@@oscarsalesgirl296 You mean the land of Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Tarkowsky, Mikhalkov etc..? George Lucas once said that Soviet filmmakers were freer than him, as long as they didn't openly criticise the regime. Other than that they had complete freedom, something that Lucas did envy.
@@oscarsalesgirl296 Oh, an online weirdo who compares stuff to a governmental system he can't define (red scare fucked yall up bad, believe less propaganda from your government). Shocking to see that on TH-cam 🙄
01:16 Lack of economic pacing 02:10 Over-editing 03:19 OCD cinematography 05:14 OCD lighting 07:12 Over-choreographed action 09:10 Improper use of CGI 11:41 Boring musical scores 14:03 Over compartmentalization of personnel 15:27 Terrible casting 16:23 Recycled symbols and metaphors 19:13 Dumb heroes 22:03 Mumbled dialogue 23:26 Ever-increasing spectacle 26:11 Blank canvas "art" movies 29:04 The uncinematic world of I.T. communication 31:49 Over-reliance on exposition 34:23 Illegal downloading 35:35 Blitz marketing instead of word of mouth 36:52 Dependence on commercial and political adver 39:03 Brand based film making 39:53 Fake reviews 41:37 Expensive technical standards 44:33 Ideological conformity 47:05 Socially motivated viewing 48:22 Redundancy of art in the face of mass commun 51:35 Lack of visionary film makers
Finished all the time tags. Any reason "Fame-seeking film makers" appears in the article version but missing from the video? Glad to help. Greetings from Israel.
You missed analytics: they now use analytics to structure plots, characters, scenes and all kinds of elements. They've tried to reduce success to some algorithms. Leads to lack of novelty, creativity, and depth. Everything is recycled and stale.
That basically boils it down to 'committee'. The trouble began when big corporations began buying up successful subsidiaries. Take the music business for example. Sony bought up loads of small, successful companies and suddenly those companies had to make decisions based on shareholders' opinions and share prices. If a band didn't have a hit on their first record, that was them done for, no matter how much promise the had.
Yeah, also test screenings that can affect the movie's final form should be scrapped immediately. A room full of buddies of the CEO of Fox shouldn't be steering the production into any direction.
I literally CANNOT STAND when they have 500+ cuts in a ONE-MINUTE chase seen. Add to that, the weird shaking camera effects and filters, and it’s enough to drive me INSANE.
@@heartlights Yes, over-editing is a cheat and a crutch for lack of an interesting script, camera footage, or acting. It’s a last ditch effort to create excitement and energy in a dull, poorly directed movie.
Yup. The worst though are films that start as director controlled, then he quits and the studio execs takes over. That scenario just destroys a production. And we get yet another hollywood turd.
So....where's the instant gratification?? I'm usually so thoroughly ungratified by most newer movies I don't see how you can call them remotely "gratifying".
That is just a style and is not the real reason for the movies being so bad as a whole. I would say it is politics in movies, bad acting and a much smaller overall movie industry. TV is now massive and I predict that TV show budgets are about to over take movies in the next 10 years. Game of Thrones for example is better than any movie out there and it looks better and feels better as well and that is a TV show. Two back to back episodes is like a movie.
big hands; you're wrong when you claim that TV is such a ferocious competitor recently: things were always this way - Miami Vice, Twin Peaks, The X-files, Robin of Sherwood (in Europe),... these were hugely popular TV shows
This video made me realize how cold the world is today... the fact that we are all connected through social media... made us forget that we have a heart
That's a very good way of saying it. The writers, directors, editors and basically everyone working on movies have been educated and raised on the monomyth, Robert McKee's "Story", Joseph Campbell etc. and now slavishly copy-paste all the elements of a story. Plot is God to them, and they don't even recognize what a story is.
Yep, is anyone really saying anything anymore? What story are they telling? As you say, it all just seems to be an exercise in making a movie, doesn't feel like these filmmakers are actually expressing anything.
A big reason you don't see visionary artists (or directors or musicians etc) is simply because most free thinking people are held at arms length in most of our modern industries. The 'yes man' is far more likely to make it further in school or even the workforce today. Unfortunately, art and film have become a business. Corporations are less likely to take chances on people or artists who have their own way of thinking contrary to 'the norm'. This has a severe side effect on film especially, due to the ever increasing cost to create even a simple project. So it would seem that movies these days are primarily made by people who have the money to do so. The very people who aren't held at arms length by society. The rich. The 'yes man'. However there is hope. The somewhat new popularity of self funding websites has given artists a real chance to get their words and ideas out there, so remember to support your artists. Love your videos Rob. Very refreshing. Keep up the good work.
Actually making a film has never been easier. But I agree with what you said tho. I don't think someone like Stanley Kubrick could make the kind of movies he made with the current system
I can not agree MORE with this comment. This is exactly the way that it is. PLUS they do NOT want a wild-eyed independent free-thinking human to disrupt the narrative they've been pushing. This WILL SOON not be the case. #WWG1WGA #PainIsComing #DarkToLight #TheGreatAwakening
Regarding the music industry, nobody pays for music anymore, so the only people who can survive are propped-up corporate shills. www.pablosmoglives.com
@Mark Grimesin the case of Star Wars, the counter-point to George's ideas was Gary Kurtz, who really was a formidable producer. Unfortnatly, he and George parted ways, but Gary was the guy who helped George to be an even better filmmaker than he was, by challenging his ideas, and sometimes, saying "no" to him.
Hello Mr Ager I'm a teenage wannabe filmmaker who wants to be one of the greats like Kubrick, Scorsese or PTA(as you can probably figure out from my profile picture). Your final comment on how there are no more visionary filmmakers, and that most modern filmmakers; wannabe or not have nothing to say about the world or anything, deeply spoke to my soul. All I want to say is thank you because you really inspired me to read a lot more books and find my own voice, opinion and insight on the world. I would also like to mention that your channel is absolutely great! Thank you, Goblin
You've made the right decision if you're watching Stanley Kubrick films. He was a brilliant director. I love those sinister fast zooms he used to do in films like The Shining, and the slow motion scenes in A Clockwork Orange. Hitchcock and David Lynch are also great directors.
@@ajs41 Thank you for the reply! Yeah, I absolutely adore Hitchcock and lynch, especially vertigo and rear window for Hitchcock, and blue velvet for lynch. I wonder if lynch will make any more films?
Don't listen to him. He's talking out of his arse. There are plenty of incredible films being made by amazing directors. Yes, Hollywood isn't where they're being created, but that's like claiming all music is shit by only looking at what's trending on Spotify. If you want to be a great director, don't listen to tragic, grumpy old men who claim that everything was better when all this were nowt but trees. Now get your arse down to a good indie cinema and watch something other than a fucking Marvel film.
@@peterclarke7240 Thank you for the reply. Do you have any good indie film suggestions? I watched Yorgos Lanthimos' the killing of a sacred deer last week and really liked it.
If you want some reading recommendations (yahoo! my wheelhouse!) I have some: -Rebecca, The Birds, and Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (Hitchcock lovvvvedd her work) -Anything from PG Wodehouse (not deep or intense, but so funny) -Angle of Repose (best book I've ever read) -The Girl in the Swing (by Richard Adams, who wrote Watership Down, also an excellent children's movie) -Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (way ahead of his time, actually amazing feminist commentary, he has a surprisingly great understanding of the female perspective and subtle social gaslighting) -Anything from Issac Asimov, just a really excellent craftsman -the Joy Luck Club (beautiful) -The Manchurian Candidate (nuff said)
There are still amazing quotes from season 7 that kept my interest. If they lose their ability to make the characters explain motives in depth then I'm done. That Jon Snow explanation for why he didn't bow in the last episode was masterful. Take that away and I can't continue.
First of all, GOT is a show, not a movie. Furthermore, it has never strayed from the story. I know it is the cool thing to do to shit on everything but where is your epic fantasy sci fi taking the world by storm? That is what I thought...
You just don't know what a story or plot is then. More movies today actually answer questions and delve deeper than the movies of old that some hold in such high esteem Paul.
Ah I see, shows are wholly different from movies, they're not telling a story and there's no CGI involved. Gotcha. "Has never strayed from the story", last two seasons were ahead of where GRRM is with his books. It's completely new material dreamed up by the show writers, as should be blatantly obvious with staggering drop in quality since they had to come up with their own. It's not cool, or edgy or whatever you wanna call it to realise that the show writers are incompetent buffoons, it's just the truth, and it bothers me because GoT used to be one of my favorite shows.
TheFrybo Behold!! I've found the ideological bigot of conformity, trying to fend of the "boomers" from pointing out the utter trash his culture has become. Yes, we are boomers (and gen x), and we are ok.
If you love or hate a piece of art it has worked as a piece of art, it made you feel something... if you it made you feel nothing, it's not art.. That is a slightly mor e elaborate version of something I say, it's a similar sentiment..
I just watched A Fistful of Dollars for the first time and it really struck me how intelligent the man with no name is. He keeps his calm after being insulted and shot at until he has enough information to know he will be relatively safe killing the bandits who shot at him. Then he uswd this to gain favor with the more powerful of the bandits and uses his position to gain information about things. In a modern movie hed just shoot everyone without a single care, and the movies runtime would be padded with a love story or something equally stupid and overdone instead of the slower quiet scenes of him being intelligent and building up the atmosphere of the town.
excellent example. Now apply this to modern supeheroes. When is the last time we saw BATMAN use his detective skills to win, rather than technology or brutality?
@@smotnick where did you get the official definition of super heroes. If DC says it has a superheroe that is also sort of a detective, then Batman is. You are talking philosophy but not what the superheroes actually are in DC and Marvel. In olden days, Batman also solved crimes using his computers, and getting info out of thugs, strreet informants and spying on stake outs. Yeah, Detective work.
Agreed, Bathysphere. Of course, if you didn't notice any CGI in a movie, then it isn't _bad_ CGI. I find, for special effects, that even 'good' CGI interferes with my suspension of disbelief in a way that even bad practical effects don't, somehow.
I thought the nuclear explosion sequence in Terminator 2 was CGI until I saw a documentary showing how it was actually all scaled down models and real photos. No wonder it looked so realistic.
Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove’s portrayal of the telephone (technology) being the source of miscommunication, confusion, pure evil and eventual doomsday was prophetic. He was brilliant and a true human being. I miss him.
And Dr Strangelove is also free of ideological conformity. It's set up as a parody, of course, but there's still something in it. Like the scene when they're about to phone the president to prevent a nuclear strike, but still stick to the Coca Cola Company. Or the ambassador who wouldn't smoke Jamaican cigars, only Cuban ones. I'd rather have communists and capitalists, fascists and liberals, conservatives and progressives who can openly and calmly discuss politics rather than a bunch of streamlined conformists who try to secretly push the own, nonconforming agenda while accusing anyone else of secretly pushing theirs.
When you mentioned mumbled dialogue it reminded me of one of the things that ruins some movies for me. Dialogue scenes that are so quiet that you have to turn up the volume and then the very next scene there's things blowing up and blasting out your eardrums. I'm constantly having to turn the volume up and down.
I Am Legend. I had to turn it off. It was driving me crazy because the zombie screeches were ear splitting unless I turned it down so I couldn't hear anyone talk.
For me, I think much of Hollywood and just society in general is about “feeling” things. The focus isn’t on making you think but rather making you feel. Not realizing that making you think about the concept conveyed will provoke feelings. But they short change the process and just try to strike the feels. Which is why they rely so heavily on nostalgia. Easy feels.
@haveanotherpinacolada agreed. They are focused on the outcome rather than the process and you rarely ever produce results when going at it that way. They assume “this” should provoke that feeling, but never took the time to create it. Just that since a far better film before this one had done it this way then their film should evoke the same feeling. But it’s doesn’t. It just makes you regret not watching the better film.
the answer is nepotism, from my experience in LA one needs to be a part of a family or tribe to get a film off. it is not based on talent. this is why there are no filmmakers anymore, just producers. all is going to change soon, as this method is making them Lose money, so they will need fresh talent. let's see.
Just saw Terminator 2 in 3D today and even though I've seen it 150 times, it's an absolute classic! I overheard a young teenager who had a top-knot, man-bun hair style complaining to his dad on the way out of the cinema that the movie was too slow. He was like 14. I don't really have a point but yeh...the future looks shit
@@elizabethwhite131 I'm willing to bet you hate sensitive movies. Well if you do, stop being shallow. The second one is superior because the plot takes an even MORE human emotional approach and NAILS IT.
@@elizabethwhite131 I agree. I liked the very dark, gritty & serious nature of the first film that lacked the jokes of the 2nd. Everything was fresh in T1 and T2 ripped off many ideas from it even though I liked it as well. Even though the T800 in T1 was less advanced than the T1000 of T2, I always felt Arnold delivered a great performance & was much more menacing than the T1000. I couldn't care less that the effects weren't as good. Fuck effects. The movie had a lot of meat & relied on it.
I suggested to my daniel craig bond loving nephew that he should watch a 60s bond movie. He later told me that he tried to watch goldfinger but only got halfway through it as there wasn't enough action for him!
*There have always been bad films and good films. In fact, more bad than good.* However, I think there is something _unique and pervasive_ in bad cinema now. Films are beginning to feel like cold, cookie-cutter designed, projects created by a committee of studio executives. There is something uniquely depressing about watching an artistically soulless, bland color graded, piece of cinema that took hundreds of millions of dollars to create. It's a feeling of tremendous waste. And it's so...common. I don't think it's nostalgia or nit picking when it's fairly easy to point out these trends. And we should. We should demand more from our art.
As someone who worked in the industry for over 25yrs and have since moved on, I have to say that this is the most concise listing of why most of the films of today don't appeal to those of us that have an expanded knowledge of film history and the film making process from a professional perspective. I couldn't agree with you more on every single count. Well done Rob!
One reason why I don't like watching action movies like Star Wars, Transformers, or Marvel superhero movies is because they are all so predictable, especially the endings with the big epic fight scenes. I understand that you always have to have a climactic ending, but I just got tired of it.
Consistently Random : Darth Vader : ,, I am your father ! " and the fact that Luke lost the lightsabers fight and his hand were not predictable at all. That is why the Empire strike back is better than Star Wars
To be fair with Comic book movies you know what you're paying for when you go into them they are supposed to be action packed eye candy to entertain you for a few hours.. and some Marvel flicks do try new approaches Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Thor Ragnarok. Although ill admit I would much rather watch films like Memento, Pans Labyrinth, Children of Men etc.
