Movies that hold up vs. those that don't

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Nokomis

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We've been watching a few 90's movies with the kids over the past year or so -- Sandlot, League of Their Own, Jurassic Park, Beethoven, stuff like that. Some definitely hold up better than others. For example:

Holds up:
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids -- the gender roles are a little stereotypical, but overall some solid family fun.

Does not hold up:
Kindergarten Cop -- oof... We turned it off half way through. Very uneven. Seems like it's billed as a light-hearted fish-out-of-water story, but the cop scenes are pretty gritty even for PG-13. The kid jokes are pretty lame by today's standards. Plus the gay jokes do not age well.

Any movies to add? What are some older movies to recommend and those to avoid?
 

Holds up:

Karate Kid (especially if you are in to Cobra Kai)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Revenge of the Nerds (the original)
Animal House
Naked Gun (the original)
Airplane (the original)
Wall Street
National Lampoon's Vacation
National Lampoon's European Vacation
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Die Hard
Grease
Happy Gilmore

Doesn't Hold Up:

Point Break
National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation
Rush Hour
Groundhog Day
Waterboy

Go Good Movies!!
 
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I tend to think that the movies that 'hold up' the best have a kind of timeless quality about them.

bottom line - tell good stories with memorable characters, and you have a movie with lasting quality.

"All the President's Men" is certainly a period piece - but it plays as a thriller and a detective story.

"The Godfather" also has that kind of feel.

and a western in that category is "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly." Long movie, but it has so many great scenes.
 

We had on Jurassic Park 2 a few days ago, and woof, that does not hold up. I hadn't seen it since it was new in the theaters. I had no idea that it had a young Vince Vaughn and also had Julianne Moore.

I've seen the original a number of times in the past 5 years or so, and I don't understand how the original Jurassic Park had way more realistic looking dinos than the sequel did.

And props to Bleed- Airplane! is an absolute classic.
 

I watched Airplane! a couple of months ago for the first time in a couple of decades. I knew pretty much every gag or joke that was coming and still found it to be a laugh riot.

Barbara Billingsley speaking jive. Timeless. Depending on the age of the kids, not sure if it's age appropriate.

Another movie I just watched for the first time in a while is Bull Durham. Again, I would say it holds up, though also caution regarding when watching with young kids.
 
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BleedGopher said:
Holds up:

Karate Kid (especially if you are in to Cobra Kai)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Revenge of the Nerds (the original)
Animal House
Naked Gun (the original)
Airplane (the original)
Wall Street
National Lampoon's Vacation
National Lampoon's European Vacation
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Die Hard
Grease
Happy Gilmore

Doesn't Hold Up:

Point Break
National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation
Rush Hour
Groundhog Day
Waterboy

Go Good Movies!!
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It's always interesting to see different perspectives-I rewatched National Lampoon's Vacation a couple years ago and found much of it (not all) had lost its charm--I think the Aunt Edna and her dog scenes I just found to be too crude. I'm getting to be a softie in my old age ;-)

As for Groundhog Day, I never saw the entire film until this February 2, when I was off from work and it was a 24 hour marathon on a channel here. I loved it-I thought the premise was clever and Murray is great.

Otherwise, I pretty much agree with you--although a recent rewatching of Grease raised my eyebrows when i heard the lyrics to Greased Lightning--I think I had always watched the movie on TV before or not paid attention. I also marveled that Grease was such a popular high school play--lots of taboo topics in there, drinking, smoking, teenage sex and pregnancy, etc. I guess since it's cloaked in the '50s with songs, it obscured a lot of these issues. Not sure if high schools are still running the play and if so, I have to imagine it's been really tamed down.
 

Good topic Nokomis, I've also been mining some of the '80s/90s movies lately and have been having similar thoughts at times.

