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Big_Adam
I had a discussion with Skull_FCUK of CPCFF about films a few nights back.
We both came to the fact that big cult life changing films just don’t exist any more.
Think about it, in the last few year there have not been too many films that give that true sense of “damn, got to see that” or any sense of wonder. Newer films seem to just rock up, make a hell of allot a noise then fizzle away to DVD land.
Lets look at the big classics;
- Ghostbusters, inspired a generation on ghost and has load of collectables.
- Jaws, scared the cheese out of everyone for years.
- The Shining, gave a few generations a catch phrase (”Here’s JOHNNY!”)
Then threre’s the biggy, the one that still has a heavy swing today in the film world, people dress up, learn the script, re-enact it.
Star Wars.
No film has ever influenced people like the great and mighty Star Wars. El cheapo special effect but that’s not what matted. What matted was the force and the power of the dark side. Hell the film spawn it’s own religion of Jedi’s. I mean what film has ever done that before or since Star Wars?
Not to say there haven’t been any good films out in recent year. Fight Club, Shawshank, Goodfellas and plenty of other good films but nothing seems to have that spark that the films from a few years ago did.
The same thing with movie starts now too. In The Godfather, Marlin Brando become a legend in his own right. From Evil Dead we have the man Bruce Campbell. Mark Hamill from Star Wars. Film stars now only seem to be in the spot light because they smoke, screw, steal or are mad as a bad of rabid squirrels in heat. The older movie stars seem to just be legends and to admired (a little), movie stars of late are just media whores.
It might just be that I’m a child of the 80’s (mid 80’s to early 90’s) but films just don’t seem to have that spark, that magic that makes them truly a sight to behold. I mean the films on at my cinema are Saw 4, 30 Days of Night, Stardust and Ratatouille. Not exactly anything to instill any delight in their viewing. Not hear much bad about any of the films just I wouldn’t be excited to see them, I’d enjoy it, I’d have a good time just not have a true need to go and see any of them films.
I pray that soon we have another ground breaking film. If not Hollywood is just going to keep remaking stuff and attempting to recapture the lightning they once had.
The ones that did it for me were Alien and Aliens - glued for every second and scared sh*tless the first time I watched it and just looks awesome even all these years on. A few films now have a little nibble at this like you say Adam - for me I enjoyed Lord of the Rings, the Matrix (1 and 2…) Master and Commander and some of the recent Star Trek Films, but I do agree they don’t have the realness to them that was somehow portreyed in films like Shawshank, Jaws and Alien.
“but I do agree they don’t have the realness to them”
Thats not really my thinking. A proper cult film just has something about it. Look at The Godfather or Pulp Fiction. They might not be reality but their close. Both have a something.
of course there are still cult films. It seems like there were more “back then” or whenever because you don’t still hear about the crappy movies. You only hear about the mega good ones, so it seems like now all you get is crap ones like transformers or some other bo**ocks. But you got those in the old days, it’s just no one wants to talk about them now do they?
also, did you know that star wars was originally meant as a joke?
Speaking as a Cineworld cinema subs pass holder, the cult films are still out there, they just hail from Hollywood a lot less often - to have your faith in film restored, sit down and watch The Lives of Others from Germany (IMO, more than deserving of its Oscar win for non-English) and let yourself get drawn into it, it’s slowly addictive and teaches you about the massive upheaval in modern German history when you were a child. Also Tsotsi, City of God, Motorcycle Diaries, Stander, there’s loads of movies out there but you’ve got to go and find them.
What made cult films in the 1970s and 80s was the habitual re-issue of the films you mention, since there was only a rental market for video before the 90s. People would be willing to watch a repeat, so to speak (they were used to it thanks to the BBC). Now, I’d have to be a hardcore fan of something (eg Bond, LOTR) to go back out and see a film I already owned which I could watch in comfort, and pay modern prices to see it all over again. It worked for Star Wars, but that was about it. You missed out the Bourne Series which in my opinion was a modern cult trilogy albeit one story in three parts - the first film (like Shawshank Redemption) made all of its profit through American rentals, and that gave the green light to the next two adaptions from the books.
The film business has changed, to the level where King Kong makes no money because it’s released the week before Christmas and people are just busy, but then rakes in $200million on DVD and has its extras sold separately before the film is out - that’s just the cinema cut.
It’s also a bad idea to look at what’s on straight after Halloween and in the run-up to Christmas, because yes, in the absence of a Bond flick or other big franchise feature there’ll be a load of dross taking up those screens (and the crappy Christmas flicks haven’t even turned up yet). When we’re into January, better films will arrive in the buildup to the Oscars - it’s the King Kong problem again, people are busy with Xmas, if it’s released too close to the holiday season, it’ll flop. Hang in there, get over the flu and then seek out some screen gems - starting with Stander which is three quid from Play.
As the above poster mentioned, there are plenty of modern classics, but the bulk of rubbish just drowns them out.
And as the above poster mentioned, there are an awful lot of crap old films too.
Just a few modern classics (depends on how modern you deem to be modern as well i guess) for you to check out (although obviously everyones opinion on a good film differs)
Trainspotting
Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels.
Groundhog Day
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Amelie
American Beauty
Memoirs of a Giesha
They are out there, you just have to filter through the crap.