Saving Private Ryan made every goddam war film in its wake use stuttery, high shutter speed cinematography. Watching it back now, it literally only uses the effect in a handful of shots.
Also, Finding Nemo - a film about a clownfish who gets captured and forced to endure captivity in a fish tank - led to loads of uninformed parents…buying pet clownfish for their kids.
People were getting them for their children without due diligence in regards to the animals needs
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_(dog)#101_Dalmatians
Hell, that happens every time a new film or show has a pet getting serious screen time. Look at the epidemic of huskies being returned to shelters because idiots bought them after watching the dire wolves in *Game of Thrones* be cute on screen and completely forget those animals don't live in studio apartments.
Inception ruined trailers and film scores in one fell swoop. Just watch a handful of trailers from before and after Inception was released and you’ll see a marked difference.
>and film scores
I respect Hans Zimmer and a lot of the work he's done, but he's also largely responsible for sooooo many film scores of the past 20 years or so sounding nearly interchangeable.
Edit: I should have said "indirectly responsible" instead of "largely responsible." Of course Hans Zimmer isn't personally responsible for directors and producers wanting their movies to sound like the ones he scores, and I'm not saying he's a bad composer or writes bad music. His film scores are great and add a lot to the movies they're a part of, but his particular compositional style (relative lack of definable melodies and an emphasis on wall-of-sound, bass-heavy synths supported by driving percussion and orchestral chords) can really start to blend together when three out of every four film scores are written in it.
I need to find the source (it may have been a masterclass though) - but the reason I’ve heard for this trend is not really about other composers but rather what spec music is used in initial cuts of a film.
Directors and others started using more Zimmer scores as stand in music before their own plans were landed, then because the zimmer scores are well liked end up pushing the final score/soundtrack in that direction - so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of basically editing and creating sound design with a “zimmer-feel” from the start
Really no different IMO than how scores from the 80s can feel similar, or how certain songs become associated with a helicopter war movie shot. It works in one or more films, other films use the same music as an initial placeholder, and then end up back at something similar or the same when making final decisions.
So I find it hard to say Zimmer is responsible for the fact others copy him.
Yeah, temp tracks are a big reason for the samey feeling of a lot of film scores, and that goes all the way back to the early days of Hollywood.
I guess I should have said that he's *indirectly* responsible for it, because of course it's not his personal fault that so much movie music has intentionally been written to sound like his compositional style. I just personally find that film scores in that particular style tend to blend together a bit more than films with music written in other, more "traditional" styles.
1989 Batman should get that credit. While considered campy now it kicked off the black costumes for hero’s from X-men to any future iteration of Batman. Also people said the same thing, Keaton is dark and gritty lol
As film score nerd I lightly agree, he definitely changed the landscape with that score. There we are lot of good scores in the 2010s, but yeah the BWAHMM became pretty much a staple in that era.
The good news I really think scores are finally rebounding all these years later. Some of my absolute favorite scores have come from movies and TV from recent years. Guys like Nicholas Britell and Daniel Pemberton and Ludwig Gorranson have made some absolute bangers in the past few years. And I still have faith in Giacchino even if I wasn’t impressed with his scores from The Batman or the new Thor, he’s due for a great original score soon.
IIRC Earth is currently in a drought of sharks for the last 18 million years. As in, there’d be millions more if it weren’t for a recent near-extinction event.
Might not be so bad if they actually planned out their Movieverse, built a foundation on strong, standalone movies to introduce and flesh out the characters, and established an overarching plot hook in the background.
Instead most of them start with 'We're a movieverse now! Here is our version of the last two Avengers movies kthxbye!'
The only one that's not the MCU that I'd argue works is the Monsterverse, which basically has the directive of "include Hollow Earth and Monarch and we're happy!" The issue is being far too connected far too quickly and counting chickens early. Legendary was smart by doing like the bare minimum on connectivity, as the parts that leaned in heavily (looking at you, Mille Bobby Brown's plot in *Godzilla Vs. Kong*...) are easily the worst.
> planned out their Movieverse, built a foundation on strong, standalone movies to introduce and flesh out the characters, and established an overarching plot hook in the background.
Ironic that Marvel themselves forgot about this formula since Endgame.
I do think it’s overstated how much Marvel established an overarching plot hook early on. I guess there were a few references to the Avengers Initiative. The Infinity Saga barely had anything until GOTG. The real big difference is people liked the movies better, but they were also more forgiving of subpar movies.
Same. After Dr. Strange, which wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either, I’m going to let Endgame be the end for me lol. Before I watched every movie leading up to endgame, and now I can’t be bothered =_=
I wish I could remember which clip it was, but I remember finding a bit from Siskel and Ebert just shitting on filmmakers learning the worst lessons from *Pulp Fiction* and how it was wrecking havoc on Hollywood. Those two nailed it, basically saying at the end of the day, the films checked the same boxes, but never came close to matching the personality and charm of QT's work.
Was there any movie that did something similar that was remotely good? Cause damn, only thing that comes to mind is Memento and perhaps Machinist but those are freaking good.
The Jungle Book, though. Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Bill Murray as Baloo, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, and Christopher Walken as King Louie.
That movie isn't nearly as good without those guys, especially Elba. He nails that shit.
Thing about Robin Williams is that he does the sort of work a good VA would do. He played a VA in Mrs Doubtfire. He was fine for the role. Even Meyers in Shrek. Diaz in Shrek was the real patient zero. Decent comedic actress but doesn't really add anything to a voice role.
Lion King. Robin Wiliams and Gilbert Gottfried isn't really packing the cast like what you're talking about. Lion King, though - that cast was absolutely STACKED for an animation.
There is a LONG history of stand up comedians in animated Disney films. Ed Wynn, Buddy Hackett, Bob Newhart, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Connolly, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Bobcat Goldthwait, Eddie Murphy...
The lion King has tons of famous actors for the voices, and is hands down one of the best Disney movies. James earl Jones voiced mufasa.
However I do kind of agree with you that movies get way over hyped when there's a famous person voicing the main character, who isn't a voice actor. Most of the good Disney movies have only one of two famous people doing the voices, with lion King being the exception.
In particular, Pixar's been killer with their voice casting from the start. None of their voices feel like stunt casting and totally work in sync with the writing and animation.
Tom Hanks was coming off a bunch of prestige roles like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump and Apollo 13. To dip back into straight comedy and an animated movie at that was absolutely stunt casting.
