Bad Movies

[SRath]

The age of video rentals has destroyed the movie industry.



You pay money to rent a movie with some recognizable "Movie Star" in it. You suffer through 20 minutes of commercial advertising for other movies. Then you cross your fingers and hope you didn't get snookered.



Yup. You did. The movie is some New Age acid-tripping idiot's bad hallucination. Your favorite star has sold himself and you out. If there actually are two or three funny or exciting scenes or one-liners, you already saw them in previous rental's previews. The movie just plain sucks. You fall asleep or turn it off in disgust.



Meanwhile, your hard-earned money goes to the actors, writers, studios, producers, etc. that created such garbage. You actually had to PAY money to find out the movie is a joke and a failure in all respects.



But that doesn't matter. All that matters is the fact you did pay your money to be snookered and now the same losers responsible for it can create another terrible movie. They get paid to be lousy!



There is no Box Office. There are no refunds. Just more bad movies. If one out ten rentals is even worth watching to the end, you count yourself lucky.



It shouldn't be like this. It used to be that a bad movie was an expensive lesson to those who made it and promoted it. Not any more. Hollywood has discovered even a bad movie will be rented enough times (just to discover it's bad) to make a profit, so no effort is made to make good movies since several bad ones are just as profitable as one good one.



As consumers, we should get a refund for lousy movies!

 

[rbattelle]

Dude, what did you watch that made you so angry!? :-laf



But anyway, you're right - there are a lot of bad movies. Of course, there are some good movies, too.



Personally, I hardly ever watch a movie that's not being shown on cable. It's been 4 or 5 years since I rented a movie, and going to the theater twice in a year would be a lot for me - most years I don't go to a single movie.



I have better things to spend my money on than movies (... as I pay my $150/month cable bill ).



Ryan

 

[SRath]

Exactly, Ryan! I forgot to factor in the fact that the 'entertainment industry' needs to fill 180 channels x 24 hrs/day with even more crap. Some of the shows, especially so-called 'reality shows', are incredibly stupid and anything but 'real'.

It now costs the average household more per month for cable tv than they pay for heating or cooling their home. I canceled the so-called premium movie channels long ago, starting with HBO. If it weren't for History and Discovery and football, there wouldn't be anything worth watching. When HBO canceled Deadwood, I canceled them.

My local phone company is now offering fiber-optic phone, TV, and internet service. They are a cooperative and pay occasional dividends back to their members, so I think I'll be dropping the cable company altogether. But the government has seen to it that you can't simply receive a few local channels via an antenna anymore, and I do confess that I need a highspeed internet connection, so I'll still end up with 175 out of 180 channels of garbage I shouldn't have to pay for. Pink Floyd sure had it right in "The Wall"...

As for what movie really torqued me off, the question would be more easily answered by "which movie lately was worth watching?" Probably "Grand Torino" was the last one I enjoyed. I liked "Law Abiding Citizen" until the ending. Gerard Butler has come out of nowhere since "300" and been pretty good, but don't even waste your money on "Gamer" unless you like psychodelic blood gore with absolutely no plot. And what's with the incredibly stupid and irritating "bouncing, flashback camera action" designed to give a person a headache as a substitute for a well-choreographed action scene? That "New Age" photography style that Hollywood seems to like is REALLY aggravating. You can't see or follow anything.

Last year, a guy at work started a list for every guy to contribute his choices for the Top 100 guy-movies of all time. He then compiled the most popular in order. It was an interesting exercise with probably 20 or 30 of us participating and took months to do. Not surprisingly at all, most of the All-time Best were not recent movies.

 

[JApol]

And what's with the incredibly stupid and irritating "bouncing, flashback camera action"

I like the third Bourne movie but for this reason I cant watch it.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

As for Gerard Butler, I totally argee with you on Law Abiding Citizen. The movie itself was great right up until the ending. But, he did have another, IMO, great movie recently, The Ugly Truth. I know it's more of a chic flic, but it has alot of good humor and truth about his views on men and women. I know it's all in the script, but he does a great job in his role.



