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[#Phonepunk#]

I would blame media consolidation more on movies being safe nowadays. Investors would rather throw money at a reboot than a new film. At the investor meeting you already have charts and graphs showing the income of the previous entries. There are mathematical models they run where they practically know how much to expect as a return from a sequel or reboot.

A 100% wholly new thing (like Star Wars when it was new) is going to be rejected over a “sure bet” (Ghostbusters 2016 LOL). That’s just good business sense.

More and more the industry is driven by money rather than creativity. More and more studios are being swallowed up and true market diversity is becoming a thing of the past.

 

[mcz117chief]

I don't think so. As far as I can remember there were only 2 or 3 watchable movies being released each year since I was born.

 

[SpartanN92]

I feel like you have to throw the late 70’s in there too. Godfather, Alien, Jaws etc...

I agree though. That era was peak movies.

 

[Azzurri]

They had way better Soundtracks to movies in the 80's and 90's that's for sure.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

80's movies are awesome, one thing i used to miss during the 2000's was good lighting. Almost every movie seemed to be only worried about color grading instead of actually lighting scenes correctly or using it as a tool. I would say that in the last 10 years cinematography has become widely better again. I'm always surprised at how constant are Korean's at good cinematography, even dramas sometimes have such beautiful shots that seem almost out of place considering production when compared to most holly wood shit.

I'm really optimistic with current cinema, there are a bunch contemporary movies that i would put in my all time favorites even though i loved 80's movies in general with all the practical effects and good lighting.

I agree. I was watching True Lies yesterday. It’s a 90s movie but Cameron is Cameron and knows his shit. There’s a few scenes where Arnold looks normal but then they change the lighting to show how he was really feeling about someone talking and he looked like he was about to bash their skull in.

Same room, same characters, same clothes, same position, but changed lighting helped to enhanced the story. First time I caught I said out loud “They changed the lighting!”

I was ignored. LOL

 

[ClanOfNone]

Everything was better in the 80's.

 

[belmarduk]

SLEEPAWAY CAMP. Damn that's crazy haha.

The best film of all time.

 

[Loke]

Compared to the new one. Completely soulless.

 

[Sub_Level]

Movies, sure. Especially when it comes to big budget blockbusters. But that said I can tell you the 2010s had better tv shows than the 80s.

I'd rather watch Big Bang Theory than stream or torrent any of these. Golden Girls (not pictured) is probably the best one lol

 

[lock2k]

I know something nobody will agree with me on!
Godzilla 1998 is better then the new Godzilla films.
Come at me!!

Don't you mean come with me?

 

[Meowzers]

The best film of all time.

I actually spat my drink out, at the time. Craziest twist in a movie, ever.

Had to buy a new keyboard, but my was it worth it.

 

[Berserking Guts]

Action movies peaked in the 90s.

 

[MrRogers]

Movies from the 40s onwards to the early 2000s all have their various peaks, but remain consistently good. Somewhere in mid 2000s it all started going to shite. In the last 5 years there is a handful of decent movies imo.

You know what the biggest problem is though? rewatchability. I can watch even shitty movies from the 80s like maximum overdrive over and over again, where as successful modern blockbusters that reviewed well, like disney star wars or avatar are one and dones.

 

[Fbh]

There's still good stuff now but on average yeah, I like movies from the 80's and 90's better.

One thing I miss from the 80's and 90's are movies which are just made to be "Fun". Stuff like Indiana Jones, Predator, Back to the Future, etc.
I find a lot of movies nowadays to be overly serious and full of themselves. Like Back to The future if made now would probably be darker, about trying to stop some terrorist, spend a quarter of the movie introducing some "time traveler organization" on which they can build possible sequels, etc.

I think nothing exemplifies it better than The Mummy 99 vs The Mummy 2017

I honestly think it's why I found the latest Jumanji movies to be enjoyable. A bit heavy on the CGI but overall just some oldschool fun.

