Aug 5, 2022·edited Aug 5, 2022Liked by Sonny Bunch
You're right about Arnold. I remember back when I was getting going in Hollywood, I used to write for various magazines that gave me assignments to interview people, operating on the very correct theory that Steven Spielberg wouldn't spend 5 minutes talking to Tom Who? but he would spend 50 minutes talking to Tom From Starlog Magazine, and that if I did the interview right, I might indeed learn something.
So when I got the assignment to do an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, then making "The Terminator," a movie I only knew of because my friend Lance Henriksen was in the cast and he had told me "This is going to be really good, trust me," I was a member of the Great Uninformed, who thought he was a lunkhead.
They were filming the scene where the Terminator drives up to the second Sara Connor's house, gets out, goes inside, and kills her. It was being shot on a neighborhood street in Van Nuys, and every kid in the neighborhood and their moms knew Arnold was there. He was sitting in a director's chair, letting kids sit on his lap so moms could snap photos, telling stories to the kids, being nice to the moms, and generally charming the socks off everyone. And then when he went to do the tenth take of walking up to the front door for Jim Cameron, he would turn to the crowd and say "OK, I have to go to work now. Please be very quiet, and I'll be done quickly, and we can go back to having fun soon." And you could have heard a pin drop on that street while the camera was rolling.
When it came time to break for lunch and for me to do my interview with Arnold, we were walking over to his trailer, and I commented I had not seen another star on a set act like that with the onlookers. He snorted and shook his head and said "Then you have seen a lot of fools! Those kids - without them I'm doing nothing! Not a thing! Of course I'm going to be friends with them! And their moms, who let them go see the movie."
And that was the minute I learned Arnold Schwarzenegger was the smartest guy I had ever met in Hollywood. Everything he's done ever since has never surprised me.
That evening, I went to dinner with a bunch of other Starlog contributors that our visiting editor was paying for, and I was asked what the day was like, did he say anything I could understand. And I said "Those who think Arnold Schwarzenegger is stupid are the stupid ones." And I still believe that.
The whole streaming "thing" always seemed to me doomed to fail. All they did is take a million cable channels, and make dozens of streaming services because they thought they would make more money. But - much though I wanted to see "American Gods", I'm not willing to add another streaming service (Starz) for that one property. I wuold love to see the Beatles doc, and probably other stuff (marvel movies!), but not willing to pay for Disney+. I'm already paying for Netflix and HBOMax and Paramount+.. and maybe one other. It's ridiculous to have to go through the signups and money layouts for marginal stuff. Yeah, some good stuff has been made, but really - how many streaming services do I need? And, ok, let's watch the Flight Attendent tonight. Where was that again? Sheesh.
I really try to divorce my feelings about an artist and their works, but I would really much rather see DumpsterFireBatgirlMovie than The Flash. I am sure Zazlov is right and it will make a ton of money, but at a certain point you just have to say enough. Ezra Miller has run past that point as if they were their character.
I also don't know what the streaming austerity plan is going to give us and wish there was a middle ground, where they only spend money on projects I personally would enjoy. Is that too much to ask?
I'm looking forward to watching Prey! I haven't looked forward to any film in the Predator franchise since Predator 2, released when I was just starting high school. That was a very long time ago. As for Predator, it's amusing watching it again all these years later as a grown-up, and appreciating how it mocks action movie cliches and turns a conventional action movie plot on its head.
I recently dropped Peacock from my streaming line-up. The replacement? A free, three month ad-free YouTube trial, which I’ll also cancel after the trial ends. I’m down to HBO-Max, Apple TV, Prime, and Hulu. I tried a discovery+ trial, anticipating its marriage to HBO Max, and my response is meh, not that great. HBO Max has a lot of quirky comedies, like Tim and Eric and Check it Out, both of which I love, plus South Park. But I keep thinking about dropping another service (probably Hulu) because I’ve watched everything there I want to. Maybe my devotion to Peep Show, which airs on Hulu will keep me there, but probably not.
I will watch Predator before I drop Hulu. Thoroughly enjoyable.
The earlier days of Netflix were amazing. It introduced me to a whole world of quirky, independent movies that I really loved. And Peep Show. Now not so great.
When NBS added Peacock with all its promised content, I really wondered what viewer needs more content? Streaming itself makes sense to the viewer but the Peacock content did not grab me at all. And when CNN decided to stream, really?
I resisted streaming for a long time, I like going to the movies and also have a massive DVD collection ,where I can watch what I like, when I want to.
So, now that I have Netflix, Disney +, and just signed up for Paramount ( mostly for the star trek shows, but they also have a lot of other .tv shows I enjoy, that I don't already own), they are going to decide they are a mistake and close them all?...sigh..lol...
I love Arnold, though probably unlike many here, I have a soft spot for his comedic and/or drama movies ( like I loved Vin Diesel in The Pacifier)...like Kindergarten Cop, Twins etc...though my favorite of Arnold's is probably Total Recall, hands down.
I’m an little embarrassed to say that while I’ve seen the movie several times I’ve never actually watched PREDATOR start to finish until last night! I was checking the timestamps through and holy cow that thing zips. I think the third act with Arnold “Home Aloneing” is like maybe 25 minutes? This thing utterly slays (and flays and guts) the duration quadrant.
Very pumped for PREY. Will it hit one of the pods next week?
Please explain the economics of Tubi for us. It is very user-friendly, has a quite respectable collection of library and live tv items and….it is free!
[Best of all, it has an incredibly good and seamless ‘local tv news’ collection that is my candidate for the most underappreciated aspect of internet tv.]
