Movies are getting worse these days.

[holdar]

There have been “crap” movies for as long as I can remember. There is no doubt 2004 was a better year than 2005, but I don’t know how to measure if the entire industry has fallen apart. A friend of mine thinks the 70’s were the “golden age” of film. I don’t know how anyone who saw “Black Caesar” and “Bacula” (both of which I enjoyed) could think that.

I think a lot of times we look back with “rose colored glasses” and only remember the good movies from past decades, I know I do. Now there are a lot of bottom of the barrel TV remakes (Bewitched, remember Dennis The Menace, etc.) and pointless filler, but if I really want to see a good film I always seem to be able to find one. Normally I just ignore movies I’m not interested in so its almost like they are not there.

The only Star Wars I really liked was the original, now retitled “A New Hope”. With “Revenge” it just seemed like George Lucas had backed himself into a corner, and had to come up with something to close the loop.

[Revgen]

Even though "Passion" was not a Hollywood release, they sure have taken a lot of credit, but when it comes to promoting a moral philosophy, Hollywood hides behind their solid 10ft doors, in their cosey suites. Believers in the "Christian Faiths" do not make it with Hollywoods endorsment. Look how long Mel Gibson took before he attempted such a task. He did it with his own money, as he knew he would not receive any support from the studios.
Most Faith base movies are privately financed, by the Evangelists organisations and private donations. For example the "Omega Code" series, was financed by Trinity Broadcasting, and some very wealthy Christian believers. If you viewed the movies, the production was very good, with a good cast, like Michael York, and good scrips. How it did in the box office was not that good. That was due to the limited release it was given...movie theaters under control of the studios.
It is not like the days of Cecile B. DeMill or John Huston, where morality was the center of their story. Today it is just the opposite, how immoral can you be, what kind of misbehavour can you condone, what wrongs can you teach!!! :angry: Then people wonder why the US has gone to Hell in a handbasket.Dave

I personaly have a hard time believing that Hollywood studios are anti-religious. Hollywood studios are businesses and they will do anything to make a profit. Had studio execs knew that The Passion of the Christ would have made the millions of dollars that it did, they would have bankrolled it.

The truth is that these studios were clueless and didn't believe that a religious film being performed by actors speaking in Latin and Aramaic with english subtitles would make them any money.

[dwflo]

I personaly have a hard time believing that Hollywood studios are anti-religious. Hollywood studios are businesses and they will do anything to make a profit. Had studio execs knew that The Passion of the Christ would have made the millions of dollars that it did, they would have bankrolled it.

The truth is that these studios were clueless and didn't believe that a religious film being performed by actors speaking in Latin and Aramaic with english subtitles would make them any money.

I wish that were the case, but it is not. Sure there is no money in faithbased films, that is due to the secular beliefs of many in this country. Hollywood executives do not follow Judeao/Christian beliefs. Many follow cult beliefs that are "anti-God" or that distort Biblical Teachings, and it reflects in what you see on the screen.

Dave

[johnhamler1]

how do you make a script?

easy, check the box:
1.car pursuit(enter # of cars)
2: guns, machine guns (enter # of guns)
3:kiss? (enter 1 minimum)
4:romatntic, thriller, action, sex (please chose at least 2)
5:what actor, TC, JT,...(choose at least one)
6:wo win at the end?
7 how much money can you invest: 200M, 300M?
8 place?, on water, desert, mountain or sky/space?

after answering 20-40 questions, the hollywood computer come out with several scripts.

If you dont have access to their scripts' maker, you can pick up a movie, change the name in the stories, and put more or less cars, change the color of the sky,...

I have eared, that if they put a car pursuit, some gunshots, and one kiss...
they will cover their costs of making the movie!

few movies are really original, like MAtriix, ...I am waiting to see Island, war of the world,...too see if it sucks

so :script:

[Mug Funky]

but in every subbed version I immediately stop that lip movement doesn't match the visual and that really bugs the hell out of me)

hehe... you get the same effect with bad or hastily done ADR. i see it all the time on TV series.

lots of uneducated people that don't even speak a foreign language properly even though thaught in school

hehe. i've heard that Germans pride themselves in language skills (Nietzsche said they're the translators of europe, i believe)... bilingual or multilingual is certainly not the norm in the rest of the world. the best i can do is understand basic spoken Japanese, but can't speak it myself to the level i understand it at. i also know very little Italian in spite of learning it all through school (teachers were bad, didn't keep our interest, or in fact demonstrate the need to learn a language at all), and i used to know about a hundred words of Yolngu-Matha, but i've forgotten most of it (it's an aboriginal language from Arnhem Land).

