Films That Have Aged Badly

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1. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Specifically, the whole "Finkle is Einhorn!" epiphany and resultant "dirty" scenes, which in retrospect today seem very over-the-top homophobic, esp. considering that all they did was kiss. Yes, playing "The Crying Game" song over it does make it a bit funny, but overall, I can't watch those scenes now without cringing at the fratboy-ishness of it all.

Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 25 February 2005 04:37 (twenty-one years ago)

2. Billy Madison. I know, I never though it would happen either.

scout (scout), Friday, 25 February 2005 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

3. The Lost Boys. I loved it when I was a teenager but it seems really hokey and dated in retrospect.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 04:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I would have to disagree with you. I still love The Lost Boys -- maybe I have also aged badly!

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 04:57 (twenty-one years ago)

It could be that I associated it with being a teenager when it came out, and now I'm not... I'm just old! waah :(

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I first saw it when I was a kid, so I think maybe I kept that youthful AWE that I first felt at seeing vampires in fringed leather.

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Keifer!

Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

4. Jurassic Park and Independence Day - mid-90s special effects extravaganzas seem kind of quaint now

milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

all these were hollywooderiffic cheesefests ever since opening night!

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't think of movies that aged badly so much as movies I was so full of shit to love.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah um ID4 sucked when it came out man. In fact I actually shouted abuse at the screen in thew cinema, and I never pull stunts like that :/

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a friend who recently cried at the part where Quaid saves the day. Specifically when he says: "THIS ONE IS FOR YOU MR. PRESIDENT" or something equally preposterous.

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahah :D That bit is fun tho, as is the bit where will smith punches the alien. OK so the film had some good bits.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Natural Born Killers looks just pitiful now

Aaron A., Friday, 25 February 2005 05:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I havent revisited that one but I have a feeling you may be right.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Reality Bites. Basically anything from the nineties that acts like the nineties are just so out there and cool. "This is the NINETIES."

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Boys N the Hood - seems very blaxpoitative now

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't think of movies that aged badly so much as movies I was so full of shit to love.
-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), February 25th, 2005.

"you wanna get nuts? let's get nuts!"

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Clerks. And I bet a lot of the Charlie Kaufman stuff is gonna look positively silly and hyper-indulgent in a few years.

Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

"in a few years"

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:34 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah Clerks definitely.

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

4. Jurassic Park and Independence Day - mid-90s special effects extravaganzas seem kind of quaint now
-- milozauckerman (wooderso...), February 25th, 2005.

godzilla and the phantom menace had a lot to do with that....cause they were totally bitchin' and blew everything outta the water, yo!

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

is there a films that have aged well thread?

gem (trisk), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:37 (twenty-one years ago)

5. True Lies (or you could argue that its "relevance has grown" but you'd be a fucking moron)

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i was actually just going to start a "films that have aged surprisingly well" thread!

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

you know guys, a lot of these movies were turds to begin with.

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I KNOW you ain't referring to Billy Madison, foo!

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"you wanna get nuts? let's get nuts!"

exactly! how did grown adults tolerate that movie? I was nine! That's MY excuse!

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't think of any that i liked once and now don't.... but i can think of heaps that i've liked for a very long time!!

gem (trisk), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

billy madison has aged like a fine old beaujolais

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

you know guys, a lot of these movies were turds to begin with.
-- s1ocki (slytus...), February 25th, 2005.

yeah but turds start out warm and moist then dry out ya know!

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Slocki OTM - though of course the concept of aging badly seems to have a lot to do with wetehr one personally liked the film when it came out, and thats always gonna be subjective.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Ew, latebloomer ;P

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw Sneakers TWICE in the theatre. Because the idea of a bunch of guys hanging out 24/7 and solving puzzles sounded AWESOME.

I was 12!!!

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

that still sounds awesome

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

haha i used to love that movie too

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:43 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, it sounds like a bunch of guys doing anagrams in their sweatpants. i take it back

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to love "Species", I thought it was so badass.

Shapeshifting alien monsters, tits, and gore! the PERFECT movie for nerdy 12 year olds!

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought HOOK was the most genius movie ever made. They really should have named it PAN.

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

oh dude HOOK totally pwns this thread!

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

the latest movie I'm embarassed by my affection for was Fight Club. Saw that in the theatres and was like WOW. Saw it two years later in a class and was puking the whole timed.

What changed?

GOT ONE GIRLFRIEND.

I don't think this was a coincidence.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah hook is some festering dogshit.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Everything ever done by spike lee

Jimmy Mod Has Returned With Spices And Silks (ModJ), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The fucking Graduate.

stephen morris (stephen morris), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Ghost World!

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:53 (twenty-one years ago)

the brady bunch movies.

jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I was going to put The Graduate in the category of me loving it for about two seconds and being totally full of shit.

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

The Brady Bunch movie has aged so badly it's hilarious. It is a total salute to the nineties!

gunther heartymeal (keckles), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

do the right thing has aged radly!!

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah Hook got like what, 39 Oscars? and look at it now...

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

do you guys thing terry gilliam's stuff has aged badly or radly?

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

WTF wasnt Hook bagged when it came out? Or are you being sarky?

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sfedora.com/star%20wars%20logo.jpeg

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Slocki - nah I still love Brazil.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

people actually liked hook when it came out? that one was pretty widely panned! (xp)

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

MICCIO OTMFM.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

way sarky

()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

by the way, Luke's gay subtext was totally revealed when he revealed he wanted to get "power converters" with the guys rather than "work the moisture farm."

