Are films getting worse?

[Anonymous]

Films...watch and let me know..

OLDBOY

INSIDE (french you may never find it tho)

KOI MIL GAYA (bollywood)

TELL NO ONE

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

DEATH TRANCE (japanese)

 

[laserman16]

the_lhc:laserman16:the_lhc:

hmtb:To deduce that I have to have something wrong with me emotionally because I might have failed to be moved by a silly robot who barely speaks, is quite frankly laughable.

And that quote perfectly illustrates my point; that you see him simply as a "silly robot" is exactly what I mean by not connecting emotionally with the character and I just can't understand how you can sit there and watch it, with all the nuance of expression that just leaps off the screen and see nothing more in the character.

At times he seems a better actor than some so called human ones.

Too right! And that's the REAL genius of Pixar, never mind the technical brilliance, it's the humanity (although that almost seems an insult at times!) they instill in the characters that sets them apart.

To my mind if you want real genius then the second chapter of Fantasia does it for me. Thats the Nutcracker Suite, and don't forget its pictures put to music. Technically and artistically pure genius especially when you consider its nearly 70 years old and all done with individually painted cels.

Rumour has it that it may be released on BD next year.

 

[plastic penguin]

Good thread, and an interesting, too.

Whether you think films are worse or not depends what genre you prefer. I believe, in the main, films have become more action-orientated: this is especially noticable with American productions. An all-action - gun-ho - pic is fine, but there is a trade off(s), namely in terms of the plot and script.

I'm not a huge film fan, but the ones I have seen I've tended to turn over before the first commercial break (generally speaking). These particular pictures usually have Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel etc....These tend to be high budget, low quality affairs, that for all their explosions and tyre screeching, fail to grip your attention for any long periods IMO.

My favourite genre are typically drama and/or documentary based films. I think that these films, regardless of whether they are factual or fictional, are more palletable and mirror, in certain instances, the tastes of the over 30's, as opposed to pandering to the youngsters (let's face it, they are pretty forgetable....).

In terms of picture quality, I don't have HD TV or Blu-Ray. Certainly DVD certainly justifies its status. We still have VHS and although picture quality isn't a patch on DVD, the sound quality is far deeper and, somehow, more believable.

I have noticed, especially watching round the Brother-in-Laws, that fast motion is a slight issue, and doesn't compare with my CRT set. That's possibly due to him having a less than great set, or me having an exceptional one. Probably wrong on counts.....

 

[radovantz]

The Fourth Kind is totally has no idea.

 

[The_Lhc]

laserman16:To my mind if you want real genius then the second chapter of Fantasia does it for me. Thats the Nutcracker Suite, and don't forget its pictures put to music. Technically and artistically pure genius especially when you consider its nearly 70 years old and all done with individually painted cels.

Rumour has it that it may be released on BD next year.

Oooh, let's hope they do a good job of it.

 

[The_Lhc]

laserman16:But you cannot imagine anyone but Tom Hanks doing Woody can you?

Not now, no, but I'd argue there's a few actors who could have done the role. I can more imagine someone else doing Woody than I can anyone else doing Buzz though, Tim Allen IS Buzz Lightyear, although I guess William Shatner would have been quite funny in that role.

 

[laserman16]

the_lhc:laserman16:To my mind if you want real genius then the second chapter of Fantasia does it for me. Thats the Nutcracker Suite, and don't forget its pictures put to music. Technically and artistically pure genius especially when you consider its nearly 70 years old and all done with individually painted cels.

Rumour has it that it may be released on BD next year.

Oooh, let's hope they do a good job of it.

They are supposed to have done a good job on Snow White so there is hope.

 

[The_Lhc]

laserman16:the_lhc:laserman16:To my mind if you want real genius then the second chapter of Fantasia does it for me. Thats the Nutcracker Suite, and don't forget its pictures put to music. Technically and artistically pure genius especially when you consider its nearly 70 years old and all done with individually painted cels.