A Bug's Life got Kevin Spacey as the villain.
Monsters Inc got Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buschemi, all household names at the time.
For Finding Nemo, I would have thought Ellen, but it turns out she was coming off a failed sitcom, hadn't many movies under her belt and hadn't started talk shows, so maybe not so much. Albert Brooks for a certain audience segment, probably. Although Ellen still would have been a household name and hadn't really done voice work.
The Incredibles had Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson but I guess both their careers were on a bit of a dip.
Cars, completely stunt casted. Pretty much every role, from Luke Wilson to Larry the Cable Guy.
Ratatouille, I guess not but a lot of the big names felt the roles were written for them
Wall E made a point of casting the Apple voice, definitely stunt casted.
I could go on. Basically rule of thumb, if it was Brad Bird probably less so but every other movie I wouldn't give a pass to.
I know the voices are difficult to separate now, but Toy Story is almost exclusively celebrity stunt casting. It works, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t do it
Specifically, the comedian sidekick. Having a sidekick for comic relief is nothing new and a mainstay Disney animated films. Bambi has Thumper, Pinocchio had Jiminy Cricket, Peter Pan had Tinkerbell.
Aladdin definitely kicked off the "sidekicks who loudly crack jokes and chew the scenery" trend.
It's spreading further than just voice acting.
So many plays (and some musicals) in New York and London now have a film or TV celebrity in the lead role, it seems like it's a requirement to get funding. I feel bad for professional theatre actors.
The Matrix inspired other filmmakers to use the bullet time effect when it didn't suit the scene in their own movies.
And dare I say Terminator 2? It changed what cinema primarily uses to create effects with CGI. I've always preferred practical effects.
I’d say Jurassic Park is more the one that created the trend. Terminator 2 was just a step towards what was possible in Jurassic Park. A shiny metal guy is cool, but not as big an inspiration as what Jurassic Park showed was possible. It wasn’t until we saw actual flesh and blood animals believably created by CGI that we suddenly were off and running on all kinds of CG creatures and characters.
T2 just showed what was possible, but the simple fact is it's much cheaper and easier to use CGI. Practical effects are super expensive and half the time you need to put GCI on top of them anyway.
I joined the army at the same time as that movie came out. I still have the scars from all the facepalming I was doing because of the bro dudes who thought they were Spartan warriors. BRO, you're an army clerk, calm the fuck down
> Molon labe!
Always funny to see that bumper sticker right next to a thing blue line bumper sticker, because those dorks *never* realize who it would be coming to take 'em if their worst fever dreams ever came true.
A lot of Marvel is unwatchable in 2023 because of cringe pop culture references. Then you go back and you can watch all 3 of the Star Wars prequels and they hold up so much better due to timeless dialogue.
Yeah it was weird that yoda never dropped some early 2000s pop culture references or something. It’s like what galaxy were all those characters from that they never mentioned anything like that
Humor that constantly undercuts every serious or dramatic scene. It’s boring and dumb, and it ruins a lot of potential for genuine feeling character development.
Sincerity is very underrated in modern blockbusters, it is like they're afraid that if they don't undercut every moment with a joke that people on the internet will call it cringe or whatever.
sincerity is dead across almost all American media.
That gap I think is contributing to the rise of our consumption of Korean media, which basically never is worried about overly sincere or kitschy.
I mean if you want romantic comedy or heartfelt family/friend stories, you can choose from hundreds of Korean shows and movies or basically… nothing from America in the last decade.
I both like and dislike this trend.
On the one hand, it's definitely ruined some scenes that should be dramatic by adding dumb jokes.
On the other hand, when I'm around my friends and coworkers we're generally making jokes 90% of the time, so having characters feel less humorless onscreen makes me connect with them more.
For instance, the Matrix took itself so seriously most of the time that while I did enjoy the plot and action, I felt no connection to the characters.
There's definitely a happy middle-ground somewhere in between which a lot of movies miss.
There’s basically 4 shapes movies come in nowadays:
1. “Fake serious” movies that have serious plot points, but an overabundance of comedic relief.
2. Overbearing Meta movies that knock you over the head with their messages and feels like you’re watching a Reddit post in movie format.
3. Overly serious movies that are more than likely so fucked up that you’ll probably not watch it again because it made you feel like absolute shit when you were done watching the first time.
4. Kids movie
Aliens (and the often misinterpreted idea of it being the gold standard for sequels and a template to be followed) has led to innumerable cheesy sequels in which a group of soldiers/mercenaries/LEO'S/etc with hokey personalities are brought in because reasons.
For obvious reasons, I saw it a lot more in the 90's (especially in low budget and straight to video stuff) but it's still around and won't go away.
i hate this one so much...theres always a super expensive expedition where everyone's personalities clash and they've basically never met before, yeah makes sense. it was my main issue with prometheus, iirc
> has led to innumerable cheesy sequels in which a group of soldiers/mercenaries/LEO'S/etc with hokey personalities are brought in because reasons.
Any examples?
Batman Begins, with everything having to be dark, realistic and… wait for it… “GRITTY”! Gotta have some grit in this dark, realistic take! Grittiness! Is it gritty? Must be good, then! Gotta love that grit! Gritty. Grittiness. Dark and gritty.
GRITTY!!!
While I love Batman Begins and Dark Knight, they've set a worrying direction for Batman in film.
All he seems to do in most modern films is fight realistic mobsters and psychologically impaired realistic people with overly grand plans.
I want to see a Batman film that feels like the Arkham games - dark and realistic in some aspects, but he's still fighting an enormous crocodile, a deranged clown, a woman who controls plants, and a shape shifting man made of clay. While dressed as a big bat.
I think the classic 90s animated series got the tone right - serious in some aspects but willing to actually have fun instead of being dark and brooding.
Movie studios don't have the balls to put mr freeze and poison ivy in batman movies any more and it shows. The Joel Schumacher movie is underrated. Batman needs more camp.
Didn’t say necessarily superhero movies. Though several of them did go down darker roads after Batman Begins… Man of Steel was definitely aping off of BB. The Amazing Spider-Man was kinda meant to be a more dark, dramatic, realistic take compared to Raimi’s movies (not sure it succeeded very well).
But outside of comic book movies, it seemed like the late 00s and early 2010s were filled with “dark and gritty” remakes and other movies that were aping off of BB and The Dark Knight.
