Schadrian, I have to say that I’m glad we both have a sense of humor. I’ve seen (read) people get genuinely ugly on these sites. I mean, for what??? This is all supposed to be fun, right?
Try thinking of movie theaters like eating establishments. If you were to go to a fancy restaurant, you would likely find a more considerate, civilized manner of people to share the environment with. This is the experience I’ve often found when I go to a movie at a small neighborhood theater (what’s left of them anyway). This is why throughout the year, I try to fill up on movies during the fall at a small theater in Westhampton Beach, Long Island; better films and queiter surroundings. Now, if you were to go to your local fast food restaurant, you would likely find a louder, more inconsiderate, uncivilized manner of people to share the environment with. This is the experience I’ve often found when I used to go to multiplexes. These “theaters” are run without any control or management whatsoever. The place is like one free-for-all amusement park, complete with video games and widescreen TVs. For some, this may be okay. For me, it’s a death sentence. The only way I can remedy the situation is by avoiding them whenever possible. I do.
Okay, is it just me, or does anyone else have a sudden craving for a thick, juicy HAMBURGER after all of this analogy? Medium rare with spicy curly fries…mmmm!
I’ve stated many times before that I have stoped going to multiplexes and the movies almost alltogether for the exact reasons I’ve previously bitched about. That being said, I won’t waste anybody’s time repeating it all.
I just re-read my comment above and I do not directly associated Hollywood with the multiplex. I merely associate the analogy of the multiplex as the “barn” to Hollywood’s treatment of the public as “cattle”.
Hey, don’t worry if we don’t see the Oscars on TV. All you have to do is watch some cheap, second rate beauty pageant or dig up some old reruns of the Donny & Marie variety show, and it’ll pretty much be the same thing!
Ceasar, I never once listened to one thing Dennis Miller ever had to say. But those comments are DEAD ON! Hollywood does treat the public like cattle, and the barn house is the neighborhood amusement park multiplex, complete with overpriced food, endless commercials and your annoying cell phone user! Hollywood does think it’s general audience is stupid, because for most people (and please, I’m not saying ALL!), a good quality film is a title with the number 3 at the end of it.
I suppose when you really get down to it, Hollywood must be more clever than we think; they produce garbage for an audience they consider stupid, the audience is more than happy to pay for the garbage, and Hollywood gets rich off of it! Wow! That’s brilliant!
I saw MICHAEL CLAYTON at the Hampton Arts Theater in Westhampton Beach the weekend it opened and I loved it! I didn’t have to wait until it was nominated to stop and think that maybe there was something worth watching.
Schmadrian, I digress from Hollywood for a moment to dedicate this personal tidbit strictly for your amusement…
Despite all of today’s music device technologies, it may make you laugh to know that amongst all of that, I STILL have many, many records (that’s right everybody, I said RECORDS!) that I still enjoy playing on equipment that (believe it or not) is only a few years old. Also, one of the beauties of having lived in NYC is the vast majority of record shops where you can still buy classic stuff in great condition (and of course, there’s Ebay, too). Sure, you can download The Beatles Abbey Road off the web, but oh what fun it can still be to pull out the ol' vinyl and gently start playing Side 1.
But as you said, you’re a bit older than me. You still remember.
The seller WILL hurt, eventually. Sooner or later, people are going to wake up and stop wasting their time and money on all the garbage. Unfortunately, given what people generally are (and don’t get me started on THAT!), it’s going to take a long, long time! However, it only needs to start with one person. I hope it’s me.
Schmadrian, much of what you say probably has metit, especially if you’re inside the business. But there’s one thing you should remember about Hollywood as a business; like anything else, it’s about buyers and sellers. The industry being the seller, and the moviegoer being the buyer. Regardless of all the ins and outs of how a movie is brought to the screen, if the buyer is continuously unsatisfied with what he/she is seeing on the screen, eventually the buyer will stop going to the movies, stop renting the DVDs, and turn off the TV. When you get enough buyers doing this, it inevitably hurts the seller…unless the seller figures out how to improve their product.
