Modern Film and the Best Era

**Destor** · 03-22-2023, 11:51 PM

Last year I spent a lot of time going through the 50s-70s and really digging into that 30 year peroid of film making. This year ive been going through the last 10-15 years and really contrasting them against one another. The big question im asking here is how do you feel about current film and if it isnt now what do you think the peak decade or so for film was? And what do you think is the worst?

When watching films from the 50s into the 60s from the US you can see when the Hayes Code was thrown to the wayside in 68 there's an immediate birthing of creative ideas. Its a startling contrast to watch films of this peroid and then skip foward 5 or 10 years and see something like Deliverance or Last House on the Left.

Some films obviously just did things because they could now be done but having the shackles taken off had a real energy about it and it led to one of the best decades in film. The 70s were innovative. Provocative. Clever. Daring.

The 50s werent all bad...outside of the states at least. Akira Kurwasawa throughout the 50s and 60s was making some of the best films ever made. Films that are just as thought provoking today as as they were then. But i really think the censorship of the Hayes Code takes guys like Hitchcock, who pushed the visual language of film forward in the way Shakespeare to the written word forward narratively, and puts Hitchcock creatively into a box where we have wonder forever what ideas he had locked away he could never get produced. Could he have made something like Polanski's Rosemary's Baby? I think so.

After the death of the Hayes Code the cinematic revolution could begin and the very late 60s, 70s, and very early 80s we really see a refining of the medium. At the end of this films begin to homogenize to a large degree.

As we get into the 80s we get into a huge down swing in quality films, on a global scale really. Especially out of the studios. Everything becomes safe and broadly marketable for the sake of being broadly marketable. The B and C tier films thrive in this era though a lot of which hold up. Science fiction and horror, albiet campy, find a fun niche but the decade by in large is really flat. For every 1 memorable movie you saw 30 identical forgettable travesties.

Jumping to now i see modern film as a combination of the worst aspects of the 50s/60s and the 80s. We have the same lifeless unispired broad appeal aspirations of the 80s and ever present self censorship of the 50s/60s. And the result is a product that more often than not is scrubbed clean of any individualism and completely sanitized of anything that might actually challenge you in even the slightest way. In a word vapid. The only brightspots being hold overs from 90s occasionally putting out meaningful work and the franchise films that atleast offer something to keep the lights on in what i believe to be a dying business: The Theater.

If this isnt the absolute low point in American Cinema id love to hear the counter point. Id say..2012 or 2015 to now give or take. Hard to say exactly when film imploded.

The best peroid though im torn between the 70s and the 90s. Both were really hot decades with a ton of teeth. Lots of films that still have bite decades later. The acting was good. Even the blockbusters of the 90s a lot of them still hold up pretty well.

Gun to my head i think the 70s have more undisputed classics but the 90s has more movies i love and rewatch 100 times over. Huge catalog of Disney masterpieces, huge catalog or crime dramas, huge catalog of peroid peices, scifi, etc. Horror was at a low point in the 90s compared to the 70s but i think in most genres...id give the edge to the 90s.

In any case is am i completely off the mark? Is now the best its ever been? Were the 90s absolute shit? Im sure there's some hot takes out there.

03-22-2023, 11:51 PM	#1
Destor I am the cheese Posts: 51,037	Modern Film and the Best Era Last year I spent a lot of time going through the 50s-70s and really digging into that 30 year peroid of film making. This year ive been going through the last 10-15 years and really contrasting them against one another. The big question im asking here is how do you feel about current film and if it isnt now what do you think the peak decade or so for film was? And what do you think is the worst? When watching films from the 50s into the 60s from the US you can see when the Hayes Code was thrown to the wayside in 68 there's an immediate birthing of creative ideas. Its a startling contrast to watch films of this peroid and then skip foward 5 or 10 years and see something like Deliverance or Last House on the Left. Some films obviously just did things because they could now be done but having the shackles taken off had a real energy about it and it led to one of the best decades in film. The 70s were innovative. Provocative. Clever. Daring. The 50s werent all bad...outside of the states at least. Akira Kurwasawa throughout the 50s and 60s was making some of the best films ever made. Films that are just as thought provoking today as as they were then. But i really think the censorship of the Hayes Code takes guys like Hitchcock, who pushed the visual language of film forward in the way Shakespeare to the written word forward narratively, and puts Hitchcock creatively into a box where we have wonder forever what ideas he had locked away he could never get produced. Could he have made something like Polanski's Rosemary's Baby? I think so. After the death of the Hayes Code the cinematic revolution could begin and the very late 60s, 70s, and very early 80s we really see a refining of the medium. At the end of this films begin to homogenize to a large degree. As we get into the 80s we get into a huge down swing in quality films, on a global scale really. Especially out of the studios. Everything becomes safe and broadly marketable for the sake of being broadly marketable. The B and C tier films thrive in this era though a lot of which hold up. Science fiction and horror, albiet campy, find a fun niche but the decade by in large is really flat. For every 1 memorable movie you saw 30 identical forgettable travesties. Jumping to now i see modern film as a combination of the worst aspects of the 50s/60s and the 80s. We have the same lifeless unispired broad appeal aspirations of the 80s and ever present self censorship of the 50s/60s. And the result is a product that more often than not is scrubbed clean of any individualism and completely sanitized of anything that might actually challenge you in even the slightest way. In a word vapid. The only brightspots being hold overs from 90s occasionally putting out meaningful work and the franchise films that atleast offer something to keep the lights on in what i believe to be a dying business: The Theater. If this isnt the absolute low point in American Cinema id love to hear the counter point. Id say..2012 or 2015 to now give or take. Hard to say exactly when film imploded. The best peroid though im torn between the 70s and the 90s. Both were really hot decades with a ton of teeth. Lots of films that still have bite decades later. The acting was good. Even the blockbusters of the 90s a lot of them still hold up pretty well. Gun to my head i think the 70s have more undisputed classics but the 90s has more movies i love and rewatch 100 times over. Huge catalog of Disney masterpieces, huge catalog or crime dramas, huge catalog of peroid peices, scifi, etc. Horror was at a low point in the 90s compared to the 70s but i think in most genres...id give the edge to the 90s. In any case is am i completely off the mark? Is now the best its ever been? Were the 90s absolute shit? Im sure there's some hot takes out there.