Why, of course you can repeat the past... (GE DCC)

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

I honestly for the life of me cannot figure out why they call that the 'golden age of Hollywood'.

As much as I gripe about old movies and actors, there are some really good things I've seen from back then. I dunno what years fall into the "golden age" but I've seen a lot of Hitchcock movies recently and they've been almost all really good (especially Rebecca and Rear Window) and a few movies have surprised me with the direction they take and the boundaries they've pushed despite cliche roles and the same 20 actors in them.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

It will be original though, won't it? I mean, it'll feature characters that Joss didn't create, but there has never actually been a show or a comic or movie or anything like that which is actually about S.H.I.E.L.D, has there? They were just sort of always in the background of the super hero stores, as far as I understand it. It's certainly original enough for me!

He makes characters original anyway, even if they weren't originally his - as evidenced by the transformation of Black Widow from the two-dimensional killbot she was in Iron Man 2 to the fully-fledged character she became in The Avengers.

When I say original, I mean an original idea of his not something based in a universe that was already created. Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse...all original universes created by him. But you do bring up a good point that he will be creating all new characters which of course will bring in the Whedonesque charm to the show that we all love so much...actually after you mentioning that...I really hope no characters from the avengers are in it. XD

[Ryoutarou]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

Jason Segel has already said that the eighth season (which they are currently moving into) will be his last, so I'm not sure that they'd even continue on without him and if they did it wouldn't be for long.

I'm not sure whether people should believe this or not. A representative for him actually said that the quote was misinterpreted. And it's not like his character is so incredibly vital to the success of the show. ...though I would like it to end sometime soon. The seventh season was like pulling teeth.

I honestly for the life of me cannot figure out why they call that the 'golden age of Hollywood'. Not one of those actors (Hepburn included, sorry Harlequin) would survive a day in the modern world of real acting through which Meryl Streep glides with relative ease.

What exactly makes you say this? The world of acting was just as cut throat, if not more, back then when compared to today.

Originally Posted by scarf

But, boy does it still amaze me that people can differentiate old actors when they all had to act similarly and dress similarly and there was just less variety of roles in Hollywood movies.

I wouldn't say they were all similar to each other, at least I've always been able to tell them apart. I think the biggest issue when kids these days try to judge old movies is that they never put themselves in the context of the times, which is sometimes really vital to understanding the true meaning of something.

[Shining Raichu]

Originally Posted by Ryoutarou

I'm not sure whether people should believe this or not. A representative for him actually said that the quote was misinterpreted. And it's not like his character is so incredibly vital to the success of the show. ...though I would like it to end sometime soon. The seventh season was like pulling teeth.

Well he's not vital to the success of the show but he is vital to the storyline. He and Lily are joined at the hip and have been since Day 1, so to get rid of Marshall would mean getting rid of Lily also or somehow writing in a freaking amazing excuse as to why he isn't there for an entire year or more lol. But if it may not be true then that's probably for the best. It'd be like carrying on Friends without Ross (and wouldn't that be a shame?)

What exactly makes you say this? The world of acting was just as cut throat, if not more, back then when compared to today.

From what I've seen of movies from that era, acting wasn't... great. It was more about entertaining and less about story-telling. It was more fantastical and less realistic. And the women all talked in that same high pitch that makes my skin crawl.

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

And the women all talked in that same high pitch that makes my skin crawl.

Hahaha. I was thinking about that when I was watching those Hitchcock movies. The "Mid Atlantic" accent that isn't an accent anyone really speaks, kinda like like Received Pronunciation / BBC English but for America. Maybe that's not the same one you're talking about though.

[Mr Cat Dog]

Acting was really different back in the days of black-and-white movies, but I'd definitely not call it 'bad'. 'Internalised', sure... but not bad. It was people like Marlon Brando and his method acting that really changed the more composed (or, some might say, stiffer) acting styles that had defined Hollywood up until that point, and what was once regarded as a freak way of conveying drama onscreen became the norm. Indeed, in 30 or so years time, maybe film/TV acting will have changed completely from what we know and love today!

[Shining Raichu]

I don't really see it as 'changing' so much as 'evolving'. I don't see what it could evolve into from here. I think it's as good as it's going to get, and I'm more than OK with that.

Originally Posted by Scarf

Hahaha. I was thinking about that when I was watching those Hitchcock movies. The "Mid Atlantic" accent that isn't an accent anyone really speaks, kinda like like Received Pronunciation / BBC English but for America. Maybe that's not the same one you're talking about though.

I was more talking about how they put their voices about two octaves above what is natural to sound like the delicate little flowers that they were - but I'm interested to hear about this accent think you're talking about!

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

I was more talking about how they put their voices about two octaves above what is natural to sound like the delicate little flowers that they were - but I'm interested to hear about this accent think you're talking about!

Oh, I think I know what you mean now. What I was talking about was the kind of accent you get in things like this clip:



You get Americans speaking with this half-British accent that's supposed to make them sound rich and fancy. Or something. It was popular in the 30s-50s, I think. My quick internet searching tells me that Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Joan Crawford were big on using it.

[Shining Raichu]

Oh wow... that is annoying. It's one of those things that you don't notice until you notice it and then you can't stop noticing it. What the hell is that!

Oh man, just another reason I can't watch old movies lol.

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

Oh wow... that is annoying. It's one of those things that you don't notice until you notice it and then you can't stop noticing it. What the hell is that!

Oh man, just another reason I can't watch old movies lol.

I know what you mean about not being able to stop noticing it. When I come across it now I can't help but think they're supposed to be putting on airs and it makes everything seem a little staged and comedic even when it's supposed to be serious.

