I kinda dispute the original premise...that they dont make good films "like this".
Every year there are some good pictures...or TV shows....most are never that memorable....Some leave their mark....The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Jaws, whatever.
Somehow a movies feels different if you see it for the first time in a first run theater..
If you want modern contemplative movies...perhaps you have to look towards The English Patient, or Juno....
Stand By Me certainly struck lightning in a bottle...
But there is lots of good stuff being generated these days...You wont know how good until years down the road and its still being talked about. TV has more channels and longer more complex formats...Some things which would have been a movie do quite well as cable series.
take the American President...Which morphed into the series the West Wing...Pretty high quality stuff.
With so much good stuff out there is might just be harder to identify the true diamond among the bunch...and there is the possibility that we no longer have a common language of quality....with binge viewing, and DVRs and so much media we all are micro audiences and don not push one movie or another into super stardom like we used to..Things come and go not always because of their quality..but because something else has taken its place.
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zooeyhall
8 years ago
I can agree with some of your points.
It seems that the quieter, more contemplative movies (those similar to Stand by Me) have switched to the cable television area. HBO, Cinemax, etc. Many of the top stars, directors, and up-and-coming screenwriters seem to be doing their best work on these networks.
Opinions?
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asherp
8 years ago
I very much agree....what once was a binary world...you're either movies or TV...youre either new or youre an oldie....You can either act in TV or Movies but not both has completely shifted....There is now a continuum between the worlds...
yes, Hollywood makes blockbusters because they have universal appeal and make big international revenue....There is a lot of room which doesn't take up the giant screen format but plays pretty well on smaller screens or even the 61" lcd format.
Also, the quality of the image has merged between the formats. TV used to be on tape and thus terrible for detail...Now everything is pretty much recorded in the same digital way so youre getting really good quality on the smaller formats.
I saw an article maybe 15 years ago about people bemoaning current quality...and it pointed out how much more complex shows have become...and how audiences can handle. It 1980 you'd have Chips the tv show which had a small interlude...would have the main show....then reference back to the interlude for the closing credits...Now many many shows interweave complicated plots and we follow all of them.
I mention this in relation to stand by me since we may very well see lots of well done stuff these days and dont even notice it as out of the ordinary..we watch it...we absorb it and move the to the next piece.
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