yellowlightman Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Wow. Way to be a racist. The idea that there are no good films made by countries other than America is ludicrous. Wow. Way to overreact. You might want to check your Japanophilia at the door, because what I said is the truth. While Japan has an impressive film history, it's gone down the toilet in the last 15-20 years due to a variety of reasons. Too much time is spent trying to imitate Hollywood blockbusters and what you end up with is a lot of derivative garbage that looks like it's trying to be a big budget film but without the budget, actors who can't act and commercial film releases that look like TV shows. Also, I'm not sure how Japan = the world, but again I guess that's the Japanophilia talking. For the handful of notable films that get noticed in the west, most of what comes out here is terrible and could barely pass as made-for-TV level in the US. There's also a relation here with the lack of movie goers, as seeing movies in theaters is not a popular activity here. That means less theaters that can play movies, less money made for domestic movies and a focus spent on trying to imitate all the western films that do come out here and blow away the domestic competition. If the industry tried playing to their strengths and not trying to imitate Hollywood it might be a different story. Anyways, consider yourselves educated. So yeah, the Robotech movie will no doubt suck but Hollywood at least has the potential for turning out a decent film (even if the odds are highly unlikely), the Japanese film industry in it's current state does not. As for the remark about me being racist, some of my favorite films are Japanese and if I was so racist would I have moved to the damn country? So you can kindly kiss my ass on that one.
crescens Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 A case of the truth being somewhere in the middle. The Japanese film industry is small and well past it's golden age when it spawned Kurosawa. However, the Japanese film industry is still producing notable cinema of internationally recognized quality. Japan's industry in particular is currently being tapped by Hollywood, so I wouldn't jump on the "Japan film sucks" bandwagon because they aren't a blockbuster player internationally. All the Japanese modern horror classics are remade into Hollywood films and I don't need to remind most here that we appear on the cusp of an anime live-action adaptation "raping" (couldn't resist, mate) Well, i say there are still directors keeping that golden age alive >__> First of all, Hiroyuki Nakano, guy made "Samurai Fiction" ( imo, one of the best movies about samurai's and stuff, of course im not comparing to Kurosawa, cause its totally different. rock music + black & white + great camera action = wow), "Stereo Future" ( movie about a dude who's trying to become a good actor and got his role in a samurai movie + ecological message = nice comedy with - again - great camera action ). Next, Isao Yukisada with his "journey full of nostalgy" aka "Sekai no Chuushin De Ai wo Sakebu". Shouhei Imamura with "Warm Water Under the Red Bridge" and many others... Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, Takashi Miike... those i've mentoned, know how to make a good movie - funny, inteligent, yet sometimes very controversial. im feeding "off"
Macross_Fanboy Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Wow. Way to overreact. You might want to check your Japanophilia at the door, because what I said is the truth. While Japan has an impressive film history, it's gone down the toilet in the last 15-20 years due to a variety of reasons. Too much time is spent trying to imitate Hollywood blockbusters and what you end up with is a lot of derivative garbage that looks like it's trying to be a big budget film but without the budget, actors who can't act and commercial film releases that look like TV shows. Also, I'm not sure how Japan = the world, but again I guess that's the Japanophilia talking. For the handful of notable films that get noticed in the west, most of what comes out here is terrible and could barely pass as made-for-TV level in the US. There's also a relation here with the lack of movie goers, as seeing movies in theaters is not a popular activity here. That means less theaters that can play movies, less money made for domestic movies and a focus spent on trying to imitate all the western films that do come out here and blow away the domestic competition. If the industry tried playing to their strengths and not trying to imitate Hollywood it might be a different story. Anyways, consider yourselves educated. So yeah, the Robotech movie will no doubt suck but Hollywood at least has the potential for turning out a decent film (even if the odds are highly unlikely), the Japanese film industry in it's current state does not. As for the remark about me being racist, some of my favorite films are Japanese and if I was so racist would I have moved to the damn country? So you can kindly kiss my ass on that one. Yeah, as far as I know, of the Japanese I've been around, they don't think about watching a Japanese movie at all period. My girlfriend goes as far as not liking Japanese music also. I can only say I like Japanese drama movies like the one of Mari-chan and her three puppies which was based on actual events. It's fair to say that all around the world everybody knows who Brad and Angie are, but it can't be said that everybody knows who Hideaki Ito or Yusuke Iseya is. Well...if they watched Sukiyaki Western Django, then maybe they do.
