What's your homeland's movie culture like?
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So do you want better movies?Fox12 said:
Because personally I don't. Not that I particularly care for what's around now. But I've seen the greats. Schindlers List, Green Mile, Citizen Kane, Godfather. Etc.
Granted I enjoyed some of those, but most was just pretty boring crap as far as I'm concerned. The MCU and new Disney Star Wars movies are the only thing I'm even remotely interested in as far as movies go. Cinema is just awful. Run by awful draconian policies that are just embarrassing in this internet age. I find the ritual of going to the movie to be increasingly revolting nowadays.
Go to a cinema, sit through ads for local crappy restaurants and businesses, sit through crappy ads for TV shows I'll never watch, sit through coming attractions, then the movie. Pray that a bunch of annoying simps aren't anywhere around you. Hope they shut their damn phones off. Hope some kid isn't crying during the movie. Inability to pause it if you need to use the facilities.
No thank you.
If this is art... it's not good art.
Well... You're right. That's pretty much my sentiment exactly, except I'm perhaps even more pessimistic. The thing is, I think cinema can be great. It just isn't right now. And even the greatest films of all time are quaint when compared to even average literature (which has been around longer). But it can be great. Eva and Berserk are visual stories, and they're great.Ishal said:
So, I guess I just want an excuse to be excited again. To be challenged intellectually, or to entertained by fascinating characters. Marvel and Star Wars bore me to tears. It's just sad that American film is getting worse, and not better.
Except that Star Wars has never been in the territory of Oscar worthy, nor will it ever be. Serial Space Operas are not something that the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences will ever take seriously. Besides Star Wars is the definition of a summer movie franchise, releasing on Christmas in this case is a bit of a slap in the face.Random Argument Man said:
Our rating system sucks! Either you fuck up the movie just to appease the fucking masses or the rating fucks up your movie because you're not appeasing to the masses... Wait, what were we talking about again?
OT: To start off with an anecdote, my mom loves watching movies that feature an almost African-American cast... So, unless you're Tyler Perry or a famous African-American comedian, you better hope that movie gets marketed hard otherwise that Ebony magazine will remind you that there is a movie called Chocolate City, which is "almost" like "Magic Mike for black people"...
Speaking of marketing, if your movie doesn't have it in America, good fucking luck making bank at the box office... "Word of Mouth" won't mean shit on opening day, for example, unless the "mainstream critics" talks about it... Also, bad could mean "enjoyable", mediocre could mean "great 4 executive money-making" and great could mean "Oscar Bait", especially when it's released during "Oscar Season"... Then again, it wouldn't matter unless it's marketed as far as humanly possible and then some...
Other than that, almost all TV and On-Demand-only movies have a stigma of being as bad and/or worse than the movies released in theaters... Then again, they barely get any marketing outside of niche marketing and/or some critic ends up talking about them...
Now that I think about it, I don't even know if I'm joking or not... Those grains of salt seem so thick right now...
OT: To start off with an anecdote, my mom loves watching movies that feature an almost African-American cast... So, unless you're Tyler Perry or a famous African-American comedian, you better hope that movie gets marketed hard otherwise that Ebony magazine will remind you that there is a movie called Chocolate City, which is "almost" like "Magic Mike for black people"...
Speaking of marketing, if your movie doesn't have it in America, good fucking luck making bank at the box office... "Word of Mouth" won't mean shit on opening day, for example, unless the "mainstream critics" talks about it... Also, bad could mean "enjoyable", mediocre could mean "great 4 executive money-making" and great could mean "Oscar Bait", especially when it's released during "Oscar Season"... Then again, it wouldn't matter unless it's marketed as far as humanly possible and then some...
Other than that, almost all TV and On-Demand-only movies have a stigma of being as bad and/or worse than the movies released in theaters... Then again, they barely get any marketing outside of niche marketing and/or some critic ends up talking about them...
Now that I think about it, I don't even know if I'm joking or not... Those grains of salt seem so thick right now...
Switzerland: Creatively stagnant, when we're making any movies at all that is. The only thing that's decent are our documentaries. "More than honey" was a particularly good one. I'll never forget those Chinese farmers pollinating their plants with q-tips, one by one. But aside from documentaries, I can't remember the last time I saw a swiss movie that rose above mediocrity.
