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Is Hollywood in the midst of a "Golden Age"? (1 Viewer)

Charlie Kaus

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Tonight I just got to thinking about how the quality of some of the movies coming out in the past few years remind me alot of the films of the early to mid 70's which is considered by some to be Hollywood's last golden age. Just curious as to other people's thoughts on this subject.

Charlie
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Eh, I don't know, with all of the pointless remakes and sequels that are saturating theaters as of late, I would say that Hollywood is in the midst of an "Aluminum Siding Age". ;)

I kid, but there is a lot of good stuff that's come out recently, too. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Steve Felix

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I don't know about Hollywood, but movies in general are much better than they've ever been. The system is breaking down, or loosening up, to put a positive spin on it. Either way, it's good for less commercial movies (70s movies).

With HD video cameras now at consumer prices, I expect the fine art side of filmmaking to grow rapidly.
 

Paul_Scott

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in general, i would say Fantasy films are most definitely in a golden age...though i don't know how much longer that will last. Rothman over at Fox seems hellbent on killing it with slight productions like Fantastic Four and X3- but then you have Batman Begins which was a film that that wouldn't have felt out of place in the pre Star Wars 70s. One of the main thrusts of the film was this notion that the society was corrupt at every strata, and in need of a purification- especially in government- that's a fairly bleak outlook- but not inconsisitent with a culture in the middle of, or feeling the social effects of a protracted war. I think one of the reasons movies 'grew up' in the late 60s early 70s was the effect of the war (and of course, the spill over from other deep cultural conflicts-including race and womens rights, etc).

if we aren't in a golden age now, we probably will be soon.

although you have to be careful what you wish for here...
 

Simon Howson

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The Golden Age of Hollywood to me means the Classical Hollywood era, roughly 1930 - 1960. The period describes certain industrial practices, and most importantly a particular style based on first rate craft standards, star actors, and genre based production.
 

Steve Christou

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Are you kidding with all the rubbish released each year, audiences staying at home, we're at a time when people are more excited, and get more chatty about weekly tv episodes than they do about the big movies being released at cinemas.

I agree with Paul it's been a long golden age for the fantasy and sci-fi genre's, the past couple of decades have been pure nirvana for fantasy/SF genre fans, television and cinema.

In the year 2525, if mankind survives they may find that the past 90 years was the golden age of cinema, before the advent of robot directors churning out entirely computer created movies for a bored jaded lazy futuristic society of (hopefully) peaceful people, who plug themselves into a 'multiverse' matrix simulation (and stimulation) every day, while obedient robots tend to their every need. Shite! I was born in the wrong time! ;)
 

Carl_G

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Hollywood is definitely in a rusty iron age.

Television, however, is now amazingly strong. I'll take BSG over any movie in at least the last 5 years, maybe 10.

The only good movies really never make it through the noise of Harry Potter and the Endless Sequels. I really loved The Jacket, but never even heard of it until digging down the used DVD bins at the video store. And don't get me started on gay cowboys....
 

Eric Peterson

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While there has been a couple of absolutely fabulous and refreshing films in recent years, they are few and far between. On average, I watch about 200 films per year, of which about 25-30 are from said year. Of these 25-30, there are usually only about 5-7 that I have any interest in revisiting, and 1-2 that I will revisit more than once.

In other words "NO - Hollywood is not in another golden age!" Every other film is either a remake (intended or not) or a sequal to some other equally shitty movie.

In general, I would rather take a lottery pick of any film made prior to 1970 over a lottery pick of any film made since, and I was born in '72.

As has been said many times before "They just don't make 'em like they used to!"
 

MatthewA

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I have to agree with those who say that not only are we not in another Golden Age, but that the early 1970s was nothing to write home about either.

This is a dark age so dark, light cannot escape its surface.
 

SteveJKo

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Speaking of Hollywood today I'm reminded of that great line from KING KONG, where Carl Denham refers to the wall and the people who built it:

- And across the base of that peninsula, cutting it off from the rest of the island is a wall.
- A wall?
- Built so long ago that the people who live there slipped back, forgotten the higher civilization that built it.

