Trailers for the Dark Knight Rises

Movie trailers are a constant in this world. I love them. I wish that before a movie played, instead of the celebrity trivia they show, old trailers were played.

"In what year did Jennifer Aniston first say, "No, I'll have salad instead of fries", thus making her bankable as an actress for years to come?

A. 1998

B. 1969

C. 1987 or

D. Inside her mother’s womb with a well-placed kick?"

"I don't care! Play the Back to the Future trailer!"

I think trailers are great. But there are some trailers that are incredibly useless. In this case, trailers for The Dark Knight Rises. Are these useful at all? Trailers for a movie so anticipated that I'm sure people would miss their kid’s baptism for it? I don't think so.

The Dark Knight Rises is so long awaited and known about, that trailers for it are ridiculous. We know about it! We have known since the end of the last movie in 2008. The ending to that movie was a trailer itself for this movie. A four-year-old trailer! That is the only trailer that is needed! We knew a series could not end that way, so we were anticipating another movie.

Was there anyone who thought that a Batman franchise would end with Batman speeding away out of Gotham City? Was there anyone who thought that was a possible ending?

"Well, what a movie. I guess that's it then. Batman is going to hit the beach for a few years. I wonder if he'll take his mask off on the surf. Gotta be hot in there on a cold day, but in the sun? Whoa. I don't envy the guy. Well, yeah I do. He's got gadgets and can fight and is pretty badass. But that suit? It's gotta be boiling. Have a good vacation, Batman! Way to stop The Joker."

Trailers are used to entice people into seeing a movie. Completely useless in this case. Who out there who has seen the other two is on the fence about seeing this?

"Man, I don't know. I loved Batman Begins; The Dark Knight was one of the greatest things I'd ever seen, but a third one? Geez, I just don't know if I have that kind of excitement to give. I mean, I spent it all on the last two! I haven't been excited for anything for four years. I had a kid – it didn't even faze me. I won the lottery – I yawned! I'll have to see some trailers to spark my interest and hopefully get some excitement back."

If you need a trailer, you don't deserve to see this movie. That should be part of the process of buying a ticket.

"Welcome to the theatre. How did you hear about The Dark Knight Rises?"

"Oh! I was on YouTube and I watched a trailer and it looked really neat!"

"Did you know about it beforehand?"

"Nope, that's why I'm excited there was a trailer. I mean without that, I'd have no ide–"

"Sorry, sir. You can't come in. See, there are real fans out here – ones who have been waiting since July 20th, 2008 to see this movie. They don't need any, "I only kinda want to be here"s in their theatre."

"...But I have money. I really want to..."

"Your money is no good here, sir! It takes a level of dedication that you simply do not have. I suggest you back away or buy a ticket for Madea’s Witness Protection."

Also, why would anyone want trailers? Is there nothing to be said for going into a movie you are excited to see and not knowing one thing about what is going to happen or be seen? Does anyone remember the trailer for Jurassic Park? It was amazing! There was a puddle of water, some stomping noises, a giant T-Rex foot stepped in the puddle, then a roar and that was it! Jurassic Park! It was amazing! Who the hell needed more than that?

"Hmmm, so it's a movie about dinosaurs, but what are they DOING? I mean, is it a movie with TALKING dinosaurs? Do they have jobs? I don't know. I'm not sold."

I don't understand why anyone would want a trailer. You're going to go, it's going to be great, why ruin that?

"I can't wait to see this movie! But I'd also like if for every month for five months, I was shown a different two-minute compilation of the movie, so that slowly but surely I can see the whole thing before I go. If only they had started showing trailers three years ago, then I could have seen the whole movie in annoying, two-minute chunks!"

Why do these trailers need to show so much? Why! Why show anything? We're going! You got that, Nolan? We're going! I cannot stress this enough. Doesn't matter if you just sent people from town to town yelling in the streets.

"Dark Knight is now here. Hear ye, hear ye – Dark Knight is out! Gather ye young'uns and head down the road to your nearest CinemaTech. Will be a righteous time, wouldn't you say? What what and all that."

We'd be going. We'd go if there was no mention of the release date at all, and one day we were just walking by a theatre and saw that it was out.

