Does it bother you if a movie "dates"?

[BJB]

A lot of bad reviews, often ones written with the benefit of hindsight, refer to an element of the movie as being "dated". The implication seems to be that because that element of the film is no longer relevant in the present, it suffers or hinders the film in some way. I've never looked at it that way. A film is a piece of history. If one charchter is wearing flares, or acid wash jeans or something like that, then that just reminds me that the movie is a product of its time, which is no way a bad thing.

So, do movies stuck in their time bother you when watching them today?

[SavageHedgehog]

Generally, very much not. Obviously occasionally you'll get a really tacky score in a 70s or 80s movie or something that spoils things a bit, but on the whole the historical and cultural context of films is one of the things I find most fascinating about them. Admittedly I have a Rain Man-esque memory of release years and approximate box office figures, so I get that most people wont share my interest in this tangent, but sometimes I do find attacks on films for their cultural trappings a bit tedious.

[NoSleep]

Wim Wenders' Until The End of The World dated very badly, very quickly, by predicting the near future laughingly wrong.

[Subtle Mocking]

Doesn't really bother me but I have some exceptions. Animation usually factors into this a lot for me, but it's can be a bit all over the place, i.e. I personally think a film that some consider to be too kitsch like Fantasia has aged better than a lot of 80s-90s animated features like Oliver & Company or Bebe's Kids. A lot of the animation leading up to about the time Toy Story came out and people started using CGI more just looks so ugly to me.

I hope it's not just me who can see that.

[Jemble Fred]

Not if you're counting the likes of Beauty & The Beast and especially The Lion King, which hasn't been bettered by any CGI cartoon.

'Theatre of Blood' is absolutely one of my top ten films of all time, and yet yes, I do sometimes wish it hadn't worn its zeitgeist on its sleeve quite so much in some sequences – the hairdresser bit, for instance. In itself I still love the campness of it all, but it does make me yearn for a tasteful remake which can take those superb characters and the general dramatic sweep of the plot and try to bring out the humour in a more subtle way, with fewer afro wigs.

[Subtle Mocking]

Ah yes, those two were wonderfully animated. Even some fairly recent CGI has begun to show it's age.

[thugler]

Lots of fairly recent cgi looked crap at the Time though to be fair.

[Famous Mortimer]

Films like "Hackers" which have a Neuromancer-style view of the internet seem laughably quaint nowadays, so it's really just films that predict the future wrong that I don't get on with.

[kidsick5000]

Films like "Hackers" which have a Neuromancer-style view of the internet seem laughably quaint nowadays, so it's really just films that predict the future wrong that I don't get on with.

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought of Hackers. That the cyber city take on the internet that should really be edited out to save the film from looking too ridiculous. But thel the phone line modems and hack books still seem reasonable as a document of the time.

In CGI stakes Starship Troopers has held up well, but then making sure that all the CGI was reserved for hard surfaced things and nothing hairy or fleshy worked really well in its favour.

[SavageHedgehog]

Hackers was prominently sneered at by a lot of computer geeks even at the time. Was it even set in the future? I love that film!

[Waking Life]

I think it's mainly technology-based films that can fall foul of this, particularly any with computers as the main theme.  Hackers, The Net, and pretty much any film ever made that focusses in on the workings of a monitor for an important plot point. 

Sci-Fi always gets a free pass due to the alternate-reality and the fact it's often not rooted in what's purported to be possible at the time.  I don't think The Matrix will ever be considered dated, which uses turn of the century technology extensively.

I suppose some films from the 40s and 50s will be considered dated due to the obvious display of different attitudes and racial epithets.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Hackers is fun and its story was contemporary, not a vision of the future. If anyone dislikes it mainly because they think it's dated they're really focusing on the wrong things.

[SteveDave]

The awful music in The Princess Bride ruins it for me now. Why anyone thought Mark Knopfler with a synth would be a good thing is beyond me.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I quite like films that are dated, then you're getting the film itself and a sort of time capsule view of what fashions/culture/music were popular at the time.

