Decline of entertainment?

[frogboy4]

Superhero Pictures

Super hero and comic book films go through cycles of popularity. They're hot again now and that's not a bad thing. Some are better films than others.

Sony owns cinematic Spider-Man as long as they keep releasing films in a certain time-frame; otherwise the movie rights revert back to Marvel/Disney. It's a business decision and a no-brainer. The reason for the reboot...well, that's Hollywood these days. It's turning into the old studio system.

The game has changed for actors since the success of Harry Potter and now Twilight. Studios can build franchises by signing unknowns to long contracts. Gone are the days of the Toby Maguire paycheck to play Peter Parker when they can hire a younger actor for a fraction of the price for six or more movies. I just hope the quality will be there.

"Kick-A.ss" is a good film and great adaptation from the source material. But then there's "Iron Man 2" that fell very short of the spark, connection and fun of the original. It's like watching a video game with great stars in it. But soon we'll have the great Joss Whedon directing the "Avengers" the same summer that the third "Batman" installment comes out from Christopher Nolan.

Sure, "The Dark Knight" deserves every bit of over-hype it received. The craftsmanship, story, art direction, performances and respect for the source material all came together in a superbly balanced way that kicks the butt of any lopsided style-over-substance superhero film from Burton, Singer or Raimi (as good as some are). I'm not much of a joiner and I'm nobody's sycophant so it comes from an honest and researched place when I say "The Dark Knight" is one of the greatest crime motion pictures ever made.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the possibilities with "The Green Lantern". Most of that's probably going to take place in outer space with other aliens so that's a change of pace. Plus Ryan Reynolds...'nuff said.

 

[Yorick]

Just quick answers to multiple posts here:

I agree that the last 15 years have been the worst era for entertainment. I think the early 90's were the last days of mostly great stuff, and the 80's were the last big peak. (New Wave!)

I wish something would change now, so those of us who agree on this 15 year cut off point don't have to say "it's been 20 years since the glory days of great entertainment ended" in five years. I'd rather it turned around now, and we recovered from the 15 year slump. Oh how I miss "Leave It To Beaver" (Even though I wasn't around then - and actually first knew Mrs. Cleaver as the voice of Nanny on Muppet Babies! And she's still with us!)

I do agree there's good and bad in every decade. But I think even things that seemed bad when it came out would be fun now for nostalgia value...wheras I'll never have nostalgia for the entertainment of 1999, (exceptions include Muppets From Space - love that!) and likewise now.

And I think there were a lot of great 70's cartoons, and I LOVE Filmation - glad you mentioned Fat Albert - really special stuff from Filmation and Bill Cosby!

 

[Yorick]

to hear the sounds of laughter does help make the show you're watching a bit more fun.

Good point!

 

[Yorick]

"The Dark Knight" deserves every bit of over-hype it received. The craftsmanship, story, art direction, performances and respect for the source material all came together in a superbly balanced way that kicks the butt of any lopsided style-over-substance superhero film from Burton

I still really like the 1989 Batman....
But Batman Returns wasn't something I liked when it was new, or now

 

[frogboy4]

I still really like the 1989 Batman....
But Batman Returns wasn't something I liked when it was new, or now

I dig the visuals of Burton's Batman films. I just wish he'd actually read the comics and followed the story closer. More research really would have done a great deal! His solution to the Penguin character was genius as well as Phifer's Catwoman. The Dark Knight is a great film, but my ideal Batman is contained in the video game Arkham Asylum. It combines the grit, humor and supernatural elements in a fantastic way not yet done in cinema. Personally, I would love for WB to make a film just about the asylum inmates only to have Batman as a bit character somewhere at the end. Or maybe just a Harley Quinn movie.

 

[Drtooth]

And I think there were a lot of great 70's cartoons, and I LOVE Filmation - glad you mentioned Fat Albert - really special stuff from Filmation and Bill Cosby!

There were a LOT of insipid rules and regulations that caused the lameness of that era. The 60's had some of the greatest cartoons I've ever seen that weren't Warner Bros' theatricals. Bullwinkle, The Jetsons, Dasdardly and Muttley to name a few. Sure, there was some good stuff in the 70's, but most of it was annoying mystery solving kid bands basically retreading the same Scooby-Doo ground, which was very successful in that era. HB ripped themselves off multiple times. Jabberjaw and Goober and the Ghost Chasers for example.

The 80's was only slightly better... at least there were some good toy based cartoons there. And that era DID give us Ninja Turtles, quite possibly the best toy based show of all time (considering the toys originally came out of a company who saw the comics and said, This will make a good toy... we just have to promote it).

