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[Captain Crow]

Indy films

Do you mean "Indie" as in "an independent film company not associated with an established studio" or "Indy" as in this guy?

I mean, I personally hate Indy films and think that there are way too many of them a year,

You hate all of them?

I can understand disliking a specific film genre but out right hating any film done independently from a major studio just seems daft to me.

Though if you really are referring to the Indiana Jones films and not Indie films then I fully understand hating the fourth one. It's shit. As for the first three... I mean yeah the second one was so-so but the first and third films are decent. As for there being to many of them? There's only four of them with a fifth one supposedly in the works for a 2022 release.

, and I doubt normal movie theaters will ever waste space on them, pandemic or not.

What does "normal movie theaters" mean?

Last I checked movie theaters are all basically the same regardless of the type of films they show. A building containing one or more large rooms with seating, a large screen at one end, and a device to project the movie onto the screen.

The film industry would be ruined if that stuff took more of a hold,

If you meant "Indie" films:
No it wouldn't. The film industry would be boringly stagnant without them.

Also it's part of the industry food chain. Lots of folks in the industry start out in Indie film productions. Plus major studios also make money off them by distributing them through one of their subsidiaries, purchasing films outright, and buying Indie film companies.

Indie films can also be a jumping off point to something bigger. The South Park franchise for instance started out as two shorts Jesus vs. Frosty (1992) and Jesus vs. Santa (1995). The Evil Dead franchise, whose first and second films are Indie films, started out as Within the Woods.



If you meant "Indiana Jones" films:
Yeah, it really would have gotten tiring if all they did was Indiana Jones films. Though if they'd done it similar to how the Bond films are done by spacing them out a bit and swapping the actors out every so often it be okay.

majority of people don't give a shit about indy films,

If you meant "Indie" films:
The majority of people most likely don't really give a shit if a film is an Indie one or not. They just want to watch something entertaining.


If you meant "Indiana Jones" films:
The majority of people don't give a shit about the fourth one to the point of not acknowledging its existence. The first three on the other hand they do give a shit about. Especially the first and third ones.

so they won't be taking any spots from normal movies once its safe to go see normal movies.

What does "normal movie" mean?

A movie is a movie.

 

[JD]

I don't watch a ton of independent films, but I'm more than willing to acknowledge that most indy genre films tend to be way, way more unique and original than most of the stuff put out by the studios. By not having to please a studio, and not being expected to make $1,000,000,000+ they are able to take a lot more chances. It's also worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of the directors of the big studio movies cut their teeth on small independent movies before they got brought up to the big leagues. Getting rid of indy movies would be pretty much the worst thing that could ever happen to the film industry.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It's unfortunate that genre movies have so many Asylum productions polluting the low budget indie space. It makes it easy for people to think low budget means low effort and to filter out interesting stuff from all of the dross.

 

[kirk55555]

I don't watch a ton of independent films, but I'm more than willing to acknowledge that most indy genre films tend to be way, way more unique and original than most of the stuff put out by the studios. By not having to please a studio, and not being expected to make $1,000,000,000+ they are able to take a lot more chances. It's also worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of the directors of the big studio movies cut their teeth on small independent movies before they got brought up to the big leagues. Getting rid of indy movies would be pretty much the worst thing that could ever happen to the film industry.

To be fair, I don't want to get rid of Indy films, I just would never want them to take away screen space from standard (aka mainstream) films. There is enough room for all kinds of films, and as much as I hate Indie stuff I wouldn't want its fans to not be able to see/make those kinds of films. They just should never take up spots in a regular movie theater, art house style theaters exist for a reason.

Also, the claims that studio films aren't unique has always been bullshit. A franchise film can be unique and its own thing, even ones that people claim are carbon copies (all the MCU films, for example, are distinct and have their own "flavors", even if haters want to pretend they're all basically the same movie). Indie films, in my opinion, are useless and pretty much always crap, and could disappear completely and nothing of value would be lost. But it has fans so it has a place, just not anywhere near normal films.

 

[JD]

Have you actually watched many indie films? I know I talk about this movie all the time, but if you want to see what indie sci-fi movies are capable I highly recommend Ex Machina, it's awesome.

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I haven't watched it yet, but I've heard a lot of very good things about Fast Color.

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[Christopher]

if you want to see what indie sci-fi movies are capable I highly recommend Ex Machina, it's awesome.

Seconded. A brilliant movie.

Other notable indie sci-fi films from recent years include District 9, The Man from Earth, Looper, Moon, Europa Report, Primer, and Her. (I would've assumed Looper was a major-studio film, since it had Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but apparently it wasn't.) And those are just the ones I've seen.

 

[JD]

Oh, those were all indies? I've seen and really enjoyed all of those except Primer and Her. I didn't realize District 9 and Europa Report were also independent.
Moon has one of my all time favorite twists/reveals. I think I'm going to have to rewatch District 9, Europa Report, and Ex Machina.
If you like horror movies I've heard good things about The Autopsy of Jane Doe

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and
The Witch

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[theenglish]

The former sentence rather disproves the latter. There are still plenty of low-budget movies being made and distributed; they just get overshadowed by the big-ticket blockbusters. (Or so a movie-critic Facebook friend of mine insists frequently as he tries to get people to pay attention to such movies.)

