5 Reasons New Films are Bad

The presenter is obnoxious and has a pointless thread about a cup - but the storytelling criticisms he makes about modern blockbuster films feel spot on:

The presentation is definitely a fail - with good points.

Altogether now: If you're wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts/ Just repeat to yourself 'It's only a show I should really just relax'

I think the main reason why modern blockbusters (which are only the lacklustre tip of a massive and far more interesting iceberg) are "bad movies" is that they are interchangeable, clearly the work of cynical people who want to deliver a linear story quickly and at the expense of having any kind of lasting impact over the audience.

Movies are no longer designed to stay with you and be digested, they're designed to provide a quick rush and an instantaneous comedown after they're over to make you buy a ticket for the next show. I don't mean to turn this into a chicken-or-the-egg debate regarding modern editing techniques vs the shorter attention span of modern audiences, but when one image segues into the next faster than the brain can even register, why would you expect anything more from a film? There's absolutely nothing to process in these films other than quick sequences of things in motion.

The essence of the cinematic experience is not the story told but how it is told and, unlike any other art form, cinema has the ability to encapsulate real time through the length of the shots and the editing process. When all movies are shot and cut to a pace that is commanded by greedy executives rather than dictated by the story they tell, all movies end up feeling the same.

Got a couple minutes in before I quit. Anyone care to summarise

Plese tell me Geostorm is in there. Dean Devlin should be sent back to primary school and made to do his entire education again after that monstrosity of <beep>. Yeah, I know, more fool me for watching it.



pH

Phyrebrat said:

Anyone care to summarise

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5. Filmmakers withhold simple information that would explain why a particular plot element is being set into motion.
4. Deleted scenes / bonus material shouldn't be required viewing. Cue example of Batman v Superman which is - apparently - a better, more coherent film if you view the 3-hour-long version.
3. "Mystery boxes are clown$#17". Unresolved mysteries shouldn't be used to hide a lack of ability on the filmmakers' part to come up with a satisfying explanation.
2. Characters are poorly written and their arcs are non-existent, often because their main character flaws need to remain unresolved for that character to still be relevant/interesting in the sequel(s).
1. Films are supposed to end. Franchises set up false cliffhangers which are not really cliffhangers but abrupt endings to incomplete stories to take the audience's expectations hostage and force them to buy a ticket to the sequel to see the conclusion unfold.

The Crawling Chaos said:

5. Filmmakers withhold simple information that would explain why a particular plot element is being set into motion.
4. Deleted scenes / bonus material shouldn't be required viewing. Cue example of Batman v Superman which is - apparently - a better, more coherent film if you view the 3-hour-long version.
3. "Mystery boxes are clown$#17". Unresolved mysteries shouldn't be used to hide a lack of ability on the filmmakers' part to come up with a satisfying explanation.
2. Characters are poorly written and their arcs are non-existent, often because their main character flaws need to remain unresolved for that character to still be relevant/interesting in the sequel(s).
1. Films are supposed to end. Franchises set up false cliffhangers which are not really cliffhangers but abrupt endings to incomplete stories to take the audience's expectations hostage and force them to buy a ticket to the sequel to see the conclusion unfold.

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Thank you! You are awesome. New favourite member.

It’s a shame that what looks so considered and intelligent written down comes from such an annoying messenger (him, not you!)

pH

If movies the current age's movies are bad, there are two groups at fault:

> CEOs too scared to try new things, resorting instead to remaking the same movies time and again.

> Movie-Goers who to pay good money for the drivel offered on the Big Screens.


If the current crop of movies are bad.

There's so much more of it now, at least it feels that way. The general overall average mean quality has gone up, in my opinion, but there are fewer mind blowing movies that I would love to watch again. Perhaps because I feel so spoilt these days.

