Mainstream films predictable and boring shocker. Most big films are just paint by numbers plots with marketing razzle dazzle. The more money involved, the more corporate interference, the safer and more predictable they become.
This is compounded by the contrarian attitudes towards legitimate film critics - "Mark Kermode is a ****, it's a great film because I enjoyed it".
Films definitely get more predictable as you get older for obvious reasons. And, as has been pointed out above, Hollywood only makes pretty much the same movie everytime they get quite unwatchable after a while!!
And, as has been pointed out above, Hollywood only makes pretty much the same movie everytime they get quite unwatchable after a while!!
To be honest I couldn't disagree more.
Films like Drive, Nocturnal Animals etc have been a breath of fresh air, properly well made stuff, Logan was exceptional and crossed genres, T2 was great and not formuleric, Arrival carried me along with it and didn't make me guess ahead as the story unfolded. Rogue One chucked out the convention for the ending, Deadpool just did things differently very well and got us away from the 12A drudge of crap.
Fantastic beasts brought a whole new world to life and extended a great story. Stuff like Fences and Moonlight are telling amazing stories really well. There is a load of great cinema out there, some of it challenges you to think some of it just lets you flow along with it - there is some great stuff that just needs watching 🙂
Well said Mike.
Film4 has a crime "season" on this week - some fab looking films showing. Mainstream actors like Matthew Mcconaughey, Tom Hardy, Ben Kingsley.. but def not mainstream films - The Drop, Killer Joe (tonight 10:45, do not miss!), Sexy Beast, Good People... (plus a couple of duffs, but hey-ho)
mikewsmith[b]To be honest I couldn't disagree more.[/b]
Films like Drive, Nocturnal Animals etc have been a breath of fresh air, properly well made stuff, Logan was exceptional and crossed genres, T2 was great and not formuleric, Arrival carried me along with it and didn't make me guess ahead as the story unfolded. Rogue One chucked out the convention for the ending, Deadpool just did things differently very well and got us away from the 12A drudge of crap.
Fantastic beasts brought a whole new world to life and extended a great story. Stuff like Fences and Moonlight are telling amazing stories really well. [b]There is a load of great cinema out there, some of it challenges you to think some of it just lets you flow along with it - there is some great stuff that just needs watching[/b]
I agree with the point you've made but some of the examples you've chosen to make it are........terrible 😈
Want to tell my why they are terrible?
mikewsmith - MemberWant to tell my why they are terrible?
Not really, but in a nutshell Drive, T2 and even Nocturnal Animals are relatively small films. I think the malaise that is afflicting Hollywood and viewer disenfranchisment is really more about big films. And there are so many smaller independent/semi independent films which are much better.
Rogue One doesn't have an original thought in it's head, even the downer ending seemed an homage to Empire Strikes Back. Deadpool is just a crap film that gets credit for having swearing and violence, great that it's true to the source material in that respect but it's otherwise a completely generic, formulaic film and predictable film. Logan is a much better film, but again all it's doing is respecting the source material and following a roadmap to credibility laid out by Deapool. It doesn't cross genres in any meaningful way either that I can see.
I didn't agree entirely with mike's films, but it was a good general point.*
Deadpool is probably my favourite film of the last 10 years. Pure entertainment - plus a lot of originality and a great script.. Dead wrong to say it's crap. Didn't bother with Rogue 1 as knew I wouldn't like it.
*Pretty much what jimjam said, in reverse 😳
It's probably worth considering that we're in the age of $400 million films, and most of the big franchises / tent-pole films are 175 - 300 million. Even a James Bond films costs $250 million.
Googling "average hollywood film budget" it seems that the average cost of a major studio release is $100 million. In that context $5 million or even $10 million seems like nothing.
Want to tell my why they are terrible?
Fantastic beasts was not really fantastic. Someone thought 'I know, let's do something with lots of weird animals in it' and then tried to come up with a plot to fit them in. Felt very contrived. And the plot was a bit non-existent really. Ooer look at all the scrapes we get into to keep all this a secret.
I couldn't "dump" a film watching on TV really, unless it was something I'd drifted into to see what it was like. Watching films I make an effort, set everything up, crank up the surround system and lights off. Can't be eating food either. I don't casually watch films as they're an investment of time and need my attention.
Noting that I don't generally watch "no attention span required" films, though that rules out most modern films.
It's one reason I don't watch much now, despite being a big film fan at one point. I often don't want to invest/waste time watching a film, and less so if I probably won't like it, as I will watch it to the end. So instead I just don't even start. Plus I usually have other stuff I need to do. I'll just fill a bit of time around meals with a half hour or hour at most TV show.
Fantastic beasts was not really fantastic.
To be fair though, you're probably beyond the primary target audience by some 30 years.
