Movies are a waste of time: Discuss

[The Original An Gadaí]

Sure there are some great movies, I'm not denying it but the vastest majority of the films shown in cinemas are garbage. You often hear people espousing such drivel with "oh leave your brain at the door and enjoy it". Well it just so happens that part of my enjoyment of most things is how they stimulate my intellect, make me curious, show me the world with eyes anew. And i mean curiosity beyond wanting to know how an audiovisual faecal mass has been assembled in such an artless fashion.

I don't think nor demand that all films have to be great art but I lament that the overall standard is piss poor. However that isn't what annoys me the most. It is that people will routinely go and see these excretions. Friends of mine go to the cinema on a weekly basis and will go see any piece of crap going. Dinguses over at the SDMB often rail against what they perceive as anti-intellectualism, well such a phenomenon is in evidence at all it is in the realm of film consumption. Apparently I'm not meant to take it all so seriously.

I rarely go to the cinema for a number of reasons. I like being able to go to the bathroom during a film and not miss a major plot point. This is of course when I go to see a film that contains a plot, which unfortunately is as rare as hen's teeth. I don't like having people who I'm not otherwise intimate with sitting right beside me, it's the same on buses.
The big screen doesn't wow me. I know there are certain films made for enjoyment on a big screen but I can't understand why this goal (as laudable as some find it) seems to be mutually exclusive from making a film with a decent plot, a realistic universe et al.

There are good, and great films that come out on a regular basis but where does the audience come from for all the garbage? And no this isn't just a matter of taste. Some films in all genres are well structured, thought out, acted etc but most aren't.

Films (even ones that have been critically panned) also generate so much PR that even if you want to avoid them it can be hard. The amount of quasi-journalistic verbal ejaculate surrounding releases such as Avatar has been astounding. I'm never too clear how much of this morass of PR is paid and orchestrated by the film companies and how much of it is just indicative of a severe lack of imagination on the part of writers and commentators.

Anyway, movies are a waste of time, please discuss.

[Myrnalene]

You know, I was set out to disagree with the OP since I love film so much, but the fact is I'm a movie snob. I just don't watch the majority of the movies you are complaining about in your post. I tend to only watch movies that I have a particular interest in based on the cast, the director / writer, the subject or the critical reception. The list of movies I want to see is so long that I rarely watch a movie "just because".

As for the cinema experience, I tend to be a very close watcher so I prefer seeing movies at home on a big TV so I can focus on every detail.

[pepperlandgirl]

I don't watch the sort of movies you mention in the OP, either. If it's a movie that requires you to "check your brain at the door" then I'm not interested. I don't get any viewing pleasure out of watching something that's so stupid or poorly made that it can't withstand thinking about for 30 seconds. Having said that, I will watch trashy movies, campy movies, and just plain bad movies. But only in the grand tradition of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I don't mind going to the theaters, but I don't do it often. In fact, I usually only go for the movies that I absolutely can't wait to see at home. This year I made it a point to see Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes and Shutter Island, but when I'm bored, I don't think "Well, I'll just go to the cinema." Maybe if it didn't cost so much, but even ticket prices in Salt Lake are getting ridiculous. I think of the theater in my home town with fondness--an adult's ticket was $3.50.

But ultimately, I disagree that movies are a waste of time. No more than books are a waste of time. I mean, there's a lot of bad books in the world, right? That doesn't make all literature a big waste of time. Movies, like all art, can entertain as well as enlighten. I'm fascinated by the way directors, actors, writers, editors, and about a hundred other people all collaborate to bring a vision to the big screen.

[Orual]

I love movies. My taste in movies might be called "indiscriminate" if one was feeling charitable (case in point: I'm actually looking forward to the new Clash of the Titans). My taste in movies definitely tends more toward the sci-fi/action/fantasy/thriller genres. Maybe I'm childish, I don't know. I like stories. I like seeing imaginary places and getting to know the people who live there.

Also, there's the 'splosions. I like the 'splosions.

[The Original An Gadaí]

But ultimately, I disagree that movies are a waste of time. No more than books are a waste of time. I mean, there's a lot of bad books in the world, right? That doesn't make all literature a big waste of time. Movies, like all art, can entertain as well as enlighten. I'm fascinated by the way directors, actors, writers, editors, and about a hundred other people all collaborate to bring a vision to the big screen.

A significant difference is that bad films are shoved down our throats in other media in a way bad books generally aren't (Dan Brown's excretions notwithstanding). Also books, even popular ones tend to be a personal medium, in the sense that it is rare that you and all your friends have read the same book the same week, thus making it a significant topic of conversation, while the latest blockbuster is spoken about ad nauseum, online, in print and in water cooler conversation etc.