[edit]

@ Joe Fenton:

plan 9? that movie is genius!

humans don't recognise the existence of good-intentioned aliens, so they have no choice but to raise the dead and remotely control them!

... i mean what would you do in that situation? you'd do exactly the same thing, of course! :)

i've not seen war of the worlds yet. not tooo interested either. as for the Passion of the Christ, even less interest. trying to sell an old story with gore.

spoiler: Jesus dies.

[xDrJx]

...i've heard that Germans pride themselves in language skills...

You've heard shit

...the best i can do is understand basic spoken Japanese...

now therefor I enver you

[DAvenger]

@deuce2 : If you want to see more original ideas in movies go for Asian cinema, Korean movies in particular are quite cool (Oldboy, Memories of Murder and some others)

Yes, some of those are hard to watch due to the cultural differences and so on but I still like them (better to say some of them) more than most of U.S production.

[holdar]

Its still not clear to me what standard we using to measure if movies are getting better or worse. Anyone think they can clear it up?


If you want to see more original ideas in movies go for Asian cinema, Korean movies in particular are quite cool.
I really enjoy Asian cinema with Korean film being the new kid on the block. There seems to be a current Japanese craze for all things Korean (after years of Korea bashing). But I find that Asian cinema can be extremely repetitive/imitative.

Examples: The first “Giant Robo” I saw was in “Super Dimensional Space Fortress, Macross” (1982), since then its spawn are legion. There must be several hundred pointless “Giant Robo” anime annoying the hell out of me.

The same with John Woo’s “Cop vs Hitman With Heart Of Gold”, its been done over and over (and over). As with older film I think most of what we see is the best of asian film, not just the average.

[johnhamler1]

the best movies are the french one!!
if you speak french of course!

India makes more movies than the USA.

[xDrJx]

the best movies are the french one!!
I guess it's a matter of taste. My girlfriend dies for this Amelie stuff but I prefer HK films and non-Blockbuster surprises

[deuce2]

@deuce2 : If you want to see more original ideas in movies go for Asian cinema, Korean movies in particular are quite cool (Oldboy, Memories of Murder and some others)

Yes, some of those are hard to watch due to the cultural differences and so on but I still like them (better to say some of them) more than most of U.S production.
Honestly, I've never considered Asian movies since all those terrible Kung-fu movies of the 70's. Perhaps I'll give it a try and pick up a few of em.

[Mug Funky]

you oughta see "kung faux". hip-hop dub over old kung-fu movies, with bad filters applied...

nah, asian moofies are pretty cool lately. one to watch out for is "AV", where a group of students in HK get a government grant to make a porn film.

[Shinigami-Sama]

you oughta see "kung faux". hip-hop dub over old kung-fu movies, with bad filters applied...

nah, asian moofies are pretty cool lately. one to watch out for is "AV", where a group of students in HK get a government grant to make a porn film.
lol
I heard of that once actualy..
sadly I realy wouldn't put is passed the HK gov to do that

but i'll agree movies are getting worse
but not just movies
all of the entertainment industry
anime is just pulling out of the slump where there wasn't much interesting
granted EVA and other huge animes had come out and we all went "wow *-* "
but now there are 3 good animes airing right now tat I cna say once I get a region free I"ll buy the dvds, I"m not paying an american company to analy violate a good series with shoddy dubs

and also even music is having a hard time now, I havn't heard any good new metal in years, and theres only so many slayer/dimu borgir songs out there

and tv has been doing psuedo remakes, hell earth-2 started airing again, that was a goos show, a bit before its time I think, very good story line, gene rodnberry was a god of entertainment, although the studios made him spin in his grave so fast he lit his coffin on fire with deep space 9

about the only good movies I've seen the past couple years were
Saw, Madagasgar and Sin City which I bought the DVD for

[Mug Funky]

