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Hollywood doesn’t make movies like ‘The Fugitive’ anymore (2018)
- draw_down 4y agoJohn Wick is a fun movie series that dispenses with the seriousness and is just fun, admittedly violent fun. The third movie opens with a madcap sequence where he kills a guy using a book, followed by hallway melee knife fight that is pure slapstick.
- zdragnar 4y agoBut the poor puppy :(
- blinding-streak 4y agoYes.. but the puppy plot device is why all the violence against the criminal regime is "justified."
- selimthegrim 4y agoThe first rule of screenwriting is supposed to be “Never kill a dog in the first act for bathos”
- GauntletWizard 4y agoAnd the second rule is "Know when to break the rules and do so with purpose"
- sonofhans 4y agoHey, at least they didn’t pee on his rug.
- rayiner 4y agoThe most American plot device ever.
- robonerd 4y agoIt seemed like a deliberate invocation of the 'kick the dog' trope. While crude and lazy villain writing, to invoke the trope so deliberately shows a degree of respect to the audience. It says the movie isn't going to waste your time by pretending to be something it isn't. And it could have been a lot worse. If John Wick were a 70s revenge movie, I think it would have started with criminals killing John Wick's wife or daughter instead.
- verve_rat 4y agoI would characterise it as fridging the dog. Which is a nice twist on the trope. They had a wife, but she was sort of fridged by proxy.
- philwelch 4y agoYeah, I actually found that part of the plot effective and easy to relate with coming from my own experiences of loss. John is basically transferring all the pain and grief from losing his wife onto the puppy, and it gives him an outlet for his grief in the form of revenge. People criticize Keanu Reeves’ acting ability but the “I’m thinking I’m back” scene works for me. Also, John Wick is such a badass of a character that they sort of need to overdo the part that makes him sympathetic to the audience or else he would just be terrifying. The movie actually plays on a lot of villain tropes for John Wick, like in all the scenes where the gangsters are terrified of him and telling stories about him. If you take out the part about the wife and dog, John Wick is basically a slasher movie where John is the vicious serial killer.
- emilsedgh 4y agoI honestly don't understand this movie franchise and all the praise it gets. It is as if the creators were _the hell with story, who cares, we just need action sequences_. There's absolutely no story. Zilch. Nil. Why is this movie praised?
- mholm 4y agoFor exactly that reason. Sometimes people just want mindless action and fun setpieces, and John Wick movies respect that. Many action movies try and force in some inane plot, or add a romance subplot, or digress from the actual point of the movie: Action and spectacle. It's not my cup of tea, but I certainly respect it for knowing exactly what it is.
- ghostpepper 4y agoNot only that but the action itself is superb. The way the hand to hand combat and gunplay is choreographed, performed and filmed is miles ahead of many films with much bigger budgets.
- roelschroeven 4y agoGood to know, now I can remove those movies from my to-watch list. I don't mind some action, but it has to serve a purpose in the plot. Action just for the action is just so boring, IMO.
- macintux 4y agoGive the first one a try. You might be surprised.
- roelschroeven 4y agoThanks, I might. Is there much difference in style between the first one and the others?
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- themitigating 4y agoThere's nothing like a movie where the hero doesn't grow as a character. The tension from knowing he can't be harmed and has super hero like reflexes really makes me wonder if he'll make it out alive.
- draw_down 4y ago
- rurban 4y agoIt didn't have Ashley Judd in it, so I disgress
- larrydag 4y agoWasn't the Jason Bourne films character driven adult action? I found those films compelling because I felt I was discovering Bourne's character along with him.
- peeters 4y agoIdentity and Supremacy, I think it's fair to say. Bourne has a certain vulnerability and both cat and mouse are sympathetic and compelling characters. By the time I got to Ultimatum and beyond it felt mostly like it was milking the franchise and covering the same ground over and over.
- accountofme 4y agoA note here: The Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum are based in books (which have a better, richer and kinda different story when compared to the movies ). I would reccomend having a look at them.
- selimthegrim 4y agoI read Bourne Supremacy and could barely stop laughing from all the hoary Chinese stereotypes. Ludlum’s editor must have been on vacation. Any of the Matarese books were better than that one. e: NYT in 1986 agrees with me. - https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/09/books/chopping-down-a-forest-of-bad-guys.html https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/09/books/chopping-down-a-for...