Streaming Is a Black Hole of Financial Loss
You're right about Arnold. I remember back when I was getting going in Hollywood, I used to write for various magazines that gave me assignments to interview people, operating on the very correct theory that Steven Spielberg wouldn't spend 5 minutes talking to Tom Who? but he would spend 50 minutes talking to Tom From Starlog Magazine, and that if I did the interview right, I might indeed learn something.
So when I got the assignment to do an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, then making "The Terminator," a movie I only knew of because my friend Lance Henriksen was in the cast and he had told me "This is going to be really good, trust me," I was a member of the Great Uninformed, who thought he was a lunkhead.
They were filming the scene where the Terminator drives up to the second Sara Connor's house, gets out, goes inside, and kills her. It was being shot on a neighborhood street in Van Nuys, and every kid in the neighborhood and their moms knew Arnold was there. He was sitting in a director's chair, letting kids sit on his lap so moms could snap photos, telling stories to the kids, being nice to the moms, and generally charming the socks off everyone. And then when he went to do the tenth take of walking up to the front door for Jim Cameron, he would turn to the crowd and say "OK, I have to go to work now. Please be very quiet, and I'll be done quickly, and we can go back to having fun soon." And you could have heard a pin drop on that street while the camera was rolling.
When it came time to break for lunch and for me to do my interview with Arnold, we were walking over to his trailer, and I commented I had not seen another star on a set act like that with the onlookers. He snorted and shook his head and said "Then you have seen a lot of fools! Those kids - without them I'm doing nothing! Not a thing! Of course I'm going to be friends with them! And their moms, who let them go see the movie."
And that was the minute I learned Arnold Schwarzenegger was the smartest guy I had ever met in Hollywood. Everything he's done ever since has never surprised me.
That evening, I went to dinner with a bunch of other Starlog contributors that our visiting editor was paying for, and I was asked what the day was like, did he say anything I could understand. And I said "Those who think Arnold Schwarzenegger is stupid are the stupid ones." And I still believe that.
I don’t have streaming for new content. I have it for all the shows I missed over the past three decades while I was young and having a life.
I watched the first 32 minutes of Sandman on Netflix this morning.
I read the comic as it came out. I know it backward and forwards (I still have all the original issues safely squirreled away).
I was NOT disappointed, so far.
THAT is the kind of content that streaming services need to be doing.
The whole streaming "thing" always seemed to me doomed to fail. All they did is take a million cable channels, and make dozens of streaming services because they thought they would make more money. But - much though I wanted to see "American Gods", I'm not willing to add another streaming service (Starz) for that one property. I wuold love to see the Beatles doc, and probably other stuff (marvel movies!), but not willing to pay for Disney+. I'm already paying for Netflix and HBOMax and Paramount+.. and maybe one other. It's ridiculous to have to go through the signups and money layouts for marginal stuff. Yeah, some good stuff has been made, but really - how many streaming services do I need? And, ok, let's watch the Flight Attendent tonight. Where was that again? Sheesh.
I really try to divorce my feelings about an artist and their works, but I would really much rather see DumpsterFireBatgirlMovie than The Flash. I am sure Zazlov is right and it will make a ton of money, but at a certain point you just have to say enough. Ezra Miller has run past that point as if they were their character.
I also don't know what the streaming austerity plan is going to give us and wish there was a middle ground, where they only spend money on projects I personally would enjoy. Is that too much to ask?
I'm looking forward to watching Prey! I haven't looked forward to any film in the Predator franchise since Predator 2, released when I was just starting high school. That was a very long time ago. As for Predator, it's amusing watching it again all these years later as a grown-up, and appreciating how it mocks action movie cliches and turns a conventional action movie plot on its head.
I recently dropped Peacock from my streaming line-up. The replacement? A free, three month ad-free YouTube trial, which I’ll also cancel after the trial ends. I’m down to HBO-Max, Apple TV, Prime, and Hulu. I tried a discovery+ trial, anticipating its marriage to HBO Max, and my response is meh, not that great. HBO Max has a lot of quirky comedies, like Tim and Eric and Check it Out, both of which I love, plus South Park. But I keep thinking about dropping another service (probably Hulu) because I’ve watched everything there I want to. Maybe my devotion to Peep Show, which airs on Hulu will keep me there, but probably not.
I will watch Predator before I drop Hulu. Thoroughly enjoyable.
The earlier days of Netflix were amazing. It introduced me to a whole world of quirky, independent movies that I really loved. And Peep Show. Now not so great.
When NBS added Peacock with all its promised content, I really wondered what viewer needs more content? Streaming itself makes sense to the viewer but the Peacock content did not grab me at all. And when CNN decided to stream, really?
I resisted streaming for a long time, I like going to the movies and also have a massive DVD collection ,where I can watch what I like, when I want to.
So, now that I have Netflix, Disney +, and just signed up for Paramount ( mostly for the star trek shows, but they also have a lot of other .tv shows I enjoy, that I don't already own), they are going to decide they are a mistake and close them all?...sigh..lol...
I love Arnold, though probably unlike many here, I have a soft spot for his comedic and/or drama movies ( like I loved Vin Diesel in The Pacifier)...like Kindergarten Cop, Twins etc...though my favorite of Arnold's is probably Total Recall, hands down.
I’m an little embarrassed to say that while I’ve seen the movie several times I’ve never actually watched PREDATOR start to finish until last night! I was checking the timestamps through and holy cow that thing zips. I think the third act with Arnold “Home Aloneing” is like maybe 25 minutes? This thing utterly slays (and flays and guts) the duration quadrant.
Very pumped for PREY. Will it hit one of the pods next week?
Please explain the economics of Tubi for us. It is very user-friendly, has a quite respectable collection of library and live tv items and….it is free!
[Best of all, it has an incredibly good and seamless ‘local tv news’ collection that is my candidate for the most underappreciated aspect of internet tv.]