Why Modern Movies Suck

[supermike80 1,286]

Love the critical drinker

 

[JustinCharge 2,397]

yah critical drinker, nerdrotic, heelvsbabyface and a ton of others have been discussing this for about 6 years now.

[Pimpadeaux 2,267]

Saw "Oppenheimer" yesterday. 

It was OK but loooooooooooooooooong and jumped around a lot. 

I was hoping it would do CGI of the Hiroshima bomb. 

I could see Robert Downey Jr. getting an Academy Aware for best supporting actor. 

Cillian Murphy at least will get nominated for best actor for his role as Oppenheimer.

We just don't have the desire to go spend a bunch of money at the movies when we could wait a few months and watch them at home. 

[MDC 5,892]

The video isn’t entirely wrong but most of what he says could also be said about many male characters. A female character taking on a bigger male is unbelievable but audiences routinely accept male characters taking on dozens or hundreds of men. It’s all fantasy wish fulfillment.

Of all the reasons movies today suck this sort of transparent pandering to women audience members ranks pretty low on my list.

[TK0001 97]

2 hours ago, MDC said:

The video isn’t entirely wrong but most of what he says could also be said about many male characters. A female character taking on a bigger male is unbelievable but audiences routinely accept male characters taking on dozens or hundreds of men. It’s all fantasy wish fulfillment.

Of all the reasons movies today suck this sort of transparent pandering to women audience members ranks pretty low on my list.

It's not pandering, it's the watering down of all female characters so as to not ever, ever present them as weak whatsoever. Much less need a man in their life. The result is bland, cardboard, unfeeling female characters who have no flaws and don't have to overcome anything other than "being already awesome and finding the inner moxie to unlock their more inner awesomeness". Male characters are allowed to be flawed, vulnerable, and have traits they need to correct (with the help of an oobir-awesome woman, of course!), which is why they're much more interesting. It's the core of why movies fail now. Women can't be portrayed as real people anymore.

[MDC 5,892]

14 minutes ago, TK0001 said:

It's not pandering, it's the watering down of all female characters so as to not ever, ever present them as weak whatsoever. Much less need a man in their life. The result is bland, cardboard, unfeeling female characters who have no flaws and don't have to overcome anything other than "being already awesome and finding the inner moxie to unlock their more inner awesomeness". Male characters are allowed to be flawed, vulnerable, and have traits they need to correct (with the help of an oobir-awesome woman, of course!), which is why they're much more interesting. It's the core of why movies fail now. Women can't be portrayed as real people anymore.

I don’t think there are any more badass flawless female characters than male. Every male Marvel character, James Bond, Jack Reacher etc. all fit that profile. I just think the trend is newer so it comes off as pandering. 

[seafoam1 1,879]

16 minutes ago, MDC said:

I don’t think there are any more badass flawless female characters than male. Every male Marvel character, James Bond, Jack Reacher etc. all fit that profile. I just think the trend is newer so it comes off as pandering. 

Damn. You should just.come out of the closet already. 

[MDC 5,892]

2 minutes ago, seafoam1 said:

Damn. You should just.come out of the closet already. 

You can stop trying. Even if I was gay I wouldn’t fock you. 

[TK0001 97]

7 minutes ago, MDC said:

I don’t think there are any more badass flawless female characters than male. Every male Marvel character, James Bond, Jack Reacher etc. all fit that profile. I just think the trend is newer so it comes off as pandering. 

Every Marvel character? Tony Stark, the money-hungry playboy who changes his ways to fight against his former colleagues. Dr. Strange, who loses his ability to perform surgery and finds himself depressed and useless, desperate for answers, and becomes a completely different person once he puts his own desires in the rear view. Bruce Banner, who struggles against his anger, lest a literal uncontrollable monster be let out. Peter Parker, scrawny, bullied weakling who gains superpowers but remains self-consumed, and lets his uncle's eventual killer, who had just robbed a bank, stroll right on past him. He spends the rest of his life trying to live up to his uncle's line "with great power comes great responsibility" but he always has a hole in his heart.

Then there's Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman (not Marvel, I get), who are already super powerful, who only get more powerful after they realize "it was within them the whole time".

[seafoam1 1,879]

6 minutes ago, MDC said:

You can stop trying. Even if I was gay I wouldn’t fock you. 

One of my groupies is upset. And it's one of the gay ones. Awww...

[MDC 5,892]

1 hour ago, TK0001 said:

Every Marvel character? Tony Stark, the money-hungry playboy who changes his ways to fight against his former colleagues. Dr. Strange, who loses his ability to perform surgery and finds himself depressed and useless, desperate for answers, and becomes a completely different person once he puts his own desires in the rear view. Bruce Banner, who struggles against his anger, lest a literal uncontrollable monster be let out. Peter Parker, scrawny, bullied weakling who gains superpowers but remains self-consumed, and lets his uncle's eventual killer, who had just robbed a bank, stroll right on past him. He spends the rest of his life trying to live up to his uncle's line "with great power comes great responsibility" but he always has a hole in his heart.