[Famous Mortimer]

Hackers is fun and its story was contemporary, not a vision of the future. If anyone dislikes it mainly because they think it's dated they're really focusing on the wrong things.

I also dislike it because it's stupid and badly acted, if that's any good to you?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I also dislike it because it's stupid and badly acted, if that's any good to you?

They're better reasons.

[Famous Mortimer]

But not the best one. It's the modern equivalent of those films from the 1950s where in the long-distant future of 1985, they have settlements on the moon, or whatever.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

In CGI stakes Starship Troopers has held up well, but then making sure that all the CGI was reserved for hard surfaced things and nothing hairy or fleshy worked really well in its favour.

I think Starship Troopers has actually dated in the opposite direction, becoming increasingly more relevant a movie as time has gone on, mainly from Sept 11th onwards.  Had it been released today it would almost certainly be seen as a dangerously subversive satire of the war on terror.  Adding to that the fact that the CGI wisely stuck to what it was good at around that time (hard surfaces, scuttling creatures and space shots, as you say - explosions and other things were done for real, including that big bombing shot which was apparently a mile-long line of explosives) and you've got a film that's more relevant than it was in the time in which it was released.  (See also: Robocop.  Same writer and director as Starship Troopers, a satire on privatisation of state-run services and heavily inspired by Judge Dredd.  Stop motion effects have somewhat dated there though.)

Although perhaps the film that has become more relevant as time has gone on is the excellent news satire Network.  Were it made today it would be seen as a thinly-veiled parody of Fox News.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

But not the best one. It's the modern equivalent of those films from the 1950s where in the long-distant future of 1985, they have settlements on the moon, or whatever.

I'm more worried if the effect of it dating has an impact on my enjoyment of the film in some way.  In my case I clearly don't care as much when they show off their mental 33.3k modem as you, because I find those to be stylistic elements that are open to be enjoyed rather than pedantically unwound- much as the sci-fi films you cite above.

[remedial_gash]

I think Starship Troopers has actually dated in the opposite direction, becoming increasingly more relevant a movie as time has gone on, mainly from Sept 11th onwards.  Had it been released today it would almost certainly be seen as a dangerously subversive satire of the war on terror.  Adding to that the fact that the CGI wisely stuck to what it was good at around that time (hard surfaces, scuttling creatures and space shots, as you say - explosions and other things were done for real, including that big bombing shot which was apparently a mile-long line of explosives) and you've got a film that's more relevant than it was in the time in which it was released.  (See also: Robocop.  Same writer and director as Starship Troopers, a satire on privatisation of state-run services and heavily inspired by Judge Dredd.  Stop motion effects have somewhat dated there though.)

Although perhaps the film that has become more relevant as time has gone on is the excellent news satire Network.  Were it made today it would be seen as a thinly-veiled parody of Fox News.

Verhoeven will, in time, be seen as one of the great  movie makers.

"Basic Instinct" is the best example of a trash type 'erotic thriller'. Robocop is amazing and so is "Starship Troopers". "The fourth man" is lovely, although I think most of that is down to Jeroen Krabbe. Flesh + Blood is also a wonderfully enjoyable film.

I know that it's easy to dismiss people, but PV is a proper genius in the filmic arts.

Gash
x

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I've always found with Starship Troopers that it doesn't deliver either of what it's trying to do. The actual story I find dull, and the attempted satire is pretty misfiring or just makes fairly uninteresting/familiar points. Indeed the satirical elements detract from the narrative at points.

Generally love his other films.

[Virgo76]

I actually like it if and when a movie dates. The fact that the world changes gives any film from the past an added dimension over time.
Taxi Driver, for example, has obviously dated but the fact that its set and made in the context of the mid-70s, makes it much interesting. I even watched Kindergarten Cop the other day. I'm sure I'd have found it totally uninteresting in 1990 but now its slightly more interesting (although not much more it must be said) simply for being 21 years old.
Things from the 70s seem to date worse than anything else. Even films set in the distant past or far future are obviously made he 1970s.
Stanley Kubrick's films (up to and including The Shining) all seem to have dated fairly dramatically. Although set in the future Clockwork Orange and 2001 actually look more dated than older ones like Lolita an Dr Strangelove (I think) even though they're in black and white.
How long does it take for dating to start? Are the Lord of the Rings films dated yet?

