First of all, if this could please not just be about "problematic" elements, or "this cancelled person appears in it", I would appreciate it. I'm interested in less obvious or well discussed elements, and we already have a thread for that.
Secondly, I don't know if you've noticed this, given what a strange few years it's been, but we're rapidly approaching the mid-way point of the 2020s, which means the 2010s is getting further and further in the rear view mirror. So not surprisingly, some films and shows from a few years ago are starting to look a little rusty, even if to some of us it feels like they only came out yesterday. Here are some that have stood out to me
Boyhood- I watched this about a year ago for the first (and probably only TBH) time. Obviously it was very impressive that they filmed this piecemeal over a decade or so, and it does make for a unique viewing experience, but I couldn't help but notice that its big themes and concerns are pretty far removed from anything that would likely get Oscar attention now. Furthermore, I'm sorry, but it's pretty funny that they spend all this time building up the development of the lead character, and at the climax of the film he's grown up (SPOILERS, I guess?) to become a photography major who wins prizes for his artistic photos of traffic lights(?), listens to generic indie music and likes to wander round the desert with quirky girls under the fog of casual drug use, i.e. an archetypal c.2014 hipster who could have been a character on Portlandia. It's also notable that some of the pop culture used as time signifiers doesn't hit like it might have in 2014, as they've since come back in fashion and/or prominence (e.g. Dragon Ball).
True Detective- I finally checked out the first two episodes of Season 1 recently following all the hullaballoo between the old and new showrunners. (I actually watched all of the IMO justly maligned Season 2 when it was fairly current, for reasons not interesting enough to go into). It's hard to put my finger on, but it just felt pretty old hat to me. Very slow, although that's certainly not unique to the era. It just seemed like a Very Serious Show for Very Serious Men to Discuss Seriously. The titles also struck me as very trendy and a little risible, derivative of Mad Men in particular. I could see myself watching all of this on DVD 10 years ago, but in the streaming etc. era I just don't have the patience for it. Maybe it's me that's aged badly more than this. But I'm still going to post it!
Parks & Recreation- This is kind of hard to dance around without stumbling into implicitly political territory, but I'll try; I think this has a very "of its time" view of the world, what was going on at the time and where people assumed things were going, which turned out to be pretty wrong, for good or ill. And Chris Pratt's schtick has become overfamiliar and isn't as charming as it was 10 years ago.
I mentioned in a previous thread in the Café that I was a bit taken aback by how dated some of the music in Despicable Me 2 sounded when I had it on in the background recntlyish. The Amazing Spider-Man films, especially the second, were kind of dated in a fair few ways when they came out, but the soundtracks of EDM, dubstep and post-Mumford indie tunes have certainly aged it further since.
Any that jump out to you?
Secondly, I don't know if you've noticed this, given what a strange few years it's been, but we're rapidly approaching the mid-way point of the 2020s, which means the 2010s is getting further and further in the rear view mirror. So not surprisingly, some films and shows from a few years ago are starting to look a little rusty, even if to some of us it feels like they only came out yesterday. Here are some that have stood out to me
Boyhood- I watched this about a year ago for the first (and probably only TBH) time. Obviously it was very impressive that they filmed this piecemeal over a decade or so, and it does make for a unique viewing experience, but I couldn't help but notice that its big themes and concerns are pretty far removed from anything that would likely get Oscar attention now. Furthermore, I'm sorry, but it's pretty funny that they spend all this time building up the development of the lead character, and at the climax of the film he's grown up (SPOILERS, I guess?) to become a photography major who wins prizes for his artistic photos of traffic lights(?), listens to generic indie music and likes to wander round the desert with quirky girls under the fog of casual drug use, i.e. an archetypal c.2014 hipster who could have been a character on Portlandia. It's also notable that some of the pop culture used as time signifiers doesn't hit like it might have in 2014, as they've since come back in fashion and/or prominence (e.g. Dragon Ball).
True Detective- I finally checked out the first two episodes of Season 1 recently following all the hullaballoo between the old and new showrunners. (I actually watched all of the IMO justly maligned Season 2 when it was fairly current, for reasons not interesting enough to go into). It's hard to put my finger on, but it just felt pretty old hat to me. Very slow, although that's certainly not unique to the era. It just seemed like a Very Serious Show for Very Serious Men to Discuss Seriously. The titles also struck me as very trendy and a little risible, derivative of Mad Men in particular. I could see myself watching all of this on DVD 10 years ago, but in the streaming etc. era I just don't have the patience for it. Maybe it's me that's aged badly more than this. But I'm still going to post it!
Parks & Recreation- This is kind of hard to dance around without stumbling into implicitly political territory, but I'll try; I think this has a very "of its time" view of the world, what was going on at the time and where people assumed things were going, which turned out to be pretty wrong, for good or ill. And Chris Pratt's schtick has become overfamiliar and isn't as charming as it was 10 years ago.
I mentioned in a previous thread in the Café that I was a bit taken aback by how dated some of the music in Despicable Me 2 sounded when I had it on in the background recntlyish. The Amazing Spider-Man films, especially the second, were kind of dated in a fair few ways when they came out, but the soundtracks of EDM, dubstep and post-Mumford indie tunes have certainly aged it further since.
Any that jump out to you?
