General Discussion : Which studios and production companies do you like/avoid?

[nauru]

Personally I'm wary of anything that has the Focus Features label, as most films I've seen from this label seem to have conspicuously lethargic pacing and lack of intensity, kind of like the Focus Features intro jingle... and many of the films I've seen from Focus have received really low scores (or kind of low scores) from me. Exceptions are Traffic, In Brugges, Being John Malkovich, and 9.

Mostly when something comes from Pixar there's a pretty good chance I'll be entertained. Same with Dreamworks and Relativity Media. Lionsgate is pretty reliable for solid medium-budget horror flicks, and also entertaining (b-grade) action flicks.

[Pickpocket]

I don't base what I'm gonna see on what studio is making a movie, in fact I don't even know who made it until I see it in the credits. The only thing that matters is the director/writer honestly

[ShogunRua]

I don't base what I'm gonna see on what studio is making a movie, in fact I don't even know who made it until I see it in the credits. The only thing that matters is the director/writer honestly

Agreed.

With the possible exception of a small production company that specializes in a very narrow genre (Pixar), is there any pattern whatsoever to releases from a major studio? Can anyone make general statements about Warner Bros. films compared to Paramount films?! No, I don't think so.

Back in its heyday in the 60s to early 80s, United Artists was pretty fucking awesome. And I liked Cannon Film Group/Golan-Globus productions for their schlocky (often terrible) 80's action films. But nowadays, most studios are too large and broad.

[princeharry]

I started to pay attention to what studio/production companies I found some of my favorite films being produced by, but soon stopped after I realized they were mainly being produced by the same company time after time.

Syncopy, Lionsgate, etc.

Right now, I will see almost anything that is produced, as I've had a few pleasant surprises
As his been said before, what matters most to me are the writers and the editors.

Editing has and can make or break a film.

[edkrak]

I avoid Pixar and Disney. Come to think of it I avoid pretty much every mainstream American studio unless a film is a comedy or SF (not that they make those genres any better than other ones, I just have higher tolerance for crap when I see spaceships or hear fart jokes ). Well at least that's with recent releases, 70s Hollywood is awesome.

And about studios I follow - right now I can only think of Japanese ones. Ghibli is an obvious choice. ATG also made some extremely interesting films and Nikkatsu usually delivers when you're in mood for some exploitation.

I've never paid much attention to European studios, I need to dig into that one day.

[Stewball]

Personally I'm wary of anything that has the Focus Features label, as most films I've seen from this label seem to have conspicuously lethargic pacing and lack of intensity, kind of like the Focus Features intro jingle... and many of the films I've seen from Focus have received really low scores (or kind of low scores) from me. Exceptions are Traffic, In Brugges, Being John Malkovich, and 9.

Mostly when something comes from Pixar there's a pretty good chance I'll be entertained. Same with Dreamworks and Relativity Media. Lionsgate is pretty reliable for solid medium-budget horror flicks, and also entertaining (b-grade) action flicks.

I've been meaning to start a thread like this. I've been paying more attention to the production companies espcially of the independents (the biggies put out too many to make any kind of a trend good or bad). And lately, they've become like producers, they go on and on.

The first one I thought of that I liked was Focus Features which has several I like. But after doing an inventory, the one with the highest score for me is Fox Searchlight. Sony Pictures Classics, Spyglass and Samuel Goldwyn came up wanting but all had a few on my (+) list.

[nauru]

Fox Searchlight is my top one as well it seems, after looking at the list. Sony Pictures Classics is another one that I've had great success with. Almost all films I've seen from these two are T7-T10. I've started collections for each of these studios.

Warner Bros. obviously releases so many films across so many genres, scales and budgets that this thread doesn't really apply to them I don't think. But smaller studios do, in my opinion, tend to gravitate toward projects of a certain scale and budget, in some cases I would even argue a certain feel (or the producers at these companies are having a common influence on the films they produce, which results in a seeming loose consistency of style).

[ShogunRua]

Fox Searchlight is my top one as well it seems, after looking at the list. Sony Pictures Classics is another one that I've had great success with. Almost all films I've seen from these two are T7-T10. I've started collections for each of these studios.

I also was thinking of Sony Pictures Classics, but even they're too large and broad to draw any definite conclusions from. After all, SPC does localization/distribution as well as production.

There are a lot of foreign films that they had no hand in creating, but simply bought the US rights to. ("Waltz with Bashir", "The White Ribbon", "Nine Queens", "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon") If you look through this list on Wikipedia, these films literally have NOTHING in common except they're foreign and acclaimed.

Then, there are the films they actually made themselves, which is very eclectic indie fare, with no unifying theme. Seriously, try to come up with some commonality between all these films.

Some were okay, others I hated, others I loved.

[Luna6ix]

i dont intentionally avoid any production companies, and i hardly even notice or remember who produced what, i do follow the steadfast rule that syfy channel movies and asylum movies will be crappy, but have a degree of fun that makes me still want to watch them.

[paulofilmo]

Something in the credits that can cause an awkward dissonance . .