Films... Interesting.

[Overdriven]

Alright, now, even though I'm fairly young compared to some of you lot, I have seen a good chunk of good films which were released in the 90s, stuff like Con Air, The Rock, Face/Off, Fight Club and generally things like this. Most probably some of the best films I've seen, especially compared to the ones that are released now.

I also tend to go to ASDA alot and see their films, all the new chart crap. You know, £20 for some random ass film which flopped, but they still want to make money off from people who haven't seen them in the cinema.. And this got me thinking.

The films I've mentioned, I'm in the process of rebuying, recently being bored and going to buy Face/Off for a WHOLE £3. This makes me a bit sad (not the price) as this film is great, it's longer than these 90 minute films you see and it's rewatchable.

What I don't understand is why they cost so.. Little? I mean, these films are so good, but so cheap Why is it that a film made 10 years ago now costs less than bottles of cider? I'm not going to complain, but I'd rather pay £20 for a film like "The Rock" than £20 for a film like.. Uhmm.. "40 Year Old Virgin"

Oh well, all the good films are cheap as piss, and all the new ones (mostly) are crap..

I forgot the point to this thread =<

 

[nath]

I guess it's because you're in the minority - very few people are going to want to spend any money on those old films. The only way they shift them is by making them dirt cheap.

 

[Yaka]

its changed some what its not just sales that have taken a hit its rentals as well blockbuster have been closing stores across the uk over the past 3 years. piracy is rife peeps can download and watch an xvid quickly and re watch it its not jsut downloading peeps are also watching streams of tv series and films more rather just down loading.


in the end it is holly wood that should take the blame

 

[Kryten]

Lots of little classics I keep finding for 3 odd quid over at Asda here. 51st State, Shaft, Short Circuit (!), Big Lebowski, Fifth Element, Spaceballs and god knows how many others. I think I'd rather pay 3 quid for a DVD than download an old film personally.

 

[Overdriven]

Lots of little classics I keep finding for 3 odd quid over at Asda here. 51st State, Shaft, Short Circuit (!), Big Lebowski, Fifth Element, Spaceballs and god knows how many others. I think I'd rather pay 3 quid for a DVD than download an old film personally.

Aye, that's what I mean. All the old good films are dirt cheap (not complaining one bit) and it's sad. People would rather waste money on stuff they'll watch once than on something good.

I've had Spaceballs for ages, epicly funny film.

 

[Ch3tan]

Erm. £20 for new release dvd? Try £12.

 

[ECA]

DVDs? Whut are they?

Film industry needs to get its shit together and get a real digital distribution network out a'la steam for movies.

 

[Kryten]

Not just the film industry involved in that though, is it.

First you have to conquer the moronic ISP's and more to the point, BT for the hideous limits placed on most users, download caps and the likes. Feels like we've gone backwards.

 

[ECA]

The issue isnt really getting digital distribution going, its the fact that _real_ digital distribution FUCKS

Hardware Producers ( The constant evolution of media formats , tape>VCD/laserdisk>DVD/HDDVD-bluray/etc )
Media Distributors
Retail Outlets
Rental Outlets ( media and hardware )
TV Producers
etcetc.


Thats why digital distribution is being squashed, you can see that with the half assed "net rental" licensed crap.

Steam is going to take a decade or so to streamroll digital distribution, you can see MS and Sony with their fingers in the pot with xbox360 and PS3 but they dont want to let you whack a few 500gb hdds in their machines and let you download full games and bypass all the other channels simply because of their hugely vested interests.

The side effect of all that is all the jobs involved in all of the above industries get fucked, which in turn fucks a lot of economies - which is why the major players are not diving into what should be a nicely profitable market, because its going to bite them in the ass - essentially they are trying to hold a boulder from rolling down the hill and smashing indiana jones in the face.

 

[DaGaffer]

Not just the film industry involved in that though, is it.

First you have to conquer the moronic ISP's and more to the point, BT for the hideous limits placed on most users, download caps and the likes. Feels like we've gone backwards.

We have gone backwards. The problem is there was a shitload of investment in infrastructure up until the dotcom crash 6-7 years ago, and nothing like the same level since, despite a huge upswing in usage. We're simply trying to do too much with an inadequate network and very little joined-up thinking (like the BBC introducing iPlayer unilaterally). Add that to customers who want flat rate charges, ISP marketing departments who daren't unilaterally start charging for usage because despite big talk, customers would desert them pdq, and general buck-passing all around. If the film industry really did start to push download strategies right now, we'd be totally screwed, because the ISPs are struggling to find cheap money to spend on big capital projects like BT's 21st century fibre network. Virgin (or rather all the other cablecos that got rolled into Virgin) haven't laid down any fibre to new addresses in nearly a decade.

As for why DVDs are cheap; old movies have usually been syndicated to TV companies around the world after 2-3 years; this immediately slashes the value of DVD licences as customers are generally reluctant to pay for stuff they may have seen on ITV the night before. So you get retailers writing off the stock and flogging it cheap (they can do a write off which effectively means a DVD can be sold at 100% margin, which improves their overall business margin and keeps analysts happy - its financial shenanigans but its how retail works, and it helps to free up store space).

 

[Scouse]

Alright, now, even though I'm fairly young compared to some of you lot, I have seen a good chunk of good films which were released in the 90s, stuff like Con Air, The Rock, Face/Off, Fight Club and generally things like this. Most probably some of the best films I've seen, especially compared to the ones that are released now.

I agree with you that most of the shit released now is just that - shit.

But I'd also say that the films you reference are shit compared to earlier films.


There's a reason - the long slide of educational standards since the 1960's means that films are also getting shitter as we go along

 

[Tom]

Cherry picking there Scouse - there are still a great many superb films made today, and there were always a bunch of utterly shite films made in the past.

There Will Be Blood was a fantastic film.