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Would you say we are in a new golden age of movies?

686 views 26 replies 22 participants last post by  Gorilla Killa 
#1 ·
I was reading the Datasat RS20i review on SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity when the reviewer said this:

We are in the midst of a new golden age of movies. This goes for movies of all kinds, but especially in terms of movies with significant special effects. The ongoing improvements in film-making technology mean that we have a huge number of movies these days that really let you get away from it all better than ever. I love being able to spend a few hours living a fantasy – it’s good for my psyche!
Would you agree?

Link to review: http://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/receiver-processor/datasat-rs20i-surround-sound-processor-review/
 
#2 ·
Well, it's never black and white. The enormous number of remakes, reboots, endless sequels, etc... don't argue for much of a golden age. All that stuff is more trying to live off of an age already passed. It does allow for folks to make movies more cheaply (in some cases, obviously really serious f/x are often way more expensive than doing it practical if that's at all possible) and that opens the door for more risks to be taken because the consequences aren't necessarily going to be business fatal. But maybe high quality digital cameras have more to do with that in general than f/x?

It definitely makes it easier to make a completely story/emotion/character development-free movie, and spend a lot of money doing it.
 
#4 · (Edited)
When was the "previous golden age of movies" and what defined it? What defines the "new golden age of movies"?

If the primary criteria are interesting stories, well-crafted dialogue, striking cinematography and strong acting, I don't know that this "age of movies" is any more "golden" than any other "age of movies".

If the primary criterion is special effects, then I guess we probably are in a "new golden age of movies".
 
#5 ·
For me, no. When drivel like the Marvel movies are selling like mad it just says that the audience is stupid to me. The last real true cinematic experience I had was The Revenant. Most movies are made for a teenage attention span these days.
 
#12 · (Edited)
As mentioned, whatever the public will buy is what gets made the most. We are almost always the cause of all problems. Of course there are LOTS of really good movies being made all the time, they just don't have big advertising budgets so most folks never hear about them and they probably usually barely break even, if that. Once in a while one will break out.

The biggest single contributing factor, it seems to me, is that it's a completely proven phenomenon that people will give a movie a chance if it has someone in it they recognize or like, whereas one with no recognizable actors will just get browsed by (I was going to say walked by but no one walks by movies anymore.) That is the starting point of a downward cycle.

So now, the bean counters are thinking, well, that means we have to have really well known people in every movie. And of course really well known people don't come cheap. They may be almost as big an expense as the actual production costs of the movie (maybe bigger in some cases?) And those folks don't want to work on a dinky movie with a non-legendary director. Now, the movie that could have been made for $5M cost $100M to make. So now it's a huge gamble and if it tanks it could be a disaster. So, we can't let it tank. So we go over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure that it's as completely generic as possible, that every known standard plot element and cliche is incorporated, that nothing risky is done, that the story arc is perfect and completely and happily wrapped up at the end. We pass it through five sets of script writers, each one of which makes it more generic. Then we spend another $50M promoting it, with materials that are covered with pictures of those well known people making one of their three standard faces, extra points if holding a gun and scowling or half naked (or both.)

Then, of course, people see the deluge of content with pictures of well known naked people scowling and holding guns and they go to that movie instead of the incredibly creative, quirky $1M movie with people they've never heard of. And the cycle continues.
 
#13 ·
I am an old fart and enjoy old movies more than new ones.

CGI cannot compare with good acting or good script.
 
#14 ·
In our current cash grab society we are going to get way more spidermans or whatever than Apocalypse Now. Dean (Johnson) is right ;). As long as people are Hoovering up this fluff, the studios will keep regurgitating the same zero calorie stuff over and over again. More like the pot metal age.
 
#15 ·
we are not in the golden age.

main problem is the action scen ein movies. take for example captain america 3. again cut/action/cut scenes were you hardly can make out what is happening.

every action movie should have long 1 shots, like gravity, avatar, birdman and revenant for example. once that is the standard then and only then are we in the golden age of movies.

other then that. we are pretty much there. awesome tv series, awesome movies. hardly have time to watch it all.
 
#16 ·
With all the remakes, reboots and re-imaging of original films, I would say no.

Maybe the rust belt age, but certainly no golden one.

Seggers
 
#17 ·
No. We are not. Not movies.

TV?

YES

TV has never been better with such a diverse range of programs for adults, families, men, women, nerds(people here :) ), etc...

And it all began in 1999 with The Sopranos. And it is still going on.

The BEST entertainment is coming from TV, not the movies. And that includes new places like Netflix, Amazon, etc...
 
#20 ·
Disney's entire film strategy typifies the industry right now - rely on movies with a brand name and cross platform tie in potential. Spend a fortune on them and release very few of them.

Disney has always released animation and live action adventure. But remember the later 80s/90s when Disney was releasing tons of different things:

comedies (Touchstone Pictures) - Three Men and a Baby, Splash, Pretty Woman, Sister Act
thrillers (Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures) - Enemy of the State, The Rock, Ransom, Crimson Tide
family (Walt Disney Pictures) - Blank Check, Newsies, Iron Will, Mighty Ducks, Heavyweights
drama (Miramax) - Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting
horror (Dimension/Touchstone) - Scream, The Sixth Sense, From Dusk til Dawn

Most of those didn't turn into franchises, but that I was able to rattle them off from memory means they were an important part of my moving going life. Now they have:

Star Wars/Indiana Jones (Lucasfilm)
Marvel (Marvel Entertainment)
Animation (Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation)
4 quadrant live action -animation remakes, Pirates of the Caribbean (Walt Disney Pictures)

I like a lot of what they're making now but I don't see it lasting forever.
 
#21 ·
It's pretty hard to argue we're in a golden age of movies but I'd definitely argue we're in a golden age of television. GOT is the best fantasy going. The best comedic movies don't hold a candle to many TV shows and there are a vast amount of exciting and interesting dramas.

Even the best of the last few years have mostly been existing IPs and reboots. The most lauded films like boyhood last year are just cliches of cliches. Long form dramas are where exciting stories are being told right now.
 
#22 ·
We are witnessing the decline of Home Theater since 3D for the homeviewer is going down while surviving in the Movie Theater. 3D will be out of reach soon, it will take a number of years before the HFR arrives at the house. Soon Home Theater enthusiasts will only be able to partially emulate the Movie Theater experience no matter how much money ones throw at it...no golden age..more like a downer period for lots of people.
 
#23 ·
We will not move into another golden age of filmmaking until the attached insanity stops.
 

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#26 ·
There are always plenty of good movies being made, you sometimes just have to find them because they aren't going to find you, unless you are mostly into blowed up real good big budget stuff. I don't know so much about this year because I only watch DVDs from Netflix so I'm always a bit behind the times, but a quick scan through my list from last year I see:

1. Pawn Sacrifice
2. Trumbo
3. Blackhat
4. Spotlight
5. The Big Short
6. The Martian
7. Guidance
8. She's Funny That Way
9. Paper Towns
10. Tomorrowland
11. Z for Zachariah
12. Cut Bank
13. The Age of Adaline
14. Love, Rosie
15. While We're Young
16. Ex Machina
17. Predestination


And there were as many or more from 2014. And I'm never actually looking for new movies, those just happened to be ones that came out last year (that I now notice as I look through the list) and I somewhere between liked and really liked. There were probably more that I missed as I was scanning the list.
 
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