But at least I'm half-danish too, and the danish movie and television industry seems to be going through a renaissance. Lots of good stuff coming out, danish actors getting an international presence, appearing in HBO series and stuff like that. Really strong for such a small country.
But at least I'm half-danish too, and the danish movie and television industry seems to be going through a renaissance. Lots of good stuff coming out, danish actors getting an international presence, appearing in HBO series and stuff like that. Really strong for such a small country.
What glorious Queen Michael said, basically.
Swedish cinema has no sense of moderation, it's either utterly braindead or so edgy that it gets lost and cuts itself to death with a broken Border Daniel-CD.
But then again, every now and then something good actually plops out, like a pearl made by the entire movie making block trying to smother it in bullshit until it goes away.
Let The Right One In was a fucking good book mainly because the whole vampire nonsense took a backseat to the crippling everyday horror of being a lonely, bullied kid in Blackeberg. The film did what it could, but it never managed to dig itself deep enough to get under the skin like the book did. But hell, it sure did try, and it was miles better than seeing another alcoholic police inspector blame the entire world for personal problems while chasing another paedophile.
Captcha: push the envelope. Are you getting sarky on us, captcha?
Swedish cinema has no sense of moderation, it's either utterly braindead or so edgy that it gets lost and cuts itself to death with a broken Border Daniel-CD.
But then again, every now and then something good actually plops out, like a pearl made by the entire movie making block trying to smother it in bullshit until it goes away.
Let The Right One In was a fucking good book mainly because the whole vampire nonsense took a backseat to the crippling everyday horror of being a lonely, bullied kid in Blackeberg. The film did what it could, but it never managed to dig itself deep enough to get under the skin like the book did. But hell, it sure did try, and it was miles better than seeing another alcoholic police inspector blame the entire world for personal problems while chasing another paedophile.
Captcha: push the envelope. Are you getting sarky on us, captcha?
Canadian here, we have pretty much everything the US has but on a lower budget, assuming we're making them ourselves and not just being paid by an American company to do it, since 90% of big and middle sized American movies use Montreal, Toronto and/or Vancouver for off-set filming.
Though we have French language movies here which seem to have an odd trend of either being low budget rural movies (one of which was filmed in my house [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-loi-du-cochon-the-pigs-law/] and only took 4 years to see a DVD release), low budget comedies, low budget police procedurals or low budget dramas. The only real remarkable exceptions is the truly Canadian movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Cop,_Bad_Cop], which is a brilliant comedy/thriller that I don't think those outside of Canada could understand.
Though we have French language movies here which seem to have an odd trend of either being low budget rural movies (one of which was filmed in my house [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-loi-du-cochon-the-pigs-law/] and only took 4 years to see a DVD release), low budget comedies, low budget police procedurals or low budget dramas. The only real remarkable exceptions is the truly Canadian movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Cop,_Bad_Cop], which is a brilliant comedy/thriller that I don't think those outside of Canada could understand.
This doesn't really make sense to me.Fox12 said:
How can you say cinema can be great, when in the very next sentence you admit it's best can't compare to the best of literature?
I think I know what you mean, though. When you say cinema can be great, you mean it can be great in term of cinema. As in, when only compared to things within it's own genre. And yeah, I can see that.
I can certainly understand that. But I think I'm in the opposite direction.
I've been thinking about it a lot, and maybe it's because I work/research in a challenging STEM field that I find my tastes changing. When I get home I'm often spent and just want to unwind. I've had all my brain exercise for the day. Perhaps that's why I enjoy the solid polished mechanics of Nintendo games and things like Dark Souls.
I just don't care about movies. MCU and Star Wars are the exceptions for me. See, comics were something I never got into when they were in their prime. Thus their material is foreign to me. And even today I still find their business model and art medium to be unpalatable. I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth by getting just one comic and immediately having to get another. Plus the art seems sloppy the way I have to navigate the panels to read the thing. It's all over the place. For that reason, seeing the material in an easy to digest medium (movies) is better for someone who only has a casual interest in what's going on.
