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Should people who like mainstream cinema be ignored

You can deplore mainstream all you like but there are just some films that do require alot of£$£$£ and wouldn't be made if they were aiming at an art house audience. Sure they're compromised because of that but think of Ridley Scott's Alien & Blade Runner which were ground breaking films made with Hollywood's big bucks. What about Lawrence of Arabia, bet that cost a small fortune :eek:
 
Johnny Canuck2 said:
Gems are fairly rare in any cinema, because they are gems: superior works created by especially creative and talented people.
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Outside of HW you're going to encounter many more gems: 8 1/2, Hiroshimia Mon Armour, Children of Paradise, Tokyo Story, La Strada, Wrath of God, Bicycle Thief, The Conformist, 1900, Wings of Desire, blah blah blah blah
 
DJWrongspeed said:
You can deplore mainstream all you like but there are just some films that do require alot of£$£$£ and wouldn't be made if they were aiming at an art house audience. Sure they're compromised because of that but think of Ridley Scott's Alien & Blade Runner which were ground breaking films made with Hollywood's big bucks. What about Lawrence of Arabia, bet that cost a small fortune :eek:
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Blade Runner was number one when Christ was a kid, good film though.
 
Hollywood was putting out a lot better films in the 70s and even the 80s than it is now, almost everything now is a sequel or remake. The last Hollywood film I saw was American Gangster which was a pile of shit, and that's probably one of the 'better' ones.
 
firky said:
Outside of HW you're going to encounter many more gems: 8 1/2, Hiroshimia Mon Armour, Children of Paradise, Tokyo Story, La Strada, Wrath of God, Bicycle Thief, The Conformist, 1900, Wings of Desire, blah blah blah blah
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You've just named ten movies. It wouldn't be difficult to put together list of 50 'hollywood gems'. I think it's kind of a meaningless discussion.

Foreign films come with a certain amount of cachet, just for being 'foreign'. We give them credit and latitude because they are about things, places etc unfamiliar to us, but novelty alone doesn't ensure a great work of film.
 
lobster said:
Firky do you watch Eastern European films? they are some great films .
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Couple but I never know what to go for, I enjoyed The Cranes are Flying (?) and a few others. Divided We Fall was probably the last one I saw and I thought that was excellent.
 
Johnny Canuck2 said:
You've just named ten movies. It wouldn't be difficult to put together list of 50 'hollywood gems'. I think it's kind of a meaningless discussion.

Foreign films come with a certain amount of cachet, just for being 'foreign'. We give them credit and latitude because they are about things, places etc unfamiliar to us, but novelty alone doesn't ensure a great work of film.
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If I was to compse a list of all the foreign and indie cinema I have seen the result would be over 100. I also don't think we give films a certain amount of cachet for being foreign or indie. At least I don't. In my experience I am more entertained by it. There's some things the Americans can't do and that is food, wine, cars and films. Oh and wars, they're really bad at wars.
 
firky said:
Always irks me somewhat when someone tells me to watch the latest from Hollywood. I know it'll be shite, I know it'll have a formulaic plot, I know it'll have poor story structure, and I know it will be instantly forgetable. Yeah there is the odd excepetion to the rule but such films (like Matrix) only come out once every seven years or so. The rest of the time people lap of all kind of Hollywood flotsum until that gem comes along.

I mainly look towards foreign cinema for my fix. I know this sounds snobby but most peoples taste in film seems to be pure pop. The equivalent of chart music. Ignore them I say and make up your own mind and look outside of Hollywood. :cool:
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Your view is odd to me, Syriana is Hollywood, so was Zodiac, and so was Good Night And Good Luck. All three are excellent films...
 
Kid_Eternity said:
Your view is odd to me, Syriana is Hollywood, so was Zodiac, and so was Good Night And Good Luck. All three are excellent films...
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They're alright, yeah, nothing amazing though are they? (Haven't see Syriana). Three films out of how many box office 'smashes' of 2007?

No Country for Old Men is a very good, I'll allow that one in.
 
I'll agree on one front: Hollywood is concentrating more and more on blockbusters that rely heavily on CG. I suppose the possible profits are so high, and filmmaking costs so high, that they don't like to take chances, although movies like No Country for Old Men are stil getting made.