OP, could it be that you've been exposed to a large amount of similar movies already? Films I find a little predictable I find my kids, due to not seeing as many films as I've seen, EVERYTHING feels new and fresh to them and their reactions are far more entheusiastic than mine.
kudosbudo Yeah but predictable doesnt always mean bad as long as its a good story made in an interesting way, for me a film can be totally unoriginal and i can still find enjoyment in it whether that be how its directed, characters, atmosphere heck even the score has been the saving grace for a few, and some of the worst films ive seen are the ones that try too hard to be different they usually just make me cringe because they are executed so lazily that i would rather be watching something similar to something i had already seen than watch some contrived garbage.. example since people are talking about Star Wars, I found the latest installment by far my least favourite in the series for many many reasons and it is considered by most to be the most daring and different. Its okay for a film to have different ideas or take things in a new direction as long as those ideas are explored in an interesting and compelling way instead of being different for the sake of it.
This video is already out of date 4 years later. Films have been dismantled much further in the last 5 years in the age of movies as "content" for streaming services, the age of hyper-politicization, the age of deconstructionism, and the age of nostalgia-bait, etc.
Your exactly right, Dave T Geek. Look at some of the politics pushed into superhero movies. The streaming shows are worst now. And the remakes....lousy.
@@FrankBugZappa Yes, because it's still about negativity on films nowadays. The video is not out of date if there are *extra* reasons after a few years from being uploaded. They only add to the video, not go against it.
@TheFrybo i wouldn't go that far, but he does seem to be too lazy to look beyond american mainstream cinema. there have been tons of brilliant films since 2000, you will just won't find them in the cineplex. just to name one, triangle from 2009 puts most of his favorite films to shame. then you basically have all the michael haneke, sion sono, chan-wook park, gilliam, herzog, andersson and lnych films etc etc etc. i am kinda surprised that he isn't all over yorgos movies, even though they arent my cup of tea. they are basically tailor made to his taste. anyway, the list is endless, so the title of this video is pretty ignorant and factually incorrect.
One thing I would decry about modern films is ENDLESS remakes! And how many films are Marvel characters. How many Spiderman remakes and sequels have there been? Is there no one in Hollywood with an original idea?
There will be blood No country for old men Whiplash Blade runner 2049 Hacksaw ridge The social network Inglorious bastards Django unchained Drive Her Nightcrawler The hateful eight Parasite Snowpicer The lighthouse 1917 Good time Uncut germs Zodiac Gone girl The girl with the dragon tattoo I saw the devil The raid 1&2 Prometheus The master Prisoners The killing of a scared deer Mother! 2017 This are all great movies
You, Sir, are one of the few to see the big picture. Try spending a decade of your life trying to submit an intelligent manuscript to a publisher. Before giving up in disgust.
@@VULVOLINE009 It's more about nailing the mass market. Since the 90's mergers it's possible for big players who then avoid less lucrative niche markets. More horizontal integration, less consumer choice. (restore the antitrust laws)
I like to watch Akira Kurosawa's films, older Hollywood films and I also like to search for foreign films. Modern Hollywood is dead, they are a bunch of hypocrites, cowards and fools. I love quality stories that make you think, I love characters that progress and grow as the story goes on and I love it when they are challenged and they over come those challenges with hard work, training, skill and quick thinking. I love villains that are threatening, villains like the Major from Hellsing Ultimate or Darth Vader or Tywin Lannister. When it comes to villains like Kylo Ren or Hux I can't stand them, they are pathetic emotionally unstable brats that shout, scream and throw temper tantrums like pathetic entitled little shits. Pardon my langue but I prefer a villain who is calm, intelligent and threatening. The few gems that modern Hollywood have is Midway, Jojo Rabbit, Joker and 1917. If there are more good modern Hollywood films then I shall take a look.
If Stanley Kubrick would pop up at LucasFilm today and trying to pitch his idea for a new Star Wars movie, Kathleen Kennedy would boot his ass out before he could even say Hello.
When you talked about the mumbled dialog I actually shouted out "Yes!!!" That drives me absolutely crazy. Why are certain actors thinking that they seem so deep and sophisticated and interesting when they do that?! To me it shows such a distain for the audience and such a self important arrogance! None of those actors are so fascinating and gorgeous that they can get away with it. The job of an actor is to communicate a story. If we can't understand what they are saying, what good are they?
@TheFrybo I think it's the other way around where mumble movies won't age well and older movies with clear dialogue age better. Languages evolve over time and a couple hundred years down the line audiences will find clear dialogue movies easier to digest. Mumble dialogue takes me right out of the movie. Remember the epic confrontation between Batman and Baine near the end of The Dark Knight Rises? Whatever they were going on about, I didn't understand it. Way to ruin the climax that they've been leading up to for 2 and a half hours.
@TheFrybo you already 'wasted' some on me, and it was again hilarious. You're pretty funny! You should concentrate on that part of your personality instead of just getting mad at people online all day. Hope you had a good day today, dude.
Modern Horror movies can be the worst offenders, literally every Horror feels the same in their premise and cinematography like you can always tell when they do a build up to a "fake scare" and a Jump scare.
Yes and no. I'd say several horror films of the past 5 years are pretty original and groundbreaking (Get Out, The Lighthouse, Hereditary, Midsommer). But I mostly agree with your sentiment.
That's because someone, at some point, seemed to decide that all horror movies had to follow a set of rules which made them all the same. I've seen this argument being made with other kinds of movies as well. I can't count how many times I've seen people say some variation of "if you're going to make a superhero movie you have to follow the 'Marvel formula' which would have the effect of making them all the same too.
I've been watching the free, old Hamer Hortor movies on Yahoo recently. What a breach of fresh air. 👌 The limited budgets meant both directors & producers were forced to think outside the square. For example, less is definitely more. Compare the 70's Hamer Horror movies which rely on music OR the lack if music bybjust the wind blowing, or, a door banging in the wind as a great build up for tension VERSUS the Conjuring Series. 🤷♂️🤷♀️ The first Conjuring movie was okay . . . even passable.👍 The other Conjuring films including the very recent one. . . . yawn.🙅♂️🙅♀️
The problem to me is how so many movies are remakes that largely miss the thematic points of the original film. The Terminator series is a good example of losing its way. The original was a blend of horror, sci-fi, and for the limited exposition that it gave you, was a good movie.
One of the most egregious example of ideological conformity I remember seeing was when several online news outlets accused Michelle Rodriguez of saying minorities "needed to stop stealing superheroes from white people.' Except that's not what she said at all: what she actually said was that minorities should strive to make their own original ideas, instead of wanting to alter pre-existing characters. I completely agree with her. I personally think an original fantasy or action idea featuring a diverse cast would be far more interesting as well as a breathe of fresh air from stuff like "The Addams Family, but black", or "Silverhawks, but with women." But yeah, I found it really disgusting how Rodriguez's comments were wildly and deliberately misinterpreted.
You should ask a black person, who's okay with the black Little Mermaid, whether or not they're also okay with a white Black Panther. Petty of me, yes, but amusing.
@@ryans756 What about the most obvious symbol in the U.S.A, "the White House". No one want to touch that one, at least not yet, until one day they'll call it....well u know. No one wants to see Jane Bond. It's far better to create a new character, like a Lara Croft.
A white Black Panther? a confused superhero??,..i don't know how that would work out. Half white, 1/2 black panther? What about a White & Black White house. I don't get it, or just painted black. Maybe a rainbow would work out best. But no one wants USA to be a laughing stock. Well,...it supposedly already is.@@ryans756
ADHD. Kids today have such a short attention span that movies have to run a a very quick edit. Seems like the rule of thumb is, wait to see how long a child takes to look at their phone during the story - then Quickly edit the scene to a pointless action shot... Film makers should really stop pandering to this and make lower budgeted films that generous in story.
The Place Beyond the Pines, Birdman, Fury Road, Whiplash, No Country for Old Men, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Road to Perdition, LOTR Trilogy, The Departed, Silence, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Revenant (I don't care, it was breathtakingly shot, and compelling as hell imho. Also has a beautiful, minimalist score), Baby Driver, The Spectacular Now, Prisoners, Sicario, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Up, Monsters Inc., Oldboy, Adaptation, Memento, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Town, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Sunshine, The Machinist, The Prestige, The Fighter, O Brother, Where art Thou?, Hot Fuzz, Inside Man, Training Day, Man on Fire, Unbreakable, Snatch, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Battle Royale, Meet the Parents, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist, The Bourne Ultimatum, City of God, Mystic River, Curse of the Black Pearl, Eternal Sunshine, Collateral, The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Lord of War, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, Burn After Reading, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Blue Valentine, Drive, Django Unchained, Moon, Take Shelter, 50/50, Hunger, Skyfall, Looper, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dredd, Seven Psychopaths, Grand Budapest Hotel, John Wick, Foxcatcher, Inside Out, Ex Machina, Creed, The End of the Tour, Room, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Hacksaw Ridge, Kingsman etc.
You missed the most glaring and obvious reason for many of the things you listed. It's subtle. Few realize it. And we can thank George Lucas for it. The reason post-millenial movies suck comes down to technology. One technology in particular. High Quality Digital Cameras for Filmaking. Shooting purely on digital. The end of film. And no I'm not talking about this from a Quentin Tarantino'esque auteur of the purity of film. Film had an important but unheralded role in the process. Film was an economic limitation. It was a limited resource with a high very tangible cost. Every second counted in the budget. The Directors and Producers had to minimize that cost. That means they had to plan out every shot carefully. Taught pacing was as much driven by economic factors as it was artistic. If you say something two or three times you are wasting film and eating up the budget pointlessly. But Digital largely removed that economic limitation. Digital storage is dirt cheap. So modern filmmakers either did not learn or long since abandoned the necessary economy of shooting carefully. Instead they shoot everything. Numerous times. Then declare they'll fix it in post. They no longer allocate budget based on the limited resource and therefore limited run time. Removing the limited resource of traditional film stock removed an important unseen force on the natural editing and planning process. From the removal of a natural limitation we get things like Batman V Superman. Where the director clearly had 24 hours worth of movie shot with no concept of how to cut it down for time or piece it all together. He just pointed cameras at things and watched what happened. Storyboarding used to be an economic necessity to plan out each frame, each second of film. Now it's just something to do to figure out your location schedule, at least until the script comes in.
Also, film has a flicker that your brain tunes out, creating a constant unconscious reminder that the movie is fake. Without that, all the breaks with reality (shot changes, musical score, the angle of the screen) are a constant mild annoyance for your brain's interpretive mechanism. This is basically a non-issue for found footage movies however, since they are actually framed as recordings.
I was with you until you brought up Batman v. Superman, which was shot on film. You can still regard it as a mess, but not for the reason of having unlimited digital storage space. www.kodak.com/us/en/motion/blog/blog_post?contentid=4294995322
On the over-editing, having watched a video on Jackie Chan films and Asian movies in general, started hating Hollywood action movies, simply because you can’t feel the impact of the punches and you can’t follow what’s going on.
Hk film industry is the champion of action films imo. Jackie Chan's films are mostly directed by Sammo Hung who is a master at choreographing fights with some of the craziest stunts and performers ever. Yuen Biao for example is an incredible martial artist stuntman who doesn't get enough praise. Yuen Woo Ping as well. Even when it comes to shootouts have you ever seen anything better than the shootouts you see in Johnnie To's films? Or John Woo or even to a lesser degree Ringo lam and Tsui Hark? I'd take any HK action film over the best of what Hollywood produces any day of the week.
what are you talking about Die Hard is a masterpiece, its wildly regarded as the Greatest action movie ever made, and its one of my personal favorite movies ever right up there with Indiana Jones trilogy
@@lukeschroter9389 It's a great action film but its not as if it's an emotionally deep or aesthetically complex work of art. In its time it was just a blockbuster.
For me I really felt the quality of movies and music going downhill in 2010 onwards. Good to know Im not crazy and there are others who feel the same way
Now a days they will take an awesome movie from the 80's, pull down their pants to take a crap all over the original, then start walk off proudly tripping over their pants flat on their face. And they do the same with sequels in a popular franchise. Fans are praying they don't pick their beloved franchise to mock.
Mumbling is so prevalent in films these days. I watch a film and think my hearing is going but then I watch an older film and wonder just why do filmmakers think needing subtitles on at several points is a good artistic choice.
This is really good. Its bewildering that they can make really good TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire but films are just so often dull exercises in form over substance
I think one of the biggest reasons why most films these days follow the same formats as you described Rob is because there is no joy in the film industry to make movies for entertainment anymore. Everyone wants to make that movie that they think will bring in awards and name recognition. I would say this is particularly true in the last 10-15 years. Have you noticed over the years all these Best Picture winners that completely fall off the radar after they got their awards?
After watching a lot of Kubrick, Tarantino, and other old classic films, I started to notice how forgettable, repetitive, safe, and boring 90% of modern movies(2010-present) are. I don’t get why we don’t get great films like Apocalypse Now made anymore and that’s sad
I was born in 1990 and grew up on 70/80/90s movies on VHS. Still to this day I continue to watch and collect VHS tapes. Love old movies, nothing like them anymore
I absolutely agree! I was born in the late 1950's. I scour thrift shops, etc for older movies, pre-2000, on VHS & DVD. Very affordable and much more entertaining.
Born in 80s - Love watching a good movie - Black & White Silent Movies, New Colour Age, Any Decade Pre 2000s I am fully entertained by. Bollywood still holds on to entertainment concept but with Disney & Sony etc now buying up their studios & Independent Directors to create committees the Movies now follow Hollywood Formula and become generic Millennial Woke Mess - Stopped watching them since 2010 while they had been a staple of my childhood. I did not watch Hollywood movies till my teens. The Movie making process developed slower in Bollywood so only caught up in 2010+ with Hollywood Studios. I miss good old VHS.
Absolutely, I go to thrift shops for VHS and find some great titles. For example I found recently a really old one, “The man who knew too much” by Hitchcock. This after I found an old tv/vcr combo in the alley that was in good condition. I guess people didn’t need it anymore! But it led me to discover some great movies, and even just learn about older movies in general and have fun watching some classics and more obscure ones.
People really do have such vapid thoughts about popular culture to believe "it used to be better" without actually realizing that it's the same as it ever was and some of the best movies are just so easy to find now. Even back in the "golden era" good movies were so hard to find. And were just as limited as they are today.
@Drumslav Czechisenko Amazon, Netflix, Shudder, Hulu, TH-cam has some interesting small creator creations. In the theaters I watched Hereditary, Mandy was also in theaters, which is so wonderful. Depends on what genre you like, but if you are honestly confused of where to find movies, If you tell me your preferred genre I can give you modern suggestions and where to find them.
And for ALL the charges of "Liberalism" by today's rightwingers, Hollywood is actually fiscally conservative. Hell, A LOT more so than our Federal governement. NOTE how many REMAKES, SEQUELS, PREQUELS, FRANCHISES. They are playing it safe, obviously because they don't want to lose money, especially now. An original script by an unknown is too great a risk. Like a bank giving a loan to an eighteen year old with a part-time minimum wage job. American theater is EVEN MORE fiscally consertive. Of course, they'll NEVER NEVER admit it.
