Those were the days, my friends

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I miss the days before smartphones.

I don't have one, and never will. I'm not willing to be enslaved by technology, to the extent I can avoid it. It's so depressing and enraging to see everyone walking around like a zombie, clacking some drivel onto a screen with one hand, holding a $6 cup of coffee in the other. This is the world now, and I'm not a paticipant therein.

[Acajack]

While I am not in the market for this stuff anymore, I do miss movies with great soundtracks.

Or just really good movies for young people to converge around.

That just doesn't seem to happening much anymore.

Or maybe it's just my kids' tastes and it's still happening with superhero movies?

[Acajack]

I miss the days when young people mostly settled their disputes with punches as opposed to knives and guns.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

While I am not in the market for this stuff anymore, I do miss movies with great soundtracks.

Or just really good movies for young people to converge around.

That just doesn't seem to happening much anymore.

Or maybe it's just my kids' tastes and it's still happening with superhero movies?

Is anyone else totally disinterested in superhero movies? The last time I saw one was, I think, Batman in 1989. Yet there are just so many of them.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I get nostalgia for old movies, where you can see obvious advantages to an era before everything was a sequel/reboot/soft reboot/remake, etc, but nostalgia for old TV is weird. Production values were usually terrible, the comedies weren't funny (and relied on canned laughter to tell you they were comedies), the dramas weren't dramatic, there were an obscene number of bad game shows and bad soap operas, and there was only a handful of channels so you had little choice in the matter.

I am not sure if nostalgia factor plays into it, but I just couldn’t get into most comedies from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s sometimes so overplayed it’s not funny, and the canned laughter are cringy. And that includes some of the best rated comedy series from that period - I just don’t find them funny.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is anyone else totally disinterested in superhero movies? The last time I saw one was, I think, Batman in 1989. Yet there are just so many of them.

Superhero movies definitely do have their clientele which seems considerably large. I have people in my entourage who make it a point to go see every superhero movie that comes out.

But it's not something that crosses over all kid, teen and young adult demographics like blockbuster movies used to.

Before, the "big movies" would draw everyone into the same tent: geeks, nerds, jocks, girls, boys, etc.

[le calmar]

I can’t even remember what’s the last “big movie” that had that effect on the public. Probably something like Avatar circa 2009? I feel like the blockbusters that came out in the 2010s didn’t have the same appeal on the public. That includes movies from big franchises such as Jurassic World, etc.

[niwell]

One of the big issues to me is that many modern movies (pretty much all big budget) need to have some sort of background music going at ALL times. It's one of those things that I couldn't put my fingers on but once I noticed it began to bother me a lot. Older movies have a lot more silence in them - even if we just go back to the 90s.


Also count me in as someone who doesn't really care at all about superhero movies - I know there are some that are better than others but it all kinda blends together to me. Nothing wrong with liking them but I find the obsession in some circles (i.e. the twitter crowd just furious at Scorcese) more than a bit off-putting.

In many ways TV and movies have switched places in terms of artistic merit. Which isn't to say that great movies aren't being made, or that there isn't shitty TV. But Prestige TV is a wholly post 9/11 concept that has come into it's own.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I can’t even remember what’s the last “big movie” that had that effect on the public. Probably something like Avatar circa 2009? I feel like the blockbusters that came out in the 2010s didn’t have the same appeal on the public. That includes movies from big franchises such as Jurassic World, etc.

Media isn't as homogenized as it used to be - things like the internet allow us to live in separate bubbles and silos, making widespread social phenomena much less likely to occur.

Originally Posted by acottawa

I get nostalgia for old movies, where you can see obvious advantages to an era before everything was a sequel/reboot/soft reboot/remake, etc,

I don't get this idea that sequels are a new thing - the first ever summer blockbuster, Jaws, had numerous awful sequels, and that was 50 years ago.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Where I grew up (Waste Island) there were few back alleys.

That's not Montreal

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Superhero movies definitely do have their clientele which seems considerably large. I have people in my entourage who make it a point to go see every superhero movie that comes out.

But it's not something that crosses over all kid, teen and young adult demographics like blockbuster movies used to.

Before, the "big movies" would draw everyone into the same tent: geeks, nerds, jocks, girls, boys, etc.

The concept of a 4-quadrant hit movie has faded in exchange for the potential global winner.

In ye olden days, a movie with broad appeal (say, Back to the Future) had the best potential for profitability by appealing to the largest mass audience in North America and to a lesser extent, Europe. Any other markets were gravy, but not key. So a movie that appealed to a broad, but culturally homogeneous audience was important. BTTF, despite being a time-travel movie, was a more lighthearted comedy that mom, dad and teens could enjoy for different reasons in 1985.

Today, Hollywood wants the potential for the global cash haul. So, one needs movies that span cultural divides easily and can be translated without much effort. Superhero movies are pretty universal (and seemingly popular) stories, despite them being American tales.

Something like BTTF doesn’t ‘work’ in China, because the context for understanding 1980s vs. 1950s teen America is a unique cultural moment that doesn’t translate. I do wonder how clueless I’d be if China had done a similar conceptual idea and I tried to watch it.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is anyone else totally disinterested in superhero movies? The last time I saw one was, I think, Batman in 1989. Yet there are just so many of them.

Yes, I have also been disinterested. Those type of movies always seem so dark. I have never been a gamer, so I guess I am not part of the target market.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Media isn't as homogenized as it used to be - things like the internet allow us to live in separate bubbles and silos, making widespread social phenomena much less likely to occur.


I don't get this idea that sequels are a new thing - the first ever summer blockbuster, Jaws, had numerous awful sequels, and that was 50 years ago.