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i loved hook because i was 9 years old when it came out. 9 year olds with taste=nonexistent.

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

what about that little shit in the truffaut movie who wants to see Citizen Kane?

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i didnt like it when it came out but surely no one thinks Good Will Hunting is good anymore.

the original star wars trilogy.

p.t. anderson movies.

ryan (ryan), Friday, 25 February 2005 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i think brazil has actually aged pretty darn well all things considered

s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:00 (twenty-one years ago)

All too goddamn well, I haven't been able to watch it since 9/11.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I've basically decided that movies suck except for the ones with farting in them. and 3/4ths of those do too.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

movies aren't good so much as proof of what pathologies you buy into.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

movies aren't good so much as proof of what pathologies you buy into.
-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), February 25th, 2005.

OTFM

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:03 (twenty-one years ago)

to be clearer, there's definitely degrees of quality. we can make cases about what's good and bad, but when it comes to GREATNESS its definitely about your inner brain damage.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 06:05 (twenty-one years ago)

The Fast and the Furious is 110% guaranTEED to age horribly.

Stupornaut (natepatrin), Friday, 25 February 2005 08:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"hip" 60s movies aged worse than "hip" 90s movies

blow up
zabriskie point
petulia

plus also you find it easier as you age to stay on terms w. yrself and yr taste at 9 than yrself and yr taste at 19

luckily i didn't watch movies as a teen (tho haha had a friend who saw "the song remains the same" 19 times, and that CERTAINLY belongs on this thread)

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 09:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Suburbia

Seuss, Friday, 25 February 2005 09:51 (twenty-one years ago)

'Reservoir Dogs'

NRQ (Enrique), Friday, 25 February 2005 09:54 (twenty-one years ago)

"hip" 60s movies aged worse than "hip" 90s movies

Don't know about that. Have you ever seen Shooting Fish? Aiiieeee, the soundtrack! They must've got every mediocre indie band of the day on board.

Also, HACKERS(hAx0rz?) ownz this list.

Philip Alderman (Phil A), Friday, 25 February 2005 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Which "Suburbia", Seuss? I'm curious cos I am thinking the original one (with non-actor punks, inc Flea from RHCP) is probably more likely dated. Though I have a soft spot for it, purely for being what it is.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 February 2005 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

The Net?

Masked Gazza, Friday, 25 February 2005 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

all disco musicals, though that's a mark in their favor, not against them (which is why a bunch of us in Seattle are watching three of them this Saturday huzzah!)

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 25 February 2005 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Hal Hartley films.

zappi (joni), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Empire Records

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

haha philip no i never saw shooting fish ( think i have it on video actually: maybe i will watch it this weekend)

if i find it more annoying than zabriskie point i will be quite surprised

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Dziga-Vertov Group and Norman Wisdom

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

British comedies of the 1930s/1940s, except Will Hay/ Moore Marriott/ Graham Moffat

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Birth of a Nation

M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, Dziga-Vertov Group are the gold-standard of 'can you handle this?'. I like 'Blow-Up': I think I quite like things which show their age.

NRQ (Enrique), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

In fact, British cinema 1898-2005 - or "English films" as my mum still calls them as in, "What's the supporting film? Och, it's an English film, we'll miss that one out"

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

British cinema 1898-2005 except for "Sir Henry at Rawlinson End"

bah i want to see this dziga vertov/norman wisdom collab, i heard so much abt it!!

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

man w.a movie camera and a ladder

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

It's on the AFI top 100 list, yet I find it to be the most insufferable movie ever: Wuthering Heights.

dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Grimsdale and Pitkin or Marx and Engels, you decide

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

hating on spike lee without respecting the do-the-right-thing-is-crack-without-the-bad-parts rule is a no-no.

djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Specifically, the whole "Finkle is Einhorn!" epiphany and resultant "dirty" scenes, which in retrospect today seem very over-the-top homophobic, esp. considering that all they did was kiss. Yes, playing "The Crying Game" song over it does make it a bit funny, but overall, I can't watch those scenes now without cringing at the fratboy-ishness of it all.
-- Girolamo Savonarola (gsa...), February 25th, 2005.

OTM. However, the "rhino scene" from Ace Ventura 2 is ageless.

latebloomer: The Heavy Metal Velveeta Faction (latebloomer), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"Austin, claiming that he is sorry for breaking their milk bottles, presents Pitkin and Grimsdale with a box of apples for the horse. Norman feeds most of the apples to Nellie, but they are doped, and the horse becomes ill."

This absolutely does not do justice to this scene because not only does Nellie eat the apples but so do Norman, Mr. Grimsdale and Mr. Grimsdale's paramour, and they all go on a semi-psychedelic sort of trip - two years before Sgt. Pepper!!!!!!!

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

also, I think films aging badly is THE POINT insofar as they're meant to be time capsules, even when they're not documentarian in the least.

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Any films about the turn of the millenium. Strange Days is the only one I can think of right now.

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

The Matrixxxxxx if not yet, soon.

djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

the matrix had "aged badly" for me by abt a quarter of the way through

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit" or whatever it was called left me feeling as if I'd aged badly when I stumbled, blinking, out of the cinema after 12 years of watching elves and gnomes fighting each other

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I fear that Danny Kaye films have not aged well (tho I still like 'em)... also anything with Red Skelton in it

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

watching all three in one sitting was possibly a poor decision

(actually in tolkien-think gnomes and elves would have been on the same side, but he quite early dropped the term gnomes altogether, in favour of — i think — "deep elves")

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

That wasn't all three, that was only one!!!