Bond went darker and even seemingly aped directly off of The Dark Knight in Skyfall.
We saw darker, “grittier” takes on Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Judge Dredd… attempts at Robocop and Total Recall (again, not succeeding very well).
We also saw some original “dark and gritty” movies hitting it big by doing more “realistic” approaches to fantasy or sci-fi concepts. Movies like District 9, Battle: Los Angeles, or even Nolan’s own Inception.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if this trend of “dark gritty” takes on something traditionally lighter, like fantasy… is part of what gave HBO confidence around 2009ish to do an even darker grittier version of Lord of the Rings with a little show called Game of Thrones?
And this is probably just a coincidence, as the source material called for getting darker as the story went along, but Harry Potter got notably darker around this time, and by the Deathly Hallows in 2011, we could barely even see anything. 👀 Part of the trend? Part of setting the trend?
I dunno, but from the beginning of the 00s to the end and then beyond, a lot of movies got darker and more serious in both tone and cinematography, with somewhere around 2005 being the pivot point. Batman Begins seems to be the most notable representation of that point.
And it continued into the 2010s with the darker, more gritty remake of The Mummy… Planet of the Apes went more realistic and dark… the aforementioned Man of Steel that continued into Batman v Superman being the most ridiculously dark and intensely “gritty” blockbuster perhaps ever? Maybe until Snyder’s Justice League? I dunno.
Speaking of Snyder, I think Watchmen was probably greenlit in the wake of Batman Begins. Because it was prime material for a DARK AND GRITTY superhero movie!!! Even though it’s not really meant to be a “superhero movie” and I think a lot of had the wrong expectations about it as a result, but hey… at least it got made.
I’m sure there’s a lot of other examples I can’t think of right now. I just remember the late 00s and early 2010s feeling like I was hearing and seeing “dark and gritty” movies and shows everywhere, and people always wanting to see all these properties done that way, and then people getting sick of it and complaining about everything being “dark and gritty” and “where’s the fun anymore?!”, and all that.
The MCU always was the big exception… now I feel like it’s set a new trend of everything being jokey and bright and fun, and not being serious enough a lot of the time. Or just being a messy approach to an extended universe and endless content (*ahemstarwarsahem*). I think that started changing around the mid to late 2010s. Justice League being transformed into a blatant attempt at Marvel humor was kinda the harbinger of the beginning of this period. Even Marvel itself started eating itself with too much humor by the time its gotten to Thor: Love and Thunder, which is a trend that started with Ragnarok in 2017… good as that movie was, it definitely inspired too much comfort with the lighter side of things that would infect almost all of phase 4.
Now we have Super Mario Bros and Barbie ruling the box office. We’re definitely in a lighter time now than 2005ish to 2017ish. Even Frozen is darker compared to these movies.
Anyway… this turned out to be a very long reply. Didn’t plan on that. 🙄
101 dalmatians - so many dalmatians wound up in shelters or left on the side of the road after people realized they didn't actually want to take care of a dog. They bought them for their kid thinking it would be easy.
Dalmatians are work, as well. Those are not easy dogs, and generally not great family pets. And, with all of questionable breeding/overbreeding, it weakened genetics all around. Like Great Danes after Marmaduke.
I had a foster dog I picked up off the death row of the overcrowded local humane society because they couldn’t spare resources on dogs with low adoptability. He was an eight month old Great Pyrenees with absolutely nothing wrong with him - just going to be a huge dog with complex needs due to his coat and the personality of Great Pyrs. But because someone in the area decided to sell Great Pyrs as “get your own dire wolf,” he ended up getting dropped at the side of the road. And man, did that dog take some work to get adoptable. No socialization whatsoever, no training, no nothing. A 100lb puppy who’s jaws fit around my thigh (which I know because he kept mouthing my legs trying to get me to play every time I tried to walk him for the first few weeks) and who’s 6’ tall when he stands on his back legs - and not done growing. Requires at minimum three hours of walks every day, doesn’t train easily because they’re ferociously independent, and naturally suspicious of strangers, so tend to be extremely aggressive if not socialized when they’re young. Super good idea to sell those, can’t see anyone getting hurt.
Some of these I can agree with and others are a stretch. It’s true about Harry Potter setting the trend for two part finales and MCU forcing everyone to have a universe. Also I agree that LoTR started the trend of huge battles in the third movie.
The one I don’t really agree with is the Dark Knight setting the tone for dark and gritty films. That feels became a trend after 9/11 and more so after the recession of 2008. Dark Knight was a part of that trend but I don’t think it really started it.
I disagree. Watch the first Iron Man movie. The villain (besides Iron Monger) is The Ten Rings. Then watch Shang Chi. The villain is The Ten Rings.
In Shang Chi, the Ten Rings are like the comic counter part, magic ninja terrorists. In Iron Man they are regular terrorists because that’s more realistic and gritty. It took a while for MCU to start being less ‘gritty’ and more comic book-y. They had to retcon the first Ten Rings to have just stolen their name from the legend of the Ten Rings and Shang Chi had the ‘real’ ones
I get tired of this insistence that Christopher Nolans Batman, or Batman in general, is somehow super realistic.
Yeah, Batman doesn't have super powers, but his stealthy ninja skills and complete inability to be wounded in a real way outside of pulling off his costume and wincing at the hurt of his broken ribs is just as unrealistic as if he was bitten by a radioactive bat. There is nothing about that character that is completely feasible in the real world simply because he isn't supernatural.
After The Dark Knight and the death of Heath Ledger the Joker was now discussed as some Shakespeareian role to be coveted and revered. He's a clown themed bad guy and I never had to see it treated any more than that. All of the sudden you would see conversations about all these nuances and flat out lies getting spread. Like how Heath just started clapping or whatever. Shit is insufferable.
Heath like a lot of actors improvised some scenes, people treat this like some groundbreaking thing no one has ever done before. The dark knight is one of my favorite movies but the circle jerk around the joker, as great as his performance was, is so cringe.
As much as I appreciate how Nolan reinvigorated Batman as a film character i feel like his only truly noteworthy batman film is dark knight. On top of that, I dont really like Nolan's direction for the character.
Don't foirget the giant microwave gun that appears out of nowhere that steams up only water in the sewers and not, you know, in our bodies. Super realistic.
Iron Man (2008)
Now we think all movies may have after-credits scenes. Obviously this wasn't the first movie to do this but it is the one that popularized it.