Granted, that’s a very black and white way to look at things, but as a “buyer” myself, I’m not required to take other considerations into account. If I don’t like what’s being sold, I’m not going to come back…period.
Brucec, I raise a glass to you! And yes, thank Heaven for Turner Classic Movies. That and TV Land are the only cable stations I need in my life.
Your memories are admirable, especially the New Hollywood of the 1970’s. I’ll presume you read the book, EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS. It’s said that that entire new era came to a crashing end when Michael Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE not only bombed at a historic level, but also caused United Artists to merge with MGM.
And even still, I have a lot more admiration for a director like Michael Cimino, who put his creativity, his passion, and yes, his ass on the line for a project he felt very committed to, than I would say a director like Sam Raimi who directed a worthless story like SPIDERMAN 3, which made a killing at the box office during its opening weekend last summer. It’s just a shame that Cimino’s career never really recovered after that debacle.
I can give you a direct answer of YES. Sadly, I don’t do as much reading as I should, but there are so many books of the past that I haven’t read, that I’m sure there would be enough to keep me occupied for the rest of my life!
As for music, my answer would be HELL YES!!! I’m a (mostly) classic rock lover. Today’s music means very little to me. Since the decade began, I’ve purchased less than 10 new and current CDs, and they’re all from artists than have been around for decades (i.e. U2, Yes, Donald Fagen, Paul McCartney, etc.). The last two concerts I attended were The Police and Van Halen; both reunion tours.
I’ll be the first to proudly admit; I’m only 40 and I’m glued to the past. It was better.
“Call me a relic, call me what you will. Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill. Today’s music ain’t got the same soul. I like that ol' time rock and roll!” – Bob Seger
David and gencin, I’m on your side. TV was dead for me so many years ago. The movies are on their way out for me, too.
While I do respect everyone’s opinion on these matters (whether I agree with them or not), I have to say in all honesty, that if the entire Hollywood system disappeared tomorrow, I would not care. For myself, I have a large enough movie and classic TV collection on DVD and video to keep me entertained and happy for the rest of my life.
Wow! As fedoozle is so fond of saying, “My brain hurts!”
You make some excellent points; like it or not, agree with it or not. I know I won’t change, nor will my opinion about today’s movies and TV, but your opinions and facts are respected, nonetheless.
The one area I will respond to is my own actions against Hollywood’s “recycling machine”. Over I year ago, I finally got so fed up with all of what I consider to be crap, that I vowed to only spend my time watching independents, foreign films, or at the very least, Hollywood productions that appeared to be fresh, new stories. In the last year, I’ve been to only about ten movies – none of them sequels, remakes or special effects blockbusters. In fact, the first film I saw in 2007 was David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE, which played in only ONE theater in all of New York City (IFC Center). Like typical Lynch, it was one of the most incomprehensible films I’d ever seen, and yet one of the best art films I’d ever seen! I walked out of the theater with a tremendous sense of satisfaction, having just witnessed something a little more bold and daring than the average Friday night fare.
I’ve continued to keep my vow, and I’m still a happier moviegoer for it.
This summer will likely present me with a dillema, though. I love, love love Steven Spielberg, but frankly, the thought of a fourth INDIANA JONES movie with Harrison Ford makes me ill. I want to stay loyal to a director I love and admire, but still…
Schmadrian, as much distaste as I have for everything you just pointed out, I can’t deny that it’s the sad, sad truth, like it or not. Poor quality entertainment is being offered and too many people are taking it, and even worse, saying, “Give me some more!”
Based on your words, I’m making a safe bet that you’re in the industry. That presumption being made, may I (with all due respect) ask a serious question?
When you look back at say, the last two summers (just as an example) which were heavily constituted of sequels, threequels, remakes, franchise films and television adaptations – doesn’t that make you take a moment to scratch your head and ask, “Oh, man, what the hell has happened to the movies? When did our level of entertainment sink to such a low level? Have we nothing of originality to offer the world anymore?”
All business and money aside, I’d be very curious to know how you feel about that.
