Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Actually, I find suspension of disbelief frequently tougher in current mainstream movies than in much fare from the thirties through seventies. Quick case in point: A Night To Remember (58) vs. Titanic (97). The latter is so impressed with itself and its shiny effects that it pulls me out of its story constantly. AN2R is subtle, unflashy, and even if the effects are primitive, I leave that movie feeling like I lived through it much more than Cameron's effort. Another quick example; I prefer The Longest Day (62) over Saving Private Ryan (98) for Normandy landing sequences, largely because it doesn't go out of its way to throw snazzy techniques, severed limbs and surround sound whooshes and explosions in my face. Ryan almost seemed like a (very grisly) theme park attraction. And don't get me started on Pearl Harbor. Okay, rambling, must get ready for work.

I'm not saying everyone other than Tarrantino succeeds at it, just that Tarrantino or that all old movies failed, simply that Tarrantino actively avoids it preferring the purposeful effect of putting style and film making technique in the forefront of your mind during his movies (as opposed to the examples you give where the same may happen for you but not for the reasons it does in a Tarrantino film).