Chicken Jockey

[Andrew Reid]

America... The absolute state of your culture.

It's sad.

It's pathetic.

Wake up soon from this nightmare cultural bonfire 🙂

[eatstoomuchjam]

You mean the movies and not RLM, right?  Because RLM are both wonderful and sort of neighbors (I'm in Minneapolis, they're just a few hours away in Milwaukee and we Midwesterners need to stick together).

Anyway, I wish it were just a US problem - but the non-US market also hasn't been too kind to a lot of non-blockbuster/Marvel movies.

[MrSMW]

From 2023, I enjoyed The Holdovers and Poor Things.

In 2024, Dune Part 2.

So far from 2025, nada.

From the 80’s, how long have you got?

Far FAR more good series on Netflix and Apple etc than movie releases these days.

Not that every series or even most series are good, but for me, series took over from movies a good few years back.

[KnightsFan]

At no point in my life could I remotely imagine making a mess for someone else to clean up. I almost don't care about people making some noise in the theater at that specific moment--hey, it's not my type of movie, let the fans enjoy it their way--but people throwing shit on the floor makes me so angry.

I think pop culture has shifted sharply towards factual, literal interpretations of stories. Our stories have become more about whether superhero A or superhero B would win in a fight, and less about what that conflict tells us about the characters, or more importantly, ourselves. Characters and stories are analyzed in terms of today's culture, rather than the movie world. It's in vogue to say, "well actually, don't date a guy like Mr. Darcy, because he only helped Lydia to get in Elizabeth's pants" ignoring that it's fantasy. Stories don't necessarily need the same ideology or moral code as real life--fantasy isn't only about a physical setting. The emotional meaning behind an action in a story doesn't necessarily match the emotional meaning behind that same action in the real world.

And I think that 20-40 years ago, moviegoers accepted that kind of fantasy to a larger degree. It was normal for a movie to convey themes and values without requiring a literal relationship to modern-day themes and culture. Maybe another way to summarize is that subtext--both in terms of plot and theme--has become less common.

[MrSMW]

People just have ever decreasing attention spans and in a survey of one, my daughter (20) has to check reviews before even considering ‘watching’ a movie and by ‘watching’, I mean occasionally glancing up from her phone.

My wife (more than 20, though may trade her in for a younger model if she gets any older) is beginning to develop the same phone disease.

But also yes, everything has to be so literal and woke these days. Or it’s the complete opposite and just OTT violence with casual body counts in the dozens.

It’s not that there are not some gems and maybe no less than there ever was, but they are getting drowned in a sea of shit and then lost due to attention spans of the gnats ‘watching’.

[Andrew Reid]

20 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

You mean the movies and not RLM, right?  Because RLM are both wonderful and sort of neighbors (I'm in Minneapolis, they're just a few hours away in Milwaukee and we Midwesterners need to stick together).

Anyway, I wish it were just a US problem - but the non-US market also hasn't been too kind to a lot of non-blockbuster/Marvel movies.

The cinema-going behaviour of the public, definitely not Red letter media - one of my favourite channels. True movie-buffs and hilarious at it too.

[maxJ4380]

22 hours ago, MrSMW said:

People just have ever decreasing attention spans and in a survey of one, my daughter (20) has to check reviews before even considering ‘watching’ a movie and by ‘watching’, I mean occasionally glancing up from her phone.

My wife (more than 20, though may trade her in for a younger model if she gets any older) is beginning to develop the same phone disease.

But also yes, everything has to be so literal and woke these days. Or it’s the complete opposite and just OTT violence with casual body counts in the dozens.

It’s not that there are not some gems and maybe no less than there ever was, but they are getting drowned in a sea of shit and then lost due to attention spans of the gnats ‘watching’.

i make a bold prophecy, that the bodycount will go up by one in your house, should you mention aloud about trading her in. 

btw when you decide to broach this subject with your wife, can i bring my e-m1 along for posterity ?