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.scope.dk/images/movie/3063_poster_go.jpg

Go, 1999.
Raving, scamming drug dealers in the lamest way possible, Scott Wolf, and a cover of "Magic Carpet Ride" that had been "technoized". And don't forget the poor imitation of Pulp Fiction with the editing of sequence and the "pop culture" rantings about "Family Circus".

Despite all of that, I liked this movie when it first came out. But after seeing it on the Saturday matinee a few weeks ago, oh dear.

I still love The Lost Boys...

The Jim Morrision portrait though! That's what dates it for me! Lost Boys still resides in a time when that was cool!

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't think of movies that aged badly so much as movies I was so full of shit to love.

I'd agree. Movies are meant to be of their time, so it's silly to squawk over how badly they've aged.

Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I, too, thought Go was sweet.

jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 25 February 2005 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Birdy (dir: Alan Parker, starring Nicholas Cage & Matthew Modine; soundtrack by Peter Gabriel)

Watched it over and over when I was in high school, now much of it looks like a bad video, and Cage and Modine look about 28 though they're supposed to be 16.

Still a good story though.

shookout (shookout), Friday, 25 February 2005 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Opposite Of Sex, Kicking And Screaming, Nowhere, Pi...

alex in montreal, Friday, 25 February 2005 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Pretty much anything that was celebrated at the time of its release for having sweet computer/special effects: Star Wars, The Matrix, Labyrinth, Tron, etc. I would throw Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on top of the heap — it also has Gwyenth Paltrow at her most shrill, which just seems excessively cruel.

sugarpants (sugarpants), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Despite still enjoying Do the Right Thing, I would also have to agree that most of Spike Lee's films have not aged well, either.

sugarpants (sugarpants), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The only good ending I can think of for one of his movies is Clockers, which is probably my favorite of his films anyhow.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the biggest problem with Spike Lee's films is that they were all so timely at the time of their release, like, he explores some very universal themes, but relies so much on the context of the right here right now (er, right there right then) that, in later years, the message has gotten waaaaaaaaay watered down.

And on that note, I submit: Strange Days. I like almost everything about this film, except Juliette Lewis and it's reliance on Y2K millenial fear.

xpost CLOCKERS had the worst score of any film EVER. It made Punch Drunk Love sound like Pulp Fiction.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The ending of School Daze couldn't be worse if it included a shot of Spike Lee riding a cow over the moon.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Give it time.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

you have a weird definition of "worse"

Allyzay Dallas Multi-Pass (allyzay), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

do the right thing has aged radly!!

You mean Do The Right Thing: featuring his

"aaaaaaaannnndddd.... ACTION!"

style of directing?

Jimmy Mod Has Returned With Spices And Silks (ModJ), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Human Traffic. It was pretty dated at the time - now it's jurassic.

Huey (Huey), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Speaking of which, Jurassic Park. Didn't we gaze in wonder at those CGI beasts... my mum can do that on her iThing now.

Huey (Huey), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

is there any film (by anyone) which wd not be IMPROVED by including a shot of Spike Lee riding a cow over the moon?

mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Network

Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

The Sorrow And The Pity

(x-post)

miccio (miccio), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Network

Alright, bud. Now I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.

Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 25 February 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Almost everything Peter Sellers was in after 1964

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw 'Network' on Sunday and realized that TV and the entertainment industry are much, much worse now than the movie forsaw.

Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, are we listing films that have aged badly now, or films that wouldn't be improved by a shot of a cow-borne Spike Lee flying over the moon? This is so confusing.

o. nate (onate), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Spike Lee and cows jumping over the moon are more interesting than films that have aged badly.

Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i want to say austin powers, but i don't know if that's because i've seen it too much, or if it just isn't everything i thought it was in 1997. i'm afraid it's in my nature to overdo things - i've seen the simpsons far too much to enjoy it much anymore, and the same goes for seinfeld, though i still see the merits/genius of the simpsons, and can't stand seinfeld to save my life. i wonder if austin powers falls into the simpsons-category, or the truly aging badly category.

chris vitamin, Friday, 25 February 2005 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

No, it's not that Austin Powers sucked, it's just that it has had two horrible sequels and way too many fans that just as quickly turned fickle on it.

Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 26 February 2005 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

fifteen years pass...

Everything ever done by spike lee
― Jimmy Mod Has Returned With Spices And Silks (ModJ), Friday, February 25, 2005 5:52 AM (fifteen years ago)

rong

handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Sunday, 21 June 2020 14:49 (five years ago)

terribly wrong

Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Sunday, 21 June 2020 14:52 (five years ago)

i also accept this FP

Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Sunday, 21 June 2020 14:53 (five years ago)

Get On The Bus = extremely watchable in 2020 (literally -- it's on Netflix)

handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Sunday, 21 June 2020 14:53 (five years ago)

Sorry for the call-out but I couldn't find much Spike Lee discussion on ILX when I searched last night, and so I naturally zeroed in on the post that was saying the exact opposite of what I wanted to :)

(fwiw it seems like everyone on the thread responding to you in 2005 agreed!)

handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Sunday, 21 June 2020 14:55 (five years ago)

Interesting how many 90s movies are mentioned in this thread. I feel like most of these aren't so embarrassing anymore.

jmm, Sunday, 21 June 2020 15:00 (five years ago)

Jumanji, mostly because it came from the age where CGI was still really primitive and it looks ridiculous.