But in general, I'm getting tired of a diet of movies that can make max use of CG: ie fantasy, science fiction, etc. Stuff that's light on plot.
 
firky said:
They're alright, yeah, nothing amazing though are they?
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Depends on your pov but your post about Hollywood = mainstream and bad is patently nonsensical. The Coen Brothers are Hollywood and you liked their latest right?
 
firky said:
If I was to compse a list of all the foreign and indie cinema I have seen the result would be over 100. I also don't think we give films a certain amount of cachet for being foreign or indie. At least I don't. In my experience I am more entertained by it. There's some things the Americans can't do and that is food, wine, cars and films. Oh and wars, they're really bad at wars.
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Yes, we do give them cachet, for the very reason you started this thread. They're generally unavailable to the average person, thus creating an area of discussion and self congratulation amongst a self appointed in crowd, or 'cultured' crowd.

Don't get me wrong. I think that there are many very good foreign films, just as there are good american films. I'm just against the kind of bullshit snobbery that comes with statements like 'I only have time for the French cinema', or similar hogwash.

Btw, just because you don't get good american wine imported into your country, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I suspect that you haven't been exposed to much selection. If I had to restrict myself to the restaurants of either the US or the UK, I'd go with the US, since it has many of the world's great chefs, along with incredible diversity of food well made from all corners of the globe.

With cars, same thing. I expect you haven't had much exposure.
 
Kid_Eternity said:
Depends on your pov but your post about Hollywood = mainstream and bad is patently nonsensical. The Coen Brothers are Hollywood and you liked their latest right?
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Thought it was brilliant, the Coen brothers latest is not your usual HW film - that is why it is so good.
 
firky said:
Thought it was brilliant, the Coen brothers latest is not your usual HW film - that is why it is so good.
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But they are HW and by your own logic HW = crap. You're moving the goal posts now...
 
Johnny Canuck2 said:
Yes, we do give them cachet, for the very reason you started this thread. They're generally unavailable to the average person, thus creating an area of discussion and self congratulation amongst a self appointed in crowd, or 'cultured' crowd.
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I don't consider my self cultured I just know that there is far better films outside of American exports. I still like my dumb films like Old Boy, that could have been a HW movie but it has a twist to it that HW wouldn't or couldn't do.

Don't get me wrong. I think that there are many very good foreign films, just as there are good american films. I'm just against the kind of bullshit snobbery that comes with statements like 'I only have time for the French cinema', or similar hogwash.
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I didn't say that, I said I can't be arsed with people who's entire experience of film comes from HW.

Btw, just because you don't get good american wine imported into your country, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I suspect that you haven't been exposed to much selection. If I had to restrict myself to the restaurants of either the US or the UK, I'd go with the US, since it has many of the world's great chefs, along with incredible diversity of food well made from all corners of the globe.
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With an American twist. Some American wine is nice but Canadian beer nad wine is better IMO.

With cars, same thing. I expect you haven't had much exposure.
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American engineering is renowned for being shite and German engineering as being one of the best.
 
Kid_Eternity said:
But they are HW and by your own logic HW = crap. You're moving the goal posts now...
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Not at all, I said way back earlier in the thread HW does produce odd gems.
 
moomoo said:
What's it about? And I'd better just check it's not a fantasy film cos I generally hate them. :mad:
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Just watch it. :p


I like it but I don't think it is amazing, quite saccharine :D

La Haine is better (but a different film).
 
firky said:
Couple but I never know what to go for, I enjoyed The Cranes are Flying (?) and a few others. Divided We Fall was probably the last one I saw and I thought that was excellent.
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I see you like Jan Hrebejk , its worth seeing up and down and Cosy Dens .
The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hour-Glass Sanatorium by Wojciech Has are great.
Damnation by Béla Tarr. 12:08 East of Bucharest is good comedy.
David Ondricek has made some good films, Loners and grandhotel are worth watching.
Anything by Juraj Jakubisko is great comedy.
if you like andrei tarkovsky you might like Andrei Zvyagintsev , the return and the banishment .

i could go on listing films to watch. ;)
 
There's good and bad in all types of cinema and if your definition of 'Mainstream' is that the film was released by a big studio, opened in thousands of cinemas and was successful then films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now are mainstream and I love 'em.
 
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