- diob 4y agoIf you want a good series that's more "realistic" but along the same lines of interesting cat / mouse play, check out the John Rain series by Barry Eisler. It's extremely, meticulously well researched. Oh, and it's more recent, so you can see how it works with modern day technology rearing its head.
- fellowniusmonk 4y agoLudlums books often had issues with the final act, he didn't seem comfortable with endings so things often just get very extreme and almost "and then the world blew up" at the end.
- dexterdog 4y agoI assume the reason is that it's not about a super hero and/or it can't have 5 prequels and 7 sequels spun off if it. Seriously, why can't we just have an occasional great story that has an ending?
- xwkd 4y agoYou answered your own question, I believe. Art produced for massive audiences typically requires a massive investment, so it’s produced with the same concerns as other massive investments. Arthouse films still exist, but you know, there does seem to be something unique about an action movie that wraps itself up. I wonder if they’re out there.
- rapsey 4y agoMovies in the past were made for mass audiences. But they existed in a world before social media, cell phones, podcasts, streaming tv and all the other entertainment we have now. People who enjoyed movies such as The Fugitive do not go to cinemas anymore as much. Cinema going audiences shrunk severly. The only reliable market is kids movies, superhero movies and established franchises.
- vba616 4y agoIn 1993, this was a "box office success": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Remains_of_the_Day_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Remains_of_the_Day_(film)
- rayiner 4y agoWhat I love about the Fugitive is how slow the pace is and how relative down to earth the subject matter is. I find it difficult to watch action movies these days, with camera cuts every second and thirty seconds per scene. I’ve taken to watching Korean and Scandinavian shows on Netflix which I find far better paced.
- erulabs 4y agoDown to earth is the key I think. So many action films these days are "save the world" or some sort of incredibly over the top world-changing maguffin. Just a guy trying to escape going to prison for a crime he didn't commit is infinitely more relatable that it makes a massive train derailment seem down to earth.
- runarberg 4y agoThe Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent just came out this year. The plot was a bit over the top, but that was the point, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Blackkklansman came out the same year as this article, and even though it was more comedy drive then most action movies, it had a down to earth plot of a black policeman infiltrating the KKK organization. I agree that most action movies today have a pretty seen-it-before grandiose plot. But movies with down-to-earth original plots still come out (occasionally).
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoAnd Blackkklansman was based on a true story, so seems more grown-up somehow than The Fugitive.
- Zanni 4y agoIf you enjoyed The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, you might also like JCVD [0] with Jean-Claude Van Damme. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JCVD_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JCVD_(film)
- aerique 4y agoOh absolutely! This has been a major annoyance in, mostly, superhero movies. The first movie they're growing up, maybe getting rid of a city's villain. The next movie they're saving the universe. (And in the third they're traveling back through time.) Jesus, have some pacing.
- anothernewdude 4y agoI would agree, but I haven't actually seen a hollywood movie in so long that I must admit I'm not qualified to actually have an opinion on movie trends. How do people hear about new movies these days?
- runarberg 4y agoI live pretty close to a movie theater. And I look at their posters and marquee regularly. Then when I’m in the theater, I usually watch the trailers they show before the movie starts.
- bigmattystyles 4y agoTommy Lee Jones has so many good quotes in that movie - the "I don't care" quote is delivered so well.
- pcurve 4y agoFunny how that became one of the most memorable lines from the movie. It was so unexpected that it was borderline shocking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YZFJlgYsY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YZFJlgYsY
- rsa4046 4y agoOr, “Well, think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate doughnut with some of those little sprinkles on top ...”
- remarkEon 4y agoHe really nailed every single line and every single mannerism in that film.
- Markoff 4y agowhat about Prisoners, In the bedroom, The guilty (2018), Good time, Oldboy (original, not from Hollywood though), Collateral, End of watch, Training day, Drive, etc. - all these were released after and they are better movies (most of them more thrillers than action though, but some straight up action), I can't really recommend exactly same alternative since I don't watch stupid action flicks like Fugitive, now that I have much more options than in 90s
- paulcole 4y agoTo write off Fugitive as a “stupid action flick” while simultaneously saying Drive is better is a bold statement.
