In your opinion, what are the biggest problems in Hollywood cinema today?

[BenGrimm]

Does anyone remember the build up the movie companies did for Blair Witch? I remember driving home in a car from VA to FL and can't remember what magazine it was but there was a picture of the movie and it had the writeup of background of the Blair Witch and how some film kids went on a search for it and filmed it. They were never seen again but the camera footage was found. Then, a few weeks later I saw the trailer for it and was just hooked. I saw the movie in the theatre and really had no idea it was fake (don't judge, I was like 18 at the time, LOL). I remember thinking the movie was so crazy and couldn't believe they found the footage....Fast forward like 2 weeks later and I saw the 3 characters on the Today Show or something like that and I remember thinking WTF!!! I was so let down, LOL.

What I'm getting at is that you don't see that sort of buildup for a storyline anymore. It's simply the trailer, or multiple, and then the movie and then rinse and repeat. I did really enjoy that buildup back in the day.

Blair Witch had the best viral marketing EVER. I think they purposely leaked bootleg VHS copies to get the word out. I saw it about a month before it hit the theaters and the copy from a friend of a friend or friend cut off before the credits ao it made it seem even more real.

 

[BowlBrother85]

Blair Witch had the best viral marketing EVER. I think they purposely leaked bootleg VHS copies to get the word out. I saw it about a month before it hit the theaters and the copy from a friend of a friend or friend cut off before the credits ao it made it seem even more real.

There was a faux documentary on the "Curse of the Blair Witch" called "Sticks and Stones" which ran on SyFy for about a month in July of 1999 which added a lot of back story to the movie. It was done really well. Combined with the "found footage" horror genre being a relatively original concept at the time, and The Blair Witch Project was groundbreaking. Like everything else though, Hollywood took a good and original idea, and ran it into the ground with lesser material like "Paranormal Activity".

 

[95 Vol Alum]

What was that guy doing in the corner anyway?

 

[hndog609]

I understand where you're coming from. And in the horror movie genre, I can agree. But overall, the watcher needs to be into the bad guy somewhat to get them into the film. If it's just an archetypical bad guy that kills someone (or many someones) and you know is bad, well, ho-hum. Think of your classic 80s action movie villains. Ho-hum, they're bad, killed folks, big fight in the end, good guy wins and kills bad guy. Next...

But you take a bad guy like the Joker from the Dark Knight with some depth. You want to know why he is bad. What set him off? What made him completely crazy and want to do bad things? And you keep hanging on to figure out why.

Or John Doe from Seven. You really want to know why he is doing what he is doing. (and the involuntary mind-blowing shudder at the end of that particular movie)

Overall, some depth of character of your villain is needed. Provided they can go overboard from time to time, but you need some hook for the audience to get into the characters.

Agree. Others that popped into my head are Hans from Inglorious Bastards, Hannibal Lector and...c'mon now...Darth Vader.

 

[HollowaytoSeivers]

Definitely all the reboots. Imagination and originality are in short supply in Hollywood.

 

[BenGrimm]

There was a faux documentary on the "Curse of the Blair Witch" called "Sticks and Stones" which ran on SyFy for about a month in July of 1999 which added a lot of back story to the movie. It was done really well. Combined with the "found footage" horror genre being a relatively original concept at the time, and The Blair Witch Project was groundbreaking. Like everything else though, Hollywood took a good and original idea, and ran it into the ground with lesser material like "Paranormal Activity".

Oh yeah I remember that too. The concept of Blair Witch was genius. The fact you never see the “monster” just lended to the over all creepyness.

 

[Volwark]

Agree with these in particular:

I felt like ranting about this today so here are just a few of mine...

3.) The running time in films have gotten way out of hand. I miss the days when you could go see a great action film that was over in under 2 hours. Seriously is editing even a part of the movie making process anymore?

4.) How it seems that EVERY film is now made to set up a sequel or trilogy! Can't we just have stand alone films anymore?

