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Are 99% of Mainstream Movies Today Garbage?


Jurassic Shark

Are 99% of Mainstream Movies Today Garbage?  

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  1. 1. Are 99% of Mainstream Movies Today Garbage?



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AVATAR was, and is, a new benchmark for how we experience cinema. It's only about a decade old, but has already become a reference point in popular culture. It has by no means "gone away" in the public mind, and its position will no doubt continue to grow after the sequels come out.

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13 minutes ago, Thor said:

AVATAR was, and is, a new benchmark for how we experience cinema.

 

How so?

 

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, I'm just curious what specifically you're thinking of.

 

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2 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

How so?

 

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, I'm just curious what specifically you're thinking of.

 

I tend to call it 'experience-oriented' cinema where the primary objective is to engross the spectator in a particular universe rather than to tell a particularly original story (which it obviously does not). Like an amusement park ride, almost. It's by no means the first movie to do this, but it used the various new technologies at the time to take it one step further (3D, motion capture etc.)

 

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22 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Until Avatar 2, @Jurassic Shark, until Avatar 2...

 

Indeed. 3D has come and gone in waves since the 50s; reached a zenith with AVATAR and a few years after, but might get a ressurection with AVATAR 2. I'm not thrilled with the format (it's a hassle with glasses outside of glasses for me), but I can't deny the value of it if it's in the right hands -- like that of Cameron.

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Ultimately, its all to do with how well the 3D presentation is. Many movies (especially those post-converted to 3D) just don't use 3D well. Its not something that's easy to dissect, but you know it when you see it.

 

Avatar used 3D terrifically and if more movies following in its wake used it as effectivelly it would have stuck. Not that there hadn't been succesfull 3D presentations: off the top of my head, Hugo, The Desolation of Smaug and Titanic's post-conversion all used the format superbly. But those were the exceptions to the rule.

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I do understand that Avatar was game changing in being an amazing 3D movie with terrific effects (and a fine JH score although I still don't love it quite as much as I want to at times), but I'm not sure people are clamouring to know more about the story or characters. I could be wrong, but for James Cameron movies, I think they remember Titanic or Aliens or his Terminator movies more than Avatar, despite its success at the time. It's all speculation... let's revisit this in 5 years ;-)

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12 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I'm not sure people are clamouring to know more about the story or characters.

 

They're not, but its the job of Avatar 2 to make them clamour.

 

Doubting James Cameron's commercial clout is a dangerous endeavour. I bet Avatar 2 will make boatloads of money.

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I've seen AVATAR a couple of times and let's just say that I wasn't enamoured, and that I have no plans to watch AVATARs 2-36.

 

18 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You find blue off-putting?

Didn't a lot of critics dub the film DANCES WITH SMURPHS?

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4 minutes ago, AC1 said:

It's forbidden to laugh with Belgian export products!

Exactly! I like Belgian chocolate, and Belgium has given us, arguably, the world's greatest fictional detective.

It's also given us the ultimate swear word (according to Zaphod Bebblebrox :lol:).

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For all you true Smurph fans, this is their very first appearance, before they became famous and got their own comic books:

 

02f343fe-9785-11e5-8a3e-6dd3c9ecb90f.jpg

 

Okay, cultural history lesson is over. Back to topic!

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It's also given us the ultimate swear word (according to Zaphod Bebblebrox :lol:).

 

Goddamnit (godverdomme)?

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2 hours ago, AC1 said:

For all you true Smurph fans, this is their very first appearance, before they became famous and got their own comic books:

 

02f343fe-9785-11e5-8a3e-6dd3c9ecb90f.jpg

Are you sure? I don't think so. I remember the movie on that. But we had smurf toys long before that.

I think, they are older than that magic flute story. But I am not a smurf expert.

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3 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Are you sure? I don't think so. I remember the movie on that. But we had smurf toys long before that.

I think, they are older than that magic flute story. But I am not a smurf expert.

 

The movie came much later. Their first appearance is in this comic book of 1958. 

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From the movies I watch, which are a blend of both mainstream and non-mainstream (leaning heavily on the latter), I'd say that I'd consider about 15% of them to be garbage.

 

With mainstream Hollywood, I admit that it feels like most of it is unwatchable, and the more films I watch, the more I feel like I can't stand that industry, the Academy Awards, and all the commercialization. It's unoriginal, it's complacent and formulaic, it's guided by profits rather than passion. It feels like the studios and directors don't seek to challenge their audience artistically, intellectually or ideologically, they don't go into uncharted waters, they don't make films that would seriously impact you beyond their entertainment value, they don't want to take financial risks.

 

That said, I'd rephrase the topic as "99% of mainstream movies are boring/unfulfilling/mediocre" Even considering the most recent Oscars, say, a movie like The Father, sure - it's not a masterpiece or anything, it's been done before, it's your typical "Oscar bait", but designating movies like these (of which there are far more than 1%) as garbage, seems a bit harsh, at least to my mind.

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2 hours ago, Biodome said:

With mainstream Hollywood, I admit that it feels like most of it is unwatchable, and the more films I watch, the more I feel like I can't stand that industry, the Academy Awards, and all the commercialization. It's unoriginal, it's complacent and formulaic, it's guided by profits rather than passion. It feels like the studios and directors don't seek to challenge their audience artistically, intellectually or ideologically, they don't go into uncharted waters, they don't make films that would seriously impact you beyond their entertainment value, they don't want to take financial risks.

 

And whenever they've had control of film preservation it's been a nightmare.

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