I hear that sometimes Satan wants to defund police (Neanderthal), Sunday, 21 June 2020 15:28 (five years ago)

Harvey belongs in this thread.

the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Sunday, 21 June 2020 16:57 (five years ago)

in among all the other wrong ideas?

never mind that shit, here comes scampo (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:04 (five years ago)

kinda want to re-watch Go

JoeStork, Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:17 (five years ago)

I think Ace Ventura is still a correct call— that film is transphobic and homophobic af, and has aged terribly.

blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:18 (five years ago)

That was my first thought on reading thread title and sure enough first post

Feels weird to say about the movie where Jim Carrey talks out of his butt, like its rep had far to fall, but I think it would be remembered quite well as kind of peak Carrey when he was having his moment but the whole thing with the Sean young character is so unnecessarily cruel and awful

covid coronenberg (wins), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:21 (five years ago)

The sequel is suuuuuper racist too

covid coronenberg (wins), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:21 (five years ago)

in about 2008 or 2009, I rewatched Groove, and while it had aged badly at the time, it now seems a bit more accurate to me. even if i still think John Digweed sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k9pAL8Qg-I

blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:23 (five years ago)

Ace Venturua was unwatchable shit at the time, and I was 15.

Harvey absolutely belongs here, though I don't know if its brand of twee mental illness comedy has really gone out of style.

A White, White Gay (cryptosicko), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:24 (five years ago)

i think of it as twee boozing comedy and am still on board

never mind that shit, here comes scampo (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 21 June 2020 17:27 (five years ago)

five years pass...

Sixteen Candles for so many reasons.

kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 17 September 2025 15:23 (six months ago)

Haven't seen Harvey since I was a kid. I remember loving it, never thought about how mental illness is handled in it.

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 17 September 2025 15:30 (six months ago)

Danny Kaye films have not aged well (tho I still like 'em)... also anything with Red Skelton in it

this would merit an otm, except those films have aged so badly they have ceased living altogether

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 15:57 (six months ago)

I was surprised to see that cow jumping over the moon image from twenty years ago still visible, so I followed the url and the website it's from has aged delightfully: https://www.seykota.com/.

lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 15:59 (six months ago)

Apropos of me rewatching The Thing, we need a "Films which haven't dated" thread

Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 16:32 (six months ago)

Everything ever done by spike lee
― Jimmy Mod Has Returned With Spices And Silks (ModJ), Friday, February 25, 2005

Still a terrible take 20 years later.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 16:36 (six months ago)

I remember the love scene in Top Gun was such an impressive experience for young me - and all the macho stuff now seems so ridiculous

Minty Gum (Latham Green), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 17:34 (six months ago)

National Lampoon's Animal House, in numerous ways. Unfortunately I watched it so often in the 80s that not only can I remember pretty much every scene in excruciating detail, I can also recall most of the contents of the ad breaks in my VHS copy I taped off TV.

shag flaggers (Matt #2), Wednesday, 17 September 2025 17:49 (six months ago)

Revenge of the Nerds is the first thing that comes to mind, god the shit that passed for "teenage hijinks" back then. one of the nerds straight up rapes a girl. its bad. I'm sure it's been discussed here before.

more than that the movie operates in this world where the jocks are at the top of the food chain and the nerds are like some sort of oppressed minority. well guess what, now the nerds are in charge and the world is much much much worse for it

frogbs, Wednesday, 17 September 2025 17:55 (six months ago)

I remember watching Defence of the Realm a few years ago. It's a thriller from the 1980s, a kind of low-key Edge of Darkness. Starring Gabriel Byrne and Greta Scacchi who, in 2009, posed nude with a codfish.

On the one hand the basic outline of the plot is surprisingly nay strikingly relevant - the British government tries to cover up trespass of an airbase - but as with so many post-Watergate films it all hinges on the idea that if our heroes can get their evidence to the correct authorities, the conspiracy will spontaneously collapse.

Which might have been the case in the distant past - although my recollection is that the French government only got a slap on the wrist for killing a photographer when they bombed the Rainbow Warrior - but doesn't feel plausible nowadays.

Ashley Pomeroy, Thursday, 18 September 2025 19:25 (five months ago)

Pretty Baby to thread, also Blue Lagoon... plus any number of female-led teen 80s movies like Foxes, Little Darlings et al

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 September 2025 19:39 (five months ago)

(I think one of the reasons Fast Times holds up so well is that it was directed by a woman, and probably would've been a way different and probably icky movie had that not been the case)

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 September 2025 19:44 (five months ago)

Opening scene in the original Ghostbusters feels pretty icky nowadays.

bookmarkflaglink (Darin), Thursday, 18 September 2025 19:46 (five months ago)

we need a "Films which haven't dated" thread

I rewatched The Black Stallion (1979) a couple-few years ago and almost thought they could probably do a theatrical re-release - it holds up well, though the only real 'villain' in the movie is an Arab. It still looks pretty amazing, especially the island scenes

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 September 2025 19:53 (five months ago)

I got about half an hour into Ghostbusters recently before giving up on it, Bill Murray sexually harassing Sigourney Weaver around her apartment was the final straw. I shudder to think how many comedies from the 80s and earlier have similar scenes.

shag flaggers (Matt #2), Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:00 (five months ago)

I had the opposite impression when I saw it on a cable channel on Labor Day weekend, in part b/c Weaver more than holds her own.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:08 (five months ago)

Watched Ghostbusters with the daughters recently and am pleased to inform you that they cut Murray no slack. Ten year old shouted “HE’S A JERK” and we hollered an affirmative.

