I recently saw ‘Don’t Look Now’ (1973). Good picture, a little slow perhaps by today’s standards but worthy of any movie enjoyer’s time! So this movie was shot in Venice. Venice itself being an already beautiful spot to film even today. The way we get to look in a time capsule of Venice in the 70s makes the movie that much better!
People in the 70s could not in fact appreciate it the same way we do now. Concurrently we also can’t do it for today’s movies. Some movies can only be truly appreciated over time is what I believe. This matter can be expressed in both the movie’s message or, as I did, its cinematography. Hence my question now to you.
My vote goes to trading places, because it had both aged incredibly well (a tale of class solidarity against evil eugenics-peddling billionaires), and incredibly poorly (a story about nondiscrimination with that damn train scene right in the middle).
I’d also like yo mention RoboCop and American Psycho because their satirization of American hyper capitalism has only gotten more accurate. It really is depressing that we have the exact same social issues that we did in the 80s.
I’m trying to get the young lads at work (early 20s) to watch movies like Trading Places. All they want to watch is Fast n Furious.
Careful my guy. If you haven’t seen it in a while, Dan Akroyd does blackface. I think overall the movie has a positive message that fits in well today, but how they delivered that message only really hits if you’re a white guy from a couple decades back.
Was his blackface appropriate? It’s been so long since I saw that movie. There are certain circumstances where it is appropriate to wear blackface.
I’d say no. It is a bit gag, and Dan Akroyd is pretending to be a Jamaican stoner. Nothing stuck out to me as being intentionally hateful or shitty, just…really unfortunate taste.
Given the context of the rest of the film, I think it mainly comes from ignorance. I suspect that a writer’s room in 80s Hollywood wasn’t super diverse.
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Gold Diggers of 1933 - pre-Hayes Code and funny! It’s fast talking and much of it came across as modern to me.
Shawshank Redemption The Great Escape The Good the Bad and the Ugly Clerks
The Wicker Man (1974) is better every year and every viewing. That island gave him every chance to mind his own business.
I absolutely love the 70s Wicker Man!! It’s weird in the best possible way with Christopher Lee jamming it up to 11.
It also helps that the 2006 remake is hilariously bad in contrast.The only thing it gave us, is some quality time with Nicolas Cage and the bees.
Slap Shot. Crumbling hockey team, crumbling lives, a crumbling town, a crumbling American steel town, in the crumbling American Dream.
Nearly everything Terry Gilliam made has aged very well for me. He creates strange and interesting visual worlds that never really seem dated because they all sort of exist in their own time-space.
Also anything Jim Henson company touches seems to become immortal. Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are masterpieces.
And to a lesser degree Don Coscarelli has made some pretty timeless films. Beastmaster is still very watchable.
I was going to mention Brazil because it’s one of the great distopian films. And I don’t know how to describe 12 Monkeys, it’s just really good.
Gah! Now I need to go watch Dark Crystal again. That’s such a good movie, and I recently watched Labyrinth. I’ll cue it up, and then stick Brazil right behind.
Have you seen the Netflix Dark Crystal series? If not do yourself a favor- it’s great.
Loved that series. The only downside is it’s kind of depressing because, given that it’s set before the movie, you know how it ultimately has to end for the gelflings.
The Back to the Future films
The Goonies
I Showed the Goonies to a couple of young teens in my fam and they thought it was boring and weird… :( . Sucks to be them, missing out on this gem of a movie!
I wonder if young teens is too late? I think 8-10 is the prime range for that movie.
Excellent point! A new fam batch is brewing ages 2-4 right now, i’ll try again in a year or 6 😊
I’m going to tweak the OP a little bit to drop my movie unpopular opinion that I haven’t gotten to share here and say:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a damn fine, and more importantly, fun, addition the the franchise that deserves maybe a tenth of the hate it gets online. It’s pulpy, it’s cheesy, the writing swings between passable and unbelievable, and the plot is all of the place, both in tone and in narrative, but you know what: SO ARE ALL THE INDIANA JONES MOVIES!
I honestly think that if that vine swinging scene never left the editing bay that movie would be looked back on a lot better.
I envy your opinion and sadly cannot share it. It’s ok, I’ll just love the first three and take it as it comes.
Contrary to popular opinion, the infamous fridge scene is good. The second half of the movie is forgettable.
Yeah, no.
I’ll defend the fifth one, even if the opening feels like you’re watching somebody play a Naughty Dog Indiana Jones game, but not the fourth.
The fucking CGI gopher alone is enough, let alone the swinging with the monkeys bit or the fridge nuke. And even if you take all that out, it’s just not very good.
1 > 3 > 2 > 5 >>> 4
Demolition Man, they even predicted exactly how covid would work and when.
I still don’t know how to use the three seashells. 😞
Although it was most likely for humor, if I had to guess how it would work in their world, it’s probably akin to silverware, where each shell is used for a different poop texture.
Excuse me, could you pass a #2 seashell under the stall?
(Nightmarish bowel sounds)
Uhh, better make it a #3.
I saw Alien 1 just a couple of weeks ago for the first time and I was amazed how good it still looked. The design of the spaceship and the alien itself still looked amazing in 4k on an OLED TV. And also the story still seemed like a fresh idea. Of course there are moments with stupid acting people, but all in all the decisions made felt plausible and logical, not the normal stupid horror movie group. And also the story twist came (for me) as a real surprise and not like a thing you knew after the first 5min. (And I’m also surprised that after all these years it’s still a surprise, cause everybody knows the alien but not the story of the first movie?)
Alien 1 is in 4k?
Film is actually capable of holding way more detail than 4k. This is the crux of complaints when cinema projectors started to change from film to digital. I love it when old films get remastered in ultra high definition. It makes you realize that what the original audiences actually saw was much more high quality than what we associate with old films, like grain, burn spots, blur and stretching distortion, etc.
Yes, I think it was the 40th Anniversary release. Aliens is also supposed to be getting a 4K release soon.
Citizen Kane is still a wonderful film with well-drawn characters, great cinematography, and a relevant message: If you have a hole in your psyche, wealth alone won’t fill it.
Dark City
Dude just watched this! It slappeddd
I don’t want to give anything away for people, so I’ll just say that I never really appreciated the climax/ending part. It was pretty good up until that. I actually couldn’t help but start laughing the first time I saw it, which I doubt was the intended reaction. Basically the movie turns into schlock.
This movie needed an hour or so of extra plot to make a better ending. It’s like they ran out of film and had to wrap up faster than anticipated. It’s still an amazing and captivating film.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Greed is a poison.
I watched the kill bills last week again after not having watched them since they originally came out. It still feels fresh, both in dialogue and action, cinematography great. Incredible that some lost the brilliance in Tarantino’s penchant for a bit too much blood in a few scenes. It would be like not appreciating the Sistine chapel because there are nude angels depicted.
It would be like not appreciating the Sistine chapel because there are nude angels depicted.
That happened as it was being painted. The guy was then incorporated in the work as a nude demon who’s genitals were censored by a snake biting them off. He complained about his depiction to the Pope, who politely and snarkily told him to fuck off.
Messer Biagio, you know that I have from God power in heaven and on earth; but my authority does not extend into hell, and you must have patience if I cannot free you from there.
