Opinion: As the world moves forward...

[Knightfall]

Okay, so I just watched the movie "Sphere" again, for the first time since seeing it in the theatre, and I can't say that my opinion of it has changed much. It's still a subpar science fiction movie and not much of a thriller either. The effects, which are now almost 10 years old, haven't held up at all.

The movie does make you think, so one could say it falls more towards the speculative side of SciFi. Yet, it's not much of a speculative fiction movie either. My sister watched it with me and, in her opinion, it was a very good movie. (This makes me wonder if I'm justed jaded about SciFi, in general.)

The movie just seems to "hang out" on the screen without much to give it life. And for a underwater SciFi movie, it drowns when compared to say, "The Abyss", which is a true classic. Sphere is simply a "strange" movie that still didn't grab my attention, and hold on to it.

Now, this made me think about how, as time goes by, older movies seem to lose the luster that they might have once had. (Sphere isn't really a great example, but it is what I ended up watching tonight.) Perhaps it's because as we mature, our tastes change, but why is it that some movies stay "true to form" while other movies seem "strange" to watch again.

And while some movies might become outdated, this doesn't always mean that such a movie becomes strange to watch, as society evolves. Take a movie like "Red Dawn", which shows a "past" future that can't really happen anymore. (Imagine if they tried to remake Red Dawn!) It's outdated, but it is still a good movie that holds up, as the years progress.

So, what movies have stayed with you, regardless of how the world has evolved? And, what movies are harder to watch now, because they just seem strange?

Just some thoughts...

Knightfall1972

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Alien and Aliens will always rock.

The "Cold War Paranoia" subsection of movies, such as War Games which turns 25 this year, have a weird nostalgic quality to me. I could watch one with interest, but it definitly wouldn't be the same.

 

[WayneLigon]

It depends on the nature of 'outdated', really. Society has not changed sufficiently that I get a real sense of 'outdated' from films I saw in the theaters as a kid, save when that film had anything to do with computers. Or that brief period of people with these huge bricks of cell-phones.

Zodiac had that sense, since it was a period peice. Much of the running around they did and the non-cooperation between various law-enforcement jurisdictions (though I know that still happens) seems so alien to me. The idea that you would have to go all the way to another city to see a document was very jarring.

Watching films or TV from the early 60's and 50's really triggers the outdated sense. Watching the Twilight Zone marathon and seeing seperate beds for married people (a television practice that seems laughable to us today), for instance, or a doctor that makes house calls and a nurse that occompanies him in the full white uniform with little white hat. Men with hats, casual outings with men in full suits, Groucho casually firing up a cigar in a posh restaurant or seeing a newscaster on the air with a lit cigarette in his hand.

It's also striking how old even suppossedly young people look. They'll describe a 'young newly-wed couple' but with the super-short unstyled hair and more formal clothing they'll look like people in their forties.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Back to the Future, Beverly Hills Cop, Cruel Intentions, The Mummy (Brendan Fraser) are all movies that make me feel transported to the time frame they were shot in.

 

[Evil Monkey]

So, what movies have stayed with you, regardless of how the world has evolved?

Strange Days - even though it was set at the turn of the millennium, I think you could easily remake it, set it in, say, 2020 or so, and it would still be a totally plausible look into the near-future.

Dazed And Confused - good times, good times. That movie will never get old.

What movies are harder to watch now, because they just seem strange?

Any movie made before 1990 set in 'the future' where computers are an important part of the story. I can't recall the name of the movie at the moment, but I was watching a film last month, a sci-fi type film, where the spaceship's monitors were still using that horrible green monochrome and any pictures were rendered in ASCII. That hurt my eyes.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I am always amazed by how well the older Star Trek movies hold up. The effects of II, for instance are dated and inadequate, but the story is still riveting. Of course, when they visit 80's Earth in ST IV, that's just sort of part of the charm of that movie. Even the first time I watched it, it was becoming dated, so I suppose I'm used to the idea.

On the whole, I'm not terribly bothered by anachronistic classics.

 

[Arnwyn]

And while some movies might become outdated, this doesn't always mean that such a movie becomes strange to watch, as society evolves. Take a movie like "Red Dawn", which shows a "past" future that can't really happen anymore. (Imagine if they tried to remake Red Dawn!) It's outdated, but it is still a good movie that holds up, as the years progress.

So, what movies have stayed with you, regardless of how the world has evolved? And, what movies are harder to watch now, because they just seem strange?

Hey, I just saw Sphere, too! I came to the opposite conclusion - I thought it held up very well (though I wasn't a fan of Sphere to begin with). OTOH, I think Red Dawn (saw that one just a couple of months ago) doesn't hold up at all - perfectly terrible.

What do I still love? Off the top of my head:
- Alien, Aliens, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, The Mummy, Stargate, Star Trek 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, Star Wars 4-6, and lots more.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

So, what movies have stayed with you, regardless of how the world has evolved?

I think The Thing (John Carpenter's remake) holds up despite the animatronic beasties and 1980s computers used by the characters. Playing chess on a, what, Apple ][e? Today they'd have tried to make the alien all CGI and then would have gone nuts with it all over the screen. . . which would have ruined the whole thing.

The Road Warrior still really works for me. However, Mad Max and Beyond Thunderdome (the 1st and 3rd in the series) just don't at all.

Some old Anime still hold up. Akira, Castle in the Sky, and Nausica.

It is interesting to watch episodes of The Prisoner, a show from the late 1960s. It had a lot of sci-fi elements in it that are done in a way that today's audience would just roll their eyes at painfully in the same way old Doctor Who episodes are viewed. The whole thing is saved by a timeless story, one I think is equally relevant in today's society.

 

[Baron Opal]

Strangely, I find Forbidden Planet to have held up well. I more wierded out by Leslie Neilson in a serious role than anything else.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm... Movies that have real staying power for me:

-Nosferatu
-Bela Lugosi's Dracula
-Frankenstein (original)
-Bride of Frankenstein (original)
-Creature From the Black Lagoon (for sheer camp)
-War of The Worlds (there is just something about that first battle sequence)
-Alien
-Aliens
-Blade Runner
-Old Noir films like: To Catch a Thief
-Old 50's Sci-Fi movies like: Them
-The Rocketeer

That is just what I can think of right now.