2. It Is Incredible That Some Films Even Make It Past The Pitch Stage
This is mostly true of Nic Cage's entire career recently, but two films more than any other that hit home release (or at least landed on movie channels) this year made the question of the Hollywood pitch entirely baffling. How did a film in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a bike messenger with unannounced - and subsequently entirely bloody ignored - superhero powers to see into the future and evolve his behaviour ever get made? Who is it for? Is there a giant underground market of disgruntled bike messengers living with their heads in the clouds looking for a hero? Not any more, thanks to Premium Rush, there's not. And come to that, how did a film about online casino affiliates with two visibly bored A-list leading men ever get past the words "poker affiliates" in the pitch? Clearly someone on the production of Runner Runner has some vested interest in 32Red or something, because there is literally no pleasure in that film at all. As anyone listening to the pitch should have predicted when they pressed the burn button.