darkwillow
Explorer
What I don't get is why Directors write scripts instead of actual professional writers.
Why modern movies suck - they teach us awful lessons
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Ryujin
Legend
Likely it's the sort of arrogance that results in may indie film directors thinking that they can do a spectacular job as producer, writer, director, camera 1, and crafty.
Some of the best writers in Hollywood today ARE directors : Christopher Nolan, James Gunn, Quentin Tarantino, the Cohen Brothers, Guillermo del Toro, etc. etc.
(edited out my edit to add the point later in the discussion)
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If you go back and watch older movies without cherry picking, you'll find that most of them also teach awful lessons. It's just Sturgeon's Law at work.
(Directors in the old days knew you just stole the public credit for how the film turns out rather than actually trying to do all of the work yourself. Let the writers and actors make you look good while everyone attributes the success and message of the film just to you.)
The view of the Director as "auteur" has a lot to do with this - upholding the idea of a film as being the vision of just the Director has had an impact on how films get made now. Too many directors buying into that narrative instead of realizing that auteur theory is just one kind of film theory and not every movie should fit into it.
(Directors in the old days knew you just stole the public credit for how the film turns out rather than actually trying to do all of the work yourself. Let the writers and actors make you look good while everyone attributes the success and message of the film just to you.)
BookTenTiger
He / Him
The last good movie was the one in which the train was coming straight at the camera.
BookTenTiger
He / Him
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 I'm wondering if you would explain your view instead.
What do you define as "modern?" Based on the picture of Mulan, are you only talking about Disney / Marvel blockbusters, or all of film?
What lessons, if any, do you think cinema should teach?
What do you define as "modern?" Based on the picture of Mulan, are you only talking about Disney / Marvel blockbusters, or all of film?
What lessons, if any, do you think cinema should teach?
Fifth Element
Legend
Paul Farquhar
Legend
The director is the author of the movie. A better question would be why don't all screenwriters direct their own movies?
Saying modern movies suck is like saying modern music sucks. It's all subjective and usually based on cherry-picking There are great movies today, and great movies from decades ago. Just like there are crappy movies today just like there were crappy movies before. Unless one wants to argue Highlander II, Speed II, and Jaws the Revenger were good movies...(don't get me started on the Sci-Fi movies from the 70s and 80s lol)
Those complaints really want to return to the days when money was flowing freely to fund any weird project that you might have in Hollywood rather than it being a tightly controlled stream of money from corporations looking for a good ROI when they invest in a film. I'd like that too, but it involves an economy that hasn't existed for 50 years.
(Those complaints miss that a lot of the free flow of money back in the day was because producing films was a great way to launder money from criminal operations and as law enforcement figured that out the money hose got cut off and Hollywood had to become more corporate to keep producing films...)
darkwillow
Explorer
Sure, but the rest who are good at directing, bad at writing scripts probably shouldn't emulate them.
darkwillow
Explorer
Yeah he didn't say all modern movies suck, many he reviews he likes. His point was around specific examples about how the originals told good stories, and how the modern version told poor life lessons.
Many indie film directors do not have the budget to have separate writers, producers, directors, camera operators, and so on.
BookTenTiger
He / Him
So it's not "modern movies suck," it's "modern remakes suck?"
Can you say more about the life lessons?
darkwillow
Explorer
I mean she was perfect at the start of the trilogy and perfect at the end. idk what you think a mary sue is, but her character arc was non-existent so thats the main issue.
darkwillow
Explorer
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.
Ryujin
Legend
I completely understand that, as I have a number of indie film makers as friends. There are, however, a subset who do it all because they think that they can do it all. I remember that Frank Miller famously said that he didn't want someone else to do "The Spirit" because they would "f*** it up." Look what he did with it.
darkwillow
Explorer
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.
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