"Holy hell! I had no idea! I'm skipping work right now! I'll pick my kid up later! My friend can help himself move! That meeting can exist without me! I'll go to that wedding tomorrow! My wife can drive herself home from that operation! I'm going to this movie!"

And if you are going to show trailers, why not keep the same type of trailer you had for the last one? The floating bat shape with a few words being said, a Joker laugh, and then the date? Why not the same for this one? They did have that and then they decided that wasn't enough.

"I don't know if the Bat Signal floating into focus, Batman’s clear, audible voice speaking, Bane saying 'I will break you', and Alfred saying something 'Alfredy' is enough for people. Will they even know what it is? What if they mistake this for another Madagascar movie?"

"The Bat Signal can only mean one thing. Batman!"

"Yeah... I get that, but... I don't know. I just think we should spell it out a bit more, ya know? Really hit home what movie this is."

"...It's called The Dark Knight Rises! It has the Bat Signal! What the hell else could it be?"

"Look, just to be safe, let's just show the last scene of the movie in its entirety, credits and all, so that people will know for sure it's Batman."

"That's it! I quit! You have pushed me to quit."

"Sooo I get my way then? Goodbye, trailer hoarder! Don't let all the trailers I'm going to show hit you on the ass on the way out!"

The best part is that the trailers are completely useless because we would go no matter what they were. ANYTHING could be shown to us and we would go.

"This summer, the trilogy ends. Batman faces his toughest opponent yet. Bane. But before that, he has to face an old love that will not die. He hangs up his bat suit and picks up... a baker’s uniform! That's right. Before Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed, the young boy always thought of becoming a baker.

"Heat up the oven, Alfred. I feel a marble rye coming on."

This summer – The Dark Knight Rises... Bread."

People would still go see that! I guarantee it.

"Whoa, that looks completely awful. But, man, I'm two-movies deep in a three-movie franchise. I'd be an idiot NOT to go! If Batman puts cake batter in Bane’s serum pack I'll puke, but I will finish that movie."

Not knowing what is going to be in a movie at all can be great. I was told about Cloverfield by a friend. I hadn't heard anything about it.

"Do you want to go see Cloverfield? It's a monster movie and in the trailer the Sta–"

"Yes! You're damn right I want to see that!"

That's all I needed. Monster movie. I loved that movie, and one reason is because I was excited by concept alone and had not seen one second of it before I went in! I didn't have one of those moments where I remembered what I had seen already.

"Nice, the part that I watched on my phone two months ago! It for sure looks better here on a bigger screen. Oh, there's the part I watched on my iPad on the train. Man, it's sure great not to have a man’s crotch in my face while watching it. Oh, wait! Here's the part I watched over that guy’s shoulder in line at McDonalds. It's sure great to see it without someone yelling, 'What the hell is wrong with you, man! Stop breathing over my shoulder!'"

What is their reasoning for Dark Knight trailers? Are they upset that not every human on the planet saw that last one?

"You know, the last Batman movie we put out was only seen by three quarters of the planet."

"Jesus, that's it?"

"I know, gross, huh? What do you have to do!"

"I am both insulted and shocked. Even outraged! Let's have more trailers for this one! Maybe that was the problem. If the tribesmen of New Guinea don't buy tickets, it'll be a waste! I want penguins buying tickets for Christ’s sake! Every mammal, reptile, man, woman, child, born and unborn will see this! Also, see if we can put movie screens in rocks and send them down to New Guinea. And for God’s sake, put some theatres in the 

Antarctic for the penguins! They'll buy tickets and then have nowhere to see the movie. Have you even THOUGHT about the penguins?!"

"Ya know, I hadn't! How dumb was I. I was missing that penguin money!"

"It is a very valuable dollar."

I understand making trailers for movies that no one knows about. For instance, the movie that just came out, Savages. Savages hasn't been a comic book since the forties. It isn't a movie franchise. We didn't grow up loving it. It makes sense that they need to let us know about that movie. But a movie like The Dark Knight Rises? Come on. I have been nothing but angry to see trailers or hear people say, "Man, you gotta see this part with Bane." I'm going to the goddam movie! I'm convinced, all right! I need no more convincing. I was convinced as soon as it was announced that it was coming out.

"We are pleased to announce that in 2012, there will be a new Batm–"

"Nice! I'm there!"

