zlacker

It’s just slop par excellence. I’ve been watching a number of movies with my wife over Christmas. Everything is so bland, repetitive and ‘design by committee’. It goes further than merely announcing what the characters are doing (in that new wannabe Die Hard movie we hear that they are expecting a baby three times in 5 minutes), you just know there are certain metrics used for every genre of movie accounting for every minute: “if it’s an action film with no action scene in the first 10 minutes then the audience loses interest”. They are all so soulless.

And this is fine when you realise that Netflix replaces direct-to-video movies and not that of cinema, as much as they refuse to admit.

>>Argona+(OP)
Yet you watch these instead of the ones with "soul".

Seems to me they provide what the market wants.

>>dist-e+K
My wife chooses the Netflix ones unfortunately. What ones are good?

>>Argona+(OP)
> And this is fine when you realise that Netflix replaces direct-to-video movies and not that of cinema, as much as they refuse to admit.

This.

Netflix does have good productions. But they are often surrounded by the sea of mediocracy.

Stopped subscribing to N over a year ago and haven't missed it a single bit.

>>Argona+(OP)
It’s amazing the checkboxes that stick out: having a dog for no reason for dog lovers; the relationship slop that appeals to women; the violence and sex slop to appeal to men.

>>Argona+(OP)
McDonaldization - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwvL6XDq0BQ

>>Argona+(OP)
Honestly I can't blame them if current audiences have the attention span of a puppy golden retriever

The one use case I wanted to see for AI is "tunable" contexts for videos. If this is your first time, watch the whole thing but if you need less context just edit it so it skips over the obvious parts

>>Argona+O
There are a ton of great Christmas movies on Netflix. We just watched Christmas Chronicles again last night. Klaus is great. The Wallace and Gromit ones…I could go on

Maybe you aren’t being suggested kids movies. Most Xmas productions are. The hallmark/romance style of Xmas movie seems to be for housewives.

And there are lots of people who just want background noise. Before streaming it was just leaving the TV on while you did other stuff. Before that it was radio. Daytime programming has always been like this.

It’s not a Netflix invention.

>>openpl+Q
> Netflix does have good productions. But they are often surrounded by the sea of mediocracy.

Isn't it true for the whole film industry? Among the highest grossing movies from recent years, how many follow a different approach?

>>Argona+(OP)
If you’re curious to try arthouse/international cinema, give Mubi a try. There is less to choose from, but the selection rotates.

>>raverb+82
I would love to see movies come in many different flavours. Long, short, dial up the violence, or down, etc etc.

>>stevag+43
That would probably make every such movie rated 18+, unless you limit the controls somehow and they find a way to make sure nothing too violent happens on any given setting, or pre-render every single configuration and have reviewers check them all.

>>Argona+(OP)
Let's be real here look at the movies that make a billion at the box office. It's never the highbrow stuff.

>>Argona+O
Some that I've enjoyed recently (or rewatched):

Good One (2024) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30319516/

Strange Darling (2023) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22375054/

The Creator (2023) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11858890/

The Night House (2020) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9731534/

The Empty Man (2020) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5867314/

Possessor (2020) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918982/

Booksmart (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489887/

Volition (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6385952/

Welcome the Stranger (2018) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5716280/

Time Trap (2018) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4815122/

Wind River (2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/

A Dark Song (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4805316/

I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4303340/

Midnight Special (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2649554/

The Devil's Candy (2015) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4935372/

Mr. Holmes (2015) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3168230/

The Witch (2015) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4263482/

A Most Wanted Man (2014) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1972571/

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340800/

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465522/

Pandorum (2009) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188729/

The Fall (2006) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/

In a Savage Land (1999) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151047/

Office Space (1999) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/

The Double Life of Véronique (1991) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101765/

Don't have Netflix so not sure what's available there, and several might not be wife-friendly. Also I enjoy weird, so YMMV.

>>superj+V2
Mubi has some great cinema! Definitely more of the sort of cinema you’d see at a film festival than mainstream.

>>Yeul+b4
Highbrow and soulless are different axes. Disney may be a giant soulless company, but they do employ actual artists who sometimes make decent movies which in general do vastly better at the box office.

Handing a talented team enough time, freedom, and budget doesn’t guarantee success but it’s definitely a prerequisite for success.

>>raverb+82
That is actually an idea for AI in movie making that I could get behind.

I don't think it's possible yet by a very very very long shot but if it were it would be a better idea than "write your own movies".

My stories probably suck outside a captive, very young and related "audience" which is fine because I'm not script writer.

But I would pay quite a lot of money for a "get to the point" button.

>>foobar+t1
I'm curious if heavy pornography consumption has become so prevalent that men care less about getting that thrill from feature films.

>>magica+L4
You do know that its ok to turn off the TV too? Lol

>>zelphi+a4
We should just get rid of the ratings. They’re a stupid system that hasn’t worked anyways.

>>Argona+(OP)
I think the best modern productions are now the series rather than the films as there's so much more time to tell the story and have room for characters to breathe etc.

Just look at the artistry and story-telling skill displayed in both seasons of Arcane - there's so many brilliant examples of "showing, not telling" on display there.

As a counter-example, I enjoyed watching the "Flow" film the other day - an animated film about a cat (and other animals) trying to survive a flood and there's not even a single word in the entire film.

>>Argona+O
Are you asking in general which recent (past few years) movies were good? Or movies on Netflix? Or Netflix productions?

>>ndsipa+C8
I don't doubt that, but from what I've been reading Arcane is notorious for having songs in the background exactly describing the action onscreen.

