THE REAL CANCUN: Okay, this might be stupid but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Chris K.]

Okay, I'll be honest with you. I haven't seen THE REAL CANCUN, and I don't think I ever will. I've seen the trailers and such, and to me it comes across as a GIRLS GONE WILD movie, only made for the big screen. Cable reality show, only playing at your local megaplix theatre instead on your local cable channel at home.

Now this might be a dumb topic to discuss, but I really need your imput here. What do you think about this "movie"? Is it an example of a new breed of filmmaking? Or is it a "movie" made by a big budget company that just took an idea off a napkin from a local bar? And even so, what about the film in general? It doesn't matter if you saw it or not, the question is in your opinion WHY was the film produced?

I await your answers.

[Brother Ragnarok]

New breed of filmmaking?  You're even THINKING about giving these douchebags credit for doing something original and worthwhile?  Lemme ask you something.  You ever seen the goddamn shows this s**t is based on?
In my opinion, it's the BEST CASE EVER PUT FORWARD FOR THE GENOCIDE OF THE ENTIRE f**kING HUMAN RACE!   DIE MTV!  DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Brother R

[Cullen]

Brother Ragnarok wrote:

> New breed of filmmaking?  You're even THINKING about giving
> these douchebags credit for doing something original and
> worthwhile?  Lemme ask you something.  You ever seen the
> goddamn shows this s**t is based on?
> In my opinion, it's the BEST CASE EVER PUT FORWARD FOR THE
> GENOCIDE OF THE ENTIRE f**kING HUMAN RACE!   DIE MTV!
> DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Good God, man.  The show's bad, but it's not that bad.  It's not My Mother the Car or Friends at least.

Stay cool, okay?
___________________________________________________________________________________________

[Squishy]

"The Real Cancun" is turning out to be a massive box-office daisy-cutter-grade blockbuster-bomb, so I don't think we have to worry about it being the harbringer of any new trend...

Entertainment analysts were continuing to shake their heads over the dismal performance of the highly hyped "reality movie," The Real Cancún, over the weekend. In a column choking with schadenfreude, New York Daily News columnist Jack Mathews said that the box-office results represented "a staggering failure" and added: "It's not nice to savor other peoples' failures, but the idea of movie theaters being invaded by R-rated versions of reality TV shows is a SARS scare in its own right." Final figures indicated that, despite forecasts by New Line executives that the film would benefit from word-of-mouth, the movie actually did worse on Sunday than the studio had estimated, concluding the weekend with just $2.1 million at 2,261 screens -- a measly $933 per screen.

--IMDB's Studio Briefing, April 29

So, getting back to the basic question--Why?--I think I can answer that with one word: "Jackass."

But "Jackass" left the air without becoming overtly stale--which certainly can't be said of "The Real World." Ignoring the wan performances or outright failures of movies based on current TV series--the toons "South Park" and "Powerpuff Girls" spring to mind, although they're STILL pumping out Pokemon movies--"Real" must've been greenlighted when all this phony, pre-scripted, carefully rehearsed and edited "reality TV" was hot s***.

Bad timing: "reality TV" is now cold s***. (Let's just say Monica Lewinsky and Shannen Doherty better keep their night jobs.) Now, people are starting to ask themselves things like: who the hell is such a loser that they'd pay money to watch another loser get his first drunk on? Even in Cancun?

[TC]

Why the hell would I want to see this crap in theaters?  I'll wait for DVD, so I can rent it, fast-forward it, and beat off to it in the comfort of my own home.

[raj]

Yes, let's put MTV in the theaters, where-- get this kids, there aren't any censors!  Hoo boy, kids, you'll get to see girls without their tops!  See a virgin get laid (yeah, in all the awkward glory of it)
Eh, what's that you say, kids aren't going to spend 8 bucks to watch MTV for 90 minutes, and there's this internet thing where kids can see girls topless and bottomless and doing things?  Perhaps this will signal the begining of the end of "reality programming" and maybe MTV will, gasp, start playing music


I'm just glad there weren't cameras around when I was in college.