But the 90's... that was the era we saw Ren and Stimpy, Batman TAS, Animaniacs. Shows that broke out of very strict and insane regulations, most of them made by greedy studio heads. Did you know, in the 1980's, you could NOT sell a new cartoon that isn't based on a toy line, video game, or older property? Why do you think Ralph Bakshi and John K and all of them did that mighty Mouse cartoon? They were trying to sell Ren and Stimpy to CBS at the time, but were denied. I still say the creation of Nicktoons was one of the biggest kicks to the industry that brought it back to 1960's quality... or better even.

Problem today is the same thing I'm always talking about. Insane regulations masquerading as the war on childhood obesity and the rise of cheap and easy to make tweencoms. They both lead to the death of Saturday Morning programming, leaving only 4Kids and CBS the only networks with original programming they didn't get from a cable network they own. There still is some stuff on cable. And some of that stuff is genius. Batman Brave and the Bold is my second favorite Batman animated series of all time. The fact they didn't try to emulate the Batman Begins movies in any way (unlike the last one) gives them so much elbow room to have fun and STILL be a gritty action show at the same time. Plus, it made Aquaman INTERRESTING. No one has ever done that.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I actually like Scooby Doo. Sure the cartoons became repetitive because the audience knew whoever was the creature/ghost/alien/whatever was going to actually be a human in disguise, and the stories each week were all the same, but it was still a fun cartoon show. But Hanna Barbera did make too many spinoffs of Scooby Doo.

Besides Ninja Turtles, my other favorite cartoon is The Real Ghostbusters which still holds up really well. The first two seasons did have some of the best episodes and some of them were dark in nature.

I agree that the last 15 years have been the worst era for entertainment. I think the early 90's were the last days of mostly great stuff, and the 80's were the last big peak. (New Wave!)

I love new wave. 80's music was the last decade to give good music. i was listening to several songs from Talking Heads this morning while running. Great band.

 

[minor muppetz]

There's not many quality TV shows or movies these days. Out of the shows currently in production, I only watch a handful of Comedy Central programs (South Park, Sarah Silerman Program, Important Things with Demetri Martin), Fox's sunday night line-up, CBS' monday night line-up, and occasionally Sesame Street.

A few months ago I made a youtube video on the subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd93GEZOb48

 

[Rose]

Yeah I noticed this too. I haven't watched a lot of TV unless it was a Tape or dvd. I like to watch my own things and a lot of it they no longer show on TV. I don't like the quilty on TV today and haven't for years since 'Rude Dog ' made his debute in the late 80's.
Rarely I find something worth while, but when I do I play it till it's worn out... well almost.

This might be me, but in my opinion it seems entertainment, that being movies, television shows, and music, has declined heavily in the last 10-15 years.

I don't watch anymore television, not unless it's an old show that I used to watch back in the day. I can not stand reality type shows and think those have to be some of the worst shows to come out. They're cheap and easy to produce and people watch them, but I wish networks would wise up and do away with those shows.

Music in general is downright horrible. Yeah you can tell me to look hard for good music from new bands and singers, but I'm not going to do that. Majority of the music I listen to comes from bands and singers 20 years to 45 years ago, from their popular hits on the radio to songs they did that radio stations might not have played, but those songs sound great. Steely Dan, Pat Benatar, Talking Heads, Electric Light Orchestra, The Beatles, The Four Tops, etc.

Movies as a whole have gotten worse. Too much cgi has become the main star in big budget movies and it seems the actors and story have become watered down. The only exception to this would be independent films and films that come out during the oscar months of November and December.

Anyway, that's my rant.

 

[Drtooth]

I actually like Scooby Doo. Sure the cartoons became repetitive because the audience knew whoever was the creature/ghost/alien/whatever was going to actually be a human in disguise, and the stories each week were all the same, but it was still a fun cartoon show. But Hanna Barbera did make too many spinoffs of Scooby Doo.

Don't get me wrong. I really like Scooby-Doo. Just not those self imposed ripoffs, nor those BAD episodes focusing on Scooby and Shaggy chasing after Scrappy. But I really like those ones. But how many kids with bubblegum pop bands solving mysteries can you have?

Besides Ninja Turtles, my other favorite cartoon is The Real Ghostbusters which still holds up really well. The first two seasons did have some of the best episodes and some of them were dark in nature.

I feel Real Ghostbusters is the best cartoon adaption/Spinoff of a movie of all time. In fact, I think the cartoon sort of eclipsed the popularity of the movie. At least to the point that there was a large scale RGB toyline, while it took 20 something years for the movie to get one. I mean, I like Beetlejuice, Men in Black, and a couple of the Disney movie spinoff shows (especially Buzz Lightyear and Timon and Pumbaa)... but I don't think any movie spin off has been as good as RGB.