- Markoff 4y agoI have no problem to defend Drive against Fugitive, Fugitive aged really bad and it feels like cheap TV movie, Drive is obviously much newer, has great cinematography, great score, atmosphere, nice action and aged really good despite being 11 years already (but I am not really some big fan of Drive, just saying it's better than Fugitive). Btw. just because something is "stupid action flick" it doesn't mean it can't be good at it, you can have good stupid action flicks and you can have bad stupid action flicks. I don't usually watch stupid action flicks (I'm more (social) drama guy), but when I do I want to watch the good ones. I'm recently rewatching movies starting from 90s and while The Rock was still enjoyable even in 2022 (8mm or Absolute power were meh, same as already back then), I remember Fugitive being pretty bad already many years ago. Movies like Die Hard, Speed, Con Air, Mission impossible, Enemy of the state, were all better than Harrison action movies, which always felt like cheap TV movies with low production value. Meanwhile we have 2 year newer Heat, which is still for sure in top 5 best action/crime movies ever and aged amazingly and could easily beat any day any new action/crime movie. The production value and director skills are on completely different level than Harrison action movies. I just checked the most famous Harrison action movies I remember from 90s - Fugitive, Clear and Present danger, The Devil's Own and Air Force one - all 4 have different director, 3 directors nobody remembers and 4th only thanks to Das Boot.
- GoblinSlayer 4y ago
- noufalibrahim 4y agoI don't know if there's a market anymore for movies like this that won't "become a unicorn". One that comes to mind is collateral.
- ghostpepper 4y agoCollateral is great, although it only came out a few years after the 90s ended (2004). Since then it seems Tom Cruise has mostly been making sequels to Mission Impossible and now Top Gun.
- noufalibrahim 4y agoOh, I don't know. My respect for Cruise has gone up quite a bit. The MI series is formulaic but he does put a lot of effort and soul into his work. Top Gun was a slap in the face to formula films. Some of his smaller projects (like Jack Reacher) were fun to watch too. Collateral is an underrated classic though.
- chmod600 4y agoHow was Top Gun an attack on formulaic films?
- noufalibrahim 4y agoI felt that it went against several of the popular things in movies these days. It was comparatively low on CGI. It had a prominent male lead character without a female character supporting in the main plotline. Someone else mentioned on this discussion about Chinese funding. They took a decision than angered the investors there and, I believe, caused them to pull out https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/media/top-gun-maverick-taiwan-flag-reinstated-intl-hnk/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/media/top-gun-maverick-ta... Maybe I'm overthinking it. I saw the first one as a kid and spent a lot of time doing dogfights with my toy planes since. The nostalgia hit me quite hard and it genuinely felt like a nice sequel which retained the macho 80s spirit of the original. I've never felt that with other modern movies.
- cycomanic 4y agoUnpopular opinion: The Fugitive is not a particularly good movie and Harrison Ford is not a particularly good actor. I mean if one wants to write an article about the good action movies of the time maybe write about Heat? And while I agree with the observation that we are seeing way too many entirely predictable movies made by the same patterns, I would argue The Fugitive was one of them at the time. Still from time to time something very different comes along. I just watched "Everything, everywhere, all at Once". That is definitely not your typical Holywood fare, and was extremely surprising and enjoyable.
- chadcmulligan 4y agoA24 (the production house behind "Everything, everywhere, all at Once") is one of the few shining lights as far as movie production goes these days.
- 50 4y agoKelly Reichardt's First Cow (2019) distributed by A24 is a favorite of mine of recent years. Not from A24 but I saw Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995) by the Brothers Quay a few weeks ago and thought it was interestingly good.
- germinalphrase 4y agoBrothers Quay are visually amazing and creative, even if plodding at times.
- bambax 4y agoHeat wasn't a very good movie. It was full of clichés, esp. the female characters. The cop's wife cheats on him with a loser, to make her husband notice. The wife of a gangster is obsessed with kids and family. And of course the love interest of the protagonist doesn't have a clue about what he does or whohe is, she's an innocent white dove completely, well, clueless. Morals are also very loose, which makes the protagonists hard to relate to. The Fugitive has very bad guys, which may be a little cliché too, but there is this ambiguous central character of the Marshal who has a great arc. At the beginning he's just doing his job and isn't interested in the least in the details of the case. He only digs into them because he thinks they may help with the chase. And as the movie progresses he warms up to the protagonist, until he saves him at the end. That's great. One way to entirely ruin the movie would have been to insert scenes with the Marshal's wife where she would ask why he's never home, and scold him for missing his son's football game, etc.
