# I don’t like watching new movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785 "2017-06-24T19:41:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/21 "2017-06-25T01:13:30Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Over-saturated colors. Huh. I would have thought the main complaint there would have been where they are _under_-saturated. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/22 "2017-06-25T01:15:18Z")
One of the things that always gets me when I watch silent movies is how incredibly **talented,** in a physical sense, the actors were. Sure, the movies have the (sometimes) long explanations written out, but still, it takes a lot of sheer talent to get the point across in a fitting way. There’s only a tiny handful of actors like that today–Dick van Dyke, who has admitted that Laurel and Hardy were tremendously influential for him; Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller have some of that. That’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/23 "2017-06-25T01:31:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, but some crappy things are crappier than others. 😃 > > F’rinstance, _ **Plan Nine from Outer Space** _ is great crap! :o Junk like the reboot of _ **Star Trek** _ is just plain crap. :mad: Funny aside about plan 9. During the summer they show movies at the Hollywood forever cemetary at night. One night it was plan 9. About 30min into into it this small girl in front of us turns to her mom and says. “Mommy, this movie us terrible!” Mommy:“I know sweetheart. That’s why we’re here” Kid:“why did you do the to us?” Mommy: “just be quiet and watch it!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/24 "2017-06-25T01:35:19Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Mommy:“I know sweetheart. That’s why we’re here” > > Kid:“why did you do the to us?” > > Mommy: “just be quiet and watch it!” I think I’m in love! :o ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/25 "2017-06-25T02:55:41Z")
Shaky cameras are my biggest gripe. I absolutely hate that technique. It is apparently supposed to simulate “real vision,” but any idiot knows that the human eye is extremely good at eliminating that effect. Just focus on something and shake your head to see. Humans have evolved with that (excellent) ability. I know that the cinematographer is actually trying to simulate a handheld camera, but what’s the point in doing that if it’s supposed to be a POV shot that doesn’t involve a camera? It is stupid, irritating, and an effect that, much like the “Dutch angle,” is used by people who don’t understand why other film-makers use it or when it would be actually be appropriate. I hate it. Did I say that I hate it? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/26 "2017-06-25T03:35:23Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > \ Did I say that I hate it? I’ll do you one (slightly) better\*: for a while, they were using this “technique” where the camera can’t quite stay on the subject of the shot. “Wall-E” used it–it was like the camera couldn’t find him and then couldn’t keep him in the shot. The first “Star Trek” re-boot used it, too; when Thor Kirk was taking his ship on the suicide run into the baddie’s big, stupid looking vessel, the doomed ship wouldn’t stay in the frame. The worst part? They went out of their way to digitally create bad camera-work! Haven’t noticed it in a while, maybe they’re done with it? \*So to speak. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/27 "2017-06-25T03:41:20Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’ll do you one (slightly) better\*: for a while, they were using this “technique” where the camera can’t quite stay on the subject of the shot. “Wall-E” used it–it was like the camera couldn’t find him and then couldn’t keep him in the shot. The first “Star Trek” re-boot used it, too; when Thor Kirk was taking his ship on the suicide run into the baddie’s big, stupid looking vessel, the doomed ship wouldn’t stay in the frame. I noticed the same thing in the episodes of \*\*\*Boston Legal \*\*\*I watched. Shatner _et al._ floated around camera shots like the mouths of characters in _ **Clutch Cargo** _ cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/28 "2017-06-25T03:46:01Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > It is stupid, irritating, and an effect that, much like the “Dutch angle,” is used by people who don’t understand why other film-makers use it or when it would be actually be appropriate. Is that where the camera keeps changing focus from the actor nearer to it to the actor farther from it and then back again, without anything moving? Gives me a headache! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/29 "2017-06-25T03:52:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Is that where the camera keeps changing focus from the actor nearer to it to the actor farther from it and then back again, without anything moving? Gives me a headache! :mad: Oh, no, that’s called a _rack focus_. _Dutch angle_; think TV Batman tilted sets. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/30 "2017-06-25T04:57:56Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Oh, no, that’s called a _rack focus_. _Dutch angle_; think TV Batman tilted sets. Holy cinematography! Why didn’t **I** think of that?!? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/31 "2017-06-25T12:09:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Holy cinematography! Why didn’t **I** think of that?!? :smack: Yes, many directors, including Orson Welles, used Dutch angles effectively to convey a sense of unease. The shots are disconcerting to the viewer and originated, I believe, in German expressionist movies. More recent film-makers think, “I want to make an impression on the audience and show that I watched classic movies. Let’s make this a Dutch angle!” To a certain extent, I believe that shaky camera shots are intended to simulate viewing the action through a cell phone as one records. Why that would be relevant in so many scenes is totally baffling. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/32 "2017-06-25T12:12:35Z")
