Examples of How Modern Film is Awesome (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

As I read what Josh posted, I recalled what a shock it was when Mary Tyler Moore played the human version of a demon from hell in Ordinary People, or when Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger both reversed and went "against character" in Platoon. You never hear that term anymore. I think that's a good thing. That studio system Mr. Cake (lol) was worshiping really did have some pretty significant downsides.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

How many video games have you played and or video game cut scenes have you watched lately?

Well, I won't lie to you, Edwin, I am not a gamer. I have seen plenty of video game content but over the last year or two mostly just advertisements and clips from the games.

Your assertion that video games are having a negative effect on filmmaking suggests to me that you haven't seen many.

To be clear, I am not saying it has had a negative effect, I am saying I don't much care for what it has done. Some people may enjoy the way this stuff looks in a film. Primarily, this applies to the big effects laden super hero, fantasy, or science fiction things. I will point out too that there are filmmakers I really love, John Carpenter and Alex Garland to name a couple, that absolutely adore video games and are big gamers. So, whether or not it is having a positive or negative impact I would say is up to the individual. Basically, I think because the films that employ a lot of CGI are essentially working in the same way a video game artist would map out movement and the way things look in a game that they end up looking very similar. In a video game I think this is fine and can add excitement to the game...in a film I don't really want to see it though and it pulls me, personally, out of a picture. I think people that are big players of video games have less of an issue with it because they are used to how this computer generated movement looks and probably really like it. So, I agree that if you are playing more video games and have seen this a lot it probably is far less intrusive to the film environment to you.

This is not really good or bad except to the individual watching the content. That's all. I think it has had a major impact on big effects driven films and it seems to me that the draw to these big films seems more to be the effects than who is in them, who directed them, or who may have written them. So, really...the effects houses have become the big stars of a picture like this more than the actors, directors, or writers.

People who don't play video games or haven't played them in years and have no idea how video game cutscenes are boarded and shot should refrain from commenting on how they are influencing filmmaking.

I think I have seen enough that I can fairly comment on it but I won't pretend that I have played a lot of games. I have been introduced to games with the "It's like playing a movie!" line and I think you are certainly correct that video games have taken a lot from film and want to present that same sort of cinematic sweep. I have played the Call of Duty game and there was a game I was introduced to that was a period set detective story that was very cool and engrossing and designed to play "like a movie" which I enjoyed. So, I am not knocking video games. I think that people that work for the big CGI houses have been very influenced by video games and so the way they make things look in films follows that influence. I recently watched The Last Jedi and there was a bizarre scene in the film where Princess Leia flies through space and it looked and felt like a goofy bit from a video game. People in the room with me laughed when this scene came on...I groaned at how lousy I thought the scene was.



And come on, man, I don't think anybody has to refrain from talking about it we can have that discussion here.

It is always an easy go-to argument to blame the influence of video games on, supposedly, declining standards of filmmaking and, like the overused reference of "it's like a cartoon" to put down a live action film, is pretty well wrong in my book.

I am just citing it as one of things I don't enjoy and saying I don't think I am alone in that. I'm not saying it is a reflection of standards declining...I think standards have declined with writing considerably. Some things are meant to look like a cartoon. I think if you make a super hero film and it looks like a cartoon that's fine...it is based on a cartoon.

 

[TravisR]

How many video games have you played and or video game cut scenes have you watched lately?

While I haven't called out video games in this thread, I've certainly got a bias against them and you're right, it's totally unfair because I haven't played a new video game in way more than a decade and not with any regularity in probably 20 years.

Central Intelligence was what he was working on when I met him. I keep forgetting the film and I have meant to check it out at some point.

Well, if you didn't like The Last Jedi, you'll need to really lower your expectations for a goofy little comedy like Central Intelligence.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm not sure that less-than-stellar CGI in The Last Jedi should be used as a wider example of anything. I know the studio had announced, a year prior to the film's release, that the late Carrie Fisher had shot everything that they needed and that they had a complete performance - but at the same time, I can't help but think that that particular shot might have been improved had Fisher been available for reshoots in the same way the rest of the cast were.

 

[TravisR]

I'm not sure that less-than-stellar CGI in The Last Jedi should be used as a wider example of anything. I know the studio had announced, a year prior to the film's release, that the late Carrie Fisher had shot everything that they needed and that they had a complete performance - but at the same time, I can't help but think that that particular shot might have been improved had Fisher been available for reshoots in the same way the rest of the cast were.

That's what I always wondered too. I know they said that they completed their work with her but a mostly CG shot like that seems like something they would have gotten somewhere down the line and since Fisher died nearly a year before the release of the movie, I think it resulted in them having to use a CG double.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'm not sure that less-than-stellar CGI in The Last Jedi should be used as a wider example of anything.

I guess the question I would have there would be why is there less than stellar CGI in their biggest event movie of the year?

I don't really understand what they are trying to accomplish with that scene either. Is it supposed to be dramatic? Funny? Intentionally goofy? It seems a bit like it is supposed to be funny particularly at the point where Leia crashes through the holographic image...which is made entirely of light...cutting it in two and breaking it and there is actually a sound effect for the light image breaking...I mean what is that all about?

It's bizarre in the extreme.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm not really sure what I can add to what I already said and what Travis already said on this subject - it seems in general that when you don't like something, you're quick to label it as being funny, and I think it's incredibly obvious that that sequence is not intended to be humorous. I just have no desire to go down that rabbit hole of debating whether or not something that I think is clearly meant to be dramatic is actually part of a comedy.

