"I paid for this?": The decline in movie making
- Thread starter Timotei
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SAW was an interesting idea for movie for the first 20 minutes or so, then it totally fell apart; the sequels were just excuses for bad writers to sit in a room and try to think up a way to link together as many "Worst Ways to Die EVAR" as they could.Waweegee said:
They should just create a new genre called Gore. In it they would put the movies that are made up of 15 minutes of unreasonable exposition followed by every character you've seen so far being ritually disemboweled in the most distasteful ways possible. Of course then you'd have to include 90% of the horror movies from the past 10 years.....
Nope, the film is the same as the book. Oskar is the 12 year old boy, (not the Vampire,) Eli is the "12" year-old girl, (the Vampire.) As far as I know that's the same as the book.octafish said:
Well, thanks for not being judgemental I guess. Tell me, have you seen Citizen Kane? Your reliance on the opinions of "most modern film critics" seems to suggest that you haven't. Let me tell you, I have and it simply does not stand up by today's standards, no matter what your nameless "modern film critics" say. Put Citizen Kane next to something like The Shawshank Redemption and you'll get my point.Do4600 said:
Don't get me wrong, for it's time Citizen Kane was a great success, it was innovative, well direted, acted and produced, and it showed the public just what could be achieved by the medium of cinema. But.. so what? By today's standards it fails to hold interest. You can still appreciate what advances it made but that doesn't make the story any more engaging.
And before you question my appreciation of cinema maybe you should consider that most people who would say "Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time" haven't seen it. The film's press has outlived it and most of what people know of the film is it's reputation as "the greatest of all time" coupled with what they've seen on The Simpsons.
So yeah, Citizen Kane; great advance in film-making and a must-see for anyone if they have the slightest interest in cinema. It should be appreciated for what it is. But seriously, the bullcrap about it being unmatched as the best film ever invented by people looking back on it with rosebud-tinted glasses and swallowed by the masses who themselves are too "spoiled by gunfights and cars exploding every six seconds" to even sit down and watch it needs to fucking stop.
Sorry to get bitchy Do4600, you're not actually the first person to say somthing like that to me about my opinion of that film - you're actually the.. fourth. The one thing the three others had in common was the fact that none of them had seen the bloody thing. I hope you have, and if you haven't you should because one, like I said it's a must-see film, and two, it may help you understand where I'm coming from.
The Hurt Locker is not an example of how to do modern movies right, it's essentially action dross. It isn't a bad movie but the whole thing is basically a cheap action movie without the one liners. It tries to give a critique and provide an in depth look at modern war but it fails in this regard, it absolutely fails. It gives the standard war is bad message a lot of action movies trying to be anything than explosions gives us but that alone doesn't make it any better than. It tries to paint up flawed, 'realistic' characters to separate it from other action movies but this falls apart in the final act when the main three pretty much become massive heroes and run around trying to save the day. They only really look at the thoughts and feelings of soldiers in general towards the end and when we start getting into the mindset of one of the characters and we start to explore just why someone would join the military and what a soldier would think about it, he leaves. He just ups and leave. The Hurt Locker had a great chance of explore the psyche of soldiers but instead it opts for more explosions and conflicts that don't contribute, at all, to the story as a whole.Timotei said:
This could have been redeemed if the movie wanted to portray realistic conflict, as in how fights actually go down. It could have done what Black Hawk Down did and film a recreation of an actual fight or create scenarios that hadn't occurred but could easily have happened. Instead they give us a somewhat realistic but ultimately fantasy recreation of war and the movie suffers for it. It didn't go for realistic fighting and it didn't go for a detailed observation of the modern military, it went for action. Realizing that it might want to win an Oscar some day it decided to pretend that it had done those and that people who went into the film wanting an action movie can pat themselves on the back and say to one another 'that was deep' because it showed the littlest bit more intelligence than they expected. People like me how heard how 'deep' this film was expected something better and ended up fairly disappointed.
Anyway, if you're going to criticize the movie going public and trends in movie making think about what movies your going to hold up as good examples. The Hurt Locker is not a good example. Neither is The Transformers Animated Movie actually. I mean, this was the movie that Orson Welles described as a toy commercial! Orson Welles of Citizen Kane fame!!! You say that more people should be into movies like Citizen Kane and yet you also praise a movie that the director and writer of Citizen Kane views as nothing more than a cheap and shitty ad! *GAH* This shit is fruit loops!
I read your considered argument and agree with you, but you still sound like a typical nostalgia-goggled whining *****.
Just calm down, you don't enjoy anything if you whine about how it's not like it was in the good old days. Films can still be good, you need to accept this. Saying that New Moon, Transformers or Avatar represent a decline in the movie industry is implying that it was perfectly void of any mediocrity beforehand, which is not the case. You're just choosing to forget this side of things. Your whole argument bases around deliberately picking scenes from the best films you can think of and contrasting them with the worst. That isn't a good argument; would it be a good argument if I compared Gran Torino to Shaft Goes To Africa? No, because that's fucking ridiculous.
Just calm down, you don't enjoy anything if you whine about how it's not like it was in the good old days. Films can still be good, you need to accept this. Saying that New Moon, Transformers or Avatar represent a decline in the movie industry is implying that it was perfectly void of any mediocrity beforehand, which is not the case. You're just choosing to forget this side of things. Your whole argument bases around deliberately picking scenes from the best films you can think of and contrasting them with the worst. That isn't a good argument; would it be a good argument if I compared Gran Torino to Shaft Goes To Africa? No, because that's fucking ridiculous.
