Are old action movies better than the modern ones?

The Golden Bowl?


Actually yesteryear's action-themed films such as The Towering Inferno and Die Hard with a Vengeance represented a focus on grit and courage, while modern action-themed films such as Everest and Terminator Salvation represent a focus on calamity and honor.

It feels difficult to remove action-themed films from the 'hardware' of civilization since such films will mirror the military/tech developments of their respective eras, no?

Comedies on the other hand may be much easier to contrast. Comedies of yesteryear (e.g., Some Like it Hot, Punchline) differ from modern comedy-films (e.g., There's Something About Mary, Meet the Spartans) in that yesteryear comedies focused on the 'rapture' of friendship, while modern comedies seem to focus on the 'catharsis' of humiliation.


That's why I like comparing Tom Hanks' pensive metaphysics-oriented comedian-character of Steven Gold from Punchline to the Biblical apocalyptic character Apollyon.

I love movies (in case you did NOT guess)...



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GOLD: You think media will heal schisms between Sunnis and Shiites?
APOLLYON: I doubt it...
GOLD: Well then maybe we should be cynical about TV!
APOLLYON: I doubt it...
GOLD: I suppose comedians should simply be 'kind witnesses.'
APOLLYON: Obtain your unique perspective on terrorism...
GOLD: What does that mean? Are you implying Mr. Apollyon that 9/11 changed our sense of security/sanity?
APOLLYON: Yes.
GOLD: Laughter heals all wounds.
APOLLYON: Except humiliation...
GOLD: Not true. A robot will feel humiliation and then realize he's way different from his human oppressors!
APOLLYON: True.
GOLD: Then I'll be at home with my Bible and play my Gears of War video-game like a peaceful law-abiding consumer-Christian!
APOLLYON: That would be wise and learned.
GOLD: I guess we can't all be Steve McQueen, eh?
APOLLYON: Maybe we can all be Harry Potter...

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Comic Books


The popularity of comic book characters and adapted films such as Iron Man 3 gives us a new breed of action-adventure intrigue villains such as Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and creates a different kind of 'bravado storytelling.'

It's that simple...


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KILLIAN: You're too idealistic, Mr. Stark...
STARK: I don't stand for seduction and danger, Killian!
KILLIAN: No, you stand for servitude.
STARK: Democracy requires faith.
KILLIAN: Wrong again. Capitalism necessitates fertilization.
STARK: What do you propose, prostitution?
KILLIAN: No, youngsters today like passionate fanaticism.
STARK: We'll see...

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