The Popular Movie Blindspot Thread

[Irish]

False, according to majority audience

There's no real way for you to know this. You can only assume, and to do that you'd need to take a cue from like r/movies or social media or boxofficemojo.com, none of which are really instructive of broader sentiments.

They can't be, because they'll never admit most superhero movies are as more or less popular as the loud, dumb action movies ("Twister") or the loud, dumb comedies ("The Waterboy") of the 1990s, because that might make them feel, somehow, less special.

Majority opinion is irrelevant.

Sir, this is a "popular movies" thread.

The majority of the audience consists of people who aren't deeply interested in cinema and aren't particularly choosy, discerning, or adventurous in what they watch for entertainment.

There's no way for you to know this, either --- and even though I may be tempted to agree, thinking so makes cult films and surprise hits impossible. Movies such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Get Out" were well reviewed moneymakers in the U.S. If the audience were really so dull, both would have been rejected at face value.

I think people are as curious as the movies allow them to be. But the problem with franchise filmmaking is that it can only deliver franchise-like results --- nobody wanders into a McDonald's hungry for steak tartar, bok choy, or fresh seafood. The menu is limited by design, and the customers learn to expect it that way.

The Searchers may not be a perfect film, in part because when Ford goes broad, he goes very broad indeed, but he was also capable of incredible subtlety, revealing character through small gestures and glances that are easy to miss on first viewing because Ford doesn't insist on them, for instance, by inserting a close-up.

Curious what you see as Ford going "very broad indeed" in this film. (It's one of my favorites, and I'm always interested in reading a strong criticism of it.)