But I dunno. I've started to enjoy old movies more now that I've seen a lot of them. Not sure if this is familiarity breeding liking or if I'm opening up more, but where I used to have a "Can we watch something else?" response I'm now more likely to feel "Sure, give it a try."

[Shining Raichu]

lol did anybody catch any of that Morgan Freeman death hoax on Facebook (assuming you have Facebook)? My mother said to me last night "did you know Morgan Freeman was dead?"

I was like "surely not. If he was dead I would have heard about it before Mum did", but I panicked and shot straight to IMDb because when someone important dies they always have that newsflash thing up the top and there was nothing, so I went to Google and news searched Morgan Freeman and the article came up "Morgan Freeman not dead, can still narrate Discovery shows".

And then I lol'd.

[Mr Cat Dog]

Originally Posted by Scarf

But I dunno. I've started to enjoy old movies more now that I've seen a lot of them. Not sure if this is familiarity breeding liking or if I'm opening up more, but where I used to have a "Can we watch something else?" response I'm now more likely to feel "Sure, give it a try."

"One of us! One of us! We accept her, one of us! Gooble gobble gooble gobble!"

But yeah, it does take a while to get your head around the differences between old and modern films, but once you're in your element, there's often no beating them! When I'm recommending older films to people, I normally start with stuff from the 70s, and then gradually get them into black-and-white ones, and then full-on silent films! Jumping straight into Sunrise, for example, after spending your entire cinematic life watching modern films probably means you won't get as much out of it than a gentle slow-burn immersion into older cinema.

[Mentalii]

Who was your favourite character?
Gintama is an anime I have to watch I've heard many good things about it. Well, samourai stuff and all is not really the kind of things I like but... I'll give it a try.

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Mr Cat Dog

"One of us! One of us! We accept her, one of us! Gooble gobble gooble gobble!"

But yeah, it does take a while to get your head around the differences between old and modern films, but once you're in your element, there's often no beating them! When I'm recommending older films to people, I normally start with stuff from the 70s, and then gradually get them into black-and-white ones, and then full-on silent films! Jumping straight into Sunrise, for example, after spending your entire cinematic life watching modern films probably means you won't get as much out of it than a gentle slow-burn immersion into older cinema.

I wouldn't say there's no beating them. I'm personally still firmly entrenched in modern movies because of the styles of cinematography and the variety of stories that are open to modern filmmakers thanks to new technologies and social attitudes and so forth. Hope that don't disappoint. ;]

Not that I'd defend a lot of the crap that's been made in recent decades. I would agree with you (if you had made this statement that I'm just going to assume you've made somewhere) that there were fewer bad movies on the whole back in the day than there are now.

[-Lapras-]

It was probably Literature Girl although all of them were good.

Gintama really is worth the watch, it's pretty much king of the shounen comedy genre.

[Shining Raichu]

Well that would be because there were fewer films in general. With the sheer amount of films we make today, it's much harder for there not to be some duds in the mix.

[GolurkIsDaBomb]

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

Well that would be because there were fewer films in general. With the sheer amount of films we make today, it's much harder for there not to be some duds in the mix.

Some duds? Hm, I'd have to say at least half are duds, whether they're bad scary movies, bad rom-com movies, bad children's movies, bad drama movies etc. I'd have to say there are a lot more duds than gems, from the previews I see on tv.

[Shining Raichu]

Well perhaps that's the problem with judging entire movies based on the previews you see on TV

[Banjora Marxvile]

I think it will always be harder for films nowadays to really stand out compared to classics. If you think about it, nearly every story has been told at least 10 times, no unique scenarios really exist anymore that haven't already been done, and even the most unique story is really similar to another (ruining the unique part...)

[Shining Raichu]

(I feel like I'm posting here too much haha)

I'm not really sure that 'who got there first' matters so much as 'who did it better'. The spark may have gone out of some stories through various retellings (and the mass of direct remakes does suggest they're running low on ideas) but I think that it's quite easy for a modern film to do a scenario better than a classic, even though the classic may be regarded as more original because it did it first.

Uniqueness doesn't matter so much to me as quality is what I'm saying I guess lol. And there are still some pretty damn unique films coming out. I wouldn't write it off just yet!

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Banjora Marxvile

I think it will always be harder for films nowadays to really stand out compared to classics. If you think about it, nearly every story has been told at least 10 times, no unique scenarios really exist anymore that haven't already been done, and even the most unique story is really similar to another (ruining the unique part...)

And if you go further back, most stories in movies have already been told in some book or other. Not saying that's good or back, just saying that even early Hollywood was borrowing a lot.

I think it's just that we've got a record of all these stories now, and with technology it's easy to compare one thing to another fairly easily so we get a little jaded maybe. But me, I don't care if a story has been done before if I can still be engaged in the movie (or book, or whatever).

[Minzy]

Ugh, I really want to find somewhere to watch the Inuyasha episodes that extended past the end of the canon series and followed a bit of the manga, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. It's like that one or two days they had on it on the Shonen Jump! website were the only times anyone could ever watch them. I'm going to kill myself. u_u

[Hagumi]

Ah, Gintama. I watched a few episodes and I thought it was fairly good but then when life got busy I just sort of forgot about it. This thread his reminded to pick it back up!

In other news, calling all Penguindrum/Ikuhara fans:
http://www.penguinbear.com/
Have you seen this yet? What do you think it'll turn out to be? Are you excited?

[-Lapras-]

Extremely excited about the new Ikuhara work, adored Utena and enjoyed Penguindrum. Expecting more of the same.

[Shining Raichu]

They just announced the new American Idol judges. They've gone from the amazing Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler to.... Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj. I don't watch the show and I doubt anybody here would either, but I think we can all agree that that's a tremendous fall from grace.