pretty much all of what Hollywood puts out today is nothing but garbage. Most of what we hold up today as acting icons, to use a sports phrase, couldn't hold Spencer Tracy's jock.
Sitting here watching Inherit The Wind on TCM and you realize
- Thread starter harbest
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Preach, brother! So right.
Then, I watched the last episode of The Young Pope on HBO tonight and realize that there is still some genius left in the world of entertainment. It's rare...and becoming more rare by the day. What an excellent mini series by HBO! Visually stunning...thought provoking. Very little political preaching. And Jude Law was outstanding.
Anyway, you're right, for the most part. But if you search around you'll find some 'good' stuff here and there.
Then, I watched the last episode of The Young Pope on HBO tonight and realize that there is still some genius left in the world of entertainment. It's rare...and becoming more rare by the day. What an excellent mini series by HBO! Visually stunning...thought provoking. Very little political preaching. And Jude Law was outstanding.
Anyway, you're right, for the most part. But if you search around you'll find some 'good' stuff here and there.
There was so much drama and the characters and story lines really drew you in. The acting back then (was it called method acting?) was very over the top. I find it kind of half way between stage acting and the modern acting where the actor makes a reasonable portrayal of real mannerisms and speech patterns. Don't get me wrong, I love Spenser Tracey, Jimmy Stewart, and their contemporaries, but the effort made and the success achieved by modern filmmakers and actors to bring realism to film is equally commendable as the classic versions.
About a year or two ago, I took my girlfriend to an Academy Award Best Picture. It was like we strapped on out seat belts and went on a roller coaster ride. It was fun, but then we went home. There was a 3 star 1940's movie on and we watched that. It seemed boring at first, but as we watched we got immersed in the plot. The actor, actress and support characters were all first rate. We talked about the movie that night and then for another three days. It is still difficult to get my girlfriend to watch a b&w movie, but when we does she always tells me how enjoyable they were and then we discuss them for days.
There are some fine actors working today, and every once in a while they get matched with an equally fine script. But more often than not, scripts fall short and leave us with incredibly predictable storylines. A limited script will limit even the finest performers. So much of the best entertainment is on tv now, where writers have 12 or more episodes to roll out layers of plot. They're not stuck trying to tell complex tales in 2 hours, then gloss it over with pretty special effects. So IMO, we're lacking great storytellers on the big screen more so than we're lacking great performers.
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Nobody today comes close to telling a story like Spielberg. He is in an atmosphere no one else can reach as far as storytelling.
Having seen 12 Angry Men again a week or so back, I know what you mean. Still there is good stuff our there. Mrs KG and I loved Hidden Figures. Still talking about it a couple weeks later.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Actors are better and have more range today than ever before and are far superior talents to their mid-century colleagues. But, nostalgia is powerful - so,
whatever floats your boat.
whatever floats your boat.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Opinions are powerful too, more or less.
For sure. But, to say most of what is made today is 'garbage' is just, well, garbage.
ehhhh. INMO, not a fair comparison. You're taking a truely great movie and comparing it to what, you consider today's garbage. I'm willing to bet if you go back and look at what was being released in 1960 you'll find some real garbage as well.
I also think there are some great actors today as well. JMO.
My biggest grip with "Hollywood" today is they seem to go for to many remakes and sequels, that don't need to be made.
I thought Hidden Figures was excellent.
I recommend another one that, INMO, was really, really good.
Moonlight.
I'll have to take your word for it. I haven't been to a movie theater since I watched As Good As It Gets, whatever year that was. I have seen several movies on premium channels but never any of the super hero or 'star wars' types. I don't like sci fi or all the modern tech stuff. I really don't enjoy gratuitous violence so that eliminates many movies.
I feel confident in asserting that there are no new plots, so it's really how the film maker treats what has already been done.
Tracy makes it look easy, as if he's not even trying. He has/had few equals in my opinion.
It seems that today, the best movies ( if that word even applies anymore ), are found on the small screen. Large release offerings from major studios have become increasingly timid and derivative in terms of the expectations of the audience.
You're missing a lot. As far as the "no new plots" bit goes, it challenges filmmakers to up their game. Hell or High Water might be in this category, but the end result is a very good film, well worth watching. One of my favorite films is Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Why? Not because of the unique story, because of the way he put it together (Slim Pickins's death scene, unforgettable. Breaking Bad stole it.)
Indeed. Particularly when one considers Spencer Tracy's lines to the effect of taking giant steps backward.
I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I read a lot, way more than most. I can't imagine a life without libraries. I've enjoyed some quiet movies I've seen on HBO or one of those channels. Girl in the Cafe, Black Book, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Bagdad Cafe come to mind. I read both The Reader and Revolutionary Road.I check on TCM daily.
I'm okay, Jim.
Well, then I'm sorry you missed the movie about Villanova beating Penn 90-47. Brian Dennehy played Jack Kraft. It was a great movie, even this Penn fan will admit. It didn't do well at the box office because no one could believe the story, apparently. It just faded out, no plans to put it on video or anything. You would've really enjoyed it; it was a perfect counterexample to "no new plots." There was quite a bit of filming done in the Palestra and in the old Villanova Field House, really spectacular in IMAX. Loved it. Well, whatever.I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I read a lot, way more than most. I can't imagine a life without libraries. I've enjoyed some quiet movies I've seen on HBO or one of those channels. Girl in the Cafe, Black Book, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Bagdad Cafe come to mind. I read both The Reader and Revolutionary Road.I check on TCM daily.
I'm okay, Jim.
One of my favorite actors today is Jeff Bridges. He did a remake of True Grit a few years ago and I went to see it even though it was a remake of a just ordinary John Wayne western. I thought Bridges did a good job.
