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So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 8/5/2012 6:57:25 PM

Vantage

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Joined: 5/5/2012

I remember an age ago that this question came up! According to Stone,tarantino made movies and he(Stone) made films. So is JFK a film? Is Pulp fiction a movie? Is 'The Thing' a movie or is 'Ellen Brokovich a film.

How about Alien and Totall Recall are they films or movies. Or is one a film or a movie?

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 8/5/2012 7:19:59 PM

elab49

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There is no difference - if Stone said he was trying to make some kind of dodgy artistic distinction and using 'film' and 'movie', presumably, as we'd use the term art-house (also a kind of useless term). It's difficult to take it any other way, I think?

< Message edited by elab49 -- 8/5/2012 7:20:34 PM >

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 9:04:58 AM

jobloffski

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From: elsewhere

Movies are for people who like the movies, film is for people who like the movies but want to feel clever about it and cinema is for people who like the movies, but are terrified that anyone might ever find out.

Joshing of course, but slightly more broadly, snobs in either the arthouse or mainstream cinema camp do my head in cos good films are good films, bad films are bad films, the whole good/bad thing is entirely subjective and the extent to which a studio markets a film almost absolutely decides whether a film is 'niche' or 'populist' regardless of whether it's a good example of the kind of film it is, lazy shite or pretentious shite (again, all subjective terms).

To steal one of the most famous film related comments: Nobody knows anything.

To expand on that: nobody knows anything about how to guarantee the quality of a film when the process of developing one begins. The number of people involved in that process, the difficulties of getting any funding at all and time constraints often mean intentions about good scripts have to be skipped over, almost every idea for a film comes to nothing and is doomed from the outset and if somehow, against overwhelming odds, you end up with something you can show an audience EVERYBODY has an idea of why it is good, or shit, and expresses surprise that the quality (good or bad) was never obvious from the outset.

Nobody knows anything, until after the film is made. Then everybody claims to know everything, but still, people can't agree about what it is they know.

Which is all a bit rich coming from me, given my numerous 'crimes of supreme assumed knowledge' committed on this site, but it's not like I'm bereft of self awareness (or sense of humour) about such things

Or sum shit like dat.

< Message edited by jobloffski -- 9/5/2012 9:26:06 AM >

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 12:55:03 PM

great_badir

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People trying to come across as snobby aside, I actually think the etymology of it is a hell of a lot simpler than that - "movies" is just an Americanism and they use the term a lot more than "film". Otherwise the two are the same.

I always say "film" whether I'm talking about a Tarkovsky epic or Deuce Bigelow: European Jigolo, just as many high-end American critics use the term "movie" for Citizen Kane or Cyborg 3.

< Message edited by great_badir -- 9/5/2012 12:56:58 PM >

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:04:04 PM

homersimpson_esq

Posts: 19969
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Springfield

I usually call them films, except for the big blockbuster types, which I tend to refer to as movies. It's a snobbish distinction, but it works for me.

Ridley Scott makes a similar distinction, although googling "ridley scott films and movies" is a bit of a nightmare...

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:12:00 PM

Shifty Bench

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I use both 'film' and 'movie' to mix things up. If I'm talking about a particular flick and I have to use a title for the motion picture other than its name, I'll use both words so it's a bit different. Just like what I did there with 'flick' and 'motion picture'.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:16:40 PM

homersimpson_esq

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Moviefilm. Borat had it right.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:47:20 PM

jonson

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quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

I actually think the etymology of it is a hell of a lot simpler than that - "movies" is just an Americanism and they use the term a lot more than "film". Otherwise the two are the same.

See, that's what I thought.
I always say "film", I can't stand the word movie and I bollock my kids everytime they say it (which I put down to watching too many Americna TV shows, I mean programmes

)

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:51:37 PM

great_badir

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Hang on jonson - don't you refer to them as "the talkies"?

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 1:53:59 PM

matty_b

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 2:07:45 PM

jonson

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quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

Hang on jonson - don't you refer to them as "the talkies"?

I stopped doing that months ago, just about the time I stopped saying "Picture House" instead of "Cinema"

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 2:48:56 PM

Spaldron

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The pictures.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 9/5/2012 11:37:06 PM

Hood_Man

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I call them all films, but if someone else says movie I immediately think of big Hollywood blockbusters.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 2:13:30 AM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3157
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From: Edinburgh

Every film in my view, is a film. NOT a movie - that to me is an Americanism. It's nothing to do with snobbery.

For me, it's the exact same calling chips 'fries', football 'soccer' & conservatism 'liberalism.'

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 9:07:12 AM

Wyvenetta

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Qwerty Norris

Every film in my view, is a film. NOT a movie - that to me is an Americanism. It's nothing to do with snobbery.

For me, it's the exact same calling chips 'fries', football 'soccer' & conservatism 'liberalism.'

This. I'm always chiding people for using Americanisms. I used to work with an African guy who learned American but thought it was English. He was shocked when I said a lot of words and spellings are different. We should be proud of our language, not throw it away in favour of American. There, rant over!

