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JWFan's More Annoying Trends in Cinema Thread


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Inspired by this thread where a guy goes on about why post-millennial movies are awful and increasingly bad movies, I wanted to share some observations and get JWFan's insight.

So the topic of discussion is annoying trends in modern films. Things you see repeatedly that have become commonplace and need to go away. I'll start.

 

the-martian-movie-image-control-room.jpg

 

Control room scenes. Ugh! Rows of computers with people sitting in chairs or occasionally standing (!) looking at computers. Sounds awesome, right? I mean, that's Star Trek's bridge scenes. Let me tell you something. This is like the complete opposite of that. I want to pin the blame on the countless scenes in this awful setting on Apollo 13. Michael Bay blatantly ripped it off while that movie was still fresh in our minds for Armageddon and turned the lights down and ever since, it's like we've never left that setting. It transcends genres. It can literally be anything. Just change the image on the screens.

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When phone calls just end with one person hanging up, without either person saying "goodbye" or anything (admittedly this seems to happen on tv shows more so than movies)

 

When a pop song you know and like shows up but gets edited in a weird way

 

Color grading

 

Turning everything into a cinematic universe, making movies feel more like episodes of TV than their one unique adventures

 

Too much slow motion

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33 minutes ago, Jay said:

When phone calls just end with one person hanging up, without either person saying "goodbye" or anything (admittedly this seems to happen on tv shows more so than movies)

 

I've observed this before. Does Hollywood think this is how people really communicate over the phone? Or is it just an intentional recurring joke across the film industry?

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Rapid fire jokes and one liners every minute. Do people in the real world think on their feet that quickly? Most people aren't comedians, and I find it pretty unbelievable that action heroes are that damn witty.

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Eh? I agree to a point, sometimes it can be annoying, but I think some of that comes as part and parcel of comic relief and escapism that heroes at least give us some witty banter.

 

Except in the Avengers films, some of the characters in those films are walking witticisms and banterizers, with no other characterisation.

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5 hours ago, Jay said:

When phone calls just end with one person hanging up, without either person saying "goodbye" or anything

 

This is an American tv/movie thing, thus us foreigners now think that this is just call etiquette in the US. 

 

It happens constantly in Mad Men btw. 

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2 hours ago, Arpy said:

Eh? I agree to a point, sometimes it can be annoying, but I think some of that comes as part and parcel of comic relief and escapism that heroes at least give us some witty banter.

 

 

Which is as old as Hollywood itself.

 

 

48 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

Colour grading has been done since the earliest days of colour film. I assume you mean excessive digital grading.

 

If it helps to create a different look and evokes a different feeling from the viewer, then I don't see what the problem is. 

 

o-brother-where-art-thou-2000-soggy-bott

 

Oh Brother Where Art Thou? 

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9 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

-Someone driving up to the front of busy building and parking right at the main door. They may or may not take their keys or even bother to close the car door.

 

Yeah. It seems characters in movies just don't like to lock things, unless it serves the plot.

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1 minute ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Yeah. It seems characters in movies just don't like to lock things, unless it serves the plot.

 

That's like in The Bold and the Beautiful when characters always leave the door ajar so that someone can conveniently eavesdrop.

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14 hours ago, Jay said:

Turning everything into a cinematic universe, making movies feel more like episodes of TV than their one unique adventures.

 

Mine is the same but different: I have no problem with long-running film series that also do a lot of world-building (Star Wars, Middle Earth films, Harry Potter, etc) but I don't like series that split into multiple sub-franchises and spin-offs. It needs to be a single narrative told across multiple entries that one can watch from beginning to end, where the "cinematic universe" envelopes the story rather than the opposite.

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26 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Mine is the same but different: I have no problem with long-running film series that also do a lot of world-building (Star Wars, Middle Earth films, Harry Potter, etc) but I don't like series that split into multiple sub-franchises and spin-offs. It needs to be a single narrative told across multiple entries that one can watch from beginning to end, where the "cinematic universe" envelopes the story rather than the opposite.

In short: One should know from the beginning of shooting, when and where a franchise will end, instead of "That one was successful, let's make another movie. I want to have a finished screenplay - tomorrow!"

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10 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Jumpscares and Blood Orgies

vs.

Proper Dramaturgy and Gradually Increasing Inner Tension

Yes! This was one of the reasons why I disliked IT (and, generally, most horror movies), despite praise from critics, as I can't stand jump scares without the proper groundwork. I'd wish they did it like Hitchcock or Kubrick, but they don't do it anymore.