Oh, yes, I also hate most CGI. To trot out a tired and over-used observation, Jurassic Park did GCI right. It was subtle and believable. The creatures and objects generally obeyed the laws of physics. The CGI complemented live-action and in-camera FX. Newer movies, especially superhero movies, just totally crap all over this approach. I have to blame video games for the general acceptance of such inferior work. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/33 "2017-06-25T12:30:14Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > To a certain extent, I believe that shaky camera shots are intended to simulate viewing the action through a cell phone as one records. Why that would be relevant in so many scenes is totally baffling. _The Blair Witch Project_ used “shaky cam” effectively, because it was supposed to look like found footage that had been deliberately under-edited, to give the viewer the feeling of what exactly the camera person saw when they were filming. One thing that was effective about the BWP was how increasingly shaky the footage gets as the film goes on. It’s supposed to be made by film students, who are almost professional in the beginning, and as they become more and more unhinged, and filming breaks down (yet they keep filming, in an attempt to fool themselves into thinking that everything is still OK). It’s effective not because it’s shaky, but because of what it represents. After the BWP was a surprise hit, “found footage” films became all the rage, and they were shaky just to communicate “Hey! found footage!” It didn’t work. Imitation rarely does, but people do it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/34 "2017-06-25T12:36:58Z")
Shaky cam is to imitate that your position is not fixed, and that’s exactly what is is. Drift is to imitate a real time POV if you were in the room with the characters. You wouldn’t just stare at the person who was speaking, and if there were other people in the room, your eyes wouldn’t be framing a two-shot. Your eyes would drift around the room. They don’t take it that far, but that’s the intention behind it. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/35 "2017-06-25T13:18:19Z")
> [@ThisIsTheEnd](#): > > Shaky cam is to imitate that your position is not fixed, and that’s exactly what is is. > > Drift is to imitate a real time POV if you were in the room with the characters. You wouldn’t just stare at the person who was speaking, and if there were other people in the room, your eyes wouldn’t be framing a two-shot. Your eyes would drift around the room. They don’t take it that far, but that’s the intention behind it. Agree. Drift is something else entirely. The typical misuse of shaky cam is at a conference table, where the POV of one of the participants keeps shifting fractionally, as if he/she was holding a camera in his/her hands. What’s the point? That is absolutely NOT what a real person sitting there would see. Our ability to fix our vision on an object is marvelous, even when our head is in motion. Now, keeping our eyes fixed on a moving object is something else altogether. (“Keeping our eyes fixed on a moving object is something else.”) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/36 "2017-06-25T13:24:19Z")
“Mainstream” movies have generally gotten really crappy. I have little interest lately in most movies in the top box office. (Things get better in the late fall when the award contenders start rolling out.) But I watch a lot of new movies thanks to streaming. Little indie or British movies. Few of which ever appeared on any box office list. There is the occasional shaky cam indie. While they all have the standard loud music/sound effects issue, that’s just how it’s done now. _Even older movies_ digitized now have the same problem. The supposed “solution” is to adjust your TV in a magic way. But A: All of us fixing _their_ problem is stupid. They should fix it from the start. And B. None of my TVs have a setting that remotely fixes this. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/37 "2017-06-25T13:46:41Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > … > To a certain extent, I believe that shaky camera shots are intended to simulate viewing the action through a cell phone as one records. Why that would be relevant in so many scenes is totally baffling. Shaky cam has been around a lot longer than cell/smart phones. I agree that it often makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/38 "2017-06-25T14:16:38Z")
There’s certainly a lot about modern movies I don’t like. They do tend to be loud and frenetic, with no sense of timing. They do need to breathe sometimes. But generally I enjoy most modern movies just fine, at least in the genres I have always liked. And if I don’t get what I want from movies (comedy especially seems to be going in a terrible direction), there is plenty of TV that does it well, and they do take their time where they can. I also don’t mind CGI, as I am an aficionado of it as a hobby. A VFX nerd, if you will. Yeah some of it is badly done, but that’s true of every aspect of movies - you notice when it’s bad, don’t notice when it’s good. You have to make allowances, and over time things will improve. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/39 "2017-06-25T15:13:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Holy cinematography! Why didn’t **I** think of that?!? :smack: While we’re (sort of) on the subject, what is [this camera technique](https://youtu.be/rW23RsUTb2Y?t=121) called? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785/40 "2017-06-25T15:26:39Z")
I guess I’m out of the movie demographic now. Everything is Spiderman, Batman, Superman, or some other comic book. Starring I-dunno-who-these-people-are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-like-watching-new-movies/789785.md?page=3)