Even worse is how they're set up for a sequel/trilogy, but not really planned out. See: new Star Wars movies

7.) I'm so tired of "complex" villains! Sometimes I just like the morality in film to be cut and dry. Bad guys are bad guys because they're simply evil mother****ers! I don't want to hear about some long complex back story that tries to explain an antagonist's psyche. Just show me they're evil. That's really all I need to know sometimes.

This has become a problem in not only Hollywood, but also video games.

11.) Director's insistence to work with the same actors over and over, regardless of whether they're right for the part or not. Hey Spielberg and Ron Howard, I know Tom Hanks is a great actor but does he HAVE to be in everything you guys direct? Hey Tim Burton, there ARE other actors out there besides Johnny Depp ya' know!

Nolan can be bad about this also. Kinda funny how Spielberg was really trying to shove Shia Lebouf down our throats, but it didn't work. To take it a step further, I am tired of seeing movie posters that are blatantly just putting famous actors mugs on there with little thought. I know why they do it, but there is a lack of creativity and it hurts immersion.

Couple more I'll add:

- Movie trailer formula. All very cut and paste now with similar editing and music styles

- Fight scenes where there's a big group of bad guys surrounding the good guy, but they decide to fight him one at a time instead of just taking him down en masse. Again, I know why this is done but if you can't do it more practically, then don't do this scene at all

Does anyone remember the build up the movie companies did for Blair Witch?

A lot of folks give it hate, and justifiably so in some ways, but it was kinda brilliant at the time. Even the original concept of the second movie (which also had a SyFy mockumentary) was good until the studio got their hands on it.

 

[Volzonya]

Aint nobody naked.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I know I'm going to catch flack for this one but I truly cannot stand sex scenes in 99% of movies! No, I dont feel this way because of some "goody two shoes" fundamentalist point of view. I just think they serve absolutely zero purpose other than pointless titilation and is a waste of the audience's time. You can imply it without the need to show it in the vast majority of films that are made and if a director thinks their movie has to show it, chances are its not a very good movie to start with.

Again it goes back to film editing. If what you are showing the audience isn't done so with the purpose of advancing the story, then you are wasting their time! Rule #1. Respect your audience's time!

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Does anyone remember the build up the movie companies did for Blair Witch? I remember driving home in a car from VA to FL and can't remember what magazine it was but there was a picture of the movie and it had the writeup of background of the Blair Witch and how some film kids went on a search for it and filmed it. They were never seen again but the camera footage was found. Then, a few weeks later I saw the trailer for it and was just hooked. I saw the movie in the theatre and really had no idea it was fake (don't judge, I was like 18 at the time, LOL). I remember thinking the movie was so crazy and couldn't believe they found the footage....Fast forward like 2 weeks later and I saw the 3 characters on the Today Show or something like that and I remember thinking WTF!!! I was so let down, LOL.

What I'm getting at is that you don't see that sort of buildup for a storyline anymore. It's simply the trailer, or multiple, and then the movie and then rinse and repeat. I did really enjoy that buildup back in the day.

Also trailers are ridiculous now. They show way, way too much of the movie. I will now only watch the teaser trailers, anything over a minute I refuse to watch.

And watching trailers used to be a reason I showed up early for movies, but I started hating doing it because of how much they show.

 

[n_huffhines]

I know I'm going to catch flack for this one but I truly cannot stand sex scenes in 99% of movies! No, I dont feel this way because of some "goody two shoes" fundamentalist point of view. I just think they serve absolutely zero purpose other than pointless titilation and is a waste of the audience's time. You can imply it without the need to show it in the vast majority of films that are made and if a director thinks their movie has to show it, chances are its not a very good movie to start with.

Again it goes back to film editing. If what you are showing the audience isn't done so with the purpose of advancing the story, then you are wasting their time! Rule #1. Respect your audience's time!