- somenameforme 4y agoIn spite of the article's somewhat backhanded reference to such, I'd also mention Total Recall in a a positive light (and an example of something that Hollywood doesn't do anymore). The most unique thing about that movie is that it's effectively two different movies. I saw that movie when I was young and found it satisfying because of how it was advertised: action, Schwarznegger, explosions, and 3 titted Martians. Watching it 3 decades later, I only then realized what an amazing movie it really is. The story is insightful, heavy on philosophy, extremely ambiguous, and digs into interesting questions about a very viable future technology. On a superficial level one can take the ending (which does provide closure) at face value, but it was intended to make one think. It's based on a Philip K Dick short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", and it shows. It's a grandiose story, but only on the surface and only due to the fact it's set in the future. The plot is something that will affect everybody at some point. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd strongly recommend going in blind.
- Andrew_nenakhov 4y agoPaul Verhoeven is a genius director, whos sci-fi movies were among the best filmed in eighties and nineties.
- megablast 4y agoThey remade it a few years ago, almost shot for shot
- stalkerman 4y agoNo Mars or big mysterious alien machines were quite important parts to the original for me. The remake was very meh in comparison.
- effingwewt 4y agoYea it was far from shot for shot. It had a very definitive ending, and felt shallow. The original movie and the short story are some of my favorites. I later read an article or something about the original movie about how when Quaid begins to break the scenes use red lighting. And when the doctor comes into the room and warns that if Quaid kills him that the walls would crumble, etc. All of it happens. The entire plot is designed by Quaid in the beginning, down to his love interest. So the end begged the question of whether he really uncovered memories, or if he had an adverse reaction and when the doctor tried to help Quaid shot him and delved into his psychosis. Apparently the remake had a director's cut that tried to make the ending more ambiguous, but I've never seen that version- once was enough.
- eric4smith 4y agoUnfortunately most movies these days are more about "the message" than a coherent story. But GOOD NEWS! This weekend I actually found a use for Netflix and watched "Hustle". Adam Sandler's latest offering for the platform. It is an astoundingly good movie. Even more so because normally I'm not really into basketball. But it was WELL written, intelligent and there were plenty of challenges for them to overcome, right down to the very last 30 seconds of the movie. Edge of the seat stuff that keeps you engaged every moment. The thing missing from many movies these days with "the message" is that the protagonists generally have no obstacles. No problems to deal with. No hurdles to cross. No challenges. There is generally no danger to the heroes. There is just a lot of ass kicking without any preliminaries. And that's the reason why movies mostly suck these days. It's a shame really. It's all about politics these days and making sure there is some race/gender/cultural representation (I'm saying this as a black guy).
- geerlingguy 4y agoThis comment reminds me a lot of The Critical Drinker on YouTube. Sometimes a bit biting, but often accurate in analyzing what went wrong in some movie's plot. One of the most egregious and frequent is having characters who basically have zero or backsliding character arcs.
- throwaway14356 4y agoHe ruined movies and series for me. I now keep seeing horrific mistakes. like: The team of heroes has 1 character without a back story so he was designed to die.
- kinghtown 4y agoHis zone is mainstream hollywood action movies, for every brilliant action movie that gets it you’ll have like 100 BS ones. I think what really annoys me about the critical drinker, and others like him on youtube, is that his essays focus on complaining about the most common denominator mainstream entertainment with very little awareness of art house films or international cinema. It seems that all he wants are cooler action movies.. which, yeah me too for sure but the criterion collection/channel is a thing as well. I’m not feeling his complaining in general. He’d be easier to love if he would champion some cool underground films like Film Comment or whatever will.
- aaron695 4y ago
- bumblebritches5 4y ago
- nivenkos 4y agoIt's a shame as it's one of my favourite films. It's similar for books too - so few down-to-Earth action books like that like The Day Of The Jackal or maybe The Bourne Identity and Red Storm Rising.
- Flatcircle 4y agoOne big thing people don't talk about enough is the curation/marketing pipeline we used to have with movies. You'd see some glimpses of a new project via live televisionm which was the only way to stay connected to everyone. Then you'd maybe watch it in the theater. and here's the important part, there was a 9+ month delay from a release in a theater to being able to watch it free of charge on television. So you'd go to blockbuster and you'd open the door and look above the employees. And there'd be a marquee with all the new movie titles you'd probably recognize from the movie theater advertising onslaught you watched. Now there is no live television. everyone pays for streamers so we don't watch movie commercials anymore. And I don't go to blockbuster and there's no list of new releases. Now a huge star will be in a film that no ones ever heard of, that used to never happen. When I was younger, I practically couldn't avoid knowing what movies were coming. Now I have no idea. But I have been hearing about Top Gun and Elvis. So that's a good start. But after all that, I have to say the Fugitive is one of my favorite movies. Tommy Lee Jones is the VIP of the film.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoPerhaps you're also getting older, the old way of doing things you lost track of what was coming out because you had kids and you didn't go to the movies that much so you didn't see the coming attractions. If you spent a lot of time going through YouTube you might know what all the coming attractions were?