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17 hours ago, The Doctor said:

Inspired by this thread where a guy goes on about why post-millennial movies are awful and increasingly bad movies, I wanted to share some observations and get JWFan's insight.

So the topic of discussion is annoying trends in modern films. Things you see repeatedly that have become commonplace and need to go away. I'll start.

 

the-martian-movie-image-control-room.jpg

 

Control room scenes. Ugh! Rows of computers with people sitting in chairs or occasionally standing (!) looking at computers. Sounds awesome, right? I mean, that's Star Trek's bridge scenes. Let me tell you something. This is like the complete opposite of that. I want to pin the blame on the countless scenes in this awful setting on Apollo 13. Michael Bay blatantly ripped it off while that movie was still fresh in our minds for Armageddon and turned the lights down and ever since, it's like we've never left that setting. It transcends genres. It can literally be anything. Just change the image on the screens.

War Games!

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One that always annoys me, is the constant fast-editing and shaky-cam in a lot of current action films, which seems to be done to hide the fact that the filmmaker doesn't know how to, or is to lazy to film big action scenes. Enough!

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Has anyone else noticed increasing references to Autism in film and TV? I'm not trying to make light of this at all, but when did Autism become trendy? I've seen several films and TV shows with an Autistic kid doing presumably Autistic things such as arranging things and staring before having a meltdown. I guess that's how all Autistic kids are?

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8 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

Same when characters are having sex! Just lock the fucking door!

Sometimes they want to be seen or caught in the act. 😏

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3 hours ago, The Doctor said:

Has anyone else noticed increasing references to Autism in film and TV? I'm not trying to make light of this at all, but when did Autism become trendy? I've seen several films and TV shows with an Autistic kid doing presumably Autistic things such as arranging things and staring before having a meltdown. I guess that's how all Autistic kids are?

 

Not to mention The Accountant. Now autistics can be action heroes too!

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8 hours ago, Fancyarcher said:

One that always annoys me, is the constant fast-editing and shaky-cam in a lot of current action films, which seems to be done to hide the fact that the filmmaker doesn't know how to, or is to lazy to film big action scenes. Enough!

I can tell you, there is absolutely NO reason or occasion to use shaky-cam in action films!!!

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12 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

In short: One should know from the beginning of shooting, when and where a franchise will end, instead of "That one was successful, let's make another movie. I want to have a finished screenplay - tomorrow!"

 

Well, that's rare among Hollywood franchises.

 

About the only times it happened were with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit which were all scripted and filmed simultaneously.

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But sometimes making a movie with sequels already pre-planned runs the risk that the currently movie will financially fail and be left open-ended indefinitely. Independence Day Resurgence and the Divergent movies are only some examples.

 

Better to just make each film a self-contained story and worry later if you want to continue it.

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I hate

 

Self-seriousness when it is unwarranted (like most of the times) 

Fast cutting

Canted angles just for the sake of it

Modern Hollywood prudishness about sex and nudity

Overlong films (films below 2 hr mark get an extra half star from me)

TV Cinema (I half the time feel I am watching TV in a theater these days) 

Cliffhanger endings (to set up next films) 

Ambient droning electronic scores (how about give me some real music?)

Actors who are clearly too old for their parts

Everyone speaking English in other countries

 

 

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Financially, of course. And that's how most Hollywood franchise films are made: they are a string of separate, standalone films.

 

But artistically, you miss out on using a multi-film narrative as a dramatic tool in and of itself: you can "plant" things in the first film ("his father succumbed to the same sickness") for it to pay off in a later installment. Done right, the sense of gratification (derived dramatically from planting and payoff) will be much bigger than one used within the confines of a single film.

 

When the films aren't preplanned, you can retroactively pay off something from a previous film. But it never feels quite as organic, either because the "planting" wasn't designed as planting ("A young Jedi named Darth Vader") or because it was planted without the eventual payoff in mind ("no, there is another.")

 

10 minutes ago, Baby Jane Hudson said:

But sometimes making a movie with sequels already pre-planned runs the risk that the currently movie will financially fail and be left open-ended indefinitely. Independence Day Resurgence and the Divergent movies are only some examples.

 

Better to just make each film a self-contained story and worry later if you want to continue it.

 

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1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

Back To The Future 2/3 is the first time I noticed it. But back then it was extremely rare.

 

THE THREE MUSKETEERS/THE FOUR MUSKETEERS

 

SUPERMAN/SUPERMAN II

 

JEAN DE FLORETTE/MANON DE SOURCES

 

Not that rare.

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