Movies that hold up vs. those that don't

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A bit of a twist on my annual viewing this year. After my golf was cancelled due to cold weather I was looking at the movie listings for an early matinee with a particular new movie in mind. Turns out as part of its 30th Anniversary, Dazed and Confused was showing at 4:20 pm.

It forced me to head to the theater at halftime of the Wolves game, set my DVR and shut my phone off.

It was great to see it again on a big screen. It holds up. Yet again.

"13 starters coming back, 22 lettermen. Looking tough!"

I do wonder how Lee High School football squad fared in the Fall of 1976.

It was a pleasant surprise to watch the Suns get run out of Target Center upon my return home.
 

Ope3 said:
A bit of a twist on my annual viewing this year. After my golf was cancelled due to cold weather I was looking at the movie listings for an early matinee with a particular new movie in mind. Turns out as part of its 30th Anniversary, Dazed and Confused was showing at 4:20 pm.

It forced me to head to the theater at halftime of the Wolves game, set my DVR and shut my phone off.

It was great to see it again on a big screen. It holds up. Yet again.

"13 starters coming back, 22 lettermen. Looking tough!"

I do wonder how Lee High School football squad fared in the Fall of 1976.

It was a pleasant surprise to watch the Suns get run out of Target Center upon my return home.
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I did the exact same thing. Was with someone who had never seen it before, so that was cool.
 

tikited said:
I did the exact same thing. Was with someone who had never seen it before, so that was cool.
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What was the newbie's reaction? Just curious if there was a risk of over heightened expectations.
 

Ope3 said:
What was the newbie's reaction? Just curious if there was a risk of over heightened expectations.
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She liked it. There wasn't any build up from us and she had never heard of it. We talked about how ten-ish years later it was kind of the same thing in a lot of ways for all of us lol.
 

tikited said:
She liked it. There wasn't any build up from us and she had never heard of it. We talked about how ten-ish years later it was kind of the same thing in a lot of ways for all of us lol.
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Cool, and yes, looking back I felt like I experienced a few days/evenings/nights/mornings like that in a sort of parallel universe. A couple were on the last days of school, both HS and at the U.

It's now been 30+ years since the films release. That's actually more time from when it was set (1976) to when it was released (1993). Deep thought.
 



I happened to catch American Beauty as I was thumbing through channels a couple weeks ago, and it has not aged as well as one would think it should. I loved it when I first saw it, but this time it seemed overacted.

On the other side of the ledger, I've been clear in the past about my love for Titanic. It turns up now and then on TV, and once I start watching I can't stop. It's one of those films that gets better with each viewing, at least for me. Another flick in that category is Apollo 13.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I happened to catch American Beauty as I was thumbing through channels a couple weeks ago, and it has not aged as well as one would think it should. I loved it when I first saw it, but this time it seemed overacted.

On the other side of the ledger, I've been clear in the past about my love for Titanic. It turns up now and then on TV, and once I start watching I can't stop. It's one of those films that gets better with each viewing, at least for me. Another flick in that category is Apollo 13.
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Totally disagree on American Beauty. Watched it not that long ago. Still loved it. So many quotable moments.

I just finished Apollo 13 last week. It was good, but I wouldn't say I love it.

Finished, Shawshank Redemption the other day. This is my third time through it. I'm not the type to watch only a little bit of a movie, so I haven't seen it since the early 2000's. Great movie. Still held up in every way. Period pieces have that advantage admittingly.

I only have a handful of VHS tapes left. I will have to switch to dvd's next with my workout routine. Unless some of you have some vhs tapes you want to get rid of....
 

Bad Gopher said:
I happened to catch American Beauty as I was thumbing through channels a couple weeks ago, and it has not aged as well as one would think it should. I loved it when I first saw it, but this time it seemed overacted.

On the other side of the ledger, I've been clear in the past about my love for Titanic. It turns up now and then on TV, and once I start watching I can't stop. It's one of those films that gets better with each viewing, at least for me. Another flick in that category is Apollo 13.
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I'm almost certain I have never watched more than 20-30 mins of "The Titanic". I can't really tell you why, maybe the overall length, who knows?
 



Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
I'm almost certain I have never watched more than 20-30 mins of "The Titanic". I can't really tell you why, maybe the overall length, who knows?
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I'm with Bad. I think most dudes get hung up on the love story. But the third act action sequence is top notch movie-making. All you gotta know is that Jack & Rose are in love and then start the movie just before it hits the iceberg.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I happened to catch American Beauty as I was thumbing through channels a couple weeks ago, and it has not aged as well as one would think it should. I loved it when I first saw it, but this time it seemed overacted.

On the other side of the ledger, I've been clear in the past about my love for Titanic. It turns up now and then on TV, and once I start watching I can't stop. It's one of those films that gets better with each viewing, at least for me. Another flick in that category is Apollo 13.
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I know someone who doesn't think Titanic holds up.

