Top 25 Film Trends That Need To Die

A little while ago, I did a list of video game trends that need to die. Well a while later, I realised that this is actually a common thing in the things I talk about on this blog, not just video games. So today we're talking about the top 25 film trends that in my opinion, need to die. These are common things that occur in the world films that tend to not go down well with a lot of people either prior to release or after. We're talking the lack of originality, the real reasons behind some films' existence and some studios and film makers hiring the wrong people to do the job right among other things. So grab some popcorn as we look into these trends that should die:

Oh and there may be some potential spoilers for some films so read with discretion.

25 - Hiring People with a Reputation of Being Bad at Their Jobs

Often when you hear names like Michael Bay, M. Night Shyamalan and Adam Sandler attached to a film, you know its going to suck. These three and many other actors, directors and what have you, have a reputation of making films bad and the worst thing about it is that they don't care or they don't listen to the critics. Some of these people have made some of the worst films ever made like Adam Sandler with all his Happy Madison films, M. Night Shyamalan with some of his laughably bad films and Michael Bay with pretty much everything he's done. It is bad when you hire someone who's known to make films suck just by having his name in it and I often wonder if these studios are actually aware of this. I guess not considering that despite how bad these films are, they make money. Well it's not about money. Its the quality that counts here.

24 - Video Game and Live Action Anime films

Since the early days of anime and video games, many filmmakers have tried and failed with making a decent film of these. Now with anime, there a loads of films that are generally made by the creators of said anime and generally do well. So for the anime side of things, it's more about when the film based on the anime is westernised and just changes too much that no one would ever call it part of the franchise (such was the case with Dragon Ball Evolution). As for video game films, its a similar story. A long time ago when internet personalities were starting to pop up everywhere, we came to understand that a good video game such as Super Mario Bros. will no doubt make for a bad film. Now that's not to say that all video game or anime films are bad. Its just that a majority of them are bad. Anime films that are made by their creators are generally well received and with video games, its often more the films that pay tribute to video games that do well more than the films that are based on a specific video game (such was the case with Scott Pilgrim VS The World and Wreck-It Ralph). So the thing I'm getting at here is that if something doesn't do well in the long run, stop and do something else. 2016 was the year for the comeback of video game films, but all of them according critics, suck and its been well over a decade since the last extremely bad video game film (unless you count any of the live action Resident Evil films). Its just bad.

23 - Films That Only Exist to Reboot Someones Career or to Allow the Studio to Keep the Rights

It happens all the time. Actors who have been out of the spotlight for years then make a comeback with a film. Sometimes they do well like Robert Downey Jr. with Iron Man, but other times, they don't. Then you have those films where they only exist to allow the studio to keep the rights for the franchise like Fan4stic. Doesn't matter if they are good or not just as long as the studio keeps the rights. Now sometimes these things work, but a lot of the time they don't and we often always know why they exist while the studios and actors don't want you to know why they exist. The Revenant only exists to get Leonardo Dicaprio that long awaited Oscar. The Expendables only exists to make you remember the days when action heroes were big. We know Hollywood so just stop.

22 - Films with Titles that use Internet Slang

No one likes a film that tries to be hip with the kids and neither do I. I mean if you want to be hip, actually do proper research and be more creative with your film title because trust me when I say this, hashtags should over every be used to spread news and emotions around your status updates or your tweets. It should never take the form of being part of a film title because that's not right. I know its not easy to come up with a more creative name like Friend Request, but I know for sure that some of these films often show the bad sides of using social networks which is bad for those businesses as they want people to enjoy using them and not have to use it as a means to bully one another and believe me I know what that is like. Oh yeah, I've been there.

21 - Found Footage Films

In the past, I've praised films like Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch for being great at doing found footage films. But the thing is, that Blair Witch made found footage films a thing and Paranormal Activity made it popular thanks to the idea of showing what the paranormal do when nothing is happening. But the point is, both films made a big deal out of it and changed films forever as a result thanks to the way the films were filmed. But then soon after, many films tried to do the same with very mixed results and having spent watching a good chunk of them, I can honestly say that its done. There is nothing more that could make it better than it already is and when you get too many films that try to replicate other films, the originality is gone. Its was popular for a time, but its time to stop.