Holds Up:
Trading Places
Terminator 2 (really an extraordinary action/sci-fi movie; the special effects are still impressive 30 years later)
Alien
Aliens
Stand by Me
Caddyshack
Midnight Run

Doesn't:
Beverly Hills Cop (can't believe I'm saying this, but I was rather bored by it-the movie was so reliant on Eddie's laugh for a punchline and his mimicking of flamboyant gay stereotypes, plus the ending was just a ridiculously over the top shootout)

Boyz in the Hood (watched just this last weekend--it was still compelling in moments, but I think The Wire just made it seem so tame comparatively. I'd like to watch Menace II Society again, as I recall it as the bookend film to Boyz and my faint memory is that it was grittier and more ruthless.

Interesting Case Studies:

The John Hughes teenage films (Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science). There's few movies I have loved more than Sixteen Candles, and that's before even factoring in nostalgia of watching with friends in college. Watching it today, I cringe-the portrayal of Long Duck Dong, the casual handover of Jake Ryan's passed out girlfriend to Farmer Ted to do what he'd like, at the top of the list. Breakfast Club and Weird Science have their own issues (I only watched Pretty in Pink once, it doesn't really register for me).

I'm thinking that when my boys are at an age (which will be another 10-12 years) and if the interest is there, it'll be interesting to sit down with them and watch these movies and discuss the evolution of things (honestly, who knows where the hell we'll be at in 10-12 years though). While Hughes movies were outsized representation of high school in the '80s, he definitely struck some familiar notes from that period--the casual bullying, the language (especially the liberal use of the gay slur for males), the dismissive manner females were regarded. It felt very real, even if no one had homes like Jake Ryan or Cameron (from Ferris Bueller) in my rural town.
 

2 movies I have watched in the past week, both about 25 years old, to me hold up well.

LA Confidential - This is on my Top 5, so I was pre-programmed to think it would hold up. Maybe because it was a film noir throwback when it was made, it has that going in it's favor. Every actor/actress in this was at the top of their game.

Grosse Pointe Blank - Revisiting, I actually liked this better than I remembered. Really good supporting cast in addition to John Cusak and Minnie Driver. I did not realize previously that Joe Strummer did the music, and the overall soundtrack is fantastic. Pretty good dark comedy.
 
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I was going to say, movies that seem to really hold up well are ones that are set in a prior time period. LA Confidential is an excellent example, and here are some others off the top of my head:

Stand by Me
Dazed & Confused
Argo
Catch Me If You Can
Godfather I & II
Quiz Show

I'm sure if I really sat down and thought about it, there are movies that are historically set that don't hold up so well, but I'd venture to say that they probably were not great to start with. I know a lot of people have identified Forrest Gump as a movie that hasn't aged well, but the issues were already there upon release.
 



coolhandgopher said:
I was going to say, movies that seem to really hold up well are ones that are set in a prior time period. LA Confidential is an excellent example, and here are some others off the top of my head:

Stand by Me
Dazed & Confused
Argo
Catch Me If You Can
Godfather I & II
Quiz Show
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Agreed, I think that's partly why Almost Famous and That Thing You Do still hold up quite nicely. Plus they are just really good, especially Almost Famous.
 
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coolhandgopher said:
Otherwise, I pretty much agree with you--although a recent rewatching of Grease raised my eyebrows when i heard the lyrics to Greased Lightning--I think I had always watched the movie on TV before or not paid attention. I also marveled that Grease was such a popular high school play--lots of taboo topics in there, drinking, smoking, teenage sex and pregnancy, etc. I guess since it's cloaked in the '50s with songs, it obscured a lot of these issues. Not sure if high schools are still running the play and if so, I have to imagine it's been really tamed down.
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I was also surprised to hear Grease holds up. "Did she put up a fight", "hopelessly devoted to you"? Maybe taken in context of teen love it fits. I was always more of a West Side Story guy anyway.
 

forever a gopher said:
We had on Jurassic Park 2 a few days ago, and woof, that does not hold up. I hadn't seen it since it was new in the theaters. I had no idea that it had a young Vince Vaughn and also had Julianne Moore.

I've seen the original a number of times in the past 5 years or so, and I don't understand how the original Jurassic Park had way more realistic looking dinos than the sequel did.