Then there's Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman (not Marvel, I get), who are already super powerful, who only get more powerful after they realize "it was within them the whole time".

I haven’t seen most of these movies so I’d have to take your word for it, but my impression based on trailers is that there’s one leading female character of this badass type for every 100 male characters, and complaining that “women would never be able to do that!” in a genre like superhero, fantasy or action movies is a little whiny and trite. 

[seafoam1 1,879]

6 minutes ago, MDC said:

I haven’t seen most of these movies so I’d like to whine on about it all.

Go figure. 

[BunnysBastatrds 1,919]

Hollywood is where great ideas and writing go to die. A vapid wasteland of ideas where great ideas die unless yo can write a boring superhero movie worth a shiot. 

[TK0001 97]

On 7/28/2023 at 5:12 PM, MDC said:

I haven’t seen most of these movies so I’d have to take your word for it, but my impression based on trailers is that there’s one leading female character of this badass type for every 100 male characters, and complaining that “women would never be able to do that!” in a genre like superhero, fantasy or action movies is a little whiny and trite. 

Superhero and fantasy, where characters have superpowers or magic, sure. But no, a 120 pound woman is not standing toe-to-toe with a sculpted 260 pound dude and trade blows. Of course, it's fiction, so anything is possible. But Hollywood has asked us to suspend a LOT of disbelief when it comes to female action heroes as of late. The point is, men are allowed to have character arcs. Hollywood has no problem showing the male lead as weak and vulnerable at the start of the movie, then showing him fail over and over again until he finally breaks through and stands victorious. It makes for a great character and one we can sympathize with, as fellow human beings. 

But women can't ever be shown as weak. They must be strong throughout the entire movie, and only get stronger. It's boring and unrelatable and the movies make no money because no one wants to watch such flat, boring characters.

[MDC 5,892]

20 minutes ago, TK0001 said:

Superhero and fantasy, where characters have superpowers or magic, sure. But no, a 120 pound woman is not standing toe-to-toe with a sculpted 260 pound dude and trade blows. Of course, it's fiction, so anything is possible. But Hollywood has asked us to suspend a LOT of disbelief when it comes to female action heroes as of late. The point is, men are allowed to have character arcs. Hollywood has no problem showing the male lead as weak and vulnerable at the start of the movie, then showing him fail over and over again until he finally breaks through and stands victorious. It makes for a great character and one we can sympathize with, as fellow human beings. 

But women can't ever be shown as weak. They must be strong throughout the entire movie, and only get stronger. It's boring and unrelatable and the movies make no money because no one wants to watch such flat, boring characters.

Nobody bats an eye when a male character acts as an army of one and takes out dozens or hundreds of other men. That’s not any more believable than a 120-lb woman taking on a 260-lb man.

The movies with a female lead don’t make money because the audience for action movies is mostly men who’d rather watch a male lead. The video was dumb and sounded like typical incel crying. 

[TK0001 97]

1 minute ago, MDC said:

Nobody bats an eye when a male character acts as an army of one and takes out dozens or hundreds of other men. That’s not any more believable than a 120-lb woman taking on a 260-lb man.

I take your point. I think those movies are boring too, for the record.

Quote

The movies with a female lead don’t make money because the audience for action movies is mostly men who’d rather watch a male lead. The video was dumb and sounded like typical incel crying

I strongly disagree. I think you're refusing to see the point. 

[MDC 5,892]

1 minute ago, TK0001 said:

I take your point. I think those movies are boring too, for the record.

I strongly disagree. I think you're refusing to see the point. 

Agree to disagree. 

[TK0001 97]

3 minutes ago, MDC said:

Agree to disagree. 

Fair enough.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:12 PM, MDC said:

I haven’t seen most of these movies so I’d have to take your word for it, but my impression based on trailers is that there’s one leading female character of this badass type for every 100 male characters, and complaining that “women would never be able to do that!” in a genre like superhero, fantasy or action movies is a little whiny and trite. 

 

 

[MDC 5,892]

16 minutes ago, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

 

Doesn’t get more feminine than being triggered by Miss Marvel.  

[seafoam1 1,879]

2 minutes ago, MDC said:

Doesn’t get more feminine than being triggered by Miss Marvel.  

Well...there's always you. 

[TheNewGirl 1,031]

1 hour ago, TK0001 said:

Superhero and fantasy, where characters have superpowers or magic, sure. But no, a 120 pound woman is not standing toe-to-toe with a sculpted 260 pound dude and trade blows. Of course, it's fiction, so anything is possible. But Hollywood has asked us to suspend a LOT of disbelief when it comes to female action heroes as of late. The point is, men are allowed to have character arcs. Hollywood has no problem showing the male lead as weak and vulnerable at the start of the movie, then showing him fail over and over again until he finally breaks through and stands victorious. It makes for a great character and one we can sympathize with, as fellow human beings. 

