What's wrong with movies lately?

steveinaz

As a "side-bar" to my quickie review of "Prince of Persia" I got to thinking, what's happened to movies? It's been a long time since I walked away from a movie thinking "man that was good" or having some sort of emtional response on what I just saw. Is it too much emphasis on special effects/sound track? Lack of original ideas? It seems like everything is BIG, beautiful, and full of sound--but it's missing something; a good story.

Maybe a reflection of our society. Quantity over quality. Bang-for-the-buck eye candy, versus content? Sure are alot of parallels.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I said the same thing, but Inception was very good IMO.

I also think its a side effect of reality TV, expectations are set so low that the movies don't seem as bad to most people

cokewithvanilla

Inglorious **** was the last movie I saw that I thought was really good. There are a lot of poor quality movies out there, but I think that's been the case for a while... so many movies get released each year, and I only like maybe 1-4 of them. I think this is especially the case with TV shows, the stuff they play on TV is pathetic.

steveinaz

I haven't seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I just picture "blah, blah, blah...special effects...blah, blah...magic....blah, blah...special....you get the idea. I damn sure don't want to suffer through 5 or 6 of them.

Face

Well, you're not watching the right movies then.

nguyendot

Human Centipede.

that is all.

zombie boy 2000

How could you not feel bad for the girl in the middle? She should have never made a run for it.

I wonder if his research involved corn on the cob in any capacity?

headrott

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I said the same thing, but Inception was very good IMO.

I also think its a side effect of reality TV, expectations are set so low that the movies don't seem as bad to most people

Not exactly original though (Inception). It borrowed heavily from The Matrix (IMO).

Greg

kuntasensei

zombie boy 2000 wrote: »

How could you not feel bad for the girl in the middle? She should have never made a run for it.

I wonder if his research involved corn on the cob in any capacity?

Okay, that seriously made me snort.

obieone

The last movie that 'moved' me, was Valkyrie. And I suspect that was only because it was based on actual events.
Unfortunately Steve, SFX is prolly the only thing left in Holyweirds bag of tricks.
If you want substance, you'll have to stick to books; Vince Flynn, David Poyer, Larry Bond, Stephen Hunter, etc. Even Grisham has gotten stale.

As for original ideas, they're out there. The problem is, that elites in Hollywood won't listen. They've found a formula, that works. And as long as the sheeple keep going to the theatres, they'll keep pumping out the trash.

Luckily, we still have our other hobby, that involves 'noise makers'

nguyendot

I don't understand why the asian dude didn't just stab the doctor a few more times while he was down... Then they would have made it. Oh well.

Fongolio

I watched "Brothers" the other night with Toby Maguire. That's the first movie I've seen him in where I was really impressed with his acting. Not totally original story but very powerful and almost no bang bang special effects. The story and great acting carry the movie.

nooshinjohn

I can sum up what is wrong with movies in just two characters...


3D

bobman1235

There's nothing wrong with movies. There's something wrong with your ability to choose the right movies. There are more movies made every day than ever before, so of course there will be more crap. And the stuff that is popular is catering to the lowest common denominator; avoid it and you'll be fine. Find friends or reviewers whose opinion you trust, and folow their advice, adn don't go see pieces of dog crap like "Prince of Persia" just because that's what's out.

People say the same thing about TV because there's stuff like "Jersey Shore" out there, but ther'es also AMAZING stuff like Boardwalk Empire and Dexter and Mad Men and Breaking Bad that's better than most of the stuff that EVER came before it. Ther'esa lot more crap to sort through but the fact that so much stuff is made just leaves so much more room for greatness, and it's there if you're willing to look for it.

polkfarmboy

steveinaz wrote: »

As a "side-bar" to my quickie review of "Prince of Persia" I got to thinking, what's happened to movies? It's been a long time since I walked away from a movie thinking "man that was good" or having some sort of emtional response on what I just saw. Is it too much emphasis on special effects/sound track? Lack of original ideas? It seems like everything is BIG, beautiful, and full of sound--but it's missing something; a good story.

Maybe a reflection of our society. Quantity over quality. Bang-for-the-buck eye candy, versus content? Sure are alot of parallels.

This is how I feel steveinaz .I like to get my teeth into french and asian movies now as there is way more character development going on and its not about being pressured to make tons of money but rather a good flick

I think in Europe and Asia they are given more room for creativity than america

kevhed72

Making movies in this country used to be more of an art form....now its more of a business. :frown:

obieone

kevhed72 wrote: »

Making movies in this country used to be more of an art form....now its more of a business. :frown:

Yeah, like prostitution:eek:

grimmace19

Two of my recent favorites that actually stood out as being either "good or something to bring out emotion" were Inception as mentioned earlier and Gran Torino. Both were great IMO

messiah

As cool as special effects are, they end up being a crutch for a weak storyline. If you combine that with the fact that Hollywood would rather re-make old films than take a chance on a new story and that pretty much is what is wrong with movies today. Take Avatar for example. Yeah, it looks nice, but there is absolutely zero substance there. The storyline is weak at best. It's like a really hot dumb chick. But it's the highest grossing movie ever, and everyone just had to see it because it's from Cameron and it's so "groundbreaking". It's too bad Cameron didn't use that technology for something with a plot better than cowboys and indians.

fatchowmein

Red
Toy Story 3
Constantine
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
How to Train Your Dragon
Repo Men
Shutter Island
The Bourne Trilogy
The Crazies
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The International
Up
Zombieland


And then there are the movies that I wasn't fond of at the theatre but grew on me on Blu-ray (stuff that gets repeated playback).
Quantum of Solace
The Book of Eli

Looking forward to Inception and a bunch of other flicks I missed. Sure, there's a lot of crapola out there but I'm still having a good time at the theatre.