And that's really what I'm hitting at here. I don't look for fascinating characters or to be - truly - challenged intellectually by film. I don't because at the end of the day, it's an ill suited medium for it. It will never be as good as literature or some television series. Movies to me are defined by how you experience them. In fact, even more so since movies force you to watch them in a theater if you don't want to wait for their DVD release. You say they're all spectacle and no substance, but the entirety of the theater experience is based around wowing you with that spectacle. That's what it does. So I just don't see going to see a movie to try and find what I could easily and better experience in a book or TV show.
I just don't understand the love for movies as an art form. It's just... why? And all this recent condemnation of spectacle? That's what film does best! It makes you watch it in an environment where you are captive and stupefied by all the shit flying at you. And in the case of 3D, I mean that literally! I've never seen something done in films involving plot or characters that couldn't have been done better in literature or television.
Lithuania.
Not a lot really. TV movies tend to revolve around crime and narratives relating to the influx of criminals following the end of WWII into major cities(as imported by those charming folks in the Kremlin at the time(!)), poverty and the occasional melodrama about a woman having to choose between lovers as a sort of Spanish Soap Opera thing.
In terms of independent stuff, a lot of it is artsy or it tries to be at least, and again, tales from the Soviet Union are explored, though with a more human light. That latter stuff borrows a lot from Russian cinema.
Really, there isn't much of a movie culture outside of small projects. There are a few famous black and white movies that deal with cultural heritage like Tadas Blinda, who was a legendary folk hero in the region where I'm from, but aside from the occasional foray into national heritage territory, it's mostly the same artsy/semi-pretentious stuff.
We are only a nation of 3 million after all
Not a lot really. TV movies tend to revolve around crime and narratives relating to the influx of criminals following the end of WWII into major cities(as imported by those charming folks in the Kremlin at the time(!)), poverty and the occasional melodrama about a woman having to choose between lovers as a sort of Spanish Soap Opera thing.
In terms of independent stuff, a lot of it is artsy or it tries to be at least, and again, tales from the Soviet Union are explored, though with a more human light. That latter stuff borrows a lot from Russian cinema.
Really, there isn't much of a movie culture outside of small projects. There are a few famous black and white movies that deal with cultural heritage like Tadas Blinda, who was a legendary folk hero in the region where I'm from, but aside from the occasional foray into national heritage territory, it's mostly the same artsy/semi-pretentious stuff.
We are only a nation of 3 million after all
British movies tend to fall into three specific categories:
Gritty East End gangster movie
Mawkish rom com about poncy Londoners.
Comedy vehicle for comedian, who is at least a year past their prime, and at about the point where people had just forgotten they existed.
Occasionally you get the odd BBC drama about people in costumes taking walks in the garden, but that's mostly it.
My wife is Tamil. Now their movies fall into exactly one specific category of film that manages to encompass every genre:
A slobbish but good hearted male hero falls in love at first sight with a haughty, educated woman. Due to social hierarchy, they can't be together, but the man persists in the usual comedy escapades, with lots of singing involved. Before the half way point, the hero will have had to beat up a street full of villains to protect some woman (not necessarily one relevant to the plot) from sexual assault. Also the two will finally declare their love for each other, but will most certainly not have sex. After the mandatory intermission, the movie tone gets darker. Any historical or political message is explored at this point, usually with the help of lots of rain and corrupt policemen. The biggest and most moustachioed villain shows up and reveals some kind of extortion plot that will pressure the father of the female love interest to cancel the marriage. He usually has a change of heart and accepts the love between his daughter and socially inferior suitor, but it will be too late. The hero might be kidnapped as well, so that the villain can fake his death. When the hero finally re-emerges, he has to kick about a hundred villains, whilst the villain attempts to force the female lead into a marriage. Perhaps the hero is revealed to be the ancestor of a great kung-fu legend, or a cyborg. Either way, he'll manage to kill every last villain in sight and save the day.
Gritty East End gangster movie
Mawkish rom com about poncy Londoners.
Comedy vehicle for comedian, who is at least a year past their prime, and at about the point where people had just forgotten they existed.
Occasionally you get the odd BBC drama about people in costumes taking walks in the garden, but that's mostly it.