What I find entertaining is all these bullsh*t facts, figures, charts, graphs, estimates, statistics, ratios…and yes, excuses that those in Hollywood continue to throw out at the general public – as if that’s supposed to make one bit of difference to us! People who see movies and watch TV only care about one thing – the quality of the results! And right now (and for a long time now), the quality has been CRAP!
But what I still continue to fail to understand, though, is why people are still paying for the crap! This one is just beyond me! People do complain and complain about the crap, but continue to feed on it and make money for those who give it to us. I guess today’s Hollywood is a lot like White Castle – eveybody knows it’s poor quality food, and yet it keeps making money.
(?????)
Oh, and by the way – personally, if I’m not paying to see it on the screen, I’m not renting it and I’m not watching it on TV.
“what they create"
"what you’d see up on the screen”
That’s the whole point! Until “what is being created” and “what we’re seeing up on the screen” improves drastically, the average moviegoer who pays for their ticket and ultimately decides a movie’s grosses is not going to give one damn who in Hollywood is to blame! As far as I’m concerned, the WHOLE SYSTEM is to blame, and that includes the ones who are getting paid (or underpaid) writing the junk!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as much as the idea sucks, I predict that the movie theater is going to become extinct in the decades to come; to be taken over by straight-to-DVD and computer downloads!
Wish I could be a part of all this. Unfortunately, I close up my home in Westhampton Beach during the winter. However, during the early part of the fall, I enjoy seeing independent films at the Hampton Arts Theater. The crazy summer crowd is gone and things quiet down real nicely.
I was watching some it over the weekend on American Movie Classics, but had to turn it off because my wife felt some of the scenes might be too intense for our toddler.
To this day, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, the original 1977 version, is still my favorite Steven Spielberg film! I saw it at the Ziegfeld when I was ten years-old.
Schadrian, I have to say that I’m glad we both have a sense of humor. I’ve seen (read) people get genuinely ugly on these sites. I mean, for what??? This is all supposed to be fun, right?
Try thinking of movie theaters like eating establishments. If you were to go to a fancy restaurant, you would likely find a more considerate, civilized manner of people to share the environment with. This is the experience I’ve often found when I go to a movie at a small neighborhood theater (what’s left of them anyway). This is why throughout the year, I try to fill up on movies during the fall at a small theater in Westhampton Beach, Long Island; better films and queiter surroundings. Now, if you were to go to your local fast food restaurant, you would likely find a louder, more inconsiderate, uncivilized manner of people to share the environment with. This is the experience I’ve often found when I used to go to multiplexes. These “theaters” are run without any control or management whatsoever. The place is like one free-for-all amusement park, complete with video games and widescreen TVs. For some, this may be okay. For me, it’s a death sentence. The only way I can remedy the situation is by avoiding them whenever possible. I do.
Okay, is it just me, or does anyone else have a sudden craving for a thick, juicy HAMBURGER after all of this analogy? Medium rare with spicy curly fries…mmmm!
I’ve stated many times before that I have stoped going to multiplexes and the movies almost alltogether for the exact reasons I’ve previously bitched about. That being said, I won’t waste anybody’s time repeating it all.
Take care of your dad.
I just re-read my comment above and I do not directly associated Hollywood with the multiplex. I merely associate the analogy of the multiplex as the “barn” to Hollywood’s treatment of the public as “cattle”.
Moo!
Hey, don’t worry if we don’t see the Oscars on TV. All you have to do is watch some cheap, second rate beauty pageant or dig up some old reruns of the Donny & Marie variety show, and it’ll pretty much be the same thing!
Ceasar, I never once listened to one thing Dennis Miller ever had to say. But those comments are DEAD ON! Hollywood does treat the public like cattle, and the barn house is the neighborhood amusement park multiplex, complete with overpriced food, endless commercials and your annoying cell phone user! Hollywood does think it’s general audience is stupid, because for most people (and please, I’m not saying ALL!), a good quality film is a title with the number 3 at the end of it.
I suppose when you really get down to it, Hollywood must be more clever than we think; they produce garbage for an audience they consider stupid, the audience is more than happy to pay for the garbage, and Hollywood gets rich off of it! Wow! That’s brilliant!