- Flatcircle 4y agoThis is probably true
- Izkata 4y ago> When I was younger, I practically couldn't avoid knowing what movies were coming. > Now I have no idea. Indeed: A sequel I knew was coming and was looking forward to, I had no idea was in theatres two months ago. Just found out sometime last week it had been released.
- ravenstine 4y agoDo we need more movies like The Fugitive? We have plenty of action/drama films at this point. Why make new ones?
- actionfromafar 4y agoThis makes no sense. We have plenty of most genres. Why make anything? Each generation wants to make and experience their own take on everything.
- dudul 4y agoOnly half joking, but we could also stop making movies altogether. And writing novels or songs. We have enough of high quality media at this point that one life is not enough to consume it all.
- rob74 4y agoIt's important to note that "The Fugitive" was a remake of a 60s TV show by the same name (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugitive_(1963_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugitive_(1963_TV_series)), which is only briefly mentioned in the article. That's probably the origin of the down-to-earth storyline and also the relatively corny stuff like the one armed man. I wonder if the script would have had a chance even in the nineties if it would have been an original script rather than a remake of a relatively successful (4 seasons, 120 episodes) TV series.
- drewcoo 4y agoExactly this. And trying to recycle what makes money is not something Hollywood stopped doing. It just keeps doing it over and over. New ideas are risky, how about another Batman reboot?
- commandlinefan 4y ago> how about another Batman reboot? Well c'mon man, it's been four whole months since we've had one, we're overdue by now...
- jedberg 4y agoThe Mulaney bit referenced in the piece: https://youtube.com/watch?v=b__lY0vMetw https://youtube.com/watch?v=b__lY0vMetw
- nix23 4y agoBTW i think Hudson Hawk is an incredible movie, i love it!
- projektfu 4y agoYou can write a lot of words but the fact is there's just an international appetite for movies with big American stars and lots of bullets. I think Mile 22 is the type exemplar. These are movies that you can watch dubbed, subtitled or even without translation and probably enjoy if you just want action. They're not making any political allegories. People are heroes because they help their friends or are faithful to their cause. They can get the rubber stamp of approval from any authoritarian government. They're even set in fake countries (Indocarr?) with Asian antagonists filmed in Colombia. I'm hoping that we will see people get bored of these films and the international audience will start demanding more story and character development. Until then, well....
- gustavorg 4y ago“Does this guy ever quit?”. In relation to the speed of the film, and the way the story is presented with an ever increasing suspense/action, The Fugitive reminds me of Billy Friedkin's films, The French Contact and The Exorcist (and maybe To Live and Die in L.A.), they are films that simply do not let you breathe, and you leave the theater with the certainty that you have just lived a unique experience.
- raptor99 4y agohttps://archive.ph/t7Iqc https://archive.ph/t7Iqc
- fnord123 4y ago> While “old-man action” movies like Taken and The Equalizer could be considered descendants of The Fugitive, they lack its character development. Those thrillers that are character driven—say, No Country for Old Men or Hell or High Water—are less popcorn, more art. iow, don't discuss because the goalposts will be moved aggressively.
- germinalphrase 4y agoYou’re right, of course. That said, “ No Country for Old Men” and “Hell or High Water” are significantly better movies than “Taken” and “The Equalizer”.
- SteveSmith16384 4y agoWhen says "x isn't as good as it used to be" when what they really mean is "I now have to hunt down what's good rather than have it spoon fed to me."
- nonameiguess 4y agoThis is all that needed to be said. Aside from all the other many examples from the post-90s, Upgrade is basically the formula the author is asking for and it came out the same summer this article was written. Hollywood still makes plenty of these types of films, probably more now than before thanks to helicopter money from streaming services. Take Triple Frontier, Extraction just from the last two years. I'm not going to say those are particularly good, but they're exactly the formula the author claims no longer gets made. The actual difference is these types of movies are no longer tentpoles.
