NationStates Jolt Archive

Which cinematic era do you think produced the best qualities films? Which era is your favorite?

I'd say late sixties through seventies into early eighties. People were getting more experimental, and the studios hadn't turned filmmaking entirely into a mass produced Lowest Common Denominator mess. During the time period I mentioned you got interesting films like Chinatown, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Clockwork Orange, and Brazil. Even the blockbusters produced for the wider market, like Jaws, The Breakfast Club, and Star Wars look like complex art films compared to the crap Hollywood shovels nowadays.

I couldn't really answer the poll, there are great (in my opinion) movies from every decade listed. if you were going to ask about tv shows though I have to go with the 70s ( Charlies Angels, Greatest American Hero, The A team)

80's definantly, if you didn't have the eighties then right now we would all be dead :(

if you were going to ask about tv shows though I have to go with the 70s ( Charlies Angels, Greatest American Hero, The A team)

The A Team was made in the 80s, shurely?

I'm going to have to go with the 80's myself. The most notable films to me were Predator, Aliens, Terminator, Blade Runner, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, all the Indiana Jones movies, and a bunch more.

The A Team was made in the 80s, shurely?
yup you were right 83 and greatest american hero was 81 so I guess I'm gonna have to go with 80's in tv and prolly 80's in movies now that I think about it.
there is more of a concentration there.

This board seems to only have a few cult classic lovers.

The 80's were probably the best, once you were able to sift out the mass-produced action genre. It was also a big step forward in special effects up to the CGI revolution. The 90's had my favorite comedy, Office Space, and the 2000's are just sequels and mediocrity. (did we really need a Miss Congeniality 2? Or Jason X?).

The best films, I feel, definetly came from the last era, the 1990s and later. It is not that there were not great films in the previous eras, however technology has advance to the point now that it can add so much that was unavaible to previous film, and the current era has the experience of all the previous eras with the benefit of time to tell it the best ways to use the media. It is also not mine to even hint that all the films being made in this era are the greatest, in fact the majority of them I consider unfit for human consumption, however if look to the previous eras we can find the same phenomena, although not many people think of Herbie Rides Again when they think of films from the 1970s or Abbot and Constello Meet Frankenstein when they think of films from the 1940s.

I love the way Yuen manages to create a truely immersive cinemagraphic experience in The Trasporter for instance, but this is only possible through the refinement of techniques used in other movies, this movie could not have been made in the 1980s.

80's

It's hard to decide in which decade the quality of cinema was at it's highest but fortunately you put 1950´s and earlier in the first option.

Of course the technology has changes overwhelmingly since that but some good things have disappeared too. I think that early cinema was much more inventive. Until late 20´s there were more artistic films, there were Méliès, Vertov, Dreyer and Len Lye. The lack of technology didn't hold Murnau or Lang back. Just think about Metropolis, Vampyr or Sunrise.

50's was another very meaningful era. Neorealism (as prology to French new wave), eventhough it lasted only few years, changed cinema as much as sound in the late 20's. So, the new technology has been behind the biggest changes in film history but IMO the latest changes (computer technology etc) are rather small compared to those made decades ago.

In an attempt to answer this question, I started thinking about all my favorite movies. Then I realized they were spanning all post 1960 eras. So, the answer is anything but the 50s.

Probably 20s, a boom period for experimental cinema- esp in france. Check out "Un chien andelou" by Louis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.

Probably 20s, a boom period for experimental cinema- esp in france. Check out "Un chien andelou" by Louis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.
And early Soviet cinema and German expressionism...20's is my favourite too

Probably 20s, a boom period for experimental cinema- esp in france. Check out "Un chien andelou" by Louis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.

Thats a terrible example. "Un chien andalou" is a bunch of pretentious crap. Pointing that out as an example of good cinema is like pointing out Martin Creed's "The Lights Going on and Off" as an example of good art.

Thats a terrible example. Un chien andalou is a bunch of pretentious crap. Pointing that out as an example of good cinema is like pointing out Martin Creed's "The Lights Going on and Off" as a good example of fine art.
Pretentious crap... OK, well I certainly dont agree with that- its one of the only films that can truly be described an anarchic. Oh and on Creeds work- its more a philosophy than entertainment right? What do you think makes "good" cinema?

I voted for the period of 50's and before. Those days saw the bulk of the Alfred Hitchcock movies, the Billy Wilder movies, as well as great stars. There still aren't any contemporary actors that can surpass the performances of Bogart, Holden, Tracy, Bacall, either Hepburn...this list is pretty long. I'd rather settle in with an average movie from 1945 than watch almost anything from the last few decades.

Of course there are exceptions.

Pretentious crap... OK, well I certainly dont agree with that- its one of the only films that can truly be described an anarchic. Oh and on Creeds work- its more a philosophy than entertainment right? What do you think makes "good" cinema?

There are too many factors to mention them all in one post, but one of the critical factors is plot. This movie is a bunch of disjointed images that add up to nothing. Nice for a music video...maybe, but terrible as a film of its own. Its about as good as Andy Warhol's "Empire" (composed of an 18 hour long recording of the empire state building). Its pretentious crap. Its claim to fame isnt the work it's self, but the people who created it.

Languish in the Past OR Vote 1990's and newer.
My Vote went there but if 21st Century films was an Option ...

The Latest films have seen the Film industry rise above the Era where home videos were Hip. Going to see a Movie is Now a Real Option - BIG change from 10 yrs ago!


Exception to the Rule - Matrix Revolutions :gundge:

There are too many factors to mention them all in one post, but one of the critical factors is plot. This movie is a bunch of disjointed images that add up to nothing. Nice for a music video...maybe, but terrible as a film of its own. Its about as good as Andy Warhol's "Empire" (composed of an 18 hour long recording of the empire state building). Its pretentious crap. Its claim to fame isnt the work it's self, but the people who created it.
Wrong wrong wrong wrong! Every scene is surreal! Its a backlash against the hated bourgeoisie! And again, with Empire its not about entertainment, its just supposed to make you think.

Tough call, really. Every time period has its greats.

I have a deep love for WWII era romantic comedies and I adore the surrealism in Vietnam era horror flicks. Then again, it seems war brings out the best in film makers. You'll notice that while we're immersed in the Iraq quagmire, some great films are starting to be produced.

Wrong wrong wrong wrong! Every scene is surreal! Its a backlash against the hated bourgeoisie!

Meh: surrealism showed itself able to be very quickly swallowed by the bourgeoisie - rather than actually confronting them with the horrors of the subconscious it just presented them with another commodity for them to consume and sponsor.

Meh: surrealism showed itself able to be very quickly swallowed by the bourgeoisie - rather than actually confronting them with the horrors of the subconscious it just presented them with another commodity for them to consume and sponsor.
Well whatever they did to it, it doesn't make original artists any worse.

I voted the 50s and older because I'm an old fart. :D The 60's had some good movies also but not many GOOD movies are coming out now. :(