Rumour has it that it may be released on BD next year.

Oooh, let's hope they do a good job of it.

They are supposed to have done a good job on Snow White so there is hope.

The audio needs to be flawless on Fantasia though.

 

[laserman16]

the_lhc:laserman16:the_lhc:laserman16:To my mind if you want real genius then the second chapter of Fantasia does it for me. Thats the Nutcracker Suite, and don't forget its pictures put to music. Technically and artistically pure genius especially when you consider its nearly 70 years old and all done with individually painted cels.

Rumour has it that it may be released on BD next year.

Oooh, let's hope they do a good job of it.

They are supposed to have done a good job on Snow White so there is hope.

The audio needs to be flawless on Fantasia though.

Definitely. If they don't get that right it fails.

 

[dapouch]

I thought taken was mindless entertainment - completey contrived but enjoyable. I watched moon on saturday night - would recommend it. For once a director decides that you can fit a decent story into 90 mins.

I've had a few howlers come through from Lovefilm recently - but I can't blame anyone but me so be warned imho these stink:

Hansel and Gretel (terrible Korean? horror)

Easy Virtue (Ealing Studios should have stayed dead)

Revolutionary Road- dull

Transsiberian - more dull

Cass - idiotic, one dimensional dross

Che - man walks across cuba, kills some people, occaisionally gets in jeep - yawn...

The International - poor story clive owen can do so much more

Babylon AD - just trust me it's dung

Paradise Lost - not even Angel from home and away can save it

The Happening - the worst movie made since signs - t***s make people kills themselves in gruesome way and only a biology teacher can save us...

But again in my humble opinion, there have been great ones - not all recent but worth checking out (I've rated them at least 4 stars on love film, and where possible I'm omitting the good films others have previously mentioned):

Waltz with Bashir - haunting animated docu-drama from israel

13 - Tzameti - watch this orignal before America ruins it in a remake, probably starring Nic Cage...

The Consequences of love - italian love story with a mob twist

Perfume - the story of a murderer - quite bizarre and original but great

Bully - gus van sant's true story about a murder in florida

Hunger - great acting, well filmed

Letters from iwo jima - Clints first great movie since Unforgiven

Thank you for Smoking - funny, intelligently written and Aaron Eckhart is fantastic

A Scanner Darkly - brilliant adaptation of PK *'s best novel

30 Days of Night - just good all rounder

The diving bell and the butterfly - true story, downbeat but well told story

Eastern Promises - Cronenberg delivering again

Forgetting Sarah Marshall/Knocked up/Pineapple Express/40 Year old virgin/Superbad/I love you man - interchangeable comedies if you like one probably like them all

Good Night and Good luck - slow burner, on tv this week as well (I think)

In the mood for love - watch this and ignore the follow up 2049

Infernal Affairs/The departed - two ways to tell a story - I'd opt for the Departed becuse nobodies made two silly sequels to it

Lady Vengeance - from the same guy as Old Boy, not as good but better than sympathy for Mr Vengeance which is ****

 

[The_Lhc]

dapouch: The International - poor story clive owen can do so much more

Not in any film I've seen him in he can't...

PK *'s best novel

HAHAHAHA!!!! That took me a minute to figure out, quality from the auto-censor there!

 

[Anonymous]

hmtb:the_lhc:hmtb:the_lhc:I'd rate Wall-E as one of the top ten best films I've ever seen, on every level, Toy Story is a classic, Monsters Inc is a classic, The Incredibles is different class for me
I thought Wall E was incredibly boring. I recognise that technically it is superb, but in terms of the story and characters I found it very, very poor by comparison to the other films you mentioned and other animated films I've seen.

Seriously? You're actually saying that Wall-E himself had no character?

No. What I said was that I thought the characters in the film were poor by comparison to others (e.g. toy story, finding nemo etc).

I can only think of one robot that has more heart and soul than Wall-E and that is R2D2.