I saw MICHAEL CLAYTON at the Hampton Arts Theater in Westhampton Beach the weekend it opened and I loved it! I didn’t have to wait until it was nominated to stop and think that maybe there was something worth watching.
“listening to new music on personal devices”
Schmadrian, I digress from Hollywood for a moment to dedicate this personal tidbit strictly for your amusement…
Despite all of today’s music device technologies, it may make you laugh to know that amongst all of that, I STILL have many, many records (that’s right everybody, I said RECORDS!) that I still enjoy playing on equipment that (believe it or not) is only a few years old. Also, one of the beauties of having lived in NYC is the vast majority of record shops where you can still buy classic stuff in great condition (and of course, there’s Ebay, too). Sure, you can download The Beatles Abbey Road off the web, but oh what fun it can still be to pull out the ol' vinyl and gently start playing Side 1.
But as you said, you’re a bit older than me. You still remember.
The seller WILL hurt, eventually. Sooner or later, people are going to wake up and stop wasting their time and money on all the garbage. Unfortunately, given what people generally are (and don’t get me started on THAT!), it’s going to take a long, long time! However, it only needs to start with one person. I hope it’s me.
I’m moving on to other topics now. Be well.
Schmadrian, much of what you say probably has metit, especially if you’re inside the business. But there’s one thing you should remember about Hollywood as a business; like anything else, it’s about buyers and sellers. The industry being the seller, and the moviegoer being the buyer. Regardless of all the ins and outs of how a movie is brought to the screen, if the buyer is continuously unsatisfied with what he/she is seeing on the screen, eventually the buyer will stop going to the movies, stop renting the DVDs, and turn off the TV. When you get enough buyers doing this, it inevitably hurts the seller…unless the seller figures out how to improve their product.
Granted, that’s a very black and white way to look at things, but as a “buyer” myself, I’m not required to take other considerations into account. If I don’t like what’s being sold, I’m not going to come back…period.
I knew what you meant.
With no late shows, I say bring back the late movie and things like “Fright Night” and “Chiller Theater”.
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
LOL
Brucec, I raise a glass to you! And yes, thank Heaven for Turner Classic Movies. That and TV Land are the only cable stations I need in my life.
Your memories are admirable, especially the New Hollywood of the 1970’s. I’ll presume you read the book, EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS. It’s said that that entire new era came to a crashing end when Michael Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE not only bombed at a historic level, but also caused United Artists to merge with MGM.
And even still, I have a lot more admiration for a director like Michael Cimino, who put his creativity, his passion, and yes, his ass on the line for a project he felt very committed to, than I would say a director like Sam Raimi who directed a worthless story like SPIDERMAN 3, which made a killing at the box office during its opening weekend last summer. It’s just a shame that Cimino’s career never really recovered after that debacle.
I can give you a direct answer of YES. Sadly, I don’t do as much reading as I should, but there are so many books of the past that I haven’t read, that I’m sure there would be enough to keep me occupied for the rest of my life!
As for music, my answer would be HELL YES!!! I’m a (mostly) classic rock lover. Today’s music means very little to me. Since the decade began, I’ve purchased less than 10 new and current CDs, and they’re all from artists than have been around for decades (i.e. U2, Yes, Donald Fagen, Paul McCartney, etc.). The last two concerts I attended were The Police and Van Halen; both reunion tours.
I’ll be the first to proudly admit; I’m only 40 and I’m glued to the past. It was better.
“Call me a relic, call me what you will. Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill. Today’s music ain’t got the same soul. I like that ol' time rock and roll!” – Bob Seger
I can’t even enjoy a movie that I like if it’s on television. The commercials and the pop-ups at the bottom of the screen make me impatient!
David and gencin, I’m on your side. TV was dead for me so many years ago. The movies are on their way out for me, too.
While I do respect everyone’s opinion on these matters (whether I agree with them or not), I have to say in all honesty, that if the entire Hollywood system disappeared tomorrow, I would not care. For myself, I have a large enough movie and classic TV collection on DVD and video to keep me entertained and happy for the rest of my life.
Wow! As fedoozle is so fond of saying, “My brain hurts!”
