Universally agreed terrible film(s)

[maxi]

On the way films look now, i think films looked best in the 70s and 90s. In the 80s they had this weird ugly glow to them, especially more popular things (although lots of exceptions like blue velvet). So I'm hoping it's possible films could start to look good again and it's just cinematography trends

its harder to make digital look beautiful compared to actual film, but it's definitely possible

 

[maxi]

e.g. Inland Empire used digital beautifully and made the california sun seem harsh cold and depressing to great effect

 

[version]

On the way films look now, i think films looked best in the 70s and 90s.

I love the way grainy 70s stuff looks on Blu-ray.

 

[sufi]

On the way films look now, i think films looked best in the 70s and 90s. In the 80s they had this weird ugly glow to them, especially more popular things (although lots of exceptions like blue velvet). So I'm hoping it's possible films could start to look good again and it's just cinematography trends

its harder to make digital look beautiful compared to actual film, but it's definitely possible

@HannahB

 

[version]

e.g. Inland Empire used digital beautifully and made the california sun seem harsh cold and depressing to great effect

I want to rewatch that at some point. I saw it over a decade ago and thought it was awful, like Lynch directing a very long episode of Peep Show.

 

[catalog]

It's really good but the middle sections tough. I fell asleep in that both times I seen it

 

[version]

I thought it was one of the ugliest films I'd ever seen.

 

[catalog]

Which is not to say that falling asleep in a film is not a good thing

 

[Mr. Tea]

Which is not to say that falling asleep in a film is not a good thing

I watched Lost Highway with a mate once, and he fell asleep for about half an hour during the film. When he came to he asked me what was going on, so I just laughed at him.

 

[luka]

On the way films look now, i think films looked best in the 70s and 90s. In the 80s they had this weird ugly glow to them, especially more popular things (although lots of exceptions like blue velvet). So I'm hoping it's possible films could start to look good again and it's just cinematography trends

its harder to make digital look beautiful compared to actual film, but it's definitely possible

Look at this look

Sweat, Dust & Whiskey

Yeah.

dissensus.com

 

[maxi]

I love the way grainy 70s stuff looks on Blu-ray.

I just got back from seeing dario argento's 'deep red' in the cinema. looked amazing. there was a scene with an ultra closeup on beads of sweat on someones face and it looked so clear and crisp, can't imagine it looking any better and that was 45 years ago. Or maybe it's a 4k remaster or something I don't really understand how it works tbh

 

[IdleRich]

'In Fabric' was a great british film from a couple years ago. Really got under my skin and I had an extremely intense nightmare the night I saw it. Woke up screaming. That's a mark of quality. It's also really funny.

@bunnyhausen from this very forum had a minor role in that film.

 

[Leo]

a friend wrote and directed an indie film about 10 years ago, his first on his own after working for years in film production. it had a compelling premise and storyline, and an ok cast of young actors, but it seemed like he didn't know how to end it. that was the most painful film I've ever watched, partially for the "huh?" at the end but mostly because he's a dear friend and it was unbearable to think of how he failed in the pet project that he'd worked on for years. the post-viewing conversation was torture.

 

[IdleRich]

Hey you wrote a really long thing it looked really interesting and now it's disappeared!

It was just loads of biased explanations of why I think TM is an idiot... but how did you know I started writing it?

 

[luka]

It was just loads of biased explanations of why I think TM is an idiot... but how did you know I started writing it?

Malick? Yeah, bash Malick!

 

[Mr. Tea]

a friend wrote and directed an indie film about 10 years ago, his first on his own after working for years in film production. it had a compelling premise and storyline, and an ok cast of young actors, but it seemed like he didn't know how to end it. that was the most painful film I've ever watched, partially for the "huh?" at the end but mostly because he's a dear friend and it was unbearable to think of how he failed in the pet project that he'd worked on for years. the post-viewing conversation was torture.

Wow, that must have been the ultimate test of your habitual Manhattan urbanity!

 

[IdleRich]

a friend wrote and directed an indie film about 10 years ago, his first on his own after working for years in film production. it had a compelling premise and storyline, and an ok cast of young actors, but it seemed like he didn't know how to end it. that was the most painful film I've ever watched, partially for the "huh?" at the end but mostly because he's a dear friend and it was unbearable to think of how he failed in the pet project that he'dworst worked on for years. the post-viewing conversation was torture.

Sounds unbearable. Watching a bad band, or maybe worst of all, an unfunny stand up is horrible, but if they are your friends it's a million times worse. Sometimes I think that it's beset to always avoid watching anything your friends do even if there is a minute chance of it being bad, simply cos if it is it could be infinitely, life-changingly horrendous, like Pascal's wager.

 

[WashYourHands]

Inland Empire has a dream scene. Lynch is singing over L Dern being spoken to by a myriad of shifting female faces, “sooo straaaaange” with guitar chord reverb. It’s the worst clip in his entire print archive. She looks aghast as crap shadows wave about across her face. The film has one of his best too, the bbq scene, soundtrack has the music accompanying it too. Unintentional ketaminephonia

 

[IdleRich]

Speaking of Malick, funny thing actually, just met up with Suspended Reason - I'm calling him that cos I'm rising above those childish jokes I made before about his wanting to be called the Spenmeister etc, that never happened of course, dunno why I said that, it was really silly. Anyway, first thing he definitely really honestly said was "Rich, you were totally right about Malick, the guy is a ham-fisted pseudo-hack who is not even worthy of being called a fraud. I will never admit it on dissensus but in private I can say Malick IS the worst director of all time or I'm not The Spenulator".

 

[IdleRich]

a friend wrote and directed an indie film about 10 years ago, his first on his own after working for years in film production. it had a compelling premise and storyline, and an ok cast of young actors, but it seemed like he didn't know how to end it. that was the most painful film I've ever watched, partially for the "huh?" at the end but mostly because he's a dear friend and it was unbearable to think of how he failed in the pet project that he'd worked on for years. the post-viewing conversation was torture.

I'm truly fascinated by this in fact. How did you handle that conversation? How do you think he felt about the film? Did he know he'd fucked up or what? That's one particular thing I've always wondered about and without becoming a film actor I will never know... basically do people know how good or bad the film they are making is? Can they feel it? I suppose there are some clearcut cases where they run out of money or time and it's clearly not what it ought to have been, but are there times when they believed they've just wrapped The Red Shoes and it turns out to be The Red Line? Or vice versa even?
So hard to know cos a big part of an actor's job is going around telling everyone they have made a masterpiece... it's only later they admit that they never saw it but it paid for their house.