I agree.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

How about the lack of good comedies? Yeah I know Borat was just released, but I’m just not seeing a lot of them. Maybe it’s just my style of comedies that I grew up with. Not to get too political, but I think studios, directors, actors etc..are afraid to do a lot of comedies anymore for fear of the PC world. Some of you may disagree, but there are a lot of sensitive people who are always looking to be offended by something. The last thing anybody wants to be now is labeled something ist or bic . I heard Ken Jeong talking about the Hangover recently and he was talking about some of the the language and how it would be very difficult to make that movie now.

I feel like these next few years would be a great time following all of the craziness of the world for the comedy genre to make a strong return.

 

[golfballs]

They’re a bunch of pedos

 

[n_huffhines]

How about the lack of good comedies? Yeah I know Borat was just released, but I’m just not seeing a lot of them. Maybe it’s just my style of comedies that I grew up with. Not to get too political, but I think studios, directors, actors etc..are afraid to do a lot of comedies anymore for fear of the PC world. Some of you may disagree, but there are a lot of sensitive people who are always looking to be offended by something. The last thing anybody wants to be now is labeled something ist or bic . I heard Ken Jeong talking about the Hangover recently and he was talking about some of the the language and how it would be very difficult to make that movie now.

I feel like these next few years would be a great time following all of the craziness of the world for the comedy genre to make a strong return.

The problem is that they stopped making money. I remember Dax Shepherd talking about it on his pod. He said he had a movie with a disappointing box office opening weekend just as the decline started (IIRC, it was about $18m) and he was saying how people would be killing for those kinds of numbers now.

One thing that the author I mentioned discussed is that DVD sales revenue disappearing has had a big impact. Comedies did well on VHS/DVD. Movies like Tommy Boy barely made money in the theaters and then they're among the highest-selling DVD's of all time.

 

[BenGrimm]

Also trailers are ridiculous now. They show way, way too much of the movie. I will now only watch the teaser trailers, anything over a minute I refuse to watch.

And watching trailers used to be a reason I showed up early for movies, but I started hating doing it because of how much they show.

I feel like there has been a little shift away from the trailers of 2000-2010 basically spelling out the whole movie. Many seem to be going back to just showing a few highlights. Marvel in particular has gone to great lengths to fool fans with trailers. Star Wars has given bare bones trailers.

But they are still cut similarly. Lots of BooooOOOOOSHHHH sounds, shakey quick cuts, and/or a slow version of known song to create an eerie ambience.

 

[Dudleys87]

Its a lot like wrestling
To many hands in the pot filling it up with bad ideas
If they go back and do things that got them big payoffs the movies would be better

 

[Ashevolle]

What was that guy doing in the corner anyway?

Playing with his dingy

 

[Jackcrevol]

Good points. The remakes are over doing it.

bull ****

Signed MIB 4

 

[hndog609]

Ran across this and thought it belongs here for consideration.

121 Movie Remakes and Reboots Currently in the Works | Den of Geek

 

[happy-go_vol]

I felt like ranting about this today so here are just a few of mine...

1.) The PG-13 rating and how every studio's desire to hit that magical rating has completely diluted the waters of grittiness in film!

2.) How the Comic Book genre has all but killed the action hero genre!

3.) The running time in films have gotten way out of hand. I miss the days when you could go see a great action film that was over in under 2 hours. Seriously is editing even a part of the movie making process anymore?

4.) How it seems that EVERY film is now made to set up a sequel or trilogy! Can't we just have stand alone films anymore?

5.) Too many damn remakes!

6.) Too many "perfect" looking actors and actresses. I realize that Hollywood has always embraced physical beauty, however the thing I love the most with a movie like Jaws is how all the actors in that film look like regular, everyday people. I wish we could see more films like that. If Jaws were made today, Chris Hemsworth would play Matt Hooper, Hugh Jackman would play Quint, Officer Brody would be played by Chris Pratt , Scarlett Johansen would play his wife, and the mayor would be played by George Clooney!