Trend chasing, using the same chord/ melody formulas over and over, quantization.. but there’s a whole lot of music out there and you could probably find a lot you like from any year, unless your taste is that narrow.
70s 80s 90s 2000s were the best time for movies. All movies today are garbage All the best movie directors and actors are old now The new ones dont know what the hell they are doing All i watch these days is old movies that ive seen before
My favorite writer/director/composer is John Carpenter, the man is a genius. Another thing is analog will always be better than digital. long live film.
How is analogue better than digital? Shooting and editing on film is expensive and clumsy, and it may look nice but it doesn't make bad writing or directing any better. Making the process more difficult doesn't result in a superior product - it's the vision behind the camera and a sense of storytelling that brings a film to life - not what it's shot on. I'd rather see a good movie with a compelling story shot on digital than a shit movie shot on film.
The thing about Donnie Darko is all the info you need to know to kind of get it is the chapter heading. So you need to pause the movie and read those. It's really more about pocket universes than time.
Wrong reply? Also, the director's cut of DD is total ass. Ruins the whole flow of the film. The original cut of the film isn't /that/ hard to figure out.
Exactly. That godawful show Brooklyn Nine Nine drives me insane. Every line is just some pathetic attempt at sounding clever by referencing some popular movie or popular show. At least in Family Guy, the pop culture references extended beyond just verbal allusions.
I'm convinced part of the reason the quality of movies has plummeted since 2000 or so is partly due to greed. In an attempt to put as many asses in seats as possible, the studios are trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. As a result, anyone with even slightly above average intelligences walks away with a bland, generic, cookie cutter, and increasingly costly experience.
Very true. The goal is to make a movie with big special effects and explosions which is what sells best in the global market. Intricate plots that perhaps appeal only to American culture and wouldn't make sense to people overseas are done away with. Everyone can understand that this giant robot needs to be blown up by space aliens so thats whats made.
Artificial Avocado I agree-except I don’t think it’s necessarily greed, but more like efficiency: movies need to appeal to a global audience. I haven’t been able bear to watch “blockbuster”-type movies since Back to the Future (the first one)...they’re too loud, too many stupid explosions, and did I mention too loud? And they’re usually stupid.
Actually, older people stopped "going" to the movies so they attempted to gear the stories and scenarios to appeal to a younger audience. In essence, they dumbed them down and made them less sophisticated. ... I thought this was well known?
As a father of two I have to endure a lot of kids movies and one major issue I have is that the dialogue is extremely fast and the characters are spitting out real world references that kids aren’t able to comprehend or even be aware of. I, as an adult, are aware of the references and can chuckle sometimes but my kids’s faces are blank. Another issue in kids’ movies is that the characters are always screaming instead of talking…
@@63annushka eh they just know adults have to usually watch this material too so they want to throw them a bone with the writing. Remember, they’re all written by grownups as well. And if you go back and watch movies from the past, there’s plenty of references for adults. Little jokes or callbacks.
What really baffles me is when people tell me how shitty a movie is then they go pay to see it's sequel......... I mean wtf? like SW 7,8, and 9. I saw 7 and said I'm done.
i m also tired of being " explained " everything twenty times as if i were a moron ... dialogues simply being factual " watch valerian : the dialogues basically just tell the audience what the character is doing ... wow i am driving fast ... etc
Ok I understand that Hollywood's obsession with the Blockbuster or Franchising landscape is worrisome and forcing assembly line filmmaking. But to completely dismiss entire generations of filmmakers achievements and pioneering forms of story-telling and production for not having that pre-70s style of cinema anymore just seems like a spit in the face to the past 4 decades of cinema as "a mistake". Do you have to like em? No. Are they perfect? Of course not. But to pretend that entire generations of cinema is pure garbage for having different styles is just snobby and wishing an impossible standard to filmmakers
Like a lot of film buffs, Rob seems to have found a safe space for himself, harkening back to movies bathed in comforting nostalgia. Perhaps the decades since the 1970s haven't kept up the amazing standards of that decade, but there are dozens of brilliant films which have been made in the last twenty years. I love the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls era, but it wasn't the be all and end all of film making. Also, Rob's list of films he has enjoyed since the millennium (separate video) is a disappointing one, featuring too many action movies and films which are really nothing special. Snow Town, Sideways and No Country For Old Men are the exceptions to that general rule, and were consequently the best he chose.
lol, the vast vast majority aren't anything like a roller coaster ride. A roller coaster ride is WAAAAY more exciting than almost all the movies that come out. The movies that are supposed to be roller coaster rides are usually just unintentionally sad/depressing or they just make you want to kill or something, not like a roller coaster at all.
Indeed, they try to look like roller coaster rides but don't dare to shake their passengers. So there are all those giant loopings, but one only sees other cars going through them while oneself is safely travelling on a calm route. Too much attempting, too little being.
I was exposed to movies like Taxi Driver and other adult movies of the day when I was young, as well. Some people would scoff at that and say that my parents were being careless, but I am honestly happy I saw those movies... I think it made me better understand and appreciate movies; I am a big movie buff today probably partly because of that.
I agree-witness the "Starwars" franchise-this thing has been beaten to death, each film worse than the last. No creativity at all-just endless recycling of crap.
@@filmneek The Place Beyond the Pines, Birdman, Fury Road, Whiplash, No Country for Old Men, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Road to Perdition, LOTR Trilogy, The Departed, Silence, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Revenant (I don't care, it was breathtakingly shot, and compelling as hell imho. Also has a beautiful, minimalist score), Baby Driver, The Spectacular Now, Prisoners, Sicario, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Up, Monsters Inc., Oldboy, Adaptation, Memento, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Town, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Sunshine, The Machinist, The Prestige, The Fighter, O Brother, Where art Thou?, Hot Fuzz, Inside Man, Training Day, Man on Fire, Unbreakable, Snatch, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Battle Royale, Meet the Parents, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist, The Bourne Ultimatum, City of God, Mystic River, Curse of the Black Pearl, Eternal Sunshine, Collateral, The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Lord of War, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, Burn After Reading, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Blue Valentine, Drive, Django Unchained, Moon, Take Shelter, 50/50, Hunger, Skyfall, Looper, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dredd, Seven Psychopaths, Grand Budapest Hotel, John Wick, Foxcatcher, Inside Out, Ex Machina, Creed, The End of the Tour, Room, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Hacksaw Ridge, Kingsman etc.
I also heard that these days a lot of the composing is often done by underling composers in an outsourcing style business, rather than being the product of literally one guy composing the full score
The same is not only true about movies but modern video games as well pretty much other than very few. I remember renting a bowling Nintendo game when I was a kid and recently played it on emulator after not having played it for over 20 years and as soon as I heard the title screen theme, I knew it was the game I rented because I remember the music exactly even after all that time after it had slipped my mind until I heard it again. The same is just not true with games today & their generic soundtracks. Probably worse in movies than games though.
wtcvidman yeah I haven’t even picked up a video game controller in years. Partially because I know I’ll get addicted, and partially because I don’t like the thought of modern video games being just like the movies.
@@blackswan4486 In many ways they are like interactive movies these days. I've tried some of the newer ones and though there are a few I liked, most of the post 3d era games just don't do it for me. I still enjoy the 2d games of my youth though (arcade, NES, Genesis, Game Boy, Master System, Sega CD, SNES, C64, 2600, etc). Even though many of them lack the plots of modern games, their gameplay is simple yet timeless.
In contemporary music OR cinema. Sequential sound effects are not music and being a technophile doesn't make you a filmmaker. As Camile Paglia wrote in the intro of her book "Vamps & Tramps": The young are struggling for identity in a world defined by material uncertainties and inequities, surreally juxtaposed pockets of feast and famine. Hence their vulnerability to political correctness, the only religion they know.
To add on your 'dumb heroes' point... The plot is spawned from their incompetence / emotional volatility, rather than them overcoming the situation given by the plot. Compare 'Spiderman No Way Home' to 'Dredd' for example. In Spiderman Peters childlike impulsiveness causes world shattering problems which leads to chaos and people he loves dying (technically all caused by him). The solution is he wipes everyones memory and returns to square 1. Its borderline psychopathic how unphased and goofy he is about the damage he's done. In Dredd, he systematically works his way through the problem of the Peach Tree lockdown which is thrown at him. Learning and adapting on the fly, but always with a sense of control. It was just bad luck he was there in the wrong place at the wrong time. The solution is he restored order, helped train an amazing partner and became more empathetic. Dredd was one of the strongest comic book movies in decades. No Way Home was built purely on nostalgia.
I watched this from a non-filmmaker point of view, but as a jaded, film enthusiast. The points made, echoed many of my feelings and inability to place my frustrations. Well-bloody-done.
me too - I'm trying to explain to my girlfriend why I don't want to go to the cinema with her and am thinking of sending her this. All of his points I agree with and I just dont like watching them any more.
In my opinion Rey and Fin should have been written into one character. It should have told the story of a stormtrooper who has a change of heart, escapes the dark side and eventually discovers that he/she is a Jedi.
No, the main character has to be an emancipated "Womyn" who tears down all obsolete and tyrannical Patriarchal structures (the Jedi order included) , because as you all know, "the Force is female."
honestly, that still sounds like a horrible Disney character arc. i do think if Finn was going to be a stormtrooper they could have made him into a much more serious conflicted character with genuine military experience, that helps but the rebels might have a tough time trusting. Rey as a character is fine, but really she should have turned to the dark side by now. Poe should be running around doing the secret agent side missions. Its not about removing a character or someone else being the jedi, its how they have handled the cast of characters and the story that they decided to go with.
One of my recent favourite films was 'Dallas Buyers Club'. Made for 5 million, they only used one camera and 2 lenses. No dolly shots or crane shots, all tripod shots and hand held. Also, no lighting crew were used to bring in lights. Instead, they filmed indoor scenes with lights from the building. Very cool movie.
A nightmare on elm street actually had very meticulous lighting. Although most settings were dark, there was a lot of background establishing lighting creating depth and hot colors that's not natural at all but sets a erie visual tone.
I’ve noticed that. Even the “attractive“ actors always have very plain brown doe eyed features, bound to offend nobody in anyway. Nothing exciting. Nothing out of place, to the point where it is completely soulless.
Nothing appeals to me these day for too many reasons to list. Born in 1945 and I treasure the movies of my era. I watch them over and over and never get tired of them. I can't say the about todays films. It's sort of like fast food when I was young. It was tasty and cheap. Today it's pricy and awful tasting, but people are so used to it they don't seem to notice as long as it fills them up. I have never been part of any film production, but I see things constantly that could have and should have been done differently, especially considering the cost of making a film and budgets available to the those involved in the film.
Yeah... Thats what happens when people insist on casting for clout instead of capability. A lot of great action actors are 10+ years past their prime.. and you start getting scenes like "jumps a fence in 2 seconds" has to have 17 cuts to get it down to that time. We need these action movies to be written with the actors physical capabilites in mind.. Or cast a younger or more fit actor if you need these scenes. But Liam = $$$ so screw it, I guess.
@@kaisokusekkendou1498 while they're not exactly young men anymore, this is why Keanu Reeves and Hugh Jackman are great. They actually don't need over-editing to compensate and cover up their lack of ability to do the job.
Funnily enough, I don't mind that fast editing in the Bourne movies. They 'invented' the technique, so it's those that ride the coat tails that deserve derision.
I think a deeper root cause is the over-consolidation of film studios into media corporations. Movie studios have always been in business to make money, but, prior to the late 80's and early 90's, they were more likely to take chances on new film makers, controversial ideas, and innovative concepts. Nowadays each studio is a minuscule subsidiary of huge corporations and studio decision makers have twenty levels of corporate bosses to answer to, and the corporate bosses demand proven cookie-cutter formulaic films.
I'm not sure I agree with that. The studio system was always consolidated. Back in the 40s, there were only 5 major film studios and there was nothing outside of them. There are indie filmmakers right now, but they are part of the problem. In this video, he mentions how certain filmmakers - especially indies - create slow movies that are slow for no reason, unlike the truly great artists who made slow films, but were packed with meaning. The reason there are no breakouts from the indies is because the indies have become just as much of a failure, having created their own subset of cliches and tropes. It used to be that the indies were where new ideas were born. Now they've practically solidified them into their own boring genre.
EXACTLY!! Remember: Clinton authorized the Telecom Policy Act (1996), during my 3rd year in college. This was the death knell for individualism (in media/entertainment/business). Corporations were given STEROIDS. By the year 2000, five corporations controlled nearly 95% of our media and entertainment ( including....amalgamating smaller RADIO STATIONS. Hence, the same issues with music ).
"ideological conformity" has become an added factor to "terrible casting". Most of the time I don't care if roles are race swapped or gender swapped. But when casting becomes so distracting, that you can't suspend your disbelief, it becomes a problem. The recent TV series, casting Anne Boleyn with a black actress is a prime example
Maybe they will cast the fairest people with black actors,eg If princess Sleeping Beauty was black or the little mermaid is black then it's good.Because they don't care for the original source material.If the source says they are fair,then they should be fair,Would they like black panther if it was a white actor rather than Chadwick?No they wouldn't
Ideology is something every era has. For example, if consumerism and money worship disgusts you you might see that in every 80’s movie -but that is a general attitude all Hollywood has besides the sheen they add in for the era, where it is not sincere belief but displaying fashionable ideas of the time. Examples of playing into fads would be depicting grunge and slackers in the 90’s, showing environmental motivations in the 2000’s and these days it might be diversity and sensitive “wokeness”. I say might be because you cannot tell what will be lasting and status quo going forward (actual core ideology where everything ultimately comes to that, like materialism) and what will be passing and identifiable later on. These are fascinating subjects that would be good to discuss if more people knew what the key terms mean, what concepts are actually relevant, and which are ancient or at least outmoded- e.g., subconscious or collective consciousness and Platonic forms.
movies have been terrible since the late 90s heres a few reasons 1. too much slow motion with dramatic music 2. the picture quality 3. the camera angles, (i think called thats cinematography ?) 4. bad acting heres the way movies should be made correcting the above 1. the exorcist 2. beverly hills cop 3. 48 hrs 4. the shining 5. down and out in beverly hills 6. u-turn 7. heartbreak ridge these are just to name a few, in other words they should be made like the movies from the 80s
it's insulting to the people who made or are old fans of the material. and it's just plain gone too far. as a white man frankly I'm embarrassed. I feel like every white male is wearing a green hat, "Chinese symbol for a cuckold). Hollywood cucked us all and I imagine even people from small villages all across the world know about it by now.
Couples are always now mispaired racially. In Old, every couple made no sense. This detracted from the already horrendous acting. Even the white/white couple was a Nordic woman who was half a foot taller than the perhaps Spanish husband. In the recent past, actors were arguably too beautiful. Hollywood is like the corporate complex in that it's completely hostile to culture. It's one thing to use racially atypical romantic pairings, but it's quite another to insert racial absurdities into biopics or even traditional folk tales. Hollywood, corporate, 'big tech' all need to be audited to say the least, until we can figure out what the hell is going on.
