Generational changes
 

Some of you probably know what I mean by this... I find myself sadly feeling left out of the current movie scene, and have for some time, and I suspect it's a generational thing.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s and those two decades are my favourite for TV and for movies. The 80s even more so than the 90s for movies, though the 90s still pwn everything else. I love that stuff.
Yet in the 00s I began to find myself first uninterested and then unsatisfied by what was on offer. I didn't really think about it at the time on an analytical sense, but it seems looking back now that it may have been the generational turnover. The style of movies was changing, and so were the actors. By the close of the 90s many of the actors I'd grew up with seemed to be petering out or disappearing - the likes of Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito etc - and of course in the early 00s both Arnie and Sean Connery hung up their hats.... and nobody really seemed to be replacing them.
Today I am much the same. Arnie's made something of a comeback, and the likes of Tom Cruise are still going (and still making good movies too) but I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of movies featuring actors I've hardly heard of or who do nothing for me. There are maybe a couple of actors in the "current generation" I like, but not very many.
I look at what's on offer at the local cinema this week, and am like "meh". Yet the other night I stuck The Naked Gun Blu ray on and laughed my arse off yet again.
Like I said, I didn't really think about this during the 00s - all I knew was that, suddenly, somehow, I just wasn't as interested or having as much fun as I used to. There were still a handful of very good films in the 00s, as there are in the current decade, but I think it is fair to say that I have realised it will never be quite the same again....


Sorry, that was long and probably rambling. And a tad maudlin too. ;)

I agree with you. Although this year will be a breath of fresh air with Jurassic World, Bond, Star Wars MI:5 and the Terminator films - when they hit dvd of course.

Totaly agree im like that in the last 15yrs or so not many films have grabbed my interest yes there some good films out there but you have dig deep to find them, unless youre a real movie buff/geek i havent a clue who half of the actors are. Years ago i use to enjoy going to the cinema now im struggling to find anything to make me go, few films i fancy but not enought to go and watch, that sometimes im going just for the sake of it or someone i know fancies it.
In 80/90 there was so many good and decent films you just didnt know where to start now i find so many films dont interest me i just dont know what to watch. Hence unless you know exactly what you want to watch you can spend a hr on likes of netflix etc end up watching something you seen before or nothing
The level of film making now is where it got to have to have big budgets, big names, loads of action, crash bang wallop style, cgi list is endless film trying to outdo each other, but forget one thing a realy good story if you want good horror and good stories etc then you need to watch j horrors or foreign films and the best and decent films get pushed into the background, you have to be into films to find them come across them by looking, research reading word of mouth, if you just someone who watches films just because the are there then all you ever see is the Hollywood style or films that shoved in youre face. Unless someone recommends them to you. I got few friends who claim their into films and yes they have knowledge of actors and big collection but mention something like troma or battle royal /basket case/last house on left / and they never heard of them and then just say thats because you watch shit films that nobodys interested in WRONG . No its not its because they only watch whats being pushed upfront and thats prime eg of what im getting at. Or they arent real film fans just film collectors there a difference
I watched neds few days ago to me thats how a film should be doesnt relie to much on violence etc, average budget with no real names and its character building with realistic and believabke characters. Well scripted made directed and at a lot of times realistic that fits in to how society is without going overboard. No matter how much or many films you like from past 10yrs or so most collectors buffs etc will always resort to films from eg 70/80/90 or even earlier, We dont have many horror directors like in years ago, wes craven Argento, Cronenberg, Fulci, etc etc todays horror just want to either outdo each other in the violence gore or controversial stakes, or they are tonned down to much to apeal for wider audience of ages from teanagers up. I not saying im right but just my personal opinion.

I fear that I have become Grandpa Simpson:

"I used to be "with it", but then they changed what "it" was, and now "it" confuses and frightens me". ;)

Ive got loads of friends like this!

"What shite films you been watching these days?"

Never heard of it = must be shite.

Some of them humour me to a point but they won't give anything I put on a chance, and they'll start rolling their eyes and huffing at the opening credits while scanning the room for approval, then they talk all the way through.

Then there's the other people I know who say the The Shawshank Redemption is their favourite film and the best film ever made *hands down*. Call me a snob but I generally don't try to talk to the Shawshank people about movies!

Shawshank redemption people put in the category of a prison film, well sorry but i dont yes it is about a prison but i wouldnt put it in a prison catagory, to me a prison film is exactly what it states a prison film, eg short eyes, glass house, midnight express even tho not quite a prison film but more or less along same lines but based in a borstal scum..

Each to their own i have some knowledge of films but i have a bad memory and forget who stars in what and at same time to be honest ive gave up in learning who's who in films. But i should know more tho.
But i know exactly what you mean. Most of people i know dont even have a clue that a lot of the films they watch are remakes or wont give subtitle film a look.
Like stated can mention to them lots of famous films and they are baffled or not interested because its not main stream. And like you said as well they just look at you and complain why would i want to shit films, yes there that shit that still being talked about and collected 30years later while half of todays well known films are forgotten about in less than 5yrs.

I am sadly of the left behind generation and find myself buying and looking forward to what's coming out in the straight to DVD/Blu section of the films rather then looking at the what's at the cinema listings.

The only film I have seen at the cinema this year was Fast 7, even that was far too over the top. I was looking forward to watching a Van Damme film that day. How bad Is that?

Only watched a handful of films in the cinema since 2000 but some were actually good. ;)
Probably more than in the 90's when I dreaded going to the cinema (there still were some good films around but compared to the 80's it was slim pickings).

I also watched "newer films" on dvd from time to time and found some to my liking in there. :)

When you consider i went almost every week to watch a film at the cinema throughout the 90's i've been just once since i saw The Two Towers in 2002. That was on a date and we saw Inside Man...in 2006.

Buying dvd's completely killed the cinema experience for me. When dvd's first appeared you could buy region one blockbusters before they hit UK cinemas so that was the end of cinema going for me.