Classic movies v modern movies

[J4MES OX4D 10,060]

Something that caught my eye on the shoutbox yesterday was the movie talk and I was thinking about the classic films over the past few decades and then this new brand of modern turd-like shite that we see today. I can't put my finger on why I don't enjoy many modern movies but most don't ooze that quality and I'm not sure why. I find myself avoiding most movies post-2000 on TV under the assumption that they will be a turn-off. 

 

For one; I am not wowed by special effects. Sure they beef up scenes with spectacular crash, bangs and wallops but knowing that such scenes are essentially created using this method; they don't leave me jaw-dropped in the slightest. Some modern actors just lack that screen presence also along with overall quality in performance - even the most well-known popular ones. I don' know whether it's because they are part of this modern society where off-screen most of them you see in their true lights but it doesn't seem to compare to the old days where actors were under the radar until you actually saw them in films in a variety of roles. It's not easy to explain but I just don't feel many mainstream actors today have that extra bit of edge and performance quality.

 

I also think some of the modern day writing and scripting leaves a lot to be desired particularly in the comedy genre. I don't think films and their narratives have been done to death and completely exhausted but I don't think I've seen a comedy that will go down as a classic in decades to come. There is too many generic and predictable films within comedy that are cheesy, weak and ultimately cheap - it's like we've seen them all before but this breed of modern day ones have no real iconic moments and they just stagger through with some uncomfortable one-liners. The same could be said for other genres also. There seems to be this emphasis on promotion and media hype that overrides the actual quality - not too different from the gaming industry in all fairness but even films that have a strong cast just seem to be lacking originality and quality. 

 

British films have been lacking since the late 90's, Hollywood has got into some bad habits and even Asian films have lost their way in recent years. Films like The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave were excellent but back in the 70's 80's and 90's you were really spoilt for choice as top quality films were being churned out frequently.

[tronic44 3,642]

A lot of it is to do with quality and by that i mean picture quality. Everything is in HD or 3D now and since we didn't grow up with this then it still seems strange to our eyes/mind. The HD and 3D generation will grow up with this being the norm, they'll look back on most of the old films and think they look crap, obviously there are exceptions. Everything is shot on green screen now a days, that's why Inception was such an amazing film because the amount that was actually filmed on location is incredible but again there are exceptions. One comment i saw about Gravity was just amazing, it's not word for word but it went something like......"really disappointed with the amount of VFX in Gravity"...... Yup me too mate, don't know why they didn't just go into space and film that huge disaster. These sorts of people shouldn't be allowed to watch films full stop!

 

Another issue is that it seems like any script will get funding, how people can honestly think some of these films are a good idea is mental and most of them, in my eyes, are remakes. Again this goes back to picture quality and ease for people, which would be the only reason would be recreate something like The Thing or Let the Right One in. Let the Right One in is an incredible film but many people would be put off by the sub titles and those same people are probably put off by watching a dubbed film, so what do you do? Remake it! (you should just watch the subtitles but people are idiots)

 

I do believe that the quality of scripts has gone down but only because it's too easy for people to get films out there, so what we see is maybe 1 in 10 quality scripts, where as it used to be maybe 1 in 3. The fact that films try and cover for a shite script by slapping VFX all over it is fine by me because it keeps me in a job   but then for something like Gravity which was a first for any film being shot like that. People say the script for Gravity was shite and yeah it might not have been the best but it was 1 single actor for most the film, the whole point around it was to bring something new to the table, which thankfully a lot of people noticed and praised the film because of it. It's rare to have a film like this though and the amount of crap that gets made is pretty awful.

 

You also could say that there were just as many crap film made back in the day it's just we only watch the good one's because of what we've been told, where as now i think a lot of people ignore critics and will watch something no matter what someone says.

 

Sorry kinda rushed that at the end because of work, i might come back and write more.....also haven't had a chance to read through it again so sorry for any spelling/grammer mistakes

[Drifter 851]

All good points I think you guy have really hit the nail on the head for the most part. To add to that...I also feel that now a days it is all about the money. Don't get me wrong Hollywood has always been about the money, that's why they make movies in the first place, but the fact that it is all about the money is even more prevalent today.

 

Case in point, you use to hear about actors turning down roles back in the day. If they didn't think the film was going to be a good one then they didn't take the role because they did not want their name associated with a poor film. Fast forward to 2014 and think when the last time you heard of actors turning down roles. It doesn't happen much these days because it's all about money.

 

Then you have what you guys were saying with special effects and bad scripts. They really go hand in hand. IMO scripts are rushed and poorly written because they think they can make up for a poor script with adding a bunch of special effects. The SFX may dazzle the younger crowd or the easily entertained, but anyone that is looking for a good well written thought provoking movie will see right through the SFX crap and see the movie for what it really is, just another cash cow...(can anyone say "Battleship").

