Are movies dead?

Idkwiaowiw · Jul 16, 2009

Is it just me, or does it seem that movies are getting worse and worse. There are no original ideas anymore. Everything is either

a.) A remake
b.) Based on a TV show
c.) A true story
d.) Based on some novel/previously published written work
e.) All of the above

And if it IS original, then it just seems to suck. What happened to the good old days of Hollywood? What do you think will happen years down the line?

Wavy_Blue · Jul 16, 2009

No.

Sure, there have been an influx in remakes/adaptations/etc in the past few years, but there are still wonderful, highly original films being made.

For example, Up.

bettielee · Jul 16, 2009

No - but they may as well be. I can't afford to go to any.

auntybug · Jul 16, 2009

Idkwiaowiw said:
What do you think will happen years down the line?

I'll save a small fortune at Movie Gallery? :Shrug:

I don't have TV & buy a lot of movies. There may have been some crap but I just steer away from what looks bad (or ask Ray

). We have found some good ones lately & tend to watch certain ones over & over - especially series ones. Time Traveler's Wife will be out soon - although nothing is as good as the book - that's one I'm looking forward to seeing. I may not wait for it to go previously viewed & actually go to our crappy theater!

Kurtz · Jul 16, 2009

Hollywood may be going through a decline, but movies themselves are anything but dead. And Hollywood comes out with some great stuff as well now and then (There Will Be Blood). Just don't expect cerebral during the summer.

c.) A true story
d.) Based on some novel/previously published written work

Even during Hollywood's 'Golden Age' the same was true. The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, even the Godfather, they were all based on already existing material.

john barnes on toast · Jul 16, 2009

there's always been crap.

we just don't bother remembering it.

ChristineR · Jul 16, 2009

It's getting cheaper and cheaper to make movies, and the quality of do-it-yourself product is going up. Hollywood may or may not continue to make obscenely expensive predictable goo, but there will be plenty of people able to make quality films. You're seeing awesome movies coming out of places like Vietnam and Mexico. So overall, I'm not too worried.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 16, 2009

Idkwiaowiw said:
a.) A remake
b.) Based on a TV show
c.) A true story
d.) Based on some novel/previously published written work
e.) All of the above

Haven't most movies always been this way?

a) they've been a remake (silent to sound, bw to color)
b) based on a Radio show
c) they've been based on true life
d) always been based on novels
e) all of the above

Movie making today is no different then it's been for 100 years.

Celia Cyanide · Jul 16, 2009

I think I have a possible solution: seek out independent film. By independent film, I don't just mean stuff at Sundance. There are people making our own movies, sometimes out of our own pocket. And we can't afford to buy the rights to video games, TV shows, remakes, etc.

Of course this means that you have to watch movies that are very low budget, and starring actors that are not all that famous. But some of it is quite good.

Kurtz · Jul 16, 2009

Celia Cyanide said:
I think I have a possible solution: seek out independent film. By independent film, I don't just mean stuff at Sundance. There are people making our own movies, sometimes out of our own pocket. And we can't afford to buy the rights to video games, TV shows, remakes, etc.

Of course this means that you have to watch movies that are very low budget, and starring actors that are not all that famous. But some of it is quite good.

Or try exploring the foreign markets. Often they don't have the budgets Hollywood gets so they have to use the money they've got on things like, I don't know, scripting and editing. This is really true with science fiction, it's often the foreign studios without the money that are making 'real' SF that is speculative and posing questions. Hollywood is missing out on the science.

bettielee · Jul 16, 2009

Yes - Independant Film is awesome...

maestrowork · Jul 16, 2009

Idkwiaowiw said:
Is it just me, or does it seem that movies are getting worse and worse. There are no original ideas anymore. Everything is either

a.) A remake
b.) Based on a TV show
c.) A true story
d.) Based on some novel/previously published written work
e.) All of the above

And if it IS original, then it just seems to suck. What happened to the good old days of Hollywood? What do you think will happen years down the line?

And what's wrong with any of that. Just because it's not an "original screenplay" doesn't mean they're not good movies. I can give you example of many, many, many great movies that are, for example, adapted from previously published materials.

True stories make for great movies.

Remakes can be great, too. John Carpenter's The Thing, for example.

And there are still many great original stuff, especially in independent and foreign films. Moon with Sam Rockwell, for example, is an excellent film.