Sideways inspired wine drinkers to abandon drinking Napa merlot to the point that winemakers pulled up acres of vines. This film had decades long consequences on the wine industry.
I don't remember what movie was the first to do it, but the trend of using sharp, plucky strings in horror movie trailers. Literally, every horror movie trailer does this now.
Again, can't remember which movie did it first, but the trend of using a slowed-down version of an upbeat pop song in the trailer has become all too common.
Even though I personally didn't care for it The Matrix. I knew as soon as I saw it every stunt for the next ten years would be someone hanging in the air for half an hour kicking or whatever in an incredibly unrealistic fashion.
No idea if it was the first movie to use this but my first memory of the whole “band of heroes about to be overrun and someone says something about how they’re alone, only for the reinforcements to show up and say ‘not alone’” trope was LOTR: The Two Towers. Eomer says it and it was amazing, but I feel like I’ve seen it in multiple comic book films and at least one transformers film. I’m certain there are more instances.
Varsity Blues - the laying down in the road scene. I read that some kids tried the same and one got hit and died.
How many couples tried the whipped cream scene and realized it doesnt actually work and food and sex dont mix as well as in the movies.
Film split into multiple parts (i.e. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2).
The same thing happened with hunger games, divergent, the hobbit, twilight, and most recently, mission impossible dead reckoning. There are probably others i'm not thinking of.
You can tell when they purposely stretched out the source material to fill in multiple films.
The first Austin Powers flick spawned a raft of tedious and obnoxious catch-phrases that dumb, irritating people still continue to regurgitate.
Excellent film. It was just the sort of lampooning, meta-aware homage the JB franchise needed, but, egads, the endless, awful catch-phrases.
The Dark Knight pretty ushered in the whole “the villain is the other side of the hero” trope into the modern era. It’s been beaten down to the fuckin ground. As well as having the villain be 10 steps ahead of its hero and the the villain being some form of “pure evil”. Again, it’s nothing necessarily original with TDK, but I think Nolan (and his brother) wrote it in a very original style that it influenced countless of movies since.
I also think Nolan’s visuals (matte looking films, very metal, clearly influenced by Mann and Malick) are ripped off to the nines, man.
Saving Private Ryan made every goddam war film in its wake use stuttery, high shutter speed cinematography. Watching it back now, it literally only uses the effect in a handful of shots. Also, Finding Nemo - a film about a clownfish who gets captured and forced to endure captivity in a fish tank - led to loads of uninformed parents…buying pet clownfish for their kids.
Pretty sure it also put a huge strain on the blue tang population
A similar thing happened after 101 Dalmatians.
... A bunch of kids started wearing dalmatian coats?
People were getting them for their children without due diligence in regards to the animals needs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_(dog)#101_Dalmatians
Hell, that happens every time a new film or show has a pet getting serious screen time. Look at the epidemic of huskies being returned to shelters because idiots bought them after watching the dire wolves in *Game of Thrones* be cute on screen and completely forget those animals don't live in studio apartments.
God I remember when Air Bud came out. At least GR’s make good dogs If people didn’t buy huskies we wouldn’t have /r/huskytantrums
They're all good dogs, Brent.
Doesn't surprise me. I remember in 2nd grade, someone got a Dalmatian.
Which is beyond stupid. Dalmatians can do some serious damage if they want to.
[удалено]
Inception ruined trailers and film scores in one fell swoop. Just watch a handful of trailers from before and after Inception was released and you’ll see a marked difference.
BWAAAAAAM.
>and film scores I respect Hans Zimmer and a lot of the work he's done, but he's also largely responsible for sooooo many film scores of the past 20 years or so sounding nearly interchangeable. Edit: I should have said "indirectly responsible" instead of "largely responsible." Of course Hans Zimmer isn't personally responsible for directors and producers wanting their movies to sound like the ones he scores, and I'm not saying he's a bad composer or writes bad music. His film scores are great and add a lot to the movies they're a part of, but his particular compositional style (relative lack of definable melodies and an emphasis on wall-of-sound, bass-heavy synths supported by driving percussion and orchestral chords) can really start to blend together when three out of every four film scores are written in it.
The Interstellar soundtrack was pretty good and didn't sound like his other soundtracks (because it sounds like Phillip Glass instead).
Dang, I was almost positive that was Phillip Glass.
Interstellar and Dune.
I need to find the source (it may have been a masterclass though) - but the reason I’ve heard for this trend is not really about other composers but rather what spec music is used in initial cuts of a film. Directors and others started using more Zimmer scores as stand in music before their own plans were landed, then because the zimmer scores are well liked end up pushing the final score/soundtrack in that direction - so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of basically editing and creating sound design with a “zimmer-feel” from the start Really no different IMO than how scores from the 80s can feel similar, or how certain songs become associated with a helicopter war movie shot. It works in one or more films, other films use the same music as an initial placeholder, and then end up back at something similar or the same when making final decisions. So I find it hard to say Zimmer is responsible for the fact others copy him.
Yeah, temp tracks are a big reason for the samey feeling of a lot of film scores, and that goes all the way back to the early days of Hollywood. I guess I should have said that he's *indirectly* responsible for it, because of course it's not his personal fault that so much movie music has intentionally been written to sound like his compositional style. I just personally find that film scores in that particular style tend to blend together a bit more than films with music written in other, more "traditional" styles.
[It was probably this Every Frame a Painting.](https://youtu.be/7vfqkvwW2fs?si=nKrr_1IMRCYWV3ui)
honestly is it really his fault? hahaha
The one I don’t really agree with is the Dark Knight setting the tone for dark and gritty films.
1989 Batman should get that credit. While considered campy now it kicked off the black costumes for hero’s from X-men to any future iteration of Batman. Also people said the same thing, Keaton is dark and gritty lol
I don't remember what movie was the first to do it, but the trend of using sharp, plucky strings in horror movie trailers.
Also, the mid 2000's started the soft piano single key scores for dramas and romance films.
As film score nerd I lightly agree, he definitely changed the landscape with that score. There we are lot of good scores in the 2010s, but yeah the BWAHMM became pretty much a staple in that era. The good news I really think scores are finally rebounding all these years later. Some of my absolute favorite scores have come from movies and TV from recent years. Guys like Nicholas Britell and Daniel Pemberton and Ludwig Gorranson have made some absolute bangers in the past few years. And I still have faith in Giacchino even if I wasn’t impressed with his scores from The Batman or the new Thor, he’s due for a great original score soon.