20 - When you Know you're at an Old Age, but still do your Job Regardless

Normally I don't have a problem with actors who are getting on, still doing their jobs. But a friend of mine questioned on whether they are still fit enough to act and so I began to question the very same thing. And so I came to the conclusion that while life is short, its best to quit while you're ahead. I mean there are some action stars out there who are getting on but still do acting. Then you have actors who are not as well known for action but more other things like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen. But I know there are some actors who know that they have to retire at some point and quit while they were ahead like Harrison Ford when he wanted the fate of Han Solo to be determined in The Force Awakens. So all I ask for these actors is to stop reliving the glory days and quit while you're ahead. You'll thank me later. But for voice actors, keep doing what you're doing because at least that doesn't involve any physical work (well for the most part anyway).

19 - Cheap CGI

So we are now at a stage where CGI can be realistic and doesn't have to be over relied on (yes George Lucas, Jar Jar Binks isn't the only thing bad about the Star Wars prequels) and the people that have managed to perfect CGI in their films are of course Disney and DreamWorks Animation. While Illumination Entertainment, Blue Sky and WAG are very quickly catching up with the two giants, you still however get films which have cheap CGI effects if live action or its quality looks poor if full on CGI. As I said earlier, we want quality films and if you can't make the CGI high quality, then the film is going to suck, period. The LEGO Movie was in my opinion, one of the best looking animated films in recent memory as it managed to not only combine stop motion and CGI, but pretty much everything you saw was all LEGO. Even the animators had to be retrained to make such effects and that is how far you can go with CGI. Even in Rouge One, they managed to do a very good job with putting the digital likeness of Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin on different actors since using the former's actor wouldn't work because of age (and this would've been prior to Fisher's passing) and the latter's actor had passed away some time ago. So all we ask is for filmmakers to learn from those who have perfected the art of CGI in the hopes to make good quality films and of course that's what Seth Rogen did when he was working on Sausage Party and it did well as a result.

18 - 3D Films Gone Bad

In the past, 3D films would be very rare to come by and in the earliest of attempts, it would've been us wearing what the gentleman in the picture above was wearing which kind of made the film look bad. Now the 3D glasses have been upgraded and we can now enjoy watching 3D films without wearing stupid looking glasses that you only ever use once. But there are some films out there that are only made just to do things in 3D which as a result, makes for a bad film. Now animated films do very well in 3D because of the colours and that everything in the film is a 3D model. But for live action films, it varies. Some films like those in the sci-fi genre work very well in 3D, but you do get those that are in 3D, but are really only 3D just to do some effects. One good example of this is Final Destination 4 which had all the deaths done in 3D, but chose to stick with a pretty predictable plot and a very flat film as a result. So basically if you want to make a film in 3D, don't make it just for the sole purpose of doing 3D effects. Make it an experience and an experience that is unforgettable, exciting and heart pumping (like Gravity).

17 - Films with People Who Don't Act (i.e. animated films with pop stars in the cast)

While there is nothing wrong with casting non-actors in film roles, a good majority of them cannot act. So the thing to do here is to only cast those who can act and can act well and not those who cannot act. I know for sure that some of the reasons behind this is for the films to once again, be hip with the kids and current trends. So really the thing to learn from this is to know your cast before you start filming because otherwise if you can't act, the film will suck. But if its cameos, then that's OK because they are just there for a few seconds or more and that's it. But still, the cameos need to have some purpose to them like how Stan Lee delivered a package to "Tony Stank" in Captain America: Civil War.

16 - Cash Grabs (or as I Would Alternatively call it, Abusing our Childhoods)

Yes its true. Everyone wants money and people will try to be the first to jump the gun for the sake of money. But then that's where films tend to go downhill. Many of the worst films ever made only exist to sell merchandise. Heck every known children's film only exists to sell merchandise. There's nothing wrong with selling stuff, but often filmmakers and studios do too much of that and forget that a film needs to be made and then they make it, only for it to not do well. Sure cash is great and all, but like I said before, we want quality films and you can't assume that a film will do well just by how much money its reeling in (such is the case for many Paramount, Sony and FOX films). Critics have to be pleased with the film as well. But hey, just as long as they aren't abusing our childhoods, then it's fine. Oh wait, they are by attaching Michael f**king Bay to them.

