What do you think of modern movies?
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
I was watching some clips of the new 2025 Superman movie, and he seems much more emotionally literate. Sort of a Gen Z Superman, if such a thing is to be believed. It really makes the whole film much more, hmm light-hearted than previous efforts? Not really surprising as James Gunn’s previous super hero films, Guardians of the Galaxy, were also emotionally literate and fun loving outings. But surprising, compared to Henry Cavill or the guy from Smallville. And Superman has a dog?
Then I tried to watch some clips from K-Pop Demon Hunters, which made a big splash on Netflix, to try and get a feel for why that movie was suddenly popular. I thought it was pretty awful, from the clips and music videos. It has these fast little asides in the film where they show exaggerated cartoon-like reactions? Dreadful.
I’ve heard some good things about A Real Pain, and I want to try and watch the Best Picture Oscar winner Anora. But it doesn’t seem like modern movies are relying on good, old fashioned storytelling anymore. It’s like a game of “spot the gimmick.”
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I've bought subscriptions to all the major movie-providers but rarely seem to be able to find anything to watch among the modern movies. I'm not quite sure what it's about but they somehow just don't grab my attention or peek my interest. So, I often revert to rewatching old favourites. Sounding like a Boomer, at 39!
I've heard something about how streaming has changed the nature of movies. While there are still some being made that have a high quality, when people watch streaming movies at home often they do it while doing other things too, like laundry or cooking or something so movies that you don't have to follow so closely.
Also, regarding the new Superman, yeah I really like this Superman's sweetness. I guess in some of the comics Superman has a dog, but I didn't really care for it in the movie, it had a sort of Jar Jar from Phantom Menace vibe.
This is what Ridley Scott had to say about modern Hollywood movies…
https://deadline.com/2025/10/ridley-scott-hollywood-drowning-in-mediocrity-1236570875/
Wait until you turn 40 and the kids start playing on you lawn ALL the time!
So, if you’re now 39, that would mean you were born in 1986, and are a Millennial? Somehow I thought you might be a little older.
But if you like good movies, try ‘1917’, directed by Sam Mendes, which came out in 2019. Incredible feat of cinematography in making it look like the whole film was shot in one giant, over-the-shoulder take. It really places you in the middle of the First World War. It was the most recent movie which made me say ‘wow’.
I shall take that as a compliment! 😁
Thank you, I've added it to my watchlist.
Even though I discontinued that too because I could not find anything else to watch, I found Disney+ to be the best for me. I enjoy the exploration/sport/endurance movies and documentaries since I do sport and there are many mindset/philosophical/spiritual aspects to them. There is a cheap Australian provider for just those, so I might give it another chance.
If y'all will allow me another Boomer rant: what's up with the terrible search/filter functions of these services? I think: they want to push their own productions, for visibility and not to have to give out royalties.
This is a video by The Critical Drinker, a movie critic on YouTube talking about this issue.
And why do so many movies revolve around fighting, in one form or another?
This is kind of the question of do you make things that people want or make the things that would be better for them?
Do people want to watch fighting? Obviously because it seems to sell. But I’m genuinely puzzled because violence and bloodshed don’t seem desirable. Is it just “let me see what happens so I can avoid it” kind of curiosity?
Hate to break it to you, but we're the odd ones. I like martial arts movies because I resonate with the physical movement and mastery.
My take as to why is that humans have some kind of evolutionarily hard wired desire for conflict, men especially with the physical variety.
Horror movies are similar for me. People seem to like them, but I stay away from almost all of them. There is research on what people find appealing about horror, maybe it applies to fighting too?
https://www.the-scientist.com/why-do-some-people-enjoy-horror-movies-72181
I don't like violence happening to unwilling people in a movie. Like a horror movie or a traumatic scene in a movie. But a friend asked me to watch a movie in the John Wicks franchise and I liked it. All of the violence was between professional assassins and it was a sort of guilty pleasure to watch.
I don’t know if that is true, I think it is more like a very gradual course of being brain washed. Children’s programming used to be very much more gentle, but it slowly leads you into more serious matters.
The thing is, the violence and the things people supposedly reach with it are all fake! The movies tell us lies, glamorising money, crime, guns, fighting and death as a way of solving problems. I don’t like being lied to.
Happiness, peace of mind, contentment lie elsewhere.
Being outliers isn't the same as being wrong. Being normal, common isn't the same as being right or good.
You might like this one.
Interesting, certainly. The whole argument that the background of common media against which we see the movies has shifted is totally valid. If you are spending five hours a day on social media on your phone, then suddenly a movie seems like long-form, crafted entertainment.
I came across some tv programs I used to watch when I was about 5 years old, so this would have been around 1977, and it struck me how much slower it was than what the kids watch today.
You can certainly see in the likes of K-pop Demon Hunters various attempts to pander to the shorter attention spans of the social media generation. But for me it just felt jarring.
I like my movies to tell an immersive story. Ones in which the hero breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to camera like Deadpool feels just wrong.
I was watching a clip showing Michael Caine’s favourite films, which were:
On the Waterfront (1954)
Charade (1963)
Casablanca (1942)
The Third Man (1949)
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Mostly the early highlights of film in black and white, it shows you how far cinema has come. It’s also about the evolution of acting, and how a restrained performance can be very evocative.
I’m not saying my own taste in cinema goes that far back, but these films can still be interesting to watch, especially when you know a bit of the history of movies.
It inspired me to see what my own Top 5 movies might be like… something like:
The Dark Knight (2008)
Spirited Away (2001)
Unforgiven (1992)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Lord of the Rings (2001,2002,2003)
I've tried to come up with my own list over the years. I have a clear top 3, but then it gets pretty nebulous.
The Matrix (the original, the others are in the nebulous category)
Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Princess Bride
Actually, lets put The Martian and Pulp Fiction on the top 5 list
Yes, The Matrix is definitely in the mix. But I find I can construct a Top 5 of for example upbeat films which would look quite different. The mood I am in has a huge influence on things.
I’m wondering whether classics such as Amadeus (for the wonderful music), West Side Story (it’s a classic story) or 2001: A Space Odyssey (possibly the only true hard sci-fi movie) shouldn’t make the list, rather than all these adventures.
But I think you are right, The Matrix belongs in the Top 5, for the kung fu, the high concept, and just the overall style which was genre-busting at the time.
I just rewatched The Matrix, and while it is an excellent movie, there is a lot of screen time spent on violence, fighting and very dark themes. And the same arguments could be levelled against Blade Runner, Unforgiven, The Dark Knight and even The Lord of the Rings from my original Top 5. It’s all death and doom and gloom, which drives the story towards a conclusion where happiness prevails. And it isn’t even particularly real, in that these situations actually happen.
So I was thinking about a new Top 5, made of movies which are favourites of mine but which are actually uplifting, fun, insightful films, and which don’t rely so much on peril and strife to move the plot. I realise I’m cutting out large swathes of all the movies which have topped the box office in the last thirty years, but I wanted to see what this list would look like.
The Shawshank Redemption
Spirited Away
Amadeus
Soul
Austin Powers
I thought about including Arrival, The Martian, 2001, A Beautiful Mind, Howls Moving Castle, Finding Nemo, Erin Brockovich and a few others for the fifth entry in the list, but wanted to include some out-and-out laughs because hey, comedies can be great.