A lack of moral subtlety is also hurting modern productions. I nearly cringed out of my skin when Peacemaker and Resident Alien managed to have blunt anti-anti-masker scenes in the same week. I really don't need to see my own opinions fed back to me out of a baby food jar.
Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
61–70 of 414 posts
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#62Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…
> I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles The silver lining here may be that people stop treating subtitles as torture and see some non-English titles more often. There are some fun movie cultures out there beyond Hollywood, but I've found the "ugh, I've got to read‽" response common.
I've always found that subtitles for a non english movie actually results in me watching the move an walking away with a more memorable experience than if I'd just been listening. I'm not sure if that's a common experience but it's mine at least.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#63This just doesn't ring true to me, at all. Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days", 'kids today', 'civilization is doomed' content aimed at young males? Or is that just a natural cycle that repeats throughout history? The biggest film in history was "Birth of a Nation" until it was replaced by "Gone with the Wind", "Star Wars" may have been a rebellion…
Nostalgia that is the most natural thing in the world is defined as 'fascist' now?
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Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#64Knew this was Critical Drinker before I clicked on it. Mate introduced me to it and he is absolutely spot on for the most part. Modern movies (and TV for that matter) have become so commercialized and expensive that the series they are now rehashing (Star Wars for instance) wouldn't be possible to create today. George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make…
So true. I feared the Hollywoodization of the game industry. But it never happened in the mindless extend of movies and music. Indie games are still going strong.
I mean there’s indie games that are works of art just like there are indie movies for the lack of a better term. Similarly there are plenty of popcorn games with big budgets and shallow content.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#65One thing I've noticed is that is seems more recent movies lack character observations. Everything is done is in service of the plot.
I think it was in Doctor No there was a conversation between Q, M and Bond. Bond's favourite weapon was the Beretta, and Q explained their downsides. Bond was ordered to use the Walther (IIRC) as a replacement. It was in a box. At the end of the scene, Bond picks up the box, surreptitiously hiding the Beretta underneath. As he is about to walk out, M, continuing with his writing and without looking up, says to Bond, "Oh and Bond, leave the Beretta behind on your way out." (Or something like that).
It's a small scene, but it tells you a lot about the characters. It just adds to storytelling, even though it isn't a key scene.
Another example is the difference between the original Robocop and the remake. In the original, the villain Boddicker is hailed into the police station. Battered and bruised, he spits blood on some paperwork on a desk and says "Just give me my fucking phone call."
How badass is that? The villains in the remake were much less interesting, and it made for a weaker movie. I guess modern screenwriters /could/ write decent if they wanted to, but I assume that gunning for a 13 certificate really neuters the possibilities. I also suspect that there is more influence by the producers, who insist that certain things need to be in certain ways "for the demographics". So what you end up with is a story that's bent to suit the demographics, rather than just telling a good story.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#66Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…
I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue
considering the vast majority of people listen to movies in stereo, why don’t they include a decent stereo mix?
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#67Knew this was Critical Drinker before I clicked on it. Mate introduced me to it and he is absolutely spot on for the most part. Modern movies (and TV for that matter) have become so commercialized and expensive that the series they are now rehashing (Star Wars for instance) wouldn't be possible to create today. George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make…
> George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make Star Wars that you would need these days for a comparably ambitious film.
I don't know if that's entirely true. George Lucas had come off the back of American Graffiti, which was an incredible commercial success. It had made 50x its budget, and in 1977 was the 13th highest grossing film of all time.
The question was really whether Lucas could turn his hand to a completely different genre. It's down to American Graffiti's success that Lucas was able to re-negotiate a deal for Star Wars that gave him merchandising rights.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#68Knew this was Critical Drinker before I clicked on it. Mate introduced me to it and he is absolutely spot on for the most part. Modern movies (and TV for that matter) have become so commercialized and expensive that the series they are now rehashing (Star Wars for instance) wouldn't be possible to create today. George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make…
The biggest problem with movies is none of the labor has been automated much.
You still need an entire film and sound crew. You still need a cast of actors and a director and a screenwriter and a composer. You still need to raise money, producers, etc.
Sure, video & sound editing have had a lot of automation improvements via software - but that's pretty much it.
One person can make a game with a bunch of cheap pre-made assets and make something really interesting and cool.
You just can't do that with film.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#69I suspect younger people generally understand this and watch streaming shows instead. A creative who wants to tell a deep nuanced story would prefer 10 episodes where they get more time and probably better terms.
People lamenting the death of movies don't get this. The good stuff is still out there, it's just in a different format.
Movies are now more occasions to go out to the theatre. They have to be mass appeal, family friendly, nothing too complex.
Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]
#70Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…
That problem is due to wrong downmix from multichannel to stereo. both VLC and Kodi have options to compress audio so that louder parts can be lowered.
Here's the relevant Kodi wiki page: https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/System/Audio