Will it be a sad day for movies if KOTCS isn't a huge success.

[Perhilion]

Harrison said that?? Hell, it'd better be good.

 

[thelaw]

As far as I'm concerned, it could be the 4th best and still be much better than so many movies out there.

 

[eroc]

Harrison said that?? Hell, it'd better be good.

He said it on Leno, http://youtube.com/watch?v=y0FRrkROnmc at 4min, 11 sec.

 

[DetectiveFork]

Don't be absolutely shocked if "Sex & the City" grabs #1 the week after Indy.

All the girlfriends / wives that agreed to go see Indy will get payback by dragging their boyfriends / husbands to go see "Sex" (shudder).

I'll happily go see both. Sex & the City was a funny show. Granted, I can't wait to see Indy and will likely see it two or three times.

 

[The Whip]

You seem quite pessimistic for your young age.

Don't worry, probability dictates that Hollywood will let you down many more times from here on out.

Not sure what you're looking for, but the money spent on Hollywood productions in the past ten years should unequivocally make it uncomparable to films 30 years ago.

Listen, I'll be the first person to stand up and say how awesome Raiders is and was, but compared to the kid who is 10 years old....he/she can find just as much satisfactory entertainment out of Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Shrek films.

Unless your argument is against the quality of the Academy-Award nominees, I'm not sure what you have against modern day summer blockbusters. They're made with the same ol' recipes that have proven successful, except they have the benefit of better technology and a script-writing labor pool large enough to swallow a small nation. Lucas chose similar classic recipes when he conjured up the Indy and Star Wars series both.

Will it be a sad day if Indy 4 doesn't do well? No. I think many people expect this already.
(I honestly think Ironman will outdo our favorite swashbuckler.)

I think there are three things that have accidentally killed modern cinema.


#1. CGI. It is now economical to show on screen anything you can think of... so now anything you can think of can and probably has been put on screen. You know why the shark isn't in Jaws very much? Because the robotic shark sucked. Which forced Speilberg to use it very sparingly... what a twist of fate it would have been for Speilberg to be able to use a CGI shark cheaply. Jaws would have lost its mystery and intensity... it might have killed his career before it started! I just feel that movies today are too... clean. Every shot is a perfectly lit, perfectly framed, crystal clear window into another world. Its perfect. Except its not.

#2. Too many outlets for movies. Multiplex cinemas with 30 screens, DVD, cable, network telivision... there is demand for every concept, every idea and so there are just a LOT more movies than there used to be. So are we running out of good ideas??? I think maybe so! I think in the old days maybe two good ideas were merged into one good idea where as now every little semi good idea is made into a feature that is probably similar to another equally mediocre feature. There is just a feeling of its all been done and we have seen it all before. And the actual good ideas for movies are stretched very thin. Maybe Cameron will wow us with Avatar.

#3. Directors have too much power. I think you need a little balance. In the old days they would pretty much force directors to cut movies down to two hours so studios could get more showings. This was purely a business decision, and granted there are examples where studios forced inferior cuts (Aliens anyone?) But they also forced some much needed discipline yielding tighter, leaner movies. I think directors are too in love with thier own work and are incapable of making objective editing decisions. Movies today have NO DISCIPLINE! They throw in everything but the kitchen sink! Action scenes become boring and repetitive, dramatic scenes lose thier impact, and generally movies are bloated, overdone messes (see King Kong, see the Matrix sequels, see the PotC sequels, see the prequel trilogy, see Spider-man 3, etc., etc., etc.)


To these three things I would add that there hasn't been a REAL movie star in quite some time. Actors today are all pretty boys. Female actresses have actually made some progress I think (although eye candy starlettes will always come a dime a dozen.) But who was the last real leading man??? Being a star is about prescence... and its much, much, much more about voice than looks. That is why Grant, Ford, Bogart, Wells, actually all the legends were legends.


Just my rant. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Darth Vile]

I think Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise can probably still open a movie with their name alone, but after them I'd be struggling. Still, I'm not sure if that is so different to what I've experienced in my 30 years... The biggest movie star of my youth was Harrison Ford, and perhaps Arnie...

On the other point, I do agree that there are too many Hollywood movies these days vying for the summer blockbuster no. 1 position, which waters down the quality somewhat. Having said that, I still think that the classy movies still shine through... it's just that you have to do more searching these days to get to them...

 

[MolaRam2]

I think there are three things that have accidentally killed modern cinema.


#1. CGI. It is now economical to show on screen anything you can think of... so now anything you can think of can and probably has been put on screen. You know why the shark isn't in Jaws very much? Because the robotic shark sucked. Which forced Speilberg to use it very sparingly... what a twist of fate it would have been for Speilberg to be able to use a CGI shark cheaply. Jaws would have lost its mystery and intensity... it might have killed his career before it started! I just feel that movies today are too... clean. Every shot is a perfectly lit, perfectly framed, crystal clear window into another world. Its perfect. Except its not.

#2. Too many outlets for movies. Multiplex cinemas with 30 screens, DVD, cable, network telivision... there is demand for every concept, every idea and so there are just a LOT more movies than there used to be. So are we running out of good ideas??? I think maybe so! I think in the old days maybe two good ideas were merged into one good idea where as now every little semi good idea is made into a feature that is probably similar to another equally mediocre feature. There is just a feeling of its all been done and we have seen it all before. And the actual good ideas for movies are stretched very thin. Maybe Cameron will wow us with Avatar.

#3. Directors have too much power. I think you need a little balance. In the old days they would pretty much force directors to cut movies down to two hours so studios could get more showings. This was purely a business decision, and granted there are examples where studios forced inferior cuts (Aliens anyone?) But they also forced some much needed discipline yielding tighter, leaner movies. I think directors are too in love with thier own work and are incapable of making objective editing decisions. Movies today have NO DISCIPLINE! They throw in everything but the kitchen sink! Action scenes become boring and repetitive, dramatic scenes lose thier impact, and generally movies are bloated, overdone messes (see King Kong, see the Matrix sequels, see the PotC sequels, see the prequel trilogy, see Spider-man 3, etc., etc., etc.)


To these three things I would add that there hasn't been a REAL movie star in quite some time. Actors today are all pretty boys. Female actresses have actually made some progress I think (although eye candy starlettes will always come a dime a dozen.) But who was the last real leading man??? Being a star is about prescence... and its much, much, much more about voice than looks. That is why Grant, Ford, Bogart, Wells, actually all the legends were legends.


Just my rant. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with all except for point #3. The studio heads often know very little about movies as an art form. It was because of studio executives that Batman Forever and Batman and Robin exist. Also producers had Sam Raimi put Venom in Spider-man 3, which only helped to make that film a mess.

CGI makes certain things way too common and easy to do. Jurassic Park was amazing in it's day, but now it looks kind of hokey. The CGI effects we are suppose to be so amazed with in JP are similar to what we see every week at the movies nowdays.

Almost everything gets made into a movie. Comic book movies are no longer a special event (for the most part) because it seems like 20 of them are released a year of most of them suck. For every Batman Begins, there are ten or more Fantastic Fours.

I think modern actors suck for the most part. I like Johnny Depp, but other than him, most of the younger generation of Hollywood actors suck. Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise are a bunch of pansies.