"You didn't even let me finish."

"You said 'Bat', brother. Wooo! I'm in! Can I get a ticket now?"

I think that if you are seeing another movie, and if before it they are going to play a trailer for a movie like The Dark Knight Rises, they should let people know about it. There was a trailer for The Dark Knight Rises before The Avengers. Let people know you are going to show a trailer so we can leave!

"Ladies and gentleman, before we show you The Avengers, we are going to show a trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. If you like enjoyment on any level, some degree of surprise, and don't live your life based off of things written in 140 characters, we suggest you leave the theatre now. 

However, if you hate surprise, love opening presents on December 21st and think 210 characters is far too long, feel free to sit and continue never letting your friend finish a story until he trims it to 'Twitter length'."

Every trailer for this movie is useless, but if they have to do them, here are a couple that could have been done and not ruined anything in the movie. How about just shots from the last movie?

"Hey, remember this? One of the greatest things ever, huh? Well, we made another one! Come on down!"

How about just berating the audience? Just a black screen with someone talking down to us.

"Yo, loser. How the hell are you? Look, your partner's ugly, your kids are stupid, but you know what? This weekend we're releasing a new Batman movie we made! Does that help the depression subside a bit? Kill yourself! ...After seeing this movie."

Or even a complete attack on us?

"Fuck you! ...The Dark Knight Rises. July 20th."

Also, am I the only one who is a little nervous about this movie? I expect it to be good, but I dislike that Bane is not alone in this. Bane’s story is second only to The Joker. Why must Bane always be saddled with someone? Why can't he have his own story? It makes as much sense as Spiderman 3.

"You know, Venom is pretty much the coolest character that Spiderman faces."

"I know! I'm really excited. Let's throw in the Sandman as well."

"What...? Why? Venom is strong enough and cool enough that he could be in this movie on his own."

"I'm really not convinced. Let's throw another character in there to help him out."

"Nobody has been waiting to see Sandman! Since the franchise started, people have been waiting for Venom. He has one million Twitter followers!"

"Ahhh, I'd like to trust you, but does Venom come in at night and help you sleep? Does Metallica have a song called ' Enter Venom'? Nope. Sandman stays."

And to be saddled with Catwoman? Catwoman! I'm nervous. I would only really be happy if they showed Catwoman as Batman was driving down the street.

"Hey look, there's Catwoman!"

"Roar!"

"Whoa. Happy I didn't stop. All right, onto fighting real threats."

Twitter @nathanmacintosh

Celebrities punching cameramen.

Alec Baldwin punched a cameraman in the face. Personally – I think that's great. I don't believe enough people get punched anymore. More people need to be checked. When LeBron did the hour long Decision, Michael Jordan should have been right there to smash him in the mouth.

"Are you serious? I played with the flu like a boss and you take an entire hour to say one sentence? Obama doesn't get that much airtime! They cut him off at half an hour!"

When Floyd Mayweather asked to get out of jail early (after beating his girlfriend infront of his kids) because the water in prison was bad and he couldn’t work out in there as well as he did on the outside? Should be hit in the back of the head with a barstool.

"Are you insane? You beat a woman infront of her kids and went to jail! You think it would be the Best Western?! Man, I should hit you again for fighting your girlfriend before Pacquiao."

The person who invented the self-checkout should be struck with a bamboo stick.

"Are you crazy? You thought it would be better to talk to a robot over a person who hates their life? They can be chatted up – this machine is a machine! And if you're bringing in self-checkouts then have the decency to get the real people out of here! They have to watch robots slowly take their job?!"

For some reason, though, when a celebrity attacks an "innocent, minding his own business" photographer, the world attacks the celebrity.

Whenever I hear these stories, I think they are great. When Russell Crowe hit that guy with a phone, when Sean Penn shot at helicopters, when Björk grabbed that woman’s hair. To me, that one just makes sense. Björk came off an insanely long flight. Just landed! You ever have a long flight? Something over twelve hours? You feel your normal, chipper self when you landed? You feel that you could have a conversation with the world when you leave the terminal? No! You want to punch the person next to you who's also waiting for their bag.

"If this guy doesn't stop chewing his gum so loud, I swear to God I'm gonna smash his head off of his iPad. Shut it down, chew-loud!"

