Soulless modern films

[Torquemada]

Over the last couple of years I have noticed that most of the films I watch seem to have no soul. Has anyone else got this? There's just no heart and I couldn't care less about the people in them. I'm talking mostly about American films as they make most of the new main-stream films. I never thought I'd say this but this feeling I'm getting is making me lose my interest in cinema.

[Dave Rattigan]

I'm sure mainstream cinema has always had its fair share of soulless crap, but over the years the dross gets sifted out, and we only remember the good stuff. I'm sure there are still gems being made, even by Hollywood, perhaps.

[Nita St. James]

name='Torquemada']Over the last couple of years I have noticed that most of the films I watch seem to have no soul. Has anyone else got this? There's just no heart and I couldn't care less about the people in them. I'm talking mostly about American films as they make most of the new main-stream films. I never thought I'd say this but this feeling I'm getting is making me lose my interest in cinema.

That is a very intersting observation about the current state of movies. I agree, I rarely find anything coming out anymore that I am in a mad rush to run off and see.



I call most new films the "flavor of the month". There is way too much "gorno" in films too. I am sounding like an old poop. But I spend most of my time searching out classic films, foreign films and silent movies. And also independent films, I have seen quite a few great movies that nobody is ever talking about, well not the mainstream crowd, these films seem to slip under the radar of the general movie going public.

[Torquemada]

In the past I could usually find something good to say about films, but now I'm constantly left thinking that many of them could have been good if they'd just invested in a little heart. For instance I have just watched Hoax, 3:10 to Yuma and 1408 - all could have been good - but I just didn't care about anyone in any of these films and so they all just left me feeling flat and empty.

[faginsgirl]

The only modern films I seem to watch now are those with Johnny Depp or Robert Carlise in them. Even if you arnt keen on the actors they usually have a decsent storyline to them.

[batman]

name='Nita St. James']

I call most new films the "flavor of the month". There is way too much "gorno" in films too.

What's ''gorno''?

[Moor Larkin]

name='batman']What's ''gorno''?

Isn't it what Bats fill caves with?







TV is good for finding films that the cinema completely passed by. I caught A Better Way to Die (2000) on Five US several times, and I like it more and more every time I watch it. It's got a fair amount of gorno but Man! It has got soul!

[batman]

name='Moor Larkin']Isn't it what Bats fill caves with?

That's guano!



I just looked up gorno on Wikipedia ...



Gorno - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



also ...



Guano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[David Brent]

Remakes everywhere, nothing but substandard remakes.



With American scriptwriters having been on strike for three months maybe standards will improve without them.



I've had a couple of free movie tickets for months now and I've really been hard pressed to find anything worthy to watch.



Dave.

[Windthrop]

name='David Brent']Remakes everywhere, nothing but substandard remakes.



With American scriptwriters having been on strike for three months maybe standards will improve without them.



I've had a couple of free movie tickets for months now and I've really been hard pressed to find anything worthy to watch.



Dave.

It isn't the writers who are at fault, it's those green light the films in the first place.



Apart the obvious, and IMHO, and rather sad trend towards TV series remakes I think that too many current films are overlong and overpadded.

[christoph404]

I think many modern mainstream films follow a certain convention these days, fast and flashy cutting, lots of tricksy camera movement and not a lot of dialogue, it then becomes very difficult to get involved with the characters because there is very little character development and the players and story are often overwhelmed by the glitzy yet shallow surface of the final product.If you don't care about the characters or if the characters are not credible then the film you are watching becomes very unsatisfying and emotionally uninvolving.I also think modern mainstream films are almost completely driven by the visuals whereas in past years film makers have always striven to also have the story driven by dialogue and character interaction. You would think that film makers would take note that no amount of spectacular visuals or CGI is going to save a rubbish and boring film, Olivers Stone's "Alexander" is a good example as is "Troy" and "King Kong" and "War of the Worlds" and so on. Some of the films I have really enjoyed recently have been foreign language films, films about people, with interesting and intelligent dialogue, "When I was a Singer" for example , a French film about a washed up cabaret crooner played by Gerard Depardieu, or the bio of Edith Piaf "Le Vie en Rose" I guess many people would list films like that under "the most boring film" thread so I guess it also depends on what you are looking for in a film. I think mainstream film makers just assume that the audience is of low intelligence with zero knowledge of cultural history, has no real visual literacy and most of all a very short concentration span, that would possibly account for the much of the dross that has been presented to the cinema going public over recent years.

[Nita St. James]

name='batman']What's ''gorno''?

Gore and sex (almost porno )...gorno, we use that term on another board I am on. Must be an Americanism.

[Moor Larkin]

name='christoph404'] You would think that film makers would take note that no amount of spectacular visuals or CGI is going to save a rubbish and boring film,

John Boorman said in a recent interview something to the effect that the director now is often reduced to waiting for the SFX guys to tell him what happens next............



That's not a blue screen, that's the world....... but not as you know it

[christoph404]

name='Moor Larkin']John Boorman said in a recent interview something to the effect that the director now is often reduced to waiting for the SFX guys to tell him what happens next............



That's not a blue screen, that's the world....... but not as you know it

On the directors commentary for "Zardoz" he describes how all the Special Effects were done in camera in an old fashioned traditional way, to great effect. He also jokes that he would like to make a film and add the disclaimer (as well as no animals were harmed...) that "No CGI was used in the making of this film"

[Edward G]

I for one agree that European films tend to be more character-driven and are often great to listen to (as well as to watch). It is true that we fail to empathise with characters who are too lightly drawn and are secondary to grandiose film-making styles, gimmicky shots and dazzling sets etc. Unfortunately, the major producers are right to offer style over substance as many of us do not have the patience, even to read sub-titles and the dumbing down does not put the punters off.



How many people in the main target audience (under the age of 35-40?) would be regulaurly prepared to watch :



1. Black and white films?

2. Sub-titled films?

3. Silent films?



Very few, sadly, and they are missing out on a hugely undiscovered (for their generation) world of cinema.



What can we do to broaden their minds - or the appeal of what is often called "world film"?



Edward G.

name='christoph404'] Some of the films I have really enjoyed recently have been foreign language films, films about people, with interesting and intelligent dialogue, "When I was a Singer" for example , a French film about a washed up cabaret crooner played by Gerard Depardieu, or the bio of Edith Piaf "Le Vie en Rose" I guess many people would list films like that under "the most boring film" thread so I guess it also depends on what you are looking for in a film. .