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That's a bit like getting all nostalgic about flipping your LPs over or recording mix tapes. We all have these little things we grow to love but they don't last. That just isn't how young people consume film anymore.
Well I remember how a good drama would premiere at the cineplex alongside a major blockbuster all the time. There would be five or six of them, now there is just a couple alongside a plethora of "fun" movies. I remember when mindless fun movies were mostly a summer blockbuster thing but now they come out year round and dominate the cineplex. Straight dramas with coherent stories are sometimes relegated to art house indie cinemas. I mean that's just weird. What's so indie or art house about a straight drama? Have they become akin to the opera now?
I don't really see this as a nostalgia thing because it's not as though films are a dying medium like eight track tapes. I think studios are just addicted to the billion dollar blockbusters and don't care to make as many regular straight stand alone films as they used to.
I feel bad for younger people because they don't get to see as many great coherent and nicely structured films with good stories and plot. If they consume mostly mainstream stuff at the theaters they just get fed a bunch of other stuff besides the story. Movies today just seem like shells of movies, they're vehicles for other products, which makes the plot/story incoherent trying to shoehorn a dozen and one things into it. I couldn't imagine what I'd think of older films had I only had mainstream junk as a frame of reference. This is proly why younger people say movies from the 90s are "old". LOL.
Also has anyone noticed that they explain jokes to you in comedies now? This is small pet peeve I know but I get annoyed at how they won't let a joke settle for second, they always end up explaining it. Someone will say something stupid that's unintentionally funny yet the trick to it is to leave it for the audience to get it and laugh. Instead the other person will explain to the other person why they're wrong, ruining the fun out of the comedy. At least it ruins it for me.
Eh....some people ARE easily amused and others take pride in NOT being easily amused. Whatchagonnado?
I don't think it's a pride thing in not being easily amused. Sometimes you watch a comedy that's getting praise and wonder what's wrong with me that I'm not getting into it. At least that's how I was trying to find the latest Baywatch movie and Rough Night. I wanted to enjoy and laugh but only cracked a smile at a few of the jokes.
I think it may be just lazy writing and I don't understand the people who laugh as though it's the funniest thing ever. It's very disorienting not getting into what others are all getting into.
You're thinking is this comedy just that bad or have I lost my sense of humor.
TV is pretty hot right now, but you're not going to find too much quality on network TV. The good flicks (with of course high budgets) are on Prime, Netflix, Showtime, etc.
One of the latest things that annoys the heck out of me is Kevin Hart being hyped into oblivion. I see him everywhere and his schtick has been beat to death. He's just not funny yet you would think he's the king of comedy.
As for movies, I'm no expert but it seems like things peaked in the 90s. Titanic, Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank, Goodfellas, Fight Club, Boys n the Hood, Good Will Hunting, etc, etc, etc. Even simple comedies like Friday and Dumb and Dumber seem like classics compared to what I see now.
I have to ask, how old are you ?
Because I fell like everything peaked in the 90's as well, and sure enough, that's when I grew up. (31)
In youth, people tend to be more easily entertained because everything is novelty to them. But by adulthood, I'd estimate that 90% of people are not entertained by 90% of available entertainment.
For this reason people tend to gravitate to a small sub-selection of music, television, comedians, etc. They research films, tv series, and music before spending money or setting aside time for them (reading reviews, watching clips, and gathering opinions) and do a lot of re-watching as well.
This is not a new phenomenon either. The entire nostalgia industry, which has been around for more than half a century, is based on people's increasing pickyness as they age.
I used to sit and watch television for up to four hours a day some days when I was in my early 20s, basically any day I was staying in and a lot of it was pablum I wouldn't bear to watch. Now I have Netflix and I would say I discover and watch one series every 6 months or less. But I have re-watched a couple of series and find that even in repeat, good shows still have entertainment value.
One of my quirks is that I have totally lost interest in the feature length film format. I find that stories that can be told in a two-hour window are not gripping to me. The only way I can enjoy a film is at the movie theater. SOmething about having paid a good sum of money and being trapped there I guess. :-)
I can agree with all that to an extent, it's just I think there is an objective way people are noticing that the quality of newer mainstream films has dipped. And it has mostly to do with how it's produced and what's crammed into these films to push xyz. There are a ton of things I'm sure writers have to shoehorn into a movie to please the financiers. Joss Whedon complained about it when he had to add a scene in the 2nd Avengers movie about Thor which was useless to the plot and felt out of place. Stories in movies today, at least in the main, are rife with these issues and writers get lazy about finding new ways to shoehorn crap to feed the franchise.
I'm also of the idea that movies peaked in the 90s as far as having cinematic flair but I hate it that you just have to go mining to find cinema we all enjoyed regularly growing up. On the plus side, cable tv is better and streaming mediums have good content.
Look around, there's a huge number of choices available in music, movies and television. There's been some specialization and there are fewer "generic" options that have broad appeal.
Mass marketed entertainment is not appealing to me in any genre, and I've gotten a bit tired of doing the research necessary to pick the good from the bad. But good entertainment is available now more than ever.
I like watching old movies (from the 40's) and modern "old" movies (from the 80's and 90's) just as much as new releases. Our access to these has never been better, you can still get netflix DVD service to watch anything, or instant streaming through amazon, hulu, filmstruck, etcetera.
Our solution to the abysmal choices on the tv networks was to join Netflix and Acorn tv (British programming). British tv shows are far superior to the American ones. Netflix has a wide assortment of choices and we can usually find something.
As for basic tv, we watch the news channels, the TCM channel and record some of our faves from HGTV to watch when we are in the mood. We also record Jeopardy and some Sunday night PBS programs.
The remainder is crap.
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