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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#321

Post by dawnerd »

bloomingeek wrote: post #284
tyjen wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last movie we attended people were incredibly disruptive throughout the film, to the point that it was difficult to focus on the film. Some people enjoy screaming, laughing, and talking as part of the experience, but it's apparently been normalized beyond my tolerance threshold. Add in the cost and overall movie quality decrease of Hollywood productions, and it's difficult to justify. Presently, we watch foreign…

Sort of off topic, but almost the same can be said for music concerts. During slower or softer songs, people can be heard talking and laughing loudly. I get it, they paid their money, same as us, but we didn't pay to hear them.

Just went to a very small show, 200 tickets but lots of no shows. Maybe 100 people there total. The folks at the bar were so rude to the talent just loudly talking over them. I just don’t get it.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#322

Post by fhdkweig »

jrowen wrote: post #203
vl wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There just aren’t as many good new movies. Is this true, or you just can’t discover them anymore because everything else competes for your attention? Arguably in the last decade more great content in both movies and TV shows produced than ever, it’s just so much, that it’s hard to choose.

I recently watched A League of Their Own and Die Hard . In my opinion, these movies are just categorically different from what's being made today, are still totally compelling start to finish, and really capture the magic and the high art of the golden age of cinema. I truly believe movies were just better 30-40 years ago. That was the era of "every second counts." Every second has meaning and purpose and adds someth…

> I truly believe movies were just better 30-40 years ago.

That's the problem with nostalgia, you don't remember all the bad movies you had to watch just to get those two gems. Someone probably suggested those movies rather than you stumbling onto them. That's pretty much the job of a critic. Siskel and Ebert in the 1980s would often talk about the pain of having to sit through hours of awful movies every week just so that they could find one or two worth recommending.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#323

Post by JoeJonathan »

WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

Not a conventional theater, but I recently went to Vidiots in Los Angeles and enjoyed myself so much I went back a week later. The location I went to has two theaters—37 seat and 270 seat, both with comfortable seating and an excellent picture/sound. Most people who go are kind of movie nerds, so everyone was super respectful. And they don't really play blockbusters, so you don't get that kind of crowd. They seem to be doing well, and I really hope the model works and is reproducible.

Oh, and it was $11 for one of the tickets, $13 for another. I don't remember how much a beer cost, but it was on par with (and maybe less than) local bars.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#324

Post by rdtsc »

vl wrote: post #184
rdtsc wrote: post #17

There just aren’t as many good new movies. Most movies we watch at home are from decades ago. If we didn’t have streaming maybe we’d go to the movies more often, but it’s hard to say. A few movies we watched are not worth the money. To stay afloat they have to raise ticket prices, but if we’re paying so much, the movie better be absolutely outstanding, and the are just not usually, so we stopped going.

> There just aren’t as many good new movies. Is this true, or you just can’t discover them anymore because everything else competes for your attention? Arguably in the last decade more great content in both movies and TV shows produced than ever, it’s just so much, that it’s hard to choose.

> Is this true, or you just can’t discover them anymore because everything else competes for your attention?

There is an element of that perhaps: from the past we already have a great number of movies. The more time passes the more great movies will accumulate, so newer movies will be judges compared to that whole set.

However, at the same thinking how many times I was exciting about a movie and how much I liked it. There are lot of fewer of them in the recent times.

> Arguably in the last decade more great content in both movies and TV shows produced than ever,

I could see the quantity but not the quality. Netflix produced a lot of shows and movies, Hollywood did, but I don't think as many good ones in there as say in the decades of 1990-2000 or 2000-2010. Tastes of course are subjective, you may just like newer movies they make that's fine, too.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#325

Post by ozim »

mschuster91 wrote: post #303
dylan604 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the criteria for me to go to the theater was the big screen and big sound would really add to the experience. The last film I saw in the theater was was so loud that it physically hurt and ruined the experience. As you say with the image quality being as high at home now plus a decent surround system really makes the theater experience at home very enjoyable.

If you got a house of your own, yes. If you are in an urban area and are not a millionaire, you probably live in some kind of apartment or studio. And yes, you can stick up a projector and a good surround system... but it might be that the builder cut corners on the floors and your neighbors already come knocking when you are talking , much less turn up the audio system to a tenth of the sound pressure a good cinema…

I do live in an apartment and I am far from a millionaire.

I don't have any of the problem - but I don't have "cinema sound system" as I mentioned whatever I have must have just clear sound and clear doesn't mean loud. I don't need "sound experience" to enjoy a movie.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#326

Post by mentalgear »

JoeJonathan wrote: post #323
WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

Not a conventional theater, but I recently went to Vidiots in Los Angeles and enjoyed myself so much I went back a week later. The location I went to has two theaters—37 seat and 270 seat, both with comfortable seating and an excellent picture/sound. Most people who go are kind of movie nerds, so everyone was super respectful. And they don't really play blockbusters, so you don't get that kind of crowd. They seem to…

> they don't really play blockbusters

This seems key, the more comments I read here about cinema theatres and their crowds. Maybe the local (indie) cinematheque is the best movie theatre for money/quality ratio.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#327

Post by vasac »

socalgal2 wrote: post #218
alwa wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I chose to watch a movie in a theater instead of the comfort of my home, I went for the raucous audience aspect of the experience.

There's a middle ground. I go for the laughter and reaction of the audience. I don't go to hear the 2 people behind me have a conversation during the movie. Nor do I go to have people critiquing the movie out loud as we're watching it. I certainly don't go to watch people pop out their phones and scroll through social media or check their messages.

One of my better cinema experiences was watching Austin Powers 3 at the theater in some random late-morning screening where there were only three friends and me in the hall, plus two elderly ladies in their 70s. They were laughing so hard that the movie became even funnier for us, because you somehow wouldn’t expect them to find it that hilarious.

Also, growing up in a small town in Yugoslavia in the 80s definitely didn’t guarantee a top-tier cinema experience, to put it mildly. But the feeling I had watching the James Bond opening credits from a damaged film reel, with frayed subtitles projected from a decades-old projector, is something I can never quite recreate when watching on a 4K screen from a perfect source. So there's that.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#328

Post by amelius »

g947o wrote: post #114
WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

Then I guess you aren't familiar with the 20 minutes of trailers, 1 minute of Cocacola ad and 2 minutes of other completely irrelevant content before the movie actually begins.

Just bring your smartphone and a headphone.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#329

Post by amelius »

baxtr wrote: post #276
the__alchemist wrote: post #39

My 2c: They should stop concentrating on appealing to the broadest audience. Formulaic heros' journeys, franchises, predictable characters acted by the same narrow set of the the most-attractive people etc. Safety and mass-market appeal over creativity. For contrast: Books, non-AAA video games, and movies from smaller studios still produce high-quality, creative efforts I continue to be excited about. Big-budget movi…

I miss the inner journeys mostly. The heroic journey is boring if the hero doesn’t change.

Modern youth cannot relate to that. They just browse their smartphones without emotion. Inner journey is not a concept they understand.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#330

Post by SoftTalker »

tuna74 wrote: post #258
SoftTalker wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they get first-run releases? Around here AMC has some sort of exclusive on that. And their theatres are disgusting. Sticky floors, dirty seats, just gross. I haven't been to a movie in a theater in at least 10 years.

If you are expressing your judgement based on experiences from more than 10 years ago you are not really contributing to the discussion.

Admittedly, it was a while ago. But from what I've heard from friends who've been recently, it's no better, possibly worse.
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