philly1981

Aight guys im back again with another topic. See i come up with something new lol My question to all you fans of movies in general. What do you find to be better overall, Independent films ? or mainstream films ? lets get this party started

auto

The distinction between indie and mainstream is too blurred for me to really answer this question.

philly1981

Oh Im sorry I apologize

PopcornTreeCt

Better is subjective. There are shitty independent films and incredible mainstream films. However, my personal preference is smaller, less mainstream films.

auto

Thanks. I know you're new but you really crossed the line here.

philly1981

I fully agree

Troy Stiffler

On IFC this weekend, you can catch indie flicks First Blood, Rambo II and Rambo III.

RagingBull80

philly1981

I understand that there is a'lot of good and bad indie films and good and bad mainstream films. Like myself i have been watching alot of indie films lately and I haven't watched or discovered some indie films that i never thought i would watch before. That's the beauty about films you discover new films that you never heard of before or never consider watching before that goes for indie films and, mainstream movies.

Drexl

That's what I was going to say.

inri222

Depends on what is considered mainstream or indie.
Alot of amazing foreign films that are released in arthouse theaters are considered indie (Almodovar, Haneke, Cronenberg, etc....).
If that is the case then I have to go with indie.

philly1981

that what i meant small indie films that don't get big wide releases. Films that get over looked but turn out to be really good films. Something along the lines of what you just said.

Solid Snake

Just in terms of budget (whatever that mark max or lesser limit is) I think just in terms of mass quantity. I THINK more indie films suck. Indies are cheaper to make and a lot easier to get made nowadays. With that just in sheer volume..I think Indies suck more than mainstream...THOUGH I do hit both sections a lot. I'm just going by what I've experience and seen in trends via growth of technology etc.

PopcornTreeCt

What world do you live in where there are more indies than mainstream films?

I look at it this way, there are what about 3-5 (this week example: Hit and Run, Premium Rush, and The Apparition) new mainstream films that open every Friday. Give or take a few. And there's maybe like only 3 of them that are really good a year. Not the greatest track record for mainstream films.

Ash Ketchum

In New York, if you look at the reviews in The New York Times every Friday, there are far more indie and foreign films opening than mainstream Hollywood studio releases. Anywhere from seven to twelve such films open every week in New York. Granted, most of them don't play anywhere else in the country. The New York openings are often facilitated at tiny theaters to fullfill some kind of distribution contract. I used to read every film review in the Times but I stopped once this indie glut began a few years ago. Every one of these damn things sound alike. It's either privileged young white people having relationship problems or impoverished third world people struggling to survive.

For the record, the only 2012 release I've liked so far is THE EXPENDABLES 2. Is that mainstream or indie? If you ask IFC, which will no doubt run the EXPENDABLES films on their cable channel in the next year or so, it's an indie because of the Lionsgate connection.

Sondheim

The American independent scene, in my somewhat limited experience, is sort of floundering at the moment.

But if we're counting foreign films as "indie" (though some of them played in wide release in their country of origin), then indie films definitely win.

While our theaters get every film that some Hollywood producer saw fit to finance, we're only getting a tiny percentage of the films made in all the other countries of the world. And the films that we do get are generally selected for export because they were considered to be of particular interest to international audiences. France, like every other country, produces a whole lot of crap films - but we thankfully don't have to see most of them.

Mind you, we still get lots of crappy foreign films - just fewer of them when compared to the number of crappy Hollywood productions. (Though there are definitely some great mainstream Hollywood productions too.)

With all that said, so far I've found this year rather disappointing on all film fronts, both indie and mainstream. The only two films I've really loved are The Kid with a Bike (which theoretically came out last year) and Moonrise Kingdom. (The only other two films that I have any particular fondness for are The Avengers and ParaNorman.)

Hokeyboy

Its like asking which is better, action or horror films...

Indie films definitely take more risks and stretch themselves creatively much more than mainstream films, but it doesn't inherently make them "better". The signal-to-shit ratio is still more or less the same.

Giles

this year's foreign film haven't wowed me except:

The Intouchables

on the indie side I really liked:

Safety Not Guaranteed
Your Sister's Sister
Ruby Sparks
Moonrise Kingdom

(and another shout out to ParaNorman)

The Bus

This one?

The Bus

I'd say it's even higher in indie films.

islandclaws

I couldn't give a definitive answer on this. I've seen both great and horrible films from indie and mainstream cinema alike.

I also don't have a preference for one over the other; I just like good movies.

PopcornTreeCt

I think I need to move to NY.

Jules Winfield

This because I'm too lazy to word my own answer and you came the closest to what I wanted to say except I would've managed to add poop in there somewhere.

whoopdido

One of my favorite indie films is one you've probably never heard of...Star Wars. It was directed by some guy...George something or other. I can't remember his last name, but I think it had a $ in it. I think it did alright at the box office.

Rival11

Have you seen the amount of shit films at a video store as of late? If you don't go to video stores and stream via your Blu-ray or computer, etc... ever notice how many different films you can choose from each week?

They are rampant and pretty much ALL suck.

Again with that said...there are a few (and I mean a damn few) gems here and there.

I can't really say I like mainstream films but if by mainstream you mean budget and marketing appeal....then obviously I like a decent amount of the GOOD films made under that category but it doesn't matter to me either way if something sparks my interest I will watch it...even if I am usually let down on a regular basis with the indie films.