People get so upset with celebrities when they attack someone.

"That cameraman was just doing his job! His insanely annoying and useless job. It's not his fault he has to be directly in your eye every time he snaps a photo. Leave him alone!"

I honestly don't understand why people try to defend these cameramen. Why! Why defend people who instigate fights and anger? Did people defend the bitchy girls in high school who would pick on people, and then when those people snapped, would run to a teacher with a sob story?

"I don't know what happened to her. We were just talking to her about how she could change her hair, you know? So that it could look as good as mine? And she snapped and threw a book at me. I guess I'm a bad person for telling her that her roots were showing every day for a month. I was just trying to help."

Why do people run to their side? Why does anyone stick up for these cameraman? If a friend of yours told you they wanted to be a celebrity photographer, what would your first thought be?

"Oh, wow! That is a very noble job full of talent and necessity. On par with a doctor. Good for you!"

No, you would think they were a complete piece of garbage. The only way it would be respectable is if you completely fell into it after failing at everything else.

"You know, I tried just about everything. I was fired from every call center I worked at, I don't have the upper body strength to dig ditches, and I don't have the heart to rob people. I guess it's pick up a camera, follow around famous people and document their entire lives."

Also, is there anyway that people can tone down on their love of celebrities a bit? Honestly, who cares what these people are doing? Not in a rude way, but man, who cares? Why worry about them getting married, where they are seen, what they're wearing or what they're driving. What the hell are YOU doing? Have you achieved everything that you wanted to do with your life that you can now just sit and watch everyone else?

"It only took me forty-five years, but I finally have studied everything on the planet and have become a master at it all. I can speak every language, I have graduated with the highest degree in every form of education... and what the hell will I do now? There's nothing left! Only thing left to do is watch what others are up to. That's what I'll do! Oh! Look at this! This famous person is wearing something that I wouldn't wear. What an idiot!"

I love when people talk about what celebrities are wearing. The people who only judge and talk about what celebrities are wearing? Man. There's no amount of jail time that is enough for this offense.

"Look at what this person is wearing! I wouldn't wear it because I'm boring, have nothing relevant to say, and wouldn't step out of the tiny box I know as 'life' in fear that someone like me would judge me the way I judge others."

Alec Baldwin saying that paparazzi should be waterboarded is great. That is a great sentence. People think that's rough, though. Why? Because you can't say something like that to people who are not on TV. You can't do that! He's never been in a show. All he does is take pictures; he doesn't deserve to be waterboarded! Watch a show come out, though, that is "Celebrity Waterboarding". Some of the highest ratings of all time.

"Oh, man! Did you see last night's episode where Joshua Jackson said he was behind 9/11 after being waterboarded for an hour? Oh, man. What a loser! Go out and do The Skulls 4, you piece of trash!"

Plus, admit it – people want to see these people freak out. It's only fun for a while to have Alec Baldwin or other celebrities be nice. The world wants to see exactly what happened. But then instead of saying, "Thank you for giving us what we pushed you to do!" – we call these people crazy. Crazy! The balls on us! The gall! That guy is crazy because I pushed him to be that way. What a nut.

How do people actually get upset at celebrities and ask, "How can they get so mad?" We all get mad at random people all day, for even dumber things.

"God, that guy got on the bus before me when CLEARLY I was ahead of him. I hope the bus explodes under him only and he is blown up. What a loser!"

We get mad at people all day and they aren't following us around taking pictures of us! What if they were? What if when you bought chips, or tripped, or held your kid there was someone taking pictures of all of it? The way that everyone goes on, no one would deal with it.

"Hey! Why are you following me onto the subway?! You want to do this? You want to go!"

"God, what's wrong with that guy? I'm just in his face and business all day taking pictures of it all for money. That guy is insane!"

You can tell they want to push celebrities because they'll call it "When Celebrities Attack!" They treat him like an animal! Push him to the brink, and then when he attacks, talk about it like a grizzly that got loose.

"He just kept coming at me! And I was saying, "What are you doing? Stop attacking me! Stop!" And he wouldn't listen. You can see right here, where I am pointing on my face and there is no mark what so ever, that this is where he hit me. And you can talk to the doctor who said, "Why are you wasting my time with this? You are not injured at all", and he'll tell you that I was brutally beaten and deserve compensation."