And props to Bleed- Airplane! is an absolute classic.
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Jurassic Park is still one of the best movies ever. Even the special effects hold up (I suppose puppets in general often look better than CGI). Also agree on the sequels being bad. I did enjoy the first Jurassic World, though.
 

Nokomis said:
I was also surprised to hear Grease holds up. "Did she put up a fight", "hopelessly devoted to you"? Maybe taken in context of teen love it fits. I was always more of a West Side Story guy anyway.
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Ope3 said:
Agreed, I think that's partly why Almost Famous and That Thing You Do still hold up quite nicely. Plus they are just really good, especially Almost Famous.
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Not sure how I overlooked Almost Famous-it's maybe a Top 10 favorite movie of mine. I've never watched That Thing You Do, but every time I hear/read its mention, people rave about it, I need to get on that.
 


coolhandgopher said:
Not sure how I overlooked Almost Famous-it's maybe a Top 10 favorite movie of mine. I've never watched That Thing You Do, but every time I hear/read its mention, people rave about it, I need to get on that.
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Also just fyi, it's not really targeted towards kids but it is rated PG (probably closer to G than PG13), so if tweens or even younger are geared at all towards music/60s rock, I can't think of anything offensive.
 

Our boys are 3.5, so we’ve been able to get away with watching pretty much whatever we want without them taking much notice. However we learned after a roughy night of sleep following Mad Max: Fury Road that those movie nights are passing us by , at least for awhile.
 

One movie series that doesn't hold up for me is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maybe it's the bad taste in my mouth from the "Hobbit" trilogy - but I think all of the excesses of the Hobbit trilogy caused me to look differently at The Lord of the Rings. There are a lot of elements in those movies I still like, but all of them could have been edited a lot tighter. and with Return of the King especially, some of the stuff with the hobbits comes off as overly sugary. Maybe it's just a Peter Jackson thing. I did not like his "King Kong" remake - well, I liked about 40% of the movie, but the other 60% was dreck. Jackson just cannot resist making everything bigger, longer and more frantic, and he loses the story in the process.

Also - the 'prequel' trilogy for Star Wars. Those movies just do not hold up.
Oddly enough, I've been going back and watching the animated series. Finished "The Clone Wars" and now working through "Rebels."

and I have come to the realization that the Prequels would have worked better as animated movies as opposed to live-action. the animated series actually come off as more "real" than the live-action movies. And the characterizations are better. the guy who voiced Anakin in "Clone Wars" gave a much better performance than Hayden Christenson in the live-action prequel.
 


coolhandgopher said:
Our boys are 3.5, so we’ve been able to get away with watching pretty much whatever we want without them taking much notice. However we learned after a roughy night of sleep following Mad Max: Fury Road that those movie nights are passing us by , at least for awhile.
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You watch Mad Max with your 3yo? Wow, that movie seems too grown-up even for me.

PS. Do you have twins? If so, you could join the GopherHole Fathers of Multiples Club.
 
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short ornery norwegian said:
One movie series that doesn't hold up for me is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maybe it's the bad taste in my mouth from the "Hobbit" trilogy - but I think all of the excesses of the Hobbit trilogy caused me to look differently at The Lord of the Rings. There are a lot of elements in those movies I still like, but all of them could have been edited a lot tighter. and with Return of the King especially, some of the stuff with the hobbits comes off as overly sugary. Maybe it's just a Peter Jackson thing. I did not like his "King Kong" remake - well, I liked about 40% of the movie, but the other 60% was dreck. Jackson just cannot resist making everything bigger, longer and more frantic, and he loses the story in the process.

Also - the 'prequel' trilogy for Star Wars. Those movies just do not hold up.
Oddly enough, I've been going back and watching the animated series. Finished "The Clone Wars" and now working through "Rebels."

and I have come to the realization that the Prequels would have worked better as animated movies as opposed to live-action. the animated series actually come off as more "real" than the live-action movies. And the characterizations are better. the guy who voiced Anakin in "Clone Wars" gave a much better performance than Hayden Christenson in the live-action prequel.
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How dare you say that about LOTR & Thy Hobbit! We've rewatched them all with our kids, and I think they hold up just fine. Though the special effects seem a little goofy now. Just the regular versions, though. Extended versions are too much.

