Jump to content

What interests you in theatrical films today?


JoeinAR

Recommended Posts

What are you interested to see in theatrical films theses days?

Is it the fantastic? Horror? Comedy Everyday life, which may vary dramatically between our different lifestyles. Do you like small intimate films, quirky Coen-esc, or big budget blockbusters style films? 

 

There has probably never been such a variety of films as there are today all asking for your viewership. The competition is vast so what is it. I didn't want to do a poll, this is strictly essay material.

 

Me first. I do like the movie of the week, the big loud and brash. I go to the movies on average about 60 times a year. I love a double feature with my husband and yes we pay for 4 tickets since its assigned seating. He tolerates my horror films, and I tolerate a Mr. Rodgers documentary. But in general I dislike quirky films, the wes anderson films, and Coen films give me no joy, I appreciate them for their craft but they are for others. Movies about real life bore me because real life is what we all do. If modern film doesn't work for me i always have my films from the 30's 40's and 50's. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't watch too many films, nor too often: I think that constantly rushing to the cinema in the name of one's cinephillia is the surest way to make the filmgoing experience feel like a chore or a routine. Rather, I choose to savour the exeprience.

 

The films I do see are mostly tentpole blockbusters: I enjoy the spectacle and action like any other guy. But I do want explorations of humanity in my blockbusters. I think its all too easy to explore human themes in a traditional drama - the real trick is to do that in a blockbuster, without letting it be lost amidst the genre elements or the scale of the picture. Its not just a balancing act, either: I find that the best blockbusters are ones that use those narrative elements to prop the drama higher and higher.

 

Ideally, a film would either make me laugh (if its a comedy) or cry, or both.

 

I also have a fascination with serialized cinema. Crafting the story for a film is one thing, crafting a story told over multiple entries - now that's the real deal. By this I don't refer to series that rely on a shared setting, recurring characters or iconography - but of a unified story that's simply too big to be told within the confines of one film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, mstrox said:

I only go to the big blockbusters with explosions.  Everything else I watch on a streaming service or rent for $0.30 on Redbox.

 

This, more or less.

 

Except I see anything Spielberg directs and/or Williams scores in theaters, regardless of genre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Do you like small intimate films, quirky Coen-esc, or big budget blockbusters style films? 

 

Mostly the latter for me, though I'm also a fan of historical dramas, Wes Anderson-y films and the like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not much. There was a time when movies were being made of a certain quality that agreed with me, but that was when I was young. In my old age, it's nearly impossible to view a modern film on that level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Movie magic still exists for me. Example a very derisive film, Jackson's 2005 King Kong, the central park scene...Kong on ice a few seconds of movie magic. For just a bit I was taken away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In principle, I'd prefer to see every film (that I choose to watch) on a huge screen with loud sound and that all-enveloping feeling. That I don't is down to a combination of laziness and failure to keep myself adequately apprised of new releases.

 

I'll definitely see any new Paul Thomas Anderson film in the cinema. Some other directors whose work I'd have a similar incentive to see are Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Michael Haneke and Kelly Reichardt, but their films aren't likely to be shown in the big cinemas.

 

I find that I haven't had any interest in the majority of the big blockbustery films, especially over the last decade or so. I think that I've yet to see a single Marvel film (at the cinema or anywhere else). Maybe I'm missing out, but the publicity around them leaves me cold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the writing is mostly terrible for cinema today.

 

Cinema today is essentially glorified TV. It is in essence indistinct from TV in many cases as I could easily imagine watching something on Netlfix. 

 

I am looking for true cinema - something that is distinct for TV. I am looking for tightness in script and focus. And looking for a less diffuse experience. I am looking for a complete experience no cliff-hangers. And above all I am looking for formal aesthetic direction that sets it apart from TV.

 

Basically I want to go the cinema to watch cinema, not television in public.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Movie magic still exists for me. Example a very derisive film, Jackson's 2005 King Kong, the central park scene...Kong on ice a few seconds of movie magic. For just a bit I was taken away.

 

A very good example of what I look for in a movie.