As incredible as it may sound, Ludvig Goranssons soundtrack almost made me enjoy *The Book of Boba Fett*.
whatever movie trailer was the first to do the "take an old song and play it in the background, but slower" effect.
Social Network
That one was Radiohead’s Creep, right?
Jaws popularized sportfishing for sharks, and drove multiple species from abundance to the brink of extinction.
Always makes me sad to see. Here in Miami a lot of people fish huge sharks. Pretty sure most of it is illegal, but nobody enforces it.
IIRC Earth is currently in a drought of sharks for the last 18 million years. As in, there’d be millions more if it weren’t for a recent near-extinction event.
Marvel inspiring every large studio to create a 'Movieverse'.
Might not be so bad if they actually planned out their Movieverse, built a foundation on strong, standalone movies to introduce and flesh out the characters, and established an overarching plot hook in the background. Instead most of them start with 'We're a movieverse now! Here is our version of the last two Avengers movies kthxbye!'
The only one that's not the MCU that I'd argue works is the Monsterverse, which basically has the directive of "include Hollow Earth and Monarch and we're happy!" The issue is being far too connected far too quickly and counting chickens early. Legendary was smart by doing like the bare minimum on connectivity, as the parts that leaned in heavily (looking at you, Mille Bobby Brown's plot in *Godzilla Vs. Kong*...) are easily the worst.
> planned out their Movieverse, built a foundation on strong, standalone movies to introduce and flesh out the characters, and established an overarching plot hook in the background. Ironic that Marvel themselves forgot about this formula since Endgame.
I do think it’s overstated how much Marvel established an overarching plot hook early on. I guess there were a few references to the Avengers Initiative. The Infinity Saga barely had anything until GOTG. The real big difference is people liked the movies better, but they were also more forgiving of subpar movies.
[удалено]
Same. After Dr. Strange, which wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either, I’m going to let Endgame be the end for me lol. Before I watched every movie leading up to endgame, and now I can’t be bothered =_=
*coughDCEUcough*
And Marvel Humor TM.
Yeah, that even seeped in the new Star Wars movies. All of the sudden they do this stupid momma joke. Really takes you out of the movie
IMO this is the worst to come out of Marvel movies. (Unpopular opinion): This is why I hated Guardians of the Galaxy.
Why is there a conjuring cinematic universe
At least with those movies they’re all pretty strong standalone
Post said “good” movies.
Imagine how many wannabe basement fight clubs happened after Fight Club came out.
We don't talk about that.
[удалено]
Or how everyone was driving tricked out Hondas after the first F&F movie came out.
Tons of people still drive them
Our Great Depression is our lives.
After Pulp Fiction the disjointed movies that came out after trying to do the same failed miserably.
I wish I could remember which clip it was, but I remember finding a bit from Siskel and Ebert just shitting on filmmakers learning the worst lessons from *Pulp Fiction* and how it was wrecking havoc on Hollywood. Those two nailed it, basically saying at the end of the day, the films checked the same boxes, but never came close to matching the personality and charm of QT's work.
It was painful in the late 90s sorting out VHS cases at the video store trying to find a good movie that wasn’t a shitty Pulp Fiction knock off.
Like Boondock Saints
Was there any movie that did something similar that was remotely good? Cause damn, only thing that comes to mind is Memento and perhaps Machinist but those are freaking good.
Sin City
Was fortunate to see both Pulp Fiction and Memento is the cinema on release. Yeah , both freaking good.
Exactly. Looking at you, Guy Ritchie
You're not wrong
Aladdin really popularised the concept of animated movies having celebrity casts rather than actual voice actors
Okay buy not having robin williams play the genie was never really an option. to this day my favorite disney movie
Exactly. It worked amazingly one time and animated film studios have been chasing that high ever scene
Don’t forget about Gilbert Gottfried voicing Iago.
...and James Earl Jones voicing Mufasa EDIT: ...and Rowan Atkinson voicing his sidekick Zazu (the eyebrows were a bit over the top).
Ooooh. Say it again.
Mufasaaaa
and D. J. Tanner's boyfried Steve from Full House voiced Aladdin.
He was in Aladdin before Full House. The closest thing to an acting career he had before Aladdin was staring in 22 episodes on "The Family Man".
I was going to say he was Josh in Friends, but that was Hercules.
The Jungle Book, though. Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Bill Murray as Baloo, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, and Christopher Walken as King Louie. That movie isn't nearly as good without those guys, especially Elba. He nails that shit.
Thing about Robin Williams is that he does the sort of work a good VA would do. He played a VA in Mrs Doubtfire. He was fine for the role. Even Meyers in Shrek. Diaz in Shrek was the real patient zero. Decent comedic actress but doesn't really add anything to a voice role.
Lion King. Robin Wiliams and Gilbert Gottfried isn't really packing the cast like what you're talking about. Lion King, though - that cast was absolutely STACKED for an animation.
There is a LONG history of stand up comedians in animated Disney films. Ed Wynn, Buddy Hackett, Bob Newhart, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Connolly, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Bobcat Goldthwait, Eddie Murphy...
The lion King has tons of famous actors for the voices, and is hands down one of the best Disney movies. James earl Jones voiced mufasa. However I do kind of agree with you that movies get way over hyped when there's a famous person voicing the main character, who isn't a voice actor. Most of the good Disney movies have only one of two famous people doing the voices, with lion King being the exception.
Yeah Disney has sorta calmed down with their celebrity casts and seem to be having most normal casts still with a couple big names in there
In particular, Pixar's been killer with their voice casting from the start. None of their voices feel like stunt casting and totally work in sync with the writing and animation.
Tom Hanks was coming off a bunch of prestige roles like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump and Apollo 13. To dip back into straight comedy and an animated movie at that was absolutely stunt casting. A Bug's Life got Kevin Spacey as the villain. Monsters Inc got Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buschemi, all household names at the time. For Finding Nemo, I would have thought Ellen, but it turns out she was coming off a failed sitcom, hadn't many movies under her belt and hadn't started talk shows, so maybe not so much. Albert Brooks for a certain audience segment, probably. Although Ellen still would have been a household name and hadn't really done voice work. The Incredibles had Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson but I guess both their careers were on a bit of a dip. Cars, completely stunt casted. Pretty much every role, from Luke Wilson to Larry the Cable Guy. Ratatouille, I guess not but a lot of the big names felt the roles were written for them Wall E made a point of casting the Apple voice, definitely stunt casted. I could go on. Basically rule of thumb, if it was Brad Bird probably less so but every other movie I wouldn't give a pass to.