Mr. Ager, The first R-rated movie I saw was “Papillon” (1973), and it was clearly a political critique of how the world treats prisoners. It’s hard to think of a 20th century drama film that didn’t have a political message. So, maybe modern movies don’t convey their political messages as well or with as much subtlety, but even movies like “High Noon” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” had serious underlying political themes.
TheTooginator or at least Or maybe more themes of the values we as as society hold or claim to hold and how behaviors change under pressure Also ideals
Schaffner's "Papillon" was actually "PG" despite the guillotine scene. (I should know, I went in there with a friend and no adult.) But you are 200% correct, there is NO MORE subtlety. Everything has to be a hammer over the head, especially movies with "gay" themes. Many directors today simply don't know how to tell a story, or are more concerned with telling a more than obvious "message" than telling a story. These movies usually end up being over the top. Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow" (1968) says more about racism in a single scene--the "why do I have to shuffle' scene, than in all Spike Lee's and John Singleton's movies put together!!!! American theater suffers from this problem too.
8:35 Re: Matrix Yes, absolutely. The overly coreographed fight moves absolutely reinforce the idea that they are just brains playing chess. It fits into the movie's theme very well. Great observation there.
Everything mentioned in this video are things I have noticed for a very long time, usually whilst blowing a vein and screaming at the TV. It's the reason I find all my entertainment online now. The art of cinema, TV, is dead, and the ability to tell a gripping story whilst tactfully capturing it on camera, is non existent. I'm often at a loss for words at how mediocre and low-quality everything has become, even more so that more people don''t complain...Thank you for making this video, it should help keep vein blowing to a minimum!
It's the same reason why so much of society and culture at large has been degenerating the last 20 or so years: technological advancements have made a vast proportion of the world lazier, dumber and far more commercialized than it was in the century before. When almost literally everything is available at the touch of a button, not much has to be expected anymore of the average individual that actually constitutes a society.
Probably the best comment here. Simply put. You would think people would be on another level of mind, intelligence and wisdom since everything is easily accessible compare to decades ago, for example, one had to like go to the library to check out a book compare to now, one can just easily just google whatever. Crazy
I recently re-watched "La Strada" (1954) directed by Federico Fellini and shot silent with audio added later - typical of Italian film making. The cinematography is no where near as polished as Hollywood films then or since, but the storyline and characters are primary to the visual creative elements and the story and visuals will rip your heart out no matter how many times you watch it - not just because it's a tragic film, but because it's so perfectly casted, acted, shot and edited.
Modern movies have much MUCH faster timing both in editing/cuts and in scene pacing. This results in no breathing room to develop characters. Everything is paced like a 30 second commercial or music video..
True. A classic movie like "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" could never be made now adays. Studios, and even many audiences, don't have the patience to watch a well made movie.
@@LorcaLoca it is, there are a few gems and some solid tracks here and there, but the days of buying an album from an artist and listening to the whole thing never skipping a track are almost completely gone
Oh my gosh! You are so right. It is aweful. It is so goshaweful. I admit I am not a music expert. However I can tell that modern music sounds really bad. I think that is because there is too much emphasis on having a catchy beat and not enough on getting a good melody. It ends up sounding like noise. The music I like is from the 60s and 70s. My favorites are John Denver, The Carpenters, the Beatles, Queen and the Doors. It varies depending on the artist. The better ones get good at striking a balance. I am a millenial. So I don't have the same kind of nostalgic bias that the old people have. Even then I still prefer the older stuff. When it comes to music I was born in the wrong generation. I just go for the stuff my mom used to listen to when she was a youth. I just thought of a good thing to say on this. I would rather have Beatles than Bieber any day.
In my opinion there are very very few truly great one of a kind young actors and actress' now. Theyre all so bland and generic and none of the can act. 95% of the young millennials and Gen Z's acting skills are so bad its like a plank of wood reading a story board. And as I said there are no stand outs. The 80s and 90s gave us incredible stars! All these young actors/actresses are truly forgetable, and you have no Cruise, no Sharron Stone, no Arnold, or Gibson, or Moore etc. Then we cant forget about how you used to have to be a great actor, or a great musician to be famous but now with social media idiots become famous everyday and then we have the box checking. Ppl only being hired bc of race, sexuality, gender etc. And most times they have no on screen chemistry that and hollywood hasnt had an original idea in decades. The same crap over and over and nobody is taking a risk making the next Star Wars, or Alien etc.
Thanks, Rob, for lending your intellect and insight to the movies. I think a lot of people around and over 40 are saying, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” I hope this is taken constructively by someone.
Ideological conformation is tearing at the fabric soul of art in general. To me this is one of the most significant of your points. Well done, and thanks for posting it.
Personally I think the first decade of the new millennium, the 00's was as good as any other, sure there was a lot of crap, but looking back at the "golden era's" of the seventies and eighties there was an awful lot of crap too along with the classics. However since the twenty-tens hit films have indeed undoubtedly taken a notable decline in quality, the ones that are so critically acclaimed and hyped are just so much bollocks.
3:19 About this, I 've noticed it too and I feel it is one of the biggest problems. Like you mentioned everything looks like a shampoo advertisement. I call it "everything is sexy". Not just the actors, I mean everything is a glamorized version of reality. In the first Jurrasic park, flat screen monitors where not yet mainstream but I am sure they could have used fake flat screen monitors to make the technology of the park look ahead of its time, but instead we see everyday huge CRT monitors which help ground the movie to reality. In the latest Jurassic World movies though, we see giant holograms all over the park! Not to mention protagonists running throughout the whole movie on high heels! In the Expendables, there is a scene in a latin american small traditional village run by military establishment and as the camera is following an incoming truck, on the foreground there is motorbike, a red Vespa that is literally in mint condition! No dents and all shinning. Not even dust on its tires. In Blindsided (thats the actual title I kidd you not), the main protagonist used to be a photographer in a warzone, in the first minutes we are shown a flashback of how she loses her eyesight after a suicide bomber approached her pretending to be asking for help, the bomb goes off literally not more than a meter away from her and then we see her in present time in her apartment back in the US and not only both she and her husband are looking gorgeous but their apartment is a luxurious penthouse which is furbished like a showcase of modern decoration, all clean and orderly, but we also see the protagonist's face and she doesn't even have a scratch from the bombing! She is just the actress with her eyes constantly open and faking an empty stare... Oh and Michael Keaton plays the bad guy in this movie cause you know... he hasn't aged gracefully, so yeah... type-cast him as the villain from now on, since he looks creepy! In series the same, I struggle to find old people! Most are young and look like models. Remember the character of Mark Greene from ER? How he was bald but did not shave his head? You wouldn't see that now. You either see a full head of hair, or its all shaved off. I really miss feeling like I am seeing "real life people" in movies and series and not feel that everything has been treated to look sexy!
Lack of money? "12 angry men" or "Rope" from Hitchcock was made in a room! nowadays seems like milenialls directors are just interested in expensive f/x a good script it makes no sense for them lack of a good story or readings I guess!
I worked at a movie theater for four years. I can absolutely confirm that people go and see movies that they know we’re going to be bad. The thing you mentioned is one of the reasons, but I think there are a couple more. Some people girl just hoping the movie is going to be good, even though they really know it’s not going to be. The other reason is, and this one surprised me when I started working at a movie theater, some people go to the movies just to have something to do, and they don’t really care how good movie is. I know that sounds weird, but it happens regularly
"Hell or High Water" and "Wind River" were two great movies that I didn't even realize existed until way after they were out of the cinemas. Really frustrating how bad the marketing is nowadays.
I think you missed an important point - the story void. I don't know who in Hollywood is now making decisions about the actual content of films, but they don't seem to understand the basics of good story-telling. I know there are plenty of good spec scripts that do a great job of telling an interesting story. I don't know if Hollywood just can't recognize them or if they really think that propaganda is a more important task for their medium.
![Beginners Guide To Being A Director In The Movie Industry - Jason Satterlund [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sxR8EJnMKkE/mqdefault.jpg)
Crazy how so much content can be produced on paid streaming services and yet it still feels like there's nothing interesting to watch.
crazy how I spend more time watching people talking into web cams than I do 100 million dollar blockbusters.
Huh sounds a lot like soviet russia
@@oscarsalesgirl296 You mean the land of Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Tarkowsky, Mikhalkov etc..?
George Lucas once said that Soviet filmmakers were freer than him, as long as they didn't openly criticise the regime. Other than that they had complete freedom, something that Lucas did envy.
@@oscarsalesgirl296 Oh, an online weirdo who compares stuff to a governmental system he can't define (red scare fucked yall up bad, believe less propaganda from your government). Shocking to see that on TH-cam 🙄
Same with cable same with free to air TV besides some of the subs some of the time meet the new boss same as the old boss.
01:16 Lack of economic pacing
02:10 Over-editing
03:19 OCD cinematography
05:14 OCD lighting
07:12 Over-choreographed action
09:10 Improper use of CGI
11:41 Boring musical scores
14:03 Over compartmentalization of personnel
15:27 Terrible casting
16:23 Recycled symbols and metaphors
19:13 Dumb heroes
22:03 Mumbled dialogue
23:26 Ever-increasing spectacle
26:11 Blank canvas "art" movies
29:04 The uncinematic world of I.T. communication
31:49 Over-reliance on exposition
34:23 Illegal downloading
35:35 Blitz marketing instead of word of mouth
36:52 Dependence on commercial and political adver
39:03 Brand based film making
39:53 Fake reviews
41:37 Expensive technical standards
44:33 Ideological conformity
47:05 Socially motivated viewing
48:22 Redundancy of art in the face of mass commun
51:35 Lack of visionary film makers
Thank you very much for that ! Pinned as top comment.
Reads like one hell of a gripe doesn't it.
My pleasure, Rob. It's my small contribution to your hard work.
The points are excellent. I agree with almost everything.
Finished all the time tags. Any reason "Fame-seeking film makers" appears in the article version but missing from the video?
Glad to help. Greetings from Israel.
This was a half-adlibbed video so I ended up combining it with the last one "Lack of visionary film makers".
You missed analytics: they now use analytics to structure plots, characters, scenes and all kinds of elements. They've tried to reduce success to some algorithms. Leads to lack of novelty, creativity, and depth. Everything is recycled and stale.
That basically boils it down to 'committee'. The trouble began when big corporations began buying up successful subsidiaries. Take the music business for example. Sony bought up loads of small, successful companies and suddenly those companies had to make decisions based on shareholders' opinions and share prices. If a band didn't have a hit on their first record, that was them done for, no matter how much promise the had.
Yeah, also test screenings that can affect the movie's final form should be scrapped immediately. A room full of buddies of the CEO of Fox shouldn't be steering the production into any direction.
But it sells. Hollywood's a business and a propaganda arm of Washington's. They don't owe anybody high quality art nor entertainment.
Reading this made me super depressed
You nailed it!
I literally CANNOT STAND when they have 500+ cuts in a ONE-MINUTE chase seen. Add to that, the weird shaking camera effects and filters, and it’s enough to drive me INSANE.
It works in Baby Driver. However many movies are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdone and have a lot of continuity errors.
Korean action movies are way over-edited. Not only in action sequences, but in dialogue scenes also.
@@heartlights Yes, over-editing is a cheat and a crutch for lack of an interesting script, camera footage, or acting. It’s a last ditch effort to create excitement and energy in a dull, poorly directed movie.
How dare you dis the Taken' franchise
All this hi speed camera action is so crap
Even the bad movies of the 80's and 90's were watchable. It seems like Hollywood lost its creativity.
They went techno and lost their souls
You can watch Bill and Ted 2? Man I wish I had that patience lmao
Hollywood went woke
@@Evan-yl4rs now more than ever
@@muglymae7408 America used to be the beacon of creativity of art, film, and music. Now its just a hollowed out woke commercial of itself. Sad.
Director controlled films are the best.
Producer controlled films are soulless, cash grabs.
Yup. The worst though are films that start as director controlled, then he quits and the studio execs takes over. That scenario just destroys a production. And we get yet another hollywood turd.
I kinda like Battlefield Earth for their straight-forward approach.
You are delusional.
The union effect?
What do unions have to do with studio exec choices?
It seems a lot of the complaints can be summed up as pandering to instant gratification/entitlement and abysmal attention span.
Exactly
Spring Bloom sorry? What were you saying?
So....where's the instant gratification?? I'm usually so thoroughly ungratified by most newer movies I don't see how you can call them remotely "gratifying".
That is just a style and is not the real reason for the movies being so bad as a whole. I would say it is politics in movies, bad acting and a much smaller overall movie industry.
TV is now massive and I predict that TV show budgets are about to over take movies in the next 10 years. Game of Thrones for example is better than any movie out there and it looks better and feels better as well and that is a TV show.
Two back to back episodes is like a movie.
big hands;
you're wrong when you claim that TV is such a ferocious competitor recently: things were always this way - Miami Vice, Twin Peaks, The X-files, Robin of Sherwood (in Europe),... these were hugely popular TV shows
This video made me realize how cold the world is today... the fact that we are all connected through social media... made us forget that we have a heart
The mediator between the head and hands, must be the heart
What I really can't stand nowadays is most movies have a lot of plot, but very little story.
Excellent way of putting it
dragunkiller360 Yes, true. Lots of stuff going on but nothing you actually remember or care about.
THEremiXFACTOR So much going on. But nothing really happening.
That's a very good way of saying it. The writers, directors, editors and basically everyone working on movies have been educated and raised on the monomyth, Robert McKee's "Story", Joseph Campbell etc. and now slavishly copy-paste all the elements of a story. Plot is God to them, and they don't even recognize what a story is.
Yep, is anyone really saying anything anymore? What story are they telling? As you say, it all just seems to be an exercise in making a movie, doesn't feel like these filmmakers are actually expressing anything.
A big reason you don't see visionary artists (or directors or musicians etc) is simply because most free thinking people are held at arms length in most of our modern industries. The 'yes man' is far more likely to make it further in school or even the workforce today.
Unfortunately, art and film have become a business. Corporations are less likely to take chances on people or artists who have their own way of thinking contrary to 'the norm'.
This has a severe side effect on film especially, due to the ever increasing cost to create even a simple project.
So it would seem that movies these days are primarily made by people who have the money to do so. The very people who aren't held at arms length by society.
The rich. The 'yes man'.
However there is hope. The somewhat new popularity of self funding websites has given artists a real chance to get their words and ideas out there, so remember to support your artists.
Love your videos Rob. Very refreshing. Keep up the good work.