 

[MilkyJoe]

Of course movies were better then. It's not exactly a contest though, have you seen a post 2000s movie? They're fucking shite.

 

[teezzy]

Did you see the scene in Avengers when Captain Marvel told Thanos to support trans rights then suplexed him? That was epic.

 

[SantaC]

Compared to the new one. Completely soulless.

Wasnt the latest Terminator woke?

 

[Gp1]

I don't know. I'm just looking for a excuse to post the greatest movie intro of all time



ps: and the second one



Nothing is more 80's than this.

 

[slugbahr]

Another reason the 80s kick ass

..

Transformers: The Movie

I rest my case

 

[jason10mm]

movies just got too big. they all swing for the fences now with massive budgets and are over produced. And the lower budget stuff like netflix uses trash tier CGI and just looks cheap. A bad prostetic is 100x better than mediocre cgi.

 

[T8SC]

80's were the best closely followed by 90's then it just gets worse, quickly.

80's

Aliens
Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
The Terminator
Top Gun
Predator
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Die Hard
The Goonies
Back To The Future 1, 2 & 3
Commando
Blade Runner
Akira
Ghostbusters
Robocop
Beverly Hills Cop
Gremlins
The 'burbs

90's

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Jurassic Park
Speed
The Rock
Face/Off
The Matrix
Total Recall
Dumb & Dumber
Saving Private Ryan
Ghost In The Shell
Seven
The Lion King
Toy Story
Titanic
Die Hard With A Vengeance
Apollo 13

 

[SantaC]

80's were the best closely followed by 90's then it just gets worse, quickly.

80's

Aliens
Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
The Terminator
Top Gun
Predator
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Die Hard
The Goonies
Back To The Future 1, 2 & 3
Commando
Blade Runner
Akira
Ghostbusters
Robocop
Beverly Hills Cop
Gremlins
The 'burbs

90's

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Jurassic Park
Speed
The Rock
Face/Off
The Matrix
Total Recall
Dumb & Dumber
Saving Private Ryan
Ghost In The Shell
Seven
The Lion King
Toy Story
Titanic
Die Hard With A Vengeance
Apollo 13

Also 12 monkeys in the 90s might be my favorite movie.

 

[Alter_Fridge]

Pop music definitely was

 

[StreetsofBeige]

No doubt these movies are a touch long. Could probably shave 15 minutes off them. But I can watch these over and over again.

You won't find these kinds of movies in the 2000s. And if you do they are probably shit.

Problem is the people movie studios want to make money off gravitate to CGI and explosions every 5 seconds. Or a Pixar cartoon.

 

[bender]

Movies, sure. Especially when it comes to big budget blockbusters. But that said I can tell you the 2010s had better tv shows than the 80s.

I'd rather watch Big Bang Theory than stream or torrent any of these. Golden Girls (not pictured) is probably the best one lol

No doubt these movies are a touch long. Could probably shave 15 minutes off them. But I can watch these over and over again.

You won't find these kinds of movies in the 2000s. And if you do they are probably shit.

Problem is the people movie studios want to make money off gravitate to CGI and explosions every 5 seconds. Or a Pixar cartoon.

Shawshank and Goodfellas are two of my favorite movies.

 

[Godzilla Emu]

Ferris Bueller's mothafucking Day Off bitches.

Hell yeah! We were just talking about this movie tonight. What a film. Love this scene:



It's so cheesy, it breaks the cheese barrier and becomes awesome.

 

[cryptoadam]

Movies now adays are not made to last, like most everything. They are meant to be disposable. The whole point of most movies is to set up mulitple sequels or create a cinematic universe. Most films run 3-4 weeks in cinemas and then go to streaming. Back then a movie could run for months. And then they would hit video and make even more money and get even more viewers. So many movies that are cult classics and got sequels etc were because of home video runs. Now you are just another number on a streaming service.

A films whole point now is to make as much up front money, spawn never ending squels and sidequels,and add another matchstick to some streaming service number. You should just consume it and forget about it so the next movie can come and go.

