Idiocracy - The Movie Hollywood Doesn't Want You To See

[Corvidaerex]

Spoiler alert, I guess, although there's little to spoil in terms of plot, as the plot is described in the column above and all the reviews -- the plot is a setup for 84 minutes of absolutely savage set pieces.<br><br>You'll be thrilled to see what they've done with your massive warehouse. It's a CostCo ... a CostCo as a big as a whole fucking state.<br><br>So the CostCo is large. There are people living in there, and there are endless little awful things to notice: Some bums are gathered around a camp fire in one aisle, while a burning crashed passenger jet can be seen in a distant aisle. CostCo also runs the country's main law school. When you enter the mammoth store, a line of glass-eyed slackjawed obese greeters mumble "Welcome to CostCo, I love you." It's incredible.<br><br>(The Carl's Jr. ATMs have an animated Carl's Jr. star-face on the screen. It snarls, "Fuck you, I'm eating!" after taking your $20,000 for "Big Ass Fries.")<br><br>I have never had such an experience in a movie theater. It was about 3/4 full, as word of mouth got around the neighborhood after a few weeks. The laughter was constant, but it was gasping laughter of shock and horror. About 40 minutes in, most people weren't laughing out loud. I wasn't, because by that point I was exhausted and numb.<br><br>Everyone walked out of that theater absolutely dazed and overwhelmed. And it was impossible to look around outside -- America on a Friday night -- and not realize the movie had nothing to do with the future. That should explain why the movie wasn't released or promoted. (Mike Judge's contract with Fox surely guaranteed theatrical release but not a guaranteed promotion budget; that's why it was secretly dumped in a handful of multiplexes without advertising or reviews … just to avoid a lawsuit.) <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Everyone walked out of that theater absolutely dazed and overwhelmed. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>And it was impossible to look around outside -- America on a Friday night -- and not realize the movie had nothing to do with the future.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> That should explain why the movie wasn't released or promoted.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Wow. Now that's waging peace through SHOCKING, not "inconvenient" truths.<br><br>Know the veracity of what is said by according to whether you are still comfortable after you hear it.<br><br>And that illustrates how Al Gore's 'end of the world as we know it but don't worry' movie was intended to PREVENT appropriate response.<br><br>I'm going to try and get this movie into my neighborhood. <p></p><i></i>

[dugoboy]

that sounds like a good movie man. i can see why, by what you described, this movie would get miniscule attention because it tells a bit too much truth. <br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Everyone walked out of that theater absolutely dazed and overwhelmed. And it was impossible to look around outside -- America on a Friday night -- and not realize the movie had nothing to do with the future.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> That should explain why the movie wasn't released or promoted.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>same quote...but it says it all. dazed and overwhelmed...they don't want us to wake up while their raping us...this movie is kind of like smelling salts. <p>___________________________________________<br>"BushCo aren't incompetent...they are Complicit!" -Me<br><br>"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act" -George Orwell<br><br>"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always." -Mahatma Gandhi</p><i></i>

[orz]

Really sounds like an amazing film...<br><br>Wouldn't be surprised if it gets a decent release and lots of good reviews over here in the UK... nothing we like more than mocking america despite the fact that we're very much headed in the same direction. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>And Hugh, I'm pleased to learn that there's at least one movie out there that <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>isn't</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> CIA propaganda... <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Corvidaerex]

This is still a goofy Mike Judge comedy (sort of ...) with characters that are just sketches and some obvious plot holes. While the attention to detail, the sets, the clothes and the endless side gags are terrific, it's also really obvious that at some point -- probably after the execs saw some early cuts -- the money was cut off. A few scenes look naked in comparison to the richly detailed & vulgar world of the movie. Judge's neighbor Robert Rodriguez reportedly finished the CGI and other effects, for free, because Judge was cut off. (Rodriguez did "Sin City.")<br><br>That said, it was devastating.<br><br>Typing this, I realized that the dangerous movies are all coming out of Austin, Texas, these days. Linklater, Rodriguez, Judge ... and that Alex Jones character is sure making some scary flix. <p></p><i></i>

[DireStrike]

I hear a lot about how Austin is a good little island of blue in the red sea of Texas. It's hard for me to believe because so much evil has come out of the state. Even that is ridiculous though, a state is a big place and texas is certainly no exception.<br><br>It's part of the Red vs Blue, divide and conquer crap that they use against us. It's fucking powerful though. Even knowing what I do I would still feel awkward in a room with a Texan. I suppose it doesn't help that my ex is dating one. <p></p><i></i>

[Corvidaerex]