7.) I'm so tired of "complex" villains! Sometimes I just like the morality in film to be cut and dry. Bad guys are bad guys because they're simply evil mother****ers! I don't want to hear about some long complex back story that tries to explain an antagonist's psyche. Just show me they're evil. That's really all I need to know sometimes.

8.) The use of specific color palettes in movies have gotten way out of hand. What happened to just making films with a true to life color pallette? Why did Hollywood become so in love with teal and orange?

9.) Adventure films have all but gone extinct! Spielberg is still putting out amazing stuff but sometimes I kind of miss his days of making films like The Goonies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., etc. His work with the animated movie Tin Tin was probably the last solid adventure movie I remember watching.

10.) M. Night Shyamalan. The fact that Hollywood studios continue to financially support this hack blows my mind! Can someone please take this guy's crayons away from him!

11.) Director's insistence to work with the same actors over and over, regardless of whether they're right for the part or not. Hey Spielberg and Ron Howard, I know Tom Hanks is a great actor but does he HAVE to be in everything you guys direct? Hey Tim Burton, there ARE other actors out there besides Johnny Depp ya' know!

12.) Not enough 'in between' films. It seems everything is either a 200m blockbuster or a tiny oscar bait talkie. Instead of giving the Wachowski's 200m for Jupiter Ascending, they should have given 50m to four separate promising directors and writers - and let them create four original movies. There only needs to be 4-5 200m films a year, not 10+.

I think todays American actors and horrible. Compare current actors from the 50-70s. Also Ive gotten to like British actors way better, especially in horror movies.

Every movie must have some social awareness agenda, its just terrible.

The whole empowering women has gotten ridiculous.

Every netflix 'original' is the same.

Why cant a family horror movie have the son or daughter that is actually fiendly to their parents and doesn't have some pent up teenage angst.

Id like a series where the main character actually dies early in the series surprisingly, then replaced.

Agreed, the color is so saturated and vibrant, its not real.

I dont mind the running times if the movie is good.

This is a good subject.

 

[happy-go_vol]

How about the lack of good comedies? Yeah I know Borat was just released, but I’m just not seeing a lot of them. Maybe it’s just my style of comedies that I grew up with. Not to get too political, but I think studios, directors, actors etc..are afraid to do a lot of comedies anymore for fear of the PC world. Some of you may disagree, but there are a lot of sensitive people who are always looking to be offended by something. The last thing anybody wants to be now is labeled something ist or bic . I heard Ken Jeong talking about the Hangover recently and he was talking about some of the the language and how it would be very difficult to make that movie now.

I feel like these next few years would be a great time following all of the craziness of the world for the comedy genre to make a strong return.

Comedy is pretty much dead. They'll make fun of the south and Christians, those are the only groups you can joke about. Maybe they'll go back to Leave it to Beaver type comedy writing, or andy griffith.

 

[n_huffhines]

Comedy is pretty much dead. They'll make fun of the south and Christians, those are the only groups you can joke about. Maybe they'll go back to Leave it to Beaver type comedy writing, or andy griffith.

It's not true that you can't make fun of groups other than Christians and southerners (the persecution complex is unreal) and this implies that comedy is mostly about making fun of groups. If that's all/mostly what comedy is, then it'd already be "pretty much dead"

 

[NEO]

CGI has killed movies.

Budgets have killed movies.

Wokeness and PC causes have killed movies.

Lack of being able to write long scenes with actual dialogue had killed movies.

There are so many issues at this point that you cant just point to one thing.

 

[vols72]

Lack of new ideas

 

[OrangeTsar]

Biggest problem IMHO?
The tendency of a bunch of shallow hacks, many of whom never even graduated high school, having the unmitigated gall to presume to lecture me about anything and everything from how to vote, what to eat, what to drive, and how to practice my faith when their only demonstrated life skill is the ability to pretend to be someone they are not.
Hypocritical Virtue signaling mental midgets with the self awareness of a clam.