 

[Classicrockfan]

All balls itch

 

[#Phonepunk#]

80's were the best closely followed by 90's then it just gets worse, quickly.

80's

Aliens
Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
The Terminator
Top Gun
Predator
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Die Hard
The Goonies
Back To The Future 1, 2 & 3
Commando
Blade Runner
Akira
Ghostbusters
Robocop
Beverly Hills Cop
Gremlins
The 'burbs

90's

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Jurassic Park
Speed
The Rock
Face/Off
The Matrix
Total Recall
Dumb & Dumber
Saving Private Ryan
Ghost In The Shell
Seven
The Lion King
Toy Story
Titanic
Die Hard With A Vengeance
Apollo 13

yeah when you start writing lists, it just get unfair. it really is.

i would be interested in seeing a counter argument. a list of amazing 2000s movies that match this. maybe i really did miss out on amazing stuff. but all i got when i try and think back over the past 20 years is a handful of things that don't really inspire the way those old movie did.

it's not just the big hollywood blockbusters either. independent and experimental film was off the chain in the 80s and 90s. for instance Richard Linklater's Slacker, just a kind of aimless slice of life movie with no real agenda behind it. great stuff and perfectly encapsulates the 90s. or what about the creepy experimental stop motion animation of the Brothers Quay, done mostly in the 80s? are there any experimental animators at all these days pushing boundaries like that?

 

[T8SC]

yeah when you start writing lists, it just get unfair.

i would be interested in seeing a counter argument. a list of amazing 2000s movies that match this. but all i got when i try and think back over the past 20 years is a handful of trash.

it's not just the big hollywood blockbusters either. independent and experimental film was off the chain in the 80s and 90s. for instance Richard Linklater's Slacker, just a kind of aimless slice of life movie with no real agenda behind it. great stuff and perfectly encapsulates the 90s. or what about the creepy experimental stop motion animation of the Brothers Quay, done mostly in the 80s? are there any experimental animators at all these days pushing boundaries like that?

00's

Lord Of The Rings trilogy
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Avatar
Iron Man
Revenge Of The Sith (Shhhh it's good)
Gladiator

I've ran out, there's some mediocre stuff like District 9 & Pitch Black but they're not in the same league.

 

[Kimahri]

So much better. I've been on an old movie binge lately. Rewatching movies from my childhood, and watching sole I haven't seen yet for sole reason. It's fascinating how much more enjoyable older movies tend to be.

Even bad movies are enjoyable. Time goes by quickly and instead of just getting bored I enjoy the silliness of it. Watched some old fantasy movies like Deathstalker, great fun, much nudity.

 

[brap]

I've ran out

yeah i noticed when you put avatar and iron man

 

[T8SC]

yeah i noticed when you put avatar and iron man

 

[#Phonepunk#]

00's

Lord Of The Rings trilogy
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Avatar
Iron Man
Revenge Of The Sith (Shhhh it's good)
Gladiator

I've ran out, there's some mediocre stuff like District 9 & Pitch Black but they're not in the same league.

i would agree with this list except Avatar. my list would have a few Wes Anderson movies but compared to something similar from the 90s like Short Cuts his films still fall short. Wet Hot American Summer i would put on the list. imo it is way funnier than the films it was parodying.

but i wouldn't say that comedy is better, because then you are talking National Lampoon's Vacations, Naked Gun, Bill & Ted, Home Alone, Wayne's World, Billy Madison, etc. plus you had the Mel Brooks parodies like Spaceballs and Men in Tights. the only thing like that now is... the Scary Movie franchise. LOL!

Mean Girls and Bridesmaids i would put on the list. but they are comedian driven b movies, and next to older ones like Heathers, What About Bob?, Groundhog Day, This is Spinal Tap, etc. they are table scraps. hell, just the movies Richard Pryor made by Gene Wilder alone are a half dozen classics.

the 00s Batman movies are reboots. and as much as i enjoyed the Nolan trilogy i would still put Burton's films above it. both in style and originality (grimdark Nolan Bats is not nearly as striking as Prime Burton goth Bats). LOTR id still probably consider them the best movies of the past few decades. but those are still a remake/reboot, i grew up with the awesome Bakshi film.