- phkahler 4y ago>> “The basic underpinnings don’t have any soul or value,” he told The New York Times. “They’re totally incredible so you don’t believe them. They’re dumb stories.” And here we are in world dominated by superhero movies, all based on Save the Cat. https://savethecat.com/?msclkid=651ddcca02731a69d331be73a8240051 https://savethecat.com/?msclkid=651ddcca02731a69d331be73a824... Edit: And yet later in the article we have this quote: >> The Fugitive’s success relies as much on plausibility as it does on velocity. Despite the soaring set pieces, the film somehow manages to remain grounded in a kind of palpable reality. “It is just so nice to watch a movie about normal smart people instead of insane super geniuses,” Not sure this piece is coherent...
- vanderZwan 4y agoWhat's incoherent about it? The director of the film dismisses the genre. The writer of the article disagrees.
- dncornholio 4y agoMovies are so pre-chewed these days. Everything has to be super evident. So boring.
- ntoskrnl 4y agoYou can't just have your characters announce how they feel. That makes me feel angry!
- 999900000999 4y agoIt's worth noting out bigger movies often need to target non English speaking audiences. So any complex dialogue or nuance is off the table. The average Marvel movie can have it's voice acting replaced by cat noises and you'll still get the gist. I am very happy to see the cost of filmmaking drop so much though, I will lightly never see a big budget movie in a a cinema again. But there are tons of small movies I love to see. I'd rather support a movie with a budget of a few million, then support a blockbuster which is censored to fit the political needs of various countries around the world
- xdennis 4y ago> It's worth noting out bigger movies often need to target non English speaking audiences. > So any complex dialogue or nuance is off the table. What a bad take! Do you seriously think complex thoughts can only be expressed in English and cannot be translated?
- native_samples 4y agoNobody thinks that, but: 1. English is an unusually compact language. If you watch dubbed movies you will notice that the characters often have to talk extremely fast compared to the original and much dialogue is rephrased to be simpler. They can't refilm the sequences so in languages that take more words, the dialogue must be simplified. 2. A lot of people won't get dubbed versions anyway, so they'll be watching it as a foreign language.
- stavros 4y agoAs a non-native who watches everything subtitled because that's what everyone does, we have no problem following complex storylines. We have a language and competent translators.
- native_samples 4y agoAnd that's why I said "nobody thinks that", indeed. Nonetheless, you seem to be fluent. Lots of people around the world speak some English but aren't fluent, don't get dubbing or subtitles into their own language for every film (or do but way late and they don't want to wait), and some of those people could in fact struggle to follow complex dialogue or might misunderstand idioms.
- unethical_ban 4y agoIt might be, as some have alluded to, the fact that we don't have these kinds of films with broad, blockbuster appeal anymore. They still get made, but very few pieces of mass media break through to the mass market "water cooler" chat.
- waspight 4y agoIs there any good source for indie movies? I would like to watch more of non Hollywood style movies. Or at least fewer remakes and superhero style movies.
- robomartin 4y agoOne of the things that has been bothering me for a while is Hollywood’s obsession with throwing sex scenes into every movie. It bothers me because this makes them unwatchable with my children. Two examples: Queen’s Gambit an Battlestar Galactica (the one with James Olmos). Both wonderful stories. The sex scenes are utterly unnecessary. There’s even an oral sex scene in one of Galactica’s episodes. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Also, for all their purported values they sure have no problem at all exploiting women in such ways. This isn’t about being a prude at all. I am not. The sex and objectification of women in movies adds nothing valuable to the story and is a net negative for society. If you don’t agree, just wait until you have a daughter to view the world they are exposed to with a different perspective.
- thomasjudge 4y agoThe Fifth Element
- throw10920 4y ago> “Does this guy ever quit?” one of the marshals asks toward the end of The Fugitive, and the answer is no—both for Dr. Richard Kimble and for Davis. For two hours and 10 minutes, this film does not relent. Not even for a cup of coffee (that scene was cut), not even for some shopping (cut), not even for romance (also cut). There is no hanging out here. Everything rushes. If it isn’t the actors, then it’s the camera with a Where’s Waldo? view of Chicago, the hometown of both Kimble and Davis; if it isn’t the camera, then it’s the swelling orchestral music. This description of brutal cuts to a film in order to keep it tight and cohesive reminds me of one of the themes from Pompo: The Cinéphile, where the director struggles with cutting out massive swaths of footage from his film to keep it under 90 minutes. Or is this how all films are made?