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The best films seem to be the first of their genre.

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I noticed after watching and reading a lot of AFI top movies lists and other lists on the internet etc. that a lot of the films famous for being “the best” tend to be the films that were the first of their genre. I am certainly not very knowledgeable in movie making but I know a lot of the basic techniques involved in making a film “work”, like editing, pacing, sound, lighting, acting, etc.

A lot of my favorite movies were made in the '80s. In fact, there are only a few films made prior to 1977 that I really like. But I think the ‘80s was really the pinnacle of cinema history because since the ‘90s it seems like movies just haven’t been as good. One of the problems is lack of original ideas. In the eighties it seemed like a lot of the first of their genre movies came out and since then it has just been rehashes of inferior quality. Like “Die Hard” for example, regarded by many to be the first of its genre and also, still the best.

I think movies that are the first of their genre usually get more credit than following movies that take inspiration from the predecessors, even though they might be just as good, just not original. Like “Citizen Kane”. I was always hearing that it was the greatest movie of all time, so one day I took the time to watch it and I was bored stiff through the whole thing all the way to the plot twist at the end. When I learned of the plot twist I thought, “that’s it?” I couldn’t believe it was hailed as the greatest movie of all time until I learned that a lot of people appreciate that movie because it had a lot of revolutionary filming techniques that were original for its time.

Star Wars was original in its time and has actually probably had a big influence on the way movies have been filmed, created, and edited since. When an amateur audience watches the films today they probably don’t realize that movies before that one didn’t have the exquisite film techniques that were ground breaking for its time. I don’t know a lot of what made Star Wars so ground breaking. I know a lot of the special effects techniques used in those films were original for its time. Also more subtle things like the editing and pacing a realistic feeling of a fantasy world were never presented as believable and elaborately before its time. Today, I just see the filming techniques as the norm but still a great film.

But I find that a lot of the first of their genre films to be the best anyways. One reason is because I like when they used to use models, real sets etc. instead of CGI. I don’t have any personal disliking for the use of CGI. I don’t mind filmmakers using that, as long as it looks good! But it really doesn’t unless used in subtle ways. I don’t understand why film makers seem to be turning to Computer Generated Images for everything in their movies these days. It sounds like it is much more expensive and doesn’t look as good. It always looks artificial and doesn’t blend in with the film. I think it is just enabling people to be lazy. It is less work to have people work on a computer than to get artist to design real things. Now they’re turning to digital cameras and they are yet to capture as many colors and detail as film. Digital cameras might be much easier to use but film still captures a superior picture. It sounds like computer technology will eventually be able to capture video just as well as film but for now I prefer film.

Another reason why I think films aren’t as good as they used to be is their prime purpose is to make money instead of a work of art. There is so much bloated advertising involved in trying to get you to see it. Back in the '80s it seemed like there wasn’t much money put into advertising and the movies were actually good. People actually had pride in their work and were doing it for a passion and not so much ego and money and all that crap.
Hasta La Vista... George Lucas.
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The 80's was the most unoriginal decade in moviemaking history. It was the decade of the sequel, of the Hollywood filmmaking-by-committee target-audience-oriented filmmaking that paved the way for the current trend. It was the decade when the commercialisation of moviemaking was put into the foreground and producers replaced directors as creative heads. The 70's and late 60's was really the most revolutionary period of moviemaking in the US, the only really freely artistic period in Hollywood, until it was killed by the 1980's, and then resurrected with the indie scene of the mid 90's. Just to reorient your backwards history.

But yeah, a lot of great and classic films don't seem very striking anymore because their revolution has become convention. Films like Citizen Kane and Star Wars still entertain because their true power in pure storytelling but to watch Citizen Kane in 1941 or Star Wars in 1977 would be a shocking experience whose modern equivalents might be something along the lines of maybe Fight Club and The Matrix.
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This sort of thing happens in just about every area of life. What I find annoying, in the entertainment industry, is the way you'll have so many copy-cat productions of something original and well made. Heck, even if something is simply well made enough to earn a large profit, even that will usually spawn numerous, crappy copies.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005