[The Original An Gadaí]

Re: film snobbery. Most critically acclaimed American art house and non-English language cinema is bullshit too. The American films tend to leave me with the feeling "ok this should be the minimum requirements, stop congratulating yourselves that you wrote something that just about works!" and the non-English films often leave me with the feeling "If this were set in Minnesota, nobody would give a damn." Non-American, especially European films tend to be ponderous wankfests that seem to get way more mileage because their cast speaks in Serbo-Croat or French or whatnot. The faux-indie boom of the last decade or so has really, really pissed me off. Look, if you think you're all clever and stuff, then read a book, that's what most clever people do.

[Taumpy]

Obviously movies playing in theaters that pull in millions are entertaining someone, or making them happy, or taking their mind off the bullshit routine of their daily lives. I have a feeling that's what most people are looking for, rather than being stimulated mentally.

Films (even ones that have been critically panned) also generate so much PR that even if you want to avoid them it can be hard.

Not really. It's pretty easy to ignore movie news and reviews, like anything else in entertainment. I personally don't care in the slightest about newly released movies, and wouldn't have even known about Avatar at all if it hadn't been discussed on this board.

[Taumpy]

...

[What Exit?]

I love a film that entertains me. My tastes are my own and I don't let popular or worse yet critical opinion sway me.

So I am someone that hated Dark Knight and 300 and yet loves mass appeal movies like Gump and Independence Day. I don't know why as I can't stand wrestling, but the Wrestler was a recent movie that really moved me. I don't expect everyone to agree. When a movie is great, it is as good or better than a great book. I will use The Godfather and Godfather II, 12 Angry Men, To Kill A Mockingbird and even Ghost Busters and Airplane as great examples. There are few books that are better than these movies and really the mediums are very different.

A movie like Wizard of Oz is so well known and so well done that it still enthralls new generations of kids every year and gives generations a common and collective experience. What book can measure up to the classic movie, not even the Wizard of Oz itself which few today have read? I love the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. It crosses generations like few other books but still does not come close to the common knowledge that the Wizard of Oz provides.

Movies can move people, movies can chip away at stupidity and ignorance, and movies can transport us to other worlds or the past. Expose us the classics and new music. Good movies entertain and occasionally educate. I know many of today’s blockbusters are crappy or sappy and that some of today’s top actors are not skilled, but then this is true of the past too. I think as many great films have been made in the last 20 years as any other 20 year period.


And as far as being a film snob, keep in mind I love Tarantino and Kevin Smith Movies. I love most of those 80s teen movies. I love Animal House and the Blues Brothers. This is along with a lot of the old classics.

[Orual]

A significant difference is that bad films are shoved down our throats in other media in a way bad books generally aren't ...

I find that information about movies I'm not interested in is really pretty easy to avoid. I remain blissfully ignorant of 99% of sappy romance movies and no media commandos have yet shown up to shove in the information into my head.

Look, if you think you're all clever and stuff, then read a book, that's what most clever people do.

You know, some of us are capable of enjoying more than one kind of storytelling medium. I love to read. I read a ton. That doesn't keep me from liking movies.

[pepperlandgirl]

A significant difference is that bad films are shoved down our throats in other media in a way bad books generally aren't (Dan Brown's excretions notwithstanding). Also books, even popular ones tend to be a personal medium, in the sense that it is rare that you and all your friends have read the same book the same week, thus making it a significant topic of conversation, while the latest blockbuster is spoken about ad nauseum, online, in print and in water cooler conversation etc.

Movies aren't shoved down my throat. I'm usually barely aware of the movies that are released on a weekly basis, unless it's a movie I want to know more information about. You can easily control what's "shoved down your throat" and block out the rest. I don't even understand why that's a complaint.

Re: film snobbery. Most critically acclaimed American art house and non-English language cinema is bullshit too. The American films tend to leave me with the feeling "ok this should be the minimum requirements, stop congratulating yourselves that you wrote something that just about works!" and the non-English films often leave me with the feeling "If this were set in Minnesota, nobody would give a damn."

I don't watch a lot of "art house" films, though I do see one or two a year at an actual art house, and I generally enjoy them.

Non-American, especially European films tend to be ponderous wankfests that seem to get way more mileage because their cast speaks in Serbo-Croat or French or whatnot. The faux-indie boom of the last decade or so has really, really pissed me off.

You seem to care very passionately about a subject that you find pointless. Why would the "faux indie boom" piss you off if you think movies are a waste of time and you have better things to do anyway? I think baseball is a waste of time, subsequently I have no rage about what goes on in baseball.

