"I paid for this?": The decline in movie making
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I remember thinking I might go and see the Hurt Locker, and then two seminar groups (a total of 25 people) in the Film and Culture Studies second year of university went to see it, and not one of them came back with a positive review. They were all bland and dull, and these are people who otherwise perfectly mimic you views on cinema.
And even then I don't think I agree with you. Back in the 'Golden Age' of cinema they pumped out hundreds of movies a week for crying out loud. (This is exaggeration, but what is not exaggerated is that they made a lot more movies in a lot less time) The cumulative effect of this is that for every Casablanca or Gone with the Wind there are about twenty to thirty unremembered pieces of dross which were created to pander to the lowest common denominator who demanded more sex and violence in their...
Hang on a minute, that sounds a lot like your article.
Movie making has not declined, if anything it's got better because we aren't seeing the dozens of dross films anymore. Nearly every film nowadays is made with a budget and a production schedule. And also, your claim that this is some sort of 'artistxaudience' changing to 'consumerxsupplier' is nonsense as well. Movie moguls were even more ruthless in the Golden Age of cinema than they are nowadays, and back then they were allowed to get away with murder, instead of their being laws and guilds to protect actors.
There are hundreds of awful awful films from this period which have been rightly forgotten, and in a hundred years the awful films of this era will be forgotten and the truly good will remain. THAT IS HOW CULTURE WORKS
And even then I don't think I agree with you. Back in the 'Golden Age' of cinema they pumped out hundreds of movies a week for crying out loud. (This is exaggeration, but what is not exaggerated is that they made a lot more movies in a lot less time) The cumulative effect of this is that for every Casablanca or Gone with the Wind there are about twenty to thirty unremembered pieces of dross which were created to pander to the lowest common denominator who demanded more sex and violence in their...
Hang on a minute, that sounds a lot like your article.
Movie making has not declined, if anything it's got better because we aren't seeing the dozens of dross films anymore. Nearly every film nowadays is made with a budget and a production schedule. And also, your claim that this is some sort of 'artistxaudience' changing to 'consumerxsupplier' is nonsense as well. Movie moguls were even more ruthless in the Golden Age of cinema than they are nowadays, and back then they were allowed to get away with murder, instead of their being laws and guilds to protect actors.
There are hundreds of awful awful films from this period which have been rightly forgotten, and in a hundred years the awful films of this era will be forgotten and the truly good will remain. THAT IS HOW CULTURE WORKS
but if we pirate blockbuster films, then nobody will pay for it. In fact, sometimes internet leaks can completely destroy a movie series. That's what happened with Hostel. Not that I care about Hostel, I hate slash and gash movies like that. But I'm sure if we told the masses they could get Twilight for free we could kill it where it stands.
Not that I advocate piracy, just providing a possible solution to the clearly apparent problem.
Not that I advocate piracy, just providing a possible solution to the clearly apparent problem.
Our movies could always be red squares...? Those are still original right?Credossuck said:
But we could give them guns! and there would be aliens! And hot bisexual chicks! And then there could be giant robots and...oh wait.Credossuck said:
That's the type of thing we are trying to avoid here aren't we.
They made a law for that?scobie said:
Hm... interesting points, there. I haven't seen any movies in the theaters for a while (I think the last one was Ponyo, which I saw with an anime-loving chum last year.
I did like the first live-action Transformers movie, but didn't see the sequel. And I'm still majorly pissed that they had to cut Transformers: Animated short just for the freaking "Revenge of the Fallen" toyline. (...What?)
I also don't care much for the horror movie remakes and SAW films, mainly because I just don't like horror films and gore for the sake of gore. And me being both borderline paranoid and squemish doesn't help either.
And Twilight... don't get me started on that load of crap! ...God I hate tweenies...
EDIT: Whoops! Forgot about Avatar! I haven't seen it, nor do I really want to. I mean, the concept is interesting enough, but it's just too one-sided for my tastes.
EDIT Mk. 2: Okay, okay, after having seen (some) of Avatar, my personal opinion has shifted... to neutral. Really. I don't love it or hate it, it's just... meh.
