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LTUM's Replies
lol
""The death of the movie industry actually started with "New Hollywood." That was the beginning of the end.""
i agree, it began with that but it took 35 years to put the final nails in the coffin, which were netflix/fb/cellphones/etc
as i look back at the 90s i realize it was already headed for a cliff even then, but we didn't realize it yet. yes it started with new hollywood, and i don't see any way the eventual blows to the hull could have been avoided. it's just the way the technology AND CULTURE evolved. (sadly)
curious if you read that article.
yeah that's what i thought. i wasn't sure what the hell the other poster was talking about lol
really? i thought it was circumstantial. she was his birth mom? i missed that.
only saw skyfail once, and didn't watch sphinctre at all.
MTG was on timcastirl for a full episode. you should check that out, see what you think.
i agree with you 100%
i said the same thing ten years ago. in fact i railed against it quite loudly, as i recall it was around the time Taken came out in theaters. i can't remember where i posted those rants, but i remember it well, and i said basically what you are saying, that if hollywood would just make good stuff people would still come, and my evidence of that was the strong turnout for Taken and also for Gran Torino. (I remember the house was packed for weeks for those two movies, full of 50-70 year olds)
but....
i am not so sure that older demographic would still turn out, were they to start returning to making good films again. for one, the trust has been broken. the momentum interrupted. to restrike that would be impossible imo. that was a cumulative effect of decades of movie culture penetrating all demographics.
second, everyone i speak to or hear talk about it has become so enamoured of netflix et al that they seem perfectly content to just continue consuming that trash. (some of it is okay, but imo the quality of MOST of it is really bad, from the writing on down) The competition in the streaming world is fierce and that is where the marketing dollars have gone. as well as production dollars. as well as cultural focus. so, to turn that ship around and return to 'everyone drives to the theater every weekend' is IMHO a bridge too far. (like that? haha)
here's a good article from several years ago: [url]https://writerunboxed.com/2017/05/19/an-arms-race-of-monetized-distraction/[/url]
third, we gotta think about where we are at on the timeline. the world is RADICALLY different from where it was in the 1990s. I talk about this all the time, how it was "a big thing" to go to see a movie then. really, from the 1930s until the late 1990s (roughly) a theater experience was our culture's go-to entertainment event. TV was okay but a movie at the theater was a SPECIAL experience. even normies et al were in agreement. i often cite how common 'water cooler talk' was back then. (btw i am close to your age) i remember people would come in to work monday all fired up about this or that movie, telling you their opinion on it. and they ENJOYED giving their opinion. it MATTERED to them. some would give spoilers, some wouldn't. I remember those days well. i actually remember specific examples of titles where coworkers would tell me 'youve GOT to see this film, dawg'
and fourth: facebook is the other part of my equation... the fact that social media has kidnapped so many people's attention in a way that has eclipsed their desire to watch produced content, because they'd rather seek attention via likes and comments on facebook or tiktok etc. Our population is so drunk on dopamine hits from likes etc that they derive the bulk of their satisfaction that way, and hence their focus matriculates in that direction and away from movies. this is my unofficial take on it, but eh take it for what you will.
my point: movies were in our hearts/minds then. now, people go viral with posts on facebook about birdbox on netflix, or tiger king (march 2020, again, netflix) or (recently, literally last week) the murdaugh trial. etc etc etc
point is, people don't get excited about movies now. partly due to what you said about poor content from the filmmakers. but, i'm just saying we need to be fair in our assessment that viewing tastes have changed, and people seem to prefer series Tv now over films, and they prefer streaming on roku over driving to the theater. (ie, take a look at the huge support for yellowstone in the past few years)
i guess if suddenly good films were getting made and released (the 'and released' is a huge part of it too, because that is the biggest challenge, not the making of it) like we used to get, we could see if your theory is correct. but sadly we will probably never know, because i don't see them ever ditching the endless comic book crap and other trype to take a chance on some new film with a solid plot and good name actors. I'm sorry to report that the sun has set on our beloved movie industry. netflix and stupid producers and facebook killed it.
LTUM
[i]EDIT----
case in point, see the comment below from another user here: "snuck into a theater last year and walked back out to watch tik tok in my rv van in parking lot"[/i]
very sad.
I wasn't sure because the dates on these posts are unclear.
he was one of my faves. :(
I am crushed. He was one of my favorite actors. I had no idea, I just happened to see his name in the trending topics.
So sad.
so it's been two months now? i wish these threads had dates.