Look, if you think you're all clever and stuff, then read a book, that's what most clever people do.

I have a MA in British and American Literature. I have read plenty of books and will read plenty more. That doesn't mean I can enjoy a film or two. In fact, watching Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers have taught me more about how to tell a story than the vast majority of books I've read.

[The Original An Gadaí]

I turn on the television, every single ad break will have at least one trailer for a blockbuster.
I walk down to the bus stop and at least one of the sides of it will be an ad for the latest blockbuster.
I open up a newspaper or a magazine on a daily basis and there are adverts for the latest blockbuster.
I turn on the radio, and whatya know, ads for the latest blockbuster or worse, a light hearted "review" of the latest blockbuster with the zany hosts and hostesses.
I look up at the moon and somebody has projected an ad for... ok that hasn't happened yet.

Seriously I contend that the film industry's PR is insidiously ubiquitous in my (our?) daily life.

My comment on "just reading a book" was meant facetiously but I'm glad I got ye all riled.

[The Original An Gadaí]

I turn on the television, every single ad break will have at least one trailer for a blockbuster.
I walk down to the bus stop and at least one of the sides of it will be an ad for the latest blockbuster.
I open up a newspaper or a magazine on a daily basis and there are adverts for the latest blockbuster.
I turn on the radio, and whatya know, ads for the latest blockbuster or worse, a light hearted "review" of the latest blockbuster with the zany hosts and hostesses.
I look up at the moon and somebody has projected an ad for... ok that hasn't happened yet.

Seriously I contend that the film industry's PR is insidiously ubiquitous in my (our?) daily life.

My comment on "just reading a book" was meant facetiously but I'm glad I got ye all riled.

[Orual]

Oh no, not advertising! ::sob::

What sort of weak-mined doofus is incapable of ignoring advertising?

[What Exit?]

Oh no, not advertising! ::sob::

What sort of weak-mined doofus is incapable of ignoring advertising?

Got to love Time Shifting, DVR, DVDs, On Demand, even VCR. Commercials? Only if I feel like watching it.

[The Original An Gadaí]

Oh no, not advertising! ::sob::

What sort of weak-mined doofus is incapable of ignoring advertising?

I'm incapable of entirely ignoring advertising, especially blanket advertising. A lot of money is spent to make them unignorable.

[ivan astikov]

I'm incapable of entirely ignoring advertising, especially blanket advertising.

Get a bedspread. Throw over bed. Problem solved.

I'll be on all week.

[Glazer]

Look, if you think you're all clever and stuff, then read a book, that's what most clever people do.

Be careful your occupation is showing.

[jali]

I have a movie to recommend: It doesn't really make you think, but I hope you give it a shot. It's just fun to watch. It didn't do well at the box office - at least it wasn't a big hit in Atlanta.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970468/

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. Great acting - fun movie.

[terrifel]

Sturgeon's Law, dude. 90% of everything is crap. Most movies are just louder crap, brought to you by a dedicated and financially lucrative crap-distributing system.

It's easy to forget that movies are still almost a newborn art form. It took Greek playwrights a hundred years to figure out that audiences could cope with more than two characters on stage at a time. Similarly, at first the big draw of movies was simply the fact that they could move. Holy shit, a train is pulling into a station! This blows our tiny 19th-century minds! A century later, the train is CGI and projected onto a 3D IMAX screen with digital Surround Sound, but the audience is still basically paying for the filmmaker to throw things at them.

Those who lament the sorry state of modern American film should keep in mind the plot of the very first commercial motion picture: a guy sneezes. So really, films have achieved a remarkable level of subtlety, relatively speaking.

It's got to be pretty hard to develop any level of sophistication in your storytelling tradition when the medium is still regularly being upended and re-invented. Moviemakers had decades to refine a theatrical language suitable for a purely visual experience, then some doofus went and invented sound. The advent of color film is another K-T event in the history of movies. All you filmmakers who spent your careers teasing out the evocative chiaroscuro subtlety of the moving image, you can just forget about all that. Today there seems to be a resurgence toward advanced 3-D technologies, so your film had better have at least a few things that poke out at people.

Also, and perhaps most regrettably for the visionary artist, the film industry is just that: an industry. This is not just a matter limited to Hollywood blockbusters; getting a film of any kind financed and distributed has historically been an ambitious and costly undertaking.

It may be that the modern digital age will undercut this obstacle somewhat, placing the tools to produce and distribute professional-quality movies directly in the hands of the aspiring filmmaker. But then of course you'll have that many more genuinely horrible films being made as well, so it will probably all average out.