>>6053
Close-ups can be very effective when combined with a good work on the montage. I agree with you though, today filmmakers are more focused on using it as a quick and cheap method of building up tension rather than forming a coherent filmic language.
Truth is, they pander to the short span of modern masses. This generation of mainstrean moviegoers grew up watching television and video entertainment - bad entertainment - more than any other, and this fact unfortunately reflects on the overall state of cinema today. It's quite sad.
Well, anyway, I prefer a tracking shot with a precise and dynamic blocking rather than an abrupt zoom in a subject. Of course that's just me.