[Dolph Lundgren]

It's all just part of the current reality trend.  MTV and the execs behind it thought it would be a good idea, and would equate to some major bank.  Thankfully, they were very wrong.  Other execs should take note and try not to release similar movies in the theater.  House of 1,000 Corpses sits unreleased for years, yet this crap is greenlighted and sent to the theaters immediately?  I just don't get it.  All I can say is, thank god it bombed.  I guess the public didn't want to pay 8 bucks for what they could see on TV.  In other words, what raj said.

Nick

[Chris K.]

Brother Ragnarok wrote:

> New breed of filmmaking?  You're even THINKING about giving
> these douchebags credit for doing something original and
> worthwhile?  Lemme ask you something.  You ever seen the
> goddamn shows this s**t is based on?
> In my opinion, it's the BEST CASE EVER PUT FORWARD FOR THE
> GENOCIDE OF THE ENTIRE f**kING HUMAN RACE!   DIE MTV!
> DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Like I really believe THE REAL CANCUN is a "new breed of filmmaking". I would NEVER, and I mean NEVER, give any of the people behind the movie, if you want to call it that, any credit whatsoever. I just used that description to the question I was asking since I know a few people who do call it a "new breed of filmmaking". It's not a movie at all. And yes, I have seen the s**t that THE REAL CANCUN is based on and I have only seen them once, and never again.

So no, I DO NOT think the movie is a "new breed of filmmaking" (but I'll bet the producers think it is). It was just a question, no need to get bent out of shape about it.

[Brother Ragnarok]

Oh, that wasn't directed at you, Chris.  I just vent about it when I get the chance because I hate it so much.  "Reality TV", especially the stuff that this Cancun thing is based on, the kind which is so shallow it doesn't even bother to have some sort of contest or something to make it interesting, is the most hateful thing ever to have film wasted on it.  Sit me down with "The House That Vanished" any day.
By no means is any of my animosity directed at anyone on this board.

Brother R

[Brother Ragnarok]

...and maybe it's not such a great idea to let MTV start playing music again, either.  Unless they go back to their roots.  Because as covered with hairspray and spandex as it was, let us not forget that it was METAL that STARTED MTV!  Screw Disturbed.  I wanna see Slayer and Napalm Death videos on TV.

Brother R

[Damien01]

"new breed of filmmaking"

Sorry... If I was going to credit to this kind of film making, first I would say Blair Witch Project (For those that knew how this film was made... it was sub-reality, even the actors [should we call them actors] did have nothing to go on but spooky noises that kept them up all night... And Jackass the Movie... Ok, maybe Jackass had a bigger budget (toy car+in the butt+see doctor could cost some money)...

[systemcr4sh]

Actually it wasn't really metal that started mtv. It was "video killed the radio star". Thats the first video that was aired.

But I agree there was a lot of hair bands on mtv that helped it gain popularity.

[JohnL]

>the question is in your opinion WHY was the film produced?

That's easy: Money. 'Reality' type stuff is cheap to produce (which is why the networks like it so much) and they figured it would be an easy way to cash in on the reality trend.

>It's all just part of the current reality trend.

I've read that next season, the networks plan to introduce a grand total of 24 new 'reality' shows. On the bright side, maybe people will finally get sick of them and the networks will stop making them.

I watched a couple episodes of that show on the WB with the celebrities living together, but that was only because I liked the playmate that was on it. I also occasionally watch Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Worst Case Scenario on TBS and I watch Fear Factor when there's nothing else on. Those are the only shows I watch that could be considered 'reality' shows. I haven't watched a single episode of Survivor, Big Brother, Real World or any of the other 'reality' shows.

[raj]

And the group was The Buggles.  I actually saw that beginning.  We'd spend a lot of time in front of MTV back in high school.

[Fearless Freep]

*sigh* That brings back memories.

The Buggles had Geoff Downes who later was patr of Asia and Trevor Horn, who did some stuff with Yes

It's funny looking back at some of those vidoes and realizing how creative they were