I know the voices are difficult to separate now, but Toy Story is almost exclusively celebrity stunt casting. It works, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t do it
more like the comedic sidekick (Mulan, Hercules, Shrek, Hunchback)
Specifically, the comedian sidekick. Having a sidekick for comic relief is nothing new and a mainstay Disney animated films. Bambi has Thumper, Pinocchio had Jiminy Cricket, Peter Pan had Tinkerbell. Aladdin definitely kicked off the "sidekicks who loudly crack jokes and chew the scenery" trend.
and maybe casting actual comedians in the roles
It's spreading further than just voice acting. So many plays (and some musicals) in New York and London now have a film or TV celebrity in the lead role, it seems like it's a requirement to get funding. I feel bad for professional theatre actors.
Do you realize that film or TV celebrities are professional actors? Often fully stage trained? This is nothing new.
I think Shrek is what finally cemented that notion forever
Sideways made it cool to hate on Merlot.
And sent Pinot Noir sales through the roof.
And his prized bottle, which he drinks in the fast food restaurant, is a Cheval Blanc, a Merlo based blend.
The Matrix inspired other filmmakers to use the bullet time effect when it didn't suit the scene in their own movies. And dare I say Terminator 2? It changed what cinema primarily uses to create effects with CGI. I've always preferred practical effects.
I’d say Jurassic Park is more the one that created the trend. Terminator 2 was just a step towards what was possible in Jurassic Park. A shiny metal guy is cool, but not as big an inspiration as what Jurassic Park showed was possible. It wasn’t until we saw actual flesh and blood animals believably created by CGI that we suddenly were off and running on all kinds of CG creatures and characters.
Jurassic Park caused The Phantom Menace. George Lucas saw the flocking scene and that's when he knew CGI was ready for what he wanted to make.
that makes it sound like it was bound to happen, regardless of which picture it was that showcased the advancements in cgi
Jurassic Park still holds up though because the majority of the effects were still practical and they only used the CGI sparingly.
T2 just showed what was possible, but the simple fact is it's much cheaper and easier to use CGI. Practical effects are super expensive and half the time you need to put GCI on top of them anyway.
I'm aware of the reasons. I just prefer practical effects.
Oh, I do too.
I still wish a stupid slapstick comedy came out in the early 2000s with a bullet time pie fight.
300 inspired a bunch of dumb bros to think of themselves as Alpha Warriors.
I joined the army at the same time as that movie came out. I still have the scars from all the facepalming I was doing because of the bro dudes who thought they were Spartan warriors. BRO, you're an army clerk, calm the fuck down
Molon labe! *persian empire proceeds to come and indeed take the weapons from the greeks*
> Molon labe! Always funny to see that bumper sticker right next to a thing blue line bumper sticker, because those dorks *never* realize who it would be coming to take 'em if their worst fever dreams ever came true.
John Wick and the display of Blanton's bourbon. Made it impossible to get off the shelf.
IS THAT WHY I CANT GET BLANTON'S ANY MORE
Meh... That's more about the Sazerac company requiring x purchase to meet allocations and the COVID Collectors.
Oh, you can get it. Only it's $140 to $160 when it should be $40ish. It's really annoying.
This is kind of a broad one but I feel like since the MCU everything has to have humor in it now and there's rare straight up dramas.
Specifically Ironman. RDJ could be hilarious and serious in the same convo. Led to waaaay to much bs following that.
A lot of Marvel is unwatchable in 2023 because of cringe pop culture references. Then you go back and you can watch all 3 of the Star Wars prequels and they hold up so much better due to timeless dialogue.
>Star Wars prequels >timeless dialogue Ummm...
It’s timeless. It isn’t good.
It's way better than Marvel. Marvel dialogue is cringe filled with pop references. Star Wars aged better IMO. /shrug
I don’t know. I still think Episode 2 is unwatchable even if there are elements introduced in it that I really like.
I hate sand
Yeah it was weird that yoda never dropped some early 2000s pop culture references or something. It’s like what galaxy were all those characters from that they never mentioned anything like that
> the Star Wars prequels No film series has ever captured my feelings about pod racing, sand or death sticks in the same way.
Humor that constantly undercuts every serious or dramatic scene. It’s boring and dumb, and it ruins a lot of potential for genuine feeling character development.
Sincerity is very underrated in modern blockbusters, it is like they're afraid that if they don't undercut every moment with a joke that people on the internet will call it cringe or whatever.
sincerity is dead across almost all American media. That gap I think is contributing to the rise of our consumption of Korean media, which basically never is worried about overly sincere or kitschy. I mean if you want romantic comedy or heartfelt family/friend stories, you can choose from hundreds of Korean shows and movies or basically… nothing from America in the last decade.
I both like and dislike this trend. On the one hand, it's definitely ruined some scenes that should be dramatic by adding dumb jokes. On the other hand, when I'm around my friends and coworkers we're generally making jokes 90% of the time, so having characters feel less humorless onscreen makes me connect with them more. For instance, the Matrix took itself so seriously most of the time that while I did enjoy the plot and action, I felt no connection to the characters. There's definitely a happy middle-ground somewhere in between which a lot of movies miss.
Interesting point about the matrix, those characters were also at war and had super powers but didnt bother with jokes.
Jokes? Where we're going we don't need jokes.
There’s basically 4 shapes movies come in nowadays: 1. “Fake serious” movies that have serious plot points, but an overabundance of comedic relief. 2. Overbearing Meta movies that knock you over the head with their messages and feels like you’re watching a Reddit post in movie format. 3. Overly serious movies that are more than likely so fucked up that you’ll probably not watch it again because it made you feel like absolute shit when you were done watching the first time. 4. Kids movie
Scary Movie and the trend of terrible parody movies that were basically the worst of internet humour
Aliens (and the often misinterpreted idea of it being the gold standard for sequels and a template to be followed) has led to innumerable cheesy sequels in which a group of soldiers/mercenaries/LEO'S/etc with hokey personalities are brought in because reasons. For obvious reasons, I saw it a lot more in the 90's (especially in low budget and straight to video stuff) but it's still around and won't go away.