Actually making a film has never been easier. But I agree with what you said tho. I don't think someone like Stanley Kubrick could make the kind of movies he made with the current system
I can not agree MORE with this comment. This is exactly the way that it is. PLUS they do NOT want a wild-eyed independent free-thinking human to disrupt the narrative they've been pushing. This WILL SOON not be the case. #WWG1WGA #PainIsComing #DarkToLight #TheGreatAwakening
Regarding the music industry, nobody pays for music anymore, so the only people who can survive are propped-up corporate shills.
www.pablosmoglives.com
@Mark Grimesin the case of Star Wars, the counter-point to George's ideas was Gary Kurtz, who really was a formidable producer. Unfortnatly, he and George parted ways, but Gary was the guy who helped George to be an even better filmmaker than he was, by challenging his ideas, and sometimes, saying "no" to him.
Mr Big true but the odds of such a film gaining the same exposure/audience as a cash grab summer movie are minuscule by comparison
Disney's Starwars must tick a minimum 20 on this list.
Yes. One reason why I reject all Star Wars filmed after 1983.
Sadly, yes...
Marvel ticks all 26...consistently
*2005
This video could actually even be titled "All the reasons Disney's Star Wars Trilogy is Trash" OR "Things the MCU need to improve upon"
Hello Mr Ager
I'm a teenage wannabe filmmaker who wants to be one of the greats like Kubrick, Scorsese or PTA(as you can probably figure out from my profile picture). Your final comment on how there are no more visionary filmmakers, and that most modern filmmakers; wannabe or not have nothing to say about the world or anything, deeply spoke to my soul. All I want to say is thank you because you really inspired me to read a lot more books and find my own voice, opinion and insight on the world. I would also like to mention that your channel is absolutely great!
Thank you,
Goblin
You've made the right decision if you're watching Stanley Kubrick films. He was a brilliant director. I love those sinister fast zooms he used to do in films like The Shining, and the slow motion scenes in A Clockwork Orange. Hitchcock and David Lynch are also great directors.
@@ajs41 Thank you for the reply! Yeah, I absolutely adore Hitchcock and lynch, especially vertigo and rear window for Hitchcock, and blue velvet for lynch. I wonder if lynch will make any more films?
Don't listen to him. He's talking out of his arse.
There are plenty of incredible films being made by amazing directors. Yes, Hollywood isn't where they're being created, but that's like claiming all music is shit by only looking at what's trending on Spotify.
If you want to be a great director, don't listen to tragic, grumpy old men who claim that everything was better when all this were nowt but trees.
Now get your arse down to a good indie cinema and watch something other than a fucking Marvel film.
@@peterclarke7240 Thank you for the reply. Do you have any good indie film suggestions? I watched Yorgos Lanthimos' the killing of a sacred deer last week and really liked it.
If you want some reading recommendations (yahoo! my wheelhouse!) I have some:
-Rebecca, The Birds, and Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (Hitchcock lovvvvedd her work)
-Anything from PG Wodehouse (not deep or intense, but so funny)
-Angle of Repose (best book I've ever read)
-The Girl in the Swing (by Richard Adams, who wrote Watership Down, also an excellent children's movie)
-Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (way ahead of his time, actually amazing feminist commentary, he has a surprisingly great understanding of the female perspective and subtle social gaslighting)
-Anything from Issac Asimov, just a really excellent craftsman
-the Joy Luck Club (beautiful)
-The Manchurian Candidate (nuff said)
The most obvious for me is movies today do not have any story. Special effects and visual stimulation, but no story.
Last season of Game of Thrones, perfect example. It's now a CGI spectacle.
There are still amazing quotes from season 7 that kept my interest. If they lose their ability to make the characters explain motives in depth then I'm done. That Jon Snow explanation for why he didn't bow in the last episode was masterful. Take that away and I can't continue.
First of all, GOT is a show, not a movie. Furthermore, it has never strayed from the story. I know it is the cool thing to do to shit on everything but where is your epic fantasy sci fi taking the world by storm? That is what I thought...
You just don't know what a story or plot is then. More movies today actually answer questions and delve deeper than the movies of old that some hold in such high esteem Paul.
Ah I see, shows are wholly different from movies, they're not telling a story and there's no CGI involved. Gotcha.
"Has never strayed from the story", last two seasons were ahead of where GRRM is with his books. It's completely new material dreamed up by the show writers, as should be blatantly obvious with staggering drop in quality since they had to come up with their own.
It's not cool, or edgy or whatever you wanna call it to realise that the show writers are incompetent buffoons, it's just the truth, and it bothers me because GoT used to be one of my favorite shows.
"If the artist isn't actually expressing something, it's not art."
That is a touch of friggin brilliance in this valueless world!!
Art has many forms, mediums. As an artist myself, to me it's a way to express emotions or how you view the world.
sfcampbell19 AMEN!!!!!!!
TheFrybo Behold!! I've found the ideological bigot of conformity, trying to fend of the "boomers" from pointing out the utter trash his culture has become. Yes, we are boomers (and gen x), and we are ok.
@TheFrybo You are a pretentious pseud.
If you love or hate a piece of art it has worked as a piece of art, it made you feel something... if you it made you feel nothing, it's not art.. That is a slightly mor e elaborate version of something I say, it's a similar sentiment..
I just watched A Fistful of Dollars for the first time and it really struck me how intelligent the man with no name is. He keeps his calm after being insulted and shot at until he has enough information to know he will be relatively safe killing the bandits who shot at him. Then he uswd this to gain favor with the more powerful of the bandits and uses his position to gain information about things. In a modern movie hed just shoot everyone without a single care, and the movies runtime would be padded with a love story or something equally stupid and overdone instead of the slower quiet scenes of him being intelligent and building up the atmosphere of the town.
It's an Italian remake of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo."
excellent example. Now apply this to modern supeheroes. When is the last time we saw BATMAN use his detective skills to win, rather than technology or brutality?
@@lukeyznaga7627 super heroes are not about detective work.
@@smotnick where did you get the official definition of super heroes. If DC says it has a superheroe that is also sort of a detective, then Batman is. You are talking philosophy but not what the superheroes actually are in DC and Marvel. In olden days, Batman also solved crimes using his computers, and getting info out of thugs, strreet informants and spying on stake outs. Yeah, Detective work.
@@lukeyznaga7627 Batman has NEVER been portrayed in film as a "detective."
I love how you don't show any movie content, and you keep the same camera setup throughout, and I never got bored!
A class act.
I am personally sick of CGI. I find myself going back to movies that didn't have CGI.
Bathysphere I think it should be used when and where it helps the story along
And that's it
It has become a crutch. Joker reminds people of what is really worth seeing.
Agreed, Bathysphere. Of course, if you didn't notice any CGI in a movie, then it isn't _bad_ CGI.
I find, for special effects, that even 'good' CGI interferes with my suspension of disbelief in a way that even bad practical effects don't, somehow.
I thought the nuclear explosion sequence in Terminator 2 was CGI until I saw a documentary showing how it was actually all scaled down models and real photos. No wonder it looked so realistic.
Agreed. They are totally over-using it these days.
Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove’s portrayal of the telephone (technology) being the source of miscommunication, confusion, pure evil and eventual doomsday was prophetic. He was brilliant and a true human being. I miss him.
And Dr Strangelove is also free of ideological conformity. It's set up as a parody, of course, but there's still something in it. Like the scene when they're about to phone the president to prevent a nuclear strike, but still stick to the Coca Cola Company. Or the ambassador who wouldn't smoke Jamaican cigars, only Cuban ones.
I'd rather have communists and capitalists, fascists and liberals, conservatives and progressives who can openly and calmly discuss politics rather than a bunch of streamlined conformists who try to secretly push the own, nonconforming agenda while accusing anyone else of secretly pushing theirs.
@@spiritualeco-syndicalisthe207 I agree with everything that you’re saying.
No technology worked flawlessly in that film. Not even the coke machines.
When you mentioned mumbled dialogue it reminded me of one of the things that ruins some movies for me. Dialogue scenes that are so quiet that you have to turn up the volume and then the very next scene there's things blowing up and blasting out your eardrums. I'm constantly having to turn the volume up and down.
Yes, I will stop watching a move if the producers pull this shit.
I Am Legend.
I had to turn it off. It was driving me crazy because the zombie screeches were ear splitting unless I turned it down so I couldn't hear anyone talk.
I turn on Closed Captioning and treat it like a bad foreign language movie. (Hollyweird is a very foreign land.;)
microphone is way too far away
For me, I think much of Hollywood and just society in general is about “feeling” things. The focus isn’t on making you think but rather making you feel. Not realizing that making you think about the concept conveyed will provoke feelings. But they short change the process and just try to strike the feels. Which is why they rely so heavily on nostalgia. Easy feels.
I agree with you.
@haveanotherpinacolada agreed. They are focused on the outcome rather than the process and you rarely ever produce results when going at it that way. They assume “this” should provoke that feeling, but never took the time to create it. Just that since a far better film before this one had done it this way then their film should evoke the same feeling. But it’s doesn’t. It just makes you regret not watching the better film.
the answer is nepotism, from my experience in LA one needs to be a part of a family or tribe to get a film off. it is not based on talent. this is why there are no filmmakers anymore, just producers. all is going to change soon, as this method is making them Lose money, so they will need fresh talent. let's see.
or like to get weinsteined.. hollywood can suck a dick
hope you are right because todays movies are damm bad.
thatsnumberwang100 take your anti-Semitic bullshit somewhere else
Dawson Douglas fascist hipster
@Dawson Douglas th-cam.com/video/XWWBDvOaVUY/w-d-xo.html
Just saw Terminator 2 in 3D today and even though I've seen it 150 times, it's an absolute classic! I overheard a young teenager who had a top-knot, man-bun hair style complaining to his dad on the way out of the cinema that the movie was too slow. He was like 14. I don't really have a point but yeh...the future looks shit
DJ Zan "The future looks shit"
No fate but what we make for ourselves ;-)
@@elizabethwhite131 I'm willing to bet you hate sensitive movies. Well if you do, stop being shallow. The second one is superior because the plot takes an even MORE human emotional approach and NAILS IT.
@@elizabethwhite131 I agree. I liked the very dark, gritty & serious nature of the first film that lacked the jokes of the 2nd. Everything was fresh in T1 and T2 ripped off many ideas from it even though I liked it as well. Even though the T800 in T1 was less advanced than the T1000 of T2, I always felt Arnold delivered a great performance & was much more menacing than the T1000. I couldn't care less that the effects weren't as good. Fuck effects. The movie had a lot of meat & relied on it.
I like how you talked about future wheh talking about T2..and good point lol
I suggested to my daniel craig bond loving nephew that he should watch a 60s bond movie. He later told me that he tried to watch goldfinger but only got halfway through it as there wasn't enough action for him!
*There have always been bad films and good films. In fact, more bad than good.*
However, I think there is something _unique and pervasive_ in bad cinema now.
Films are beginning to feel like cold, cookie-cutter designed, projects created by a committee of studio executives.
There is something uniquely depressing about watching an artistically soulless, bland color graded, piece of cinema that took hundreds of millions of dollars to create.
It's a feeling of tremendous waste.
And it's so...common.
I don't think it's nostalgia or nit picking when it's fairly easy to point out these trends. And we should. We should demand more from our art.
As someone who worked in the industry for over 25yrs and have since moved on, I have to say that this is the most concise listing of why most of the films of today don't appeal to those of us that have an expanded knowledge of film history and the film making process from a professional perspective. I couldn't agree with you more on every single count. Well done Rob!
One reason why I don't like watching action movies like Star Wars, Transformers, or Marvel superhero movies is because they are all so predictable, especially the endings with the big epic fight scenes. I understand that you always have to have a climactic ending, but I just got tired of it.
Amen.
Consistently Random : Darth Vader : ,, I am your father ! " and the fact that Luke lost the lightsabers fight and his hand were not predictable at all. That is why the Empire strike back is better than Star Wars
To be fair with Comic book movies you know what you're paying for when you go into them they are supposed to be action packed eye candy to entertain you for a few hours.. and some Marvel flicks do try new approaches Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Thor Ragnarok. Although ill admit I would much rather watch films like Memento, Pans Labyrinth, Children of Men etc.
OP, could it be that you've been exposed to a large amount of similar movies already?
Films I find a little predictable I find my kids, due to not seeing as many films as I've seen, EVERYTHING feels new and fresh to them and their reactions are far more entheusiastic than mine.
kudosbudo Yeah but predictable doesnt always mean bad as long as its a good story made in an interesting way, for me a film can be totally unoriginal and i can still find enjoyment in it whether that be how its directed, characters, atmosphere heck even the score has been the saving grace for a few, and some of the worst films ive seen are the ones that try too hard to be different they usually just make me cringe because they are executed so lazily that i would rather be watching something similar to something i had already seen than watch some contrived garbage.. example since people are talking about Star Wars, I found the latest installment by far my least favourite in the series for many many reasons and it is considered by most to be the most daring and different. Its okay for a film to have different ideas or take things in a new direction as long as those ideas are explored in an interesting and compelling way instead of being different for the sake of it.
This video is already out of date 4 years later.
Films have been dismantled much further in the last 5 years in the age of movies as "content" for streaming services, the age of hyper-politicization, the age of deconstructionism, and the age of nostalgia-bait, etc.
Your exactly right, Dave T Geek. Look at some of the politics pushed into superhero movies. The streaming shows are worst now. And the remakes....lousy.
That sounds like it aged better.
@@CarloNassar 😂😂😂 no.
@@FrankBugZappa
Yes, because it's still about negativity on films nowadays. The video is not out of date if there are *extra* reasons after a few years from being uploaded. They only add to the video, not go against it.
21:00 "Maybe people are becoming dumber." This guy is great!
@TheFrybo i wouldn't go that far, but he does seem to be too lazy to look beyond american mainstream cinema. there have been tons of brilliant films since 2000, you will just won't find them in the cineplex. just to name one, triangle from 2009 puts most of his favorite films to shame. then you basically have all the michael haneke, sion sono, chan-wook park, gilliam, herzog, andersson and lnych films etc etc etc. i am kinda surprised that he isn't all over yorgos movies, even though they arent my cup of tea. they are basically tailor made to his taste. anyway, the list is endless, so the title of this video is pretty ignorant and factually incorrect.
@TheFrybo you're a twat.
Hopefully those monoliths will help!
People have always been mostly average intelligence, which is not really very smart
You are not people Boardwalk?
One thing I would decry about modern films is ENDLESS remakes! And how many films are Marvel characters. How many Spiderman remakes and sequels have there been? Is there no one in Hollywood with an original idea?
The 70s, 80s and 90s were the best decades for Movies. So many masterpieces were made back then!!
Some good 60's movies too. Planet Of The Apes, for instance was 1968. Forbidden Planet was 1958. Way before my time but one of my favourite movies.
