# How to tell that a movie is going to "age" well? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000 "2007-10-25T18:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/21 "2007-10-26T22:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Yeah, I agree with this. **Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner** didn’t age well. [/QUOTE] My favorite scene in that movie is where Spencer Tracy hits some dude’s hot rod at the drive-in, and the other guy completely freaks over how expensive it’ll be to fix his customized car. The price tag he puts on the damage? About what you’d pay for a tank of gas, today. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/22 "2007-10-26T22:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] My favorite scene in that movie is where Spencer Tracy hits some dude’s hot rod at the drive-in, and the other guy completely freaks over how expensive it’ll be to fix his customized car. The price tag he puts on the damage? About what you’d pay for a tank of gas, today. [/QUOTE] My world very nearly ceased to exist during a Twilight Zone rerun the other day, when a guy came up to a gas station while running on fumes and paid about $4.50 to fill up his car. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/23 "2007-10-26T23:02:24Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] I was thinking the same thing about Red Dawn. I never noticed the music, as it was just music back then. But now I find myself alternating between busting a gut, and grinding my teeth as the synthesized fanfare strikes up everytime action happens. It is just so damn inorganic and jarring. [/QUOTE] I rewatched Red Dawn on cable awhile ago. I don’t mind the music since everything about the movie from the soundtrack to the US vs Russians theme screams 1980s. Lady Hawke is a period fantasy piece so the 80s syth music is that much more jarring. Who knows though. Maybe todays movies will be dated by their Hans Zimmer orchestral soundtracks? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/24 "2007-10-27T01:29:08Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Blasphamy!! CGI special effects tend not to age as well. As we get used to seeing more and more realistic effects, older effects tend to pop out as cheesy and unrealistic. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure this has anything to do with CGI, per se. I’d say that BAD special effects tend to age badly. But **Terminator 2** and **Jurassic Park** , arguably the first two really good big-budget-CGI movies, are still just as much fun (however much you think that was) as when they were released. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/25 "2007-10-27T02:35:57Z")
> [@](#): > > My world very nearly ceased to exist during a Twilight Zone rerun the other day, when a guy came up to a gas station while running on fumes and paid about $4.50 to fill up his car. I was watching the trailer for Will Smith’s new movie _I Am Legend_ yesterday (which is set in the near future) and I noticed that a gas station in the background listed a price of $6.63 a gallon. I guess they didn’t want to take any chances it would get outdated before the DVD release. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000/26 "2007-10-27T02:55:25Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] I’m not sure this has anything to do with CGI, per se. I’d say that BAD special effects tend to age badly. But **Terminator 2** and **Jurassic Park** , arguably the first two really good big-budget-CGI movies, are still just as much fun (however much you think that was) as when they were released. [/QUOTE] That was my point. > [@Little Nemo](#): > > I was watching the trailer for Will Smith’s new movie I Am Legend yesterday (which is set in the near future) and I noticed that a gas station in the background listed a price of $6.63 a gallon. I guess they didn’t want to take any chances it would get outdated before the DVD release. I think they wanted to show a world in collapse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-that-a-movie-is-going-to-age-well/424000.md?page=1)