(06-23-2014 01:14 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: I thought it was a stupid movie, and couldn't watch more than 10 minutes of it. I have no idea why people think it's a good movie. There hasn't been a well written movie out of Hollywood in decades. It's all special effects, poor writing, and a lot of bad acting. Sure there are some good actors. But there are more bad actors than there are good ones.
I guess stupid would depend on what you wanted to get out of it. I thought they did the concept pretty well. IMO, they kind of over did the drugs/alcohol part. Otherwise, it was pretty good.
I also think they focused too much on the Flash Gordon angle. That said, when they make Ted 2 I am interested to see what the improved upon. IMO, Ted was like if Teddy Ruxpin had a Eddie Murphy Raw tape put in instead of his normal story telling tapes.[/quote]That is because almost nobody in Hollywood has come up with an original thought for decades. They keep trying to recycle the same old
. The ideas are mostly from comic books they enjoyed as a kid. The original thinkers making movies are animators, and even that is going downhill.
IMO the guys who made Idiocracy were far more prophetic than they ever thought they'd be. Humanity is getting stupider by the minute, and it shows in most of the movies.[/quote]the problem with this line of thinking is, it brushes aside the large amount of quality material coming out on other mediums. The golden age of cinema happened because creative writers had very few outlets for that creativity. With today's technology and variety of ways to release TV shows, we see more and more talented writers going that route and creating epic programming.
The golden age of cinema has ended, but we're right smack in the middle of the golden age of television. Sure, comedies are dwindling, but every other TV genre is showing incredible depth. No longer are we forced to get our TV fix from the major networks. There's great programming on USA, TNT, AMC, History channel, Hulu, Netflix, Cinemax, HBO, Starz, Showtime, FX, etc.
I look at shows like Vikings and Game of Thrones and I see movies that are basically spread out over 10 episodes a year.
And that's just television! What about the creative people writing for video games? I'm not a gamer, but from what I can tell, today's games are fully immersive experiences, with well-thought out plots and snappy dialogue.
So yes, cinema has been declining for years and is currently at its nadir, but that creativity isn't gone, it's just moved to other mediums.
*I do however, agree that society as a whole is dumber and despite the proliferation of travel opportunities, appears to have less perspective. Young people who used to have summer jobs, are now over-scheduled zombies, whose life purpose seems to be getting into a good college. No longer are those kids meeting people who aren't like them.[/quote]But having read Game of Thrones long before the HBO series came out, I find the HBO series lacking. What the director has put in of his own accord, to put his stamp on the series, has detracted from what George R.R. Martin put down on paper. I can't speak for Vikings, since I haven't watched it.
I do like the new sci-fi series Defiance. Although it is a bit tedious at times. But at least the people who wrote it put some time and effort into their thought process. But science fiction demands it, because that audience isn't stupid.
The movie Ender's Game, originally written by Orson Scott Card, was a horrible attempt to make that movie. They should have broken the book up into 2 or 3 movies. There was so much of the book cut out that the movie held almost no relevance to the book, other than the names of the characters. It was such a great story, and much of it revolved around Ender's growth in the Battle School (on an asteroid in the book, not in orbit around Earth), which the movie simply edited out.
However, there's a lot of science fiction out there that could be made into movies or a made for TV series. Star Trek is bargain basement by comparison, and one of the few examples where the on screen version is better than what's in print. All the best episodes of the original Star Trek were written by Harlan Ellison, one of my all time favorites, along with Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, etc. My more contemporary favorites are Pratchett, Baxter, Card, C.J. Cherryh, Robert Sawyer, John Scalzi, etc. I love science fiction, and always have. It's amazing how prophetic some of the old sci-fi stories have become.
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I've also read the Songs of Ice and Fire series and I really can't imagine what there is to complain about. The books are excellent, but can often be overstuffed and unnecessarily tedious. I think the showrunners have done an excellent job of bringing to life as much as possible. I think anyone complaining about the transition is just doing so for its own sake.
I also watch Defiance, and I agree that it's a good show with room to improve. Not sure what the rest of your points have to do with anything I said. There's a plethora of amazing content on TV. How about Orphan Black, Moone Boy, Arrow, The 100, etc?
I know that you're an older individual and, like my grandma, you want to b*tch just for the sake of b*tching and so that you can remind everyone that content isn't as good as it was decades ago, but that's simply ignorance and refusal to admit the ubiquity of amazing content.