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 10:39:16 AM

st3veebee

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Well French people invented film, and the French word for film is film. So therefore we can all agree that the correct term is movie.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 11:07:07 AM

adambatman82

Posts: 11156
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From: Sheffield

quote:

ORIGINAL: st3veebee
Well French people invented film, and the French word for film is film. So therefore we can all agree that the correct term is movie.

Not to throw a spanner in the works here, but the French would probably (and still would) have cited "Cinema" over either "movies" or "film". "Cinema" was certainly used first over there (as per the word "Cinematograph"). Also, while the Lumiere brothers may have been the first to project film in a public environment, filmmaking certainly existed prior to that, and for some years, it just wasn't exhibited in a communal manner until 1985. The actual "invention" of film is far more complex and long-winded than most people give it credit for.

I reckon that from a spectator point of view "Movies" trumps "Film", given that the term "Movies" is a derivative of "Moving Pictures", which was pretty much the given name to cinema in the English-speaking world for much of the early years. I would imagine that "Film" didn't come in until some years later, given its predominant association with other mediums (most notably photography) at the time.

I use film as my default, but will happily fall back on movies, picture, work, cinema or flick if the situation calls for it.

< Message edited by adambatman82 -- 10/5/2012 11:08:57 AM >

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 11:19:23 AM

Discodez

Posts: 777
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quote:

ORIGINAL: elab49

There is no difference - if Stone said he was trying to make some kind of dodgy artistic distinction and using 'film' and 'movie', presumably, as we'd use the term art-house (also a kind of useless term). It's difficult to take it any other way, I think?

I agree with this...

At the end of the day it's just two words to describe the same thing, a bit like Car and Automobile.

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Post #: 18

RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 12:07:15 PM

Whistler

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Films and movies are just two words for the same thing. Don't be a douche like Billy Walsh in Entourage: "I make films, not movies!".

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 1:37:30 PM

Deviation

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I use film because in Maltese that's how they tend to be called as well.

And I hate the word movie with a passion, it's sounds like a sound a mentally damaged sperm whale would do.

< Message edited by Deviation -- 10/5/2012 1:38:03 PM >

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 1:43:40 PM

horribleives

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Joined: 12/6/2009
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quote:

ORIGINAL: jonson

quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

I actually think the etymology of it is a hell of a lot simpler than that - "movies" is just an Americanism and they use the term a lot more than "film". Otherwise the two are the same.

See, that's what I thought.
I always say "film", I can't stand the word movie and I bollock my kids everytime they say it (which I put down to watching too many American TV shows, I mean programmes )

Ditto people saying 'ass'.
Up my way, those of a certain age always say 'picture' instead of 'film' or 'movie'.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 3:11:09 PM

Spaldron

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But the thing is films aren't really made of film these days so its a little redundant (even though film is my preferred term). Its like calling an album a record even though chances are you're playing it on a cd or an iPod.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 3:28:30 PM

the_equalizer

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Potato, potAto...

I'm off home to watch a video.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 7:48:58 PM

boaby

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I go to the cinema to see films.

Or, if I've had a few, the picters to see fillims.

Movies can phuck off.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 7:59:58 PM

adambatman82

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From: Sheffield

quote:

ORIGINAL: Spaldron

But the thing is films aren't really made of film these days so its a little redundant (even though film is my preferred term). Its like calling an album a record even though chances are you're playing it on a cd or an iPod.

Isn't "Record" in this context just a derivative of "Recording" though, with the term commonly used thanks to its colloquial associations more than anything? The only thing thats changed is the actual matter (vinyl) upon which the recording is being contained, so I don't think there is actually a problem with referring to any stored piece of music as a "record". If anything its only as reliant in slang and colloquial as it was back when it was first associated with vinyl.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 9:03:52 PM

horribleives

Posts: 4183
Joined: 12/6/2009
From: The North

quote:

ORIGINAL: adambatman82

quote:

ORIGINAL: Spaldron

But the thing is films aren't really made of film these days so its a little redundant (even though film is my preferred term). Its like calling an album a record even though chances are you're playing it on a cd or an iPod.

Isn't "Record" in this context just a derivative of "Recording" though, with the term commonly used thanks to its colloquial associations more than anything? The only thing thats changed is the actual matter (vinyl) upon which the recording is being contained, so I don't think there is actually a problem with referring to any stored piece of music as a "record". If anything its only as reliant in slang and colloquial as it was back when it was first associated with vinyl.

Also, the word 'record' (and indeed the object) just sounds better.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 9:06:56 PM

Hood_Man

Posts: 11283
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: the_equalizer

Potato, potAto...

I'm off home to watch a video.

Oh you bugger, overcomplicating things

This thread reminds me of an argument my mates had years ago, really going for it too.

Them: "Hood, what do you call it, a sofa or a settee?"

Me: "You mean a couch?"

Fucking mayhem!

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 10:07:15 PM

Biggus

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Let's call the whole thing off.

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 10/5/2012 10:20:16 PM

UTB

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RE: So what films are films and what movies are movies? - 11/5/2012 12:55:36 AM

Spaldron

Posts: 10487
Joined: 6/10/2006
From: Chair

quote:

ORIGINAL: boaby

I go to the cinema to see films.

Or, if I've had a few, the picters to see fillims.

Movies can phuck off.

A lot of people round here call them filums.

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