Are movies better now?

Totally, absolutely a function of the proliferation of cable channels. You had maybe 15% of the product being turned out then that you do now.

 

Go back further, though. I'm thinking about '50s, '60s greats. Not too many of them hold up in a modern look, including some that were thought to be outstanding.

 

I disagree, but I like the black and white look.

 

And you could be quite right. The cinematography may have a lot to do with that.

I think what strikes me first, though, are the changes in speech patterns, mannerisms from era to era.

 

Shottie: I submit the following off the top of my head "On the Waterfront," "High Noon," "From Here to Eternity," "North by Northwest," "Spartacus," "Dr. Strangelove," "Bonnie & Clyde," "Hard Day's Night," "8 1/2" and "Seventh Seal."
Those are 10 movies I named from those two decades in about 45 seconds, and I defy you to tell me they haven't held up with the passage of time. They are classics and rightly so. They are among the most famous movies of all time, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike since they came out. And there are many more from that era.

 

The acting is very theatrical and exaggerated before Brando.

 

You know, I was thinking about "A Hard Day's Night." I loved it, and I love it. But you really think that doesn't come off as dated to later generations?

 

I agree with you on this, big fan of black and white.

I think some of the dialogue writing was better in older movies as there was not as much reliance on technology to advance exposition. Throw in the fact that the Hayes code meant that the language was censored and the writers had to be creative to get some subversive ideas on to the screen.

The acting styles have evolved so I think that obviously makes movies feel dated. However IMO the Robert Mitchum version of the villain in Cape Fear is superior to the Robert Deniro version.

A lot of CGI just leaves me cold and I like shit blowing up as much as the next guy. The reliance on CGI has rendered some movies scenes too "cartoonish" to me.

For example the crowd battle scenes in Branagh's Henry V are far superior to the crowd movement battle scenes in Gladiator.

I don't think movies today are as good as they once were but that might also be a function of the fact that I don't have time to watch a lot of movies the way I once did.

 

I don't watch many CGI movies, so I guess that aspect of it - reliance on CGI - doesn't really enter my orbit.

 

Brando ushered in the era of the Method actor based on Stanislavsky and Lee Strasburgh. Most of the big stars followed.

 

Shottie, all works of art are dated to some degree, as all are reflections of their time and place. One of the functions of a great work is to make its audience FEEL that time and place, even if it's far away from their perspective. Beatlemania was a unique period in music history. "A Hard Day's Night" presents what it was all about. Want kids to know what Cold War paranoia was all about? Have 'em see Strangelove, or "Manchurian Candidate."

 

Well, really, Michael, isn't that the very definition of "dated" -- that the subject matter doesn't transport the audience into that era in some form, but just makes them sit back and say, "Wow, that's really not real life, is it?"