Don't forget the 60s
There will be blood
No country for old men
Whiplash
Blade runner 2049
Hacksaw ridge
The social network
Inglorious bastards
Django unchained
Drive
Her
Nightcrawler
The hateful eight
Parasite
Snowpicer
The lighthouse
1917
Good time
Uncut germs
Zodiac
Gone girl
The girl with the dragon tattoo
I saw the devil
The raid 1&2
Prometheus
The master
Prisoners
The killing of a scared deer
Mother! 2017
This are all great movies
I would've said '50s, '60s, and '70s, but I still basically agree with you.
@@bookeblade Movies pre-2010 were generally pretty decent, too. It's only in the last decade that movies have regressed hugely.
Western society has regressed intellectually, and I think that is why individuals who look for intellectual movies are often disappointed.
You, Sir, are one of the few to see the big picture. Try spending a decade of your life trying to submit an intelligent manuscript to a publisher. Before giving up in disgust.
Absolutely! I REALLY miss getting to see a new film I need to see a few times before I fully understand it.
@@VULVOLINE009 It's more about nailing the mass market. Since the 90's mergers it's possible for big players who then avoid less lucrative niche markets. More horizontal integration, less consumer choice. (restore the antitrust laws)
Its happening with everything ... music, videogames EVERYTHING.
I like to watch Akira Kurosawa's films, older Hollywood films and I also like to search for foreign films. Modern Hollywood is dead, they are a bunch of hypocrites, cowards and fools. I love quality stories that make you think, I love characters that progress and grow as the story goes on and I love it when they are challenged and they over come those challenges with hard work, training, skill and quick thinking. I love villains that are threatening, villains like the Major from Hellsing Ultimate or Darth Vader or Tywin Lannister. When it comes to villains like Kylo Ren or Hux I can't stand them, they are pathetic emotionally unstable brats that shout, scream and throw temper tantrums like pathetic entitled little shits. Pardon my langue but I prefer a villain who is calm, intelligent and threatening. The few gems that modern Hollywood have is Midway, Jojo Rabbit, Joker and 1917. If there are more good modern Hollywood films then I shall take a look.
I'll add #27: Actors not classily trained. Go watch some Pre-Code Hollywood films, and you'll be blown away.
Pre-Code? Is that what you actually mean? That limits your example size to nothing after 1933.
@@mattcarpenter318 That is not a small sample size .. why dismiss the first million years of film history?
If Stanley Kubrick would pop up at LucasFilm today and trying to pitch his idea for a new Star Wars movie, Kathleen Kennedy would boot his ass out before he could even say Hello.
When you talked about the mumbled dialog I actually shouted out "Yes!!!" That drives me absolutely crazy. Why are certain actors thinking that they seem so deep and sophisticated and interesting when they do that?! To me it shows such a distain for the audience and such a self important arrogance! None of those actors are so fascinating and gorgeous that they can get away with it. The job of an actor is to communicate a story. If we can't understand what they are saying, what good are they?
I blame Greta gerwig for the popularity of mumblecore
@TheFrybo sorry, what? I couldn't read that, you didn't type it loud enough. Try all caps maybe?
@TheFrybo I think it's the other way around where mumble movies won't age well and older movies with clear dialogue age better. Languages evolve over time and a couple hundred years down the line audiences will find clear dialogue movies easier to digest.
Mumble dialogue takes me right out of the movie. Remember the epic confrontation between Batman and Baine near the end of The Dark Knight Rises? Whatever they were going on about, I didn't understand it. Way to ruin the climax that they've been leading up to for 2 and a half hours.
@TheFrybo more jokes about my fat mom please, I am rolling rn. Thank you, sincerely
@TheFrybo you already 'wasted' some on me, and it was again hilarious.
You're pretty funny! You should concentrate on that part of your personality instead of just getting mad at people online all day. Hope you had a good day today, dude.
Modern Horror movies can be the worst offenders, literally every Horror feels the same in their premise and cinematography like you can always tell when they do a build up to a "fake scare" and a Jump scare.
Yes and no. I'd say several horror films of the past 5 years are pretty original and groundbreaking (Get Out, The Lighthouse, Hereditary, Midsommer). But I mostly agree with your sentiment.
That's because someone, at some point, seemed to decide that all horror movies had to follow a set of rules which made them all the same. I've seen this argument being made with other kinds of movies as well. I can't count how many times I've seen people say some variation of "if you're going to make a superhero movie you have to follow the 'Marvel formula' which would have the effect of making them all the same too.
No. You just watch bad horror movies.
I've been watching the free, old Hamer Hortor movies on Yahoo recently.
What a breach of fresh air. 👌
The limited budgets meant both directors & producers were forced
to think outside the square.
For example, less is definitely more.
Compare the 70's Hamer Horror movies which rely on music OR the lack if music bybjust the wind blowing, or, a door banging in the wind as a great build up for tension VERSUS the Conjuring Series. 🤷♂️🤷♀️
The first Conjuring movie was okay . . .
even passable.👍
The other Conjuring films including the very recent one. . . . yawn.🙅♂️🙅♀️
@@FrostedSeagull Exactly, limited budget and limits in special effects capability force a greater level of creativity.
The problem to me is how so many movies are remakes that largely miss the thematic points of the original film. The Terminator series is a good example of losing its way. The original was a blend of horror, sci-fi, and for the limited exposition that it gave you, was a good movie.
One of the most egregious example of ideological conformity I remember seeing was when several online news outlets accused Michelle Rodriguez of saying minorities "needed to stop stealing superheroes from white people.' Except that's not what she said at all: what she actually said was that minorities should strive to make their own original ideas, instead of wanting to alter pre-existing characters. I completely agree with her. I personally think an original fantasy or action idea featuring a diverse cast would be far more interesting as well as a breathe of fresh air from stuff like "The Addams Family, but black", or "Silverhawks, but with women."
But yeah, I found it really disgusting how Rodriguez's comments were wildly and deliberately misinterpreted.
You should ask a black person, who's okay with the black Little Mermaid, whether or not they're also okay with a white Black Panther. Petty of me, yes, but amusing.
@@ryans756 does she rap instead of sing
@@matthewferguson7084 Under da sea, nagger! Bitch it's better down where it's wetter.
Hmmm 🤔
@@ryans756 What about the most obvious symbol in the U.S.A, "the White House". No one want to touch that one, at least not yet, until one day they'll call it....well u know.
No one wants to see Jane Bond. It's far better to create a new character, like a Lara Croft.
A white Black Panther? a confused superhero??,..i don't know how that would work out. Half white, 1/2 black panther? What about a White & Black White house. I don't get it, or just painted black. Maybe a rainbow would work out best. But no one wants USA to be a laughing stock. Well,...it supposedly already is.@@ryans756
ADHD. Kids today have such a short attention span that movies have to run a a very quick edit. Seems like the rule of thumb is, wait to see how long a child takes to look at their phone during the story - then Quickly edit the scene to a pointless action shot...
Film makers should really stop pandering to this and make lower budgeted films that generous in story.
The Place Beyond the Pines, Birdman, Fury Road, Whiplash, No Country for Old Men, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Road to Perdition, LOTR Trilogy, The Departed, Silence, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Revenant (I don't care, it was breathtakingly shot, and compelling as hell imho. Also has a beautiful, minimalist score), Baby Driver, The Spectacular Now, Prisoners, Sicario, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Up, Monsters Inc., Oldboy, Adaptation, Memento, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Town, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Sunshine, The Machinist, The Prestige, The Fighter, O Brother, Where art Thou?, Hot Fuzz, Inside Man, Training Day, Man on Fire, Unbreakable, Snatch, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Battle Royale, Meet the Parents, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist, The Bourne Ultimatum, City of God, Mystic River, Curse of the Black Pearl, Eternal Sunshine, Collateral, The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Lord of War, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, Burn After Reading, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Blue Valentine, Drive, Django Unchained, Moon, Take Shelter, 50/50, Hunger, Skyfall, Looper, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dredd, Seven Psychopaths, Grand Budapest Hotel, John Wick, Foxcatcher, Inside Out, Ex Machina, Creed, The End of the Tour, Room, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Hacksaw Ridge, Kingsman etc.
You missed the most glaring and obvious reason for many of the things you listed. It's subtle. Few realize it. And we can thank George Lucas for it. The reason post-millenial movies suck comes down to technology. One technology in particular. High Quality Digital Cameras for Filmaking. Shooting purely on digital. The end of film. And no I'm not talking about this from a Quentin Tarantino'esque auteur of the purity of film. Film had an important but unheralded role in the process. Film was an economic limitation. It was a limited resource with a high very tangible cost. Every second counted in the budget. The Directors and Producers had to minimize that cost. That means they had to plan out every shot carefully. Taught pacing was as much driven by economic factors as it was artistic. If you say something two or three times you are wasting film and eating up the budget pointlessly.
But Digital largely removed that economic limitation. Digital storage is dirt cheap. So modern filmmakers either did not learn or long since abandoned the necessary economy of shooting carefully. Instead they shoot everything. Numerous times. Then declare they'll fix it in post. They no longer allocate budget based on the limited resource and therefore limited run time. Removing the limited resource of traditional film stock removed an important unseen force on the natural editing and planning process. From the removal of a natural limitation we get things like Batman V Superman. Where the director clearly had 24 hours worth of movie shot with no concept of how to cut it down for time or piece it all together. He just pointed cameras at things and watched what happened. Storyboarding used to be an economic necessity to plan out each frame, each second of film. Now it's just something to do to figure out your location schedule, at least until the script comes in.
Wow , great point! Thanks for sharing Andrew
Excellent point. Add it to the list 👍
Andrew Taylor I think your point goes hand in glove with his point. It’s the result of those limitations removed.
Also, film has a flicker that your brain tunes out, creating a constant unconscious reminder that the movie is fake. Without that, all the breaks with reality (shot changes, musical score, the angle of the screen) are a constant mild annoyance for your brain's interpretive mechanism. This is basically a non-issue for found footage movies however, since they are actually framed as recordings.
I was with you until you brought up Batman v. Superman, which was shot on film. You can still regard it as a mess, but not for the reason of having unlimited digital storage space. www.kodak.com/us/en/motion/blog/blog_post?contentid=4294995322
On the over-editing, having watched a video on Jackie Chan films and Asian movies in general, started hating Hollywood action movies, simply because you can’t feel the impact of the punches and you can’t follow what’s going on.
Was that the video by Rossatron?
Hk film industry is the champion of action films imo. Jackie Chan's films are mostly directed by Sammo Hung who is a master at choreographing fights with some of the craziest stunts and performers ever. Yuen Biao for example is an incredible martial artist stuntman who doesn't get enough praise. Yuen Woo Ping as well.
Even when it comes to shootouts have you ever seen anything better than the shootouts you see in Johnnie To's films? Or John Woo or even to a lesser degree Ringo lam and Tsui Hark? I'd take any HK action film over the best of what Hollywood produces any day of the week.
@@tylerdordon99 finally,another hk film fan
@@Love-Sensibility I like your name
Films like Fast and Furious make Die Hard look like a masterpiece.
Die Hard IS a masterpiece :)
@@Elmgren76 As an action movie, yes. And compared to some of the stuff put out today, it looks more artistic.
F&F is trash
what are you talking about Die Hard is a masterpiece, its wildly regarded as the Greatest action movie ever made, and its one of my personal favorite movies ever right up there with Indiana Jones trilogy
@@lukeschroter9389 It's a great action film but its not as if it's an emotionally deep or aesthetically complex work of art. In its time it was just a blockbuster.
CGI should not be used to REMOVE MUSTACHES.
Jason Roggasch I was just thinking about that when he mentioned unnecessary CGI XD.
Jason Roggasch lol
Good Justice League joke.
Especially when a more cohesive and detailed cut of the movie already exists.
For me I really felt the quality of movies and music going downhill in 2010 onwards. Good to know Im not crazy and there are others who feel the same way
Now a days they will take an awesome movie from the 80's, pull down their pants to take a crap all over the original, then start walk off proudly tripping over their pants flat on their face. And they do the same with sequels in a popular franchise. Fans are praying they don't pick their beloved franchise to mock.
Yea, in terms of mainstream movies there trash, there still a lot of indie movies that are really great
As a rule I don't watch anything made after 2010. Glad to see someone else too noticed the timeline when entertainment standard went downhill.
@@SS-ph1ll there’s plenty of good films made today. Drive, Lighthouse, The Witch. You’re missing out
Mumbling is so prevalent in films these days.
I watch a film and think my hearing is going but then I watch an older film and wonder just why do filmmakers think needing subtitles on at several points is a good artistic choice.
Look at Marlon Brando and James Dean you'll be surprised
This is really good. Its bewildering that they can make really good TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire but films are just so often dull exercises in form over substance
I think one of the biggest reasons why most films these days follow the same formats as you described Rob is because there is no joy in the film industry to make movies for entertainment anymore. Everyone wants to make that movie that they think will bring in awards and name recognition. I would say this is particularly true in the last 10-15 years. Have you noticed over the years all these Best Picture winners that completely fall off the radar after they got their awards?
After watching a lot of Kubrick, Tarantino, and other old classic films, I started to notice how forgettable, repetitive, safe, and boring 90% of modern movies(2010-present) are. I don’t get why we don’t get great films like Apocalypse Now made anymore and that’s sad
I was born in 1990 and grew up on 70/80/90s movies on VHS. Still to this day I continue to watch and collect VHS tapes. Love old movies, nothing like them anymore
wish to have one of these
I absolutely agree!
I was born in the late 1950's. I scour thrift shops, etc for older movies, pre-2000, on VHS & DVD. Very affordable and much more entertaining.
Born in 80s - Love watching a good movie - Black & White Silent Movies, New Colour Age, Any Decade Pre 2000s I am fully entertained by. Bollywood still holds on to entertainment concept but with Disney & Sony etc now buying up their studios & Independent Directors to create committees the Movies now follow Hollywood Formula and become generic Millennial Woke Mess - Stopped watching them since 2010 while they had been a staple of my childhood. I did not watch Hollywood movies till my teens. The Movie making process developed slower in Bollywood so only caught up in 2010+ with Hollywood Studios.
I miss good old VHS.
@@5pointview717 - Born in the 70s. Miss the simpler life of the 80s.
Absolutely, I go to thrift shops for VHS and find some great titles. For example I found recently a really old one, “The man who knew too much” by Hitchcock. This after I found an old tv/vcr combo in the alley that was in good condition. I guess people didn’t need it anymore! But it led me to discover some great movies, and even just learn about older movies in general and have fun watching some classics and more obscure ones.
People really do have such vapid thoughts about popular culture to believe "it used to be better" without actually realizing that it's the same as it ever was and some of the best movies are just so easy to find now. Even back in the "golden era" good movies were so hard to find. And were just as limited as they are today.