You make some excellent points; like it or not, agree with it or not. I know I won’t change, nor will my opinion about today’s movies and TV, but your opinions and facts are respected, nonetheless.
The one area I will respond to is my own actions against Hollywood’s “recycling machine”. Over I year ago, I finally got so fed up with all of what I consider to be crap, that I vowed to only spend my time watching independents, foreign films, or at the very least, Hollywood productions that appeared to be fresh, new stories. In the last year, I’ve been to only about ten movies – none of them sequels, remakes or special effects blockbusters. In fact, the first film I saw in 2007 was David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE, which played in only ONE theater in all of New York City (IFC Center). Like typical Lynch, it was one of the most incomprehensible films I’d ever seen, and yet one of the best art films I’d ever seen! I walked out of the theater with a tremendous sense of satisfaction, having just witnessed something a little more bold and daring than the average Friday night fare.
I’ve continued to keep my vow, and I’m still a happier moviegoer for it.
This summer will likely present me with a dillema, though. I love, love love Steven Spielberg, but frankly, the thought of a fourth INDIANA JONES movie with Harrison Ford makes me ill. I want to stay loyal to a director I love and admire, but still…
I have a lot to think about.
Schmadrian, as much distaste as I have for everything you just pointed out, I can’t deny that it’s the sad, sad truth, like it or not. Poor quality entertainment is being offered and too many people are taking it, and even worse, saying, “Give me some more!”
Based on your words, I’m making a safe bet that you’re in the industry. That presumption being made, may I (with all due respect) ask a serious question?
When you look back at say, the last two summers (just as an example) which were heavily constituted of sequels, threequels, remakes, franchise films and television adaptations – doesn’t that make you take a moment to scratch your head and ask, “Oh, man, what the hell has happened to the movies? When did our level of entertainment sink to such a low level? Have we nothing of originality to offer the world anymore?”
All business and money aside, I’d be very curious to know how you feel about that.
Respectfully, LMHG
What I find entertaining is all these bullsh*t facts, figures, charts, graphs, estimates, statistics, ratios…and yes, excuses that those in Hollywood continue to throw out at the general public – as if that’s supposed to make one bit of difference to us! People who see movies and watch TV only care about one thing – the quality of the results! And right now (and for a long time now), the quality has been CRAP!
But what I still continue to fail to understand, though, is why people are still paying for the crap! This one is just beyond me! People do complain and complain about the crap, but continue to feed on it and make money for those who give it to us. I guess today’s Hollywood is a lot like White Castle – eveybody knows it’s poor quality food, and yet it keeps making money.
(?????)
Oh, and by the way – personally, if I’m not paying to see it on the screen, I’m not renting it and I’m not watching it on TV.
“what they create"
"what you’d see up on the screen”
That’s the whole point! Until “what is being created” and “what we’re seeing up on the screen” improves drastically, the average moviegoer who pays for their ticket and ultimately decides a movie’s grosses is not going to give one damn who in Hollywood is to blame! As far as I’m concerned, the WHOLE SYSTEM is to blame, and that includes the ones who are getting paid (or underpaid) writing the junk!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as much as the idea sucks, I predict that the movie theater is going to become extinct in the decades to come; to be taken over by straight-to-DVD and computer downloads!
Wish I could be a part of all this. Unfortunately, I close up my home in Westhampton Beach during the winter. However, during the early part of the fall, I enjoy seeing independent films at the Hampton Arts Theater. The crazy summer crowd is gone and things quiet down real nicely.
I was watching some it over the weekend on American Movie Classics, but had to turn it off because my wife felt some of the scenes might be too intense for our toddler.
The things I have to do as a father!
So Ceasar, I guess you should be the one to post a commentary for 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY this April.
To this day, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, the original 1977 version, is still my favorite Steven Spielberg film! I saw it at the Ziegfeld when I was ten years-old.
Thanks for the great memories, Steven!
Be sure to also visit Cinema Village at 22 East 12th Street. It’s a triplex, but well worth the look and the picture-taking!
In the 90’s, I was fortunate to see a few revival films there, including THE EXORCIST, JAWS and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. What a screen! What a place!