 

Nokomis said:
I'm with Bad. I think most dudes get hung up on the love story. But the third act action sequence is top notch movie-making. All you gotta know is that Jack & Rose are in love and then start the movie just before it hits the iceberg.
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One thing I've found for me and my short attention span, OCD, whatever you want to call it; for the epic length movies, if I didn't see it in the theaters, I have a hard time setting aside that kind of time at home. A perfect example is "Shindler's List". A movie I've generally always wanted to see but DAMN, good luck finding time some random day for a 3-4 hour movie so as a result, I have never seen that movie either.
 




tikited said:
Wait...SNL is still on the air?
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You didn't see Caitlin Clark on SNL a couple weeks ago? I was flooded with forwards from Iowa friends. (It honestly is a pretty funny WU bit)
 

Nokomis said:
You didn't see Caitlin Clark on SNL a couple weeks ago? I was flooded with forwards from Iowa friends. (It honestly is a pretty funny WU bit)
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I saw it. The gf joke was funny.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
I'm almost certain I have never watched more than 20-30 mins of "The Titanic". I can't really tell you why, maybe the overall length, who knows?
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I think everyone has their limit. A little over a year ago, when I sat down to watch The Ten Commandments, I thought I was ready. I made it through, but I had to take some breaks in addition to the intermission. The more recent one that tested my limits was American Honey.

Titanic, The Sound of Music, The Towering Inferno: no problem with any of these. They're so captivating and well paced, they hold my attention throughout.

Worth noting: Titanic runs precisely the length of time it took the ship to sink once it hit the iceberg.
 


I don't know, Blue Chips seems to have held up a bit.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I think everyone has their limit. A little over a year ago, when I sat down to watch The Ten Commandments, I thought I was ready. I made it through, but I had to take some breaks in addition to the intermission. The more recent one that tested my limits was American Honey.

Titanic, The Sound of Music, The Towering Inferno: no problem with any of these. They're so captivating and well paced, they hold my attention throughout.
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I can't think of the Sound of Music without thinking of the great Captain Kramer from Airplane 2;

"I want a complete file on everyone who has seen The Sound of Music more than 4 times!"

 



Bad Gopher said:
I think everyone has their limit. A little over a year ago, when I sat down to watch The Ten Commandments, I thought I was ready. I made it through, but I had to take some breaks in addition to the intermission. The more recent one that tested my limits was American Honey.

Titanic, The Sound of Music, The Towering Inferno: no problem with any of these. They're so captivating and well paced, they hold my attention throughout.

Worth noting: Titanic runs precisely the length of time it took the ship to sink once it hit the iceberg.
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That's me with The Godfather I & II. It's been years, but I feel like I suffered through I, gave up part way through II, and never attempted III.
 


Nokomis said:
That's me with The Godfather I & II. It's been years, but I feel like I suffered through I, gave up part way through II, and never attempted III.
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I've watched Godfather II and acknowledge it's a great movie and a significant piece of historical fiction covering events that don't get talked about enough. That said, I don't own it and have no desire to. Watching it feels like homework.
 

tikited said:
Totally disagree on American Beauty. Watched it not that long ago. Still loved it. So many quotable moments.

I just finished Apollo 13 last week. It was good, but I wouldn't say I love it.

Finished, Shawshank Redemption the other day. This is my third time through it. I'm not the type to watch only a little bit of a movie, so I haven't seen it since the early 2000's. Great movie. Still held up in every way. Period pieces have that advantage admittingly.

I only have a handful of VHS tapes left. I will have to switch to dvd's next with my workout routine. Unless some of you have some vhs tapes you want to get rid of....
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Go to a Goodwill. They even accepted my Dad’s 8 tracks.
 

FWIW - I am old enough to remember when longer movies had intermissions. this is in the theater. they would show the first half of the movie - then a title card of "intermission" would come up on the screen and music would play in the background. that gave the audience a chance to visit the restrooms or concession stand, then come back and watch the rest of the movie.

so people were watching movies in theaters back then the way we watch movies at home now.

after some research, the trend of longer movies having intermissions was most common from the 1950's through the early 1970's. but there were movies shown with intermissions going all the way back to the silent movie era. (for the silents - if there was live music being performed by a pianist, organist or a pit orchestra, the intermission gave them a break).

of course, in the world of live theater - plays, musicals, operas, etc - the notion of the intermission or break between acts is a long-standing tradition.
 
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Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
One thing I've found for me and my short attention span, OCD, whatever you want to call it; for the epic length movies, if I didn't see it in the theaters, I have a hard time setting aside that kind of time at home. A perfect example is "Shindler's List". A movie I've generally always wanted to see but DAMN, good luck finding time some random day for a 3-4 hour movie so as a result, I have never seen that movie either.
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Same. And speaking of long running times, I wanted to watch Killers of the Flower Moon, but at 3.5 hours, it was never going to happen at home or I would have been distracted. A week ago I flew to LA and the flight was just over 3.5 hours, so I downloaded it and thought this was my chance. It was the perfect way to watch it. Turned it was a really good movie. I never would have watched it otherwise I'm sure.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
Same. And speaking of long running times, I wanted to watch Killers of the Flower Moon, but at 3.5 hours, it was never going to happen at home or I would have been distracted. A week ago I flew to LA and the flight was just over 3.5 hours, so I downloaded it and thought this was my chance. It was the perfect way to watch it. Turned it was a really good movie. I never would have watched it otherwise I'm sure.
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It's seriously hard to carve out more than two hours, not to mention three and a half! I don't know how or why I had the time to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once (2h 19m), but boy am I glad I did.
 



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