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> The acting/writing was pompous, actors talked like reciting Shakespear. The movies were about heros of impeccable character doing heroic things and there alwa
by slibhb 4y ago
> The acting/writing was pompous, actors talked like reciting Shakespear. The movies were about heros of impeccable character doing heroic things and there always was a happy ending. Movie shots followed strict guidelines and the creative head of the movie was the producer while the director was akin to a contractor, someone hired to film the scenes.
12 Angry Men and especially Sweet Smell of Success are not good examples of this.
- mc32 4y agoAnd for me, I miss some of that straightforward cinema today. Sometimes you don’t want ambiguities and meandering characters. Everything is a blockbuster and a franchise.
- nyokodo 4y ago> Sometimes you don’t want ambiguities and meandering characters. Or antiheroes, or love triangles, or…
- mc32 4y agoYou know, ketchup[1] in the right amount can do wonders but slather it everywhere and it’s the delight of a four year old, but it’s really not the way it should be experienced. [1] pick your condiment of choice.
- Jimajesty 4y agoWhen a movie has a love story that doesn't involve a love-triangle or infidelity I breath a palpable sigh of relief. Realistic or not, does all romance have to involve competition or deception?
- mc32 4y agoCinema instead of being a reflection on society is more a mirror of itself. (look at Weinstein/Polanski and people like them in cinema and how they were treated until they could no more --look at their compasses).
- WalterBright 4y agoI just watched a romance movie where the plot was one was dying of a terminal disease. I watched it because the protagonist was Feynman, otherwise I'd have turned it off because watching people die is not entertaining to me.
- sergiotapia 4y agoMatt Damon said that in the past studios could expect to make half of the money back in DVD sales. Now that DVDs are gone studios are a lot more concerned about funding movies that are _not_ blockbusters/franchises. Sucks! Can you imagine a studio funding a movie like Fracture (2007) today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG1Lxnn8Qa8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG1Lxnn8Qa8 - probably not, a movie about a genius man who murders his cheating wife and an egotistical district attorney. But the film is tremendous, can't be made today.
- 1980phipsi 4y agoIt becomes a 6 episode miniseries.
- woevdbz 4y agoExactly. Storytelling format follows the dollars which follows consumer habits. Right now all the dollar is in content made-for-Netflix and franchise movies because most people just want to watch online stuff at home nowadays.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Bayart 4y agoYou should hang out around small cinemas and niche festivals, you'd see everything can be and is made. There's a universe beyond studios. I just saw Cronenberg's Futur Crimes (the direct successor to Videodrome and eXistenZ) a few days ago, and Maps to the Stars yesterday. The man is as nuts as ever and he can still get his films made, it just takes producers who do it for fun and inventive financing. Films are the easiest they've ever been to make.
- js2 4y agoIndeed. And all noir films. American cinema is a lot more than just its best picture nominees. Why is OP ignoring films like Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, The Defiant Ones, Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, Paths of Glory? I love French New Wave and Breathless is one of my favorite films, but OP overstates their case.
- eqbridges 4y agoOP was simply referring to nominees as best picture in the Oscars between 55-65 to make his point.
- js2 4y agoWith cherry picking you can make any point you want. It not only ignores most of the films in that era, it even ignores most of the best picture Oscar nominees, to say nothing of the fact that OP so wildly mischaracterizes 12 Angry Men and Sweet Smell of Success that I wonder if they've seen the films in the first place.
- saiya-jin 4y agoI have to agree with OP, 12 angry men is a fantastic movie on many levels, but it really feels more like good Shakespeare than 12 real dudes discussing execution and their consience
- bazoom42 4y agoThe noir films was a significant inspiration for the nouvelle vague. They were highly regarded by french critics, which even gave the genre its name.
- goto11 4y ago12 Angry Men is pretty stiff and theatrical. Not a criticism since it is a great movie, but it it wolds apart from say Five Easy Pieces.
- slibhb 4y agoStiff and theatrical are better descriptors. Or mannered and a bit stilted. I've only seen Breathless and A Band Apart. My sense is that Godard played a big part in transforming cinema from mannered to free-form. But I'd caution against framing that transition in terms of quality. Lots of stiff, theatrical movies are excellent, many of them have really good camerawork, and Godard certainly didn't invent moral ambiguity.
- woevdbz 4y agoI don't think OP is framing it in terms of quality. Just a different style of filmmaking. A change. Whether the change is for the better - different story!
- dazdaz 4y agoThat's also due to the fact that it's a classical chamber play. I'd say a "theatrical" feel was definitely intended.