.

“doesn’t seem to understand how human beings in general work”

I didn’t say “Apple doesn’t care about making money” (as in: they never care about making money- as you say, that’s patently insane to suggest of one of the biggest, most ruthless companies on Earth). I said “they could care less if this particular film makes money” because they’re looking for some prestige out of it.

That is absolutely gross.  I think I keep coming here out of sheer inertia.

If you get the chance, though, you should see 2001 on a big screen.  Preferably in 70mm.

I do want to try that.

Fair.

Again, questions that are phenomenally easy to answer.

When you spend a decade undercutting and minimizing what you’ve been famous for for an entire century (ie, animated films, especially traditionally animated ones), in favor of bloated, money-grab live action remakes of said films, why would anyone be surprised the…

It’s barely an article in the first place.  There is virtually no insight in this whatsoever.  I know it’s fashionable to accuse this place of having ChatGPT write its articles, but... sometimes it really does seem that way.

I think it’s safe to say they’re in a valley. 

I don’t think you actually read the article.  That take is a (probably intentional) way to read the headline, but its only vaguely touched on in the article itself.

Critical success and financial success aren’t the same thing, and might not even be the goal in at least one of those cases (Apple is making KotFM with what amounts to pocket change, so they could care less if this particular film makes money, as long as it grants them some prestige via an Oscar nod or win).

I’m not sure what I’m more annoyed by. The clickbait headline which anyone who pays the least attention to the industry can give an instant logical answer to: (Wonka’s budget was a third of The Marvels, and it didn’t have the weight of being part of a billion-dollar-each-film franchise on it)... or the fact that this…

Next time you have the opportunity, go watch Jaws on a big screen and tell me its the same experience as it is in your living room.

That’s why I go to theaters.

You’re not wrong.  The AVClub used to intelligently skewer targets that deserved it.  One might say they would “punch up”, in some perhaps out-of-fashion terminology.  The current AVClub just punches wildly, with no reason behind it.

Mostly because they have the power to demand it.  This is also the reason you hear theaters saying they make most of their profits on concessions- because they do.