Alan Smithee

I remember after the World Trade Center incident (known in popular culture as "9/11") it was speculated that movies would never again have scenes of cities being destroyed. Guess they were wrong about that one!

Yes, slow-motion is annoying, especially when it's accompanied by the hero watching and saying "Noooooo!

Solid Snake

Not to downplay the event but if you just say WTC incident it is kind of vague considering some bad stuff has happened there before it went down. Most likely though...it'd be big one though.

I hate how people always like to bring up the event when buildings crash in movie, saying that it seemed a lot like it. Buildings going down happened before 9/11. It isn't a special a phenomenon in film.

Sonic

ID4 has a lot of buildings going down.

I remember the Spider-Man trailer with the twin towers that was pulled off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMYqfz9_Nno

I always found it cool but since the 9/11 tragedy, they decided it was in bad taste.

fumanstan

I don't see how "comebacks" makes sense. Reboot seems accurate to me to describe taking an existing franchise and starting over with the same/similar concept or characters. Unless it's more of a matter of you just being annoyed at the term being used so much lately.

Solid Snake

A remake is recreating a film again. a reboot is as fumanstan said.

dugan

For me, the first movie to do slo-mo wrong was The Replacement Killers.

Hazel Motes

the trend of Michael Bay and Brett Ratner getting work.

hbilly

Never-ending trend: Superhero movies
Short-lived trend: Demand It Campaign (Paranormal Activity, The Fourth Kind)

Alan Smithee

Reboot is a computer term, not a movie term

fumanstan

Not anymore. It's perfectly valid as a movie term, or just a synonym for restarting something.

JTH182

Yeah, but I remember shortly after 9/11 happened there was a lot of talk that a movie like Independence Day would never be made again. It was just the feeling at the time.

fumanstan

Wasn't there also some sensitivity around portrayals of terrorism, which is pretty much why we never got a better home video release of True Lies? I recall that from Cameron, unless i'm mis-remembering.

Matthew Chmiel

To play devil's advocate, True Grit did pull in $170M domestically four years ago. Django Unchained pulled in $163M domestically two years ago. When done right, people are willing to pay to see them.

RocShemp

I'd say that marketing and the popularity of their respective directors at the time helped propel the box office success of both those pictures. It's not like Appaloosa, 3:10 to Yuma (remake) or Open Range managed to set the box office ablaze, despite all three being excellent movies.

inri222

Fixed

rocket1312

I'd agree with that to a certain extant, but I'm pretty sure Django Unchained and True Grit were the biggest hits of their respective director's careers. The Coens in particular aren't exactly known for cranking out huge box office hits.

I think the bigger issue with westerns as a genre, is it's hard to make one these days that is much of a crowd pleasing entertainment. The collective historical and political perception of American expansion and the old west has changed so drastically since the genre's heyday that it's almost impossible to make a western that is detached from the depressing realities of the era.

I disagree with Snake that the genre is played out and needs a rest. Most movie goers today weren't even born when westerns last dominated the box office. It's not like some 16 year old kid is going to skip the latest western in theaters because he's seen Stagecoach one too many times. That time and place just isn't appealing in the same way it was 60 years ago.

Alan Smithee

Westerns usually bore me- when people ask me if there's any movies I DON'T like, I usually answer with Westerns. The time period is just 'boring' to me- no electricity and riding horses since cars hadn't been invented yet, and everyone wearing cowboy hats and leather boots with what few women there are wearing those lacey outfits. I've enjoyed a few westerns (the 3:10 to Yuma remake was pretty good) but they're never my first choice. "Cowboys and Aliens" didn't do much for me but it was interesting seeing hi-tech stuff invade a typical western setting.

Solid Snake

You misunderstood. It isn't played out. It was though. The western went overboard to where it fell into mediocrity.

Should it come back to some glory? Eh. It would have to bring something worth bringing to the table. Fortunately most of the few get today are kind of unique compared to the genre stereotype.

Shannon Nutt

The need for everything to be spelled-out/wrapped up for the audience. Ambiguity is a GOOD thing, especially for film.

Mr. Flix

Yes! I love it when a movie's ending haunts me or leaves me puzzling it over for weeks afterwards. Thinking about what might've happened after the credits rolled is rewarding for the viewer. Perfect Sense and Triangle come to mind.

RichC2

I hate the trend of overly ambiguous endings as much as I hate completely spelled out ones. There's been a trend lately where a lot of indie flicks basically stop half-way through their third act.

That isn't being ambiguous, that's simply not having an ending.

Solid Snake

Like what films?

RichC2

Honestly the only one coming to mind right now is Sound of My Voice, but I know there are a slew of others that have stopped seemingly well short of an actual ending of any kind. Made self mental notes of them back when I saw them and now I'm drawing a blank, good times.

Mondo Kane

I'm not hating the ambiguous endings as much.....Yet. But, regarding the Indie dramas, I'm annoyed when they always seem to have a score that sounds like this:

RichC2

I can hear the voice over to that music in my head, so deep, so now, so pseudo-intellectual