Saw? that was written by a couple guys at RMIT uni here. they shot a few scenes, and pitched it to Australian Film Finance, but couldn't get funding... surprise surprise they go to America and it goes well. stupid government funding agencies. it's really a bit of an elitist boys club, producing such boring and hugely overrated films as Lantana and Somersault, but ignoring stuff that might actually help lift the film industry out of the hole it's in. grrr.

the reason there's so much ...average... anime is because it's popular now - everything is getting licensed because it's less of a risk than it used to be. it used to be only the really good stuff gets licensed, but now absolutely everything does (that Inuyasha show NEVER ENDS! man, i was sick of that catgirl-dogboy-bishie after about 20 mins).

once I get a region free I"ll buy the dvds

are region-free players that hard to get? dang. it's hard to believe, considering here it's nigh-on impossible to find a region-locked player... it's all multi-format, multi-zone, plays-everything here.

[theReal]

Honestly, I've never considered Asian movies since all those terrible Kung-fu movies of the 70's. Perhaps I'll give it a try and pick up a few of em.Check out movies by Wong Kar Wai. No Kung-Fu at all (at least not in the two that I've seen: Fallen Angels and Chungking Express)

[Shinigami-Sama]

Saw? that was written by a couple guys at RMIT uni here. they shot a few scenes, and pitched it to Australian Film Finance, but couldn't get funding... surprise surprise they go to America and it goes well. stupid government funding agencies. it's really a bit of an elitist boys club, producing such boring and hugely overrated films as Lantana and Somersault, but ignoring stuff that might actually help lift the film industry out of the hole it's in. grrr.

the reason there's so much ...average... anime is because it's popular now - everything is getting licensed because it's less of a risk than it used to be. it used to be only the really good stuff gets licensed, but now absolutely everything does (that Inuyasha show NEVER ENDS! man, i was sick of that catgirl-dogboy-bishie after about 20 mins).



are region-free players that hard to get? dang. it's hard to believe, considering here it's nigh-on impossible to find a region-locked player... it's all multi-format, multi-zone, plays-everything here.
yeah inuyasha has I think 830eps, it just ended last dec over in Japan thank god
a big IY freack I know was all upset about, i has no char devolopment or changes in hte story line
wander around, fight demon for shard thingy, fight with eachother, help ppl, fight eachother repeat

as for saw sweet

as for the region-free, I havn't seen any, but I Live in Western Canada so yeah, and who said I was talking about licansed anime Mug, I usualy stay away from it -shudder- dubs ><

[Joe Fenton]

as for the Passion of the Christ, even less interest. trying to sell an old story with gore.

spoiler: Jesus dies.

Damn! And I was going to go see that... but now you've ruined it! :angry: :D

Asian movies are pretty cool. Japanese live-action TV is about 30 years behind American live-action TV. I swear, watch a brand new Japanese LA show and you'll SWEAR it was made in the 70's. I get bad Starsky and Hutch flashbacks. :D

[Mug Funky]

Check out movies by Wong Kar Wai.

pretty good. i think he jumped the shark with 2046 though - really beautiful to watch, but otherwise it's a bit... slow. goes a bit too long.

i'd like to check out some of his older stuff... dammit, i should know about these movies, but don't get enough time to watch anything these days :(

oh, there's an interesting Korean movie i saw the other day called Some - kinda a cop show thriller with weird deja-vu stuff thrown in. very cute female lead, too.

[deuce2]

Check out movies by Wong Kar Wai. No Kung-Fu at all (at least not in the two that I've seen: Fallen Angels and Chungking Express)

Thanks, I'll try to see what I can scare up; maybe this weekend. BTW I don't think all of the Kung-Fu sucked (Bruce Lee was pretty good!), but the majority of them were pretty bad, especially the english dubbing.

[Sirber]

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/25/1439214&from=rss

[sNNooPY]

"But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough."
oh look! gray matter started to work at last!

[dwflo]

oh look! gray matter started to work at last!

We shall see if that gray matter wil turn anything but brown...if you know what I mean!