Ditto to bobman1235. The TV shows have been phenomenal with The Pacific, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica (seasons 1-3 lol), The Tudors, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Spartacus, etc... I've never watched so much TV in my life.

LeftCoast

Nothing wrong with many movies coming out today. Avatar is an excellent movie in my opinion. Will it go down as one of the great films of all time? No, and I don't think it has any pretentions to be that. All the blockbuster movies are meant to be thrill rides, no Oscar contenders. Don't look for them to be something they are not and you will hopefully be less frustrated when going to the movies.

Someone mentioned the Book of Eli. On the same subject but even better is The Road with Viggo Mortensen. Many people including movie reviewers panned it as a downer. It is anything but that. It is actually a story of hope.
Or look to small films with NO budgets that must rely on creativity and relationship driven storytelling. "ONCE" is a great little gem.
Don't ask Hollywood to make meaningful films. They spend their time trying to figure out what movie will make money....what subject matter will make money. And they haven't a clue. They are just guessing, and that is why when you go watch one of their films you are disatisfied. Ok...writing too much here.

renowilliams

I find myself digging out some great old flicks lately like,Shawshank Redemption,12 Angry Men, Casablanca etc....

bobman1235

LeftCoast wrote: »

Nothing wrong with many movies coming out today. Avatar is an excellent movie in my opinion. Will it go down as one of the great films of all time? No, and I don't think it has any pretentions to be that.

James Cameron has said on multiple occasions that he thinks it's the greatest film ever made.

zombie boy 2000

I think in ten years when Avatar gets technologically long in the tooth, the collective groan from the masses will be legendary. Sorry... but the movie was garbage.

I'm looking at you Titanic.

jinjuku

Face wrote: »

Well, you're not watching the right movies then.

+ That.

There are 1000's upon 1000's of movies that you haven't seen out there. If you are just wanting movie fulfillment with only a new release then you are going about it the wrong way.

Hint: Netflix is your friend. Over at AVSForum they have a Netflix Gems thread going that it really a nice resource for finding titles you wouldn't otherwise know about. Check out the Art of the Steal (a documentary) as an example.

jinjuku

renowilliams wrote: »

I find myself digging out some great old flicks lately like,Shawshank Redemption,12 Angry Men, Casablanca etc....

The Bedford Incident, Bullit, Stalag 17, Some like it Hot...

steveinaz

I'm aware that good movies exist, they just seem to be few and far between. I didn't expect "Prince of Persia" to be academy material, but was surprised how "generic" it was.

tonyb

Agreed Steve. The wife and I are big movie buffs. A good story is hard to come by these days. Actually, the movies as of late with a decent story have been animated. I'm thinking "UP" for one. Gran Torino, though of coarse not animated, was a good one too. Clint can tell a story for sure. When movies like Million Dollar Baby gets turned down twice by the studios, you have to wonder what their thinking. Avatar was all special effects with an agenda driven theme, hate movies like that, but seems Hollywood is dead set on mostly doing movies that promote an agenda.

bobman1235

tonyb wrote: »

Agreed Steve. The wife and I are big movie buffs. A good story is hard to come by these days. Actually, the movies as of late with a decent story have been animated. I'm thinking "UP" for one. Gran Torino, though of coarse not animated, was a good one too. Clint can tell a story for sure. When movies like Million Dollar Baby gets turned down twice by the studios, you have to wonder what their thinking. Avatar was all special effects with an agenda driven theme, hate movies like that, but seems Hollywood is dead set on mostly doing movies that promote an agenda.

Agaain, there are about a billion more movies than the 4 per week that you hear advertised by the major studios. The major studios are trying to make money, adn they do that by catering to the majority of Americans : retards. You want smart cinema, LOOK ELSEWHERE. Everyone keeps mentioning the same nine movies from the past 20 years in this thread about movies, when in the same time frame there have been tens of THOUSANDS of movies made.

A movie like Million Dollar Baby gets turned down twice because the studios dont' think it will make money (they were wrong, but that's not really the point). Avatar gets promoted like crazy because it's pretty and the aforementioned retards FLOCK to pretty flashy films.

zombie boy 2000

Bob... you might as well give up the crusade. Didn't you know there's NO good music out there as well? It finally appears that after thousands of years of art and creativity from our species, everything has FINALLY gone down the tubes with this generation. Imagine that?

Just got to branch out more. There some wickedly awesome movies coming out at a record pace nowadays. My recommendation is that you avoid most of the blockbusters and much like with audio, do some research. Find some outlets that share your same tastes and look to them for suggestions. It's been said before but it needs repeating - the average major release is made to appeal to the largest demographic possible. As a result, it is generally neither good or bad. Just average. You can't take too many chances or appeal to a particular niche and expect to rake in the dough.

DMara

steveinaz wrote: »

As a "side-bar" to my quickie review of "Prince of Persia" I got to thinking, what's happened to movies? It's been a long time since I walked away from a movie thinking "man that was good" or having some sort of emtional response on what I just saw. Is it too much emphasis on special effects/sound track? Lack of original ideas? It seems like everything is BIG, beautiful, and full of sound--but it's missing something; a good story.

Maybe a reflection of our society. Quantity over quality. Bang-for-the-buck eye candy, versus content? Sure are alot of parallels.

I don't think it's that bad. For example, just a couple weeks ago, I rented a movie named "Winter's bone", and "man that was good." I can actually name quite a few of them GOOD movies this year. It's just if you watch too many movies, the GOOD/BAD ratio is going to go down dramatically. I think this is what happened to you.