Are 'classics' done for?

I hate them, but the Harry Potter movies are probably classics. I can't think of anything after 2000 besides Lord of the Rings.

I agree. I love "There Will Be Blood" but the academy didn't even consider it the best movie of that year!

I also notice people older than me have no interest in these movies, because they've seen the real thing. When you get accustomed to greatness, why would you go lower? If you have sex with a 10/10, you aren't going to chase a 5/10.

LA Confidential

There have been both classic films and total schlock produced in every era. We keep on watching, enjoying and extolling the virtues of films made in decades past, while forgetting or ignoring that a lot of crap was being churned out in those days, too. They made 365 studio movies in 1939, that enchanted year of 'Gone With the Wind', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Stagecoach', 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', etc., but how many people have watched even a tenth of them?

I was five years old in 1959 when my mother took me to see my first movie in a theatre. It was a double feature - Hitchcock's 'North By Northwest' and 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure' with Gordon Scott. Both of those very different films are classics.

Perhaps one reason for the perception that true "classics" are scarce these days is that we are literally overwhelmed by the sheer number of films being produced - too many for one person to keep up with, and many of them (especially since Covid) made for non-theatrical release. Almost every week I find something, a movie or a mini-series, that blows me away. It might have been released ten years ago and I either never heard of it or had just never taken the time to check it out, or it is something brand new. As the once-firm line between theatrical and non-theatrical release continues to dissolve and big-name actors, writers, directors and producers elect to tell their stories on the small screen, sometimes in chapters/episodes, we find ourselves having to look beyond the brick-and-mortar movie house to find the "classics".

But to answer your question more directly, the sci-fi film 'Oblivion' strikes me as being a classic. Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The mini-series 'Godless' is an absolute must-see for Western fans. The majority of the Coen Brothers films will be watched and enjoyed pretty much forever. The 2017 re-make of 'Papillon'. As for the MCU, the first 'Iron Man' movie absolutely rocks, as does the first 'Guardians of the Galaxy' film.

My thought is that this entire thread is masturbatory. TIME is the only judge of what is a classic of any kind. Give me a call back in 100 years.

Sheesh.

"Are 'classics' done for?"

No one here can answer that because everyone seems to have a totally different idea of what the word means

I think the last decade for films to have any particular style was the 90's. Since then it has become rather dull and boring. I forget most films from 2000 onwards before they have even finished. Yet I can watch films that were made decades before I was even born and enjoy them for their look and style, the way the actors behave etc.

I think there is a lack of charismatic and interesting actors now too.

[deleted]