When did movies become more "modern"?

[MmzHrrdb]

Is it just me, or has there been a distinct and quite noticeable change in image quality from all films produced in 2001/2002 to all films produced in 2003 onwards? It's very strange and I probably sound crazy for saying this, but I've just always noticed it for some reason. I believe 2003 was the year when special effects became a bit more realistic in the execution (if you look at early-century films the special effects look really dated - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is a perfect example) and the quality of photography and visuals in general seem to have taken a slight step up and became less grainy (compare a 2001 Blu-ray film image with a 2003 Blu-ray film image and there's bound to be staggering differences). "Intolerable Cruelty", released in 2003, is a good example of how most modern films look, and the aforementioned film is a good example of how movies no longer look.

Has anyone else noticed how visual quality just suddenly changed back in 2003? or am I just going crazy? If this makes any sense at all to anyone, please let me know!

[MmzHrrdb]

Digital photography, as opposed to shooting with actual film, has and is becoming more common, especially with effects-driven films.

[AFlickering]

CGI has been getting less realistic ever since jurassic park

[Filligan]

CGI has been getting less realistic ever since jurassic park

The work done on Gollum totally destroys this notion.

[AFlickering]

there are exceptions

[cagedwisdom]

I think it's more the fact that as CGI has become more accessible it has become more often used in low-budget films and B-movies. This will then result in a lot of low-budget CGI going around, which I agree gives the impression that the quality has dropped. In movies where enough money has been allocated to CGI though, you won't find this problem (Lord of the Rings being a good example).

[edkrak]

I noticed that films today have rather much worse image quality than years ago (Can't see any diffeence between 2001 and 2003 though). You can see this especially in Japanese cinema. Most of the 70s films from there look beautiful (be it arthouse films from top directors or trashy pinku - they all look great). And today most of their films look like they're shooting with cheap digital cameras.