@Drumslav Czechisenko Amazon, Netflix, Shudder, Hulu, TH-cam has some interesting small creator creations. In the theaters I watched Hereditary, Mandy was also in theaters, which is so wonderful.
Depends on what genre you like, but if you are honestly confused of where to find movies, If you tell me your preferred genre I can give you modern suggestions and where to find them.
Pretty much movies are Manufactured not Created these days...
Search outside of Hollywood. Most of the best films come from europe and asia.
@@LorcaLoca Burning (Korea) was probably my favorite film this year
Sweet! See, it's not all bad.
And for ALL the charges of "Liberalism" by today's rightwingers, Hollywood is actually fiscally conservative. Hell, A LOT more so than our Federal governement. NOTE how many REMAKES, SEQUELS, PREQUELS, FRANCHISES. They are playing it safe, obviously because they don't want to lose money, especially now. An original script by an unknown is too great a risk. Like a bank giving a loan to an eighteen year old with a part-time minimum wage job. American theater is EVEN MORE fiscally consertive. Of course, they'll NEVER NEVER admit it.
@@smotnick Are you alright?
Movies nowadays in a nutshell = No plot and lots of pyrotechnics.
Overall, Art is clearly in a downward-spiral.
I wish someone would make such a list for post-millennial music.
Thoughty2
Rik Beato's videos occasionally refer to the musical bankruptcy of post-millennial pop.
1) Lack of an optimistic leader 2) See 1.
It's SO HORRIBLE
Trend chasing, using the same chord/ melody formulas over and over, quantization.. but there’s a whole lot of music out there and you could probably find a lot you like from any year, unless your taste is that narrow.
70s 80s 90s 2000s were the best time for movies.
All movies today are garbage
All the best movie directors and actors are old now
The new ones dont know what the hell they are doing
All i watch these days is old movies that ive seen before
My favorite writer/director/composer is John Carpenter, the man is a genius. Another thing is analog will always be better than digital. long live film.
Same with music bro.
Assault on Precinct 13
The scale of his genius is becoming greater as the years progress really
How is analogue better than digital? Shooting and editing on film is expensive and clumsy, and it may look nice but it doesn't make bad writing or directing any better. Making the process more difficult doesn't result in a superior product - it's the vision behind the camera and a sense of storytelling that brings a film to life - not what it's shot on. I'd rather see a good movie with a compelling story shot on digital than a shit movie shot on film.
you must be over 50 yrs old.
Improvising in comedies rather than writing thought out scenarios. Way too much pop culture references in jokes.
I totally agree with this.
Basically what ruined the new Ghostbusters.
The thing about Donnie Darko is all the info you need to know to kind of get it is the chapter heading. So you need to pause the movie and read those. It's really more about pocket universes than time.
Wrong reply? Also, the director's cut of DD is total ass. Ruins the whole flow of the film. The original cut of the film isn't /that/ hard to figure out.
Exactly. That godawful show Brooklyn Nine Nine drives me insane. Every line is just some pathetic attempt at sounding clever by referencing some popular movie or popular show. At least in Family Guy, the pop culture references extended beyond just verbal allusions.
I'm convinced part of the reason the quality of movies has plummeted since 2000 or so is partly due to greed. In an attempt to put as many asses in seats as possible, the studios are trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. As a result, anyone with even slightly above average intelligences walks away with a bland, generic, cookie cutter, and increasingly costly experience.
Artificial Avocado I think that's an excellent point, as the lowest common denominator continually gets lower and lower.
Very true. The goal is to make a movie with big special effects and explosions which is what sells best in the global market. Intricate plots that perhaps appeal only to American culture and wouldn't make sense to people overseas are done away with. Everyone can understand that this giant robot needs to be blown up by space aliens so thats whats made.
Artificial Avocado I agree-except I don’t think it’s necessarily greed, but more like efficiency: movies need to appeal to a global audience.
I haven’t been able bear to watch “blockbuster”-type movies since Back to the Future (the first one)...they’re too loud, too many stupid explosions, and did I mention too loud? And they’re usually stupid.
Actually, older people stopped "going" to the movies so they attempted to gear the stories and scenarios to appeal to a younger audience. In essence, they dumbed them down and made them less sophisticated. ... I thought this was well known?
The 5 min scenes on TH-cam of old movies have more thought than entire movies now
As a father of two I have to endure a lot of kids movies and one major issue I have is that the dialogue is extremely fast and the characters are spitting out real world references that kids aren’t able to comprehend or even be aware of. I, as an adult, are aware of the references and can chuckle sometimes but my kids’s faces are blank. Another issue in kids’ movies is that the characters are always screaming instead of talking…
I have the exact same reaction. It is as if they are actually trying to induce ADHD in children.
I think many kids shows and movies have a big fanbase who are adults (which is sad and creepy), filmmakers know it and try to pander to them.
@@63annushka eh they just know adults have to usually watch this material too so they want to throw them a bone with the writing. Remember, they’re all written by grownups as well.
And if you go back and watch movies from the past, there’s plenty of references for adults. Little jokes or callbacks.
@@jimjo8541 yeah these guys are missing the mark 😂
My god yes.....the damn screaming. What in the actual hell is up with the screaming? Why is that a thing?
RIP to Jerry Goldsmith. His name should be as big as John Williams with all hes done for cinema. His score for Deep Rising was on point.
Deep rising had an Awesome score !!
In my opinion, Jerry Goldsmith should have done Star Wars score, not John Williams
I wish camera operators would put them on tripods once in a while, too...
Cable tv dramas are better than Hollywood movies. Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, Breaking Bad
What really baffles me is when people tell me how shitty a movie is then they go pay to see it's sequel......... I mean wtf? like SW 7,8, and 9. I saw 7 and said I'm done.
i m also tired of being " explained " everything twenty times as if i were a moron ... dialogues simply being factual " watch valerian : the dialogues basically just tell the audience what the character is doing ... wow i am driving fast ... etc
dumbed down
Ok I understand that Hollywood's obsession with the Blockbuster or Franchising landscape is worrisome and forcing assembly line filmmaking. But to completely dismiss entire generations of filmmakers achievements and pioneering forms of story-telling and production for not having that pre-70s style of cinema anymore just seems like a spit in the face to the past 4 decades of cinema as "a mistake". Do you have to like em? No. Are they perfect? Of course not. But to pretend that entire generations of cinema is pure garbage for having different styles is just snobby and wishing an impossible standard to filmmakers
And you would be wrong
Like a lot of film buffs, Rob seems to have found a safe space for himself, harkening back to movies bathed in comforting nostalgia. Perhaps the decades since the 1970s haven't kept up the amazing standards of that decade, but there are dozens of brilliant films which have been made in the last twenty years. I love the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls era, but it wasn't the be all and end all of film making. Also, Rob's list of films he has enjoyed since the millennium (separate video) is a disappointing one, featuring too many action movies and films which are really nothing special. Snow Town, Sideways and No Country For Old Men are the exceptions to that general rule, and were consequently the best he chose.
Today movies are more like a roller coaster ride at an amusement park than they are a story worth telling to a paying audience.
lol, the vast vast majority aren't anything like a roller coaster ride. A roller coaster ride is WAAAAY more exciting than almost all the movies that come out. The movies that are supposed to be roller coaster rides are usually just unintentionally sad/depressing or they just make you want to kill or something, not like a roller coaster at all.
Indeed, they try to look like roller coaster rides but don't dare to shake their passengers. So there are all those giant loopings, but one only sees other cars going through them while oneself is safely travelling on a calm route.
Too much attempting, too little being.
Gustav Babic it's called a cash grab!
As long as people still buy shit, then shit will be sold. Hollywood know this, therefore they continue.
Martin Scorsese said this about Marvel movies.
I was exposed to movies like Taxi Driver and other adult movies of the day when I was young, as well. Some people would scoff at that and say that my parents were being careless, but I am honestly happy I saw those movies... I think it made me better understand and appreciate movies; I am a big movie buff today probably partly because of that.
Lack of creativity and originality in the minds as well.
I agree-witness the "Starwars" franchise-this thing has been beaten to death, each film worse than the last. No creativity at all-just endless recycling of crap.
@Nature and Physics agree! I mean, surely there must be SOMETHING better than recycling a movie idea from 1977.
Influenced by social media and phones no doubt
@@filmneek The Place Beyond the Pines, Birdman, Fury Road, Whiplash, No Country for Old Men, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Road to Perdition, LOTR Trilogy, The Departed, Silence, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Revenant (I don't care, it was breathtakingly shot, and compelling as hell imho. Also has a beautiful, minimalist score), Baby Driver, The Spectacular Now, Prisoners, Sicario, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Up, Monsters Inc., Oldboy, Adaptation, Memento, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Town, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Sunshine, The Machinist, The Prestige, The Fighter, O Brother, Where art Thou?, Hot Fuzz, Inside Man, Training Day, Man on Fire, Unbreakable, Snatch, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Battle Royale, Meet the Parents, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist, The Bourne Ultimatum, City of God, Mystic River, Curse of the Black Pearl, Eternal Sunshine, Collateral, The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Lord of War, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, Burn After Reading, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Blue Valentine, Drive, Django Unchained, Moon, Take Shelter, 50/50, Hunger, Skyfall, Looper, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dredd, Seven Psychopaths, Grand Budapest Hotel, John Wick, Foxcatcher, Inside Out, Ex Machina, Creed, The End of the Tour, Room, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Hacksaw Ridge, Kingsman etc.
Very interesting thoughts about musical scores. Lack of musical identity characterizes many of today's films. Scores are often utterly generic.
I also heard that these days a lot of the composing is often done by underling composers in an outsourcing style business, rather than being the product of literally one guy composing the full score
Interesting
The same is not only true about movies but modern video games as well pretty much other than very few. I remember renting a bowling Nintendo game when I was a kid and recently played it on emulator after not having played it for over 20 years and as soon as I heard the title screen theme, I knew it was the game I rented because I remember the music exactly even after all that time after it had slipped my mind until I heard it again. The same is just not true with games today & their generic soundtracks. Probably worse in movies than games though.
wtcvidman yeah I haven’t even picked up a video game controller in years. Partially because I know I’ll get addicted, and partially because I don’t like the thought of modern video games being just like the movies.
@@blackswan4486 In many ways they are like interactive movies these days. I've tried some of the newer ones and though there are a few I liked, most of the post 3d era games just don't do it for me. I still enjoy the 2d games of my youth though (arcade, NES, Genesis, Game Boy, Master System, Sega CD, SNES, C64, 2600, etc). Even though many of them lack the plots of modern games, their gameplay is simple yet timeless.
There’s no heart nomore, no soul, no depth. Everything is pushing a message, an agenda and an ideology.
In contemporary music OR cinema. Sequential sound effects are not music and being a technophile doesn't make you a filmmaker. As Camile Paglia wrote in the intro of her book "Vamps & Tramps": The young are struggling for identity in a world defined by material uncertainties and inequities, surreally juxtaposed pockets of feast and famine. Hence their vulnerability to political correctness, the only religion they know.
xPaulxDx I TOTALLY AGREE
Well it seems like you’re watching all the shitty movies
So true
Every film has an agenda, if you don't see a message, that's because you are in total agreement with the agenda
To add on your 'dumb heroes' point...
The plot is spawned from their incompetence / emotional volatility, rather than them overcoming the situation given by the plot.
Compare 'Spiderman No Way Home' to 'Dredd' for example.
In Spiderman Peters childlike impulsiveness causes world shattering problems which leads to chaos and people he loves dying (technically all caused by him).
The solution is he wipes everyones memory and returns to square 1. Its borderline psychopathic how unphased and goofy he is about the damage he's done.
In Dredd, he systematically works his way through the problem of the Peach Tree lockdown which is thrown at him. Learning and adapting on the fly, but always with a sense of control. It was just bad luck he was there in the wrong place at the wrong time. The solution is he restored order, helped train an amazing partner and became more empathetic.
Dredd was one of the strongest comic book movies in decades. No Way Home was built purely on nostalgia.
I watched this from a non-filmmaker point of view, but as a jaded, film enthusiast. The points made, echoed many of my feelings and inability to place my frustrations. Well-bloody-done.
me too - I'm trying to explain to my girlfriend why I don't want to go to the cinema with her and am thinking of sending her this. All of his points I agree with and I just dont like watching them any more.
In my opinion Rey and Fin should have been written into one character. It should have told the story of a stormtrooper who has a change of heart, escapes the dark side and eventually discovers that he/she is a Jedi.
That's what I thought it was gonna be from the trailers and would have been way more interesting
StoryIsEverything You somehow made me hate The Force Awakens even more.
StoryIsEverything that would’ve made a perfect love letter to The Force Unleashed
No, the main character has to be an emancipated "Womyn" who tears down all obsolete and tyrannical Patriarchal structures (the Jedi order included) , because as you all know, "the Force is female."
honestly, that still sounds like a horrible Disney character arc. i do think if Finn was going to be a stormtrooper they could have made him into a much more serious conflicted character with genuine military experience, that helps but the rebels might have a tough time trusting. Rey as a character is fine, but really she should have turned to the dark side by now. Poe should be running around doing the secret agent side missions. Its not about removing a character or someone else being the jedi, its how they have handled the cast of characters and the story that they decided to go with.
One of my recent favourite films was 'Dallas Buyers Club'. Made for 5 million, they only used one camera and 2 lenses. No dolly shots or crane shots, all tripod shots and hand held. Also, no lighting crew were used to bring in lights. Instead, they filmed indoor scenes with lights from the building. Very cool movie.
A nightmare on elm street actually had very meticulous lighting. Although most settings were dark, there was a lot of background establishing lighting creating depth and hot colors that's not natural at all but sets a erie visual tone.
Freddie with the elongated arms.
This video is such a breath of fresh air. I completely agree, as an 80’s kid born in 1977 I miss the era of great movies. Cheers from Houston, TX.
Me too, Sep 8th. What month are you?
@@Adam-qv2bd October
I dread the day when millennials remake The Godfather and make Luca Brasi a CGI character.
@@nothosaur zac efron as Don corleone
@@fd6165 how depressing
You left out... Overuse of dystopic, dark, and hopeless settings.
Oh yea, and no really unique looking actors like earnest borgnine.
dark settings are the most cinematic though. THe lighter side you associate with owen wilson / adam sandler mvoies
I’ve noticed that. Even the “attractive“ actors always have very plain brown doe eyed features, bound to offend nobody in anyway. Nothing exciting. Nothing out of place, to the point where it is completely soulless.
Yes like that literal heap of trash district 9
@@blackswan4486 Sam Worthington, Channing Tatum, Jai Courtney, Mark Wahlberg, Keanu Reeves... (yawn)
Loved Ernest! We definitely need the next, latest version. Ernest Borgten!