15 - So Many Logos at the Beginning of Films

Yes it is important that people know who financed these films, but do you really need to have so many logos at the beginning of your films? They take up a good chunk of the film away and you could easily fill up that time with something good to start the film off. Now sometimes, logos are weaved into the opening scenes of films which is fine. But we paid money to see these films and we don't need to know every single person who worked on the film at the beginning of it. All that can wait until the credits or you could, you know, start the film off by as previously mentioned, weaving them in. Now in the past, I've personally come to like films that are creative with the logos at the beginning and its still the case today. I just have problems with films that have way too many logos at the beginning or have a slow time using using them at the start. That's all.

14 - Inaccuracies to How it Went Down in Real Life

For a lot of film makers, its difficult to make a historical period drama film because it needs to be accurate to the actual events that transpired and be faithful and true to the events that occur. Now of course there will have to be changes here and there because not every part of the actual event will fit into the film, but there have been many times where changes have been made that for whatever reason, has not sit well with the audience. Take Saving Mr Banks for example. Admittedly it is a great film, however the ending is very inaccurate as it actually should have ended with another fallout and fights and all sorts. But this being Disney, it had to have a happy ending and normally this would be fine for everyone, but sometimes you do get this place called the Internet raging on why it ended in the way it did. Sometimes films do that just to make a good film based on actual events, but if the film Diana taught us anything, its that even though many of these films sweep the awards, not all of them are guaranteed to be good and win awards. The thing to learn from this is that you need to research the events and only make significant changes if there is a reason for it than no reason at all.

13 - A Plot Where Everything Could've Been Better or Avoided if it Happened Differently

A common problem I personally find in many films, is when it has a plot that could be better. What I mean by better is that there are those films that have good plots in them, but a lot of people make these theories as to how they could've been made better or even shorter. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films would've been shorter if the Eagles took the groups to their respective locations rather than waste 45 minutes establishing everything. The Matrix films (or more specifically Reloaded) could've been shorter if the sentences were translated to a more user friendly way of talking than having us listen to the Architect's gibberish. Bottom line, there are plenty of films that we know that if the plot was altered, it would make more sense and would end much quicker than it did. If any of the How It Should've Ended videos have taught me anything, films are better when they make sense and have none of these hours spent on things that could be done much quicker than it did.

12 - Wasting Your Cast Members Time

There are some big names out there in the world of films and a lot of that time, filmmakers hire these actors, only to just waste their time and money by filming very minimal scenes compared to the rest of the cast. Some of the actors used in Suicide Squad were wasted in favour of Will Smith and Margot Robbie among others in the film. And while I can't think of other examples, no one wants a film where famous actors' time are wasted. When you hire a big name, that big name expects you to make good use of them and not have their time wasted. Its not good and it p***es off their fans big time.

11 - Films That No One Asked For

Who wanted a Cars 2 and 3? Who wanted an Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, 3 and 4? And finally, who wanted any of those direct to DVD Disney sequels? Oh yeah that's right. No one. Why make a film that no one asks for. No one wants it so there is no need for it and yet for all of us wanting The Incredibles 2, Pixar instead decided that Cars of all films needed not one, but two sequels even though the first film wasn't that good in the first place. Is it to do with money? Is it to do with these ideas you have that you think will work in your film? Or is it because the studio wants to make a profit? Well whatever the reason, you may want a new Transformers or Cars film, but the general public do not so please don't make them unless the fans demand it. And while we're talking about things we don't want, why the hell is Donald f**king Trump president of the United States? Anyone who knows how much of a racist he is, didn't want him as president so why is he there. Well who knows.