It's amazing that the world will push people to their breaking point, and then when they do, we act like they are insane. People who think that celebrities who get angry are out of line, would be the same people who think a lion is insane when a attacks a tourist from Florida who puts a camera in his mouth.

"God, all I did put my Hawaiian shirt on his back and he snapped and ate my kid! That lion needs to be put down! Burn down the entire jungle he lives in! That Emu, too. I try to get his footprint in my papier-mâché and he bites my face? What the hell is his problem! Blow him away!"

We can all pretty much agree that if you are run by celebrity gossip you are probably a piece of garbage, right? If you read People Magazine and talk about it, or if you check out Perez Hilton's website and look at these people as if they are doing something good – the rest of the world hopes you never are put in charge of anything.

"Who did I vote for? The guy who knows every issue of US Weekly cover to cover, that's who. Who are you voting for? Oh, because he reads books? Lame! He probably doesn't even know the terrible dress that Kim Kardashian wore to the gym three weeks ago. Complete loser."

Also, Alec Baldwin is amazing. Anyone who is going to judge him, based on this or any other mistakes he has made, is wrong. He is a human being. A hilarious human being. Not to say that he has the right to attack people or anything like that, but man, everyone who is pushed only has so long before they will push back. And we don't see all of it. We only see "the freak out". We don't see the months and months of him dealing with photographers, keeping his calm in many situations before one day just losing it. We only see, "He's lost it! He's an animal!" 

No, he's a human.

What's amazing to me as well is that North America right now is on a huge 'Stop Bullying' campaign.

"Don't say anything to that kid! Nothing at all! Lock this school down! LOCK IT!"

If the story had been that a kid was following another kid around taking pictures of him all day and the other kid snapped, the world would be on his side.

"Yeah! Punch that kid! We will not tolerate bullying!"

When it's a celebrity? Screw 'em.

Kids can't bully kids. Not unless that kid was on TV, then it's okay.

"Did you see what Jordan brought for lunch today, teacher?"

"Yes, I read about it in todays People. Just a shame. Tuna sandwich. Isn't he making twenty thousand an episode? Looks like someone has a gambling problem."

Adults and kids are allowed to bully celebrities. Daily! It’s hard to tell a kid not to bully another kid when one day he can get paid for it.

I'd love to see if turned around. See how cameramen would deal with it. Celebrities should follow cameramen into their hotels, while they're out on dates, at the zoo with their kids, or getting married, and take pictures of them. I wonder how long it would take before they snap.

"How do you like it, huh? You like having your picture taken every time you make a move? Oh, what's that? You're buying broccoli? What are you, a loser?! How do you like it!"

"...Um, actually I love it. I take pictures of you because I'm jealous that I can never be you."

"...Oh... well... we still hate it! Stop doing it!"

Movies today look worse than they did in '88.

We are told that we are advancing every day. New phones, new graphics, new computers. One way we are not advancing, though? Effects in movies. With these, we seem to be getting worse than we already were. We're actually going back in time. Special effects in the eighties in the nineties were great. Now? Some movies that come out now use good special effects, but most? Not good at all. Watch the trailer for Expendables 2, where the plane crashes into a cave, and tell me that doesn't look like some graphics that were used in the first PlayStation.

"Hey, should this movie look better than the original Tomb Raider?"

"...No. I think that's fine."

"Yeah? Sweet! Movie's done then. Man, it's so easy to finish a movie when you don't care how it looks. Time to celebrate!"

How is it that in 2012 special effects can look so bad?

This all came about for me one night while watching Predators. Made in 2010. The original Predator was made in 1987. You would assume that with all of the advancement that took place within those twenty-five years that Predators would look better than the original. Does it? Does it look better than the original that looked totally fine? Does it even look AS good? It does not. First Predator? Looks great. New Predators? My God. It looked like the special effects were taken from a Laser Quest.

"We need space guns, right? My son said that these laser tag guns he used last week looked pretty cool."

"Laser tag? You want to use laser tag guns?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun! Not only will we be shooting a movie, we'll give the actors a game to play! Whoever has the most points at the end of the shoot gets a million dollar bonus!"