Star Wars, i love all the prequels, but again, that's Lucas making his own sequels. not really a new IP. plus the bad reputation among the critical class and much of the fandom.

 

[jason10mm]

This is also why I think I would be perfectly happy to just watch 80's and early 90's film in a drive thru for a few years. Took the kiddos to see the Goonies and it was pretty magical.

 

[K1Expwy]

I'd say movies of the 80s have a lot of charm to them, even when the movie is just plain bad. Lots of Mad Max clones, Star Wars clones, high fantasy, Namsploitation, horny teen comedies etc that are fun but mostly laughably bad. Those seem to be forgotten when looking back at 80s classics

The 90s went out of its way to push films from indie directors into the mainstream. Some are classics, while others are probably best forgotten. That decade suffered from a little too many nihilistic Stone/Tarantino clones. The color and lighting of many 90s movies were flat but very saturated, I honestly don't like the look of that filmmaking period

The 2000s seemed to be a mix of wire-fu, historical epics, and superheroes, which transitioned to gritty+realistic or betamale-core near the end

The 2010s were the return of studio- and producer-driven movies, which are AAA and four-quadrant, and the director is not much beyond a replaceable cog in a complicated machine, instead of the "mastermind" or "visionary" of the production. And thanks in part to direct-to-streaming, the indie movie success stories seen in the 90s have greatly diminished

 

[nkarafo]

I think Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the peak of creativity and craftsmanship in the movie industry.

 

[TheSadRanger]

Terminator 2. Ya, the metal man effects are kind of cheesy sometimes, but the movie still holds up.

And as Happosai mentioned above, movies didn't rely so much on CGI and actors spending all their time in front of green screens.

They actually did something called...... walking in a real life set or city.

By comparison, I watched the first Avengers movie again recently................ Hoo boy, it does not hold up.

During the invasion scene at the end it looks like human actors are fighting people in a video game. It's really bizarre.

 

[Happosai]

Movies were far better in the 80's/90's.

Same with Anime. 80's/90's OVAs and high budget movies have much better detail/animation than current anime. They used to put a lot of money and detail into hand drawn animation but the bubble burst when anime became mainstream in the west. Computers/CGI only made things worse for anime.

Western cartoons also suck now. I think the peak was the Looney Tunes era (amazing animation quality and humor). After then it got progressively worse with animation becoming cheaper and the style more kid friendly and politically correct. But it was still OK during the 80's. Not so much in the 90's. Today they are at the worst state i have seen 2D animation ever being, at least when we are talking about kids/family stuff.

Non-animated TV series are far better now though.

No doubt these movies are a touch long. Could probably shave 15 minutes off them. But I can watch these over and over again.

You won't find these kinds of movies in the 2000s. And if you do they are probably shit.

Problem is the people movie studios want to make money off gravitate to CGI and explosions every 5 seconds. Or a Pixar cartoon.

In my pros list in defense of late 20th-Century film making being better...I mentioned suspense. Look at Alien (I created a whole thread for the franchise. I get that the first in 1979 but they Alien takes over an hour to appear. Any monster/alien movie today won't wait longer than 5-minutes to pop -up during the start.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

Also 12 monkeys in the 90s might be my favorite movie.

Fight Club is missing, too.

 

[DetectiveBananas]

Well let’s just say it was all down hill after this masterpiece premiered...

 

[TrainedRage]

Yes...

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Pretty much agree.

I would say the late 70s was the start of a revolution.... Star Wars, Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Balls: The Motion Picture, etc.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I’d say non superhero movies for adults were better in the 80s - 90s. Too many films these days are subpar reboots/sequels. Just this year I have been watching a lot of retro movies for the first time like Rambo 1-3, Commando, Predator etc. and they just get the job done, modern movies are just getting too complicated.

