Movies ahead of their time
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I'll agree with 1 and 5, but probably not the others. At least, not much, or not in very meaningful ways.
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They all seem to be action fantasies.
Films which I consider ahead of their time are ones which seemed to have taken some risky creative chances or were maybe not acceptable subject-matter-wise when they were made but now they seem better with the passage of time. I would probably have a huge list eventually but ones which immediately spring to mind are Jesus Christ Superstar, The Boys in the Band, The Young Girls of Rochefort and Roman Polanski's Macbeth.
Films which I consider ahead of their time are ones which seemed to have taken some risky creative chances or were maybe not acceptable subject-matter-wise when they were made but now they seem better with the passage of time. I would probably have a huge list eventually but ones which immediately spring to mind are Jesus Christ Superstar, The Boys in the Band, The Young Girls of Rochefort and Roman Polanski's Macbeth.
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I dunno that I'm a sci-fi guy. I just think that The Matrix and Terminator 2: Judgment Day had legitimately groundbreaking special effects that, apart from being merely impressive, actually changed audience expectations going forward.
The others might have been entertaining or exceptionally well done (if all of Michael Bay's movies were like The Rock, I think he'd be fairly well-liked), but none of them strike me as ahead of their time or at the vanguard of some trend that became ubiquitous after they were released. They can be good or have good action sequences but not be "ahead of their time," which implies something more than quality.
The others might have been entertaining or exceptionally well done (if all of Michael Bay's movies were like The Rock, I think he'd be fairly well-liked), but none of them strike me as ahead of their time or at the vanguard of some trend that became ubiquitous after they were released. They can be good or have good action sequences but not be "ahead of their time," which implies something more than quality.
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I don't know if this counts but I would say a good example would be The Last House on the Left (1972), the movie was banned in some places for almost 30 years, so to me that would be something made before it's time, it does not have the groundbreaking effects of T2 but just to much gore and a list of other things that people were not ready for. Now that I typed that out it makes me sad that I consider us now ready for it, hmmmmm.
The film was censored in many countries, and was particularly controversial in the United Kingdom. The film was refused a certificate for cinema release by the BBFC in 1974 due to scenes of sadism and violence. During the early 1980s home video boom, the film was released uncut (save for an incidental, gore-free scene with the comedy cops, and the end credit roll) as a video that did not fall under their remit at the time. This changed when the "video nasty" scare which started in 1982 led to the Video Recordings Act 1984. This in turn banned the film as one of the Department of Public Prosecutions list of "video nasties".
The film remained banned throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. However it had built a cult reputation in the UK, plus critics such as Mark Kermode began to laud the film as an important piece of work. In 2000, the film was again presented to the BBFC for certification and it was again refused. Blue Underground toured an uncut print around Britain without a BBFC certificate, with Southampton City Council granting the uncut version its own 18 certificate. It was granted a license for a one-off showing in Leicester in June 2000, after which the BBFC again declared that the film would not receive any form of certification.
In June 2002 the BBFC won against an appeal made to the Video Appeals Committee by video distributor Blue Underground Limited. The BBFC had required 16 seconds of cuts to scenes of sexual violence before the video could be given an ‘18’ certificate. Blue Underground Limited refused to make the cuts, and the BBFC therefore rejected the video. The distributor then appealed to the VAC, who upheld the BBFC's decision.[9] During the appeal, film critic Mark Kermode was called in as a horror expert to make a case for the film's historical importance. However, after his report, the committee not only upheld the cuts but doubled them.
The film was eventually given an 18 certificate with 31 seconds of cuts on July 17, 2002 and was released in the UK on DVD in May 2003. The cut scenes were viewable as a slideshow extra on the disc, and there was a weblink to a website where the cut scenes could be viewed.
The BBFC classified the film uncut for video release on March 17, 2008
The film remained banned throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. However it had built a cult reputation in the UK, plus critics such as Mark Kermode began to laud the film as an important piece of work. In 2000, the film was again presented to the BBFC for certification and it was again refused. Blue Underground toured an uncut print around Britain without a BBFC certificate, with Southampton City Council granting the uncut version its own 18 certificate. It was granted a license for a one-off showing in Leicester in June 2000, after which the BBFC again declared that the film would not receive any form of certification.
In June 2002 the BBFC won against an appeal made to the Video Appeals Committee by video distributor Blue Underground Limited. The BBFC had required 16 seconds of cuts to scenes of sexual violence before the video could be given an ‘18’ certificate. Blue Underground Limited refused to make the cuts, and the BBFC therefore rejected the video. The distributor then appealed to the VAC, who upheld the BBFC's decision.[9] During the appeal, film critic Mark Kermode was called in as a horror expert to make a case for the film's historical importance. However, after his report, the committee not only upheld the cuts but doubled them.
