tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post9070087327619362070..comments2024-02-24T07:09:54.664+11:00Comments on The Audient: Cramming for SkyfallDerek Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-259652516406683722012-11-13T06:44:33.316+11:002012-11-13T06:44:33.316+11:00Yeah, I did know both plot twists ahead of time th...Yeah, I did know both plot twists ahead of time thanks to pop culture and people's insistence on spoiling things. I feel relatively confident I'd have pieced together both on my own anyway before they were actually revealed. Even with avoiding nearly every discussion about <i>Skyfall</i>, for instance, I was able to piece together most of it just from the combination of the trailers, Adele's song and astute attention to the credits. (You don't cast Ralph Fiennes and slap him on a poster unless he's going to be a major cast member, you know?)Travis S. McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774869483357940473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-72996897701120434612012-11-13T06:27:11.910+11:002012-11-13T06:27:11.910+11:00Of the five you mention, I only love three of them...Of the five you mention, I only love three of them: The Sixth Sense, Saving Private Ryan and The Graduate. However, only two of them were movies I saw when it was time in the zeitgeist to see them, with The Graduate obviously being the one that I didn't. I've never thought all that much of Vertigo (which I also obviously did not see when it was first released) and I like The Usual Suspects, but not as much as the average person likes it. <br /><br />The first two you mentioned both have an important twist. Did you know the twist in either of them before you watched it, and if so, do you think that contributed to why you didn't like them as much? Derek Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-53152803777469847942012-11-12T14:44:32.941+11:002012-11-12T14:44:32.941+11:00Oh, I entirely agree with you about The Matrix. I ...Oh, I entirely agree with you about <i>The Matrix</i>. I hadn't consciously thought about it until I read your post today but I'm almost certain that's actually a major reason why I've put it off for so long.<br /><br />I only just got around to seeing <i>The Sixth Sense</i> and <i>The Usual Suspects</i> in the last couple of years. I liked them both, but only moderately so.<br /><br />In fact, I would expand this "missed-the-zeitgeist" fear to account for why so many of us find classic films so intimidating and, often, underwhelming. This year alone, I've been disappointed by <i>The Graduate</i>, <i>Saving Private Ryan</i> and <i>Vertigo</i>, among others - all of which I'd put off seeing until this year.Travis S. McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774869483357940473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-91244810254270531212012-11-12T14:44:10.408+11:002012-11-12T14:44:10.408+11:00Oh, I entirely agree with you about The Matrix. I ...Oh, I entirely agree with you about <i>The Matrix</i>. I hadn't consciously thought about it until I read your post today but I'm almost certain that's actually a major reason why I've put it off for so long.<br /><br />I only just got around to seeing <i>The Sixth Sense</i> and <i>The Usual Suspects</i> in the last couple of years. I liked them both, but only moderately so.<br /><br />In fact, I would expand this "missed-the-zeitgeist" fear to account for why so many of us find classic films so intimidating and, often, underwhelming. This year alone, I've been disappointed by <i>The Graduate</i>, <i>Saving Private Ryan</i> and <i>Vertigo</i>, among others - all of which I'd put off seeing until this year.Travis S. McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774869483357940473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-7286972085266039032012-11-12T14:20:07.678+11:002012-11-12T14:20:07.678+11:00Mike,
I don't think so. Except for huge fans...Mike, <br /><br />I don't think so. Except for huge fans of the series (one of whom has commented here), you could argue that the function Bond fills for most people is to be a good or even great cinematic diversion at the time it's released, but not something where they need to dig back through the catalogue. That means that you're likely to have seen the Bond movies from whenever you came of age cinematically onward, but considerably less likely to have gone back and seen the older ones. I haven't even seen all the Roger Moore movies, and I've only seen one Sean Connery movie (or two if you count Never Say Never Again). <br /><br />Don, <br /><br />And I am too, in about an hour. <br /><br />Agree with your thoughts on the Netflix working protocol.<br /><br />Travis,<br /><br />You make all good points, but the one I haven't heard before that interests me the most is the idea that it's not necessarily that you can't go back and see the first films in a series, but that they are different if you see them after the zeitgeist moment has passed. Very true. I think this phenomenon is related to the idea of where you see a movie in its hype cycle. Most people who have heard a movie hyped for a long time end up being let down by it when they eventually see it. Calling you out here a bit, I doubt that when you eventually DO see The Matrix, you will have any way of liking it as much as people did when they watched it in 1999.<br /><br />As for movies in general, I'd say that it's not that you CAN'T enter a series late, it's that if it seems easy enough to watch the earlier entries, you should TRY to do that first. I observe this in the strangest of places. For example, I heard Fast Five was hugely entertaining, and I wanted to watch it in time to rank it with my 2011 movies. But I hadn't seen the third or fourth entry in the series. Really? I'm caring about what happens in the nuanced chronology of the Fast and Furious movies? I guess I am. Derek Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-13236591084836737102012-11-12T05:24:22.361+11:002012-11-12T05:24:22.361+11:00I'm in the minority who loved Quantum of Solac...I'm in the minority who loved <i>Quantum of Solace</i>. As you well know, I could go on endlessly about 007, but I'm actually much more interested in the big picture theme here of viewers playing catch-up when a new movie opens in a series.<br /><br />I admit: I've passed on seeing numerous films over the years "because I still haven't seen the first one" and I'm sure that's relatively common.<br /><br />When do we feel okay going into a series already "in progress" and why is that such a barrier to entry? If we passed on the first movie (or movies) in a series, why does a sequel make us feel like we missed something? Like we made a mistake when we chose not to see the earlier film(s)?<br /><br />I can name several franchises that I've not really made any effort to explore to date in large part because I feel like I'm already behind the times. It's not just that I haven't seen the earlier films; it's that I didn't see them during their original zeitgeist. Ergo, even if I see the films and comprehend the characters, motivations, settings, etc., I still won't have the same emotional investment that the original audience had.<br /><br />One of the fun things about following a series is the anticipation that begins the moment the latest film finishes playing. Part of the conversation I had with my friends about <i>Skyfall</i> centered on what we might see in the next Bond movie. That anticipation may very well have 2-4 years to build.<br /><br />There's no substitute for that intangible part of following a series. The latest entry is as much a payoff for the waiting as it is a continuation of the earlier screen stories.Travis S. McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774869483357940473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-8099517149681696702012-11-11T07:16:46.830+11:002012-11-11T07:16:46.830+11:00I'm seeing Skyfall tonight without having seen...I'm seeing Skyfall tonight without having seen Solace. Its OK to do this, I'm sure - after all, the thing that interests me about Skyfall the most is its departure from the norm - Sam Mendes is not at all my favorite director - and he may just be overrated - but his choice as a director here really peeks my interest. What an out of the box choice. <br /><br />And I think that the netflix trip of toploading with Very Long Waits only really works for new movies where the tag tends to represent anticipated demand for new movies. For an older film like Solace, netflix is responding to actual demand for a more limited supply of discs. I bet they are more accurate in this circumstance than with regards to new releases.Don Handsomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04448844952916507647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-15889293301596630672012-11-10T04:48:05.724+11:002012-11-10T04:48:05.724+11:00is it bad that I've only ever seen the Craig a...is it bad that I've only ever seen the Craig and Brosnan Bond movies? Shhhh, don't tell anyone else.The Taxi Driverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352371911592068643noreply@blogger.com