For a scene in the first Predator, a jungle needed to be mowed down with guns. What happens? A JUNGLE IS MOWED DOWN! That's how it used to be. When something was called for to be blown up or destroyed, something was blown up or destroyed! An entire rainforest and ecosystem were probably taken out making that movie.

"I called this meeting today about the environment to let everyone know that we lost three types of birds today and a rare tree."

"What? How come? Is it pollution? Is it gas emissions?"

"No... it was due to one scene in the movie Predator. An entire forest was destroyed during a scene in which Arnold and his team shoot aimlessly at a Predator that they cannot see."

"...Oh man...does the scene look cool?"

"Well, yeah, it looks great, but that's not the point. The point is, we lost birds that we will never see again, and when one ecosystem is destroyed, it hur..."

"It looks great! Let's go see it!"

Also, just quickly, Topher Grace was in Predators, and who in the world wants to see Topher Grace with a gun in an action movie? Are seventeen-year-old girls casting movies? Even more quickly, how the hell did that man become the one chosen to play Venom?! How! Why not Fez? What about Red? Go all the way down the 'That 70'S Show' cast and get Kitty.

"Spidermaaannn. I've been looking for you, eehehehahah."

We're told all the time that movies that come out today are great looking, unbelievable, and visually stunning.

"You have to see this movie! It looks better than real life! Like, right now, you look like trash compared to this movie. You look like an 8-bit loser compared to it! I know! Wow, even your tears look worse than that movie's tears! Doesn't compare at all." 

Really? Most movies now are comparable to cartoons. Nothing in them is real at all. There are times in the movie when the actor is digitally imposed. The actor! They'll digitally impose in the actual actor that is supposed to be actually acting in the actual movie. 

"Hey, guys? I really don't feel like going in there and saying my line, 'Do we have any leads on this case?' I just want to sit here and finish my soup."

"Oh, that's no problem. We have already created you on a computer. You can just go home if you want."

"Really? Wow. A yacht for this, huh? The only line I said so far was, 'Can I get a footlong? Yeah, lettuce is cool.'"

"And you delivered it perfectly! We still may computer-generate it, though. Either way, thanks for coming in."

Nothing in movies is real anymore. Everything is computer-generated. When something was needed in an older movie, they actually had it. Even things that didn’t exist – they would be made.

"Hey, we need a spaceship."

"Just go down to Costco and grab one. Haha, just kidding. I'll start building it."

CGI is so ridiculous now that they will digitally create things that we have. Example? Old people in movies. Old people! We have old people! For example, in Prometheus, Guy Pearce is CGI-ed into an old person. Why are we doing this?

"Hey, we need an old guy for this movie."

"All right, I'll just create one here on my iPhone."

"Create one? We'll just cast one."

"And have that terrible old person smell on the set? Like a Werther's died inside a rat? No way, man. iOldPerson."

"Good call. Remember shooting that movie with Christopher Plummer?"

"God. I was washing the smell out of my hair for weeks!"

Movies today don't look as good as they once did. Terminator 2. All that needs to be said. Anyone have any complaints with the special effects in Terminator 2? A movie made in 1991? Maybe the actual metal, working Terminator that the crew painstakingly made? Or the actual explosions that happened in it? Maybe the insane CGI with a liquid metal man who changes shape? Any of these a problem for anyone? Absolutely not! Terminator 2 could be put out today, exactly the way that it is, and people would love it. No one would complain that it didn't look like movies now.

"Whoa, whoa. Is that a REAL robot that people built for the set? Jesus Christ. What the hell did I spend money on?! I wanted fake! If I wanted real, I wouldn't have come into the theatre! I want something that looks like it was put together on an old Atari! Someone built that robot? Man, don't waste your time. Just put an R&B star in this and I'd be happy!"

Jurassic Park as well. It's hard to make Jurassic Park a better movie. And when it was called on for there to be dinosaurs in the movie, what did they do? They made dinosaurs! Made them!! They made that T-Rex! In 1993! Actual dinosaurs made out of actual things that you could see and touch. We are twenty years past that and we have dinosaurs in movies that look like they were made on 'Draw Something'.

"Whoa! That's a sweet Velociraptor! You ever think about making a movie with it?"

"Umm... no. I scratched that together on my phone for a game I was playing with you."

"But, man! I was really scared! I dropped my phone and everything. I thought a real Raptor was coming at me!"