Yes, there are many more films than before, and the average quality is pretty good in my opinion - the problem doesn't lie so much within the production phase of the industry, but in its distribution phase: There is a limited number of screens offering a limited number of shows every day, and theatres are getting robbed blind on ticket prices by distributors (and they in turn rob us blind on concession prices), so they only pick safe movies that they know will sell. And these movies are of course the ones with the highest marketing budget, because they are those everyone hears about at half-time during the Super Bowl. It's a vicious circle where everybody is holding everybody else hostage. And yes, ultimately we are the ones holding the gun because all these people rely on our money to survive, but the sad fact is that a majority of people will only watch the movies they hear about and won't go out of their way to discover hidden gems.

Netflix will even the odds to a certain extent, but there will also come a time where their catalogue contains a million movies and only those with the highest marketing budget (and those produced by Netflix) will get noticed via aggressive and persistent, mind-numbing commercials, while the little-known films will forever be relegated to the bottom of the list, which no one will ever reach.

Really what happened at ground level is - people bought their way into the .movie biz'. They dint earn their way, they didn't come up through ranks, they just bought in. Then they looked around to see how movies are made. The tech crew can save a lot of it, but never all.
Could name some big names, but heck movies are free now anyway, like music is, so wattaya expect for ten cents, gasoline?

J Riff said:

Really what happened at ground level is - people bought their way into the .movie biz'. They dint earn their way, they didn't come up through ranks, they just bought in.

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The problem is honesty, on an artistic and/or intellectual level.

Some of the worst offenders did earn their way by rising through the ranks and some of the producers behind the best movies bought their way in. There never was a rule for how people enter the film business, even in the 1920s there were people buying their way in, the problem is not "how" they did it but "why".

Unfortunately, the industry is filled with cynical people who care not about filmmaking or storytelling and only chose this job to become rich, richer or famous.

The Crawling Chaos said:

the industry is filled with cynical people who care not about filmmaking or storytelling

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Good point.

I'm constantly lamenting the lack of storytelling in modern movies.

Movies today are all about action and sex. Older movies had those aspects too, but the storytelling was far better/deeper. Casablanca comes to mind. There have ben some wonderful exceptions - like Minority Report, which provided the adrenaline-producing action today's movie-goers crave, with a very involved story. Murder By Numbers had a well-thought out plot. Not so with most movies today, especially action flicks. With possibly one exception (Logan), Superhero movie writers/directors seem to not take plot or storyline very seriously.

I used to go to alot of films at the theaters , now, I go to very few films.

Ray Pullar said:

Altogether now: If you're wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts/ Just repeat to yourself 'It's only a show I should really just relax'

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I always think if I'm noticing stuff like that, it's because the movie has failed to suck me in.

Movies seem to be getting worse every year. But TV has never been this good. A film critic I read a few years ago summed it up pretty well: "I saw several great movies last year. I did not see a single movie that was half as good as the last three episodes of Breaking Bad."

TV is still a medium that respects writers. The movies? Much less so. Which goes a long way to explaining why all the great writers have left the movies in favor of television.

Here's the problem. Studio's make films for sponsors. Cable tv nets make films for people.

Marks said:

Movies seem to be getting worse every year. But TV has never been this good. A film critic I read a few years ago summed it up pretty well: "I saw several great movies last year. I did not see a single movie that was half as good as the last three episodes of Breaking Bad."

TV is still a medium that respects writers. The movies? Much less so. Which goes a long way to explaining why all the great writers have left the movies in favor of television.

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I read an article that describes exactly this, I wish I could remember where. But truly, there has never been better TV viewing, whatever your preferred method. Some of the recent series I've watched blew me away. Can't remember the last movie that I loved
(well ok, Girl With All the Gifts was pretty awesome).

Marks said:

TV has never been this good

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Marks, are you young? Great TV isn't new.

All In the Family. The Carol Burnette Show. M.A.S.H. CBS Nightly News. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The Ed Sullivan Show.

The list of great shows goes on and on. Yes, there are some great programs now, too; but there have always been - and, hopefully, always will be. Television is the best writer's forum. Because of sheer cost, movies can have other priorities.

Cathbad said:

Marks, are you young? Great TV isn't new.

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I was born old. There as indeed been great TV for decades. But in years past it was more the exception than the rule. And even the greatest TV shows of years' past don't have the depth and quality of writing that we do today.