I did like the first live-action Transformers movie, but didn't see the sequel. And I'm still majorly pissed that they had to cut Transformers: Animated short just for the freaking "Revenge of the Fallen" toyline. (...What?)
I also don't care much for the horror movie remakes and SAW films, mainly because I just don't like horror films and gore for the sake of gore. And me being both borderline paranoid and squemish doesn't help either.
And Twilight... don't get me started on that load of crap! ...God I hate tweenies...
EDIT: Whoops! Forgot about Avatar! I haven't seen it, nor do I really want to. I mean, the concept is interesting enough, but it's just too one-sided for my tastes.
EDIT Mk. 2: Okay, okay, after having seen (some) of Avatar, my personal opinion has shifted... to neutral. Really. I don't love it or hate it, it's just... meh.
I agreed with you in part until you mentioned hurt locker. Hurt Locker was a pile of overhyped trash just like that other shitfest Benjamin Button. Pseudo-intellectual garbage has no place in a discussion on the decline of the film industry other than proof positive of such a decline. Those movies are tailor-made oscar winners and are shallow, amorphous, hollow productions. Just like Michael Bay appeals to our base reactions with overemphasis on sex and explosions, Hurt Locker and other appeal to that artsy/pseudo intellectual crowd with heavy handed drama, contrived situations and characters, etc. They're two forms of the same bullshit.
No offense but that is the case with more than just movies...it has happened to a large amount of games, tv shows and...just about most media. It happens because it sells and there isn't much that can be done about it, save putting out new and interesting things and hope that people watch them.
I only watch comic based movies, just to see if their any good.
I only watch comic based movies, just to see if their any good.
I do skip the bad ones and only pay to see the good films otherwise I don't even go to theaters.
You do realize that any movie you (or i or anyone else) watches are hated by others right? So no matetr what you watch, you're supporting something someone else loathes.
I don't really care what otehrs watch, unlike others i know theres no definite equallity between what i like, and what is unquestionably "good", mainly cause nothing is difinitely good, it's a matter of taste, and stating that your taste is universally better than everyone elses will accomplish nothing but make you look like a elitis snob, or even worse, an obsessed fanboy/fangirl.
More importantly, as long as there is an audience for what you would call good movies, they'll still be made. There'll always be niche markets, even if "good" movies are to become a niche.
Also, this isn't something i know for sure, but merely a thought.
The quantity of movies beeing made each year are obviously greater then it was in the "good old days" so even if the overall average quallity has fallen, and theres further between the "good" movies, there might still be as many, if not more made each year than in teh odl days.
Nuneric example incoming for the convenience and understandign of everyone fonder of numbers than letters, these are fictive numbers meant to illustrate an example.
Lets say t´hat in the odl days, there might have been made a great movie for ever 5 movies made, today only one out of 10 movies are great, yet theres made three times as many movies today which leads to:
1/5 < 3x 1/10
My poitn is, that even if theres more shit to dig through to find teh diamonds, they're prolly still there in the same quantities, if not more, they're just hiding amongst a vastly larger number of "bad" movies.
Movies doesn't cost shit for you unless you go watch them, or buy them.
every bad movie made, is basicly a free option given to all of us, to decide whether we want to spend our money to see this particular film or not, if you don't liek it, don't waste your money on it, and you'll have lost nothing.
Someone else might like and enjoy it, and i think it would be pretty selfish, in an ugly way, to think, that anything i didn't like, despite it not costing me a thing, shouldn't be made cause it's "bad". Wheres teh big fucking problem with others enjoying something you don't?
Oh yeah, Don't forget to keep in mind, that if it wasn't for all the stuff which you'd think of as "bad" how else would you jerk off your ego and feel superrior to all teh others loosers who enjoys what you think is garbage? If it wasn't for bad films you'd just be an average joe when it came to movies.
I don't really care what otehrs watch, unlike others i know theres no definite equallity between what i like, and what is unquestionably "good", mainly cause nothing is difinitely good, it's a matter of taste, and stating that your taste is universally better than everyone elses will accomplish nothing but make you look like a elitis snob, or even worse, an obsessed fanboy/fangirl.
