High Fidelity - Jack Black Dallas Buyers Club - Matthew Mcconaughey Both fantastic films.

I've never seen [i]High Fidelity[/i], so I'll have to check it out, but I would agree that [i]Dallas Buyers Club[/i] was a good film. I would also argue that it wasn't traditional McConaughey. Though, I wouldn't call it fantastic, and the reason for that is the acting. McConaughey is a good actor, and I think he fit the role well, but Jared Leto's and Jennifer Garner's performances were lack luster at best. I mean, really, Jennifer Garnet is so bad at showing emotion in this film, I found it almost distracting from the emotional topic at hand. Perhaps if I felt more emotionally stimulated by the main character's, I would have liked the film better. It's a good film, but I think to call it great is more of an appeal to emotion than a film analysis.

So you don't like movies. Got it.

I don't like shitty movies.

That's subjective. Besides, you called about 60 or 70 percent of the movie industry shitty so...

I actually called 60-70% of Hollywood movies shitty. Don't seclude yourself to movies that only serve the purpose to make profits, which not by coincidence is most Hollywood movies. There exists other sectors of importance in the film industry, foreign and domestic, which are not filmed in a manner that appeals to the lowest common denominator such as big blockbuster action and horror films are. Many folks either don't understand the finer tenets of film theory, or don't care enough about what they're viewing to analyze it, thus have no appreciation for avant-garde cinematography, directing, editing, etc. I enjoy films which explore a more esoteric approach in communicating their message to the viewer. [url=https://youtu.be/DUu8u5PcK3s]Here[/url] is a video of a YouTuber analyzing a fight scene from one of my favorite films. The director was extremely particular with every single scene in this film, and this fight scene is no different. The YouTuber breaks down the purpose of everything going on in the scene, from the camera position, camera movement, character position, pacing, lighting, etc. This fight scene when seen in real time works so well because of all of these seemingly meaningless things, and that's the facet of film that I find so enjoyable. How a director delivers his/her message to the viewer. Moreover, I enjoy a director making explicit use of these facets of film to communicate the message. I feel as though in big blockbuster films, many times this form of art is lost so that the view doesn't actually have to think in order to comprehend what is going on. A great example is a movie called [i]Hard To Be A God[/i] which you can find on Netflix. The cinematography and directing in this film is carried out with awe-inspiring complexity, making it a film that will simply not make sense to somebody who isn't paying attention.

I'm currently studying film in my A levels, so I think I do have an understanding and appreciation for those things. I'm unfamiliar with avant-garde in film, but I'm a huge fan of avant-garde music, so again I do have an understanding and appreciation of it. Many hollywood and blockbuster films simply aim to please, without having that extra complexity or detail, which is why films such as Suicide Squad have no analytical or indeed even existing plot. They're simply made to be a spectacle - something pretty to look at. Many people only watch films for this particular kind of gratification. I really enjoyed Suicide Squad, even though it's heavily flawed. I also enjoy more complex films. Sometimes you have to loosen up and focus on simple pleasure instead of being serious about everything. FYI: I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. You just have to analyse it and look at it in a different way to many other films.

Well, yes, I completely recognize that people watch movies for mindless entertainment. The question was which movies I thought were overrated, to which my response was the movies which are purposed at mindless entertainment. The individuals who fancy them, will rate those movies higher than what I would rate them, thus them being overrated and answering the question. As you said, it's subjective.

I am interesred though in what you find so deterring about the horror genre. Also, is it merely certain subgenres?

Well, the modern horror genre is just very predictable, which it really shouldn't be. [i]The Shining[/i] is a beautiful example of what a horror film [i]should[/i] be. The 17th sequel of [i]Paranormal Activity[/i] is an example of what uninteresting horror is.

I agree to that. The horror genre as a whole though is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting. I watch it differently to most people though. I don't find it tense or frightening, I find it interesting as an analysis of human behaviour and responses. Plus, I 'like' monsters and psychology is one of my favourite topics. I also find masks an interesting art form, if that is the right way to word it.

Well, character design is extremely important in all films, but it's essential in horror. There is some psychological principle (it's funny, I talked about it with another person in bnet not to long ago, but I forget what it's called) that basically says when you have a form that looks similar to a human, however is distinctly different in some unexpected way, it causes unsettling feelings. I'm watching a great series on Netflix right now called Black Mirror, and they have an episode which deals with the psychological aspects of horror through a virtual reality simulation, it's absolutely fantastic. I'd recommend you check it out, seems like it'd be right up your alley. That particular episode is in season 3.