Today's movie-makers have lost the plot

[Ally Laredo]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9503771/Todays-movie-makers-have-lost-the-plot.html

 

Main point: “A good film starts with the script or screenplay. That’s to say, it begins with words. But if the words are subordinate to the images or, even worse, to special effects, drowned out by car chases or explosions, then the movie is barren and ultimately of little interest. It says nothing about human beings, what they feel or think or how they behave.” (paragraph 8)

 

In my words: The growing over-use of special effects in major movies has led to a decline of meaningful dialogue.

 

Response: This article interested me as I have a love of action movies, and movies in general. Though I feel the author makes a good point, I don’t fully agree with him. He argues that the use of special effects has taken away all meaningful dialogue in major movies. This is often true. A lot of movies these days are designed to be one fight sequence after the other. They’re spy films, and people watch them mostly for the simplicity of the violence. I don’t like the way this author generalizes all action movies this way, however. He uses the Batman movies as an example- in fact seems to have a personal vendetta against them. I feel, however, that the Batman movies are a bad example to use for what he is trying to show. These movies do have enough mindless violence to keep the attention of those there simply for that. They have also, though, enough witty comebacks and interesting dialogue to make them good films. The author states that “Nowadays I seldom go to the cinema, and this isn’t only because there are few where I live. It’s because, judging from reviews, there is very little I want to see”. Perhaps if he gave some of these movies a chance, he would find himself proved wrong. Though I agree full-heartedly that a movie is nothing without a script, I disagree that the addition of special effects has ruined the film industry the way this author seems so convinced it has. I feel it is very much possible to make a decent film with meaningful dialogue that forces the audience to think about the world and the way they live and the impressive, modern special effects that characterize a lot of today’s movies.     

[Michael Allen]

I agree with most of what you say Ally, but I do believe the author is correct when he says a lot of modern movies sacrifice a good script and plot to make their movies look more appealing using special effects (good examples of movies who have suffered for this are the Transformers movies and the Star Wars prequels). The period when movies like these are being shoved at us is during the summer (known commonly as the summer blockbuster), when all the kids are out of school and then they see a commercial for "Robot Sharks vs Ninjas on Mars" and they go spend their money on it because it looks awesome, which is what the producers want. However this obviously isn't true for all movies. The best movies are the ones that have a good plot with good actors and good dialog, while also looking good on the eyes. It's just that the feeble minds of teenagers can be swayed by the awesomeness of Optimus Prime punching Megatron in the face. The movies that usually get it right, that make the moviegoer think about the meaning of what they just watched, as you described it, are released in the Fall and Winter to get the attention needed to win an Oscar, and are most certainly correct in saying that the author needs to be more optimistic and keep trying, because if he never goes out and tries, he might never find any movie he likes, because the industry definitely isn't dying anytime soon.