Formerjackman
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Stunts and special effects used to be PART of the movie. In many cases now they ARE the movies. The plot and the dialogue is almost an afterthought.
It all has to do with presentation. Everything does.
It's not that we have short attention spans, it's that "modern" is boring. Look at most of your Oscar-winning movies, downright boring with depressing asf endings that bring no joy. The best movie in a decade (Everything Everywhere All At Once) probably won't even be nominated because the movie is genuinely fun to watch. Modern music, so low energy. If I have to listen to Billie Eilish whisper lyrics about committing suicide to depressing background music one more time in my life, I will yeet myself through a window.
There's a reason Marvel movies are so successful, and it's not because of CGI and stunts. It's because the formula works. They're upbeat, sometimes funny, movies that bring you joy to watch. As stupid as these movies are, I actually sat down and watched a bunch of them during the COVID lockdown because it was a nice, HAPPY distraction.
Music from the 90s is the most popular music right now. The music of the 90s was very diverse, catchy, upbeat, high energy, and even the worst 90s songs are better than the majority of the crap being played on the radio (or is it Spotify now?) today. That's not even nostalgia because young people who weren't around in the 90s are jamming to this. When I was doing a bit of DJing during COVID, the 90s music I played was usually the most effective at getting people up and dancing.
As much as it makes TV snobs cringe to this day, "Full House" is still timeless television because it's fun and high energy and upbeat. But it's not "sophisticated" or doesn't "have meaning" or doesn't preach some kind of political message, so it's obviously crap TV.
This has nothing to do with attention spans, and Hailie's beliefs are disconnected from the majority of her generation. She has the right to speak her mind, and I have the right to say she's wrong.
NASCAR has a good product right now, and it has captivating personalities for the first time in a long time. People just have to give it time to blossom. And, for the love of God, find a TV partner that doesn't treat the sport like a damn cartoon, figuratively and literally. Fox Sports has been a problem for a long time. And it's not just NASCAR. NFL fans, by and large, have more favorable opinions of NBC and CBS. Golf fans loathe and detest Fox Sports. Baseball fans complain every October about Fox Sports.
Plenty of popular movies from decades past have been been focused on special effects with the plot and dialogue taking a backseat. Look at the whole Star Wars franchise for example.In many cases now they ARE the movies. The plot and the dialogue is almost an afterthought.
Plenty of popular movies from decades past have been been focused on special effects with the plot and dialogue taking a backseat. Look at the whole Star Wars franchise for example.
The absolute crown jewel of the franchise...The Star Wars franchise is a bad example. The Empire Strikes Back is revered for several reasons. The plot is a big reason.
What if I told you that every member of Generation Z is too young to remember when Episode 1 came out, and that close to half of them weren't even born in time for the release of Episode 3?The Star Wars franchise is a bad example. The Empire Strikes Back is revered for several reasons. The plot is a big reason.
I like how this post got moved to the movies thread when this was in response to what Hailie Deegan said about NASCAR not holding the audience's attention, and yet that content and other comments about what she said stayed put in the original thread.I disagree that it's a "young people have shorter attention spans" thing. Young people have long attention spans for lots of things, like video games, different TV/Netflix series, and other sports with long games like soccer.
There are a couple factors at play here, and it covers all age demographics. First of all, we have almost infinitely more options today than in past generations, in terms of how we want to spend our screen time. It used to be that your screen time on Sunday was to watch the race or golf or football, or the news, or some syndicated old sitcom.
Now you can watch whatever sport you want, whatever TV show you want, whatever movie, youtuber, any interest, any hobby, you name it. Plus you have social media engagement that flatout didn't exist and also eats into our time. So it's not that young people now don't have the attention span. They have the attention span - they just don't need to settle for something they're not 100% into, and there are so many other things competing for everybody's attention than ever before. NASCAR needs to be as compelling as anything else if they want people to bite.
That leads me to my next point. It isn't as compelling to sit on the couch for three to four hours to watch a race unfold because races don't unfold the way they used to. Stages create cookie-cutter strategies almost every single week. We used to see tons of variation there. We also don't have random mechanical failures like we used to, which takes an element of surprise out of the event. There aren't as many variables to each weekend as there once was, so it feels pretty repetitive these days. I can totally see how somebody that isn't emotionally invested in this for several years already would have a hard time all the sudden committing a night or afternoon of every week for the better part of the year to this.
It flatout isn't as much of a developing story as it was in the past, and people want that story. That's what grabs people. Leaders staying out to win the stage and others pitting two laps before the stage end, every, single, weekend, is not what people are going to turn their undivided attention to when they have literally endless possibilities available to them. That affects *everybody* today.
What if I told you that every member of Generation Z is too young to remember when Episode 1 came out, and that close to half of them weren't even born in time for the release of Episode 3?
Just watched "Fall." That movie will really mess with your anxiety.
Currently watching " A Time to Kill". I saw it on the big screen early 90s probably watching it for 5th or 6th time now. I love that movie, book and story. It had a great cast too.
Who can ever forget Carl Lee Hailey's testimony "I hope they burn in hell".
It was a righteous momemt, the truth.
He did what a daddy had to do......
I am not a Cruise fan and I considered the original to be an intolerable chick flick at the best, but I enjoyed this one.Finally watched Top Gun Maverick last night.
Confession: I hated the original. Went back and watched it before Maverick and still hated it. It's an 80s popcorn flick with very little substance.
Maverick, however, is a fantastic movie. The action sequences and visuals are phenomenal and this movie has a ton of heart.
This pretentious ass movie spends WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much time trying to win an Oscar instead of telling a story.
Funny you mentioned Joel Shumacher. Back in 89 I was driving cab in Vancouver when I was dispatched to chinatown to an address where filming was in progress. They needed a cab in the scene and had a driver ready. I said I can do that and Shumacher said OK..."Yes they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!"
Perfect, every time.
Fantastic movie.
It's outrageous that Joel Schumacher is remembered for "Batman & Robin" instead of "A Time To Kill."