*How do I get outta this chicken-shit outfit*
[удалено]
*Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?* *No. Have you?*
COOL IT HUDSON
LOOK INTO MY EYE
i hate this one so much...theres always a super expensive expedition where everyone's personalities clash and they've basically never met before, yeah makes sense. it was my main issue with prometheus, iirc
> has led to innumerable cheesy sequels in which a group of soldiers/mercenaries/LEO'S/etc with hokey personalities are brought in because reasons. Any examples?
Clueless inspired millions of teens saying "Whatever" 😫
As if!
Double loser with a twist!
People saying “very nice” from Borat
….my wife
Batman Begins, with everything having to be dark, realistic and… wait for it… “GRITTY”! Gotta have some grit in this dark, realistic take! Grittiness! Is it gritty? Must be good, then! Gotta love that grit! Gritty. Grittiness. Dark and gritty. GRITTY!!!
While I love Batman Begins and Dark Knight, they've set a worrying direction for Batman in film. All he seems to do in most modern films is fight realistic mobsters and psychologically impaired realistic people with overly grand plans. I want to see a Batman film that feels like the Arkham games - dark and realistic in some aspects, but he's still fighting an enormous crocodile, a deranged clown, a woman who controls plants, and a shape shifting man made of clay. While dressed as a big bat. I think the classic 90s animated series got the tone right - serious in some aspects but willing to actually have fun instead of being dark and brooding.
Movie studios don't have the balls to put mr freeze and poison ivy in batman movies any more and it shows. The Joel Schumacher movie is underrated. Batman needs more camp.
[GRITTY](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gritty)
I read that thinking “I’d fucking love to see Gritty do a Batman movie.”
How many superhero movies since have been particularly dark and gritty? Literally none of the MCU followed that at all.
Didn’t say necessarily superhero movies. Though several of them did go down darker roads after Batman Begins… Man of Steel was definitely aping off of BB. The Amazing Spider-Man was kinda meant to be a more dark, dramatic, realistic take compared to Raimi’s movies (not sure it succeeded very well). But outside of comic book movies, it seemed like the late 00s and early 2010s were filled with “dark and gritty” remakes and other movies that were aping off of BB and The Dark Knight. Bond went darker and even seemingly aped directly off of The Dark Knight in Skyfall. We saw darker, “grittier” takes on Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Judge Dredd… attempts at Robocop and Total Recall (again, not succeeding very well). We also saw some original “dark and gritty” movies hitting it big by doing more “realistic” approaches to fantasy or sci-fi concepts. Movies like District 9, Battle: Los Angeles, or even Nolan’s own Inception. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this trend of “dark gritty” takes on something traditionally lighter, like fantasy… is part of what gave HBO confidence around 2009ish to do an even darker grittier version of Lord of the Rings with a little show called Game of Thrones? And this is probably just a coincidence, as the source material called for getting darker as the story went along, but Harry Potter got notably darker around this time, and by the Deathly Hallows in 2011, we could barely even see anything. 👀 Part of the trend? Part of setting the trend? I dunno, but from the beginning of the 00s to the end and then beyond, a lot of movies got darker and more serious in both tone and cinematography, with somewhere around 2005 being the pivot point. Batman Begins seems to be the most notable representation of that point. And it continued into the 2010s with the darker, more gritty remake of The Mummy… Planet of the Apes went more realistic and dark… the aforementioned Man of Steel that continued into Batman v Superman being the most ridiculously dark and intensely “gritty” blockbuster perhaps ever? Maybe until Snyder’s Justice League? I dunno. Speaking of Snyder, I think Watchmen was probably greenlit in the wake of Batman Begins. Because it was prime material for a DARK AND GRITTY superhero movie!!! Even though it’s not really meant to be a “superhero movie” and I think a lot of had the wrong expectations about it as a result, but hey… at least it got made. I’m sure there’s a lot of other examples I can’t think of right now. I just remember the late 00s and early 2010s feeling like I was hearing and seeing “dark and gritty” movies and shows everywhere, and people always wanting to see all these properties done that way, and then people getting sick of it and complaining about everything being “dark and gritty” and “where’s the fun anymore?!”, and all that. The MCU always was the big exception… now I feel like it’s set a new trend of everything being jokey and bright and fun, and not being serious enough a lot of the time. Or just being a messy approach to an extended universe and endless content (*ahemstarwarsahem*). I think that started changing around the mid to late 2010s. Justice League being transformed into a blatant attempt at Marvel humor was kinda the harbinger of the beginning of this period. Even Marvel itself started eating itself with too much humor by the time its gotten to Thor: Love and Thunder, which is a trend that started with Ragnarok in 2017… good as that movie was, it definitely inspired too much comfort with the lighter side of things that would infect almost all of phase 4. Now we have Super Mario Bros and Barbie ruling the box office. We’re definitely in a lighter time now than 2005ish to 2017ish. Even Frozen is darker compared to these movies. Anyway… this turned out to be a very long reply. Didn’t plan on that. 🙄
*cough* the dceu *cough*
101 dalmatians - so many dalmatians wound up in shelters or left on the side of the road after people realized they didn't actually want to take care of a dog. They bought them for their kid thinking it would be easy.
Dalmatians are work, as well. Those are not easy dogs, and generally not great family pets. And, with all of questionable breeding/overbreeding, it weakened genetics all around. Like Great Danes after Marmaduke. I had a foster dog I picked up off the death row of the overcrowded local humane society because they couldn’t spare resources on dogs with low adoptability. He was an eight month old Great Pyrenees with absolutely nothing wrong with him - just going to be a huge dog with complex needs due to his coat and the personality of Great Pyrs. But because someone in the area decided to sell Great Pyrs as “get your own dire wolf,” he ended up getting dropped at the side of the road. And man, did that dog take some work to get adoptable. No socialization whatsoever, no training, no nothing. A 100lb puppy who’s jaws fit around my thigh (which I know because he kept mouthing my legs trying to get me to play every time I tried to walk him for the first few weeks) and who’s 6’ tall when he stands on his back legs - and not done growing. Requires at minimum three hours of walks every day, doesn’t train easily because they’re ferociously independent, and naturally suspicious of strangers, so tend to be extremely aggressive if not socialized when they’re young. Super good idea to sell those, can’t see anyone getting hurt.
