What went wrong? How did this happen? Was it just a cash grab?
It
was a cash grab, but it was something else.
My notion is that the process was more important than the product.
You get together with your family once a year and sit around a table putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The jigsaw puzzle isn't the goal. How good is even the best finished jigsaw puzzle? It was the social aspect that was the point.
You have any casual hobby, and the only point is to have a little fun. The thing you made isn't the point. It's an indifferent product.
This notion came to me when I was watching Mr. Plinkett's review of
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
There are brief excerpts from interviews. I'll just highlight one Spielberg comment.
That was George's idea. George said, "You know, I'd love to introduce Harrison this time playing Indy in the trunk of a car," and I said, "That's fine by me…"
It's the way he says it as much as what he says. It's like, "Alright... I guess." No passion or even interest. Just like your sister thinks we should collect all the pieces with straight edges together first. "Yeah alright... I guess. Do you remember that time when our mother..."
One more...
6:49
George Lucas had this idea for Indiana Jones and it was basically, 'Hey, let's do aliens.' … George insisted… He said this would be like a B movie, it would be like those 1950s B movies. … These are interdimensional beings. They're not extraterrestrials, they're
interdimensional. So I said, 'Fine,
fine. '
Jesus...
There's more, but more material from that video would be gilding the lily.
Making
that movie was just a social get together and a chance to have the fun of (going through the motions of) making a movie again. The experience was primary and the product was secondary. And it turned out to be an indifferent product... as you'd expect.
That might seem odd... but these are billionaires. They can afford to get together over a casual (multi-million dollar) hobby (with someone else footing the bill). Is the studio going to say "No" to a Spielberg/Lucas collaboration? Worst case scenario is that it will make
some money.
My idea is that
Disclosure Day was a cash grab, sure. But it was also a chance for Spielberg to indulge in the casual hobby of (going through the motions) of making a movie again. Or a retirement job with no pressure. The movie itself was secondary and is as indifferent a product as you'd expect.
That 50 page treatment he wrote was him just throwing out casual uncoordinated ideas. Then the writer put something... anything... together as a (kind of) script. It sure wouldn't hurt to put in some Spielberg call backs as
kissass homage. The basic idea has no legs. What do you do with it? Disclosure will be some huge mindfuck... cats and dogs living together... but what's the story? It's a dumb idea. So they ended the movie where you'd think it would begin.
And the movie itself is just a generic chase movie. Tired stuff in the '90s.
Siskel & Ebert reviewing
My Fellow Americans in 1996
Siskel
Now suddenly they're on the run, pursued by agents from the National Security Agency. The movie has to employ the last refuge of movie making hacks, the boring car chase.
Ebert
When I saw all that, this movie has just, as you say, plugged into the last refuge of the hack. Which is the chase scene. The helicopters and the black cars and the machine guns. This stuff is so old. Spare us. This Christmas, please, my gift, spare us, for next year, at least one formula chase scene.
Bringing this back to the issue of the UFO religion... The idea of Disclosure is just as lazy as this movie. It makes no sense. Well, that goes without saying. But it's a religion with no responsibilities or even behaviors. You just wait around... and *poof* the Aliens appear. Then everything is fine.
Fine? How? They don't even explain that.
