Why Modern Movies Suck - CGI Overload (film, scripts, scene)
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It is interesting to see what can be done with CGI beyond giant alien battle scenes. There were a few shows filmed around where I live, where the production changed the ambient outdoor light to make summer (when they filmed) look like winter (when the show is set.) They added piles of snow and took the leaves off of the trees. They added mountains in the background. Things that used to be done with props and angles can now just be added or erased with a click.
Here is the thing: CGI is not why modern movies suck. Yeah, too many movies rely on CGI, but that isn't the problem. There are lots of old movies with bad special effects. The shark in JAWS looks fake, but I will challenge anyone to a duel who doesn't agree that JAWS is one of the greatest movies ever made.
I think there are two things that are ruining modern movies:
One: They are largely written and directed by children for children. Writers, directors, and actors of past ages had real life experiences that they brought to the screen. Billy Wilder's parents and grandparents were murdered in the Holocaust. Oliver Stone fought in the Vietnam War. Watching most movies today, I get the impression that the greatest hardship these people have ever faced is someone putting real milk in their latte instead of soy milk or using the wrong pronoun.
Two: They are sermons. Everyone has an axe to grind. Yet they have no idea how to do it. I don't object to politics in a movie. Elia Kazan's movies were very political. As were Frank Capra's. Even STAR WARS was political. But the makers knew how to do it right.
Here is the thing: CGI is not why modern movies suck. Yeah, too many movies rely on CGI, but that isn't the problem. There are lots of old movies with bad special effects. The shark in JAWS looks fake, but I will challenge anyone to a duel who doesn't agree that JAWS is one of the greatest movies ever made.
I think there are two things that are ruining modern movies:
One: They are largely written and directed by children for children. Writers, directors, and actors of past ages had real life experiences that they brought to the screen. Billy Wilder's parents and grandparents were murdered in the Holocaust. Oliver Stone fought in the Vietnam War. Watching most movies today, I get the impression that the greatest hardship these people have ever faced is someone putting real milk in their latte instead of soy milk or using the wrong pronoun.
Two: They are sermons. Everyone has an axe to grind. Yet they have no idea how to do it. I don't object to politics in a movie. Elia Kazan's movies were very political. As were Frank Capra's. Even STAR WARS was political. But the makers knew how to do it right.
Modern movie making and modern video game production are perilously close to one another, and the mostly young men that consume them are largely one and the same.
I tell you though, I see some really great effects work on TV these days. Both my wife and I have commented how GOOD "The Expanse" looks, pretty much every episode. Maybe it's because it scales better on a smaller screen.
Hollywood can't make a good movie today, they have so far lost their way.
Do they even employ writers anymore, or does the CGI department just maintain text contact with a kid playing video games and that becomes the movie?
Screen writing is at an all time low in Hollywood. That or they keep all the writers stoned on LSD or something.
I kinda-sorta agree with all your points, except for the LSD. That is so 1960s.
Regardless, it is possible for Hollywood to make a good movie with little to no CGI. It did so with such gems as Hidden Figures, Across the Universe, Green Book, and Book Club. It's always done so with rom-coms like 13 Going On 30, and Music and Lyrics; and comedies like Rat Race, Sgt. Bilko, and Major Payne. All of the above were shot in the era of CGI, and yet each used little to none. But each is entertaining, which is what a movie should set out to do: entertain.
But Hollywood and theatre chains will chase after the dollars that come from butts in seats and concession sales, and if what it takes to do that is to make and show superhero or science-fiction movies where the real star of the show is the CGI, then they will do that. If it's a choice between Ultraman IV: Ultraman's Revenge, where an entire city explodes via CGI; and Mr. Thackeray's Class, about a teacher at a troubled inner-city high school and which uses no CGI, which do you think the studios will go for? I'd bet on Ultraman. The 15 to 35 male demographic, which seems to love CGI, is too much to pass up.
Good writing, directing, and acting will overcome poor animation/effects. Today it seems film makers prioritize CGI over writing, directing, and acting. I also don’t like films made to hit the viewers over the head with a sledgehammer to push an agenda/message/politics/social agenda. It’s insulting and lazy. The purpose of a film is to entertain the audience. Entertainment should be the first priority. A hint or allegory moment or two for your message is all it needs.
Right at 7 minutes he hit the nail on the head we're compensating for bad storytelling with ridiculous visuals.
The last movie I watched that I really enjoyed watching had no special effects in it it was character driven and it was a good movie not even in a genre of the movie I particularly care for, I would call the acting decent.
But once you've seen all the goofy crazy special effects that they can make with computers it's kind of like you've been there and done that.
I think a lot of these sort of movies would be better if they just made the whole thing animated cuz it kind of has this Roger rabbit feel where they're interacting with something that isn't there and you can tell it isn't there and Roger rabbit that was the gag in movies like The clone wars when they're talking to that little cartoon Yoda it looks terrible they couldn't get a puppet.
I remember watching that very first Terminator movie when I was younger and seeing the stop animation of the Terminator without any skin on it stop animation is very noticeable and I'm not sure exactly why but it was terrifying because it was real it wasn't just some Roger rabbit cartoons scaring people.
But I think the major reason for movies being so poor I can accept crappy animatronics and Goofy CGI I think it's poor writing.
For instance Star wars the latest trilogy it wasn't bad because of the special effects it wasn't bad because of the plot or anything like that it was bad because there was no character development. Ray didn't have to face any challenges the enemy I can't remember his name but he's Han Solo's kid he was not menacing he was really rather childish and I know that was probably what they were going for but it turns it into a comedy over a serious drama.
Where is you had Darth Vader who would strangle the life out of somebody using the force to show that power that he had and his willingness to use it to end you that was menacing he didn't have to fight anybody to be menacing
He just walked through the sky City and gave you the creeps.
Another one that he showed some images of and his little feel about it was Jurassic Park. I remember being a kid and seeing Jurassic Park and it filled my heart with Wonder and terror I never imagined that's what movies are supposed to do that's what blockbusters are supposed to do. Jurassic world was a cartoon parody.
I think the problem is the creatives aren't created they're just stealing ideas from older people and trying to repackage them and make them better without being better.
The original Star Wars had something none of the sequels had. One of the greatest actors of all time, Alec Guinness. You can't CGI acting. You can have special effects galore but nothing can replace great acting, which IMHO is in very short supply in today's movies. If you can sell tickets you are in the movies (and TV) whether you can act or not. Accountants run Hollywood now vs Artists before.
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