Without launching into a discussion which is forbidden in these forums, the answer is fairly simple: the human desire to gather wealth, stands in the way of human creativity and entertainment.
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Contemporary Movies: Good or Trash?
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I have to agree with the general premise of the thread. Around twenty years ago when I started to have a decent disposable income I set up a home theatre and started buying movies. I have shelves and shelves of the things. Several hundred, if not more than a thousand.
In the fast five or so years I've probably bought maybe 25 in total. Blu-ray is still my primary source for movies, so it's not that I'm just streaming them inside of buying them. They're just not interesting any more.
I haven't used my home theatre in about two months.
In the fast five or so years I've probably bought maybe 25 in total. Blu-ray is still my primary source for movies, so it's not that I'm just streaming them inside of buying them. They're just not interesting any more.
I haven't used my home theatre in about two months.
Newer ones. I'd wager a guess that most of the ones I've picked up in the past couple of years have been "classics".
The thing is also, do movies still talk about the things that are important? The whole Marvel Extended Universe is a construct of manufactured importance, comic book pretensions which don’t say much about the human condition.
Each era had its own things it considered important. There was a whole time in movies when you’d view the human condition through the lens of westerns and biblical epics and war movies. But currently people seem to be interested in fantasies.
I don’t think streaming services have particularly done movies a favour, a lot of what is produced for them isn’t exactly high-quality fare. You’d have to ask, what would be the fate of something like Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’, or Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ in today’s market.
Each era had its own things it considered important. There was a whole time in movies when you’d view the human condition through the lens of westerns and biblical epics and war movies. But currently people seem to be interested in fantasies.
I don’t think streaming services have particularly done movies a favour, a lot of what is produced for them isn’t exactly high-quality fare. You’d have to ask, what would be the fate of something like Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’, or Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ in today’s market.
Tbh, I'm rather tired of the Marvel Extended Universe and I also think people are tired of this superhero movies as a whole. On one hand, it seemed the latest Superman movie did ok, but not when taken in the vein of kicking off the DC universe. I heard some people liken it to another iteration of guardians of the galaxy, i.e., that's all James Gunn seems to do these days. When that was said, I can't unsee it.
Everything needs a universe these days, everything is setup as a franchise, paving the way for the next iteration instead of just making a movie that is fun to watch, that preach and is a good diversion to the stresses of life.
I'm definitely not the target audience since the last MCU film I saw was 'the Avengers' with my kids which has to be close to 15 years old now! Which given how I dressed up for opening night to see 1989 Batman is quite the change!
But it is interesting to me to have all of these movies show up in the 'top 10 box office' every year but fewer than half of them are even profitable ...
Marvel was on a role at least for me during the Infinity Stone Saga, they were hitting more than they were missing and I was thoroughly entertained and enamored. Then about the multiverse, Phase 4, convenience to be sloppy and retread, kill off characters but bring them back, it seems to have mostly imploded, at least for me.
Marvel Cinematic Universe - Wikipedia
Marvel’s Avengers/Infinity Stone Epic (2011-19)
Work in Progress Established stand alone thread. I copied this post from an Avengers Endgame thread and recently added Captain Marvel to the Infinity Stones/Thanos Epic list. Please advise of any blatant errors or suggested improvements. ———————————————————— Marvel’s Avengers Movies in Order...
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The early few films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were actually pretty good, I remember seeing the original Iron Man and being entirely caught up in it. But you can only see super hero origin stories so often before the whole power fantasy thing starts to wear thin. Although super hero movies are not the only ones to be caught up on that particular trope.
The Infinity Stone series of films was an interesting story, but it failed at being a mythology for our age. It was escapism, nothing more significant than that. Most of these big franchises seem to be failing when cut off from their original source: the Star Wars sequel movies were a disappointment, Rings of Power seems to be going from bad to worse, even the MCU’s recent outings have lacked pizzazz.
The Infinity Stone series of films was an interesting story, but it failed at being a mythology for our age. It was escapism, nothing more significant than that. Most of these big franchises seem to be failing when cut off from their original source: the Star Wars sequel movies were a disappointment, Rings of Power seems to be going from bad to worse, even the MCU’s recent outings have lacked pizzazz.