The film was eventually given an 18 certificate with 31 seconds of cuts on July 17, 2002 and was released in the UK on DVD in May 2003. The cut scenes were viewable as a slideshow extra on the disc, and there was a weblink to a website where the cut scenes could be viewed.
The BBFC classified the film uncut for video release on March 17, 2008
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Terminator 2
2001: A Space Odyssey
King Kong (1933) - This is the most advanced movie (for its time), as far as special effects go. (IMO)
2001: A Space Odyssey
King Kong (1933) - This is the most advanced movie (for its time), as far as special effects go. (IMO)
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In terms of subject matter, you might include The Man with the Golden Arm, (1955, Frank Sinatra). This was the first film that addressed the effects of narcotics addiction. In fact, the movie had to be released without approval from the Production Code. I found this movie at the library.
The others might have been entertaining or exceptionally well done (if all of Michael Bay's movies were like The Rock, I think he'd be fairly well-liked),
I think this is a hard thing to define with anything other than a technical level. For example, being banned doesn't seem like something that puts Last House on the Left ahead of it's time. Pushing the boundaries on what's acceptable to mass audiences is something filmmakers have been doing for generations to varying degrees. For example, The Human Centipede. It's pushing those boundaries but I wouldn't call it ahead of it's time. It takes very little intelligence to say "I want to gross people out and/or shock them."
And, after all my criticisms, the best I can come up with is Superman. The 1978 Richard Donner film. It's tag line was "You'll believe a man can fly" and for the time it did a pretty good job of doing just that.
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I've said this elsewhere, but I think The Rock is significantly cleverer and far funnier than anything else he's done, and not nearly as loud and dumb as, say, the last two Transformers films. It's almost the Platonic ideal of the dumb/fun loud action movie, whereas most of his efforts lately have been bad examples of even the disposable type of film he seems to want to make.
By the way, it's his highest-rated film, Tomatometer-wise, and the only one to top 60%.
By the way, it's his highest-rated film, Tomatometer-wise, and the only one to top 60%.
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A huge step (no pun intended) for violence in cinema.
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I've said this elsewhere, but I think The Rock is significantly cleverer and far funnier than anything else he's done, and not nearly as loud and dumb as, say, the last two Transformers films. It's almost the Platonic ideal of the dumb/fun loud action movie, whereas most of his efforts lately have been bad examples of even the disposable type of film he seems to want to make.
By the way, it's his highest-rated film, Tomatometer-wise, and the only one to top 60%.
By the way, it's his highest-rated film, Tomatometer-wise, and the only one to top 60%.
It's still terrible.
Sure, there are lots of ridiculous elements, but that doesn't mean they aren't fun, and an inexplicable chase sequence doesn't make the lines about prom queens or "read[ing] his eyes" any less amusing. And it's worth noting that we're comparing it to Bay's other films here, not Being John Malkovich.
I'm not interested in trying to convince you that it's good. I'm saying it's better than the rest of his stuff, and that seems to be the consensus view: it's higher than anything else of his on Rotten Tomatoes, it's about equal with Transformers on Metacritic (both being much higher than the rest of his films), and it's his highest rated film on IMDB, too. Regardless of the reason, you say it's less loud and ridiculous than his other films. Okay then. That sounds like something approximating agreement, so I'll take it.
I'm not interested in trying to convince you that it's good. I'm saying it's better than the rest of his stuff, and that seems to be the consensus view: it's higher than anything else of his on Rotten Tomatoes, it's about equal with Transformers on Metacritic (both being much higher than the rest of his films), and it's his highest rated film on IMDB, too. Regardless of the reason, you say it's less loud and ridiculous than his other films. Okay then. That sounds like something approximating agreement, so I'll take it.
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I think Vanilla Sky was up there. It didn't quite get the attention of a lot of movie goers. Maybe it was Tom Cruise who ruined it or the odd guest spot that Cameron Diaz decided to take.
In terms of being ahead of their time in a political and social sense, Verhoeven is a director who seems to Prophesise the general future.
Robocop (I know, I'm talking about Robo again) is a film that seemed 'far out' when it was made. But the social and political world in Robocop isn't actually that far from modern day, in some ways it's even dated slightly.
If total Recall and Starship Troopers are anything to go by, let's hope we don't discover any alien races, primitive or otherwise, when we eventually head out to the stars in the next few centuries.
Robocop (I know, I'm talking about Robo again) is a film that seemed 'far out' when it was made. But the social and political world in Robocop isn't actually that far from modern day, in some ways it's even dated slightly.
If total Recall and Starship Troopers are anything to go by, let's hope we don't discover any alien races, primitive or otherwise, when we eventually head out to the stars in the next few centuries.
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Resident Evil: Retribution was my one-pointer
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