My wife is Tamil. Now their movies fall into exactly one specific category of film that manages to encompass every genre:
A slobbish but good hearted male hero falls in love at first sight with a haughty, educated woman. Due to social hierarchy, they can't be together, but the man persists in the usual comedy escapades, with lots of singing involved. Before the half way point, the hero will have had to beat up a street full of villains to protect some woman (not necessarily one relevant to the plot) from sexual assault. Also the two will finally declare their love for each other, but will most certainly not have sex. After the mandatory intermission, the movie tone gets darker. Any historical or political message is explored at this point, usually with the help of lots of rain and corrupt policemen. The biggest and most moustachioed villain shows up and reveals some kind of extortion plot that will pressure the father of the female love interest to cancel the marriage. He usually has a change of heart and accepts the love between his daughter and socially inferior suitor, but it will be too late. The hero might be kidnapped as well, so that the villain can fake his death. When the hero finally re-emerges, he has to kick about a hundred villains, whilst the villain attempts to force the female lead into a marriage. Perhaps the hero is revealed to be the ancestor of a great kung-fu legend, or a cyborg. Either way, he'll manage to kill every last villain in sight and save the day.
Wild Tales was a bloody weird film, but it was also pretty damn funny. When I watched it with my family we were both confused and intrigued, so I think it did what it wanted to do, and I did end up quite liking it.Johnny Novgorod said:
OT: With both my parents being involved in film, I probably have more exposure to the industry than most. The UK industry is capable of producing some fantastic movies, but I think we generally do subversive comedies best (a la "four lions"), or at least better than America will generally do them.
Wales.
Err... the Doctor Who reboot I suppose?
I actually can't think of much else apart from actors like Ioan Gruffudd and Anthony Hopkins who star in either English or overseas productions. Someone else can probably fill me in.
Err... the Doctor Who reboot I suppose?
I actually can't think of much else apart from actors like Ioan Gruffudd and Anthony Hopkins who star in either English or overseas productions. Someone else can probably fill me in.
Well, there's Kevin Smith and his questionable status as the quintessential Gen X indie success story.MarsAtlas said:
I didn't say that it's "oscar worthy". I'm saying that it's an alternative to the oscar movie season and anything in January. What else are you going to do when you have some dead time during the christmas season ? It's not that much of a problem.KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
James Bond's Skyfall was released in November. It did very well for itself. Each Hobbit movie was released during a december, were they Oscar worthy? No!
Besides, Disney has already released a shit ton of movies this summer. Since Star Wars is also a Disney property, why would they cut themselves of all the possible profit? It's no use to release all your big guns at the same time. It's not the best way to be responsible with your franchises. It may sound annoying for fans, but it's not that bad.
I don't know if Australian cinema is dead or not, but we did have some classics like The Castle, Babe, Shine and Fat Pizza made not toooo long ago.
The majority of Australian made movies I've seen are either really boring slow dramas or stupid blunt cringe-inducing comedy's.
The majority of Australian made movies I've seen are either really boring slow dramas or stupid blunt cringe-inducing comedy's.
Uruguayan movies...
Most of them are little family dramas and some comedies with the same common element: a fetishist idea of location. You know how every movie shot in Paris has to have an apartment that views to the Eiffel Tower? Uruguay is like that, with a bunch of landmarks. It is like they are depending exclusively on the home market, and the best way to draw it is by creating some sort of nostalgia and familiarity...
Most of them are little family dramas and some comedies with the same common element: a fetishist idea of location. You know how every movie shot in Paris has to have an apartment that views to the Eiffel Tower? Uruguay is like that, with a bunch of landmarks. It is like they are depending exclusively on the home market, and the best way to draw it is by creating some sort of nostalgia and familiarity...
well, of course we do low budget movies compare to the americans, but Quebec movies sometimes beat american blockbuster in the local box-office. comedy are mostle the ones that have the most success. bon cop bad cop is probably the most famous one, but Starbuck (wich was remake by the americans as Delivery Man), la grande séduction, wich was remake by France and english canada)Zontar said:
low budget doesnt mean bad. les invasions barabares wich won an oscar, incendies was nominated for an oscar and launched Denis Villeneuve carrer in hollywood, and now he's doing the next blade runner, C.R.A.Z.Y. was also a marvelous film, and again, launched Jean-Marc Vallée carreer (after that he made the young victoria, dallas buyers club and wild).