I think it was, part laziness, where they thought they could pump anything out, and people would flock to it. Clearly that's not been the case.
Up till End Game was somewhat enjoyable. The End Game movies were good, but really I forget most of what happened save for some exciting moments. Same goes for the James Gunn's Superman by James Gunn, well no, not same thing as it was horrible. Very forgettable but had some moments that were funny. The movie "industry" is just that. The story tellers are out there just not the big draws anymore. A great example was 28 Years Later. A sequel to 28 Days Later. Great movie, looks and sounded amazing and the story was intriguing and has me waiting for the next one to come out which I think might be in January. These movies still come out, just rarely. It also does not help that TV has become a much better medium for story telling. In a series you can grow with the characters, get their stories before and after and have a great build up.
Certainly with a big 60” OLED tv and Dolby Atmos sound in the living room the line between cinema and the home has been blurring, not only for movies but also for what Hollywood calls long-form entertainment. Before you couldn’t get that quality of theatrical presentation on your series.
I was so pissed at End Game. The Infinity Stone Saga is an impressive feat, to tie so many movies with a common thread. Imo many included excellent story telling. End Game succumbed to basically militia verse madness. I did not buy the time travel as portrayed. They even said, “you can’t do that” in the movie as dialog but then did it, by means of the quantum realm that let you go anywhere you want to. Ok, yeah, it’s all made up, but instead of milking another huge fight, they could have launched forward into new territory. Easy for me to say, but all I can say I was dissatisfied with the way they resolved the biggest climax of this franchise.
I think I’d rather watch films on an old 24” B&W than go to the cinema again.
The Marvel films just keep on milking that cow. Just no originality and yet another character introduced who will get his own film next.
Most films these days are a sequel, prequel or remake. Even if they are not the material for the story has all been done before. The impossible twist you could see coming a mile off, or the breathtaking (yawn) cgi.
It’s time Hollywood tried some original ideas.
If you recall the cultural impact of movies like Star Wars or Terminator or Mad Max or The Matrix, these were big phenomena in their time. But they also offered a certain commentary on the Zeitgeist, by showing a vision of the future and its heroes. In a way they were central to how the general public saw the future.
The most recent cultural phenomenon of that type was Game of Thrones, which was a fantasy and largely devoid of hero’s, being filled instead with lots of characters who got killed off at various points. It made so much money that ever since studios have been salivating over making ‘the next Game of Thrones’.
Movies as a centrepiece for culture have largely disappeared in the meantime. I think it’s a sad comment on the relevance of the cinema.
The most recent cultural phenomenon of that type was Game of Thrones, which was a fantasy and largely devoid of hero’s, being filled instead with lots of characters who got killed off at various points. It made so much money that ever since studios have been salivating over making ‘the next Game of Thrones’.
Movies as a centrepiece for culture have largely disappeared in the meantime. I think it’s a sad comment on the relevance of the cinema.
I think most of us do not have a local cinema, never mind one offering foreign films. Its either the major chains, or netflix. Granted streaming services may have some good indy films, to be sure, they're easily lost in the noise of the other films being promoted.
I'm sorry to read that. We had a lot more cinemas in Geneva years ago, though a few local indy ones are hanging on and doing well and they have been reopening some bigger commercial ones.
That is true. Since 2020 I have been watching Asian shows in Netflix, and the ones I enjoy the most are the Korean ones. However Kokowa and Kakuten Viki have quite a greater number of Asian shows compared to Netflix. The Chinese animé renditions are quite good, and the Japanese ones as well. The Korean moviemakers have reached quite an impressive arsenal of futuristic special effects.
As for Netflix what I like is that I can buy Netflix gift cards locally, so I don't have to use credit or debit cards. Rakuten and Viki on the other hand, don't have gift cards at the local stores like Netflix, Amazon, and most others have.
The main problem with Viki is that this company does not allow for having more than one profile per membership, so a couple or a family for example, would have to pay twice or more to have individual profiles. This is not the case with Netflix and Kakowa, since you can have more than one profile in one account or membership.
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