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Posted: |
Jul 19, 2017 - 1:31 PM
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By: |
LeHah
(Member)
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Uh, how the hell is this any different from Lucas smashing together bits and pieces of Flash Gordon, John Carter, John Ford Westerns and Kurosawa samurai flicks? Star Wars is a great film, but it's nothing but fanboy pastiche, and those who grouse about modern-day filmmakers doing the same thing are hypocrites.
I can explain that.
Lucas, for all his many faults, at least "did the work". Yes, its pastiche but its well-researched and weaved into that "Hero Of A 1000 Faces" monomyth material. This isn't particularly hard work - this is retooling popular legends, not designing the CERN - but he was the first to do it and figured it out.
Modern writer/directors don't do that level of "world building". They're interested in the "surface tension" and don't bother actually creating - as someone here once brilliantly pointed out, all those shots of spaceships over Coruscant in the prequels are there to pull you into the world... meanwhile, we don't know what Han Solo's (non-Millennium Falcon) ship looks like in Episode VII.
A lot of current directors have this issue (Nolan is probably the most guilty? Maybe JJ Abrams?) but when the audience wants nice wallpaper, they don't give a shit for the foundation the building is standing on.
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Posted: |
Jul 19, 2017 - 9:48 PM
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By: |
Mr. Jack
(Member)
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What LeHah said. Today's directors don't create, they only copy.
And, again, I fail to see the difference between that and what Lucas/Spielberg were doing in the 70's and 80's, aside from the current "copies" actually being official sequels to those older films.
It's like those idiots still complaining about Brian De Palma "ripping off" classic Alfred Hitchcock movies...De Palma is certainly influenced by Hitchcock -- sometimes to a slavish degree -- but he's also a genuine artist using the cinema that inspired him to create terrific new thrillers with a dash of old-school classicism. Now, someone like J.J. Abrams isn't a "remixer" on the level of De Palma or Quentin Tarantino, but there's nothing wrong with someone who has a genuine enthusiasm for something they loved as a child getting to actually play around in the cinematic universe that held them in thrall at that age. Abrams' The Force Awakens felt more like a "real", highly entertaining Star Wars movie than anything in the stolid, stilted, blah Prequels, despite those films being straight from the creative mind who spawned the original films!
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I remember reading Lucas did a good deal of research into various pieces of history and lore. He put effort into sculpting Star Wars.
The lattest films feel like they were sculpted by that guy Chris Farley played in an SNL skit where he had a local public television access show and he'd have on famous people and it would go something like this:
Farley character: "You-you remember that time you did that thing and that truck exploded and it was like BOOM! And I was like, WHOA?"
Actor: "Ah ..... yeah."
Farley character: "That was awesome."
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Posted: |
Jul 20, 2017 - 2:14 PM
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By: |
TominAtl
(Member)
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And this is exactly the problem. Their directed by "fans" who get to live out they're fantasy of doing fan fics as adults. Lucas took inspiration from classic literature and serials and created something new and original. Today's directors have nothing new to offer and only put they're personal stamp on someone else's creation.
Uh, how the hell is this any different from Lucas smashing together bits and pieces of Flash Gordon, John Carter, John Ford Westerns and Kurosawa samurai flicks? Star Wars is a great film, but it's nothing but fanboy pastiche, and those who grouse about modern-day filmmakers doing the same thing are hypocrites.
Wow, never looked at it that way before and you have an EXCELLENT point. What this boils down to is this: as in previous generations before us and those after us, the "current state of" whatever is not as good as the one preceding it, for one reason or another. Either the current generation of artists are dumb, uninspired, or hacks, stealers of other peoples work.
In other words: if you say it or feel it, just admit it: you're getting old and are starting to sound like or become like you dad/mother. 
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And, I'd like to add, it'll be hard to improve them as for what one generation tolerates, the next accepts.
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Posted: |
Jul 20, 2017 - 3:17 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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And this is exactly the problem. Their directed by "fans" who get to live out they're fantasy of doing fan fics as adults. Lucas took inspiration from classic literature and serials and created something new and original. Today's directors have nothing new to offer and only put they're personal stamp on someone else's creation.
Uh, how the hell is this any different from Lucas smashing together bits and pieces of Flash Gordon, John Carter, John Ford Westerns and Kurosawa samurai flicks? Star Wars is a great film, but it's nothing but fanboy pastiche, and those who grouse about modern-day filmmakers doing the same thing are hypocrites.
Wow, never looked at it that way before and you have an EXCELLENT point. What this boils down to is this: as in previous generations before us and those after us, the "current state of" whatever is not as good as the one preceding it, for one reason or another. Either the current generation of artists are dumb, uninspired, or hacks, stealers of other peoples work.
In other words: if you say it or feel it, just admit it: you're getting old and are starting to sound like or become like you dad/mother.
It's not just a generational thing. That's a cop out. I like good films regardless of the decade they were produced. The art of film-making has been in a decline for decades and that's objectively speaking. And it's not just films, its music and books as well. I think the bottom line is, most people don't care about the "art", only that they are monumentally amused. Studio's discovered they just have to hit the right beats, and the majority of the audience will eat it up. What we have nowadays is junk food cinema. That's fine if you love eating Big Macs everyday!
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Well, solium covered it for me. Eh, my work there is done. And no work was required. ;-)
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Posted: |
Jul 20, 2017 - 5:00 PM
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By: |
CCOJOE
(Member)
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And this is exactly the problem. Their directed by "fans" who get to live out they're fantasy of doing fan fics as adults. Lucas took inspiration from classic literature and serials and created something new and original. Today's directors have nothing new to offer and only put they're personal stamp on someone else's creation.
Uh, how the hell is this any different from Lucas smashing together bits and pieces of Flash Gordon, John Carter, John Ford Westerns and Kurosawa samurai flicks? Star Wars is a great film, but it's nothing but fanboy pastiche, and those who grouse about modern-day filmmakers doing the same thing are hypocrites.
Wow, never looked at it that way before and you have an EXCELLENT point. What this boils down to is this: as in previous generations before us and those after us, the "current state of" whatever is not as good as the one preceding it, for one reason or another. Either the current generation of artists are dumb, uninspired, or hacks, stealers of other peoples work.
In other words: if you say it or feel it, just admit it: you're getting old and are starting to sound like or become like you dad/mother.
It's not just a generational thing. That's a cop out. I like good films regardless of the decade they were produced. The art of film-making has been in a decline for decades and that's objectively speaking. And it's not just films, its music and books as well. I think the bottom line is, most people don't care about the "art", only that they are monumentally amused. Studio's discovered they just have to hit the right beats, and the majority of the audience will eat it up. What we have nowadays is junk food cinema. That's fine if you love eating Big Macs everyday!
While I agree with you, solium, I am afraid to say that, by its very nature and definition, the ART of film making is entirely SUBJECTIVE in its decline, not OBJECTIVE. There is no empirical, physical evidence that shows art is in decline. It is simply opinion. Granted, that is opinion I agree with, but it is still opinion.
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