Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

    Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

    The actor criticized the pressure on directors to have shorter film shoots, saying that "right now, television is the best that's it ever been."

    Two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman criticized the current state of cinema, saying it's at the lowest point it has been in the half a century that he has been working.

    "I think right now, television is the best that it's ever been, and I think it's the worst that film has ever been - in the 50 years that I've been doing it, it's the worst,- he said in an interview with U.K. newspaper The Independent.

    Hoffman's cinematic issues appear to stem from the increasing financial demands on directors to complete their films more quickly, pressures he says weren't there when he first started out in the industry.

  • #2
    Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

    Well, he's right.
    Jesus, if this guy owned a funeral parlor nobody would die!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

      Well TV is writer driven, people who have dedicated their entire lives to learning about story telling and who want to tell stories. Their passion and vision is nurtured and respected. Whereas it's difficult to think of any other artistic medium where the creator/originator of the idea/story is as marginalised and where their vision is respected as little as in the feature film industry in Hollywood today.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

        Well, he'd certainly be the one to know. Interesting.

        When I think of great films or when people I know quote great films at work or in the street, I notice most of them are from 20 - 30 years ago.
        Forthcoming: The Annual, "I JUST GOT DUMPED" Valentine's Short Screenplay Writing Competition. Keep an eye on Writing Exercises.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

          As I wrote in another thread, 2007 was the best recent year for films, in my opinion. It's difficult for me to pin down a specific reason for why films are generally not as good as they used to be (or as we remember them being). Is it that creative talent has a higher monetary value in other mediums now? Has money generally been scarce since the financial crisis and the increase in pirating, leaving studios and publishers unwilling or unable to take bigger risks? Is it advanced technology that gives film makers easier access to bombastic production values, in turn reducing their reliance on story? Probably a combination of all these factors plus some more...

          Unfortunately, you could observe this development on the DD forum, too. Talent has really moved on, apparently. Then again, maybe there are just not as many good films to discuss anymore. Like movies, this forum was a lot different ten years ago.
          Jesus, if this guy owned a funeral parlor nobody would die!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

            77-year-old actor says films were better back in his day, when he was a major box-office star?

            That's a shocker.

            Hoffman is a great actor who has done a lot of terrific work in a lot of terrific films. He may even be right (although I expect that selective memory is at work, as well). But, I mean ... should we get off of his lawn, too?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

              A few points.
              1/ I think where this premise falls down is a lot of us haven't seen the dross that was produced then and apparently he's forgotten it. We have seen what has been cherry picked for TV in recent decades, the unviewable has been left behind.
              2/ He is viewing things from a Hillary pov. That is, he was around when there were still mountains to conquer. The high peaks have been "knocked off" now, modern film makers are left with the unenviable job of reconquering whats already been taken, or finding new highs.
              3/ he is an old man, and he is weighing up the respective qualities on then and bow from that perspective. To be honest I can watch the movies of yesteryear and shudder at the method acting or the flamboyant Shakespearean flourishes. Honestly, if that acting was writing, we'd call it on the nose. To Dustin, a gent of declining years that is acting, to us it's overacting.
              4/ he is an old man (II). In fact he is a similar age to my parents and they too are flummoxed by the speed and weight of most things modern. They can be using a computer and ebay to buy something literally from half a world away, no matter, its still not as good as their day.
              I heard the starting gun


              sigpic

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
                77-year-old actor says films were better back in his day, when he was a major box-office star?

                That's a shocker.
                I'm not 77. Not a major box-office star. But In my opinion too, cinema isn't where it used to be a few years ago. It's been a while since I saw a masterpiece (in World cinema). The last ones that were great were A Separation and Toy Story 3. Compared to the 70s, American cinema (Indie and Tentpole) is a wasteland, filled with serviceable flicks. There are a few good men (the Coen) broken promises (PTA, Bong Joon-Ho, Park Chan Wok) people going in circle (Wes A) but not much.

                In the 70s you had Spielberg, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Leone, Tarkovksy, Coppola, Bertolucci and hundreds of other great directors.

                I think part of it has to do with the glamour of the industry. Before, everybody wanted to be an actor. The one who wanted to be directors and writers was because they wanted to share what they had inside. Now, it's all glamour, they want to become directors and writers cause of Money, Fame, Prestige. The same thing is happening with Stand-Up.

                But I don't totally agree with Hoffman, cause TV isn't looking much better. Since The Wire, I saw some "a'ight" TV shows (Breaking Bad), serviceable (True Detective), but not "jaw dropping". And don't get me started on Sitcoms.

                I also think it has to do with the fact that trend maker/ Culture maker are bourgeois adulescent who promote adulescent content as if it was the standard to reach. I don't remember who (I think it was Aziz Anzari) said that success nowadays is when what you propose is adequate to what trend maker are seeking.
                The question is : Do you work in the business?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                  I don't know ... movies aren't entertaining the way they were in the 30s and 40s. Even in black and white the sets were magnificent and the stories and acting kept your attention from first scene to last. Comedies created belly laughter. When the movie ended, you were satisfied because it was a good movie. No sex was even implied as married couples had separate beds, yet their love was obvious in the way they treated each other. There were passionate kisses and passionate fights.

                  Today's movies are light on plot that barely stretches to 2 hours. Rampant sexual scenes that don't do anything for the story except excited young men. Some movies seem to compete to see who can blow up bigger, more spectacular buildings and dramatically smash the most vehicles.

                  Too many studio heads are still in their twenties/early thirties so sex and car chases are first and foremost in their minds, peppered with bathroom humor. Few if any movies are geared toward the older generation so they don't go to movies. (Most movies are geared to young audiences.) Such a shame because baby boomers are the largest audience and the most ignored. They have been readers for generations so they know story, yet there are none out there to interest them.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                    You can't judge the overall standard of movies until at least 10 years later, in my opinion, when you have forgotten all the crap.

                    Every movie era has consisted of occasional gold nuggets surrounded by mountains of dirt.
                    TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                      He's absolutely right. Movies are the weakest they've been in a long time, maybe since the 20's? I don't know. The more corporate and more conservative it becomes, the worse it gets. Movies are just too risky and too expensive to take any chances, so this is what we get. The problem is that they've figured out they don't need to make a good film to get huge profits anymore. It's nice to make a good film, but not a requirement.

                      If it wasn't for the great directors paving the way - the David O Russells, Finchers, Spike Jonze's of the worlds pushing they vision, they'd pump out even more soulless crap than they do.

                      TV, on the other hand is the best it's been since its birth, so there is a silver lining.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                        TV isn't in the chokehold of superheroes, the way movies are.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                          Harold Lloyd made movies in the 20s, they're still amazingly entertaining, we watch them all the time (it helps that many of his silent films have been beautifully restored).

                          But is there another comedy in the past 10 (even 20) years that rivals Tootsie in quality? Wonderfully written and structured, much depth to all the characters, and also very funny.

                          I don't know anyone who gets excited about new movies anymore or even talks about them (except well-regarded kids' films for families). Just not on the radar. If you were an exec, wouldn't you worry about this? It's like they've "ruined the brand" (of movies). Adults just watch TV now and pretty much have forgotten about movies, they've been disappointed too often.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                            I don't think that's exactly true. There's nothing like seeing a beautiful film in a cinema. But mainstream movie-making is being suffocated by catering to a single demographic that's been trained to settle for superficial gloss, and it's losing this generation's best actors to it.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Dustin Hoffman says cinema worst its been in 50 yrs..

                              Films have a shorter production schedule than they used to. But it's still not as short as a television shooting schedule, is it?

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X