Cow_Art, Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:34 (five months ago)

hal hartley mentioned above, he has definitely spent his time in the wilderness but having recently rewatched Trust and Simple Men I reckon those films are good again now

Cod:Shellfish (emsworth), Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:35 (five months ago)

My brain is bending under the weight of Revenge of the Nerds memories. I loved that movie so much, it is in my DNA. I saw the sequel in the theater. I can’t imagine the reaction of a kid nowadays watching it. Would it read like a Harmony Korine thing?

Cow_Art, Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:44 (five months ago)

My brain is bending under the weight of Revenge of the Nerds memories. I loved that movie so much, it is in my DNA. I saw the sequel in the theater. I can’t imagine the reaction of a kid nowadays watching it. Would it read like a Harmony Korine thing?

Cow_Art, Thursday, 18 September 2025 20:44 (five months ago)

Revenge of the Nerds: Robert Carradine
Pretty Baby: Keith Carradine

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 September 2025 22:16 (five months ago)

Ten year old shouted “HE’S A JERK”

The entire audience knows it, but he doesn't know it. Being an unflappably self-confident, but totally repellent JERK, was the core of Murray's character in all his early comedies.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, 18 September 2025 22:25 (five months ago)

yeah, there a scene in S*T*R*I*P*ES with Sean Young that's like that

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 September 2025 22:31 (five months ago)

‘Japan will conquer the world economically’ has aged poorly as a speculative fiction trope but is mostly inoffensive IIRC… unless Michael Crichton wrote it.

Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Thursday, 18 September 2025 22:55 (five months ago)

Ten year old shouted “HE’S A JERK”

The entire audience knows it, but he doesn't know it. Being an unflappably self-confident, but totally repellent JERK, was the core of Murray's character in all his early comedies.

tbh I reacted the same way as your ten-year-old when I saw it at the younger age of six or seven. I didn't know who Bill Murray was, so I had no preconceived notions, but he came off as a complete ass all the time, and it was only when the end of the world was imminent and he got his shit together that I could root for him. Anyway, as funny as the best parts may be, I never thought it was a great movie even as a kid, it was just a long, uneven thing that was good for some laughs.

birdistheword, Thursday, 18 September 2025 23:04 (five months ago)

I'll insist that Murray comes across less badly than Akroyd getting ghost head

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2025 23:10 (five months ago)

I actually didn’t understand that part then. Ah, to be so innocent again…

birdistheword, Thursday, 18 September 2025 23:58 (five months ago)

how is Straw Dogs holding up?

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 19 September 2025 00:03 (five months ago)

I'm sure Morbs would agree: "films that have aged badly" doesn't mean "not a good film you shouldn't watch"

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 September 2025 00:04 (five months ago)

So.. Song of the South?

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 19 September 2025 00:25 (five months ago)

all these 80s sex comedies always completely sucked, no aging required

brimstead, Friday, 19 September 2025 00:38 (five months ago)

Not a patch on Schlong of the South

Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Friday, 19 September 2025 00:40 (five months ago)

Pretty Baby to thread, also Blue Lagoon...

There's a scene in the Brooke Shields doc from a couple years back where her daughters have a horrified reaction to their mother's signature films.

cryptosicko, Friday, 19 September 2025 00:43 (five months ago)

The thought of Brooke Shields reminded me of Stealing Beauty, a film from 1996 where the entire thrust of the publicity was that the very lovely and also borderline legal Liv Tyler took off her top.

It was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, a 55-year-old man. The entire plot seems to have been "which of the cast will Liv Tyler lose her virginity to". "To whom of the cast will Liv Tyler lose her virginity". "Whom amongst the cast will Liv Tyler lose her virginity". "Of whom in the cast will Liv Tyler lose her virginity". Whom him. Whom him. Whom her. Whom her. Who he. Who he. Whom him. I can't do it.

I remember even at the time being unwilling to rent it from Blockbuster because I knew that the man behind the counter would judge me. A few years later Bertolucci directed The Dreamers, for which the entire thrust of the publicity was that Eva Green also took off her top, although by that time I had access to internet if, hypothetically, I had wanted to download postage-stamp-sized realmedia films of Eva Green.

Ashley Pomeroy, Friday, 19 September 2025 19:44 (five months ago)

Our kid's two kids had a hard time with Grease, to wit "Why are they all so mean to each other?".

piscesx, Friday, 19 September 2025 20:01 (five months ago)

You can blame Rizzo for that

the piss-up in the brewery has sadly been cancelled (Matt #2), Friday, 19 September 2025 20:12 (five months ago)

I remember even at the time being unwilling to rent it from Blockbuster because I knew that the man behind the counter would judge me. A few years later Bertolucci directed The Dreamers, for which the entire thrust of the publicity was that Eva Green also took off her top, although by that time I had access to internet if, hypothetically, I had wanted to download postage-stamp-sized realmedia films of Eva Green.

The film also uses her menstrual blood for "erotic" effect.

