Entertainment

by justed

They must be doing something right in Hollywood

Belphegor - Le fantome du Louvre or as it's known in its English dub version Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre is a production of Le Studio Canal+

Is it also the future of Universal Movie Studios?

I've seen it and I'm scared.

You might recognize Le Studio Canal+. It's the French Company that produces television and movies that Universal-Vivendi isn't offering to General Electric's NBC subsidiary in a proposed deal that would see NBC and Universal-Vivendi create a new company.

Vivendi has been under a great deal of pressure to reduce a crippling debt that after a series of questionable acquisitions in a number of relatively unrelated areas threatened to bankrupt it totally. Many observers have remarked that the deal's dynamics allow for a certain amount of cherry picking on the part of GE (NBC).

Missing from this proposed takeover of the old Universal are the Universal Music assets. Does GE know something it's not telling the rest of us? Is Universal Music as it's now organized (its current business model) something GE doesn't foresee generating a profit? Does GE see no way to repair (to fix) Universal Music? Is Universal Music's business model irretrievably broke?

And yet, GE does see value in acquiring Universal Movies. Does this mean GE sees a way to gain greater value from the acquisition than the cost to acquire it? That's usually the reason to buy. And GE is a very astute mega-corporation.

If so, does this mean Universal was broken but, can be fixed? and what was broken?

See: inept insertions, clumsily executed insertions, of Heineken beer placemats (they can't be coasters, beer mugs aren't that big) held in hands and waved, repeatedly!

See: every special effect paid for (and they really are kind of neat), every special effect used fully for every second that was produced, whether or not its lengthy duration detracts from the film (and it does).

Hear: plot exposition crammed into brief monologues that pass with shotgun speed and could be (but weren't) developed through plot action. It's like listening to a talking book, not watching a movie.

Watch as shotgun-toting guards run around patrolling the Louvre! (like I'm sure that's ever going to happen, protect the place by shooting up the contents!)

Listen, to snide (traditional?) resentful remarks about the British.

Be stroked; by left-handed compliments of 'equal to the American, which is State of the Art'.

I've seen the possible future of Universal Movie Studios (Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre) and I am scared. The only horror in this movie is the horror of this movie.

They must be doing something right in Hollywood

I agree.

They MUST.

But what?

have look