Is the "fun ride" movie dying?

There used to be a time when people went to the movies to have a good time, these movies had nothing but cheese and cliches, but they were fun to watch.

Will we ever see the likes of Ghostbusters, Conan, or Buffy the Vampire slayer again? I am personally a huge fan of these movies, and it is sad to see movies like "the haunted House" with Eddie Murphy get more of a beating because it isn't scary or funny and filled with cliches, while rubbish like the Nutty Professor gets hailed as a great movie(I don't see how someone could enjoy that movie). I thought of this as I watched "Evolution " yesterday and thought it would be a shame if these kinds of movies died.

Do the theatres have no places for the "fun ride" movies anymore?

I'm kind of burned out on movies in general, really. At the Loews Theater on Boston Common, I pay $10 a movie. The first movie I saw when I moved to Boston was Jeepers Creepers 2 with some kids I met the first week I was there. Now, I think $10 is too steep for a good movie, imagine how I felt after paying that much to see a bad movie.

Why should we pay $10 to see a movie in theaters when we can get it at Best Buy for $5 more the week is comes out on DVD? Not to mention that $5 will be getting us extras, sometimes a whole extra disc of them. And what do we get for that $10? To sit in comfy seats and look at a big screen? To have annoying kids talk loudly throughout the whole movie? The option of buying disgusting popcorn? Hell, I went to the first showing of Hellboy, and the projector fucked up twice. I'm glad I got a free ticket to another movie of my choice, because for $10, that shit isn't acceptable.

And what about the quality of movies in general? Shit remake after shit remake. There's a lot of cool stuff coming up, but hell, look at the Stepford Wives remake. If someone didn't already know the "secret" of the original, hey, the trailer for the new one ruins it for them already! There's been strings of horrible comedies and terrible movies about street racing on a variety of vehicles. Uninterested.

The movie industry's a load of shit, anyway. The MPAA is a joke, those "don't pirate" ads they show us, you know, the ones only people paying to see a movie see? They're ridiculous. Yes, thanks for preaching to us, the ones who paid to see the movie. If we didn't have to pay so much to sit through 10 minutes of ads before even the trailers start, maybe we'd be more likely to do it again sooner. Don't even get me started on the rating system and its treatment toward big studio movies and how it treats independent films.

I still go to the movies, but it's a rare occasion. Nothing about the industry pleases me.

Why can't movies like LOTR count? No, they're not cheesy and not made simply to be a "fun ride", but they still pull that off just fine. Riding with the ents, fighting the balrog, etc etc -- to me that's good eye candy and a good experience much more than it's a good movie.

Uhh... I just recently saw Day After Tomorrow. That was pretty much a perfect example of what you're looking for.

And come on people... dollar theater. If you don't want to spend opening day prices on a movie, wait a bit for it to hit the cheap theaters. My friends and I love going to the dollar theater to see crappy movies to enjoy and make fun of.

I think that's a pretty interesting question. It's sort of hard to tell whether or not it's just that I've gotten older, but it seems like pure entertainment movies have generally gotten a lot less inspired in the last few years. The movies you listed as great examples, for instance, seem to be templates for movies even today.

Rehashing and formulas are a problem too. For instance: Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Why is it there has to be two villains that are introduced like always? Do they HAVE to take over the city for awhile? Screenwriters/movie studios steal from so many predictable places.

But then again, it isn't like these things didn't exist decades ago. The movie industry has always thrived on stealing ideas, and reusing them. But I'll be damned if it doesn't seem like movies are significantly less creative nowadays.

And one last thing; a lot of moviegoers are a lot snobbier than ever before. I think a lot of people, (like for instance...people in their 20s that talk all day on internet message boards) either have a whole loving, nostalgia-tinged pop-culture childhood to compare newer stuff to, or just straight-out think they are too good for standard popcorn movies.

But yeah, I doubt there will ever be a time when pure, dumb entertainment movies will be gone. That's really what movies were popular for from the beginning anyway. Hopefully there will be a period soon where imagination shoots up a little more, but it's not like we're in that bad of a slump now anyway.

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Originally Posted by lithium

Why can't movies like LOTR count? No, they're not cheesy and not made simply to be a "fun ride", but they still pull that off just fine. Riding with the ents, fighting the balrog, etc etc -- to me that's good eye candy and a good experience much more than it's a good movie.

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The LotR trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Last Samurai, and Kill Bill (though I'd much rather watch it as a whole movie) were the best times I've had at the theaters in the last few years, and Kill Bill I was on the fence about until the second half. Nothing else has really struck me as noteworthy.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

And come on people... dollar theater. If you don't want to spend opening day prices on a movie, wait a bit for it to hit the cheap theaters. My friends and I love going to the dollar theater to see crappy movies to enjoy and make fun of.

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You're lucky you have one, but don't think everyone's so lucky. We have theaters in Boston that get older movies and stuff you're unlikely to see elsewhere, and fun midnight movies, but we still pay $7 and up for them. I don't know of any dollar or similarly cheap places there, and here in shitville PA we still don't have any. For some people, that's just not an option.

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Originally Posted by lithium

Why can't movies like LOTR count? No, they're not cheesy and not made simply to be a "fun ride", but they still pull that off just fine. Riding with the ents, fighting the balrog, etc etc -- to me that's good eye candy and a good experience much more than it's a good movie.

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Personally, LOTR was the best example I was thinking of. I know it made Diffusionx cry and everything, but those movies are nothing but huge entertainment extravaganzas. I mean that in a really good way too.

I won't listen to anyone tell me ROTK isn't dumb enough to fit in.

Nope they won't die. These kinds of movies come out all the time.

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Originally Posted by Salsashark

Personally, LOTR was the best example I was thinking of. I know it made Diffusionx cry and everything, but those movies are nothing but huge entertainment extravaganzas. I mean that in a really good way too.

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Well, it is hard to disagree, I mean it is THE original cliche after all. And it has some of the best camera work ever. But it would hardly be an indicator of whether we like these kinds of movies as LoTR is something that is familiar with everyone and is an acclaimed piece of writing and often read as part of the English curriculum. I mean schools went to the movie as part of the curriculum.

The thing is... if a movie's fun and enjoyable then why does it matter if it's epic or not? (I'm assuming you mean fun and a good ride meaning it doesn't over shoot or become preachy or arduous) I mean... Shrek 2 is a great example of a nice quaint movie like this, the Incredibles and Finding Nemo are as well if you're looking to animation.

Someone already mentioned a few above.

Just to note, I miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.