In this video essay, I wanna talk about why modern movies don't feel like movies anymore and why do movies feel so clean now? Remember how movies used to be back in the day? You pick a film like Blade Runner or Home Alone or Terminator, and you see mostly dark shadows, bright highlights, very lovely contrast, and good purposeful lighting and camera work that allowed them to be a representation of reality. But now it seems like every big budget film wants to create visuals that are so clean and neutral that you completely forget the cinematic aspect of the cinema. Think about movies like Antman or The Flash or Thor Love and Thunder or even something more recent like Wicked.. Although they sell you on the spectacle through the VFX and CGI works, they are not quite the same. They feel more like video games...just Why don't movies feel like movies anymore? And in the video essay, I'm gonna explore how movies from the past look completely different to the movies now, how Lord of the rings feels so much different to The hobbit or Rings of power, and how imperfections change the movie experience, why digital vs film is not really a huge culprit, as much as lazy filmmaking without any good intentionality. And finally how marvelization and over usage of CGI also affects the movie visuals.