But women can't ever be shown as weak. They must be strong throughout the entire movie, and only get stronger. It's boring and unrelatable and the movies make no money because no one wants to watch such flat, boring characters.

I don't know it's true that the female leads can never be seen as weak. 

WW shows weakness when the guy she realizes that she loves died; she has a weakness for the people she must protect because "they also love." or something like that, I can't remember the line.  But she takes that weakness and turns it into anger/strength to fight Ares. 

Captain Marvel is another story, because I DO think that it's true that she can't show weakness, and really comes off as c*cky in the movie; there's a scene when she's with the Avengers (I think it's End Game) and has this, "Who the fock is this guy?" attitude to a group of people she just met. I actually don't like that about her character at all. 

It's possible that male leads are allowed to have more of an arc because that shows that they can go outside the typical gender roles and still be tough. If female leads had a character arc to start, they'd show them as the typical wife, mom, taking care of everyone else, etc. Because there are so few character arcs for women that DON'T have that, if it makes sense. They can't have WW start off as a homemaker with kids, because really? She's going to go fight crime and take down criminals with kids at home? 

The ONLY movie I can think of off of the top of my head that actual does this is True Lies; but that's only AFTER Jamie Lee Curtis is kind of forced into becoming a spy and even then thinks it's a joke the whole time. 

I don't think strong female leads "pander" to anyone, at least not to me. I enjoy a good action movie, and would prefer to see men in those roles. But I like me a good strong alpha male too, so maybe that's it. I saw WW because I LOVED her growing up. I saw Captain Marvel because she was part of the whole Marvel universe and I MUCH expected more of a WW character (I didn't like Captain Marvel, Black Widow, or ANY of those at all). Maybe that's why I prefer the male leads, the comment about her being strong, staying strong and having to fight evil. There's nothing that she really "overcomes" to get there. male characters often have to overcome something. Even Luke Skywalker had to overcome learning who daddy was. Rei...meh. Maybe when she learned she was part Sith. 

[BuckSwope 654]

I guess I don't see a ton of character and nuance to most of the male action characters and superheroes, either.    A little, but mostly they are wish fulfilment blunt object types.   Now we just see women doing largely the same thing.   There also isn't a ton of them to compare, so keep that in mind too.   Maybe not the A list characters in the movies like Cpt. Marvel, but sticking to the Marvel universe I've found characters like Wanda and Black Widow interesting.  

Like somebody said above, this is way down the list of gripes I have of movies today.  Mostly they aren't interesting because it's largely the same cookie cutter sequel/remake stuff that makes all the money.  It's funny to look at the top grossing movies from the 80s and 90s vs. today.    

30 years ago the top box office for July 1993:   The Firm, Jurassic Park, In the Line of Fire, Sleepless in Seattle, Rookie of the Year, Dennis the Menace, Free Willy, Son in Law, Hocus Pocus.   I miss those days.  

[BuckSwope 654]

They are out there, though.   I liked Haywire by Soderburgh and the movie Hannah.   Kick ass females with a bit of character and development.   But as expected, you have to look for more artsy directors or out of the lane of superheros/big IPs.  

[TheNewGirl 1,031]

5 minutes ago, BuckSwope said:

 

Like somebody said above, this is way down the list of gripes I have of movies today.  Mostly they aren't interesting because it's largely the same cookie cutter sequel/remake stuff that makes all the money.  It's funny to look at the top grossing movies from the 80s and 90s vs. today.    

30 years ago the top box office for July 1993:   The Firm, Jurassic Park, In the Line of Fire, Sleepless in Seattle, Rookie of the Year, Dennis the Menace, Free Willy, Son in Law, Hocus Pocus.   I miss those days.  

Also this. 

I find movies to be boring whole just because it's the same stuff over and over again. Or the remakes of older movies. It's tiring. And if I am going to spend the money to GO to movie, it needs to be worthwhile, IMO. Esp if I can rent it, or even BUY it off of a streaming service. Buying the movie at $20 is still cheaper than going to a theater; even if the movie sucks. 

Most of the time, we wait until it hits $4.99 to rent at home, which most of the time isn't a long wait. So many are available to stream right away. 

[BuckSwope 654]

36 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

Also this. 

I find movies to be boring whole just because it's the same stuff over and over again. Or the remakes of older movies. It's tiring. And if I am going to spend the money to GO to movie, it needs to be worthwhile, IMO. Esp if I can rent it, or even BUY it off of a streaming service. Buying the movie at $20 is still cheaper than going to a theater; even if the movie sucks. 

Most of the time, we wait until it hits $4.99 to rent at home, which most of the time isn't a long wait. So many are available to stream right away. 

Don't get me wrong, I think there is plenty of good content out there, it's just mostly not at your local movie theater anymore - it's on a streaming service.     But I still enjoy going to the theater, I just wish there was more variety when I did want to go.  

[Gepetto 988]

Daisy Ridley as Rey is hot!