About a month or so later, the original came on so I watched to compare it. I realized that there is a big difference between an actor and a film star. Jeff Bridges was Jeff Bridges, but John Wayne was JOHN WAYNE!!!
I dunno. I hear they're making some really great porn these days. Some really scintillating acting in those films.
The art of storytelling in movies is what has suffered. Movie studios want a 1.5-2.0 hour film in a pre-packaged format. Add in some special effects/CGI versus actual suspense type film making. What is the last 3 really good suspense/drama movies that were not about a superhero/mutant/transformer?
This is a case of voting with your wallet. Studios know that increasingly the average moviegoer will come out for only the big blockbuster (superhero/star wars) films. Just look at the difference in gross revenue between the best picture nominees and the biggest films of 2016. It's pretty obvious that the public overwhelmingly prefers the "garbage" as you call it. So if you want more prestige flicks with heavy plot development and character ranges you better hope people come out an support those flicks. If you're a studio where are you going to invest your money?
Best Picture 2017 Gross
"Arrival": $95.7 million
"Fences": $48.7 million
"Hacksaw Ridge": $65.5 million
"Hell or High Water": $27.0 million
"Hidden Figures": $83.7 million
"La La Land": $89.7 million
"Lion": $16.3 million
"Manchester By the Sea": $38.9 million
"Moonlight": $15.8 million
Sci-fi / Superhero / Cartoon
1 Captain America: Civil War $1,153,304,495
2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $1,048,057,868
3 Finding Dory $1,028,194,984
4 Zootopia $1,023,784,195
5 The Jungle Book $966,550,600
6 The Secret Life of Pets $875,457,937
7 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $873,260,194
8 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them $811,303,734
9 Deadpool $783,112,979
10 Suicide Squad $745,600,054
Best Picture 2017 Gross
"Arrival": $95.7 million
"Fences": $48.7 million
"Hacksaw Ridge": $65.5 million
"Hell or High Water": $27.0 million
"Hidden Figures": $83.7 million
"La La Land": $89.7 million
"Lion": $16.3 million
"Manchester By the Sea": $38.9 million
"Moonlight": $15.8 million
Sci-fi / Superhero / Cartoon
1 Captain America: Civil War $1,153,304,495
2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $1,048,057,868
3 Finding Dory $1,028,194,984
4 Zootopia $1,023,784,195
5 The Jungle Book $966,550,600
6 The Secret Life of Pets $875,457,937
7 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $873,260,194
8 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them $811,303,734
9 Deadpool $783,112,979
10 Suicide Squad $745,600,054
A little too bloody and violent (realistic?) for my taste but I will acknowledge he is one of the better directors today.
I got into an argument with an idiot once where he the idiot was trying to convince me how Top Gun was a far better picture than Gone With The Wind was. That episode taught me never try and argue with an idiot, just leave him to his beliefs.
The Villanova thrashing of Penn was not a new plot. It happens though maybe not in such an important game, pairing two Big 5 rivals. The 50+ points thrashing of Oklahoma by Villanova in the Final Four last year was worse.
Speaking of Brian Dennehy, I spent an afternoon drinking with him and his girlfriend (I guess - I wasn't asking) at PJ Clarke's back in around '86. It was just after St. Patty's Day and he'd just returned from LA, having finished the looping (voice overs for audio errors or whatever it's called) for Legal Eagles. The Irishman Brian (screwdriver drinker - time of day, I guess - I was drinking glasses of Michelob, $1.50 each as I recall) commented that St. Patty's Day in LA was very strange. He said he found himself back in his hotel room at midnight, sober, thinking, WTF am I doing in LA on this day.
Was there really a movie about the VU-Penn game? Kidding, right?
I didn't say I'm not into movies. You do the math, I'll do the reading.Since you're not into movies, why do you care?
I read David O. Selznick's memoir, much of which was about GWTW. Interesting. Selznick did not meet Vivien Leigh until the first scene was being shot (burning of Atlanta). Vivien arrived at the set with her squeeze, Laurence Olivier, and Selznick's brother, Myron. The rest is ...
I'm so not into movies that I read a tome entitled An Empire of Their Own. It's the non-fiction history of how several Eastern European Jewish immigrants (Mayer, Goldwyn, Loew, Cohn, Zukor etc.) built the movie business, from NYC and N. Jersey to Hollywood. I really enjoyed the book.Since you're not into movies, why do you care?
The Miracle Worker is on TCM now. It was released in 1962. I remember going to a theater to see it when I was 11 or 12. It was the first time I witnessed and understood what great acting is ( the dog that played Old Yeller was great too, but a dog) Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke were outstanding.
Sorry, it's in black and white. No guns and no violence -- well, Bancroft and Duke did go after it a few times but all for the good. The dining room scene was especially intense. And Anne Sullivan, the woman who tamed and taught Helen Keller, was a super hero.
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Congrats. It sounds like you've found a wife
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Ya. I don't waste my time or money going to the garbage they put out there now, but I did made it a point to go watch the remake of True Grit. I had seen the original with John Wayne numerous times, and as with almost all Westerns made back then, it was outstanding.
I should have known better. The remake was absolute garbage compared to the original. The actors sucked and it seemed like they tried to feminize it for some stupid reason. One of the worst made Westerns I've ever seen.
It continues to amaze me how they were able to do so much more with so much less in the old days. My wife and I both agree that political correctness may be the biggest reason for the lower overall quality of movies today. Many movies made in the old days would never see the light of day today because they would be considered to be too sexist, too racist, or, believe it or not, too clean.
And then you sit up in bed, realize you are old and your antiquated ideologies don't matter anymore, then... just go back to sleep. Cause you're old. My friend, old Hollywood was a burning pile of simplistic, overly sentimental, obviously racist garbage. Things get better as time goes on. My grandchildren will be telling me how awful our movies are today. And I'll accept that.