 

[sleroi]

Speaking of film writing brings Charlie Kaufmann to mind. His body of work seems to sum up this whole thread.

If Being John Malkovich isn't awesome enough for you, then there's always Adaptation, one of my all time favorite movies. Brilliant acting by Cage, Cooper and especially Streep. Her characters turn towards the end was what acting is all about. And the cinematography, there is a shot of a car accident from the p.o.v. of inside the car that I have seen imitated several times, but that was the first I recall seeing it and it is still impactful every time I watch it.

But especially the writing, adaptation works on so many levels. Especially Cage's "twins." It is a brilliant representation of Kaufmans fascination with Jungian psychology. And its also a brilliant satire of Hollywood and what films have become, kind of like the impetus for this thread.

Unfortunately, Kauffman then got to direct and explored Jungian psychology even more with Schenechtady, NY (sp). And what a long, boring, pretentious experimental mess.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

it seems in general that when you don't like something, you're quick to label it as being funny,

Interestingly, I have never said nor indicated nor even implied any such thing in any way in relation to any film.

In the case of the Leia scene, what I said is the scene is played and designed in such a way that it is not clear what they intended. I said I did not find it funny. I was one of the few people in the room that did not laugh at it. I think the scene is an example of bad filmmaking. I think if you feel it is poor CGI or less than stellar that indicates you think there is something wrong there too, and clearly there is.

What I asked was what do other people think is intended in the scene. It did not communicate drama to me. It seems way too ridiculous to be drama. It seems like some comedy is intended but if it is I don't find it funny. The thing is though one of the major issues with the film is the comedy in The Last Jedi is all pretty lousy. The "prank phone call" Poe executes to distract the Empire fleet was done in such a way that nobody I was watching the film with laughed. It wasn't funny but it seemed like it was meant to be. Then when they congratulate Poe on what a great distraction that was...that seemed to be being played straight but was so ridiculous I thought it must have been meant for a laugh.

 

[Matt Hough]

And that is a bad thing? I much rather like to pick the movies I watch based on the content I want to see than on who the lead "Star" is. How many mediocre films were box office successes merely because John Wayne or James Cagney were required to star in them?

Didn't say it was good or bad. Only stating the way it is now.

 

[TravisR]

I guess the question I would have there would be why is there less than stellar CGI in their biggest event movie of the year?

I don't really understand what they are trying to accomplish with that scene either. Is it supposed to be dramatic?

It shows Leia's inherent ability with the Force. She was near death and being the daughter of Vader (a powerful albeit evil Jedi) allowed her to save herself. Once again, we're coming at this from different viewpoints because I found it emotional due to the real world aspect of Carrie Fisher's death & seeing Leia save herself from death and playing John Williams' Leia theme over it.

It seems a bit like it is supposed to be funny particularly at the point where Leia crashes through the holographic image...which is made entirely of light...cutting it in two and breaking it and there is actually a sound effect for the light image breaking...I mean what is that all about?

I don't think it had any great meaning but upon multiple viewings, it becomes a hint of what Holdo (Laura Dern) would do later in the movie when she literally tears through the ship.

 

[JohnRice]

I suspect there's a thread dedicated to The Last Jedi.

 

[sleroi]

Back on semi topic. I'm not a big gamer, but when my kids were younger and had a GameCube I bought the hulk game for fun and one of the things he could do is break a car in two and use the halves as gloves.

In "the incredible hulk" there was a scene where Hulk breaks a car in two and uses the halves just like in the game. I thought it was a nice nod to the game and brought a smile to my face.

 

[Sam Posten]

You know, the cool thing about this hobby is you will find interesting artistry in the least expected places. If you haven't seen Game Night, it really uses a lot of cool techniques to novel effect. Things like tilt/shift lenses and off screen mounts get played to superbly accentuate the plot. In a goofy, mid-budget comedy. I dig it.

 

[Edwin-S]

I think Edwin needs a hug.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Made after the year 2000...

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Cold in July...2014, and wears some John Carpenter influence on its bloody sleeve...

 

[DaveF]

I suspect there's a thread dedicated to The Last Jedi.

There is. It’s currently titled “Solo”

I think Moana is excellent - Frozen has gotten all of the Disney love in recent years, but I think Moana is actually superior.

Just one word: Shiny

 

[Tino]

Interestingly, I have never said nor indicated nor even implied any such thing in any way in relation to any film.

Now that’s funny!!

 

[DaveF]

As I implied initially, I think opinions that “movies / acting / actors were better when I was a kid / some distant halcyon age ago” is mostly born of the filtering of time and nostalgia.

There are 50 to 100 films released a year? So 500 to 1000 films came out during that supposed last truly great age “the Seventies”:
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1970/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1971/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1972/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1973/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1974/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1975/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1976/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1977/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1978/reference
https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-movies-released-in-1979/reference
(This is the best I can find quickly of a semi-exhaustive listing of all movies.)

It’s 40 to 50 years later. People discuss only the fraction of those movies, the best of the best winnowed by time and nostalgia. I don't believe anyone can make an objective comparison of quality of time-filtered movies from 50 years ago against the full deluge of movies from the last five years.

I wholly expect a subset of Millennials of today will be saying that Hollywood in the 2050's just doesn't make quality movies like back in the 2000's.