The Movies

The purpose of series seems be to remind. Films, actors, directors. And , nothing more. It is enough, for me. Because it is a resurrection of memories, moments, emotions. Sure, it could be better. But my gratitude for the idea and, at the first sigh, simplistic craft, is round. Because it is a good way to discover reactions , testimonies and impressions of actors and directors . So, just good serie.

I expected explanations and how Kurosawa and other foreign directors influenced Hollywood movies but we mostly got list of movies from that era which we already knew. Movies that were significant for black culture were the only thing that were explained well. No Kurosawa no Fellini no Goddard no Ozu no Bergman and Tarkovsky... I loved when Edgar Wright and PTA were talking but that's about it.

It starts so well, until it rushes through movies that need to be talked about, to talk about some random film never heard of. The way they skip back and fourth through years skipping 9 yrs froward then 9 years back seems to damage what that decade did in Cinema and the 2000 taken over promoting the same bad films Oscar's did. If anything shows not much hope for cinema going forward. Tried to please too many people but missed so many movies and including cartoons like Pixard shows the program has no credibility. This could and should include movies in categories, Action, comedy etc. They could then do cartoons if they must. All you see today is directors controlled by studios and political pandering and lots of angry people wishing they re-shoot the failed movies rushed in to cinemas and studios trying to remake movies without a clue as to why the movie was a hit.

I'm a big movie fan so I was looking forward to this series. Episode 1 is a big disappointment. It's nothing more than a collection of films from the 1980s slapped together with some commentary, mostly from the people who made the films. There is no attempt to analyze what was going on in the film industry itself, how economic and political events influenced the films, nor how the 80s represented any trends that occurred earlier. No one squandered a single IQ point making this series. Think of it as a "coming attractions" that goes on and on. Some people will enjoy it. I did. But how much more valuable would this have been had they made an attempt to do more than show us a bunch of films. FWIW - Episode 2 shows the same trend. A great for movie fans but a missed opportunity to really inform.

1/3 (at most) of each episode dives shallowly into timeless movies of the decade. 1/3 focuses on movies that have political undertones and slants it towards our political enviornment of the last few years. Finally, any movie that fills the emptiness of the current new social movements.

This series brings you down after every episode.