Worn out scenes

[Azlan]

Hollywood isn't trying to protect us; Hollywood is trying to sell movie tickets.

Exactly. You shouldn't be annoyed with Hollywood so much as you should be with American audiences; who, in general, want total escapism, with all movie endings being upbeat and tidy.

 

[ssampier]

not sure it's a cliche

But what's the appeal of all these natural disaster movies? Twister, Volcano, Dante's Peak, Day After Tomorrow. All feature terrible, unescapable forces of disaster, yet still feature heroes who save the day somehow. Seems like a waste of Man versus nature.

Pet peeve, I know

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

But what's the appeal of all these natural disaster movies? Twister, Volcano, Dante's Peak, Day After Tomorrow. All feature terrible, unescapable forces of disaster, yet still feature heroes who save the day somehow. Seems like a waste of Man versus nature.

Pet peeve, I know

Well, in Day After Tommorrow at least, no one really saved the day...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Exactly. You shouldn't be annoyed with Hollywood so much as you should be with American audiences; who, in general, want total escapism, with all movie endings being upbeat and tidy.

I am such an American audience member, in a way. Recently I was talking with my brother, who has a rather large DVD collection, many of which have the director's preferred ending. The one Hollywood overrode. So far nine-times out of ten, it's nothing I want to see.

Basically, if I'm watching a heavy, angst-ridden movie, I don't mind a heavy, angst-ridden ending. Take The Butterfly Effect, for instance. There's a darker ending on the DVD, which the director preferred, that fit the film well I thought. So in that case, Hollywood may have jumped the gun, IMO, tidying something that didn't need to be tidied.

But there are also other movies, such as Eurotrip and Dodgeball which illustrate the other side of the equasion. These movies are mindless, fun movies. Why in the world would I want a depressing ending to this kind of film? The whole point of the film is mindless, light fun. The ending should be no different. And in both cases, Hollywood saved me from a pointlessly depressing ending I wouldn't have liked (that the director preferred.)

So playing the odds, I'm glad for Hollywood. I lose the one ending out of ten that may have been appropriate, and get nine out of ten endings that are.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Hmm. What was the original ending to Dodgeball? Come to think of it, how was the released ending?

Montages. Except for Rocky IV and Team America.

The hours approaching, just give it your best
You got to reach your prime.
That’s when you need to put yourself to the test,
And show us a passage of time,
Were going to need a montage (montage)
Oh it takes a montage (montage)

Sure a lot of things happing at once,
With mind, everyone what’s going on (what’s going on?)
And when every shot you show a little improvement
Just Show it or it will take to long
that’s called a montage (montage)
Oh we want montage (montage)

And anything that we want to know, from just a beginner to a pro,
You want a montage (montage)
even rocky had a montage (montage)

(Montage…montage)

Anything that we want to know, from just a beginner to a pro,
You need a montage (montage)
Oh it takes a montage (montage)

Always fade out in a montage,
If you fade out, it seem like more time
Has passed in a montage,
Montage

 

[Kesh]

Outside of Aliens 3, I can't remember a movie which included a scene featuring needless dog-death, and let's face, Aliens 3 sucked.

Check out Dog Soldiers then. A major plot point involves the senseless killing of a dog.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Hmm. What was the original ending to Dodgeball? Come to think of it, how was the released ending?

I haven't seen it yet myself, though I want to. According to my brother: (Spoiler, highlight to read)

Spoiler

In the released ending, the underdog team wins. In the director's cut ending, they lose.

(End spoiler)

 

[mmadsen]

It's really annoying how Hollywood seems to think that they have to "protect" us by only showing positive outcomes in movies. I don't mean that all elements of escapism should be removed from movies- it's just that there can be beauty in showing how, in real life, your loved ones can die or leave you or that sometimes people can make mistakes and have to live with them rather than it always being whitewashed into a fairytale ending.

Earlier I noted that Hollywood isn't trying to protect us; Hollywood is trying to sell tickets.

There's another point though: a Hollywood movie isn't meant to be a complete depiction of life or even a random (statistically valid) slice of life; it depicts a particular conflict playing out through its resolution. A Hollywood movie often shows many terrible, negative things. The inciting incident that kicks off the action is something bad. The rising conflict is, naturally, a sequence of bad things. Then, when the conflict is resolved, we end the movie.

If we were to make a Hollywood movie of your life, we wouldn't start at the beginning of your life, include everything in the middle, and end today; we'd find an interesting conflict, set it up, watch it play out, then witness the resolution. And that's all we'd put into the narrative. That's what a Hollywood film is: a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end.

 

[Kesh]

The good guy turns a corner, gun at ready, only to find that the bad guy has an innocent/loved one hostage. Bad guy demands the good guy put his gun down... and the good guy does it. Then, a miracle occurs, and the bad guy is defeated anyway.

Just for once (outside of an episode of Cowboy Bebop), I want to see the hero shoot the bad guy in the face. Because the bad guy always makes sure the hero has a clean shot at his head while gloating about how "weak" the hero is.

 

[kirinke]

Heh, in one of the newer bond flicks... Tommorow never dies I believe, in a training exercise, Bond shoots his boss who was being held hostage by a bad guy, then shoots the bad guy in the head. The boss survived, because it was only a flesh wound. Too bad it was only a VR exercise.