Movies are shit

[Joseph41]

And, in general, I don't understand why they're so popular.

I don't enjoy going to the movies. As a rule, I don't enjoy watching movies at all.

How and why have they become such a pivotal part of our popular culture?

[peterpiper]

This opinion of yours is abominable and punishable only by death by mounting stares and coded-cerebral acro-linguistic murder.

It's become such a great medium for expanding the ways we communicate ideas in a way that combines the cathartic experience of theatre as well as a personal one familiar to how we derive pleasures and insight from reading books. The best writers of today are behind the scripts we see that become the movies we love (well, everyone but you).

[K888]

I guess we like movies because they give us a chance to imagine and escape, and visualise an alternate landscape to the one we live in currently. Like, sure, you also get this with books, but with movies, you get that image shown to you straight up, which I guess is nice if you struggle creating landscapes in your mind purely from words in a book, or don't have the energy to.

They're a display of creativity and art - fundamentally, they're a form of expression.

There are some really, really good movies. But good lord, there are some incredibly shit movies. Really, really, really shit movies.

I've found as I get older that I don't enjoy them as much, and that I'm a lot more picky. I struggle to sit down and watch a movie and focus purely on it - but that probably says more about my mental state and restlessness than anything else haha. I don't tend to watch them as often now because I always need to be doing something with my hands - so I always end up playing a game on my phone or something while watching, and that seems to annoy people. That being said, there's still plenty of movies that I enjoy watching.
There's also something nice about curling up under a blanket with a cup of tea and watching a movie when you're feeling sick. 

[spectroscopy]

And, in general, I don't understand why they're so popular.

I don't enjoy going to the movies. As a rule, I don't enjoy watching movies at all.

How and why have they become such a pivotal part of our popular culture?

I'm on a phone so will type a bigger reply later, but I love cinemas and stuff because it is the best way to be fully enveloped into a story and appreciate it. Particularly when you are watching a film that is really well made and a spectacle (something like Dunkirk) where the music score is meant to draw you in and there is high quality cinematography etc. movie theatres just allow you to really enjoy a movie more so than watching it at home. BUT movies are becoming more obsolete these days because we are living in the golden age of TV with so many ways for online distribution, binge watching, and a bunch of other factors. People who enjoy a good story are often far far more interested in watching a tv show than just a movie and people these days generally want to be able to watch stuff in the comfort of their own homes. This is also true for me, I love cinemas but I don't want to spend my money on just 100 minutes of some film when I can watch 12 episodes of it at home for free. This is why lately there have been some huge tv shows bigger than before, because you can pour in a lot of resources and really reap the rewards more so than from film. Shows like game of thrones for example have 45-80 minute episodes and each episode is made of a higher quality than 90% of modern Hollywood films, with some episodes being better than top films. If you wanted to watch a medieval fantasy film you would be better off watching that then going to the cinemas and wasting money, and if you decide you like game of thrones after an episode or 2 you can continue to watch it at your leisure rather than having a single 100 minute burst of entertainment. With the rise of Netflix and shit too people  are becoming way more accustomed to the depth and buildup that comes from shows too. Multiple episodes allows for way more intricate stories, backstory, character arcs, audience attachment to characters, etc. and people who watch lots of tv online often find movies a bit shallow in comparison. I was studying abroad in America recently doing a course on film/tv/entertainment and Hollywood is/has been having a massive pivot to TV. 10 years ago billboards in the US and worldwide would be full of material for upcoming films but these days it's all for tv shows.

[Calebark]

They take us out of our lives for a moment and allow us to experience something different.

They're like books without the long-term commitment.

[peterpiper]

They're like books without the long-term commitment.

Books are for the dedicated, movies are for the passionate thrill-seekers. A love expressed for life either way

[heids]

I'm very picky about what movies I like - mostly, I only like movies that are "deep", thoughtful, and generally sad or moving.

They're like books, but with even deeper immersion, because rather than imagining emotion and whatever, you see and hear it almost as close as you do in real life. 

But I think why they're generally not as good as books - they're mostly shallower and shorter, and have no introspection/characters' thoughts like a book has.  Mostly because they rely on the added visual + auditory cues to make up for many words, plussss they're more expensive to make than books... it's cheaper to make something short and flashy than deep and real.  So, I find few movies satisfy me.

But when you're really down, cold, tired and sick - curling up with a good movie helps escape your head and pass the time.

