The general decline in standards today

[pawineguy]

L

Actually, Ermey is that way all the time. Perhaps you're conflating the actor with a character(s) he's portrayed, which is also a sign of a fine performance.

+1, very bright and interesting in every interview I've seen. He's in character so often, even in shows he hosts, that I can understand the confusion.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Originally actor Bill McKinney was tapped for the role of G/Sgt Hartman. McKinney's most memorable role was in Deliverance as the mountain man in the infamous "Squeal like a Pig" scene. Reportedly Kubrick eventually cast R. Lee Ermey instead because he, Kubrick, was "afid to meet the mountain man from Deliverance."

My favorite McKinney role was Capt Redlegs in The Outlaw Josey Wales. Ermey was originally a technical advisor on FMJ, as he'd been on Apocalypse Now, but his instructions were so good, Coppola decided to cast him in the role, essentially the same one he played in The Boys in Company C.

 

[ChiTownScion]

L

Actually, Ermey is that way all the time. Perhaps you're conflating the actor with a character(s) he's portrayed, which is also a sign of a fine performance.

Seems to be the only role that he's capable of playing.

Remember Mark "Jacko" Jackson, the Aussie rules footballer who later did some acting, including those "Energizer! Oi!" battery commercials? Even he displayed more range than Ermey.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just wanted to drop off this interesting and bipartisan analogy. Simple concept, great perspective.

My Doc and I were having an unusual conversation (hard to believe, but I can get off topic, even there) about the polarized state of politics in the world, and how politicians in the US (or anywhere else) are difficult, no, impossible to believe because of the nature of what they do. Impossible to believe about most anything, ever. It is the Doc's feeling that politics are, exactly like religion, a matter of faith. The more I thought about it, the more I agree. Either you believe, or you don't. Either you believe Hillary, or you don't. Either you believe Christy, or you don't, etc., etc., ETC. But everyone KNOWS for sure they're right, right? YOU are right, IMO, LizzieMaine, whatever happened to nuance, respect?

That's absolutely dead on correct. Politics has always been a civil religion in the US -- complete with its own gods, its own infallible Holy Writ, its own iconography, and its own bitter sectarianism in which each side insists that it and it alone is the One True Faith. There's always been a deep strain of that in us as a people, but what I think is really interesting is that as we've grown less conventionally religious as a society, the sectarianism of our politics has grown even stronger. You might say partisan politics have become America's golden calf, and more and more people are dancing around it all the time.

 

[dh66]

I don't suppose all the single guys in the office got some sort of gift on Palm Sunday.

:rofl:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Seems to be the only role that he's capable of playing.

You know, I was really looking forward to his upcoming "King Lear," and now you've gone and ruint it.

 

[Fading Fast]

What I really can't stand is the "red" and "blue" thing. Red is traditionally the color of the Left, and changing it to "blue," among other things, absolutely ruins my favorite joke in Chaplin's "Modern Times."

When did the US media start calling conservative states "red" and vice versa - I know it was in my lifetime, but I don't remember when? Even to this day, I have to double clutch in my mind each time I hear it to keep it straight as it seems so contrary to what "red" has historically meant politically. Any idea why this happened - was it intentionally provocative or just a silly happenstance?

Hey, "double clutch" probably belongs in the "terms that are disappearing" thread.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Seems to be the only role that he's capable of playing.

Remember Mark "Jacko" Jackson, the Aussie rules footballer who later did some acting, including those "Energizer! Oi!" battery commercials? Even he displayed more range than Ermey.

Well, he's certainly been typecast as the authority figure...drill sergeants, police, judges (I thought he was pretty good in Murder In The First), and perhaps he's not exactly Laurence Olivier, but that doesn't mean he's not thoughtful and well spoken.

 

[HudsonHawk]

When did the US media start calling conservative states "red" and vice versa - I know it was in my lifetime, but I don't remember when? Even to this day, I have to double clutch in my mind each time I hear it to keep it straight as it seems so contrary to what "red" has historically meant politically. Any idea why this happened - was it intentionally provocative or just a silly happenstance?

