Film Courage: We are going to talk about Rings of Power.
Chris Gore, Founder/Owner of FilmThreat/Author/Filmmaker: Oh no…here we go.
Film Courage: What do you think about Amazon shutting down reviews for Rings of Power?
Chris: Wow, Amazon shutting down reviews of Rings of Power is very disingenuous. I am a fan
of reviews on Amazon. I can't tell you how many times it's helped me pick out the correct product
and I'm talking not about movies here I'm talking about just product reviews it's very bizarre to
me also that even that being a critic is such a weird thing like we we find critic reviews
of things useful reviews of cars reviews of restaurants these are all useful things right
but when it comes to to movies television shows that's where people's passions come out I think
that Amazon shutting down the reviews for Rings of Power is well it's in their best interests
but also exposes that they're not allowing potential fans of the show to speak their minds
I think it's a it's going to be a mistake in the long run
and I also think having seen the shows or at least half of the first season at the time
of this taping it's really the whole thing was just ill-conceived from the beginning
and the fact that they really couldn't endear true Tolkien fans in what they were attempting to
achieve is really disheartening but the shutting down of those reviews is I mean they're going to
show if they're not going to show up on Amazon they're going to show up somewhere else they're
going to show up in a YouTube video they're going to show up in a comment section on a YouTube video
or something else they're going to people are going to be able to speak their minds about
how they feel about the show if it's not on the Amazon website it's going to be somewhere else so
there's really no way to to completely shut it down and I think it shows that they're fearing
the the reviews of just regular people that want to talk about their love or hate for the show.
Film Courage: What is pandering to film journalists?
Chris: Well look I could teach a class on pandering to film journalists I don't know
why that this became a thing it kind of evolved but you do see in a lot of you see this occur a
lot when it comes to marketing when it comes to marketing a film or a television show they'll
highlight certain aspects of the show that may not be a big aspect of the movie itself but they'll
throw in a quick line they call it sometimes there'll be an inconsequential character who
happens to be gay they call it queerbaiting right so you'll get like a character who happens to be
gay who is in a TV show or a movie and then it's loudly announced that this character is gay and
look we have gay representation but the character really is not meaningful to the overall story
so I really hate it when I see that that Studios Pander to journalists and what they seem to
be looking for in the way in the interest of getting like good press for a TV show or a movie
and then I feel like it backfires because it completely misrepresents the movie
and TV show and then I do believe that it can turn off the audience.
Film Courage: How do actors bully fans?
Chris: Oh I find it really sad to see actors bullying fans these days
I first of all I think it's completely unnecessary and I think that if they've got time to
scroll through social media and bully fans over opinions I think that's I don't know I don't think
that's the best use of your time I think one of the best things you can do for your mental health
is just to not be on social media unfortunately for me I'm on social media for for work for the
most part I don't really I don't use I don't use social media as a way to fight with strangers
and I look if I was running a studio and I hired Talent the first thing I would do is have them
pass over give me their passwords to all their social media accounts they would no longer have
access to them and I think kind of the less I know about the personal life of a celebrity
the more I tend to like them so whenever I see like an unhinged actor or celebrity go after
just someone on social media who might have rubbed them the wrong way I just think that it's they're
they're they're usually having a bad day or dealing with something the problem I do think
with with actors is they go through stretches where they work very hard and then the other
eight months of the year they have nothing to do and that time that idle time can be spent unwisely
so yeah I'm not a fan whenever I witness that I think it's I think it's completely unnecessary
and it's just made me think less of the the person in question I'll say also I do try to
when I see a movie that may have included someone who was involved in some recent internet nonsense
I try to separate myself from that so that I can actually enjoy the work for what it is
in particular recently there was a case with I was kind of reluctant to see Clerks three
I just I've always enjoyed Kevin Smith as a filmmaker in his early days I think he was
something of a hero to a lot of people with Clerks one what he did is is amazing he made this movie
for $20,000-30,000 took it to Sundance and sold it with the contract written out in a