10 - Product Placement

While there's nothing wrong without advertising products in films, the problem is that a lot of films do too much of it and its often the sort of products that are part of the marketing campaign for said film. A good example is Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which Pizza Hut were doing stuff to help advertise it and you'd think of all the pizza places in New York, they have to pick that. Pizza is a good chain of restaurants don't get me wrong, but sometimes advertising your products could be done better and not have the need to insert them into films. This is why we have advertisements on the TV, before a film at the cinema begins and pretty much all over the place online. So really you don't need to put them in films because you're doing a good job of advertising your stuff already.

9 - Films that Change Too Many Things We Know about the Franchise it Belongs to

So you get a lot of fans of a particular franchise or superhero or what have you. But the film makers decide to make a film and rather than keeping it true and faithful to that particular franchise, they change too much about it and we see something that isn't what we wanted to see. Take Catwoman for example. Everyone knows Catwoman as being an anti-hero, a simple cat burglar and often teams up with Batman on many occasions (even going as far as having a romantic relationship with him) among other things that make her great. Then you get this film and what we get is some woman called Precious who is given cat like abilities and wears an outfit that is kind of insulting to what we know about Catwoman. So what I'm trying to get at here is that yes its fine to make changes here and there for a film based on a franchise we know and love, but you simply cannot make changes that completely change what we knew about the franchise in the first place because that would be bad. Even though Suicide Squad wasn't a great film, at least Margot Robbie actually took the time to find out what makes Harley Quinn a great villain and she does a good job of it. Its not that hard.

8 - The Lack of Appreciation of Great Actors and Film Makers

There have been some big names in films over the years and for a lot of them, their work is under appreciated despite being great at what they do and win awards to prove as such. Take J.K. Simmons for example. He's a great actor who has appeared in many films including the Spider-Man trilogy, Thank You For Smoking and more recently, Whiplash and has won awards. And yet not many people seem to talk about him and his acting talent (though I could be wrong). Then you have films with female actors in the lead role and those actors are under appreciated because lots of people feel that they cannot be made out as strong characters unless you have people like Joss Whedon or a female director at the helm which is kind of sexist in a way. Even the new Ghostbusters film got backlash because it was an all female cast who in real life, are women who are funny. Well anyway sometimes its best to appreciate the work these people do because they do this for a living and its no walk in the park for them to keep us entertained with the work that they do.

7 - Trailers That Show the Whole Film in Under 5 minutes

In more recent times, we've caught on to trailers showing off the whole film and when we actually see the film, some of us say that the trailer was better than the film itself. I mean its true that many of us don't like spoilers and a lot of trailers do show some spoilers such as the Doomsday reveal in one trailer for Batman V Superman. Maybe the studios need to fire the editor and actually make good trailers like the famous Psycho one where Alfred Hitchcock shows the setting of the film and it ends with the famous scream from the film. That will get people's attention and that is how you market the film well. Doesn't need to have random clips thrown together or the whole film just condensed to make it shorter. Trailers are meant to get people pumped and excited to see the film, not for us to see a short version of it as that falls into the hands of YouTubers like Screen Junkies, CinemaSins and HISHE who all do a good job of it.

6 - Actors who are Type-Casted

So there are a lot of actors who are only ever known for one big role and for a lot of them, this is a huge problem. Most actors want to be known for more stuff they have done rather than stuff that everyone knows them for doing. One example I can bring up is Christopher Eccleston who a lot of people know as playing a incarnation of The Doctor in Doctor Who on TV. He has been doing acting for many years, but when people ask about Doctor Who to him, he often doesn't want any of it. Now some actors however adore their fans and are actually glad that they play a role everyone loves, but for a lot of the time, some actors just want people to know them for other things too. As annoying as it is, that's just what happens in the film industry and other areas too.