2000, thanks to Tim Russert. I don't know if there was anything intentional or not. One story is it was "R"ed for "R"epublican. Another is that the they alternated and it just happened to be that say that particular year. Another is that one color was always for the incumbent party. But for whatever reason, the blue/red stuck after that election.

 

[Bushman]

You know, while we're on the topic of film, I'd like to ask people: where do you think the standards for film have gone? We used to have interesting stories, and even the films with effects didn't go overboard with them. Now, every summer, we have special effect laden "smash n crash" movies like these Transformer movies and Avengers. It's like standards for the quality of film have gone down the tubes. If film makers like Kubrick were alive today to see what film has become, they'd have a mass heart attack! If Kubrick could see horror having devolve into gore fests and jump scares, see special effect films brought down to CGI infested, storyless monstertruck derbies, I think he'd be lost for words!

 

[dh66]

That's absolutely dead on correct. Politics has always been a civil religion in the US -- complete with its own gods, its own infallible Holy Writ, its own iconography, and its own bitter sectarianism in which each side insists that it and it alone is the One True Faith. There's always been a deep strain of that in us as a people, but what I think is really interesting is that as we've grown less conventionally religious as a society, the sectarianism of our politics has grown even stronger. You might say partisan politics have become America's golden calf, and more and more people are dancing around it all the time.

Spot on assessment.

 

[Harp]

That's absolutely dead on correct. Politics has always been a civil religion in the US -- complete with its own gods, its own infallible Holy Writ, its own iconography, and its own bitter sectarianism in which each side insists that it and it alone is the One True Faith. There's always been a deep strain of that in us as a people, but what I think is really interesting is that as we've grown less conventionally religious as a society, the sectarianism of our politics has grown even stronger. You might say partisan politics have become America's golden calf, and more and more people are dancing around it all the time.

Quite so. The first sentence or two really tags Chicago machine politics. And the cemetery precincts vote straight Democrat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You know, while we're on the topic of film, I'd like to ask people: where do you think the standards for film have gone? We used to have interesting stories, and even the films with effects didn't go overboard with them. Now, every summer, we have special effect laden "smash n crash" movies like these Transformer movies and Avengers. It's like standards for the quality of film have gone down the tubes. If film makers like Kubrick were alive today to see what film has become, they'd have a mass heart attack! If Kubrick could see horror having devolve into gore fests and jump scares, see special effect films brought down to CGI infested, storyless monstertruck derbies, I think he'd be lost for words!

Two words: video games. That's the audience blockbuster movies are aimed at, and that's the aesthetic they're trying to achieve.

That said, I'd be the first one in line to see a Superman movie shot according to the original Siegel-Shuster vision of the character: a squinty-eyed, barrel-chested Slavic-looking guy right off a WPA poster, beating up slumlords, corrupt tycoons, and political racketeers. None of the movies have ever come close to that still-the-best version.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You know, while we're on the topic of film, I'd like to ask people: where do you think the standards for film have gone? We used to have interesting stories, and even the films with effects didn't go overboard with them. Now, every summer, we have special effect laden "smash n crash" movies like these Transformer movies and Avengers. It's like standards for the quality of film have gone down the tubes. If film makers like Kubrick were alive today to see what film has become, they'd have a mass heart attack! If Kubrick could see horror having devolve into gore fests and jump scares, see special effect films brought down to CGI infested, storyless monstertruck derbies, I think he'd be lost for words!

True, there are a lot of over-the-top summer "blockbusters" aimed at the kids out of school, but there are still the other character/story driven ones too. Look at the last handful of winners of the Oscar for Best Picture: Birdman, 12 Years A Slave, Argo, The Artist (a black and white silent film no less!), The King's Speech...none of them have explosions or monsters or car chases.