Bertolucci's squeamishness about letting the very hot Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt hook up -- when this is where the picture was going -- infuriated me.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 September 2025 20:36 (five months ago)

Speaking of Bertolucci.. Maria Schneider on Last Tango:

Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 19 September 2025 20:40 (five months ago)

more than that the movie operates in this world where the jocks are at the top of the food chain and the nerds are like some sort of oppressed minority. well guess what, now the nerds are in charge and the world is much much much worse for it

The concept of Revenge of the Nerds makes no sense. Jocks tormenting nerds is a high school thing, no one gives a shit about that by college.

all these 80s sex comedies always completely sucked, no aging required

The genre peaked in 1978 or 79 with Teen Lust aka The Girls Next Door aka Police Academy Girls directed by veteran character actor James Hong. At times comes across as There’s Something About Mary avant la lettre. A number of deranged set pieces, like the heroine coming home to find her alcoholic mother has set the mattress on fire and thrown it out the window where the rich kid next door (who is also her unwanted fiancé) is pissing on it. Scene where same kid has birthday party and spits all over the cake while blowing out the candles and overweight girl with bandaged nose (due to nose job) does hapless tap dance.

gjoon1, Friday, 19 September 2025 21:01 (five months ago)

directed by veteran character actor James Hong

Things you were shockingly old... (never saw the film, but remember the VHS box well)

Also, Hong still with us at 96 years old.

cryptosicko, Friday, 19 September 2025 21:33 (five months ago)

There’s Something About Mary

i haaaaaatee this movie so much

brimstead, Friday, 19 September 2025 21:37 (five months ago)

whoa James Hong was in Blade Runner

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 19 September 2025 21:41 (five months ago)

I remember thinking Eva Green’s toplessness in The Dreamers was excessive at the time, which may have been a first.

Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Friday, 19 September 2025 23:35 (five months ago)

The wife (50, white) was talking movies with a coworker (black, maybe just into her 30s). Coworker was talking about how much she liked Steve Martin and wife asked if she had seen The Jerk. For her, old Steve Martin is Father Of The Bride.

They both work in the arts and wife recommended it with the caveat that it would not get made today. I have absolutely no idea what a younger black person would think of The Jerk. Or Blazing Saddles. Comedy ages so fast.

Cow_Art, Friday, 19 September 2025 23:43 (five months ago)

Watched Airplane! with the kids recently. I explained a couple of dated jokes beforehand so we wouldn’t have to stop the movie. A lot of jokes missed but enough still landed.

Dumb and Dumber was painful.

Cow_Art, Friday, 19 September 2025 23:45 (five months ago)

xp: Sprague Hasn’t Seen, a podcast where a 50-something white former development executive / script doctor and 30-something black current jobbing television writer watch movies that one or the other hasn’t seen before, did it a few months ago. The 30-something was bothered by tonal shifts (ie some gags being surreal in scenes played straight) far more than race gags.

Nancy Makes Posts (sic), Saturday, 20 September 2025 00:06 (five months ago)

it must be difficult to explain how Mel Brooks was able to get away with some of this stuff because? because it's Mel Brooks!

Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 20 September 2025 00:08 (five months ago)

I remember watching blazing saddles at like ten y/o (so ca. 1998), having heard how important and funny it was, and even then I remember thinking it was just dumb racist jokes and Not Funny. I didn’t exactly have high standards for either political scruples or humour.

Similarly, I also grew up a fan of the regularly-broadcast, iirc not overtly problematic, Revenge of the Nerds sequel (RotN 2: Nerds in Paradise) and was massively disappointed by the first, which was mostly just uncomfortable to watch. Same with animal house, now that I recall.

ed.b, Saturday, 20 September 2025 03:03 (five months ago)

"double secret probation" was the best thing about Animal House. try as I might I can't recall anything else about it other than some togas, which I could never figure out. why togas?

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 20 September 2025 03:53 (five months ago)

The concept of Revenge of the Nerds makes no sense. Jocks tormenting nerds is a high school thing, no one gives a shit about that by college.

The Simpsons did a good parody of that.

birdistheword, Saturday, 20 September 2025 05:40 (five months ago)

it must be difficult to explain how Mel Brooks was able to get away with some of this stuff because? because it's Mel Brooks!

I thought that was the core of Mel Brooks films - brazenly outrageous jokes that were considered extremely distasteful. I never thought they "aged" badly because they were always considered "bad" by conventional standards - the studio met with him and told him to cut almost everything that's famously outrageous about Blazing Saddles (any jokes about race, especially in relation to sex, any jokes about religion, the medieval hangman, the farting scene, etc.) and he agreed to all of it but then simply blew them off. The other thing is, it's not just Mel Brooks - one of the main writers on that film was Richard Pryor, Brooks's first pick for the sheriff but the studio successfully vetoed that because Pryor was considered too much of a risk. Brooks did manage to get him in as a co-writer, and his contributions are enormous.

birdistheword, Saturday, 20 September 2025 05:48 (five months ago)

Im surprised no one mentioned MASH yet. Even when I saw it for the first time in the late 90s, it left a bad taste

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Saturday, 20 September 2025 09:24 (five months ago)

Yeah, MASH is pretty vile. The highbrow Animal House, basically.

cryptosicko, Saturday, 20 September 2025 11:28 (five months ago)

Yes. I don't know if MASH was the first "slobs versus snobs" comedy, but there is a lineage.