The problem being that multiplexes and the studios moving away from lower budget movies means that there are no places to watch independent cinema any longer and fewer distributors for the movies--and fewer opportunities for directors starting out to make independent films. I guess, but don't know, that the future of these movies is probably through online platforms but I don't know. The end result is that we don't have a Blood Simple or Raising Arizona, a Stranger Than Paradise or Down By Law, a Mean Streets, a Cronos, or even a Duel, let alone all the film makers who had long careers not even making movies picked up by major studios.

 

[theenglish]

Seconded. A brilliant movie.

Other notable indie sci-fi films from recent years include District 9, The Man from Earth, Looper, Moon, Europa Report, Primer, and Her. (I would've assumed Looper was a major-studio film, since it had Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but apparently it wasn't.) And those are just the ones I've seen.

I loved most of those movies as well. Gordon-Levitt has become a real voice for promoting lesser known talent. He apparently has an online collaborative community for creators to find each other.

 

[Anwar]

I loved most of those movies as well. Gordon-Levitt has become a real voice for promoting lesser known talent. He apparently has an online collaborative community for creators to find each other.

Hitrecord

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's unfortunate that genre movies have so many Asylum productions polluting the low budget indie space. It makes it easy for people to think low budget means low effort and to filter out interesting stuff from all of the dross.

I'm still mad Asylum never did a Trek mockbuster. Maybe next reboot.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Asylum has (or at least had) a $1M max budget IIRC because due to pre-sales they were always guaranteed a profit even if not a single person watched it. Now cheapo streaming apps even have Asylum channels with nothing but 24/7,”, what a world. Maybe a Trek mockbuster was just out of sight.

 

[dahj]

I'm still mad Asylum never did a Trek mockbuster.

It's called The Orville.

 

[Mudd]

Have you actually watched many indie films? I know I talk about this movie all the time, but if you want to see what indie sci-fi movies are capable I highly recommend Ex Machina, it's awesome.

Yep.

 

[kirk55555]

Have you actually watched many indie films? I know I talk about this movie all the time, but if you want to see what indie sci-fi movies are capable I highly recommend Ex Machina, it's awesome.

I actually did watch Ex Machina (I have seen a few indie films), because of all the good reviews it got. I did kind of like the first two acts from what I remember, but I hated the last part of the film, including the ending, and it retroactively made me dislike the whole movie. I remember thinking that the movie had wasted potential, but its been a few years since I watched it, so I can't get much more specific.

If you like horror movies I've heard good things about The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Now, that is a film I enjoyed. It was really creepy and well done, it definitely surprised me. It succeeded by basically being nothing like a normal indie film, though. It wasn't way too long or pretentious, it was just a well done horror film.

As for The Witch, I loathe that movie and all "elevated horror" films. The Witch, Get Out, etc are really bad in my opinion, and they are pretty good examples of the flaws most indie films have, just in horror form. Overly long, completely boring and not scary, just pretentious trash that is up its own ass. I tend toward more visceral horror over psychological/atmospheric horror anyway because I like faster paced films, but the trend of the "elevated horror" film is really everything I hate in movies.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

We're going to get admonished for taking this thread off topic but I was just thinking Syfy's Vagrant Queen is the closest thing in spirit to an Asylum mockbuster of Trek (even if it's more a riff on Farscape) .

I guess as a possible way to get back on topic, this movie looks closest to me to an indie take on Batman that we've had so far. I could really see being able to enjoy watching it at home and just sinking into the atmosphere of it all without needing the big screen for all of the spectacle. Then again, my theater is pretty nice compared to all the complaints I see around here about theatergoing. Going to a quiet Sunday matinee can be a nice way to just sink in to a movie and absorbing it.

 

[Christopher]

We're going to get admonished for taking this thread off topic but I was just thinking Syfy's Vagrant Queen is the closest thing in spirit to an Asylum mockbuster of Trek (even if it's more a riff on Farscape) .

I saw it more as an attempt to replace Killjoys with something similar.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I don't watch a ton of independent films, but I'm more than willing to acknowledge that most indy genre films tend to be way, way more unique and original than most of the stuff put out by the studios.

Not to mention that in some countries, the entire output of movies that it produces may be indie since it may not have big studio backing. Hollywood is kind of unique, if you think about it, in the sense that in one state and city in particular, you have number of big studios all in one place. I don't think there's any other place quite like it, and it bears to think that it's not like that everywhere else movies are being produced. There are tons of great indie movies being produced, but most are shown worldwide via movie festivals, and sometimes get a second life via the Oscars.

 

[JD]

I actually did watch Ex Machina (I have seen a few indie films), because of all the good reviews it got. I did kind of like the first two acts from what I remember, but I hated the last part of the film, including the ending, and it retroactively made me dislike the whole movie. I remember thinking that the movie had wasted potential, but its been a few years since I watched it, so I can't get much more specific.



Now, that is a film I enjoyed. It was really creepy and well done, it definitely surprised me. It succeeded by basically being nothing like a normal indie film, though. It wasn't way too long or pretentious, it was just a well done horror film.

As for The Witch, I loathe that movie and all "elevated horror" films. The Witch, Get Out, etc are really bad in my opinion, and they are pretty good examples of the flaws most indie films have, just in horror form. Overly long, completely boring and not scary, just pretentious trash that is up its own ass. I tend toward more visceral horror over psychological/atmospheric horror anyway because I like faster paced films, but the trend of the "elevated horror" film is really everything I hate in movies.

Sometime I almost find it hard to believe we are even the same species.

 

[crookeddy]

It's funny how a lot of people stop worrying whether a movie was originally an indie or not once it gets enough buzz... So stop lying to yourself and just about that you only want to watch popular movies, regardless of studio.