Films where style over substance succeeds?
Thoughts? Recommendations?
shareThe Matrix
shareI thought The Matrix balanced style and substance pretty equally actually.
share
MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Films where style over substance succeed...
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
shareMaybe 2001: A Space Odyssey. I say maybe because I'm not sure. The substance (extraterrestrials having visited Earth and leaving behind a calling card on the Moon) is pretty much outdone by the groundbreaking effects and style.
shareThat's kind of tough to analyze.
I see where you could say that, but I would calibrate 2001 as a style and substance match.
What I mean by that is that it had a totally unique world and story that was a kind of universal, classic tale AND an amazing style that no other movie had ever had before.
Now, compare that to say another classic SF, "Forbidden Planet". The plot was brilliant, from Shakespeare about how monsters from our subconscious really drive us and history, but the style of the movie was cartoony and silly.
The difference between the two movies is great, but in the SciFi genre the style element was missing because there was no real special effects industry, so what looks like style over substance in 2001 is really, or could be seen as a catching up and equalizing of substance and style in the SF genre.
ok
shareThe Crow (1994) basically a supernatural revenge film. Not all that different really to films like Death Wish. But it looks great, made during the grunge/alternative rock era it has a great soundtrack. Looks awesome, goth type hero.
Blues Brothers (1980) A mix of some very popular genre's: road film, car chases, musical, buddy flick, psycho ex lover chasing them. Kind of a mess in some ways but overall it works well.
I would submit that Citizen Kane and The Third Man have tremendous substance, but it is their very unique style that ultimately allows them to transcend into the rare realm of cinematic masterpieces.
share[deleted]
Tron Legacy.
Stories pretty thin and silly, but they created an amazing virtual world.
99.99% of films made.
You have to remember or know that movies started out as cheap spectacle.
People used to watch shaky, jerky silent movies, but before that they would
watch anything because it was so novel. They showed a movie a train pulling
into a station and people paid for it ... and were scared by it at the time.