Recent Viewings

[Scot Eric]

Never watched Blazing Saddles with the younger set but I could see most being bored that is was a western rather than it using the "N" word.  It'll be interesting to see which of Mel Brooks films do stand up to the next generation.

Did let one of my younger co-workers borrow Deliverance. That one still works.

I don't think anyone would find it boring due to being a Western.  It's not laconic in its pacing.

And -- if I'm going to be perfectly honest -- I could give two fucks about what much of the younger set thinks about films.  You're talking about a generation that won't watch black & white movies and think 80's movies are golden oldie classics.  A generation that will never bother with the likes of Casablanca, Citizen Kane, any Hitchcock film, most Kubrick films, any John Huston films, and so on...these are the ones we should use as a measuring stick as to whether something is timeless?  I'm gonna say...no.  That's not quite how it works.  Otherwise, we just better box up any movie, TV show or piece of music that's more than 25-30 years old and shoot the whole load into the sun.

[measle]

This may be a topic for it's own thread, but what is it about most youth today and their lack of intellectual/artistic curiosity?

I grew up in the 70's and 80's, and black and white films seemed as dated to me then, as they do to kids now.  Yeah, less time has gone by, but they still seemed to come from a completely different time.  Yet, that never really turned me off from watching them.  Same is true with comics, TV, music, etc.  Much of what I enjoy came out long before I was born...

[Jac13]

Well they will be the ones taking care of it when we are dead. So chances are somebody is going blow it all up eventually. Happened plenty of times in the past and I don't think we have found a way of by-passing it in the future.

As for caring what the young kids think of films affecting how I think of films. If that was the case I think I would have stopped watching Kung-fu flicks(Hong Kong not the American shit) along time ago. It does help if they are interested though, makes getting some of these movies on DVD a hell of a lot easier.

Measle I think a lot of these kids want to start over. They don't want to compare themselves to the past. They want to write their own story, and they don't want the past getting in their way.

[Marv-El]

I think the attitude we're discussing comes from the now, new, next mentality. The changes in media and information delivery have made the next two generations (yeah, I think at around 40 most of us can see two more generations already) infinitely impatient with what's around the corner. They generally have no interest in what came before, whether it's COIE or Gone With the Wind or Bessie Smith or whatever. If it's important, it's new and vice versa; if it's older than the viewer, it can't be significant.

It's a big issue: the death of comics and print in general, the loss of a sense of history, the inability to judge value of many types...
uh oh, I know what's going to happen...

[measle]

the loss of a sense of history, the inability to judge value of many types...
uh oh, I know what's going to happen...

HA, I think this part of your argument though keeps you from old fuddy-dud land.  Dismissing anything arbitrarily is not really a good way to go through life.

[Marv-El]

I've always been aware of and interested in the past. I can't go toe-to-toe with Moores on knowledge, but as far as appreciation for the golden age--it was learning that the DCU (first, for me) had the rich history it does that got me excited about comics in general, finding out there was so much to learn. Still hasn't gone away, and there's still so much out there. It's why I don't put myself through the misery some of you guys do on boards where the majority know and care about nothing beyond 1985, 1996, 2002, or whatever. If that's your favorite era, fine. But no one has the right (or entitlement) to dismiss everything else.

I think that's where we run into the battles with the group identified as 'toonheads' or worse. It's not that CM dismisses people because the Super Friends or JLU or BTAS is their favorite; it's that some of those fans see their favorites as the only worthwhile interpretation of the characters. I'm not saying we all need to proselytize on the merits of our choices over theirs, because we don't want their opinions inflicted on us either. There's enough room for all of us. I don't mind Golden Pharaoh, because I don't see him as any more or less obscure than Terry Sloane or the Whip or the Blackhawks (all of whom better show up in DCUC.) 

[Scot Eric]

I'm not saying we all need to proselytize on the merits of our choices over theirs, because we don't want their opinions inflicted on us either.

Point for using a word like 'proselytize'.

Although I oughtta deduct said point for turning the discussion to toys/figures/comic books -- which is an entirely different kettle o'fish.

[Gadabout]

I think a lot of the older stuff seems campy to younger people. It's easy for a 40 year old to have interest in older black and whites and what not. There was someone telling you how great they were. My brother knows fuck all about 80's movies but at least once a month he get's introduced to something like Terminator or Lost Boys or something like that. I'm passing on what I know.

I've also watched some old Hitchcock stuff with him (the only black and white thing I can ever remember being introduced to in my life), some rat pack stuff, and some old Dick Tracey movies.

As I get older I can enjoy older art as a picture of the past and a window into what was capturing the attention of a certain generation. I still rarely find it to be as good as what's done now though. For my taste anyway. I'm not one to try and come off as intellectually superior because I'm good at movies, or music, or any other pop culture nonsense. I am learning a lot about the Golden Age through hanging out with you guys, but those hokey covers to old comics with crude art never made me think "Man, I really want to read about that story!".

Another thing that makes people less curious to explore older stuff is a inundation with new material. I can't keep up on the new movies and TV shows that have came out within even the last ten years that I want to see. Let alone stuff from fifty years ago. And now with the prevalence of internet as a primary means of entertainment for the kiddies, who gives a damn about the Three Stooges when you can be watching 2 girls one cup?