More importantly, as long as there is an audience for what you would call good movies, they'll still be made. There'll always be niche markets, even if "good" movies are to become a niche.
Also, this isn't something i know for sure, but merely a thought.
The quantity of movies beeing made each year are obviously greater then it was in the "good old days" so even if the overall average quallity has fallen, and theres further between the "good" movies, there might still be as many, if not more made each year than in teh odl days.
Nuneric example incoming for the convenience and understandign of everyone fonder of numbers than letters, these are fictive numbers meant to illustrate an example.
Lets say t´hat in the odl days, there might have been made a great movie for ever 5 movies made, today only one out of 10 movies are great, yet theres made three times as many movies today which leads to:
1/5 < 3x 1/10
My poitn is, that even if theres more shit to dig through to find teh diamonds, they're prolly still there in the same quantities, if not more, they're just hiding amongst a vastly larger number of "bad" movies.
Movies doesn't cost shit for you unless you go watch them, or buy them.
every bad movie made, is basicly a free option given to all of us, to decide whether we want to spend our money to see this particular film or not, if you don't liek it, don't waste your money on it, and you'll have lost nothing.
Someone else might like and enjoy it, and i think it would be pretty selfish, in an ugly way, to think, that anything i didn't like, despite it not costing me a thing, shouldn't be made cause it's "bad". Wheres teh big fucking problem with others enjoying something you don't?
Oh yeah, Don't forget to keep in mind, that if it wasn't for all the stuff which you'd think of as "bad" how else would you jerk off your ego and feel superrior to all teh others loosers who enjoys what you think is garbage? If it wasn't for bad films you'd just be an average joe when it came to movies.
Sometimes it sets me back a couple of post positions when I look for them.sinclose said:
Get ready to bake even more. I really can't think of many people other than fangirls who would say Twilight was a positive example of film making.Infernai said:
So if you're passing out cookies, you best make a second batch of dough.
The reason we don't remember crap from the past is because it all was forgotten. We only bother remembering the good films from the past, thus, it seems like in the old days they only made good films. There are a tremendous number of great films coming out every year. There's crap, of course, but there has always been crap. The crap like Transformers will be forgotten (Remember how quickly well all forgot about the Mathew Broderick Godzilla?) While great pieces of cinema like The Shawshank Redemption, Memento, and even dark Horses like The Prestige only get stronger with each passing year.
It's like these people who say foreign films are better. No, it's that they only bother releasing/subbing/dubbing the good or entertaining ones to the English speaking world. Do you know how much absolute trash has come out of the Asian film industry? For every Ang Lee, there is his Asian, Michael Bay counterpart. The Hong Kong film industry is a vomitous-mass for the most part.
Edit: Screwed up my italics. Damn it!
It's like these people who say foreign films are better. No, it's that they only bother releasing/subbing/dubbing the good or entertaining ones to the English speaking world. Do you know how much absolute trash has come out of the Asian film industry? For every Ang Lee, there is his Asian, Michael Bay counterpart. The Hong Kong film industry is a vomitous-mass for the most part.
Edit: Screwed up my italics. Damn it!
So stop being a lazy half-wit and look for actual interesting movies rather than glancing at what the mainstream has to offer before despairing of the whole music. Your point is akin to cursing music as a whole based on the latest black-eyed-peas offering.
to the OP, it seems your problem is not really with the films themselves but rather with the fact that Hollywood is a business. The studios are going to make the films that give them the highest profits at the box office and the investors who fund the films are going to put their money behind the stuff which is going to give them the best return on their investment. Unfortunately for you this means popcorn special effects bonanzas and sappy preteen love stories which draw in the most dollars. To change the film industry you are going to first have to change the customers and considering they have no interest deep plots, witty comedy and other more high-brow fare it is not going to happen easily if at all. I wish you luck, bang your head against the brick wall long enough and you will make an impression but you are still going to stagger off with a concussion when all is said and done.