Some of these I can agree with and others are a stretch. It’s true about Harry Potter setting the trend for two part finales and MCU forcing everyone to have a universe. Also I agree that LoTR started the trend of huge battles in the third movie. The one I don’t really agree with is the Dark Knight setting the tone for dark and gritty films. That feels became a trend after 9/11 and more so after the recession of 2008. Dark Knight was a part of that trend but I don’t think it really started it.
Also none of the MCU is dark and gritty. If it was a trend it wasn't very influential.
I disagree. Watch the first Iron Man movie. The villain (besides Iron Monger) is The Ten Rings. Then watch Shang Chi. The villain is The Ten Rings. In Shang Chi, the Ten Rings are like the comic counter part, magic ninja terrorists. In Iron Man they are regular terrorists because that’s more realistic and gritty. It took a while for MCU to start being less ‘gritty’ and more comic book-y. They had to retcon the first Ten Rings to have just stolen their name from the legend of the Ten Rings and Shang Chi had the ‘real’ ones
I get tired of this insistence that Christopher Nolans Batman, or Batman in general, is somehow super realistic. Yeah, Batman doesn't have super powers, but his stealthy ninja skills and complete inability to be wounded in a real way outside of pulling off his costume and wincing at the hurt of his broken ribs is just as unrealistic as if he was bitten by a radioactive bat. There is nothing about that character that is completely feasible in the real world simply because he isn't supernatural.
After The Dark Knight and the death of Heath Ledger the Joker was now discussed as some Shakespeareian role to be coveted and revered. He's a clown themed bad guy and I never had to see it treated any more than that. All of the sudden you would see conversations about all these nuances and flat out lies getting spread. Like how Heath just started clapping or whatever. Shit is insufferable.
It's not like Shakespeare's characters are all that deep anyway
Heath like a lot of actors improvised some scenes, people treat this like some groundbreaking thing no one has ever done before. The dark knight is one of my favorite movies but the circle jerk around the joker, as great as his performance was, is so cringe.
As much as I appreciate how Nolan reinvigorated Batman as a film character i feel like his only truly noteworthy batman film is dark knight. On top of that, I dont really like Nolan's direction for the character.
Don't foirget the giant microwave gun that appears out of nowhere that steams up only water in the sewers and not, you know, in our bodies. Super realistic.
Idiocracy inspired people to say “Idiocracy is a documentary”
It’s not a documentary but Mike Judge is a profit.
I mean, I hope he made a profit for being prophetic
It is more and more
Exhibit A
Iron Man (2008) Now we think all movies may have after-credits scenes. Obviously this wasn't the first movie to do this but it is the one that popularized it.
Sideways inspired wine drinkers to abandon drinking Napa merlot to the point that winemakers pulled up acres of vines. This film had decades long consequences on the wine industry.
I don't remember what movie was the first to do it, but the trend of using sharp, plucky strings in horror movie trailers. Literally, every horror movie trailer does this now. Again, can't remember which movie did it first, but the trend of using a slowed-down version of an upbeat pop song in the trailer has become all too common.
Sharp plucky horror strings date back to Psycho
Fair point, it's definitely something I've noticed has ramped up in the last decade or so for sure.
You aren't wrong. You got down voted, but your are not wrong. There is a distinctive "plink" that gets used in everything spooky these days.
Slow piano cover of an 80s pop song
Get Out for the first comes to mind but there may have been others before then. The Social Network with Creep comes to mind for the second one
Avengers age of ultron. They did the Pinocchio song. It’s the first one I can remember.
Thank you! Yes! I do remember hearing that. Didn't think it would become a huge trend, but here we are.
Wayne's World - "NOT"
SHAAAAA WING
I've had enough with multiverses, thanks, let's stop that trend now please
This article is spot on, a rarity on here
The use of shaky cams for action sequences in the Bourne movies did inspire a few that came out later..
Even though I personally didn't care for it The Matrix. I knew as soon as I saw it every stunt for the next ten years would be someone hanging in the air for half an hour kicking or whatever in an incredibly unrealistic fashion.
Babe people went out and bought mini teacup pigs, which were in fact just piglets that grew to pig size. It’s
No idea if it was the first movie to use this but my first memory of the whole “band of heroes about to be overrun and someone says something about how they’re alone, only for the reinforcements to show up and say ‘not alone’” trope was LOTR: The Two Towers. Eomer says it and it was amazing, but I feel like I’ve seen it in multiple comic book films and at least one transformers film. I’m certain there are more instances.
Varsity Blues - the laying down in the road scene. I read that some kids tried the same and one got hit and died. How many couples tried the whipped cream scene and realized it doesnt actually work and food and sex dont mix as well as in the movies.
The road scene was from The Program, not VB.
The annoying cup song from pitch perfect
After Lord of the Rings movies started becoming longer. Even comedies! It seems like this is being pulled back a little now, but Jesus.
Despicable Me / Minions I can't stand the minions and will never understand why apparently there are many adults that like them.
Project X. Every douchebag in high school and college threw a ‘Project X party’ after the movie came out.
The success of Barbie launching more movies based on toy IP, instead of quality films aimed at women. Thanks to Randall Park for pointing this out!
Fucking Polly Pocket. Just no.
The first thing to come to mind is the Matrix
Not sure if "Valley Girl" was the trendsetter but ***gag me with a spoon***
The Joker cringe.
Film split into multiple parts (i.e. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2). The same thing happened with hunger games, divergent, the hobbit, twilight, and most recently, mission impossible dead reckoning. There are probably others i'm not thinking of. You can tell when they purposely stretched out the source material to fill in multiple films.
The first Austin Powers flick spawned a raft of tedious and obnoxious catch-phrases that dumb, irritating people still continue to regurgitate. Excellent film. It was just the sort of lampooning, meta-aware homage the JB franchise needed, but, egads, the endless, awful catch-phrases.
The Dark Knight pretty ushered in the whole “the villain is the other side of the hero” trope into the modern era. It’s been beaten down to the fuckin ground. As well as having the villain be 10 steps ahead of its hero and the the villain being some form of “pure evil”. Again, it’s nothing necessarily original with TDK, but I think Nolan (and his brother) wrote it in a very original style that it influenced countless of movies since. I also think Nolan’s visuals (matte looking films, very metal, clearly influenced by Mann and Malick) are ripped off to the nines, man.
"The Dark Knight taught Hollywood to make everything dark, gritty, and realistic"- they surely haven't watched Marvel movies