 

It was a big blockbuster, with fantastical elements, and one of a particularly large scale, but at its heart it was first and foremost a drama. Or, more specifically, a tragedy.

 

As overly-long and at-times cluttered as the journey to the film's climax was, the fact that I was sobbing at the end of it (and still am, upon revisiting it) meant that it did work.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usually go by directors or whatever has buzzy WOM. Anything fantastical or musical is usually what I end up enjoying most.

 

I've seen fifteen 2018 releases so far in theaters and will probably only make it out to a couple more. Pretty low for me, but I've been watching less movies in general. Annihilation, Isle of Dogs, and Sorry to Bother You have been my favorites.

 

28 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Movie magic still exists for me. Example a very derisive film, Jackson's 2005 King Kong, the central park scene...Kong on ice a few seconds of movie magic. For just a bit I was taken away.

 

Yeah, even little moments like this are worth it for me. There are always a handful of really good scenes every year even if I don't find a new favorite movie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regretfully my movie going interest has sort of fallen of a cliff and I'm almost entirely streaming TV focused these days. It's not that I have given up on film or think it isn't any good anymore (I'm not one of those jaded dinosaur assholes or anything like that), but rather that I just find TV runtime formats to be a far better fit for my lifestyle as I find it into my forties. 30 mins to 1hr in the evenings just suits my preferences better than having to devote practically a whole free evening to sitting through increasingly long modern movies. As for making the effort to go to the cinema, there's nothing worse than going to see a movie and then coming out of it to find the evening is essentially over and its almost time for bed. It's an even bigger waste to me when the movie was meh, as is a likely outcome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do everything, as you can see from my 2018 list: https://mubi.com/lists/2018-films-ranked

 

Big blockbuster things from Hollywood, or weird arthouse movies from countries you didn't even know exist. But I realize it's easier, financially, for me since I do it for a living and get to see most films in festivals or press screenings. I could never afford to see so many films in the theatre otherwise. Of course, there is also a good deal of BD/DVD/Streaming films on there as well.

 

In general, I tend to veer towards films that are more visually oriented; or that somehow use visuals to mirror the story or theme rather than just being a backdrop. Less interested in dialogue-heavy movies or complex plotlines. The complexity has to come from within, not without. Which -- on the surface -- makes is surprising that THE POST is still in the lead, but it's less about the verbal information and more about the visual and aural energy that Spielberg inject into the "dry" proceedings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Darkest Hour

A great film. Great performance from Oldman...and I always love Ben Mendelssohn.

2 hours ago, mstrox said:

Not even the new Robin Hood?

Ben Mendelssohn! But the rest looks forgettable to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 30 mins to 1hr in the evenings just suits my preferences better than having to devote practically a whole free evening to sitting through increasingly long modern movies. As for making the effort to go to the cinema, there's nothing worse than going to see a movie and then coming out of it to find the evening is essentially over and its almost time for bed. It's an even bigger waste to me when the movie was meh, as is a likely outcome.

 

This. And also i just don't get the bang for my buck with ticket prices starting at 8€ up to 12€. I enjoyed Mad Max and a few documentaries and that's it. The rest is/was intellectually vapid kiddie stuff (blockbusters) or random chances against the odds. I will watch stuff like 'Loving Vincent' or 'Roma' or a new Audiard, but these come by very seldom. Even Del Toro's new 'masterpiece' was rather meh. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

2005 was a long time ago.

Yet that moment persist!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Genre is as important as a pile of shit.

 

There are good movies and bad movies. Movies need to be good, that's all. There are just two categories of movies.

 

Fantastic Four, Green Lantern, A Wrinkle in Time

<<<>>>

The Mission, The Last Emperor, The Constant Gardener

 

Just examples, but you know what the idea is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

I couldn't make it through that version. I like the one with Jessica Lange.

Its not very good, it has one redeeming value, its score. Its so damn bloody and brutal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

Which Fantastic Four are you referring to? The one with the guy who found Rose in the lifeboat was kind of alright.