napkin that's a true story and the fact that he charged up credit cards and sold his comic book
collection to get the money to make the film is is amazing it's like a real life fairy tale
but I think Kevin on social media has involved himself in conversations and fights that
I just don't think he needs to what does he need to prove it's like he's stalking his own
fans he doesn't need to do that so I so I was kind of reluctant to see Clerks three I wanted
to see it's the third in a series of films that I've enjoyed with characters that I've enjoyed
and I saw Clerks three and he got me he got me I mean there's things that are kind of cheesy about
it I didn't love I think at some point Kevin might want to outgrow the potty humor but this
movie Clerks 3 is a love letter to Indie Cinema it's sort of his version of Cinema Paradiso in a
sense and it's the best performances ever out of Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson the two actors
that play Dante and Randall at the Kwik-E-Mart like they're the they're the Clerks and you'll
it's the best acting they've ever done in their careers and he got me Kevin Smith got me I'm
sorry to admit but it's sad because I think that there is a huge audience of people who
used to be fans of Kevin Smith that have grown to they've they've sort of moved away from his
work because of how he's presented himself on social media I try to overlook those things and
and I'm I'm a little disappointed that I think people are going to miss out on Clerks three
because of their feelings about the artist it's tough to do sometimes it's really tough to do
sometimes to separate the real life person from the work but if you can look past it
for indiscretions on social media you could you could benefit from that kind of thinking.
Film Courage: In fairness to talent to actors and filmmakers and screenwriters,
fans are just as guilty of bullying. How do fans bully artists?
Chris: Well I think this gets down to you that the fact that there are just so few
Stars these days and I think a star is someone who's on a pedestal but now we have access
to everybody because everyone for the most part or someone everyone's on social media
stars are accessible I mean I can talk to Chris Pratt if I want to
I can talk to other actors who are on social media and I think this has diminished diminished
actors it's the there's really very few people I would I would classify as a star
I would say Brad Pitt Tom Cruise
maybe Tom Hanks but they're just very few real stars today because they become so accessible
and even their I tend to be someone that just avoids gossip and for years I didn't even know
that Nicole Kidman was married to Tom Cruise I learned that later I feel like if it doesn't
apply to a movie I'm going to see I don't really care about a celebrity's personal life
and I think ignoring it will make you enjoy a movie much more but but it's disheartening
that this tool we're still learning how to use this tool and misuse this tool for a long time
we didn't have seat belts and cars and for a long time doctors recommended smoking for your health
my doctor recommends this cigarette oh there's print ads you can find them I think we're going
to find out I think we're going to find out that social media is worse for us than smoking and in
some cases it's like holding a loaded weapon you could ruin your career in a in a tweet so it's
unfortunate we're living in this time we're social media and so-called influencers dominate so much
I just hope that we learn to use this tool in a better way
because it's really infected everything it's affected entertainment I mean the fact that studio
marketing departments care what a small percentage of people a Twitter mob thinks about a movie and
will thus make changes in a movie think about that they're making changes in a movie because
a small percentage of people on social media care about this thing when you could just as well say
here's the work who cares don't go see it if you think it's something you wouldn't like
so I think being beholden to the Twitter mob is just the worst thing someone who's creative can do
so do you think someone would see more star-like if they're not accessible because then there's
like this mystery yeah I think we've lost the mystery of what a star is or a celebrity
we know too much about them including who they voted for in the last election which
again just again just sort of turns up the heat on the rhetoric it's really disheartening to see
so if Marilyn Monroe or Rita Hayworth had been on Twitter and we were able to see them too
just walking to get coffee or I mean is there something about the fact that we don't really
know those Stars personal lives that well because we found it in tell all books and things later on
we got to know who's who was with who whom right I just think it's I think it's social media has
ruined a lot and in particular it's destroyed the mystery of celebrities and stars and it's
also now that it's like it does affect the the content that's made it's effect affected
movies and TV shows in ways that I don't think are positive because you're listening
to a small percentage of the audience that may or may not be a paying member of the audience.