Sequels have been a thing since the 70s but the proportion of sequels or rehashes to the overall box office is ridiculous today. Looking at Cineplex's website right now, the top movie is the third iteration of Spiderman that we've had since 2002, there is a remake of Scream from 1996, a reboot of the matrix franchise from 1999, and what I think is the fourth entry in the Kingsmen series.

The reality is that as movie production budgets have increased exponentially and the box office has become a global phenomenon, production companies are seeking "sure things". Nowadays you're committing $200 million to a massive CGI budget, lead actors that command $10 million +, and you need to appeal to the Chinese audience to push your revenue up. Only a few directors (Tarantino for example) have the pedigree and track record to justify these sizeable investments into an untested, original screenplay. Sequels and remakes are boring, and they make money with as little risk as possible.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Sequels have been a thing since the 70s but the proportion of sequels or rehashes to the overall box office is ridiculous today. Looking at Cineplex's website right now, the top movie is the third iteration of Spiderman that we've had since 2002, there is a remake of Scream from 1996, a reboot of the matrix franchise from 1999, and what I think is the fourth entry in the Kingsmen series.

I take your point but we're also in exceptional times. New or original movies have a tough time filling seats during COVID and production companies aren't willing to take the risk. Disney just pulled Pixar's new (very Canadian) Turning Red from a theatrical release and have made it a streaming release because they're afraid of it getting Encanto-esque bad publicity from the box office.

Prior to COVID two big hits were Parasite and Uncut Gems - both originals. There's plenty out there if you're willing to sort through whatever Hollywood wants to pump out on any given week.

Originally Posted by suburbanite

The reality is that as movie production budgets have increased exponentially and the box office has become a global phenomenon, production companies are seeking "sure things". Nowadays you're committing $200 million to a massive CGI budget, lead actors that command $10 million +, and you need to appeal to the Chinese audience to push your revenue up. Only a few directors (Tarantino for example) have the pedigree and track record to justify these sizeable investments into an untested, original screenplay. Sequels and remakes are boring, and they make money with as little risk as possible.

It's been a topic for the past decade or so but Hollywood has essentially lost its 'middle' of film budgeting:

It wasn’t always this way. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when Waters and Lynch were doing their most commercially successful work, it was possible to finance — either independently or via or the studio system — mid-budget films (anywhere from $5 million to $60 million) with an adult sensibility. But slowly, quietly, over roughly the decade and a half since the turn of the century, the paradigm shifted. Studios began to make fewer films, betting big on would-be blockbusters, operating under the assumption that large investments equal large returns. Movies that don’t fit into that box (thoughtful dramas, dark comedies, oddball thrillers, experimental efforts) were relegated to the indies, where freedom is greater, but resources are far more limited. As Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner put it, “Something happened that nobody can make a movie between $500,000 and $80 million. That can’t be possible.”

https://www.flavorwire.com/492985/ho...filmmakers-mia

This article actually cites 1997's Titanic as the shift - $200M budget which grossed over $2B, when many movies had budgets of $50-60M.

[O-tacular]

Colour grading in film from 2000's until today is very distracting and annoying. Denis Villeneuve is one of the few that can pull it off well. Watching reruns of CSI is downright hilarious.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by Franco401

i disagree.







People were always this way, now we just have a way to do it.

I can hear these photos. With all the rustling of the newspapers.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

One of the big issues to me is that many modern movies (pretty much all big budget) need to have some sort of background music going at ALL times. It's one of those things that I couldn't put my fingers on but once I noticed it began to bother me a lot. Older movies have a lot more silence in them - even if we just go back to the 90s.


Also count me in as someone who doesn't really care at all about superhero movies - I know there are some that are better than others but it all kinda blends together to me. Nothing wrong with liking them but I find the obsession in some circles (i.e. the twitter crowd just furious at Scorcese) more than a bit off-putting.

In many ways TV and movies have switched places in terms of artistic merit. Which isn't to say that great movies aren't being made, or that there isn't shitty TV. But Prestige TV is a wholly post 9/11 concept that has come into it's own.

Definitely agree.

I think part of it is because in the past TV was the cheaper entertainment option of the two. You paid little to nothing for TV programming whereas for movies you had to go out and buy a ticket. Or go to a video store and pay to rent one, or order it on pay-per-view.

Obviously we're not generally paying individually for each TV series we watch, but the gap between what we pay for series vs. paying for movies has narrowed considerably.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I don't get this idea that sequels are a new thing - the first ever summer blockbuster, Jaws, had numerous awful sequels, and that was 50 years ago.

Last normal year for movies.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2019/

15 of top 20 movies was a sequel or remake.

20 years earlier

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1999/

2 sequels in the top 20

20 years before that

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1979/

Also two sequels.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Wigs

I fucking like your insight, humour and contributions to this forum over the years.

Does that cancel some of it out

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I am not sure if nostalgia factor plays into it, but I just couldn’t get into most comedies from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s sometimes so overplayed it’s not funny, and the canned laughter are cringy. And that includes some of the best rated comedy series from that period - I just don’t find them funny.

I suppose it's just nostalgia but I still like 80s and 90s Hollywood comedies like Back to the Future, Weekend at Bernie's, etc.

I am not a prude at all but Hollywood mainstream comedies have gotten progressively more scatological and gross. I don't really find much that's funny in Adam Sandler saying "OMG I think I just sharted!"

In recent years I've gravitated more to French (generally from France, but occasionally from Quebec too) comedies like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlLzojqHUE

It's not high-brow by any stretch but they make me laugh, which isn't always the case for Hollywood's offerings. With some exceptions like the Meet the Parents series.