5 - Cinematic Universes gone wrong

While Marvel may have made the idea of cinematic universes popular, the idea has been around for quite some time. It just never made it to main stream until recently. But with all these universes being made, some do indeed go wrong. Take the X-Men universe for example. The problem all the films have, is continuity and its often for the smallest of things. First Class took place in the 40s while the first Wolverine film took place in 1951 with a time scale leading up to that as such. And were expected to believe that a young Xavier goes bald and old around that time. I find that hard to believe. As any nerd would tell you, continuity is everything in film trilogies and universes and if you can't keep it accurate. then its going to fail. Then when you realise that all the films in a shared universe are bad, shouldn't you just stop. But anyway its always important that to make a successful cinematic universe, everything needs to go right. Get the right people involved, get continuity going and so on. It will save the backlash you could get later on.

4 - Films with Unnecessary Sequels/Prequels

Sometimes when you know a film is too perfect to have a sequel or prequel, you get one anyway and a lot of the time, it often is films that no one asked for. We all want The Incredibles 2, but of all the Pixar films to get sequels or prequels, Cars came first. A film that wasn't really that good in the first place during a time when Pixar were getting awards like it was no ones business and yet that film was the one they wanted to make sequels for and even spin-offs. I know Pixar are not the sort of people you would want to criticise, but are you f**king serious?! And then there's the Transformers films which admittedly comes from a franchise you can do a lot with and yet even after the first sequel, we get more films that continue to suck just because this idiot called Michael Bay wants to shove his d**k into our throats. Maybe you should learn that sometimes people may not want a sequel or prequel and that you should just leave it alone and work on something else. At least the director of Doom chose not to do the sequels he had planned because of how the film was received and that is being smart and not being in it for the money over quality.

3 - Listening to the Critics

You know for many years, we've come to know that film critics are there to help guide us and while a lot of the stuff they say is true for a lot of films, there are some that the critics admittedly get wrong and often the film makers like Michael Bay chose not to listen to them. Its not a bad thing that they do because they are the leaders in free speech and anyone should be able to voice their opinions on things even if others don't like it. Its the reason why SOPA and YouTube copyright infringement are continually criticised because the studios are worried that their films won't do well. But where I'm getting at here is that my main problem is how most people ignore what critics have to say and subdue themselves to watching complete garbage. I remember one person saying to me to not watch any Terminator film after Judgement Day if I value my sanity and to this day, I haven't watched any Terminator film since and he was right about the ones that came after. So listen to critics and know that they are just being honest and are there to guide you. They may be wrong at times, but they always speak the truth (most of the time anyway).

2 - Films with a Predictable Plot and Characters

You know, when you've seen the same sort of film for a while, you soon start to predict what could happen and the unfortunate thing about that, is that some film makers use very predictable plots and characters. For example, most villainous characters often kidnap other characters, reveal their plans to the hero and in most cases, that plan is taking over something whether it be the world or something else. Then you have those stereotypical characters like the hot girl, the muscular jerk, the nerdy kid, the father who doesn't care and all that other stuff. Horror films that kill characters off in a particular order. Bottom line, most films will have a predicable plot and predictable characters because the film makers don't know what else to do with their films which would ultimately cause the film to fail as a result. Now while Titanic is a great film, some people will say that the plot is a tad predictable in some way. But none of us want something predictable because it normally makes for a bad film. So maybe you should be more creative with your stories and think of something that no one will expect and who knows. Maybe we will get something that isn't predictable. Speaking of which...

1 - Where's the Originality?

The biggest problem that the film industry face is the lack of anything original. I know its a tough thing to accomplish, but it just feels like no one wants to make anything original. And on most occasions, original films can sweep the awards. Of the few original films that I can remember seeing in the past few years, there's Boyhood (a film that took 12 years to make on a boy life from being a child to becoming a man, using the same actors as it goes on), The Grand Budapest Hotel (the story of a hotel that is failing, told in the form of a story within a story within a story and spilt into parts) and Sausage Party (a film with Disney/DreamWorks like animation about a sausage learning the truth of his existence). I think some film makers need to understand that yes there will always be films based on stuff and films that serve as remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels and so on. But there needs to be some originality in there somewhere because some people actually like watching films and would do anything to see something original.

And that's the list. Is there anything in films that ticks you off? Well leave them in the comments below and who knows, maybe Hollywood will take these things into consideration and give us stuff we want, not stuff we don't want.