I don't like old movies in general, whether they are considered a "great" movie or not. I suppose some of the biggest contributors to this... prejudice... against old movies is the music, acting, and being black and white.
I really, really, hate the loud obnoxious band/orchestra music that all of them have, especially in like the openings of the movies or something. Westerns are especially perceptible to this. I like the more subtle music that fits the the theme. A good example of this would be the intro's to a movie such as Batman. Here is the song Vespertilio from Batman Begins.
I like that song because it is instantly recognizable - you hear it and you know its Batman. I don't feel like you can do that with many old movies. Old movies it just, to me, feels like the composer just dipped their head in ink and face-rolled a piece of paper, and called it a movie score.
Another reason why I don't really like old movies is that that many are not in color. Movies are supposed to immerse you in a story and make you sort of...feel like you are there, right? I don't think black and white does that for me, I just can't get into the movie. Many times the story is good, but the presentation does not deliver. Maybe I just haven't been exposed to enough older movies (perhaps I'll see some I'll like in this class?). When I go looking for a movie to watch, I usually don't even glance at the older ones, its straight to the new/semi new releases.
I guess you could say I'm addicted to CGI(computer generated imagery), and I would say that is true. I love the beautiful visuals that CGI offers. It can go from enhancing scenes to make them look real to a scene totally computer generated, one that couldn't be done otherwise.
Back to old movies. I think that in many old movies, the acting is terrible. If you took an old black and white movie (one that is considered a good movie), made it into color (and made it so the visuals were nice and crisp, as if it were filmed with modern technology) and re-released it in an environment where people have never seen it before, I do not think it would be received as well as when it was originally made.
One old movie I DO actually like, off the top of my head, is Good Night, and Good Luck, which I watched in US history. It had an excellent story and good acting (other people were falling asleep when we were watching it...I don't know why).
Oh wait. It was made in 2005 but released in black and white. Never mind, I guess there isn't an old movie I like.
6 comments:
I kind of agree with what you said. I get what you mean when you said that movies are supposed to make you feel like you're there, but think about it. If you were watching the movie back when it first came out, you probably would feel like you were right in the action. I think everyone has become so jaded by color and special effects that anything less than the top of the line for each is just not good enough. I'm not saying I'm a particular fan of old movies, but I feel like we should at least respect them for what they accomplished in their time.
I would take a stab and guess that the reason you (and many other kids) feel this way, is that we all have grown up with color in movies. We have had the privilege of CGI, and we never have to imagine things for ourselves, because the Special Effects Guys make our dreams realities.
I will admit I used to feel that way too, and I had the assumption that movies were overacted too, and I hope my opinion changes.
I agree with you. I feel that in many old movies, the actors deliver their lines with wayyyyyyyy too much enthusiasm. Almost to the point where it just isn't believable. Many of them also deliver their lines immediately after the other person is finished saying theirs, which really bothers me because no one speaks like that in real life. There should be a pause between each line so the person has time to register what they just heard, like in real life.
A perfect example of this is in Bringing Up Baby. Both of the main characters immediately engage in lightning fast dialogue whenever they are around each other, which I find extremely irritating. Not to mention Susan's horrifyingly high-pitched voice that rings in my ears for hours after hearing it.
I'm not saying that black-and-white movies are inferior because of this or anything. I just agree that there are some obvious differences between older movies and today's movies.
meh. if you ask me, i kinda like the style of the older movies. But that's not to say i'd prefer to watch an older movie than a newer one. just saying that the styles are very different and there's really nothing wrong with that, it's just that some peoples taste are not used to it.
And come on, can you honestly say that you don't like the Three Stooges? (technically not a movie, but whatever.)
Well, I'll have to revise my old statement of having no old movies I liked. I really liked stagecoach, but so far I'm not liking the romantic comedy we are watching, His Girl Friday.
For the western in class essay, I watched the movie Shane with a friend. It's considered a classic (and got an Academy Award for best cinematography), but I honestly don't see why. The acting was horrible, the story was generic, it had a REALLY annoying little boy running around yelling "bang bang." I seriously wanted to just turn it off halfway through, it was really bad.
If some "classics" can get as bad as this, I certainly don't wanna see movies (or at least westerns) that aren't considered classics.
Hi. I disagree entirely. I loooooove old movies? Especially the ones that are all choppy and seem like they're being played in fast-forward due to a bad conversion when trying to put the film onto DVD, or whatever. Besides, you have to keep in mind that color didn't even exist until the mid-1950's or whatever, so you've gotta give dem oldies a break.
Also, people were too excited to just see stuff moving around on a screen to care about what exactly the people were doing, so the acting did not have to be anywhere near 'good'. Bye
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