I actually think the prequel Star Wars trilogy holds up better now than when they first came out. Lower your expectations, and just have fun with it. Darth Maul is pretty rad, and light saber Yoda is always cool.

The original Star Wars trilogy does NOT hold up for me at all. Watched it with the kids, and OMG I was so bored. I think I'm a decade too young to really get into the original Star Wars.
 

Nokomis said:
You watch Mad Max with your 3yo? Wow, that movie seems too grown-up even for me.

PS. Do you have twins? If so, you could join the GopherHole Fathers of Multiples Club.
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Unless it's kids movies directed towards them, they generally don't pay attention to what we're watching (or so I thought). For instance, when we've watched The Mandolarian, they tune in for Baby Yoda and occasionally follow Mando flying around, but they're not watching. The problem with Mad Max was it's pretty visually/sensory engaging, so they were tuned in way more than usual.

And yes, twin boys here. Just poking our head out of constant exhaustion/focus on the boys as infants/toddlers to catch up on some films/shows of the last few years.

How bout you? Twins also?
 

coolhandgopher said:
Unless it's kids movies directed towards them, they generally don't pay attention to what we're watching (or so I thought). For instance, when we've watched The Mandolarian, they tune in for Baby Yoda and occasionally follow Mando flying around, but they're not watching. The problem with Mad Max was it's pretty visually/sensory engaging, so they were tuned in way more than usual.

And yes, twin boys here. Just poking our head out of constant exhaustion/focus on the boys as infants/toddlers to catch up on some films/shows of the last few years.

How bout you? Twins also?
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Yes, our twin boys are ten. We also have an 8yo daughter. Having 3 kids under 2 was a lot, but it's nice having them all grow up together -- similar developmental stages. Makes family movie night easier. Though my daughter usually skips LOTR & Star Wars. My wife & I have pretty mild tastes anyway -- no Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, or Mad Max on our viewing radar.
 

I am having trouble thinking of movies that I considered good at one point and now just don't hold up due to age.

I will say that quite a few movies that had a tech focus, especially those from the 90's, look really silly today. The jump from the 80's to the 90's had movie studios thinking that we were going to have some crazy technologies by now. And while I don't think either of these movies were considered good even at the time.....Johnny Mnemonic is mostly ridiculous.....and Virtuosity is plain bad and stupid. Hackers falls into a similar territory....but it's cheesy in a way that still allows it to be fun imo.
 

Does not hold up: Garden State

We caught a bit of it on TV Saturday night waiting for SNL to start. I remember liking it and it getting good reviews, but that early '00s melancholy ennui does NOT age well. The dialogue was like nails on a chalkboard.
 

Nokomis said:
The original Star Wars trilogy does NOT hold up for me at all. Watched it with the kids, and OMG I was so bored. I think I'm a decade too young to really get into the original Star Wars.
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Original kicks ass for two reasons, Harrison Ford and the music. Star wars would have been nothing without either of them.
 

Nokomis said:
Does not hold up: Garden State

We caught a bit of it on TV Saturday night waiting for SNL to start. I remember liking it and it getting good reviews, but that early '00s melancholy ennui does NOT age well. The dialogue was like nails on a chalkboard.
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I tried rewatching it a while ago and gave up.

SNL is terrible.
 


Nokomis said:
Garden State? Yeah, thankfully we only watched 15 minutes or so before SNL started. I don't think I would have lasted much longer anyway.

You know what else doesn't hold up? Dissing SNL.
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Yes Garden State.

SNL has been really, really bad the last few seasons. The cast is very blah. The previous cast was one of the best ever with most of the best ones being women. Major drop off in talent after that.
 

I agree, the good snl skits are few and far between. I do like the news desk segment, forget what its called.
 

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