A local cinema played E.T. (20th Anniversary), Back To The Future and JAWS in a marathon. I was reminded how movies of the late 70's and 80's are so much better than those of today. They just don't make flicks like JAWS anymore, and it sucks.

Also, it's astounding to me how directors like Spielberg and Lucas think it's a good idea to edit computer graphics into their old movies and make other alterations. The CGI, for instance, in the 2002 E.T. is atrocious. I can't believe how bad it is. Worse than 1997 Jabba. The digitally "enhanced" E.T. is incredibly obvious and awkward and the Jar Jar-like animation is laughable.

My theory is that some B team at ILM did the work on this, while the big dogs did Star Wars. The changes to make the film more politically correct or whatever are also ridiculous. You can't beat watching these movies on the big screen. I don't care how big your home theater setup is, it just ain't the same. I felt like sharing this.

It's true, that the movies made today are very different in style from what was made 20/30 years ago, but that's the thing with cinema. The 60s had seen all the great spaghetti westerns, in the early 90s they had a boom of crazy wuxia flicks in HK, the 80s had for example all those 80s style fantasy/sci-fi/adventure/action movies and so on. The respective times of those films have passed and IMO this kind of deaths were the healthy option. The things that try to last forever become absurd in most cases.

Look at Disney. The once so respected animation giant, after the death of Walt, instead of trying new things, started in the direction of endlessly copying the old stuff until it became a pathetic self-parody that is called Disney's direct-to-video-sequels. However, I must admit, that at least James Bond seems to have finally managed a highly-entertaining come-back, even after a dozen or so of very bland, repetitive and class-less entries, starting from the beginning of the 80s. Besides, after 21 movies I probably got kinda used to, that there's always a new Bond in the making with a more or less the same formula.

I have yet to watch ET: Special Edition but at least it came with the original DVD alongside it. Seeing both ET and Back To The Future I in a theater must have been

I agree; they don't make movies like they used to.

Maybe for enormous blockbusters CGI has a bit to do with it, but in my opinion the industry is too diluted.

The worst projects get greenlighted and no-talent hacks somehow get rediculous contracts, weeding out the indie filmmakers that used to go on to become Hollywood gold. Some people argue it's just the opposite, but I disagree. There's too many people trying to break into the business and as a result it's tougher for some people that may not have the standard 'qualifications' to become successful in today's market.


It's only going to get worse.

It just goes to show you that after so many decades, Hollywood still hasn't gotten it down. They still have no idea what people like, no matter how many suits are working for them.

BTW, Spielberg only produced BTTF.

ah yes correct and thats why there is hope for Transformers.

Wasn't a big fan of JAWS but was of Clone Encounters of the Third Kind. A film which spawned a Special Edition and a Collector's Edition.