[Famous Mortimer]

Pedantic...no, I don't see that in what I wrote. Calling something "laughably quaint" is hardly pedantic, is it? I don't find the size of their modems the main thing either, I find the far larger and more important point of how they portrayed the internet to be the issue, and how much that fed into the rest of the film.  You're having a go at me for stuff I never said, and I'm not really sure why. It seems a fairly innocuous point that a film which takes so much of its running time to wildly misrepresent what the internet would become has problems with aging. Admire the fine plot and young acting talent as much as you like.

[remedial_gash]

I've always found with Starship Troopers that it doesn't deliver either of what it's trying to do. The actual story I find dull, and the attempted satire is pretty misfiring or just makes fairly uninteresting/familiar points. Indeed the satirical elements detract from the narrative at points.

Generally love his other films.

Thinking about it more, and despite the story being basically 'Mr Men' level, the lead actors aside from Dougie Howser are bloody awful, and that surely undermines any level of satire, unless PV thought they added to it by being so inept?

I dunno, just your comment made sense to me - I've been totally stupid for last 3 days (at least) - your idea kicked me out of my idiocy, or at least told me to wake up.

Gash
x

[kidsick5000]

Very much agree with Santa's Boyfriend about films that date backwards, and good call on Network - a film that is so on the nail, especially now with Charlie Sheen and Glen Beck, that it is less satire and more of a chiller. You have to wonder if some execs have pushed to make Network come true, or if it has just naturally fulfilled that prophecy.

A Clockwork Orange is so incredibly dated and 70's looking I can barely believe that it's a Kubrick film. It looks like too many other 70's brit films. Same film stock, same actors amd barring a few key scenes, rather plainly filmed.

Some films have dated in a way that they're fascinating documents of the past.
For anyone familiar with Liverpool, the Stephen Frears film Gumshoe, is a must see just to see how bad the city had it in the 70's. It's also a very cool brit-noir, but you'd swear rationing was still in effect.

[Subtle Mocking]

Films like Midnight Cowboy have the same effect on a city, in this case, New York. That late 60s/early 70s New York is really something to behold, it's on a completely different level of grim.

A Clockwork Orange has dated terribly, I agree. It's quite charming how it strives to look and feel futuristic, but 40 years on every aspect of the film looks completely of it's time. The early 70s decor especially sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That improves it in my opinion. Far more stylish and interesting looking than any modern movie. (I would say any modern movie trying to do a similar thing but there are none)

[Ignatius_S]

...A Clockwork Orange is so incredibly dated and 70's looking I can barely believe that it's a Kubrick film. It looks like too many other 70's brit films. Same film stock, same actors amd barring a few key scenes, rather plainly filmed....

Personally, I would say brilliantly, rather than plainly.

....A Clockwork Orange has dated terribly, I agree. It's quite charming how it strives to look and feel futuristic, but 40 years on every aspect of the film looks completely of it's time. The early 70s decor especially sticks out like a sore thumb.

Arguably, the story deals with contemporary issues and fears - so the 70s decor is perfect.

[wearyworld]

But not the best one. It's the modern equivalent of those films from the 1950s where in the long-distant future of 1985, they have settlements on the moon, or whatever.

That's not a valid criticism. Complaining that science fiction 'gets the future wrong' shows a lack of discernment. Philip K. Dick's books are often set ten or twenty years after they were written, but it's irrelevant. The ideas are the whole point. Disagree with the ideas, not the decor.

So no, there's nothing wrong with any art 'dating.' If people actually strove to create 'timeless' work in every sense of the word, they'd mostly fail, producing bland trash. Even films which to me feel outside time, like 2001, could easily be scoffed at by some for details they perceive to have dated.

[kidsick5000]

Oddly, Blade Runner, which continues to be the template for visions of the future does have some jolting dating in the logos for companies that no longer exist.
Though for younger people, they probably have no idea of Pan-Am, Atari etc so they probably look made up