With everything being computer-generated, special effects people must be out of business. The people who used to build sets, monsters, gore, and anything that was used in a movie? There's no reason for them to be around. Unless they are now the highest paid coffee-getters in the world.

"Hey, grab me a cappuccino."

"Ugh... you know I built the alien used in Alien?"

"Oh, man! Love that movie. The work you did on that creature was just magic. Now use some of that magic in the foam for my cappuccino. Also, you want to grab that seventeen-year-old a glazed donut? Try not to disturb him, though. He's hard at work on his computer making the special effects for this movie. He's a real genius."

The craziest part is that everything is computer-generated and the movies don't cost any less to make. Doesn't seem to be any cheaper at all. Everything is made on a computer and the movie still cost sixty-eight trillion dollars. How?! Where the hell is this money going?

"You know, I can make Transformers 4 on my iPad 2."

"Wow. How much will you charge?"

"Well, it'll take me a full week. Umm, ten million?"

"Done. I'll go ask the studio for three hundred and fifty million."

"Wow, that's a lot. Where's the rest going to go?"

"Are you serious? Abs! Every actor in the movie has to have an insane amount of abs. You think that comes cheap? The God of abs won't dish any out for less than two hundred million."

"...There's a God of abs?"

"Ah, scene-generating-computer guy. You have so much to learn. You probably think that actors get white teeth the old-fashioned way, and there's not a tooth gnome who will whiten your teeth for a truck of Little Debbie cookies. What a noob."

Why would they now make special effects worse? What is the point of this? Why! To not be so elitist and have movies only be made by moviemakers. Did we start to do things this way so that people wouldn't feel bad? So that now everyone can make a movie with only their phone and an afternoon?

"God, I'd love to make movies, but how the hell am I going to be able to blow up a helicopter? I don't have that kind of money and my movie is called "When A Helicopter Blows Up". I'm doomed!"

"No worries! Now you can blow up a helicopter on your phone!"

"...Really? You... you really mean it? And people will... respect me for it?"

"Respect you? People will blow you! You won't be able to walk down the street!"

"Oh, wow. Okay, well I'll get working on the script. I really only have the name right now, but I know I need a helicopter to blow up."

"Script? What the hell are you talking about? I just told you that you can make things blow up on your phone. Scripts be damned! When the writing gets bad, bring in another helicopter crash!"

"Man, you're right! Nothing but explosions! Words are overrated, anyway. BOOM!"

CGI is also really over used. There are tons of scenes in movies now where there are absolutely no humans around. None! Just computer generated humans. We see the star for a minute and then he is replaced by the scenes someone has created on a Steve Jobs machine. Not a real person for huge segments. We are just watching computers do what they do. Movies should start being marketed that way.

"This summer, an action movie with epic proportions. When a ninja is mistaken for a grocery store clerk and has to fight his way out of a chip aisle – things go to hell. This summer, "Ninja Chip Hell!" 'You Say Dorito, I say Akido'. Starring the newest Mac Air and a brief, brief, brief cameo by Bruce Willis."

With new special effects, for some reason, people have decided that the entire movie should be CGI. There are so many movies where actors are talking in front of a green screen. Actors aren't even talking to anyone! 

"I know. I can't believe that the king took all of our rubies either. What's he gonna do with i..."

"CUT! CUT! CUT! Where are you looking? The half-man-half-goat you are talking to is right here! You're looking towards the donut table, which is a drawbridge in the movie. Would your character be talking to a drawbridge? Huh? Would he?!"

"Look, I'm sorry, but can we get something better for me to act with other than a coffee cup? Like a box of Cheerios? Just something bigger. I'm supposed to be talking to a satyr. What about an actual goat? Can we get that? Or just draw a face on the cup. That would straighten this out. Just give me a face to look at!"

"Oh, you need a face to look at? What – you want to be an actual actor? Bad news for you, kid, you're twenty years too late. Talk to nothing!"

In the eighties and nineties, when something blew up, something was blown up! 

"We need to blow up a car!"

"Well, digitally compose it on a computer, render it in HD, and we'll put in the audio of the actors after!"

"It's 1989 and I have no damn idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, yeah, right... well, blow up a car!"

Twitter- @Nathanmacintosh