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okr on 06 August 2008
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rocketpig said:
colonelstubbs said:
Oh come on. Transformers didnt set out to be 'art'

It was intended to be a big wham bang summer event movie. Have you ever seen Jaws Rocketpig? Does that film have an amazing concept?

NO. Its a film about a bloody big shark eating people. Yes it has better dialogue, but Steven Spielberg didnt set out to amaze audiences with oscar winning acting or shakespeare like dialogue. He just wanted people to be excited.

Exactly the same thing Michael Bay was aiming for. He knows his limits. He knows he does action better than most people, and character work a lot worse, so he doesnt even really attempt to make a serious film.

Transformers made 700 million dollars at the cinema, and i can guarentee people read hyperbolic reviews from film critics who have the same opinion as you and thought 'im not going for oscar worthy acting, im going for big fucking robots smashing each other to shit'

And Iron Man? I loved Iron Man, but that had a dumb story. Oh yeah, a billionaire can invent a rocket suit and suddenly gets the balls and intelligence to whack a load of middle eastern terrorists. And the acting in Iron Man wasnt exactly top-notch- Terence Howard phoned in his performance and Jeff Bridges just went with 'I WILL TALK EEEEVIL!!!!'

Transformers did exactly what it said on the tin

BS. Jaws had hilarious writing (I think we're going to need a bigger boat), memorable characters, a plot scary as all fuck, excellent pacing, brilliant music, and a giant fucking shark. Now that's a summer blockbuster movie.

Of course Iron Man had a stupid story, which is why I mentioned the whole "used cheesy ideas but made it work" comment. RDJ sold himself as Tony Stark, the writing was quick-witted and entertaining, Paltrow was entirely believable as the meek-yet-hot Pepper Potts, and the sexual tension between the two characters worked. All the while, the main character is flying around in a completely ridiculous metal suit fighting "bad people". It was everything a summer blockbuster is supposed to be, namely entertaining, not completely stupid, well-executed, and damned fun to watch. Kudos to Jon Favreau, a guy best known as "that fat dude from Swingers", for outdoing the supposedly fabulous Michael Bay on his own turf.

Wonderful post by rocket, especially the Jaws part. This pretty much sums up my opinion on yesterday's vs. today's blockbusters.

In the 70s and 80s, even most of the blockbusters were made by talented directors who knew how to tell a story with pictures/editing and screenwriters still knew how to write great stories, sometimes even great dialogues. Today most big budget movies are made by people with just technical skills and every screenwriter is quoting pop culture to death (the biggest curse of today's culture imo - quoting is even worse in music industry than in movie industry). Only few have the talent to create something new.

Don't let me get started about the use of music and sound in movies. Watch Goodfellas, for example, or the first 10 minutes of his (otherwise failed) Gangs of New York and you realize that Martin Scorsese (age 65) is one of the few remaining directors who knows how to use music and sound in a subtle way. Most modern big budget movies make my ears bleed.

On topic: In my opinion no movie will ever top Titanic in unadjusted or Gone by the Wind in adjusted boxoffice. Cinema as we know it is in a slow decline, the whole industry will change during the next decade(s). Furthermore - and mainly due to the internet - societies are way more fragmented today than back in the days when everybody was watching Dallas on TV or Star Wars on big screen.