Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

Post by groundzeros2015 » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 1:56 AM UTC

cyanydeez wrote: post #42

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…

not appealing to the masses is DEI; perfect robotic formula are just common sense. Obviously.

Post by fhdkweig » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 1:56 AM UTC

jrowen wrote: post #344

fhdkweig wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 s…

I'm talking about the best of the best though, the top of the form at the time. Yes those are classics and for good reason. But there were also lots more. Lucas, Kubrick, Spielberg, Lynch...feels like they just don't make 'em like that anymore. It's crazy that in some ways nothing has really eclipsed a movie from 1977 and we're still awash in its glow. I tried to provide specific examples and contrast with something…

Post by HDThoreaun » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC

pipes wrote: post #270

tombert wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasoning doesn't particularly matter to me, honestly. Whether or not it they need to charge a second mortgage to cover the cost of the theater isn't really my problem; these are for-profit companies, I don't need to do them any favor. Popcorn cost basically nothing to make at home, especially if you buy the raw kernels and pop them yourself, and I can rent a 4k version of a movie for like three dollars on Amazon…

Everyone I know with an Espresso machine still goes to coffee shops. Beer is cheaper from a super market but everyone I know prefers pubs. For some reason this does not hold with cinemas. I way prefer the escapism of the cinema to sitting in my house surrounded by my usual ambient domestic Todo list. Sure I have a very good oled, amazing surround sound, but I'd take the cinema every time. But I can't due to kids. How…

Post by HDThoreaun » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 2:05 AM UTC

jayd16 wrote: post #406

JoeJonathan wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

At least in LA/Hollywood movies still hold a little bit of respect. People are in here complaining about trailers before a movie, like it's not a 100 year tradition.

Post by AniseAbyss » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 2:07 AM UTC

mosura wrote: post #301

ozim wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With current TV setups or projector technology I basically have cinema in my living room. As a kid who grew up in 90’s I would say it is easily better than what cinema had back then. I don’t have that high expectations of sound/video as many people will point out that streaming kills the quality but for all its worth still much better than what I need to enjoy a movie.

Back pre digital I was once lucky enough to see Aliens on one of the private cinemas at Fox, and it was astounding. I think people underestimate how poorly operated most normal cinemas used to be, combined with maybe not the best prints etc.