You can see a lot of these kinds of movies on TCM these days, in addition to the A features. Even the mediocre ones seem to me to be worth watching, and the good ones are really good.
I miss being able to go out to a theater and see these kinds of movies - 95 to 105 minutes long, workshops for up-and-coming (or down-and-out) actors, writers and directors, with budgets low enough to allow for smart (instead of expensive) camera work and story ideas.
All the mainstream movies today seem to be bloated blockbusters based on comics or amusement park rides. Even more modest movies are 2-1/2 hours long. All the second- and third-string talent ends up on TV drama, but most of that is just total crap.
OK, I recognize that this is an old person’s rant about why can’t things be like they used to be. There are probably a few movies (mostly either independent or foreign) playing that meet these criteria, especially here in San Francisco.
I still miss B movies and second features. When I was little money was tight so when we went to the movies we went to a third-run house that had two A features (but weeks or months after their initial releases) and probably a cartoon.
Well, those days are long gone, and so I guess it’s TCM for me, which is about the only watchable thing on TV.
Roddy
Definitely an old man’s rant. There are plenty of B movies made nowadays (though the term has lost a bit of its meaning since there aren’t any double features anymore) and TV dramas can be very good.
There are plenty of small, independent films these days; filmmaking is cheaper than it ever has been (You can pick up a good video camera for a couple of hundred dollars (or less) and don’t need to pay for film).
However, it’s just as hard if not harder to get distribution. And there are only a handful of theaters who will take a chance on an independent film.
Second-run theaters have trouble staying in business. Successful films run longer than in the past (when you had only one screen, you’d get a new movie every week; with a multiplex, you can run a success for months).
Hollywood has taken a blockbuster mentality. They want to hit the jackpot with their films, which means that small films aren’t worth it, no matter how good they are. You’re not going to get hundreds of millions of dollars from anything other than a sci-fi/superhero/zombie/big explosion film. That’s also a factor of the movie audience, which is strongly skewed toward teenage boys who really aren’t interested in drama and who want their money’s worth of explosions and action.
The proving ground for new filmmakers is often on cable TV. Sci-fi channel movies fill the b-movie niche (as do Lifetime channel movies).
I’m not really happy that you can’t see a serious film for grownups these days (especially in the summer), but that’s the way things have evolved and it’s unlikely to change.
You make a couple of my points for me. There may be independent films, but they can’t get distribution. The old studio system had a lot of faults, but they had guaranteed distribution for all their movies, not just the blockbusters.
Syfy Channel and Lifetime movies are damn near unwatchable. There is IFC and one or two other cable channels that feature smaller or independent films. But what I miss are mainstream films with good acting and writing that are just on a smaller scale. So many of the independent films, when you can find them, are off-beat and weird.
I understand that those things are not coming back. That’s why I miss them.
Roddy
You seem to be conflating “B Movies” with “Small Movies.” Are they the same? Should they be considered the same? If you get specific with what you’re asking for, I am positive there are movies being made today that fit in those categories.