Is he still missing?
you are right about film quality. movies began to suck IMO around 2007. That is when i noticed a change.
the problem is in the distribution model. they put movies in theaters and get low numbers, so next time you get more of what earned big, like marvel universe crap. i agree they need more good movies, but people 40 and over don't like to go to the theater as much as they like staying home. and people under 40 are not interested in the kinds of movies you and i prefer. so, hence, the numbers of the movies WE like are down year after year, because A-- older audiences don't leave home and B--younger people would rather go see Thanos or whatever. our category suffers low boxoffice, so the next year they make fewer of those kinds. and the next year even fewer. and on and on.
i came here to post that article but i am glad you already put it up.
i gotta say, i agree with him.
i will confess here that i am very saddened by the state of our movie biz, and the apparent future direction of it.
guys, it's dying in front of our eyes. (if it's not already dead, and just surviving on life support)
IMO we will never see another age of hearty, zesty, vibrant filmmaking in our lifetimes (and probably not ever on the earth again)
it was like catching lightening in a bottle, looking back on the wonder of it all. seriously...
SO MANY DIRECTORS. SO MANY FILMS. COUNTLESS *COUNTLESS* ONES, YEAR AFTER YEAR. we had a healthy movie fan culture to go with the distribution output. we had award shows. variety shows like carson et al. we had fan movements like the star wars craze of the late 70s. we had it all. WE ENJOYED IT ALL. but it feels like it's all gone now. that's just the way i 'feel' about it now; i speak for myself, but i suspect many can see what i see.
it's just not the same.
i fought the change for a while. i tried to hang on, to NOT ACCEPT it was all fading away. but in the end it just couldn't be ignored anymore.
my whole adult life i set my week around what movies were coming out at the theater that week. i'd ride by there after work and if something caught my eye, a poster or title or perhaps i caught a trailer on the radio or tv, i'd park and go in (on a work day; when matinees were still a thing) and watch a movie. then i'd go again on the weekend. sometimes 2-3 in a day. definitely multiple trips every week, and always on the weekend. and in between i'd stay on imdb chatting with other film folks. i'd also stay up to date on new trailers for coming features.
but somewhere around the mid 2010s i began to notice things were changing. there were fewer desirable movies at the theater each week, so sometimes i'd be forced to skip a week, since nothing was on i wanted to watch. another problem was some of the movies i did go see were a big letdown. so that began the trend of going less frequently. then less, and less. till eventually it turned into i rarely go to the theater now. i look and look and check the listings and months and months go by with NOTHING on that i want to see. consequently, i have only seen maybe 3-4 movies in the theater in the past 3 years. they just suck.
this is one reason Top Gun Maverick was such a hit with me. i went to the theater three times to see it last summer. it was IMHO truly a throwback to the heady days of cinema in the 1980 and 90s.
but yeah, spielberg is on point. everything has changed. i guess it was inevitable, with the changes in technology which have driven these new distribution patterns, not to mention new viewing norms for the movie public. people today are way more fond of netflix than they every were of blockbuster, or of going to the actual theater. it's been a gradual decline ever since the advent of video stores. i mean, think about it. VHS stores gave way to DVD rentals that then gave way to netflix (the mail version) which then gave way to streaming (circa 2006) which then spawned lots of imitators. now, streaming is the go-to, and theater run feature films are becoming a thing of the past. oh sure, there's the marvel universe films, and other blockbuster franchises, ad infinitum-nauseum. something is more likely to be made into a mini series today than become a feature film.
eh, i will always be a 70s kid. i will always most fit in with the old model. yeah i have the streaming services etc etc but imo the experience was richer 30-40 years ago. there's too much content now, and it's low quality to boot. a million miles wide and 1/2 inch deep.
so yes, i am sad, for the loss of the movies as we once knew them. and this, i suppose, is the gist of spielberg's laments in that article.
cheers.
LTUM
he is a mcGuy, probably created in a factory lol
well said lol
MTG was on timcastirl for a full episode. you should check that out, see what you think.
yes she was. and that profile pic is bussin, ago 50+ i'd bet
i think she is gorgeous
bro, really? get your eyes checked.
also, i find it curious you didn't mention sissy spacek, meryl streep, and some others. dude! lol
MTG was on timcastirl for a full episode. you should check that out, see what you think.
i think the only sensible view is to make a concession about spacey's appearance in the film:
A--coulda cast someone else, which woulda been fine with me but at this point spacey is locked in the role as canon with fans
B--or we could say maybe soze just looks young for his age, and he is acutally more like 45-47. this is quite possible. I have known people who were 45-50 and didn't look a day over 31. so eh, it's 'possible'. that would make the timeline more plausible. but as a side point i don't think singer or mcquarrie ut that much thought into their sophomore film project.
i still love this film very much. it's fun trying to break down these little nuances. i have seen the damn thing at least 30 tiimes and i swear each time i have to go back and rethink the whole plot just to wrap my mind around it. lol
and also, i think it's cool as hell how the detective Baer later became gus fring! haha
MTG was on timcastirl for a full episode. you should check that out, see what you think.