Talk:Tropic Thunder

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Tropic Thunder is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 13, 2011.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
October 4, 2008	Good article nominee	Listed
January 27, 2009	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
November 3, 2009	Featured article candidate	Promoted

Current status: Featured article

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The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

https://grantland.com/features/the-making-of-les-grossman-an-oral-history/

Satan's Alley Not Medieval

To be anal for the heck of it:

Wiki page: "The final trailer, entitled Satan's Alley, features Kirk Lazarus and Tobey Maguire (cameoing as himself) as two gay medieval priests ..."

Faux Movie Site: "Award winner Kirk Lazarus paints another stark and moving portrait in his depiction of pastor Father O'Malley, the shamed priest who has committed the ultimate sin. Set against the backdrop of Eighteenth century Ireland, young O'Malley is banished from Belfast, after it is discovered that he has "Sinned the sin that dare not speak its name".

Three Amigos

shouldn't mention be made of this 1986 film which it largely ripped off? 66.30.47.138 (talk) 18:03, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If there are no sources for that claim, no. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 18:38, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

there are a zillion sources for that "claim", incl the amigos ppl themselves moaning abt being ripped off.

i don't like the term "ripped off" -- perhaps we should take the high road and just label it a "loose remake"? 66.30.47.138 (talk) 19:09, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"there are a zillion sources for that "claim"" ^[which?]. It's a simple request. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 19:31, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"which claim"?! YOU'RE the one who ambiguously slapped it on there -- i just followed suit. nor does "it's a simple request" seem to APPLY to anything, semantically.

i GUESS u are asking me to PROVIDE a source? for the so-called "claim"?

ok, then, for a start: http://www.vulture.com/2008/08/tropic_thunder_a_three_amigos.html

i dunno how to get past the regwall -- u have to read it quickly!

excerpted a bit here: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/68307/15-infamous-facts-about-three-amigos

both seemingly sourced from: http://www.movies.com/movie-news/john-landis-interview/5495

but no longer up. where has google "cache" gone?!

brief mention here as well: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/three-amigos-reunion ~~

In case you haven't noticed, this is a featured article. Every statement in this page is backed-up by an independent secondary source or by facts from the film. You can't just come and request something to be added based upon allegations of being "largely [a] ripped off" version of another film according to "zillion sources". If anything, what most sources are doing is to compare Tropic Thunder with Three Amigos. Independently I found other sources comparing it to The Hard Way (1991 film) and Galaxy Quest as well. But that doesn't make it a ripoff. At most, the critical reception should have a paragraph saying that it was compared to all these films. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 22:36, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

yes, i'm willing to drop "ripoff". how abt "derivative of"?

they even play up this fact in the movie. background jokes about "el guapo" and even "amigos". 66.30.47.138 (talk) 23:39, 12 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We can't call it a copy—like Landis does—or a derivative film—at most we can say that "Three Amigos's director John Landis called it a "copy"—, articles are written with neutral points of view. "Film critics found similarities between the plot of Tropic Thunder and that of X, Y and Z." And after that, examples are provided. Wikipedia does not give an opinion on topics, people do. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 01:08, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

that's fine; i never meant to imply that WE had to assert it was plagiarism or w/e; just that we should include some of those sources which state as such.

also, the ORDER should be made clear in the quotes. saying that X Y and Z are similar is rather different than saying that X and Y are similar to Z which long predated them! no one ever accused ronnie mack of ripping off george harrison.... 66.30.47.138 (talk) 16:27, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Block of cast photos

I removed the block of cast photos from the article today, but another editor disagreed with the rationale I provided in my edit summary ("Random photos of the cast aren't desireable. Use photos specifically related to the film. Actor photos are easily available on their respective pages, for those interested", and reverted the edit.

All of the photos were added by one IP user recently, and all but one are from after the film was released. Most aren't a reasonable representation of the actor near the time the film was made, though that's a weak rationale; it's jarring to me but perhaps not to others. The vast majority of articles on films do not have these blocks of photos. I find them visually distracting; if I were specifically interested in the actor's appearance, separately from how they appeared in the film, I'd just follow the wikilink to their respective article. The IP editor added these blocks of photos en masse over the last six weeks; A number of other interested editors have removed them from those articles before I ran across them.

There's no 'rule' or even specific guideline regarding these blocks of cast photos. In a few cases, the editor added only one or two photos, and I left those, as they didn't muddy the page formatting and didn't 'overdo it'. I don't think I'm alone in preferring either no photos, or the most highly relevant. Images in articles are great, but too many becomes a distraction, in my opinion. But the editor who reverted my removals correctly noted that I didn't discuss the matter with other editors, so here we are. I'd be interested in other editors' thoughts. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 21:56, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]