[Neo Neko]

yeah inuyasha has I think 830eps, it just ended last dec over in Japan thank god
a big IY freack I know was all upset about, i has no char devolopment or changes in hte story line
wander around, fight demon for shard thingy, fight with eachother, help ppl, fight eachother repeat

Apparently you have never watched the show much or I am just to much a fan of Rumiko. There are plenty of changes to the storyline. But yes getting the jewel shards back is an overriding theme. There has been plenty of character development as well. Just a bit slower than most are used to. So most don't notice it. The episodes CN is up to now have progressed a long way. Kagome and inuyasha clearly have feelings for eachother. Songo and Miroku have the hots for eachother as well. Though Miroku is 180 of inuyasha. Way more forward. Seshomaru is overcoming his hate of humanity and his brother while learning to accept the tenseiga. Everyone hates naraku. Kikyo has overcome her hate of inuyasha and is biding her time trying to stop naraku.

If you want a show with little or no character development and monotonous story line I think Dragonball/Pokemon are still the standards and favorites. But I suppose there are people who are partial to those two.

One thing I can say against Rumiko is that all of her works tend to be about improbable and strained romantic relationships. Ranma 1/2, Lum, and Inuyasha all being prime examples. So if that is not your sort of thing then you are not gonna like any of them. But if it is or you can get past it they are all quite good shows. I know no network will ever pick up Ranma over here. And I know why. And it's rather unfortunate. But someone should really pick up Lum. It is at least 300/400 episodes long itself. ;)

[Shinigami-Sama]

in the I think 50-75 eps I watched I saw about as much char devolpment as two dead people, but then again I don't much like super long series

[Mug Funky]

I know no network will ever pick up Ranma over here.

sad... really sad. the idea behind that show is extremely funny. you could almost have the same show where ranma remains male the whole time, but the characters are all just a little gayer :). of course it'd be nowhere near as interesting.

and if no american network picks it up, it certainly wont be shown here - free-to-air networks don't like anime (even SBS, but they play it occasionally, like Eva and Bubblegum Crisis 2040, and there's a "month of anime" coming up), and the pay-TV networks are all american imports.

perhaps one thing that's wrong with the movie/entertainment industry is just a general lack of risk-taking, lack of creativity, and tendency to only ever buy boring, poor, but slickly made american stuff. i swear, if i see another CSI variant... (CSI New Zealand...)

also, another thing you could say against rumiko is she doesn't know how to wrap up a series. talk about milking it for all it's worth!

[johnhamler1]

the problem is: to much choice....

long time ago, we were happy to see jame bond...now, who cares!!!
we are a population of consumers.we dont appreciate what we have .

I was so happy with my 45when i was kid.and my parents was listening 33.
remember the good time??? star war, superman, james bond, ET,

harrypotter? let me get out of here..........

...

[Sirber]

The last great movie I watched was The Grudge. Others.... just don't have it :)

[Joe Fenton]

The Grudge was a bad remake of a awesome Japanese horror flick, Juon. Go watch the original.

Takahashi actually did pretty good with relationships... you should read some other mangas like Love Hina. Japanese culture is just different. You need to learn a little about it before you can fully appreciate the manga/anime/movies.

Sometimes, the American translations lose some of the humor. For example, in Takahashi's great Urusei Yatsura (Lum to most Americans who watch anime) when we are first introduced to Sakura, she tells them of the great mortgage she got on the shrine. She'll have it paid off in 19 and a half years. No one ever picks up on the joke here. Japanese shrines are torn down and rebuilt every twenty years to keep them in good shape. See? Sakura will finish paying off the mortgage just in time to have the shrine torn down and rebuilt, requiring another mortgage.

[Mug Funky]

the grudge i believe was remade by the original director... it was the 5th time he'd re-made it IIRC.

and ju-on itself isn't spectacular. just didn't scare me at all (i haven't seen the buffy version). the really good thing was it's easy to backup, with only like 500 subs for the whole movie, and most of it was such simple dialogue that i didn't actually need the subs.

[Sirber]

The american version (by the japanese director) had somethings the japanese version didn't have, like the girl lost in a supermarket looking for "edibile food". Was fun to see the cultural difference.

Japanese culture is just different. You need to learn a little about it before you can fully appreciate the manga/anime/movies.
I watch a lot of original japanese movies (I own the best of Akira Kurosawa) as well as a lot of fansubed anime. I'm not a newcomer in the scene ;)