Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis • Hacker News Board

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#541

Post by alternatetwo » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 9:08 PM UTC

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.

Recent good movies, just going in release order off my letterboxd, although I have to be careful to include only "Hollywood" here:

- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - beautifully shot and a beautiful theme about what humanity is

- One Battle After Another - it's PTA, all his movies are good

- Bugonia - incredible dark comedy

- Weapons - fun little horror comedy movie

- Sinners - just won an oscar for the soundtrack, not a perfect movie but a fun watch with some incredible scenes

- Companion

- Nosferatu - incredibly atmospheric

- The Surfer - total trip with good old Nicholas Cage

- Love Lies Bleeding - just a fun, a bit crazy movie

- Dream Scenario - another trippy Cage movie

- Poor Things

- Oppenheimer ...

- Renfield

- The Menu

- The Banshees of Insherin

- Barbarian (same director as Weapons)

- Prey

- Bullet Train - fun action movie

- The Northman

- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

- Everything Everywhere All At Once

- The Invisible Man - most effective horror movie I've ever seen

- The Gentlemen

- Joker -how close can you get to looking like Taxi Driver without being Taxi Driver ...

- The Vast of Night - some scenes that really draw you in and pretty nostalgic

in 2019 now, so I won't continue, but there are plenty of good movies made nowadays, and I won't say I've seen even a close amount of them from the past few years. Of course I'm watching these at home, not in theatres, so that's certainly an argument.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#542

Post by dpark » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

butlike wrote: post #538

dpark wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the typical reply of the inconsiderate. “If my behavior is so problematic, then you should stay home.” The problem isn’t with “human presence”. It’s with the select few who can’t or won’t control their own behavior out of respect for others.

As a musician I ask if the music is so fragile it can't stand up to some extraneous background noise, is it really worth listening to? Also, if the music feels bad enough to where people find talking to each other more pleasant than listening, isn't that the fault of the 'sensory experience?'

It really depends on the music and the background noise? Talking (more likely yelling) in the middle of a rock concert? Probably not an issue. I’m wearing earplugs anyway. Holding a conversation in the middle of a quiet passage during an orchestra performance? Everyone near you wants you to shut up.

It’s like people talking through a comedy show. Saying something quietly to the person next to you? Whatever. Talking loudly for 20 minutes? Get the fuck out. Go talk to your friends at a bar and let people who came to hear the act enjoy the act.

> if the music feels bad enough to where people find talking to each other more pleasant than listening

But then leave. If you don’t like the show, it’s totally fair for you to just get up and go. Talking through a show you don’t care about and disturbing people who do want to be there? Why?

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#543

Post by pipes » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 9:29 PM UTC

pwthornton wrote: post #393

pipes wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I would generally agree with you except for three points: 1) the price of going to the cinema has surged so much that you have to budget for it in a way you didn't before. 2) I can pause a movie at any time and go to the bathroom or get a new drink. The lack of intermission during longer movies at the theater is rough. 3) The behavior of moviegoers continues to decline. In particular, people with untreated ADHD const…

In cinemas in the UK that I've been to, the ushers actively tells people to turn off their screens, there's also announcements at the start saying this.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#544

Post by pezezin » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 10:35 PM UTC

garbawarb wrote: post #525

pezezin wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny that you mention Japan, because I live here and I swear 90% of Japanese movies/dramas/animes are just rehashes of the same ideas over and over again. I guess only the good stuff gets exported.

Korea too, and any other country. There are some great movies that push the boundaries of storytelling but those are just as rare as great American movies.

I guess every country is the same, the main outlier being the USA, who exports pretty much everything to push their culture.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#545

Post by HoldOnAMinute » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 10:53 PM UTC

delichon wrote: post #70

The little dinosaurs are ignoring the great big elephants in the room: gaming. The article doesn't mention it. The market for video games in 2024 was around $225B, compared to movies at around $33B. Hollywood has worked very hard not to realize that their industry has become niche and have succeeded. My last week may be an indicator. I've watched zero TV or movies but have spent about 40 hours helping a small colony…

If you like movies, and you like scrappy beavers, then you might enjoy this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundreds_of_Beavers

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#546

Post by xadhominemx » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

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.

I spend much less than that at a chain theater in Manhattan.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#547

Post by pheouk » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC

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.

Regals unlimited pass and their snack saver has made movies a no brainer for me and my friends coupled with their monthly themed events showing older movies we almost always have multiple things we want to see and often go multiple times a week, especially during the gloomier winter months!

At last check i was at almost 25 visits this year, just saw F1 again on saturday and off to see Project Hail Mary tonight

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#548

Post by boca_honey » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 11:40 PM UTC

throwaway91827 wrote: post #494

simianwords wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m not sure. Beyond the slop many of the classics were deeply racist and built on immoral exploitation. Yes all those artists did great work but they did it in terrible conditions for where near enough pay. This is so naive, I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are. Hollywood is the first window into the western way of life for many third worlders. And if you knew how the third world really is, they are mu…

Just trying to understand your point here- so non-westerners are primitive and irrational, unlike the West, led by Donald Trump, champion of rational, elevated discourse?

He's right. Moral self-righteousness aside, Hollywood was a window for many of us in "developing countries" to a better world. Yeah, it was an idealized version of reality, but that's how many of us discovered science, athleticism or sexual freedom, for example.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#549

Post by rdtsc » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 2:35 AM UTC

alternatetwo wrote: post #541

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.

Recent good movies, just going in release order off my letterboxd, although I have to be careful to include only "Hollywood" here: - 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - beautifully shot and a beautiful theme about what humanity is - One Battle After Another - it's PTA, all his movies are good - Bugonia - incredible dark comedy - Weapons - fun little horror comedy movie - Sinners - just won an oscar for the soundtrack,…

2000s list:

  * The Dark Night
  * The Lord of the Rings (3x)
  * City of God
  * The Departed
  * Donny Darko
  * Memento
  * WALL-E
  * The Prestige
  * Road to Perdition
  * Kill Bill
  * O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  * Hotel Rwanda
  * 28 Days Later
  * Snatch
  * The Pianist
  * There Will Be Blood
  * Children of Men
  * Gangs of New York
  * The Aviator
  * Minority Report
  * Gladiator
  * Catch Me If You can

It think it's a whole other level. Most if not all of those are in the IMDb top 100 of all time.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#550

Post by taftster » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 3:46 AM UTC

bdz wrote: post #197

taftster wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. To say "good riddance" to Hollywood scares me. Like we are giving up and accepting generated slop and influencers from now on. There's a lot of bad movies, but just as you said, very few mediums have thusly pierced through across cultures and societies quite like Hollywood.

>To say "good riddance" to Hollywood scares me It should only scare you if you are ignorant. >very few mediums have thusly pierced through across cultures and societies quite like Hollywood This is laughable if you look at video games and music EVEN if you ignore everything american. Not mention Asia from Bollywood to Kpop to anime to HK cinema.

The modern age of video games, that's probably correct. And you're right, music probably compares at some level, especially given that it predates cinema. I wonder if ancient theater (Shakespeare, et al) would qualify. Probably.

I did, for the record, say "very few mediums", so as to allow room for music or video games, perhaps. I still stand by the overall statement that losing Hollywood would mark some sort of tragedy (but maybe not universally).

Also, I wouldn't go as far to say that losing what we know of in current celebrity status by certain actors would be missed. Though influencers are probably more grotesque to some (including myself).