[fantasticbeasts3]

i don't hate movies, per se, i'm more of a book and tv show person. on the occasion i do watch a movie, i've done a bit of research into it (mainly just reviews) to see if it's worth watching. as a musical person, i love film musicals - the soundtracks are ace most of the time, and for me, if there's good music, it's usually a good movie. they're a quick step away from reality, where you can enjoy a new world. :-)

[sweetiepi]

In my opinion, books are *way* better than movies or TV shows, especially for fiction- it allows you to picture each word/sentence/paragraph/scene/character etc exactly as you want, kinda like the author intends for you to get lost/so absorbed into the story itself. Personally I feel as if movies and TV shows don't allow the same amount of imagination, kind of dampening the viewer's creativity, which in hand doesn't allow the story to 'develop' as much as it has potential too. That being said, sometimes it is nice to just curl up in bed/on the couch and watch a good TV series or movie and let the movie/show tell the story for you.

[2352300]

Movies are not shit by nature, they just became shit over time. Back when film was a very niche art form (1950s -1970s) movies were a lot more original and creative because directors and writers had more artistic control. It was only in the late 70s/early 80s after the first Star Wars was released that studios clued into the money makers that movies could be. So since then the creative freedom of directors/writers has steadily been reduced as studios take control of how movies are made so they can fit within a certain business model, an example would be the whole Edgar Wright and Antman controversy. I understand why people are frustrated with movies these days now that we're in sequel/reboot/remake mania. A lot of the creativity has been sucked out of the actual way the movies are shot because studios just want to slap a movie in theatres as quickly as possible. Cinematography has been reduced to coverage of dialogue now, like in CSI where they just go close up, close up, medium shot to cover a dialogue exchange between two characters. Film is a visual medium and yeah it really pisses me off that no one is utilising it anymore and relying on shitty expository dialogue to tell the story. There as still some great movies out there though! You just need to look a little harder to find them.

This may be kind of off topic, but Moonlight is a very silent film that had to rely on visuals in order to tell its story in a coherent manner. It's a non-linear story line so it's amazing how you, the audience, are able to fill in the gaps just through great editing and poignant imagery. La La Land was dazzling to look at but it had heaps more dialogue and musical numbers to tell its story so it didn't utilise the visual medium to the extent that Moonlight did, and that's why Moonlight won the Oscar for best /PICTURE/. (So go check it out)

Sorry for the rant I just really like movies  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sine]

sorry LA LA LAND shoud've won the oscar seeing as no one even saw moonlight 

[2352300]

Fair enough if you preferred La La Land but it was made with a budget of $30 million USD whereas Moonlight was made with $10,000 USD. The sheer resourcefulness of Moonlight deserves a goddamn Oscar. Barry Jenkins, the director, barely had enough money to make it let alone advertise and as an indepdent film it wasn't even guaranteed to be picked up by a major studio. It was also his first feature film, whereas Damien Chazelle had made more than five films (I think?) before making La La Land, which had a big studio backing it and the budget to market itself. I agree that La La Land is great and deserved most of its Oscars, especially for its soundtrack cuz holy shit Justin Hurtzwits is an amazing composer, but for best PICTURE? Nahhh. It didn't utilise the visual medium as well as Moonlight did. Everything was dazzling but the images were with less substance imo. The main difference for me is that I remembered the aesthetic and images of Moonlight better than La La Land's because it was so unique. For La La Land, the score is what stuck with me the longest after I left the cinema. Both were great viewing experiences though! I just feel like Daminen Chazelle wasn't doing anything new. He was just recreating the aesthetic of old musicals and replacing the stage with film instead of developing his own aesthetic.

Moonlight was so good it didn't need advertising it spread word of mouth. And if Oscars were given to what is more widely viewed instead of critically acclaimed then the train wreck Batman V Superman would deserve an Oscars :,(

[Katt97]

And, in general, I don't understand why they're so popular.

I don't enjoy going to the movies. As a rule, I don't enjoy watching movies at all.

How and why have they become such a pivotal part of our popular culture?

Hey Joseph41, what I have taken from this thread is that you have not seen Shrek and all of its sequels, because if you had, you would not be saying these things.

[Joseph41]

Hey Joseph41, what I have taken from this thread is that you have not seen Shrek and all of its sequels, because if you had, you would not be saying these things.

I... I have seen Shrek.

I'm sorry.

[sudodds]

And, in general, I don't understand why they're so popular.

I don't enjoy going to the movies. As a rule, I don't enjoy watching movies at all.

How and why have they become such a pivotal part of our popular culture?

high key offended film student over here