It would be nice if you had visual examples of your points
Nothing appeals to me these day for too many reasons to list. Born in 1945 and I treasure the movies of my era. I watch them over and over and never get tired of them. I can't say the about todays films. It's sort of like fast food when I was young. It was tasty and cheap. Today it's pricy and awful tasting, but people are so used to it they don't seem to notice as long as it fills them up. I have never been part of any film production, but I see things constantly that could have and should have been done differently, especially considering the cost of making a film and budgets available to the those involved in the film.
I absolutely agree with the over editing part, remember that scene in Taken 3 where Liam Niesen climbing a fence had over 20 cuts in like 10 seconds?
Yeah... Thats what happens when people insist on casting for clout instead of capability.
A lot of great action actors are 10+ years past their prime.. and you start getting scenes like "jumps a fence in 2 seconds" has to have 17 cuts to get it down to that time.
We need these action movies to be written with the actors physical capabilites in mind.. Or cast a younger or more fit actor if you need these scenes.
But Liam = $$$ so screw it, I guess.
@@kaisokusekkendou1498 while they're not exactly young men anymore, this is why Keanu Reeves and Hugh Jackman are great. They actually don't need over-editing to compensate and cover up their lack of ability to do the job.
Funnily enough, I don't mind that fast editing in the Bourne movies. They 'invented' the technique, so it's those that ride the coat tails that deserve derision.
Its called Decadence. USA is losing its place as the centre of the world and the arts are a sign of this (music, film, tv, games)
I think a deeper root cause is the over-consolidation of film studios into media corporations. Movie studios have always been in business to make money, but, prior to the late 80's and early 90's, they were more likely to take chances on new film makers, controversial ideas, and innovative concepts. Nowadays each studio is a minuscule subsidiary of huge corporations and studio decision makers have twenty levels of corporate bosses to answer to, and the corporate bosses demand proven cookie-cutter formulaic films.
I'm not sure I agree with that. The studio system was always consolidated. Back in the 40s, there were only 5 major film studios and there was nothing outside of them. There are indie filmmakers right now, but they are part of the problem. In this video, he mentions how certain filmmakers - especially indies - create slow movies that are slow for no reason, unlike the truly great artists who made slow films, but were packed with meaning. The reason there are no breakouts from the indies is because the indies have become just as much of a failure, having created their own subset of cliches and tropes. It used to be that the indies were where new ideas were born. Now they've practically solidified them into their own boring genre.
ZerogunRivale good point.
BillybobSpangleberry Today's studio heads like most corporate leaders are so detached from society they just really on the geeks and survey corporates
EXACTLY!! Remember: Clinton authorized the Telecom Policy Act (1996), during my 3rd year in college. This was the death knell for individualism (in media/entertainment/business). Corporations were given STEROIDS. By the year 2000, five corporations controlled nearly 95% of our media and entertainment ( including....amalgamating smaller RADIO STATIONS. Hence, the same issues with music ).
"ideological conformity" has become an added factor to "terrible casting". Most of the time I don't care if roles are race swapped or gender swapped. But when casting becomes so distracting, that you can't suspend your disbelief, it becomes a problem. The recent TV series, casting Anne Boleyn with a black actress is a prime example
Maybe they will cast the fairest people with black actors,eg If princess Sleeping Beauty was black or the little mermaid is black then it's good.Because they don't care for the original source material.If the source says they are fair,then they should be fair,Would they like black panther if it was a white actor rather than Chadwick?No they wouldn't
Ideology is something every era has. For example, if consumerism and money worship disgusts you you might see that in every 80’s movie -but that is a general attitude all Hollywood has besides the sheen they add in for the era, where it is not sincere belief but displaying fashionable ideas of the time. Examples of playing into fads would be depicting grunge and slackers in the 90’s, showing environmental motivations in the 2000’s and these days it might be diversity and sensitive “wokeness”. I say might be because you cannot tell what will be lasting and status quo going forward (actual core ideology where everything ultimately comes to that, like materialism) and what will be passing and identifiable later on.
These are fascinating subjects that would be good to discuss if more people knew what the key terms mean, what concepts are actually relevant, and which are ancient or at least outmoded- e.g., subconscious or collective consciousness and Platonic forms.
movies have been terrible since the late 90s heres a few reasons
1. too much slow motion with dramatic music
2. the picture quality
3. the camera angles, (i think called thats cinematography ?)
4. bad acting
heres the way movies should be made correcting the above
1. the exorcist
2. beverly hills cop
3. 48 hrs
4. the shining
5. down and out in beverly hills
6. u-turn
7. heartbreak ridge
these are just to name a few, in other words they should be made like the movies from the 80s
it's insulting to the people who made or are old fans of the material. and it's just plain gone too far. as a white man frankly I'm embarrassed. I feel like every white male is wearing a green hat, "Chinese symbol for a cuckold). Hollywood cucked us all and I imagine even people from small villages all across the world know about it by now.
Couples are always now mispaired racially. In Old, every couple made no sense. This detracted from the already horrendous acting. Even the white/white couple was a Nordic woman who was half a foot taller than the perhaps Spanish husband. In the recent past, actors were arguably too beautiful. Hollywood is like the corporate complex in that it's completely hostile to culture. It's one thing to use racially atypical romantic pairings, but it's quite another to insert racial absurdities into biopics or even traditional folk tales. Hollywood, corporate, 'big tech' all need to be audited to say the least, until we can figure out what the hell is going on.
Mr. Ager, The first R-rated movie I saw was “Papillon” (1973), and it was clearly a political critique of how the world treats prisoners. It’s hard to think of a 20th century drama film that didn’t have a political message. So, maybe modern movies don’t convey their political messages as well or with as much subtlety, but even movies like “High Noon” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” had serious underlying political themes.
TheTooginator or at least Or maybe more themes of the values we as as society hold or claim to hold and how behaviors change under pressure
Also ideals
The story came first.
@@Jehannum2000 Yup. Now movies are written with the purpose of pushing an agenda instead of cleverly injecting into the story.
Schaffner's "Papillon" was actually "PG" despite the guillotine scene. (I should know, I went in there with a friend and no adult.) But you are 200% correct, there is NO MORE subtlety. Everything has to be a hammer over the head, especially movies with "gay" themes. Many directors today simply don't know how to tell a story, or are more concerned with telling a more than obvious "message" than telling a story. These movies usually end up being over the top. Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow" (1968) says more about racism in a single scene--the "why do I have to shuffle' scene, than in all Spike Lee's and John Singleton's movies put together!!!! American theater suffers from this problem too.
8:35 Re: Matrix
Yes, absolutely. The overly coreographed fight moves absolutely reinforce the idea that they are just brains playing chess. It fits into the movie's theme very well. Great observation there.
Everything mentioned in this video are things I have noticed for a very long time, usually whilst blowing a vein and screaming at the TV. It's the reason I find all my entertainment online now. The art of cinema, TV, is dead, and the ability to tell a gripping story whilst tactfully capturing it on camera, is non existent. I'm often at a loss for words at how mediocre and low-quality everything has become, even more so that more people don''t complain...Thank you for making this video, it should help keep vein blowing to a minimum!
It's the same reason why so much of society and culture at large has been degenerating the last 20 or so years: technological advancements have made a vast proportion of the world lazier, dumber and far more commercialized than it was in the century before. When almost literally everything is available at the touch of a button, not much has to be expected anymore of the average individual that actually constitutes a society.
Probably the best comment here. Simply put. You would think people would be on another level of mind, intelligence and wisdom since everything is easily accessible compare to decades ago, for example, one had to like go to the library to check out a book compare to now, one can just easily just google whatever. Crazy
@@macabree5856 I guess in the end, people aren't living up to their own hype. Who could have seen that one coming? Haha.
@@crawlingamongthestars3736 i don't know. But great comment. Spoke volumes and really heavy in truth
I recently re-watched "La Strada" (1954) directed by Federico Fellini and shot silent with audio added later - typical of Italian film making. The cinematography is no where near as polished as Hollywood films then or since, but the storyline and characters are primary to the visual creative elements and the story and visuals will rip your heart out no matter how many times you watch it - not just because it's a tragic film, but because it's so perfectly casted, acted, shot and edited.
Modern movies have much MUCH faster timing both in editing/cuts and in scene pacing. This results in no breathing room to develop characters. Everything is paced like a 30 second commercial or music video..
Edgar Wright does it perfectly
True. A classic movie like "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" could never be made now adays. Studios, and even many audiences, don't have the patience to watch a well made movie.
Post-millennial music is pretty bad too!
It's Diarrhea!!!
That's not true at all
@@LorcaLoca it is, there are a few gems and some solid tracks here and there, but the days of buying an album from an artist and listening to the whole thing never skipping a track are almost completely gone
Agreed. Best music was made in the 90s and especially the 80s.
Oh my gosh! You are so right. It is aweful. It is so goshaweful. I admit I am not a music expert. However I can tell that modern music sounds really bad. I think that is because there is too much emphasis on having a catchy beat and not enough on getting a good melody. It ends up sounding like noise. The music I like is from the 60s and 70s. My favorites are John Denver, The Carpenters, the Beatles, Queen and the Doors. It varies depending on the artist. The better ones get good at striking a balance. I am a millenial. So I don't have the same kind of nostalgic bias that the old people have. Even then I still prefer the older stuff. When it comes to music I was born in the wrong generation. I just go for the stuff my mom used to listen to when she was a youth. I just thought of a good thing to say on this. I would rather have Beatles than Bieber any day.
In my opinion there are very very few truly great one of a kind young actors and actress' now. Theyre all so bland and generic and none of the can act. 95% of the young millennials and Gen Z's acting skills are so bad its like a plank of wood reading a story board. And as I said there are no stand outs. The 80s and 90s gave us incredible stars! All these young actors/actresses are truly forgetable, and you have no Cruise, no Sharron Stone, no Arnold, or Gibson, or Moore etc. Then we cant forget about how you used to have to be a great actor, or a great musician to be famous but now with social media idiots become famous everyday and then we have the box checking. Ppl only being hired bc of race, sexuality, gender etc. And most times they have no on screen chemistry that and hollywood hasnt had an original idea in decades. The same crap over and over and nobody is taking a risk making the next Star Wars, or Alien etc.
And absolutely everyone nowadays speaks in what was once called the "Valley Girl" accent.
@@urrrccckostan I cannot watch horror movies where main characters have the valley girl accent. Completely destroys any terror and suspense for me
@@urrrccckostan The "Millennial Lilt"
Thanks, Rob, for lending your intellect and insight to the movies. I think a lot of people around and over 40 are saying, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” I hope this is taken constructively by someone.
Rowdy Roddy Piper lives!
Best fight scene is the one you did with Kieth David.
Ideological conformation is tearing at the fabric soul of art in general. To me this is one of the most significant of your points.
Well done, and thanks for posting it.
Dredd was great, a seriously underrated movie, heard loads of people say this
It is, loved it!👍💯
I knew you'd say that.
20 years. Isocube.
Dredd was so awesome that it took a shit on that Sylvester Stallone Crap
@@bluetrailerproductions7488 Shame they didnt do a sequel to Dredd 2012 yet some utter trash movies get one :(
Amen! As someone who grew up in the 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s, I miss the great movie experience of the unexpected.
Personally I think the first decade of the new millennium, the 00's was as good as any other, sure there was a lot of crap, but looking back at the "golden era's" of the seventies and eighties there was an awful lot of crap too along with the classics. However since the twenty-tens hit films have indeed undoubtedly taken a notable decline in quality, the ones that are so critically acclaimed and hyped are just so much bollocks.
Yeah the 2000s had some serious bangers.
the things you said to the 00s apply to the 2010s as well.
@@jacques501 Not really, their were quality moves put out but it was rare, very rare. In the 00's there were was still some sort of balance.
So much crap in the 80s .. it was good at the time .. Too much nostalgia.. Overall , I'd say movies are better now
3:19 About this, I 've noticed it too and I feel it is one of the biggest problems. Like you mentioned everything looks like a shampoo advertisement.
I call it "everything is sexy".
Not just the actors, I mean everything is a glamorized version of reality.
In the first Jurrasic park, flat screen monitors where not yet mainstream but I am sure they could have used fake flat screen monitors to make the technology of the park look ahead of its time, but instead we see everyday huge CRT monitors which help ground the movie to reality.
In the latest Jurassic World movies though, we see giant holograms all over the park!
Not to mention protagonists running throughout the whole movie on high heels!
In the Expendables, there is a scene in a latin american small traditional village run by military establishment and as the camera is following an incoming truck, on the foreground there is motorbike, a red Vespa that is literally in mint condition! No dents and all shinning. Not even dust on its tires.
In Blindsided (thats the actual title I kidd you not), the main protagonist used to be a photographer in a warzone, in the first minutes we are shown a flashback of how she loses her eyesight after a suicide bomber approached her pretending to be asking for help, the bomb goes off literally not more than a meter away from her and then we see her in present time in her apartment back in the US and not only both she and her husband are looking gorgeous but their apartment is a luxurious penthouse which is furbished like a showcase of modern decoration, all clean and orderly, but we also see the protagonist's face and she doesn't even have a scratch from the bombing! She is just the actress with her eyes constantly open and faking an empty stare... Oh and Michael Keaton plays the bad guy in this movie cause you know... he hasn't aged gracefully, so yeah... type-cast him as the villain from now on, since he looks creepy!
In series the same, I struggle to find old people!
Most are young and look like models. Remember the character of Mark Greene from ER? How he was bald but did not shave his head? You wouldn't see that now. You either see a full head of hair, or its all shaved off.
I really miss feeling like I am seeing "real life people" in movies and series and not feel that everything has been treated to look sexy!
100% This 👆
Lack of money? "12 angry men" or "Rope" from Hitchcock was made in a room! nowadays seems like milenialls directors are just interested in expensive f/x a good script it makes no sense for them lack of a good story or readings I guess!
The whale was quite well made and it all took place in a small house
One reason is Di$ney buy them to trash them on purpose, and that is it, this reason alone sums to 90%.
I worked at a movie theater for four years. I can absolutely confirm that people go and see movies that they know we’re going to be bad. The thing you mentioned is one of the reasons, but I think there are a couple more. Some people girl just hoping the movie is going to be good, even though they really know it’s not going to be. The other reason is, and this one surprised me when I started working at a movie theater, some people go to the movies just to have something to do, and they don’t really care how good movie is. I know that sounds weird, but it happens regularly
"Hell or High Water" and "Wind River" were two great movies that I didn't even realize existed until way after they were out of the cinemas. Really frustrating how bad the marketing is nowadays.
I think you missed an important point - the story void. I don't know who in Hollywood is now making decisions about the actual content of films, but they don't seem to understand the basics of good story-telling. I know there are plenty of good spec scripts that do a great job of telling an interesting story. I don't know if Hollywood just can't recognize them or if they really think that propaganda is a more important task for their medium.
They're dumbed down and so busy ticking off inclusion and diversity the last thing on their agenda is making a good movie.