Citizen Kane vs Casablanca - Movies & TV - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Bork
Executive Hillbilly

Location: Vinson Mountain, GA

cartoken wrote:

It depends which cinema you're talking about, of course Hollywood blockbusters are mostly entertaining but you have a lot of independent movies (or even some Hollywood movies) which are excellent "story-telling". and movies are not about only the story in that case read a book ! directing, cinematography, special effects ... etc are fondamental, and i believe that like knowledge, is a stock which is cumulated with years. so may be Citizen Kane was revolutinary at its time but now it's quite borring ! it's even a quite mediocre movie comparing to Mulholland Dr., Requiem for a Dream, The Shawshank Redemption, The Virgin Suicides, Fargo to name few recent movies.

Yes there are several good movies from more recent years, some of those you list included, and yes I agree that Citizen Kane is rather boring. You are also correct that cinematography and special effects are cumulative, meaning that they get better and better as better techniques are discovered. Acting and directing, however, although newer generations will of course study and gain knowledge from what has been done before, are so to a much lesser extent. I don't believe that the directors of the 21st century are necessarily better than for instance Frank Capra, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcook, and Wiliam Wyler. And I don't believe that today's actors are necessarily better than for instance Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. As for the storytelling part, there are good stories now as there were in the past, but if the majority of the movies are made with a focus on something other than the story now compared to in the 40s and 50s, the older movies will hold an advantage in that area of film-making. I am not making a case against new movies, there are several really good ones there. I am only objecting to the statement "old cinema sucks so much!" which is either a severe case of exaggeration of the real opinion for want of making a strong point, or a notion achieved through not having investigated the real situation properly. From the unnecessary statement about reading a book instead I am guessing it at least includes the former.

cartoken
The Seer

Gender: Male
Age: 39
Location: Paris

Bork wrote:

Yes there are several good movies from more recent years, some of those you list included, and yes I agree that Citizen Kane is rather boring. You are also correct that cinematography and special effects are cumulative, meaning that they get better and better as better techniques are discovered. Acting and directing, however, although newer generations will of course study and gain knowledge from what has been done before, are so to a much lesser extent. I don't believe that the directors of the 21st century are necessarily better than for instance Frank Capra, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcook, and Wiliam Wyler. And I don't believe that today's actors are necessarily better than for instance Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. As for the storytelling part, there are good stories now as there were in the past, but if the majority of the movies are made with a focus on something other than the story now compared to in the 40s and 50s, the older movies will hold an advantage in that area of film-making. I am not making a case against new movies, there are several really good ones there. I am only objecting to the statement "old cinema sucks so much!" which is either a severe case of exaggeration of the real opinion for want of making a strong point, or a notion achieved through not having investigated the real situation properly. From the unnecessary statement about reading a book instead I am guessing it at least includes the former.

i admit that i have may be emphasized too much on the fact that i wasn't a fan of "old" movies, but i've seen at least the classics. the last one was gone with the wind which one of the most boring movies i've seen this year...completely useless Confused

Cryptozoologist

Age: 31
Location: New York

Also, what do you consider the dividing line between "old" and "new" cinema?

thomas697

Gender: Male
Location: Melbourne

cartoken wrote:

.

gone with the wind which one of the most boring movies i've seen this year...completely useless Confused

[/quote]

Yeah .. I actually agree, A little bit over rated. I honestly don't think Older actors are necessarily better than todays actors (Paul Henreid even said about Humphrey Bogart while filming Casablanca that Bogart wasnt a very good actor). The dialogue in older movies isnt really believable, the conversations they have with each other are obviously scripted. You dont come out after watching an old movie saying "Yeah all that dialogue was extremely believable and would be an actual natural conversation" but In some ways this isnt a bad thing. Movies back then were a form of an escape. However with today's movies a lot of the dialogue is too real to enjoy, you're just observing them talk and act although seamlessly acting, There's often less to be sucked into!
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chrisdread

Gender: Male
Location: Orkney

I own & love both movies. Both would probably make my top 50 movies of all time - oh, how I wish there was such a site. Is there? Does anyone know of one?

Casablanca is a much easier watch, beautifully played, scripted and shot but, to my mind Citizen Kane is the cleverer, more influential and although much harder to watch, slightly favoured of the two.
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thomas697

Gender: Male
Location: Melbourne

chrisdread wrote:

I own & love both movies. Both would probably make my top 50 movies of all time - oh, how I wish there was such a site. Is there? Does anyone know of one?

Casablanca is a much easier watch, beautifully played, scripted and shot but, to my mind Citizen Kane is the cleverer, more influential and although much harder to watch, slightly favoured of the two.

I find my self a very easy to please content person. I am never bored, however I think that if someone made me watch citizen kane again I would squirm and wriggle and text people with unnecessary information like I was a 16 year old girl!
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Cryptozoologist

Age: 31
Location: New York

[quote="thomas697"][quote="chrisdread"]I own & love both movies. Both would probably make my top 50 movies of all time - oh, how I wish there was such a site. Is there? Does anyone know of one?

Casablanca is a much easier watch, beautifully played, scripted and shot but, to my mind Citizen Kane is the cleverer, more influential and although much harder to watch, slightly favoured of the two.[/quote]

I find my self a very easy to please content person. I am never bored, however I think that if someone made me watch citizen kane again I would squirm and wriggle and text people with unnecessary information like I was a 16 year old girl![/quote]

You must have an extremely short attention span

jjstraka

Gender: Male
Location: MN

Love them both, so easy to relate to Casablanca, so easy to admire the task that was Citizen Kane. I own them both, they are both fantastic, if push came to shove I doubt I could pick one.

Elston

I really don't like Casablanca that much. Everytime I sit down to watch it I lose interest very fast. I don't think I've made it past that part in the bar yet : (

Citizen Kane really grew on me though. Didn't like it at first, but now it is one of the best I've seen.

thomas697

Gender: Male
Location: Melbourne

Cryptozoologist wrote:

thomas697 wrote:

chrisdread wrote:

I own & love both movies. Both would probably make my top 50 movies of all time - oh, how I wish there was such a site. Is there? Does anyone know of one?

Casablanca is a much easier watch, beautifully played, scripted and shot but, to my mind Citizen Kane is the cleverer, more influential and although much harder to watch, slightly favoured of the two.

I find my self a very easy to please content person. I am never bored, however I think that if someone made me watch citizen kane again I would squirm and wriggle and text people with unnecessary information like I was a 16 year old girl!

You must have an extremely short attention span

My attention span is fine! It would take a truly unique situation to make me as agitated as I stated, and I believe that watching Citizen Kane for a second time would be one of the rare "Unique" situations where I my attention span would be questioned.
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