I'm responding to an older comment but if you're still looking for replies here's mine:
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Catherine-Mullins — 12 years ago(November 28, 2013 05:25 AM)
ROFLOL!
Why is it that other people my age have no attention span when it comes to movies? It's like they need a movie with either no plot, a ton of CGI, or lots and lots of lame, disgusting jokes to hold their attention. To me, a movie can be over three hours long and still manage to entertain. A movie can have a couple of scenes of nothing but dialogue. A movie can pull off a battle scene with realistic amounts of explosions and fire. A movie doesn't need to go over the top with every single detail in order to hold one's attention.
All the comments you made are just spot on. That's exactly how I felt in highschool and still do now (early 30's). Get used to feeling alone.
It was just ironic to come across this post because I was thinking the same thing. I don't understand the obsession with CGI. To me it looks almost as fake as cartoons. And if I have to sit through another every-joke-is-cruder-than-the-next movie I'll puke.
In fact, it had been so long since I saw a decent plot driven, multi-faceted, film with three dimensional characters, that while I was watching it for the first time, I was like "what is this incredible feelling that's coming over me? My brain feels stimulated, , my eyes pleased,
and
my heart gripped? It's too good to be true." Then, when the feelling didn't end, and the film became more and more engrossing, I felt like I'd just won the lotto. A movie that made me think and feel at the same time? I thought I'd seen all those,and was doomed to the same marvel comic strip repeated in different forms over and over again(Spiderman and Thor are fun, but less than fulfilling)
I'm sorry your friends can't appreciate this, but it's their loss. They may be innocent victims of the A-D-D entertainment universe that afflicts the modern world. Just enjoy the fact that you haven't been spoilt by it yet (and hopefully not ever), and seek out the satisfying films along with the "popcorn" ones. -
rready4198-693-489748 — 11 years ago(June 11, 2014 07:48 PM)
huggin_possums, I believe it has a lot to do with having too much "visual" and not enough "imagination." It has been happening over the last 30 or 40 years. I noticed it in my children, niece and nephew (all born between 1968 and 1978). They do not want to think and want the answer to everything without watching the whole show. I use to have to say, "Hands on lips" just to watch a program and Lord help me if a movie was on! The radios use to have the stories on them so you listened and let your imagination do the work for you. Television dawned and it was all overI know I am a television addict but I also read. That is the last place for the imagination to fill in the blanks. You should have put your friends out if they could not be polite enough to sit stillbut that is another problem young people have todaysitting still!
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marcellis_robinson — 11 years ago(August 14, 2014 08:22 PM)
Oh, how standards have been lowered over the past 30 years or so. I'm 56, and I began noticing around 1980 how the movies were becoming more and more childish. Fewer good scripts being written, fewer actors who know their craft, fewer directors with literate sensibilities, more studio executives for whom maximizing profit is their sole criterion for greenlighting a movie project.
The end result: Fewer movies like Sand Pebbles, Serpico, or Great Santini. More movies like Happy Gilmore, Rambo, Titanic and Shrek. A great number of dumbed down movies, for a dumbed down audience. Because that is where the most profit is. -
residentevil6901 — 11 years ago(August 24, 2014 08:25 PM)
I think youth has a lot to do with that, when I was young it was all about action movies and stuff, for example a movie like 1990's Presumed Innocent I hated but love it now. The older I got the more patience I would get and I had more of an appreciation for other kinds of movies that I didn't like when I was young. It could also be the intelligence level of some people lol
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JFMJJ88 — 11 years ago(February 18, 2015 10:40 AM)
In my view,
2001: A Space Odyssey
is the greatest film of all time. For many people,
2001
is boring. Why should I criticize those people for being bored by it? I've always found the original
Halloween
dull. Am I wrong? Of course not. I am neither wrong or right to be bored by
Halloween
, and others are not wrong or right to be bored by
2001: A Space Odyssey
.
Some seem to make too much of their subjective opinions. Many of those who have responded to the OP arrogantly imply that those who don't share their taste in cinema are somehow stupid, or that films are objectively of a lower quality today than in times past. How ridiculous. That a movie entertains you does not mean that it is objectively entertaining and that those are not entertained by it are idiots denying an objective fact. Not enough people seem to appreciate that. -
dannieboy20906 — 10 years ago(May 25, 2015 09:34 AM)
Nevertheless, the OP makes a valid point. I agree with his observation, if it was his intent to make that observation, that the overall attention span of the general public along with their appreciation for sophisticated film exposition has declined greatly over the last two generations. I use "generations" only as a short hand for the time that has lapsed, as in about forty years. I remember both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas discussing in interviews that they were concerned that the revolution in special effects, especially the development of CGI would make writers and directors lazy. They were anxious that the modern capability to create fantastic visuals and phonics with special effects would take away from the desire to create drama. I think their fears have come to pass.
We still see the occasional Oscar nominee or winner that has great dramatic appeal. However, the big money makers are overwhelmingly sensual feasts with insipid plots. I like a roller coaster ride, sometimes. However, I also like someone to come along and make me think now and then. -
JFMJJ88 — 10 years ago(May 26, 2015 11:59 AM)
I agree with some of what you wrote, but there are plenty of small films released every year that may have what you're looking for. I wouldn't expect to see commercials for most of them, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist or are nearing extinction. While it is easy to remain unaware of such films if you do not live in a major city such as New York or Los Angeles, most of these movies eventually make their way onto VOD, DVD, BluRay, etc.
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dannieboy20906 — 10 years ago(May 26, 2015 12:38 PM)
I think you are right, also. Film exposition, the development of drama has been pushed downward onto smaller venues. The big 'blockbusters' put out by major sources of funding are predominantly, but not exclusively, designed to appeal to as many people as possible. Plots are kept as a simple framework around which to construct a lot of crash, bang, and boom. Serious explorations of interpersonal and individual internal drama must find its place on the internet, cable, or satellite venues.
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zwolf — 10 years ago(June 04, 2015 06:38 AM)
What's weird to me is a lot of people won't watch black and white movies. They just can't handle black and white. And if you cut out black and white, you're missing some of the greatest movies of all time. They're missing pretty much ALL of film noir!
Some people are just closed-minded. It's not all the younger ones, but, mostly. But, there are always some out there, like you, who appreciate the older films, and there probably always will be. So, there's hope.