While there's a lot of good films being made today, there's also far too many that seem to have slipped into a new dark age and forgotten that higher civilization.
 

Nathan V

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For a lover of great dramas like me, it is definitely a great time to be watching movies. There are so many great directors working right now (look at the lineup for the second half of 2006!!!), creating such incredible works of art, every year, that I would not hesitate to call the current era the best time for film (for me) since the 70s. Of course, it all depends on what movies you choose to go see. HTF seems to lean toward the action/sci-fi type films, or films with good DTS tracks :) The only people qualified to label the current era are those who see all, or nearly all, the releases each year, which I of course don't do. The fact that I don't go see all the bad stuff is probably why I'm so enthusiastic about films today.

Regards,
Nathan
 

Adam_S

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yeah, we're in an exceptional time period right now, and I'd say have been since 1999 with a few slumpier years in between that peak and 2005, one of the best recent years in memory.

I mean there were at least 25 fantastic films last year, at least half of which are ones I think will last. Say what you will for the hallowed seventies, but any year with 25 fantastic films is pretty DAMN good in my book.

There was also a crapload of junk released in the seventies, too, but it's easy to forget that between the Godfathers and Chinatowns and Jaws and Star Wars and Exorcist etc...

And I bet you in thirty years there'll be people on boards like this whining about why isn't Dukes of Hazzard and Son of the Mask available on super-dee-duper holo-3D extra-special ultimate-definition download because those are classic, great cheesy movies that really unappreciated by snobby cinephiles.
 

dana martin

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more like recycled plastic, this era has so few original ideas, that we have to resort to remakes, no i loved Kong, but i have no desire to see so of the rumored remakes, the dirty dozen, come on, the wild bunch, what is needed is for them to quit pandering to 15 year olds, and just make a film, if wells was alive today, could you see him trying to pitch touch of evil and making the studios buy off on it. it would never happen.
 

MatthewA

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All that glitters is not gold.

If Ed Wood were alive today, he'd have a Lifetime Achievement Oscar by now.
 

dana martin

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some one who reads, yes ed movies were crap, and i still love them , because the were original, and honestly he did think they were high art.
 

TravisR

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To me, the term 'Golden Age' just refers to a time period and doesn't speak of the quality of the movies during that time period. There is about the same amount of quality and the same amount of crap as there always has been. People tend to remember the winners from the past and not the losers. In other words, when you look back at 1960 you have rose colored glasses and you remember Psycho but not Lobster Men From Mars. :)

It's not like bad movies just started being made in the 1980's. It's just that thanks to multiplexes, TV ads, magazines, entertainment 'news' shows, and the internet, you see more or hear more about movies than ever before so you're bound to hear about the crap too and that makes people think that there is more crap than before.
 

RickER

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I used to see 10 or 20 movies a year that i LOVED. Now if i see 2 i LIKE i am happy. However, The Lord of the Rings has been the only movie trilogy that i have ever seen that went the distance without a dud. So maybe we still have hope... Nah, it was a once in a lifetime fluke.
 

JediFonger

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the "age of" are just labels in general. i've seen nearly all silent films in the first 30 decades of 20th century (on DVD) and there's only a handful of really exceptional good films. it's the same with the "eras" of films.

like Peter, i used to watch nearly all of the new releases in teh cinema in the late 90s. but i only did it as an experiment. i wanted to see how many "classics" came out annually and there aren't many. in fact out of the 500+films each year globally there's probably just a handful (not even 25) that can go on to status of classics. and yesh classics is defined (in the dictionary).

i think people don't use a recursive/deductive method of analyzing the latest films. for example, batman begins is a good film, but is it worth watching 1-2x a year for the rest of your life? hrm... =). just an example. i don't mean that as a test for all film, just sayin' that the batting average of classics used to be higher (overall annually) than the current batch.
 

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