(And if you haven't read the MASH books, don't. The author might as well be the fairy godfather of P.J. O'Rourke and his alt-comedy descendants.)

To some degree this era was the result of the replacement of the Motion Picture Production Code (severely weakened during its last decade, but still providing some constraints) with the MPAA ratings system and the implosion of the golden-age studio system. U.S. filmmakers were free to pursue a market that enjoyed its smut with hefty helpings of misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc.

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Saturday, 20 September 2025 12:52 (five months ago)

MASH was called out for its misogyny by at least a few major critics like Dave Kehr when it was first released. He actually never liked Altman’s work partly for that reason.

birdistheword, Saturday, 20 September 2025 16:45 (five months ago)

Altman was a pretty vile filmmaker in general. Misogynist, classist, just kind of a smug asshole across the board. A friend of mine just wrote about Nashville this week.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Saturday, 20 September 2025 16:52 (five months ago)

I dont think that's generally true at all, even those films noted.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 September 2025 16:53 (five months ago)

I think Altman is still rightfully hailed as one of the greats - haven't seen Nashville but Long Goodbye, California Split, The Player, good stuff - but no one ever brings up MASH anymore. I saw it once in my early twenties; don't remember the misogyny (tbc I'm sure it's there, this is on 20something me for not noticing) but I do remember an overall feeling of "this is barely a movie", and not in a cool nouvelle vague way either.

Those Mel Brooks comedies used to get trotted out as examples of how to do satire right in contrast to right wing edgelord stuff back in the '10's a lot but that seems to have subsided.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 20 September 2025 17:30 (five months ago)

"To some degree this era was the result of the replacement of the Motion Picture Production Code (severely weakened during its last decade, but still providing some constraints) with the MPAA ratings system and the implosion of the golden-age studio system. U.S. filmmakers were free to pursue a market that enjoyed its smut with hefty helpings of misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc."

There's also a subgenre of anti-war films from the 1960s and early 1970s, set in the Second World War, that tried to use that conflict to comment on the Vietnam War without directly commenting on Vietnam. How I Won the War, Kelly's Heroes, probably lots of others. Catch-22, which pioneered pubic hair in mainstream Hollywood. Probably a lot of Italian co-productions. Cross of Iron? Did that have a subtext, or was it just Sam Peckinpah being macho? Also it came out a bit late for an anti-Vietnam film.

The problem is that the Second World War was one of a tiny handful of armed conflicts that was morally unambiguous, where one side was irredeemably wrong, and where the fighting made sense. War is an abomination but there are instances where it's unavoidable. The Great Dictator came in for a lot of criticism in the 1940s because the notion that all war was morally unjustifiable was hard to take seriously when one side obviously wasn't going to back down.

M*A*S*H belongs to that odd period of 1960s, 1970s Freak Brothers / Robert Crumb humour where the main characters are free-thinking dope-smoking proto-rock-loving hippy white men who treat teenage girls like disposable sex toys and live in a world where African-Americans say "lawks-a-lordy" and "shit, cat". It's like they were progressive in their minds, but so totally conditioned by their upbringing that they weren't actually all that progressive.

I haven't read a single word of Jack Kerouac - I refuse to subject myself to new ideas or anything I'm unfamiliar with - but I have the impression that On the Road has the same problem. Free-spirited main character, but women are broads and Africa-Americans are plain-living hep cats who dig jazz.

Ashley Pomeroy, Saturday, 20 September 2025 17:59 (five months ago)

Clint Eastwood's cop out of element movie "Coogan's Bluff" is almost hilariously sexist. Some of the scenes with the woman police psychologist and the other policeman is laughably terrible with modern eyes. It definitely has some McBain level of dialog.

earlnash, Saturday, 20 September 2025 19:03 (five months ago)

Re: Altman, I think he's one of the greats, and he's had an uneven career that still resulted in some truly great films, but I do have reservations about his work. To be charitable, it's a mark of a great filmmaker when even their lesser work can be mighty impressive. (Nashville's perhaps the best example of that - I pretty much agree with Paul Schrader's famous damning take comparing it to a wide and shallow wading pool, and there are other annoyances like its regrettably poor depiction of what was country music back then, but it's still impressive to see him juggling all these disparate elements and keeping them in air with complete confidence and mastery.) When he won his honorary Oscar, the intro by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin may have been the best I've ever seen for such an honor because they were able to capture what was an Altman film in their interactions with each other without the aid of clips or anything else - you immediately got what they were doing and it made Altman's filmmaking look all the more distinguished. But even his best films have something that leaves a bad taste. I'm tempted to say my favorites at least make those parts seem organic to the world or the story at hand. With M*A*S*H, as bad as the misogyny gets, it also takes place within the military - my earliest memory of military colleges in the news was the Citadel and what they did to the first female cadets. I can't say those elements of the film are edifying but for better and worse, they do come off as honest in some way.

birdistheword, Saturday, 20 September 2025 20:09 (five months ago)

Everything that's objectionable in the MASH movie was already there in the book, although Altman & Co. piled on a little more for unusual reasons. Namely, the taming of Hot Lips after the shower scene was added to give Sally Kellerman more material & screentime as they were shooting in sequence and the character was supposed to depart the story after that point.