I really like movies along the lines of- Sniper, Bourne series, Tears of the Sun, The Hunted... for example. Few movies are good all the way thru, but the great parts tend to outway the slow parts which even out a movies dynamics. As for good movies with bad endings, I give you, The Hunted with Benicio del Torro and Tommy Lee Jones. I loved this movie all the way thru and was anticipating a blowout ending. What a DISAPPOINTMENT!! Benicio- younger, faster, stronger and more experienced gets overtaken by TLJ- way older, slower, less experienced and on the verge of hospice care, in a weak attempt at hand to hand combat. I wish they would make movies that are more real life like. The good guy does not always win and ride off into the sunset.

 

[rbattelle]

Exactly, Ryan! I forgot to factor in the fact that the 'entertainment industry' needs to fill 180 channels x 24 hrs/day with even more crap. Some of the shows, especially so-called 'reality shows', are incredibly stupid and anything but 'real'.

I must confess, there are 3 reality shows I love - Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, and Sand Hogs (all Discovery channel, I believe). Other than that, no thanks. And if I had to give up 2 of those 3, I'd keep Ax Men. If I can't be a real man, maybe I can live vicariously through those who work for a living.

It now costs the average household more per month for cable tv than they pay for heating or cooling their home. I canceled the so-called premium movie channels long ago, starting with HBO. If it weren't for History and Discovery and football, there wouldn't be anything worth watching.

I'm in that boat. Last month's cooling bill was $144. Last month's cable/phone/internet was $150. CURSE YOU TIME WARNER with your awesome internet service!!!! I'M TRAPPED! [I hope they're not reading this]

Pink Floyd sure had it right in "The Wall"...

You can say that again.

And what's with the incredibly stupid and irritating "bouncing, flashback camera action" designed to give a person a headache as a substitute for a well-choreographed action scene? That "New Age" photography style that Hollywood seems to like is REALLY aggravating. You can't see or follow anything.

UGH!!!! I've been angry at this for at least 10 years, or whenever it started. Every stinkin' action scene has to be shot as though with a 1985 VHS camcorder by a guy with two bad eyes and a bad case of the "shakes". You remember - those big 30 lb monsters that would wear your arm to bits after 30 minutes of taping the kids' school play, then you'd try to watch it later and get seasick.

If I wanted to pay money to NOT be able to see straight I'd go to an amusement park and ride a roller coaster backwards and blindfolded for an hour.

Top 100 guy-movies of all time.

Sounds like fun. Most of my entries were made before 1990.

Ryan

 

[AWeiman]

i have to agree 100% on this. my wife and i used to rent movies quite often and have pretty much quit due to the fact the last couple movies we watched were complete crap. in my opinion there is not much creativity left in that industry. we enjoy buying seasons of tv shows we like. my personal favorite though is getting old shows from my youth. dukes of hazzard, walker texas ranger, that was entertainment in my mind.

 

[fest3er]

... UGH!!!! I've been angry at this for at least 10 years, or whenever it started. Every stinkin' action scene has to be shot as though with a 1985 VHS camcorder by a guy with two bad eyes and a bad case of the "shakes". You remember - those big 30 lb monsters that would wear your arm to bits after 30 minutes of taping the kids' school play, then you'd try to watch it later and get seasick. ...

Just as bad is the 'cameraman with ADD': pans the camera to wherever his attention wanders, and his attention usually wanders quickly and unpredictably.

 

[SRath]

I guess it is telling that when I do manage to find my favorite TV shows on cable the commercials are all for "U-Scoot", "Hoveround", and "Depends"...

My sons don't even know who Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, Chuck Connors, Little Joe, James Arness, or Festus are. I feel sooo negligent in their educations...

 

[SRath]

Aside from all the really lousy movies coming from Hollywood, I will say I was very impressed with the creativity and storyline and stunning visuals of "AVATAR". It is easily the best movie I've rented in a year and one I plan to own on DVD.

It is this generation's "Star Wars".

I hope there is a well done sequel.

 

[AHofner]

for you movie buffs out there, imdb.com is a great place to check out movies before you rent or go to the theaters.

It is my second favorite website, guess what the first is... .