Movies have always been terrible, nostalgia is a cruel mistress who cares little for truth or accurancy. I tend to find that there is almost a steady stream of decent movies these days if you be a little selective.
Btw, I cared for the characters in the new SW movies, cept for anakin (oh... fuck Jar Jar too) because he was as much of a whiny ***** as 3CPO. The force makes more sense now that it's been explained =O
Btw, I cared for the characters in the new SW movies, cept for anakin (oh... fuck Jar Jar too) because he was as much of a whiny ***** as 3CPO. The force makes more sense now that it's been explained =O
I was forced to see so many shitty movies... damn me for being such a nice boyfriend. BUT HEY I didn't have to play for most of the shit that was drizzled down my throat. 
I actually pay for the good movies. And now I'm not being toted around like an accessory by some mindless broad (yes I have a lot of resentment for my ex), I can actually go to GOOD movies. Like Kick Ass and Iron Man 2. They weren't masterpieces but they were far superior then most of the garage being produced. Also you mentioned Avatar. The only thing good about it was the CGI other then that . . . *violent vomiting*
(also love the use of Kono-chan)
EDIT: Talking with friends a little doesn't hurt(you know the who social experience aspect of movie going) but when it's obnoxiously loud yes. It's fucking annoying. Cell phones also should be turned off. Forced to see Alice in SHAMELESSDEBAUCHERYland and some guy right in front of me had his cell out the whole time. Somehow made the movie EVEN WORSE.
I actually pay for the good movies. And now I'm not being toted around like an accessory by some mindless broad (yes I have a lot of resentment for my ex), I can actually go to GOOD movies. Like Kick Ass and Iron Man 2. They weren't masterpieces but they were far superior then most of the garage being produced. Also you mentioned Avatar. The only thing good about it was the CGI other then that . . . *violent vomiting*(also love the use of Kono-chan)
EDIT: Talking with friends a little doesn't hurt(you know the who social experience aspect of movie going) but when it's obnoxiously loud yes. It's fucking annoying. Cell phones also should be turned off. Forced to see Alice in SHAMELESSDEBAUCHERYland and some guy right in front of me had his cell out the whole time. Somehow made the movie EVEN WORSE.
Konata....blaming me for shitty movies.... :O *begins to sob and grovel* Oh please forgive me queen of all that is adorable and random! I knew not what I did!Timotei said:And do you know who I blame for this?
[HEADING=1]You.[/HEADING]
The Consumer.
OT: I like to think I know a good movie when I see when one, but if I take hints from all the critics the movies I've been watching are all shit. So, I'm left thinking "Wtf am I supposed to do?" It's not my fault when I see previews for yet ANOTHER Iraq war movie it only reminds me of that fat fuck Michael Moore and my insides scream in disgust. I really am sorry, I love movies and want to work in the industry one day but my tastes just don't measure up to that of what the people like Ebert(its 3am, its one of those old famous critics) have.
Flipping hell I'm tired, I'll come back and argue a more coherent point in the morning...when my mind actually functions...
Well it is pretty much the reason why i stopped carrying about movie industry, or at least the mass/pop part of it.
Seems to me like these days majority of production is nothing but a showcase of special effects, pontless explosions thrown in every minute and overly cheesy lines that cant even hope to make it to the terrible book of internet memes.
When it comes to the whole computer generated enviroments and fancy characters id rather play a game where i take part in the story, the in game visuals of games are already much better than CGI cutscenes several years ago.
Of course, every now and then there is a single moive that actually can be enjoyable as something more than just eyecandy and CGI contest, but its so rare i usually just wait for it to appear in TV. Only excpetion would be more off-culture film festivals that i frequent whenever one is happening in my country, to watch actual movies.
Seems to me like these days majority of production is nothing but a showcase of special effects, pontless explosions thrown in every minute and overly cheesy lines that cant even hope to make it to the terrible book of internet memes.
When it comes to the whole computer generated enviroments and fancy characters id rather play a game where i take part in the story, the in game visuals of games are already much better than CGI cutscenes several years ago.
Of course, every now and then there is a single moive that actually can be enjoyable as something more than just eyecandy and CGI contest, but its so rare i usually just wait for it to appear in TV. Only excpetion would be more off-culture film festivals that i frequent whenever one is happening in my country, to watch actual movies.
Citizen Kane and Casablanca are a pair of the crappiest movies I have ever been forced to watch (fucking sociology professor) and I'm fairly sure that the reason they are so huge is because back in the 50s there wasn't anything better. I'm not saying what comes out now is much better, but at least it serves it's purpose: to keep people occupied for a couple hours.
Movies don't have to be cinematic masterpieces to be worth throwing a couple bucks at. I don't think I've been to more than a handful of movies in the last 10 years, but when I go, I don't particularly want to have to think when I go in. I don't have a desire to go into a movie and have an epiphany. I go to movies to waste a couple hours while I wait to get hungry again.
Movies don't have to be cinematic masterpieces to be worth throwing a couple bucks at. I don't think I've been to more than a handful of movies in the last 10 years, but when I go, I don't particularly want to have to think when I go in. I don't have a desire to go into a movie and have an epiphany. I go to movies to waste a couple hours while I wait to get hungry again.