"They just don't make good movies anymore" (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

I've been hearing this all the time over the last few years. From family, to people that see the Hellboy preview and that is what they say. Some people have said movies suck now, that they have stopped making just good movies to go sit down and watch. Now they are all too impressed by 'computer stuff' or what they can do. Not just good stories anymore.

Anyone else hear this from a lot of non-hometheater buffs?

 

[Paul_Scott]

i used to hear this all the time from grown ups when i was a kid in the 70s.

i think it has something to do with childhood nostalgia.

 

[Lee-M]

These people have apparently not seen The Lord of the Rings (any of the three), or "good" has a different definition for them than for me...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

People have been saying this for the vast majority of film history. Before "they just don't make good movies anymore" was "this movie thing's never going to produce anything but crap".

I'd say the percentage of good movies to bad has remained relatively constant over the years, and with the number of great films out or coming out in the next month, I find the comment about as wrong as I ever have.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Most people who say that haven't seen most of the movies being released.

M.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

People just like to bitch about the lack of quality movies coming out. Also these people are not usually what I would even call film buffs, (movie snobs will sniff out the goodies ) These are the folks that will take 50 years of films from the past and compare them to what comes out in any given single year or even a week! It's easy to walk out of a theater after being assaulted by Cat in the Hat and to blurt out "They don't make 'em like they used to" but trust me, there was never a period of time in which films like Ben-Hur, Bridge on the River Kwai, Gone with the Wind, Godfather, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, E.T., and Casablanca, all came out within the same year.

I worked at a video store for about 6 years and it was my finding that those who griped about the current state of movies, seemed to be drawn to the junky films, like flies to shit. Like the mothers that would moan about the lack of quality non-offensive family films, yet they would ignore any recommendations for Secret of Roan Inish, A Little Princess, or Iron Giant, And instead rent Nutty Professor 2 or Austin Powers for the kids

In "The Old Days" people did not have DVD players, VCRS, PayPerView, and 7 channels of HBO. We watch more movies now than ever before (in one way or another), so we see more of the junk that come out each year. Hell back in the 50's most people would go to a theater for the majority of their film viewing, the average person probably saw about 20 - 50 movies in a year, between the theater and The Movie of the week on TV. So naturally we are subjected to a lot more flotsam.

 

[Brian W.]

Most people who say that haven't seen most of the movies being released.

Yeah, I know a guy who says this who's in his sixties... yet he also proudly proclaims that he and his wife stopped going out to the movies in the early 1970s. So how would he know?

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Most people who say that haven't seen most of the movies being released.

Nor have they even seen half of the great classics they are referring to .

 

[John_Lee]

but trust me, there was never a period of time in which films like Ben-Hur, Bridge on the River Kwai, Gone with the Wind, Godfather, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, E.T., and Casablanca, all came out within the same year.

What about 1994? Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Lion King, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Bullets Over Broadway, Heavenly Creatures, Legends of the Fall, Hoop Dreams, True Lies, The Mask. Quite a well rounded year, with some all time classics to boot.

 

[MartinTeller]

I can't believe you included The Mask in that list.

 

[JasonWynia]

Nor have they even seen half of the great classics they are referring to

When I was in college, I had a conversation with one of my professors in which he was very candid about the "classics" of literature (I majored in English). He said something that's stuck with me ever since.

"The traditional classics are the books that we all pretend to have read. The real classics are the books that we all read and re-read without telling anyone. What is amusing is when a book goes from the second list to the first as soon as it loses its initial context."

I feel the same way about movies. The movies that I'm willing to throw in and watch for the 10+th time are almost *never* on the list of great classics. However, "popcorn" movies from a generation or 2 ago are often regarded now as "classics". They've moved from one list to the other as soon as no one remembers that they were initially "popcorn" movies.

 

[Jay E]

I wouldn't say "They just don't make good movies anymore".

I would say Hollywood doesn't make films like it use to (starting in the mid to late 70's), meaning mature & intelligent films for adults. Hollywood gave up on the over 30 crowd many years ago. Luckily the independent film industry broke out in the late 80's to bridge this gap. Many of the films that the big studios released in the early 70's would never see the light of day in today's Hollywood.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Most people who say that haven't seen most of the movies being released.

Actually, I think they have. I see many films, and 90% of what is out there is mediocre to awful. Which is what you get when you have people who neither understand or particularly like movies running Studios. It's all about the money and trying to please everyone. The '70's was the last decade of great film-making. Now it's just the crimbs.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Actually, I think they have. I see many films, and 90% of what is out there is mediocre to awful. Which is what you get when you have people who neither understand or particularly like movies running Studios. It's all about the money and trying to please everyone. The '70's was the last decade of great film-making. Now it's just the crimbs.

If you think this is the case, then I don't think you have a well-rounded recollection of the seventies and before. Sure, 90% of today's movies are mediocre to awful. But 90% of movies from ANY era were mediocre to awful. The only ones we remember from a given era are the 10% that rose above the pack.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

They do make some good movies but they are widely seen by mass audiences. Remember people would rather watch Reality TV over really good shows so why wouldn't it be the same for the theatres?
We get the Armaggedons and The Haunted Mansions while movies like You Can Count on Me or Whale Rider go by with little notice.
Studios are in a business, yes, but they care more about the buck then the really good movies.
Of course you have the 15 and 20 theatre cineplexes that show the Big Blockbusters in 98 percent of the theatres and youre lucky if you get one Indie in any of those.

 

[Hunter P]

So the HTF doesn't use this phrase? I guess we just say "that good movie is a rip-off of ____"

 

[Jack Shappa]

It's true that we usually remember the good ones and throw away the rest, so any given year seems to pale in comparison to our memories. That said, I don't think any year (maybe 1939) can beat 1982 for great flicks...

Some of the movies of 1982
==========================
E.T.
Tootsie
Sophie's Choice
Ghandi
Blade Runner
Star Trek II : Wrath of Kahn
Conan The Barbarian
First Blood
Quest For Fire
Poltergeist
John Carpenter's The Thing
48 Hours
Officer and a Gentleman
The Road Warrior
The Verdict
Victor/Victoria
My Favorite Year
Missing
Shoot the Moon
Evil Dead
Frances
Annie
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Rocky III
Porky's
Secret of Nimh
Friday the 13th

 

[Brian Lawrence]

I think the real problem is not the lack of good films. No it's not that at all. The problem is that the bad films being made today are on average a lot badder than the bad films being made 40 years ago.

It's true that we usually remember the good ones and throw away the rest, so any given year seems to pale in comparison to our memories.

Quite right, here's another look at 1982 that would tell a different story, So it really comes down to whether one focuses on the good or the bad.

Airplane II: The Sequel
Amityville II: The Possession
Author! Author!
Beastmaster, The
Best Friends
Butterfly
Class of 1984
Death Wish II
Grease 2
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (I love this one but most hate it )
Hanky Panky
Jekyll & Hyde... Together Again
Jinxed!
Last American Virgin
Little Sex, A
Megaforce
Monsignor
Parasite
Partners
Pirate Movie
Six Pack
Six Weeks
Slapstick (Of Another Kind)
Slumber Party Massacre, The
Summer Lovers
Toy, The
Trail of the Pink Panther
Triumphs of a Man Called Horse
Yes, Giorgio
Yor, the Hunter from the Future
Young Doctors in Love
Zapped!

 

[Hunter P]

Brian,
That list looks like another "best of" to me! Some of those movies rocked. No, they did more than that. They rocked hard.

 

[MartinTeller]

Plus the fact that half the films Jack listed are shitty also.