OK, not to antagonize the posters so far, but… Movies often come up in the various poker games I play. I am constantly dismayed how players younger than me seem to only watch relatively recent superhero / sci-fi / action / fantasy / horror movies.
If I ask what someone’s favorite movie is, it’s going to be a Marvel film.
The oldest movie anyone seems to have seen is Gladiator. Or maybe Braveheart. Or Fight Club.
Jesus, people. 90% of movies used to be about the world we actually live in. They used to involve real acting, subtle scripts, brilliant cinematography. Not just a collection of effects, costumes and quips, with seven ridiculous plot twists in the last 30 minutes. Whooaaa oh my god I didn’t see that coming, except you’d have to be braindead not to.
If you haven’t seen the top 100 classics of the 1940s-1970s, you’re really missing out.
The most frustrating thing is that you can’t get younger people to be even a little curious. I was playing cards with a guy in his late 20s who had never seen classic 80s comedies like Spinal Tap… or Caddyshack… or Trading Places. I say, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. But I can see their eyes glaze over. They’re never going to take up those suggestions. They don’t believe anything good can have been made before they were born.
I was trying to convince a 30something friend who only likes action movies to watch The French Connection with Gene Hackman. He nodded but I know he won’t.
Their idea of an “art movie” is Inception. So I’m not going to even dare suggest something by Cassavetes or Godard or early Jarmusch. Their films might as well be 16th Century British poetry.
I know I’m the old man yelling at clouds here. But when I talk to people who have never seen a single movie by Hitchcock, or Preminger, or Welles, or Altman, or Ashby, etc. … and then they tell me their favorite film is Iron Man or something, I just want to give up on humanity.
The bonkers part is that seeing all of the greatest movies of all time is easy now. You could stream all them in a matter of months. This used to be impossible, or would involve a ton of legwork, patience and expense. It’s never been easier or cheaper to give oneself an education, but fewer and fewer people have any real film background.
But they’ll argue who was the best Batman for a solid hour at the poker table. /rant