An earlier comment about Netflixing and Bit-torrenting this movie made me realize something else: Because no screeners were manufactured, Fox prevented a film that people are *crazy* to see from being put on the Internet.<br><br>"Screeners" are DVDs of the film distributed to reviewers. In LA & NYC, there are enough reviewers to attend a screening in person, but reviewers outside of those cities (or unable to attend a screening) get the screeners along with the press kit.<br><br>These screeners always end up in the hands of the Chinese or Russian bootleggers -- a movie critic can make a handy $1,000 or more by selling the press-kit DVD, but the industry has just as many spies and double-agents to prevent bootlegging, so it's a dangerous game -- or the guys from Ain't It Cool News or whatever. And that's how they end up on Torrent & Google video so quickly.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.cinematical.com/2006/06/22/busted-critic-caught-selling-screeners/">www.cinematical.com/2006/...screeners/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1114/p15s02-almo.html">www.csmonitor.com/2003/11...-almo.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The ONLY legitimate reason a distributor won't release screeners when a film is released -- or have a critics' screening; "Idiocracy" had neither -- is when the movie is an absolute unredeemable piece of crap. This is to protect the opening weekend grosses; a lot of people just show up at the multiplex and see whatever's new, and it takes until the next weekend for Word of Mouth to kill a stinker completely. Unless there are advance bad reviews. So no reviews means no stinker reviews in print, on web sites, and most importantly in the TV movie-review-minutes on cable & local news/entertainment shows.<br><br>Here's your conspiracy: "Idiocracy" got rave reviews, with film critics lashing out at Fox for hiding this movie. The Rotten Tomatoes site collects all reviews and gives movies an overall rating. A month after the stealth release, Idiocracy had a staggering 80% positive rating.<br><br>Now it's down to 65%, interestingly enough, after various blogs & critics brought attention to the 80% rating. <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/idiocracy/">www.rottentomatoes.com/m/idiocracy/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> Astonishingly enough – and as Bill Maher noted a few weeks back – the bad reviews are almost exclusively written by people who didn't get the joke, who were turned off by the vulgarity of life in "the future."<br><br>So, no screenings and no screeners, not just to guarantee almost no media attention, but to prevent pirated versions from appearing if people somehow caught on that Fox didn't want this movie seen at all. When it *does* finally reach DVD, copy the hell out of it and hand them out at Blockbuster on a Friday night. Make sure Fox never earns back a penny of the many millions this cost. <p></p><i></i>

[orz]

Any journalists not "getting" this movies are probably the ones who "didn't get" Starship Troopers... which is to say they got it full well and good, and thus recognised it as a successfull, righteous attack on the evil they stand for. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START >: --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/mad.gif ALT=">:"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

From the NYTimes archive. <br>Rove and Hollywood, sittin' inna tree..<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B10FD385C0C718DDDA80994D9404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fR%2fRove%2c%20Karl">select.nytimes.com/gst/ab...%2c%20Karl</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>A NATION CHALLENGED: THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY; Hollywood Discusses Role in War Effort<br><br>November 12, 2001, Monday<br>By RICK LYMAN (NYT); National Desk<br>Late Edition - Final, Section B, Page 2, Column 1, 936 words <br><br>Top executives from Hollywood's movie studios, television networks, cinema operators and labor unions <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>meet with Karl Rove, senior adviser to President Bush, to discuss how entertainment industry can cooperate with war effort;</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> ideas range from entertaining troops to production of public service announcements<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>

[FourthBase]

I've blanketed my contact list with a link to the Slate article. <p></p><i></i>

[dugoboy]

link: <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/movies/stories/2006/09/1idiocracy.html" target="top"><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Was 'Idiocracy' treated idiotically?</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Calls to Judge's assistant, his manager and Fox last week yielded little insight. We learned that Fox is doing zero marketing for the movie — no trailers, posters, television spots or even press kits for media outlets. In response to the snub, Judge is refusing to publicize the movie and wouldn't speak to us. Someone close to Judge grumbled, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"Fox dumped the film."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br>A Fox representative disagreed with that. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The handling of the movie "was an executive decision from the chairman,"</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> she said. "It's not that we are treating the film coldly."<br><br>Asked why there is no marketing, no previews and only a limited release, she repeated, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"It was an executive decision."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> That's all she had to say.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p>___________________________________________<br>"Fascism finds root best in unreality and dysfunction." - Me<br><br>"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act" -George Orwell<br><br>"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always." -Mahatma Gandhi</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=dugoboy@rigorousintuition>dugoboy</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.geocities.com/orcthrasher/files/images/Qn38113.gif" BORDER=0> at: 10/17/06 1:00 pm<br></i>

[robotilt]

dvd release Jan 7th!

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/12/t ... fox_t.html

[yesferatu]

dvd release Jan 7th!

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/12/t ... fox_t.html

Thanks for letting us know! I will be looking for it.

[bubblefunk]

Just a reminder. Might be cool to show them that we wanted to see it after all. I'm watching mine tonight!

[professorpan]

Can't wait to see this.

And it's another nail to the HMW school of thinking -- look what happens when a film studio decides to bury a film because of its unsettling content... the public finds out, excoriates the studio, and the film looks on course to become a cult hit.

Of course studio honchos have influence, and political views, and they try to assert their power. But they are not omnipotent overlords micromanaging dvds of dog flicks at Barnes & Noble. They are overpaid jackasses who are often dumb as dirt.

People have the power, as Patti Smith says.