80s Hollywood vs. Present Day

[Elvis_Christ]

The 80s flicks were just a hell of a lot more fun IMO. Movies these days just take themselves a bit to seriously and the "B-movie" kinda stuff is just a little to slick for my liking. There are exceptions like Hell Ride and John Rambo but I just don't enjoy the cinema of today nearly as much.

I guess a lot of you guys are the other way round am I right?

[missmacabre]

I agree with you.

I had my brother watch a few NOES films with me the other day. He literally said "what the hell is this?" he thought the special effects were crap, that the plot made no sense, and that everyone's clothes looked stupid. He couldn't understand that production value in a movie has nothing to do with how fun a movie is.

I would rather watch a movie that is fun, and any explosions take place in tiny models of houses than a movie that has big budget effects but takes itself too seriously.

[The Flayed One]

Nah, dude. You've nailed a lot of it. Unfortunately, a lot of modern movies end up in two categories:

Trying way too hard to be cheesy for cheeses sake

or

Trying way too hard to be spooky/serious and ending up being bad cheese instead of good cheese.

The CGI and Star Power infection has a lot to do with the mediocre crop of movies that have been pushed out in the last 5 years or so. The great thing about the old days were, you had to imply it or risk a ridiculous looking bit of FX to get it on the screen. The great thing was, it worked most of the time either way. Now that CGI has become the standard, any movie with a budget can throw whatever the hell they want on the screen and most people will buy it. Plague of locusts? Why not?! We have CGI!

What this all boils down to, for me, is that the movie makers of the 80's seemed to have a lot more fun with a lot less to work with than modern movie makers do. It reflects in their work and reflects on the viewer. Not saying I don't appreciate a good modern special FX extravaganza, but most of the heart and soul is gone and reprehensibly replaced by dollar signs and big name value.

[urgeok2]

The 80s flicks were just a hell of a lot more fun IMO. Movies these days just take themselves a bit to seriously and the "B-movie" kinda stuff is just a little to slick for my liking. There are exceptions like Hell Ride and John Rambo but I just don't enjoy the cinema of today nearly as much.

I guess a lot of you guys are the other way round am I right?


i lived through 70's cinema, then 80's , then ...etc

I loved 70's cinema .. i think it is the best but i've liked a lot of stuff recently too.

but the 80's ... yikes...

I like fun movies - but i dont like them when they are just dumb .. bad lines, bad music, bad action, horrible acting ...

to me thats just not fun - i need at least one or 2 elements working .. not just cars rolling over and shit getting blown up..

the dirty harrys were fun for me ... i like the grit ...

something like harley davidson and the marlborough man was fun for me .. because it had decent acting ... (even if it was dumb)

i think the 80's for action and horror were the laziest - by-the -numbers most uninspired period of cinema of all time (with a few exceptions - as allways)


i dont need my films to take themselves seriously - but i need a hint of cleverness.

running scared
shoot em up
crank


to me those are great action films where they injected a dose of 'clever' to what could just have been another crap action film.


the marine was a throwback to the 80's action film. nothing new, nothing origional, nothing interesting .. just another bad actor with a bad story..

[hacelikewhoa]

The 80s flicks were just a hell of a lot more fun IMO. Movies these days just take themselves a bit to seriously and the "B-movie" kinda stuff is just a little to slick for my liking. There are exceptions like Hell Ride and John Rambo but I just don't enjoy the cinema of today nearly as much.

I guess a lot of you guys are the other way round am I right?


I agree. I haven't been able to get into ANY horror movies from the 2,000s. Well, with the exception of The Decent and The Strangers. I know a lot of people would beg to differ on The Strangers, but I got everything I wanted out of it.

On the other hand, I did enjoy the many, many cheesy 90s horror flicks.