I'm referring to all of them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing.

 

Peak cinema, which encompassed my growing up phase, started with Fellowship of the Ring, and ended with The Battle Of Five Armies.

It won't get any better in my lifetime, so I look for nothing, certainly not the embarassing tries to milk millennials' childhoods through the Disney Wars movies, and the Marvel movie clones.

 

Ah, I do want to watch the new Godzilla though very much.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

I think the writing is mostly terrible for cinema today. Cinema today is essentially glorified TV.

 

If by that you mean glorified MacGyver or The A-Team, then yes, absolutely. However, in the last 15 years, TV moved on from that and has become a sanctuary for writers and actors. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

the Marvel movie clones.

 

I enjoy certain Marvel films very much (mostly as comedies), but in some ways the MCU is kind of the death of cinema.

 

I'm all for serialized cinema, but in a classic, focused "prequels and sequels" way - and only to a point, too. The multi-pronged, excruciatingly long-winded anthology route taken by Marvel and its copycats (Star Wars spinoffs, DCEU, etcetra) is just overkill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really mind what it is, as long as it lifts me, emotionally.

I will not watch any more downbeat dramas, about growing up gay in a small town, or growing up gay and black in a small town, or being beaten up at school for being gay and/or black, in a small town, or growing up without a father who left the family home because he discovered that his son/daughter was gay and/or black, in a small town, or growing up with an alcoholic drug-addled mother, in a small town, or trying to relate to my family member/friend/work colleague who may or may not be gay and/or black, in a small bloody town! If I want small town drama, all I need to do is to look out the fucking window! If I want to see a film about alcohol consumption, I'll watch WHISKY GALORE, thank you very much.

There's no cinema, where I live, so I'm saving my pennies for a trip to Glasgow (nearest large town), to watch Ep. IX.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

If by that you mean glorified MacGyver or The A-Team, then yes, absolutely. However, in the last 15 years, TV moved on from that and has become a sanctuary for writers and actors. 

Tv is overrated. Tv movies are generally junk and the tv shows glorify  bad behavior. There are two types of tv watchers those that think Bryan Cranston can do no wrong and those of us who know who know he's a shitty actor. Oops he just got another emmy for mentioning his name.

But this thread is about theatrical films not tv and most certainly not Netflix or Amazon prime "film".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Tv is overrated.

 

Only to those who still find what they need in theaters. 

 

19 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

 tv shows glorify  bad behavior.

 

Humanizing criminals is something you find in the theater and on TV. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/27/2018 at 12:46 AM, Alexcremers said:

 

I wholeheartedly agree. (Y)

But you do still turn your nose to genre films admit it. 

 

I will always maintain certain genre films (horrorl cannot always be judge the same.

Alex is so afraid of Audiences these days.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't often bother with anything besides the film festival these days.  There's just not much that's interested me lately.  I haven't seen a "blockbuster" since Jumanji (which, honestly, I found really fun).  There aren't a whole lot of films which really demand a "cinema experience" (Loving Vincent comes to mind).  That said, I'm probably going to see Green Book tomorrow.

 

On 11/26/2018 at 7:03 PM, Brundlefly said:

A Wrinkle in Time

<<<>>>

The Mission, The Last Emperor, The Constant Gardener

 

Just examples, but you know what the idea is.

Oh what should have been.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I love to go to the cinema, but now, unfortunately, I do not go as often as before.My favorite movie genre is horror, but few of my friends share my passion for this genre.While studying at school, we were often asked to write an essay, but I had problems with this, so in order to learn how to express my thoughts, I went to the cinema with friends at least 2 times a week and then wrote an essay on the viewed film.And in order that it would not be written just in a notebook and I didn’t lose my motivation, I published them on my Paperial blog so I had the motivation to write more essays and thanks to that I now work as a film critic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/29/2018 at 12:18 AM, Brundlefly said:

It sounds like you guys don't dive much under the surface of Hollywood. If you did, you would maybe find a few gems.

You can only see whats showing theatre. Of course this thread is not about the movies you see at home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.