 

There are some good movies out still in recent years...."Into the Wild, The Grey, The Hunter, Flight" those were all well written good movies with very minimal SFX. But there is for sure a lack of good movies out these days as compared to the past. There's a new MJR theater that just opened last Friday and I looked to see what was playing there on opening day. They have 16 screens in there and yet I could not find a single movie that even remotely interested me in the least bit to go see it. That's pretty sad if you ask me.

[deterioration 443]

Movies for the past 5 years have killed me too. We all need more remakes, prequels, horror comedy spoofs, James Franco - Seth Rogen tag teams, POV camcorder and comic book hero (so that studios can retain licensing) movies in our lives.  

 

I agree with a lot of what’s in here. Mainly the who thinks these things are good ideas!? You all are right they’ve been out of touch for a long while now. The thing that’s killing it for me is everything is even more formulaic than in the past which makes movies predictable and hard to loose myself in. The practice of taking a new concept and cramming it into an industry mold that’s been successful in the past just to shit another turd out for a small profit needs to be revamped. It’s not innovative, thought provoking or entertaining and has taken away from film making as a craft. Is it me or is TV actually on par with film now? I think it is and that everyone in the film industry should be ashamed.

 

I’m glad Comedy was touched on because take Adam Sandler moves for example. When is the last time they were funny?, but there’s a new one or a sequel every 1-2 years traveling the same rails and beaten paths as its predecessors adding little value to the genre. They keep dreaming up new ways to tell the same boy gets girl story with the same brand of humor. It’s tired and mildly interesting at best. Another thing in recent comedy films that has been aggravating me is the SNL brand of “Look at me and how obnoxious I can be. LOOK! Aren’t I funny? Yeah… I’m so funny!” that isn’t fucking funny at all. If you want to be obnoxious (or an obnoxious Jew ) and funny steer more towards Don Rickles and not Andy Samberg. I am interested in Melissa McCarthy’s new film ‘Tammy’, I’m a Mike & Molly fan, but even though I can stomach her a lot of the times everything else aggravates me.

 

The last movie I actually really really liked was ‘The Frankenstein Theory’. Not because it’s a good film at all but just because the story provoked thought by stirring my interest and curiosity.

 

 

I hope this reads ok I've been interrupted mid-thought like 10 times

[techno 3,511]

The SFX are my beef with films these days, I don't go to the cinema I rather watch them on dvd its cheaper and comfier. Films these days just seem to be written more to drag every bit of SFX or moreso 3D effects out of them and it spoils it the story seems to get lost in all which is dissapointing.

Also I never bother with critics reviews the last few tarantino films got great reviews I really looked forward to them and boy was I disappointed, thing is we all like different stuff.

A lot of the time these days you watch the trailer you've seen the film

Tv for me has surpassed movies, you can tell now with top directors etc making good TV.

[JsinOwl 644]

In a weird twist of irony, I think some of the best films of the modern day have been made by Pixar, and they're entirely SFX. O.o

 

 

I don't like the "crispness" of a lot of modern movies, Avengers is one off the top of my head, but it's not necessarily a digital age phenomena. The Lord of the Rings was shot digitally and it's eye-wateringly gorgeous. The locations were also real for the most part, but in contrast, I thought Avatar was beautiful and it's entirely fake. It's all in how you use the tools.

[Docwagon 856]

There was a shit ton of bad movies 'back in the day' as well.  They just disappeared, because they sucked and nobody wanted to see them again.

 

Modern movies are classic movies that haven't had the wheat separated from the chaff by time yet.

 

Its the same with music.  Bob Dylan put out a lot of complete shit, but that doesn't get any radio play and only the most hard core Dylan fans will seek out entire discographies.  The ones that are gold continue to get play, the suck ass ones fall aside and disappear, and the end result is Dylan is a "classic" compared to a modern band that's shit songs are still fresh in your mind.

[Guest Inception.]

I think Doc sums it up well.

 

There are a lot of very good modern movies. There are a lot of very good classic movies. There are a lot of shitty modern movies. There are a lot of shitty classic movies. 

[deterioration 443]

Its the same with music.  Bob Dylan put out a lot of complete shit, but that doesn't get any radio play and only the most hard core Dylan fans will seek out entire discographies.  The ones that are gold continue to get play, the suck ass ones fall aside and disappear, and the end result is Dylan is a "classic" compared to a modern band that's shit songs are still fresh in your mind.

 

I think the movie industry has the same attitude toward its fans/patrons as Bobby D. They don't care about you or what you think.