I’m not very good at analyzing/critiquing movies or novels, so I was wondering someone more experienced than me to help understand why I can’t enjoy recent movies.
Specifically, I recently watched Jurassic World: Rebirth and didn’t enjoy it at all. I just feel like movies have very little consequences for crappy decisions by the characters and there are so many safety nets (plot armour) for the main characters. As a result,
Spoiler
hardly anyone you’d expect die in a dire situation like in the movie to actually die.
So, nothing is really thrilling and most character deaths don’t elicit any kind of emotional response.
And when speaking of death, I feel like there are other shows, movies, and anime where they just kill people off nilly willy like kind of an anti-meme. I guess it’s more like gore shock that they’re going for, but the most I get from that is maybe disgust.
I was thinking it’s because I’m just too old and can’t get attached to things so quickly, but I seriously cried when
Spoiler
Rengoku died after fighting Akaza ::: in Demon Slayer. I still feel like a real person has died and I miss him dearly.
Assuming it’s not me, and it’s the kinds of “blockbusters” that I’m watching, what is it that they’re getting wrong with their storytelling?
It’s because they suck.
This is the correct answer.
No character development and just a lot of one liners. If you don’t care about the characters you don’t engage into the movie.
Yeah, and in the car of Jurassic World, nothing felt like it was at stake. It was so weird. I was even thinking “jeez I hope this guy gets eaten.” Like, that’s a horrible thing to wish for lol. But that’s how much I didn’t enjoy the characters.
You should watch the original Jurassic Park movie - it’s a great film. Jurassic World was a soulless reboot.
Oh I’m old (and lucky) enough to have seen it in theatres when it came out. I was absolutely blown away. The newest ones hardly had any dinosaurs imo. So it felt half-ass for dino-lovers and half-ass for action lovers, and catering to no one in particular. Such a shame.
I think part of it is “getting old” but perhaps not for the reasons you cited. For me I’ve had some of what you’re experiencing too. What I identified for myself was that I’d been around long enough, and consumed enough stories, to pretty quickly recognize reoccurring tropes.
- “Oh this is a classic heroes question story”
- “So in this one the villain ultimately achieves redemtion in the end with their good acts”
- “Classic love triangle story here where the antagonist frames the protagonist to try to get the affections of the shared love interest”
- “Underdog war story”
- “science run amuck”
- “rag-tag mercenaries”
- “competitive racing with high stakes on the line”
- “fish out of water comedy”
- “star-crossed lovers, forbidden love”
- “come-from-behind small town sports team”
- “story of loss of a love one years ago still impacting them today”
etc
Even though the stories, visuals and actors are new, the underlying themes are regurgitated. Most stories we see simply aren’t new to us anymore because we’ve been around long enough. This doesn’t mean all movies/stories are boring going forward, but it means you need to sift through many many more to find unique twists or ones that subvert your expectations.
Bingo.
Some writers understand all this, and know they have to keep you engaged in ways so you’ll accept known tropes while you’re aware of them.
Blockbuster movies seem to struggle with this (or don’t even bother), which is why I don’t bother with them.
You can see the same issues in TV shows, which is why I find most of them uninteresting.
Some writers understand all this, and know they have to keep you engaged in ways so you’ll accept known tropes while you’re aware of them.
Those would be the experienced writers.
The problem is that inexperienced writers are cheaper to hire…
That makes perfect sense. I’m a bit more aware of the classic theme/trope so my mind probably looks for other engaging elements, which it can’t find in some of the newer movies. Thanks.
It’s because no one takes risk in Hollywood and thus every movie there is close to entirely recycled. There are exceptions. But perhaps you should look at the Cannes audience awards over the last few years and try watching some of them. There is novel stuff out there. An indie movie like “Universal Language” beats Marvel movie #72 in my books now. As I age even more so.
Oh, awesome! Universal Language is even Canadian. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
I think we found it legit on Apple TV. Not sure if bootlegs or youtube versions exist. Yarr.
I’m actually old, 60. And, man, is it hard to find something to watch that will engage me.
Like you said, characters making clearly stupid choices at the start of the show just to have a problem to solve for the rest of the show is annoying.
There really are only a few universal stories that many people can connect with. And, that is what mass entertainment needs to be, stories that many (paying) people can relate to. Which necessarily means we will quickly start to recognize one of the usual suspect main stories underlying the facade of details that dress it up.
You might find trying genres you don’t usually watch more interesting. Not every show or movie involves characters dying.
It’s very simple. Too many modern movies don’t tell a compelling story in an interesting way. Full stop. That’s it.
I’m not an anime fan, so I can’t really recommend something in that genre, but if you give me an idea about the genres you’re into, I’ll be happy to give you some suggestions. I’ve seen thousands of movies.
Because they are just a 90 minute commercial now.
For you point on shows with excessive deaths, i think some shows do it to keep the viewers engaged and discussing who is gonna die next. I think this was a little more relevant when shows would release episodes weekly rather than drop an entire season at once.
Ah, like Survivor but more morbid. That makes sense. I find it funny when the writers get it wrong sometimes and the fans get all pissed.
The fans being pissed might actually mean the writers got it right. Not all stories get a happy ending. If killing a character got more engagement or attention to the show, then from a success perspective it was the right call. As for story telling, it will always be debatable what was right.
Step away from action deaths and into the world of drama; watch A Man Called Ove (pron. “oo-veh”), and not the terrible “Otto” remake!
That’s another thing too; I’m terrible at finding movies. So I just end up going back to movies I like from the past and start yelling at clouds. Thanks for the recommendation.
You won’t go wrong with my favorite movies! Feel free to tell me what I should add to my watchlist, too (second tab): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mL45-PN_KhrJM8LqPFhO5xhys26RGXDKWpVoqpuEpf8/edit
The latest Superman was quite entertaining, felt like a breath of fresh air from the stale movies recently
I keep hearing good things about it too. I’m not a huge fan of the DC movie universe, but I may have to give it a go.
I hope you like it, but I was not a fan.
It somehow both felt like every other generic superhero movie that’s come out in the last 10 years, while also feeling like they tried to shove the plot of a season of TV into 2 hours.
Movies (and video games) are now made by huge companies with shareholders and a ton of overhead. This makes them harder to be profitable and risk averse. They’re also more formulaic.
As a consequence, the indie scene is popping for video games at the moment. I assume there is similar impetus for movies, but indie movies have less visibility than indie video games (it’s also easier to make a game alone at home).
I feel that there is very little original programming out there compared to the formulaic offerings that are done over and over again throughout the last 70 years or so. Regardless of setting, most plots already exist in the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. I agree with the poster who said that character development is very important in order to engage with the story you are watching. You have to both suspend belief and care about the character.
Did you mean that I should lower my bar, by your last sentence?
Not at all. I read what you wrote and liked it.