Movies are far from dead.

john barnes on toast · Jul 16, 2009

Kurtz said:
Or try exploring the foreign markets. Often they don't have the budgets Hollywood gets so they have to use the money they've got on things like, I don't know, scripting and editing. This is really true with science fiction, it's often the foreign studios without the money that are making 'real' SF that is speculative and posing questions. Hollywood is missing out on the science.

by the same token I actually think a huge budget can be to a film's detriment, even if it's in the hands of talented people.

Directors often lose their discipline when faced with an unbridled dollop of cash. All sense of economy (economy of ideas rather than cash) goes straight out of the window. Minor subplots or characters get blown up to a scale they don't merit. Films end up with 3 giant set-piece finales. Some don't seem to end at all.

For example, there's probably a decent film hiding somewhere inside The Dark Knight, but it would 45 mins shorter and cost a £100M less than the bloated thing that we got.

Bands often go the same way. Many of them make their best music when they're struggling upstarts, living and dying on the quality of their songs alone. Often it's when success comes, and the financial clout to indulge themselves in procrastination and cringeworthy musical collaborations that they produce bloated overproduced crap.

Kurtz · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
by the same token I actually think a huge budget can be to a film's detriment, even if it's in the hands of talented people.

Directors often lose their discipline when faced with an unbridled dollop of cash. All sense of economy (economy of ideas rather than cash) goes straight out of the window. Minor subplots or characters get blown up to a scale they don't merit. Films end up with 3 giant set-piece finales. Some don't seem to end at all.

For example, there's probably a decent film hiding somewhere inside The Dark Knight, but it would 45 mins shorter and cost a £100M less than the bloated thing that we got.

Bands often go the same way. Many of them make their best music when they're struggling upstarts, living and dying on the quality of their songs alone. Often it's when success comes, and the financial clout to indulge themselves in procrastination and cringeworthy musical collaborations that they produce bloated overproduced crap.

Of all high bugdet blockbusters the Dark Knight probably stands out as the most coherent film tbh. Now Transformers, that was a film with too much bugdet that ended up becoming a postmodernist masterpiece by accident.

john barnes on toast · Jul 16, 2009

Kurtz said:
Of all high bugdet blockbusters the Dark Knight probably stands out as the most coherent film tbh. Now Transformers, that was a film with too much bugdet that ended up becoming a postmodernist masterpiece by accident.

I'll have to disagree with your opinion on TDK.

I wouldn't have a clue about Transformers though, as you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me watch it.

Kurtz · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
I wouldn't have a clue about Transformers though, as you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me watch it.

I'm a masochist and I couldn't find anyone willing to scourge me so Michael Bay was the next available alternative.

maxmordon · Jul 16, 2009

Come on, they said the same thing about theater...

Celia Cyanide · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
For example, there's probably a decent film hiding somewhere inside The Dark Knight, but it would 45 mins shorter and cost a £100M less than the bloated thing that we got.

Most people liked that movie, though.

Celia Cyanide · Jul 16, 2009

maestrowork said:
And what's wrong with any of that. Just because it's not an "original screenplay" doesn't mean they're not good movies. I can give you example of many, many, many great movies that are, for example, adapted from previously published materials.

True stories make for great movies.

Remakes can be great, too. John Carpenter's The Thing, for example.

And there are still many great original stuff, especially in independent and foreign films. Moon with Sam Rockwell, for example, is an excellent film.

Movies are far from dead.

Yeah, that's a very important point, too. If a movie is bad, it's because something went wrong there. It's not because it happens to be a remake, based on a book, true story, etc.

If you happen to not like things that are any of those things, however, then I would recommend lower budget indies.

Oh, and Sam Rockwell rules.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
I'll have to disagree with your opinion on TDK.

I wouldn't have a clue about Transformers though, as you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me watch it.

Dark Knight got a 94% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Seems few share your view on it.

Transformers got a 20%, however, it still made $300m.

john barnes on toast · Jul 16, 2009

Celia Cyanide said:
Most people liked that movie, though.

most people are idiots

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
most people are idiots

Wow. I'd like to see a link to that stat.

shawkins · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
most people are idiots

I quite liked Dark Knight.

maestrowork · Jul 16, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
most people are idiots

Wow.

Sorry, dude, I happen to like that movie (not fanatic about it), and I am a movie critic and I've watched probably over 1000 films in my life and it's a good movie with good acting, direction, action, storytelling, etc. etc. Is it perfect? No. And it's okay for you to dislike it -- it's within your right. But to diss everyone who likes it as idiots?

Please respect your fellow members here.

shawkins · Jul 16, 2009

Ray, that's hardly welcoming.

Many of us wish to learn, Mr. barnes. Please instruct us.

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