I rather enjoyed it myself, I thought it was fun and nicely put together.
[i]Fantastic Beasts was not really fantastic[/i]
Oh gawd - completely forgot I'd seen that. Goes in the 'terrible children's films you've had to endure' thread. Would definitely have turned off the tv before the end of that rubbish, even the kid hated it.
Maybe you lot should go to the cinema to watch films more often. Hardly ever walk out as I've paid! Or maybe used my free Lloyds vouchers. Crap I've endured includes Ghost in the Shell, Lego Batman, Transformers: Last (please let it be the last!) Knight, Alien: Dross.
Your film choice suggests that you are 15?
14 actually.
The first Lego movie was the most recent for me. Utter, utter crap, needlessly voiced by smug celebs and I say that as somebody who watched and enjoyed Dinocroc vs Supergator (i.e. my standards are very very low).
the lego movie was awesome
OTOH the Lego Scooby Doo episode was superb. And only 20 minutes long.
retro83The first Lego movie was the most recent for me. Utter, utter crap,
I thought it was very good. Well written, visually unique and enough in jokes and pop culture references to entertain adults without alienating it's main audience - kids. I enjoyed Lego Batman ever more though, as did my kids. Genuinely funny with tons of in-jokes for Batman geeks and visually spectacular (although by the end I did want some more variety in the colour palette.
needlessly voiced by smug celebs and I say that as somebody who watched and enjoyed Dinocroc vs Supergator (i.e. my standards are very very low).
I think you'll find that with animated films voice actors are far from needless, they're pretty much essential. It also helps to have people with great comedic timing like Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell as there's a disconnect between the actor's delivery and the viewer. As an added bonus their star power helps drive the promotion of the film.
A lot of this is subjective and half of the above is obviously awful and the other half disliked I thought was fab.
I'm going through my "top rated" films I've yet to see and recently couldnt get to the end of Mulholland Drive; what the hell am I missing with this cos it was junk - and I am a sucker for art house stuff.
paulneenan76 - Member
A lot of this is subjective and half of the above is obviously awful and the other half disliked I thought was fab.
Again there is the subjective - I liked it/didn't like it
Then there is the technical/quality/artistic part of is it a well made good film with good acting, story, cinematography etc. A great quote from a classical musician was he may not like some more modern music but he can appreciate a very well put together track that is technically good etc.
jimjam - Member
I think you'll find that with animated films voice actors are far from needless, they're pretty much essential. It also helps to have people with great comedic timing like Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell as there's a disconnect between the actor's delivery and the viewer. As an added bonus their star power helps drive the promotion of the film.
To an extent, yes but mainly I think it's far more likely to have been "we have a mediocre film, how can we make sure it sells" as with the film "Shark Tale".
retro83 - MemberTo an extent, yes but mainly I think it's far more likely to have been "we have a mediocre film, how can we make sure it sells" as with the film "Shark Tale".
With animated films they'll develop the script, cast the actors, record the dialogue, then use the dialogue as reference for the animation as well as using the actors' features and expressions as a basis for the look of the characters.
You can't retrospectively cast big names in order to improve a bad film.
jimjam - Member
With animated films they'll develop the script, cast the actors, record the dialogue, then use the dialogue as reference for the animation as well as using the actors' features and expressions as a basis for the look of the characters.You can't retrospectively cast big names in order to improve a bad film.
Okay then, let me rephrase: "we have a mediocre script, how can we make sure it sells".
That 97% of people on RT seem to rate it is puzzling.
I love Lego, I love comedy, I've enjoyed a lot of kids films but I genuinely thought it was one of the most boring films I've seen in a long long time. Not just that but the pacing was also awful.
retro83Okay then, let me rephrase: "we have a mediocre script, how can we make sure it sells".
So you have a $100,000 script that's mediocre so you are going to spend 10,20,30 million dollars on paying super stars to fix that problem rather than spend another $100,000 on script revisions or a better script?
Sharks Tale is a wretched film but it probably failed for a myriad of reasons, death by a thousand cuts in terms of compromises and errors of judgement as opposed to "let's try to make a hit with a shit script and some famous names".
I think whatever criticism you were trying to make regarding the Lego Movie having needlessly famous voice actors isn't really valid.
I genuinely thought it was one of the most boring films I've seen in a long long time. Not just that but the pacing was also awful.
What was wrong with the pacing? Why do you think it was boring?
Well obviously you don't think it's valid, you liked the film! 😆
The pacing was ludicrously fast, the film felt like an hour and half long episode of family guy on fast forward. Gag, gag, gag, cultural reference, gag, , gag, gag, lego reference, gag, gag, movie reference, gag, gag, movie reference, gag, gag.
Ultraviolet
Was the last one I walk away from the cinema, never mind the TV lol
