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Nostalgic Movies that don't hold up

jmotivator

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I was looking for something to do on my staycation today and saw that Hulu just added THE BLACK HOLE to their movie list.

I loved this movie as a kid back in 1979 when my world was consumed by all things Sci-Fi after STAR WARS.

I often thought over the years that THE BLACK HOLE was a good movie that just suffered in the shadow of STAR WARS... not that I have seen it again I can finally come to terms with the fact that the movie is just a MST3K-worthy stinker.

What a waste of beautiful art design! If you watched the movie muted you could be food for at least 40 minutes or so that it was a good good movie, but even that falls apart eventually. THE BLACK HOLE tried to be the off spring of 2001: A SPACE ODESSY and STAR WARS... it ended up being TEMU SPACE BALLS.

The writing in this movie is just weird. It fools you into thinking it's just basic pedestrian Sci-Fi prose, and then a character will say something so stupid that I had to rewind to make sure I heard it right. Two examples:

- "You'll be known as the world's Greatest Space Scientist." ... If only there was a word for that....
- "Like us he was sent out to search for inhabitable life." ... I'm sorry, looking for what now?

The Acting was all over the place. Maximillian Shell is over the top, the male leads are average, the female lead is absolutely awful. Every part of her job she screwed up.

At one point towards the end of the movie the main characters are trapped in a shuttle trying to escape the black hole and the two men are doing their part, pressing themselves into their seats and grimacing as if they are being crushed by G-forces while the woman sits behind them like she is waiting for her hair appointment.

The music was also all over the place. The Main Theme of the movie, for me, is iconic. It's great. It's creepy, it's ominous, it sets the tone for the them of the movie. the "Overture"? Not so much. The Overture sounds like a mockery of a heroic theme that would be playing in a David Lynch dream sequence. It's EXTREMELY basic, derivative heroic themes with several flat and off notes thrown in that just grate my nerves.

Iconic Main Theme:


Awful Overture:


Also, the movie just makes odd choices with basic physics in the movie. During the climax of the movie the main characters time spent outside the ship in deep space without a space suit is troublingly less than zero. While fleeing the evil murderous robots the main characters rush in and out of areas exposed to the vacuum of space without any real trouble. It's the kind of ignorance that you could excuse if it was made in the 1920s, but 2001: A SPACE ODESSY did it right 11 years earlier.

And finally, on the subject of 2001: A SPACE ODESSY, THE BLACK HOLE concludes the movie with trying the same kind of think piece that would have the audience talking about what the movie really meant when all of the characters were eventually pulled into the black hole.

Unfortunately for the writer and director, their ham fisted psychedelics didn't really leave anything to the imagination. It turns out that if you are a good boy/girl/robot you go to Heaven, while bad mad scientists end up trapped in the body of their enforcer robot in Hell forever.

The End.

Roll Credits.
 
Final Fantasy -The Spirits Within

The at the time groundbreakingly expensive mocap and facial animations were both good for the time but still uncanny valley. Now it just looks like a weird old video game cutscene. Badly needing an artistic refresh. I saw it in theaters and the drive-in when it came out but it completely dropped off the face of the earth after that even though I go back and watch it once in awhile. A combination of mediocre story that felt unrelated to the source material, and the aforementioned uncanny valley style lead to it not holding up imo.
 

I saw "The Black Hole" first when I was 11, and I too absolutely loved it. One of my favorites, on a par with Star Wars. Then I watched it again with my own son, who was 10 at the time- and we both still absolutely loved it. I loved that it was a little on the cheesy/cheap side- it's fun to surrender to the cheese! That's what makes it so fun!

In fact, I like the cheese so much, we watched this other movie I remember once seeing as a kid- and absolutely loved that too. Anyone remember this movie from the 1950s? Cheesy? Bad acting? Bad special effects? You bet! And that's exactly what made it so much fun!

 
Although not a movie but a television series, Lost In Space was another of those series that I remember absolutely loving as a boy. I have seen it again since then- and have giggled at the cheesy plot lines and bad special effects- but all the while still thoroughly enjoying it.

And come on- what boy watching that did not have at least a little bit of a crush on Penny Robinson?

 

FORBIDDEN PLANET was actually a good movie though!
 
Plot lines in such series usually end up cheesy as the writers eventually get lazy. I enjoyed the series as a kid as well, though I disliked the Dr Smith character
ataraxia said:
And come on- what boy watching that did not have at least a little bit of a crush on Penny Robinson?
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I did.
 
I simply adored this movie--and felt like the only one. My wife rolls her eyes when I mention it with fondness!

But, yeah, it hasn't held up.
 
phoenix2020 said:
I simply adored this movie--and felt like the only one. My wife rolls her eyes when I mention it with fondness!

But, yeah, it hasn't held up.
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The environments and effects have a nice style I like but the plastic people ruined it for sure. But yeah, it's definitely a nostalgic one for me. Just can't look too often.
 
Ummmmmmmmmmm, THAT one has definitely held up nicely.
 

Thanks to much more brilliant remakes the last few years, the original has become unwatchable.
 
ataraxia said:
Yeah- but it's not because of the plot line, music, or special effects.
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How many sci-fi movies in those days dealt with the ego and the id? I thought it was brilliant.
 
The Black Hole was a flop when it came out. It is often number one on worst Disney movies lists.
 
I don't remember the music because I never watched the movie, but when I was young I read a big book based on it with full page images from the movie. I remember really liking it, but haven't been able to remember what it was called.

I even found the book online. Memory lane, I bet the book holds up better than the movie.


 
I remember loving Ghostbusters when it come out in the 80's. Saw it again a couple years ago and had to turn it of it was so horrible
 
Gone With the Wind

I was actually rooting for the burning of Atlanta — hopefully that awful movie would then end soon.

The Scarlett’s Southern Belle stereotype was appalling, as was all that crappy Southern gentility. Clark Gable gave off major ick vibes.

Can you tell that I was dependent on others for transportation.
 
I dunno........I kinda preferred Judy Robinson.
She filled out that space suit a little better than Penny.
Plus, her unworthy boyfriend Don was a punk....I think I could take him.
 
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Yeah, but at the end of the overly long movie, Gable did get to utter that immortal line........."Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
venice_ca said:
Can you tell that I was dependent on others for transportation.
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I feel you pain.
 
Ok, another one for me, is Milo and Otis. Loved that when I was a kid. Wore out the tape, and it was an original not a copy.

But childhood ruined when I watched it with adult eyes and read stories about the production.
 
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