Thread: American movies.

I know I'm biased being an American but I wanted to see if those of you in other countries think we make the best movies. I have seen some excellent Japanese, Australian, Korean and French films but I think Hollywood holds the key to great movies.I know American films make a lot of money overseas so I wanted to pose the questions to my foreign friends.

Originally Posted by walrus

I know I'm biased being an American but I wanted to see if those of you in other countries think we make the best movies. I have seen some excellent Japanese, Australian, Korean and French films but I think Hollywood holds the key to great movies.I know American films make a lot of money overseas so I wanted to pose the questions to my foreign friends.

Once upon a time hollywood did make the best movies imo, but I have to say over the last ten years or so there are some foreign movies that take the cake for me and nothing hollywood has thrown out really compares except the departed, but hell that was a remake of a hong kong flick infernal affairs. My favorite movies of the last few years have been asian flicks, mostly korean and japanese. If ya get a chance check out the following if you haven't already new world, nameless gangster, I saw the devil, yellow sea, chaser, a bittersweet life, outrage 1 and 2, battle royale, 13 assasins, dead or alive and a french flick by the name of mesrine part one and two

I would say that Hollywood doesn't make the best movies it just makes the most. Which means there are many more shit than good ones.

How many Hollywood remakes can you name that were better than the foreign original? And why the need to remake so many movies?

It's also littered with foreign talent - writers, directors, actors etc. So you get a film funded by an American studio which is filmed in Germany, has a French director and a British star.

Nobody thinks of the James Bond movies as American but they were funded by an American studio.

i actually agree, the one thing that americans are good at its making films

and yeah they make a lot of crap ones but most of the best ones come out of america

but americans get just about everything else wrong and they are only good at films because they are all dicks

There are some great film makers in America but there are also many great film makers in Europe. Movies sounds like a throwaway blockbuster to many British ears but even those are often made with British technical and acting talent. It's also true that the great American directors were,and continue to be,inspired by cinema made outside of the States. So,um,....don't really think there is such a thing as best country for film makers.

Perhaps not but some counties excellent in certain genres. The Japanese make some damn fine horror movies. The French have made some excellent mysteries America has produced some excellent drama. Yes, Hollywood is global but is American by birth. It was an English man who really influenced early American cinema. Charlie Chaplin, God I love that man. Endless talent and a predilection for pedophilia. But seriously, Charlie built so much of what today are main cogs in the wheel of Hollywood today. But we have created some masterpieces, although I usual avoid a romantic movie Gone with the Wind is an all time great. The shining directed by Kubrick puts America way up on the top of the movie heap. If we made no other movies after those to our HOF status would still be guaranteed.

Bollywood make the most cliché and crap movies for the longest period ever.

As far as remakes go after the Bible and Shakespeare there are no new stories to be told so I don't look down on remakes.

Originally Posted by walrus

As far as remakes go after the Bible and Shakespeare there are no new stories to be told so I don't look down on remakes.

Noah, Herculese, thesius, all classic remakes.

Almost all of Hollywood is ran by Jews so it lacks the diversity it once had. This is why there are so many bad movies.

I'm a fan of good stories, doesn't really matter where they come from. There really haven't been too many original stories lately (as in not a remake and not based on a book). I think historically the US created some pretty impressive films, but over the last decade it's been really lacking. There's been such a push for simple money making now that the formula is in place and takes precedence over good story writing, just as has been the case about songwriting since the 80's in music.

To the point of the OP, I think Hollywood clearly has the biggest budget and widest reach, but that in no way corresponds with the best.

I grew up watching hollywood films and if I had to list my all time favorites, majority of them would be american made but those days are over.. hollywood had its run from like the 40s-90s but I cant think of too many classics produced in the y2k era..

Hollywood went to shit in 2000... ask me to name memorable films from the 90s and there way too many to count..

Today Im more into foreign films.. Korea, japan, and hong kong cinema has evolved so much and they have deep stories.. asian movies are more about storytelling unlike these shitty hollywood films..

Typical hollywood production of today just cover up their shitty storyline with bunch of CGIs and all kinds of special effects and they try to make a quick buck out of it..

Movies in current hollywood has lost its artistry... its more like a quick money making scheme..

If u guys dont mind reading subtitles, watch a korean movie called " chin gu " aka FRIEND and see how intriguing the story line is.. foreign films make you think and they stay with you for a long time...

I cant remember the last time I walked out of a movie theatre thinking like wow, that was a great movie... the last movie that satisfied me was District 9 and that was like 4 years ago.... but even that movie was directed by a foreigner if I remember correct..

American movies are so fukin forgettable thes3 days man. Its trash...

Well Hollywood movies are just one facet of American filmmaking, you always have the independents and other smaller production companies where the majority of the more cutting edge cinema comes from. For almost as long as the Hollywood machine has been pumping out product, there have been American filmmakers who weren't part of that system putting out great shit.

As someone who watches a fuck load of movies from different countries, you really can't sum it up in a blanket statement. There's great shit and lousy shit coming from all countries.

The people who go to watch movies in America are almost exclusively 18-30 so Hollywood makes movies that its audience want to see which means we get a preponderance of shit like Transformers 3.

If middle aged people went to the movies with the vast number of quality writers, actors and directors available we'd get huge numbers of quality movies. But the market doesn't want to watch quality, it wants to watch car chases and shit getting blown up so that's what we get.

Walrus, are you aware of things called torrents? Download a torrent program like utorrent and then go to the pirate bay website and download and watch these movies.

Un Prophete.
City of God.
The Lives of Others.
Mesrine 1 and 2.

For starters. They have subtitles so download vlc media player which makes it easy to play the subtitle files that come with them. Then imagine what Hollywood could do with all their money if they had a market for films like this.

we make a lot of R rated movies. Also, I've seen a number of movies you mentioned. I don't mind reading subtitles. I wasn't saying there are no good foreign films, the the majority of the to films are US productions. This is my opinion, not the final say, although again I refer to gone with the wind to name one.