The Plague that is growing amongst modern movies...

Have you guys noticed this thing I call "the plague". I am noticing it more and more amongst the new movies and tv shows I watch. It seems to be especially common for movies that have a young cast, also commonly found in Comedies. (especially tv comedies)



It's this insincere dialogue that doesn't come across natural whatsoever. The dialogue and characters feels so staged that is prevents me from fully emerging into the movie. If I had to guess what the source is I would maybe guess that the dialogue is lacking subtext, as well as the actors not acting authentically? I honestly don't know. It's something hard to explain but when I see it I cringe immediately. This I only started to notice frequently appearing in movies that came out in the last 15 years. Am I the only one who is seeing this?!



For example I just watched Time Trap, I love the concept, and anything time travel related I will watch. But I feel like that movie was ruined by "the plague". Predestination on the other hand, another modern time travel movie, did not have the plague and I loved every minute of it.


Off the top of my head here is a list with movies that have the plague. BTW I noticed that Drama is less susceptible to it.>>> Time trap, Cabin in the woods, the other guys, murder mystery, the upside, neighbors, ghostbusters 2016, how to be single. (I could name more but it's hard to list movies that you try to forget lol)

Since when did most comedies have believable dialogue? The very fact of being a comedy would suggest you're not seeing a slice of real life, as in a serious drama, but you're watching something for amusement so there's not a real need for totally believability. Though perhaps it's lazy writing that you're noticing and in that case I'd say yup there's a lot of lazy writing in movies/TV these days.

I've noticed something too: many younger movie/TV watchers have a hard time with anything that they don't see as real. I blame reality based TV on that, which is of course fake.

Not seen Time Trap but I've seen Predestination and it's one of the best sci fis to be made this century.

Not sure I know what you mean Could you give examples of the dialogue itself, as opposed to the films? Is it just "trying to sound like casual conversation but doesn't succeed"?

[quote=Citizen Rules;2021167]Since when did most comedies have believable dialogue? The very fact of being a comedy would suggest you're not seeing a slice of real life, as in a serious drama, but you're watching something for amusement so there's not a real need for totally believability. Though perhaps it's lazy writing that you're noticing and in that case I'd say yup there's a lot of lazy writing in movies/TV these days.

I would argue that there are comedies out there that are more realistic, maybe I am slightly biased because they have some of my favorite actors in it or because I grew up with some of them. For example Wedding Crasher or Something About Marry, it is a comedy, but I don't get that over the top acting/dialogue vibe as much when I compare it with modern Comedies. Same with TV shows, compare Friends or Seinfeld with > Scrubs or The Office. Those shows are way more over the top. You feel me?



And YES we I are in agreement that Predestination is freaking amazing! It's my favorite time travel movie next to Back To The Future, and that is saying something cause I have seen almost every one made lol.

Yes trying to sound casual, or just trying to sound sincere in general. Couldn't really just give a written dialogue as an example, because the execution given by the performer has something to do with it.

I agree that some comedies are written to be viewed as realistic.

Speaking of time travel films, I just seen a couple of lemons: Coherence and Timecrimes. Have you seen those?

I watched them as part of the Science Fiction Movie Hall of Fame, link
If you're interested just scroll down to the second post of that thread and you'll see reviews from the members on the sci fi films that were nominated. They're linked so you can just click and go directly to the review. I might have mentioned badly unbelievable dialogue myself for some of those movies.

Hmm. I might be getting it, though I'm a little thrown because I think "casual" and "sincere" are kind of pointing in different directions.

And yeah, sorry, I didn't mean just reproduce the text, performance obviously a part of it. Maybe a clip from YouTube?

I didn't think Cabin in the Woods was bad on this front, so we might just disagree, I dunno. There is a disagree to which all good dialogue sounds fake, because nobody is consistently clever and entertaining enough to justify our attention, which is what's required of a movie, so there's a tiny bit of suspension of disbelief required there, potentially.

Only other stuff coming to mind are the Apatow movies, but I think those do a pretty good job of being funny while still sounding realistically conversational. I'm okay with that style as long as it's less "writers trying to sound casual" and more "what your friends would sound like if your friends were all at their sharpest and cleverest all the time."