>>ndsipa+C8
Maybe 5 years ago but can't say I agree any more. Netflix in particular stretches 2-hour scripts into 10-hour limited series. I'm trying to watch Black Doves right now and continually get bored at how much exposition and background there is. There was clearly a tight, fun script in there somewhere before the committee performed surgery on it. I don't need everything explored and explained to death, give me something with rhythm instead.

>>magica+L4
Wow, great to see The Fall is on Mubi. That's one I had to pirate as it wasn't available anywhere.

>>Coasta+j8
I wouldn't describe myself as a "heavy pornography consumer", but I certainly get bored by the gratuitous sex scenes in many shows and movies these days, thinking, "I can get this and much more any time I want, so can we stop with it and move the plot and/or character development along please?"

>>isleya+m9
I haven't heard that at all. As I understand it, the music is written to go with certain scenes, but it complements the action and adds a lot of emotional beats. I can't think of an example where it's simply describing what's going on on-screen.

The music is a huge part of Arcane though, and complements the emotional content.

e.g. The Line (Twenty-One Pilots) was written after Tyler Joseph witnessed the passing of his grandmother and is written from her viewpoint - incredibly powerful and poignant, but also fits in wonderfully with what is happening with Victor (Arcane character).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Rj2gQAyPA

>>zemvpf+1a
Maybe it's a problem with Netflix series.

Some of my favourite recent series haven't been from Netflix - Slow Horses, Day of the Jackal etc.

>>magica+L4
My god I did not get the double life of Veronique at all. She was sleeping for 50% of the film, and random other stuff happened for the rest. However, it's worth it just for Preisner's score, SBI 152 is a masterpiece.

>>foobar+t1
The new Superman movie seems to be built on such checkboxes.

>>ndsipa+C8
Couldn't disagree more about Arcane, I thought it was the usual pedestrian writing and mish-mash of tired tropes we've come to expect from mainstream productions.

A friend was pushing me to give it a try, a friend who likes Marvel, and the Miles Morales spiderman film, who plays League, who was excited by Baldur's Gate, etc etc. I tried to say "no, there is no chance of me enjoying that, it'll be the usual drivel", but they insisted it was really good.

And I watched, against my better judgment, saying to myself: "come on now, give it a serious try, be open-minded". To no avail!

I recall the scene where they'd the punk or alternative or "underground" live music in the bar in the underworld place, in the 3rd or 4th episode, and that being the final straw for me. A viler and more disharmonious appropriation of dissident culture I've never had the displeasure of sitting through.

>>verisi+p8
ok recently was stretching it, I've watched these over the past year or so.

>>source+ld
Sorry you didn't enjoy it. If I recall correctly, that scene was an animated cameo by Imagine Dragons who do the theme tune (Enemy) for Arcane.

Personally, I hadn't had any contact with League of Legends and knew none of the lore before watching Arcane, but was thoroughly taken with the incredible art and story-telling. What I find surprising is the amount of character development they manage to incorporate - the first season had meaningful character arcs for almost all the characters (maybe two side characters were left out). The second season feels a bit more rushed though.

>>112358+9b
It's getting a 4k Blu-ray release soon AFAIK. Will definitely pick it up.

>>techno+gb
You’re meant to be watching it with a romantic partner, “and chill”-style.

>>thrwth+z8
Couldn't disagree more.

They're not fine-grained enough IMO - IMDB's "parent's guide" is great for detailed content information.

Similarly, with game ratings (video- and boardgames, as it happens), I appreciate them, but often they're trying to do two things, rate the game content and the gameplay. They fail often, and I buy outside the ratings, but I'm happier having them than not having any information in that space.

I wouldn't want no ratings for film/TV as that would mean I'd have to seek out spoiler-level information before finding if media was right for what I wanted to consume (or take friends/family to consume). I try my best to see little about the plot of films I'm keen to watch.

>>zemvpf+1a
I like Black Doves but don't really disagree with your broader point in some cases.

>>Vespas+x7
> But I would pay quite a lot of money for a "get to the point" button.

then you're missing the point of storytelling.

>>Argona+(OP)
This is precisely the tepid, data-driven "future of entertainment" that the genAI boosters are desperately trying to sell. Remember the hubbub about that ridiculous AI Seinfeld stream? Turgid LLM nonsense, but hyped to the skies by people who presumably haven't watched Seinfeld and have no clue what makes it a funny and iconic sitcom.

>>zemvpf+1a
That's just reminded me of an article I read recently about "What We Do In The Shadows", where Clement/Waititi originally thought that the idea was a ten minute sketch ("vampires, but they're stupid") that they managed to stretch out into a whole film. Of course, then they stretched it out even further into 6 seasons of a series (not counting Wellington Paranormal).

>>Yeul+b4
I'm more interested in movies that make money through the long tail of DVD sales. Box office numbers have always favoured blockbusters. The long tail content tends to be better, less one-size-fits-all, and allows room for multiple films trying different things, across different genres. That era appears to be over however.

>>superj+V2
I wish they'd fix their Chromecast support (they apparently only support recent versions).

>>Argona+(OP)
What I hate is that the slop killed the netflix DVD service, where I used to get the "real" movies to watch.

It sort of feels like living in a town that is getting crowded and the infrastructure isn't being maintained. Then one day they decide to change all the traffic lights to stop signs and everyone goes the same slow speed.

>>stevag+43
This was actually something that was tried with music in the early 90s, by Philips and Sony with the CD-i. The musician/producer Todd Rundgren made an album specifically for this format called "No World Order" where the songs were all broken up into "modules", so to speak, and the user could configure them however they'd like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-i

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_World_Order