Why modern movies suck - they teach us awful lessons

[darkwillow]

If you want to see incredible writing of character arcs, watch

Gomorrah​

 

[BookTenTiger]

The life lesson of the first mulan movie was that hard work pays off, life is hard but stick with it, being smart pays off, etc.
The second mulan movie lesson is you don't have to work at anything, you automatically succeed at everything because you are special.
I've seen asian reviewers complain about this too.

I have not seen the remake of Mulan so I can't comment on that. But going from "the remake of Mulan doesn't sell its character's growth" to "modern movies suck" is quite a leap. It's also a little suspicious to only focus on movies with a female lead?

 

[MGibster]

Yeah, yeah, more of the "Rey's a Mary Sue" BS.

When it comes to talking about Star Wars and Rey in particular, there's such an overwhelming amount of criticism based on sexism that it's hard to separate the bad arguments from the good ones. I know every time I hear someone start to complain about Rey I think, "Oh, no. Not again!" I liked Rey in the first movie and I thought Daisy Ridley did a great job in the role. Actually, that's true for all the other actors in The Force Awakens as well. Personally, I wouldn't argue that she was a Mary Sue because we're talking about a setting where a simple farm boy can go on to destroy the most powerful battle station in the galaxy. Even if that technological terror was insignificant next to the power of the force. And it didn't bother me that she was able to beat Kylo Ren in the first movie as he was severely injured by Chewbacca prior to their fight and maybe a little tuckered out by his fight with Fin.

But I don't think she had many opportunities for growth throughout the series. She didn't have an interesting arc like Luke or Anakin did.

 

[darkwillow]

I have not seen the remake of Mulan so I can't comment on that. But going from "the remake of Mulan doesn't sell its character's growth" to "modern movies suck" is quite a leap. It's also a little suspicious to only focus on movies with a female lead?

I think you need to broaden your mind a little, he has shown lots of movies with amazing female leads. These examples of poor character arc are recent big budge remakes that should know better. And its not "all modern movies", its "modern movies" with poor life lessons.
He is saying the original Mulan or Wonder Woman was done great, with a great life lesson from a great character arc. Then the remake comes long and you have Wonder Woman taking over an innocent mans body with her wish to have some 70yo lover popped in there, and she doesnt care.

 

[darkwillow]

Seriously though, modern movies suck??? That is such a weird take. I'm not going to watch the video (it is my eternal pledge to never watch a YouTube video posted in a discussion forum), so @darkwillow

Maybe bow out of the thread then if you have nothing to offer.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I think you need to broaden your mind a little, he has shown lots of movies with amazing female leads. These examples of poor character arc are recent big budge remakes that should know better. And its not "all modern movies", its "modern movies" with poor life lessons.
He is saying the original Mulan or Wonder Woman was done great, with a great life lesson from a great character arc. Then the remake comes long and you have Wonder Woman taking over an innocent mans body with her wish to have some 70yo lover popped in there, and she doesnt care.

I haven't watched the video you posted, and I'm not going to watch any others.

But you are the one who chose to post it. I think it would be a lot more useful for you to discuss your ideas than this random YouTuber's.

So far every film you've mentioned is a blockbuster. In my view, these are movies made to appeal to a broad audience, focusing on spectacle and action over lessons or morals. They're fun popcorn flicks.

If you want interesting, chewy morality tales, there's a lot of other modern cinema that gives you that. Take Parasite or Moonlight, two recent Oscar winning modern movies.

Edit: to add a modern chewy morality film with an interesting female protagonist: Promising Young Woman

 

[J.Quondam]

You have to look a little deeper than that... nothing to do with male or female, its about lack of character arc. He reviews lots of amazing female heroes on how to do it well.

No need to look deeper. If he's serious about making that particular point, he should have included a much broader range of examples; ie, ones with non-female protagonists, ones that aren't action/adventure, or whatnot. Making such a broad declaration (and laughably silly one, at that) based on such a thin set of "data" is lazy and best, and maliciously deceptive at worst. Faux drunkenness notwithstanding, of course.

Also, more to the point, the video still has nothing to do with your writer/director question.

 

[Ryujin]

Truth is that the bad, in any given year, vastly outweighs the good. After a couple of decades everyone (except MST3K) forgets the bad and only looks back fondly on the good.

 

[Zardnaar]

When it comes to talking about Star Wars and Rey in particular, there's such an overwhelming amount of criticism based on sexism that it's hard to separate the bad arguments from the good ones. I know every time I hear someone start to complain about Rey I think, "Oh, no. Not again!" I liked Rey in the first movie and I thought Daisy Ridley did a great job in the role. Actually, that's true for all the other actors in The Force Awakens as well. Personally, I wouldn't argue that she was a Mary Sue because we're talking about a setting where a simple farm boy can go on to destroy the most powerful battle station in the galaxy. Even if that technological terror was insignificant next to the power of the force. And it didn't bother me that she was able to beat Kylo Ren in the first movie as he was severely injured by Chewbacca prior to their fight and maybe a little tuckered out by his fight with Fin.

But I don't think she had many opportunities for growth throughout the series. She didn't have an interesting arc like Luke or Anakin did.

Actor did fine Blame the writers.

It's like Ahmed Best and Jake their characters weren't great being honest but one was a kid. Ahmed did what he was told and that was Lucas.

Idk if you can even blame the directors if the story is bad.

There's less variety with big hit movies though and it's harder with a modest budget to have a big hit unlike say the 80's.

 

[Deset Gled]

And yet so much film criticism today is about how we should return to the 70s where directors were auteurs, because modern film is too safe and corporate. So turns out that people will always complain about film these days, finding different reasons to do so.

Just for kicks, lets look at some blockbusters from the 70s:

Grease
Animal House
The Amityville Horror
MASH
Smokey and the Bandit
Dirty Harry

Yup, sure is a shame modern movies teach such awful lessons.