Why 99% of (Mainstream) Movies are Garbage
- Thread starter hanselthecaretaker
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He's already driving the wedge between movie fans, I will diss him as much as I see fit. If he's going to be pretentious enough to just arbitrarily say "99% of all films are garbage" that is an elitist position. And I frankly don't care for it. Don't try and say that *I* am out of line for calling him on his pretentious bullshit, when HE is the one to say "only 1% of films are actually good" as if that' is an objective statement, and not just his fucking opinion. He isn't the arbiter of quality for the entire industry or human race. Because he's saying that "all of you watch trash, and if you like any of that stuff they make, then you like trash." Which, again, is an arrogant stance to have.
That's the problem with a lot of today's film criticism. Online critics feel the need to dump on for people liking or disliking a film, because of dumb and petty reasons. It can swing in the other direction, but theses critics almost always tend to start shit first.
My parents remember more about Casablanca than either of the other two by comparison.
I understand and get all of that, but I still find the film average to me. The man is proud is work, and that is all should matter in the long run. I could never take that away from him.
I appreciate the info, but I won't be watching the documentary any time soon right now.
Ah crap. I meant generally. You already said you haven't seen Citizen Kane so it wasn't about you or the OP's video
It's easy to feel that way when it seems most of what's come out of late it simply a re-hash, if not an outright re-make, of stuff we've been seeing for decades. I'm not a movie snob by any stretch, but even I can appreciate the lack of originality in the recent films industry. Very little has come out in YEARS that I felt the need to see because I was genuinely intrigued, and most of the stuff I was intrigued by underwhelmed because it tried to toe a line of satisfying too many demographics, i.e.: a bland porridge can be spiced up to each individual's liking, but that doesn't make porridge an inspired meal.
Hollywood needs a makeover. Stop pandering to nostalgia and take some pride in itself by making somethings new. I'll be so glad when they stop looking to the past for inspiration and take some risk by doing things that don't rely on tired tropes, remakes and for God's sake, can we STOP planning trilogies already??? If your idea is shit out the gate, no one wants to wait around for 6 years while you finish squeezing out that turd!
Hollywood needs a makeover. Stop pandering to nostalgia and take some pride in itself by making somethings new. I'll be so glad when they stop looking to the past for inspiration and take some risk by doing things that don't rely on tired tropes, remakes and for God's sake, can we STOP planning trilogies already??? If your idea is shit out the gate, no one wants to wait around for 6 years while you finish squeezing out that turd!
If you look back at the highest grossing films by year in the 21st century the vast majority of them are franchise films/sequels. Film studios have learned that people like familiarity, so they give it to them. The key exceptions are Avatar, which is immensely derivative but has eye popping visuals, Frozen, which is a Disney musical, a formula that has been popular since forever, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was based on a bestselling book. Franchise films and sequels were popular in the 20th century, but it's a lot more varied. 8 of the 10 highest grossing films of the 1990s were not sequels. It's only 5/10 in the 1980s, but that was the decade of Star Wars V and VI and the three Indiana Jones films.
And somehow Hollywood has convinced itself that's a formula for success. I want to get back to the ideal that we can be entertained for a couple of hours without the promise of "and theeeeeeeeen..." I think the most refreshing thing Hollywood could do right now is release something stand-alone amazing. Who cares what happened before or what might happen after; just give us something enjoyable right now.
Without the promise of the inevitable Venom sequel, I was happy with the first Venom film. Wasn't tied to anything, no cameos of other heros, just a film about Venom, and I loved it. Same with Deadpool; it was very much tongue-in-cheek with its nods to the MCU, but neither was it handcuffed by those tangled threads. I want to return to the theaters and watch singular films and not pieces of a larger puzzle.
I have seen Citizen Kane. I thought it was okay. The story I've heard is that it had enough ground-breaking techniques in it that everyone copied them, making the original seem kinda meh, even though the techniques were revolutionary at the time. This also hold up with Orson Welles' backstory, since his first claim to fame was his radio theater production of War of the Worlds were they blended the storytelling by staging fake reports about "strange activity" that fitted in with the story of the production and staging a fake speech of the president about the alien invasion. I.e. that they used the radio medium to their fullest potential to dramatize the story, in new and creative ways; that creative energy brought to the film medium probably would end up creating something new. Just take the fact that the whole story is told from the perspective of a journalist investigating the full story; it wouldn't surprise me if presenting it as journalistic reporting was an idea brought over directly from the War of the Worlds production.
Regarding the video... The fact that he started out dismayed that the modern Star Wars movies did not have a scene with Luke, Leia and Han together made me a bit dismissive of him since my take-away from the movies was that it had too much focus on the old protagonists at the expanse of the new ones. His continuation of complaining of weaving politics into the movie baffled me. What politics did the trilogy have that was enough to ruin the experience?
I cannot speak for the rest of the movies he talked about since he was talking about mainstream cinema(by which I assume he means summer blockbusters) and I haven't seen any of those.
Regarding the video... The fact that he started out dismayed that the modern Star Wars movies did not have a scene with Luke, Leia and Han together made me a bit dismissive of him since my take-away from the movies was that it had too much focus on the old protagonists at the expanse of the new ones. His continuation of complaining of weaving politics into the movie baffled me. What politics did the trilogy have that was enough to ruin the experience?
I cannot speak for the rest of the movies he talked about since he was talking about mainstream cinema(by which I assume he means summer blockbusters) and I haven't seen any of those.
Mainstream Movie is a pretty broad definition. I think you think to draw the line at a budget scope. are 99% of movies with a budget over 100mil garbage? would be a better way to describe it or maybe 99% of movies with a marketing budget over 50mil are garbage? I agree with him it's just you can pretty much call any movie you want mainstream. He's really talking about larger than life film studios being the issue.
I am willing to bet you that virtually every film you see has been directed by someone who has watched Citizen Kane. And that, perhaps, tells you a lot about its qualities.
In much the same way, I'm sure many more people listen today listen to BTS than Beethoven. But I do not think this is a strong argument that Beethoven is overrated shite.
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Hard disagree and I'm annoyed with media for spoiling the reveal for me before I actually saw it. Its a technical marvel for what they were able to pull off with the tech at the time and the acting is fantastic with an engaging and interesting story. I actually really like the "rosebud" plot hook and that it ends up being something mundane. What "Rosebud" was didn't really matter, what mattered was the search for truth to find it.
The movie is over 50 years old. Either you've seen the movie or you haven't. Spoilers are going to happen; especially if it's a popular movie or became popular. A lot of animated shows from the 90s overdosed on CK references. That's like saying people spoiled the plot twist of Empire Strikes Back. So many shows and cartoons made refernces, homages, parodies, and shout outs in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and still today, that it is near impossible not to be spoiled.
I get all of that, and I appreciate what it did for films, but CK does nothing for me, and just comes off as average.
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I didn't say it was reasonable to be annoyed with it, just that I was.
What other movies that tend to be well regarded do you view as average?
Avatar
Titanic - Though I actually hate this movie. Biggest waste of 3 hours of my life.
Inception
Almost anything that is Oscar bait or made for the Oscar season.
I can't think of the rest off the top of my head.
- Apr 1, 2009
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Avatar is one of those weird things that was really popular for a hot minute then everyone forgot about.
I wasn't very into Titanic either.
Inception was cool but I saw it during drink night.
Oscar movies tend to be more of sold then well regarded.
Anyway, listen to these dulcet tones and be calmed.