I don't know how much of it can be attributed to a conscious demonstration of willpower, though. Doesn't really account for people who just don't care either way, for instance.
Animation isn't inherently better or worse than live-action. A drawing of a sword is not measured against a sword as though the sword is better because it's the real thing. Rather, a drawing of a sword is measured as a drawing. A drawing is a real thing. It's quality is based on how good of a drawing it is, and how well it depicts a sword. Just as a real sword in a live action movie would be measured by how well was filmed, and how creatively was used. There is a lot more about realism to be examined in a movie's writing than it's visuals. The plot, story, dialogue, characters, motivations, all the concepts in the movie. So to generalise that a movie is very realistic or not very realistic, everything has to be examined, not merely the visuals.
I think there's also a propensity to be more forgiving of animation bending or breaking the physical laws of reality since it's already existing at a remove from the reality of live-action. It may still violate its own internal logic, of course (often deliberately if it's entertaining enough to do so - just ask Roger Rabbit), but you still have a pretty good idea of what to expect from an animated film and assess it accordingly. Likewise, I don't think a live-action film has an inherent obligation towards "realism" to the point where a lack of it in any or all aspects can automatically be considered grounds for failure.
It's a matter of separating emotion from rational judgement. Feelings are constantly changing moment to moment. "Because I liked it a lot," Doesn't really answer why a movie is good. If quality wasn't objective, then why would you ever argue with anyone else about whether a movie is good or bad?
Because objectivity only matters so much when it comes to evaluating art. Take a movie like
28 Days Later... that's shot on handheld early-2000s digital cameras. One of us could hate the cinematography because it looks cheap and is used in a disorienting fashion that makes the film harder to watch while one of us could love it because those particular elements of the cinematography ultimately augment the tension of escaping from running zombies. Which one of us would be right? The general consensus that
28 Days Later is a modern horror classic would suggest the latter, but does that really make it an indisputable fact?
I didn't really find it comic and cartoonish, but I think I see what you mean, and it's a fair enough point. I just think those, "comic and cartoonish" elements were absurd, and they ruined the movie for me.
I just don't buy the argument that just because it wasn't going for something better it can't be criticised for what it was.
If it doesn't work for you personally, that's fine, but articulating those criticisms as if they are absolute truths that everybody should agree with is where things start to fall apart. This was the original quote
The single thing of that movie that stands out the most to me is the scene of the sunlight shining through the gunshot wound. You see a shadow on the sand with a hole in the shadow. And it's such a stupidly unrealistic concept that it makes me cringe. What mind can accept that without thinking, "That doesn't make any sense?" I completely reject the notion that the viewer is obliged to immerse their self in the absurd. It is the filmmaker's job to create something that is actually believable if he wants the audience to be immersed.
If anything, "believable" is the sticking point because I figured belief is more of a loose, subjective concept. I've definitely hated my fair share of quote-unquote absurd movies (weren't we having the same discussion about the 1960s
Casino Royale a while back?), so it's clear that even I have my limits
Na, I won't hate anything. I think I'm pretty indifferent now towards what appears on the list and where. I'm just looking at this as a fun community event. I'm not taking the list too seriously. I may not like The Quick and the Dead, but I don't mind that it's on the list or where it showed up.
Fair enough.