 

[Bushman]

True, there are a lot of over-the-top summer "blockbusters" aimed at the kids out of school, but there are still the other character/story driven ones too. Look at the last handful of winners of the Oscar for Best Picture: Birdman, 12 Years A Slave, Argo, The Artist (a black and white silent film no less!), The King's Speech...none of them have explosions or monsters or car chases.

My personal feelings towards the Oscars aside, I still feel that their presence on the big screen are becoming less and less prominent. Granted, 2014 was a GREAT year for non-blockbuster movies, but I still think that there's s lot of untapped stories out there that aren't being made because they don't sell as big as say, Iron Man (not to say I'm not a fan, but there's no denying superhero films a a bit shallow).

 

[HudsonHawk]

My personal feelings towards the Oscars aside, I still feel that their presence on the big screen are becoming less and less prominent.

I guess I'm not seeing what's more prominent than winning an Academy Award for Best Picture.

 

[Bushman]

I mean with audiences, not with awards.

 

[Trapped in T-wilight Zone]

That's absolutely dead on correct. Politics has always been a civil religion in the US -- complete with its own gods, its own infallible Holy Writ, its own iconography, and its own bitter sectarianism in which each side insists that it and it alone is the One True Faith. There's always been a deep strain of that in us as a people, but what I think is really interesting is that as we've grown less conventionally religious as a society, the sectarianism of our politics has grown even stronger. You might say partisan politics have become America's golden calf, and more and more people are dancing around it all the time.

And that is why this once great nation is heading to Hades in the proverbial hand-basket.

I have to be careful here. This site disapproves of much political thread-drift. And I can get rather lengthy in my occasional rants. Forty years ago, one could have an intelligent discussion about whether it was the Republicans or the Democrats that had the better ideas and/or best interests of the common man in their heart. Forty years ago, you could champion either side of that argument and argue intelligently. Today, BOTH parties have become so corrupt that I don't think either one is salvageable.

I will shut up now.
If a Bartender wishes my post be cut. I will not be offended. I read the rules. I was forewarned. But I did want to comment that I agree with what several people have already said.
W2

 

[Fading Fast]

You know, while we're on the topic of film, I'd like to ask people: where do you think the standards for film have gone? We used to have interesting stories, and even the films with effects didn't go overboard with them. Now, every summer, we have special effect laden "smash n crash" movies like these Transformer movies and Avengers. It's like standards for the quality of film have gone down the tubes. If film makers like Kubrick were alive today to see what film has become, they'd have a mass heart attack! If Kubrick could see horror having devolve into gore fests and jump scares, see special effect films brought down to CGI infested, storyless monstertruck derbies, I think he'd be lost for words!

While occasionally a good story driven movie still gets made, it seems the economics of movies is geared toward blockbusters which means a young demographic that likes special effects over stories. That said, I don't care anymore because the story tellers have moved to TV where - while there is still plenty of junk on - there are many well-written, interesting stories with well-developed characters.

I read an article recently that said many directors and writers who - years ago - would have written for movies now only want to write for TV as they have both the time and the audience that wants to see real stories being developed and told.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Forty years ago, one could have an intelligent discussion about whether it was the Republicans or the Democrats that had the better ideas and/or best interests of the common man in their heart. Forty years ago, you could champion either side of that argument and argue intelligently. Today, BOTH parties have become so corrupt that I don't think either one is salvageable.
W2

Just going to try to keep this within the context of an historical observation. I don't see it so much as a matter of corruption- except that the amount of money thrown into campaigns has really gotten out of hand. In "the era" and later, I think that there was a consensus among both major parties that business, labor, and agriculture were all necessary for the economy, and that all of their interests needed to be respected.

One of my favorite campaigns was the 1948 Truman- Dewey contest. If you study it, you'll see that both sides offered support for what they felt were legitimate concerns of the small businessman, the farmer, and the union worker. None were demonized- but it was pointed out that excesses could occur and would be addressed. There was a passionate partisanship, but civility could be maintained. In fact, some deemed Mr. Dewey as too civil... but I wish that were a concern among all today.