When favorite movies are not anymore...

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  • When favorite movies are not anymore...

    Does anyone find that their favorite movie has somehow faded in interest? I find myself losing interest in some movies that I had once considered my favorite... an example would be Ronin or The Professional.

    Recently saw these again, and found them lacking something. They seemed to drag too long, the action just was not how I remembered it excitement wise.

    I ask this because I find that the same issue transcends to screenwriting. I think averyone of us can look back at our first screenplay and think "what the hell was I thinking?".
    Writer / Director available for your project.

  • #2
    Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

    I watch some of my favorite movies at least once a year, and they still work.

    But some movies don't hold up well - often because that cool stuff loses its novelty after you've seen it a few times.

    There's thing about seeing something for the first that's exciting. Another issue is expectations - if you really love the movie and see it again, you may have higher expectations than the film can deliver.

    - Bill
    Last edited by wcmartell; 06-13-2006, 08:29 PM.
    Free Script Tips:
    http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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    • #3
      Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

      Hmmm... that's a good question.

      I go through fits where I absolutely HAVE to see a movie I haven't seen in a while. Most of them hold up well; I'm usually left satisfied after seeing them. There are movies that are ageless, regardless of when they were made, and others that seem terribly dated, sometimes within only a few years of their release.

      Then there are the movies that are simply awful.

      I wouldn't, for example, ever see Howard the Duck again. I saw it the first time on a day that I needed a distraction, and it was fine to fill in the empty space I needed filled on that day. When I saw it again, without the angst of the day, - oi. But then, I knew deep down it was awful beyond the nightmares of ... well. You know.

      The ones that don't hold up well for me and it's got nothing to do with the films themselves, it's what's been done to them that puts me off, are films originally black and white that have been colourised. The Bells of St. Mary's was enjoyable in its original, unadulterated form; but watching it colourised (and the process of colourisation turning Bing Crosby's teeth a shocking shade of emerald green, which to my mind takes Irishness a bit too far) makes it completely impossible for me to watch without retching.

      Ditto the Alistair Sim A Christmas Carol; It's a Wonderful Life; any B&W Fred Astaire film you care to name; and so on.

      It's just... wrong.

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      • #4
        Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

        I go back to A Bridge Too Far, and I still love it for a war movie. Yet, Saving Private Ryan (which financially did better) does nothing for me.

        I see A Christmas Carol and I still get choked up.

        But seeing Indiana Jones or Star Wars does nothing.

        What's up with that? It's more than expectations.

        I've been really pondering this, because I think therein lies what will make a great screenplay and what doesn't.

        It has to do with the "way" the story unfolds.

        I found LOTR just a bit too looooong. It was like, come on get on with it already. Was it too much exposition? Talking heads?
        Writer / Director available for your project.

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        • #5
          Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

          Airplane holds up well.
          "I ask every producer I meet if they need TV specs they say yeah. They all want a 40 inch display that's 1080p and 120Hz. So, I quit my job at the West Hollywood Best Buy."
          - Screenwriting Friend

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          • #6
            Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

            Cube

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            • #7
              Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

              Bill, when you say "cool stuff", what exactly are you talking about? The FX, the CGI, or the premise of the story? A great story holds up forever, IMHO. The presentation is important, yes, but hardly ALL IMPORTANT.

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              • #8
                Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                I've noticed that plot-driven films which I loved at first viewing are less interesting over time.

                Character-driven films I've loved still hold up.
                Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                • #9
                  Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                  Once the cat is out of the bag, I guess.

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                  • #10
                    Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                    Some of my favorite movies are endlessly watchable, like Quiz Show and Pleasantville. Others have such an impact, that I only watch them once every few years, so that they never lose that visceral impact, like Unforgiven and Pulp Fiction. I don't know if that makes one kind any better than the other.

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                    • #11
                      Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                      For me "Cool stuff" means everything from CGI to QTs dialogue. Stuff that's cool at first, but may be only surface.

                      - Bill
                      Free Script Tips:
                      http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                      • #12
                        Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                        Once you know who Luke's father is, or whether Michael Douglas will Romance that Stone (either one!) yes, the bloom is off the rose for sure.

                        Right now I'm watching the rest of SHAKA ZULU, then L'AGE D'OR, then catching up on my Dickens ' films. Last night was an AUSTENFEST with EMMA, CLUELESS, P & P and S & S!! Totally nutso! This morning I watched ELOISE AT THE PLAZA!! No wonder I can't get any work done!

                        I'm all over the place taste-wise, but by making comparisons between icky films like SWEPT AWAY (the Madonna "version") and the original, or enjoying a great story like THE LADY WITH THE LITTLE DOG or THE CINDER PATH or SWEPT FROM THE SEA, I find I really learn a forking LOT about what makes a good scene/sequence and what can't ever, EVER be watched again, since it wasn't really watchable in the first place!

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                        • #13
                          Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                          One of my favorite movies has always been Roxanne with Steve Martin. When I watched it again after a long layoff, what I noticed more than anything was how dated the soundtrack was. It was so bad, it made it difficult to watch in some spots. So not all movies hold up equally well over time, but it isn't always a fault of the script.
                          "The only reason most scripts are bad is because most people can't write." Leslie Dixon

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                          • #14
                            Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                            Try watching LADYHAWKE some day!

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                            • #15
                              Re: When favorite movies are not anymore...

                              Originally posted by Mikal
                              Try watching LADYHAWKE some day!
                              Except for the god-awful music, I still like that movie. I think I saw it again last year.

                              When I like a movie, I will always come back to it eventually, even a couple of decades later. I bought copies of The Care Bears Movie, Rainbow Brite and the Starstealer, and the He-Man/She-Ra movie a couple of years ago to watch with my little sisters. The first two still hold up, I tell you, but the third was embarrassingly bad (I can't believe I saw it in the theatre when I was a kid).

                              Oh yeah, and I watch multitudes of grown-up movies over and over, too.


                              "We're all immigrants now, man."
                              - Zia (Patrick Fugit), "Wristcutters: A Love Story"

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