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 20 September 2025 20:42 (five months ago)

Noted feminist filmmaker Paul Schrader.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 September 2025 22:56 (five months ago)

i went on an extended Altman trip and O.C. and Stiggs rulez OK

llurk, Sunday, 21 September 2025 01:46 (five months ago)

Schrader is another filmmaker who didn't actually have a critical consensus in favor of his directorial work, it was much more of a mixed bag.

Here's an excerpt from the late Robin Wood’s essay “The Incoherent Text”: “The position implicit in Paul Schrader’s work . . . can be quite simply characterized as quasi-Fascist. This may not be immediately obvious when one considers each film individually, but adding them together (including the screenplays directed by others) makes it clear. There is the put-down of unionization (Blue Collar), the put-down of feminism “in the Name of the Father’ (Old Boyfriends), the denunciations of alternatives to the Family by defining them in terms of degeneracy and pornography (Hardcore), the implicit denigration of gays (American Gigolo . . . ), and, crucial in its sinister relation to all this, the glorification of the dehumanized hero as efficient killing-machine (unambiguous in Rolling Thunder, confused — I believe by Scorsese’s presence as director — in Taxi Driver).”

Jonathan Rosenbaum not only agreed with this, he argued in 1992 that much of Schrader's work since the publication of Wood's essay only strengthened his argument: "the misogyny and hatred of sex in Cat People, the overt celebration of fascist ideas in Mishima, and the capriciously ahistorical trashing of radical politics in Patty Hearst. Some of these ideological positions could be debated, of course — the production of Mishima in Japan, for instance, was under constant threat of attack by right-wing Japanese terrorists, and it might be argued that the brand of fascism the film celebrates is not exactly popular. (Unlike American Gigolo, say, Mishima probably can’t be accused of pandering to an audience’s sick biases — its psychosexual sickness is much too personal for that.)"

Schrader has been a great screenwriter for other directors, most notably Scorsese, but I've always had mixed feelings about his directorial work, even with films that I generally like. They're always interesting, I'll give him that.

birdistheword, Sunday, 21 September 2025 02:47 (five months ago)

I like a bunch of Schrader's movies from the 70s through the 90s. Blue Collar, Hardcore, Cat People, Mishima, The Comfort of Strangers, Light Sleeper and Affliction are all great, but First Reformed, The Card Counter and Master Gardener are all basically the same movie (and not in the Walter Hill "all my movies are Westerns" sense).

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Sunday, 21 September 2025 02:53 (five months ago)

It's funny because Dave Kehr - a longtime Schrader skeptic - used to accuse Schrader's films of being blatantly derivative of Robert Bresson's work, above all Pickpocket. Schrader doesn't deny the debt he owes Bresson - as if to drive the point home, he lent Pickpocket to at least one person who worked on First Reformed, which relied heavily on newcomers in its crew (partly as a budgetary necessity but also because he wanted to work with people who wouldn't be too rigid in terms of how to go about their jobs). First Reformed is actually my favorite Schrader film, partly for that reason - instead of trying to find a new context to fit Bresson's ideas, he just goes all in with the kind of milieu that's often associated with Bresson's work, and at least to me, everything paradoxically works more powerfully and effectively than it did in Schrader's past films without being diminished by familiarity. The ending alone is a perfect, pure expression of the closing words heard in Pickpocket, except it's put over cinematically, not verbally. Schrader more or less said the following two films created a trilogy for him, and while they're not really favorites, they do work for me as an expansion of First Reformed.

birdistheword, Sunday, 21 September 2025 03:11 (five months ago)

First Reformed, The Card Counter and Master Gardener are all basically the same movie (and not in the Walter Hill "all my movies are Westerns" sense

In the Ozu sense, I'd say. That's all they got in common with Ozu, though

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 21 September 2025 08:57 (five months ago)

"double secret probation" was the best thing about Animal House. try as I might I can't recall anything else about it other than some togas, which I could never figure out. why togas?

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, September 19, 2025 11:53 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Toga parties have a long history, but were especially big on college campuses in the 1950s and 60s, when Animal House took place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toga_party

I haven't watched Animal House in decades, but the most memorable scene is Donald Sutherland retrieving a snack from Karen Allen's kitchen cupboards.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/DqrRukZmgI4AAAAd/animal-house-donald-sutherland.gif

peace, man, Sunday, 21 September 2025 19:37 (five months ago)

I knew that toga parties were a thing at colleges during the 50s and early 60s. What puzzled me was what the attraction was, what made a toga party better than some other kind of party? That wikipedia article at least helped me draw the connection between "greek" fraternities and togas. Still doesn't really get at their popularity and longevity. My sole guess in that direction is that the togas might have made it easier for the party-goers to grope one another.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 21 September 2025 20:00 (five months ago)

Easier to get naked.

https://frinkiac.com/video/S04E05/OjwA6CMlzdx4ms9rJfQuYITLGXw=.gif

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 21 September 2025 20:08 (five months ago)

even the president of Delta Chi sometimes must have to stand naked

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 21 September 2025 20:09 (five months ago)

Still doesn't really get at their popularity and longevity. My sole guess in that direction is that the togas might have made it easier for the party-goers to grope one another.

Also, it's a costume requiring nothing but a bed sheet.

visiting, Sunday, 21 September 2025 21:51 (five months ago)

first post in this thread _has_ aged well! ok, they used different words - it _was_ more then 20 years ago - but thread starter was perhaps the rightest person in that thread, except for latebloomer

Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 21 September 2025 23:47 (five months ago)


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