Roger Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Wow. Way to overreact. You might want to check your Japanophilia at the door, because what I said is the truth. No, what you said was a generalization. If you believe it, though, back it up. What are you basing it on? How many Japanese films have you seen in the last 10 years, and which genres were they from?
yellowlightman Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 (edited) No, what you said was a generalization. If you believe it, though, back it up. What are you basing it on? How many Japanese films have you seen in the last 10 years, and which genres were they from? This is hilarious. There are multiple threads here with people complaining about Hollywood ruining these Japanese "classics" and about how terrible Hollywood is, but the moment someone dares to criticize Glorious Nippon you guys get butthurt and call me a racist and say I'm "generalizing." P.S. Roger, kaiju and tokusatsu movies don't count as "good" movies. Edited November 19, 2008 by yellowlightman
bsu legato Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 No, what you said was a generalization. Perhaps, but it's not "racist" either. I swear, some of you kids need to buy a farting thesaurus.
Macross_Fanboy Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 This is hilarious. There are multiple threads here with people complaining about Hollywood ruining these Japanese "classics" and about how terrible Hollywood is, but the moment someone dares to criticize Glorious Nippon you guys get butthurt and call me a racist and say I'm "generalizing." P.S. Roger, kaiju and tokusatsu movies don't count as "good" movies. If they've ever been inside a Tsutaya, they would know what movies from which region of the world rule over the rest.
crescens Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 (edited) seriously, let's cut this... everyone should have their own opinion but dont force it on others... ...its like war "Sheryl Fans Vs. Ranka Fans"... leads to nowhere >____> :wacko: Edited November 19, 2008 by crescens
Roger Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Perhaps, but it's not "racist" either. I swear, some of you kids need to buy a farting thesaurus. If you think that I'm the one accusing him of being racist, then you need to buy some farting glasses.
Roger Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 (edited) P.S. Roger, kaiju and tokusatsu movies don't count as "good" movies. That's a generalization, too, but if kaiju and tokusatsu movies are the only ones you're seeing, then it explains the first generalization you made: Sorry, but the Japanese film industry sucks. It is amazingly terrible. Anyone here ever see Always: Sunset On Third Street? Dawn of a New Day? Bubble Fiction? (I'll probably lose credibility with that last one but I thought it was a lot of fun.) Edited November 19, 2008 by Roger
lord_breetai Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Wow. Way to overreact. You might want to check your Japanophilia at the door, because what I said is the truth. While Japan has an impressive film history, it's gone down the toilet in the last 15-20 years due to a variety of reasons. Too much time is spent trying to imitate Hollywood blockbusters and what you end up with is a lot of derivative garbage that looks like it's trying to be a big budget film but without the budget, actors who can't act and commercial film releases that look like TV shows. I don't think this is quite fair, there are a number of good films that have come out in the past 15 years from Japan, to name a few Love Letter (the 95) movie, Shall We Dansu? (96), Shimotsuma Monogatari (2004)... I would say that the Death Note movies were pretty good for what they were, I could name many more enjoyable films. Just because something "looks like it's TV" or has a low budget dosn't mean it's bad. Sure Hollywood blows away the competion (Titanic and ET being two of the highest grossing movies in Japanese box office history after a pair of Miyazaki films), but there have been quite a few good emotional dramas and art films within the last 15 years. This isn't so called "Japanophilia" talking, I watch films from other countries too, and I admit there is a lot of rubbish in Japan, but there are gems there too if you care to look for them. P.S. Roger, kaiju and tokusatsu movies don't count as "good" movies. Not so sure about that, I'd say at least the original Gojira was a masterpeice and Gojira Final Wars, was not a bad a movie either. Godzilla final Wars had the balls at least to try and tell a story in which the the big G was only a minor element... yeah it was mostly a (actually high budget for Japan about 10 Mill) action flick, with martial arts and mutants and crap. But it had a decent story for that kind of film and was just a ton of fun. So I think there can be good things done with Giant monsters if you try.
crescens Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 Bubble Fiction? (I'll probably lose credibility with that last one but I thought it was a lot of fun.) Boom or Burst was funny especially when she was dancing on this party
Roger Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 This thread needs a new lock on it. Why not just split it off into a "argument about Japanese cinema" thread?
azrael Posted November 19, 2008 Posted November 19, 2008 When a mod says stay on-topic, we usually mean it. Therefore, the following people have been given 48-hour vacations: yellowlightman crescens Macross_Fanboy Roger lord_breetai Accordingly, this thread will be locked again.
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