She means dialogue delivery in movies these days are similar to how anime characters talk, "This is the sword you killed my father with now I will kill you...with this sword," just really cheesy stuff no one would ever say or said in a tone of voice no one would ever use...such as putting an emphasis on the wrong words.

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Ami-Scythe

I mean, we know it's fake it just has to be real for the moment, the actors have to...act, as in be convincing. It kinda helps the film your watching become entertaining.

[quote Speaking of time travel films, I just seen a couple of lemons: Coherence and Timecrimes. Have you seen those?

I love Coherence! What didn't you like? I actually think Coherence is one of the best independent low budget movies. You could literally shoot that movie for almost no cost, but yet it's amazing. (In my opinion at least) Did not see Timecrimes because I don't watch movies that aren't in english. It's a pet peeve of mine. Hate me for it if you must but I hate missing out on details cause I have to read subtitles, so I don't bother with it.


Thanks for the link. I'll give it a whirl.


To name a few time travel movies I like>

Time Lapse. (give that a go if you haven't seen it) Butterfly Effect, Frequency, (obviously) Terminator, (obviously) Donnie Darko, Safety Not Guaranteed.

[quote=Yoda;2021179]Hmm. I might be getting it, though I'm a little thrown because I think "casual" and "sincere" are kind of pointing in different directions.]


By sincere I mean authentic, true in nature. You can have casual dialogue, (like in Pulp Fiction how Samual and Trovolta have casual dialogue in the car). But make it seem real like in that movie. Again this goes beyond just the written script, but its also about how the actors deliver it. I would show a link or something but the website doesn't allow me to posts link's. I guess because I am new. Try anything in the new Ghostbusters movie. It's horrible.

@CoolhandLuke67


Why didn't I like Coherence?...An excerpt from my review:

It depends. One writer who's dialogue is way too poetic for me is Aaron Sorkin, and I never believe any of his dialogue, but maybe being poetic, and not realistic is okay though?

I like a bunch of his movies. This is the first time I'm hearing someone call his dialogue "poetic". Can you be more descriptive on what you mean by poetic? I'm just curious. I think it's fascinating how movies can bring out all sorts of different opinions.

I focus more on dialogue and story then camera angles/movement etc. I mean if it's extremely shaky like a Jason Bourne movie I might be bothered by it. Was the movie shot as nicely as a Coen Brother film, nah but I'm forgiven when the story and dialogue is good. BTW you must hate Found footage movies lol. Like Cloverfield for example is great! Even though it's not shot well and is not suppose to be neither.



However as far as the story with Coherence I guess we will just agree to disagree. It's funny how opinions can vary so strongly. I think it's a piece of art, and you think it's dog **** lol. To each there own.



One last thing though, you said it seemed "improvised". Maybe that's something I like that you don't. I hate predictable and on the nose dialogue, and improv is far from that.

Totally agree. Some might not care as much about it, but the way I see it is if the characters aren't believable I wan't care about the movie. Regardless of how funny something is, or how well a plot is written.

Perhaps poetic is the wrong word, but the actors recite paragraphs of lines that were written as if the lines were meant to be dramatic punch lines that would have taken minutes to think of, to word perfectly that way.

Like in say A Few Good Men for example, the big courtroom speech Jack Nicholson gives. No Colonol would ever word a speech that good or that artistically in a real courtroom cross-examination. But it makes for good drama.

As a matter of fact, acting plays a HUGE role in comedy. A really good joke can be god awful if it's not delivered correctly so believe it or not, the ability to act is even more crucial in comedy and satire than it is in drama. Because at least in a drama bad acting can become ironically funny, but trying to be funny and failing to do so is just sad and painful and watch.

Question, I assume you mean the OP when you say she, how do you know the OP is a she? Or am I misreading that.

I like found footage film, Blair With Hunt and Apollo 18 are two favorites from that genre. I don't know if you got a chance to read the reviews we did for Coherence but I wasn't the only one who disliked it. Though it had fans too.

Yes I am in fact a guy lol. I thought the user name CoolhandLuke might give it away, but to fix any misconception I am a male.



Even if every human on earth hated the Coherence movie, it wouldn't alter my opinion on how I felt towards it. Most people hated the movie "North", but I do like it.