Moving on though, and speaking of modern garbage that rocks my socks, I just watched Crank 2. Just like the first one it was a blast. So many outrageously stupid moments, and the added elements of really breaking down the fourth wall and letting you know they know you know you are watching a goofy ass movie was great. Audrey Hepburn can suck my money. That Asian chick was hilarious. And that phantasmagorical nonsense when they turned into giant monsters with terrible props while fighting? Awesome. 

Also watch Valkyrie which was considerably better than I thought it would be. I hate Tom Cruise so much, but usually I can deal with him once I finally start watching a movie. This was not one of those time. With Eddie Izard damn near unrecognizable in this film and the solid cast surrounding him, he just completely took me out of the story over and over again. This would have been much better with a lesser known actor in general, and someone who seems like they may have seen a hard time or two in general. Maybe it was bad directing too because I know he's capable of more, but when he was supposed to seem stoic he seemed apathetic and disinterested. To me anyway. I was glad the story was told so that low brow mouth breeders could realize that not every German was a jew killing twat monster, but it could have been a much better film with someone else in the lead.

[Toyman]

I actually don't mind B&W films or tv shows for that matter.  Things like Casablanca and Maltese Falcon, the Universal monster movies (even the silent ones), to Night of the Living, as well the Twilight Zone and the original Outer Limits.  In some ways the black and white adds a lot to a particularly the film noir genre.  Noir works incolor but you lose a lot of the heavy shadows and the eariness provided by the greyscale.  Had any of those movies, even the monster movies, been incolor can anyone honestly say they would be that much better?

Today's audiences want bif, bang, pow all the time and as though that wasn't enough now it's in eye popping 3D!  Like 3D is something new all of a sudden.   In part it's the later generations and their constant need for action.  No build up, no tension.  Then something like TDK comes out and they see how exciting that tension can be but instead act like it's never been done.  Whereas the majority of Kubrick's movies are exactly like that, everything is building up to something larger.  At the same time it's one note directors like Steven Sommers and Michael Bay who make the big explosion and armed to the teeth movies.  Their exciting and pulse pounding and by the you've left the theater....you have forgotten the majority of what you just saw (aside from an action beat or two) because there was no real substance to the picture.  You couldn't give a shit about the characters because they are so generic and bring little to the story if anything at all.

[Marv-El]

Gad, different strokes on some of that, and an echo on some, and thank god we're here instead of at some boards where I'd have to call you names and threaten your family because we don't agree completely. Those campy covers and such really appealed to me as a kid in a way that I don't know the most modern stuff would today, but I can see how they would have turned others off even at the same age. We are perfectly in agreement on the inundation of material.

SE, thanks for the point, if I still have it. Part of my point was that I do see it being related, that there is a huge character trait, not necessarily predicated on age/cohort/whatever, that anything old is worthless--movies, comics, music. But I'll agree that this thread wasn't built for that and I hate to derail a CM thread...

Three Stooges, One Cup...coming soon from CritMess Productions.

and we've all been introduced to something black and white again recently:

[Scot Eric]

If I wasn't so busy trying to find time to work on my own writing -- I'd suggest I do a running column profiling a few recommendations of movies from the 30's/40's/50's.  But I can't see a way I can do that right now -- I HAVE to try to finish my first draft of [blahblahblah] over the next month.

[Jac13]

You should just throw some of the movies names up and then later on, when you have time, do a write up. That could give some of us the time to see the films before you do your write up. Lists I say! More lists!

[Gadabout]

You can tell this is an old people forum by the number of lists we do.  

thank god we're here instead of at some boards where I'd have to call you names and threaten your family because we don't agree completely.

I'd never make it here if it was that type of board. I would enjoy some arguments for a while, but I'd have got bored and left eventually. Thanks to you guys being cool I am learning a lot.

Those campy covers and such really appealed to me as a kid in a way that I don't know the most modern stuff would today

You know, one thing I forget some times is that my fucked up childhood kind of screwed up what I liked verse what other kids may have liked.

I literally remember reading A Death in the Family while I spent a week in a hospital due to despicable circumstances. Watching Jason get beat half to death and then blown up while hoping to establish contact with a cunt mother that wasn't worth a damn was probably very different for a severely abused kid like me.

I remember the darker tone that Batman took after that. Hell, when he punched Superman for that matter. I felt like there was someone out there that cared, and I was GLAD he was getting nastier and meaner with the bad guys. I didn't see it as his character falling, but as his character growing. The people he was dealing with were scum and deserved NO MERCY.

For a kid that's 9 or 10 thinking shit like that, Zebra striped Batman is not likely to do much.

And to avoid leaving a woe is my, my childhood was teh sux stain on the thread, I forgot about the classic black and white horror movies. When I was about 6 or 7 I got to go to Florida to meet my dad and reconnect with my grandparents who I knew a little bit from before they moved down there. My grandpa and I watched all those old black and white horror movies and I loved them!

[Rod Keith]

Getting thread back on topic, watched Nashville for the first time last night.


 I loved how much of the film sits there, presenting its scenes and characters, without forcing an interpretation of events onto the viewer. You really have to bring yourself to it-- no spoonfeeding here. I love 70's cinema for that.

The more Mrs. RK and I talked about it, and the more I think on it, the more I admire it.

[Big Raj]

Just finished watching Jennifer's Body.  Um . . . Megan Fox is hot, and . . . she kisses her hot blonde co-star.  J.K. Simmons was funny.  Those were the only redeeming qualities.  This was a pretty shitty movie. 

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