This is another good point.

So many movies today seem to pander to being "hip" and "cool" and for young crowds or older nerds/fanboys whereas more films back then were a bit more 'mature' it seems.

Even superhero movies like Superman with Christopher Reeves had a lot finese and elegance compared to cookie cutter MCU.

But yeah they weren't do afraid of R-rated action films.

 

[teezzy]

Everything was better in the 80's.

Tell that to my two best friends: Video games and heavy metal.

 

[GermanZepp]

They weren't. I re watch some classics from my childhood and they don't hold up. There are exceptions of course. Mainstrem movies today are mostly garbage though.

 

[Happosai]

By comparison, I watched the first Avengers movie again recently................ Hoo boy, it does not hold up.

During the invasion scene at the end it looks like human actors are fighting people in a video game. It's really bizarre.

Then you have to imagine...how will it hold up in 10-20 more years? In 2025, they'll likely have an Avengers prequel trilogy. Cunth made a thread about how those movies could have easily been cut down at least 1-hour. Bottom line, we had a treasure of movies 35-40 + years ago; now we've got whitewashed trash.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I’d say non superhero movies for adults were better in the 80s - 90s. Too many films these days are subpar reboots/sequels. Just this year I have been watching a lot of retro movies for the first time like Rambo 1-3, Commando, Predator etc. and they just get the job done, modern movies are just getting too complicated.

How many Spiderman reboots have their been?!

 

[#Phonepunk#]

This is also why I think I would be perfectly happy to just watch 80's and early 90's film in a drive thru for a few years. Took the kiddos to see the Goonies and it was pretty magical.

next weekend is a Goonies/Beetlejuice double feature at the drive in near me. i'm like, damn, that is 4 hours of heaven.

Pretty much agree.

I would say the late 70s was the start of a revolution.... Star Wars, Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Balls: The Motion Picture, etc.

yes. it's important to look at the history of the industry too. the 60s-70s had the collapse of the studio system, the rise of the independent filmmaker. this occurred with had the first generation of trained people who went to "film school". which itself was kind of a new thing, and not yet blanded down into formula-and-software based filmmaking like the corporate culture we have today.

the interesting thing is, none of this was "totally new never before seen" but in a way it was. Close Encounters and ET and Alien are basically 70s big budget prestigue movie updates on the UFO b-movies of the 50s and 60s that these filmmakers grew up watching. Star Wars is a mix of a bunch of Lucas's childhood (meaning ages 0-early 20s) like spaghetti westerns and Flash Gordon all rolled together.

the trick is, they took something old, then told THEIR OWN VERSION OF IT. George Lucas didn't just drop Frankenstein's monster in there, he made Darth Vader. Harold Ramis didn't just remake Abbott and Costello Meet the Wolfman, he combined horror and comedy into something new. Joe Dante didn't just remake and old monster movie, he created Gremlins. they mined the dead body of nostalgia for new works but they didn't fall into the trap of trying to necromancer the corpse itself back to life.

the new people just straight up use the original IP, characters and all, without bothering to reinterpret them through their own eyes and actually make something new. i think this is one reason the Mary Sue or fan insert is so popular. the creator has done no creating, there is nothing of themselves in the work if he makes, say, another Star Wars. so they use the IP to glorify their own egos, whether that be reliving their childhood (JJ making Han Solo like his favorite version of him and rebooting the ST to have the same plot as the films of his childhood) or "subverting expectations" (Rian Johnson doing the opposite of what you expect in a desperate attempt to look original). the end result is hollow and soulless and i would argue not really creative at all.

 

[Master Of Illusion]

Not necessarily, but most great movies coming out usually slip under the cultural radar (especially now that there's a million entertainment options), which is also a byproduct of studios not willing to give bigger budgets to filmmakers for original IP (PR & advertising is a huge chunk of this).