Movies...where have all the good ones gone?

This is a rather random post from me....but here it goes.  I used to be a big movie buff before I got married and had kids.  I was born in the late '70s, and the very first movie I went to was E.T.  I grew up watching old black and white movies with mom.  She didn't particularly like musicals or westerns, so we watched alot of dramas and suspense movies.  I specifically remember watching classics like Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice (with Greer Garson), An Affair To Remember, Gone With The Wind, To Kill A Mockingbird, Rear Window, Rebecca, Dial M For Murder, Wuthering Heights, Roman Holiday, Mildred Pierce....I could go on and on.  By the time I was in high school, I had seen all the major classics.

Through my teen and college years I loved seeing all those romantic comedies that came about.   I also saw Steel Magnolias, and to this day, it remains one of my top favorites.  In high school I got hooked on the British movies.  My obsession with Jane Austen began thanks to Colin Firth (a.k.a. Mr. Darcy).  I skipped over seeing the major movies from the 1970's and 80's.  To this day, I've never seen classics like Annie Hall, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Kramer vs. Kramer, etc.

I recently stumbled upon Ordinary People from 1980.  The first time I saw this movie was in a Psychology class in college, so probably about 15 years ago.  For those of you who don't know, Ordinary People was directed by Robert Redford and starred Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton.  As explained from IMDb the synopsis is, "The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son".

Sounds like a downer, right?  Well, I remembered it being powerful so I recorded it and decided to watch it recently.   This movie is such an awesome character study.  I was immediately struck with what amazing acting and the screenplay.  One of the best scenes is towards the end when the son has a revelation in his therapy, and his therapist (Judd Hirsch) says to him, "feelings are scary and sometimes they are painful, and if you can't feel pain, you're not going to feel anything else either".

After watching the movie, I realized what a HUGE difference there is in movies now.  They just don't make good movies anymore.  I have not been to a movie theater in almost 3 years.  There hasn't been one that has come out that has made me want to go.  It seems that movies are all about blowing things up, special effects, and naked people.  Maybe it's just that my preference is for character studies or romantic comedies (I am a girl after all).    I just wished that these filmmakers would start making movies that are relate-able with people instead of trying to be the next controversial movie that pushes the limits, or is about people getting hunted down by ax-murderers, or is over-the-top disturbing in some way.  I've seen a few of the recent movies that were nominated for best picture.  I get why the movie was nominated, but honestly, none of them left me feeling, well...anything!

When was the last time you watched a movie that really made you think or the movie stayed with you for awhile after?  My guess it is few and far between!  I'd love to hear back from you about your favorite classics that I should try watching!