# What's going to date current and recent movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342 "2003-01-03T02:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/61 "2003-01-05T03:36:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \* > \*\*Not a big screen movie, but Max Headroom cleverly avoided this by setting itself “10 minutes into the future”. 🙂 \*\* I like how Stan Lee did it with the X-Men, he just said “in the not-so-distant future.” ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/62 "2003-01-05T05:52:36Z")
One thing that always brings me out of the fantasy when watching movies from a couple of years ago is when someone meets another person at the gate in the airport. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/63 "2003-01-05T14:43:19Z")
This thread has gotten me to thinking about time travel and morality. And rather than hijacking this thread with some of my thoughts, I’ve started a GD [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154535) on them. Your comments are welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/64 "2003-01-05T22:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kat \* > \*\*Maybe not. After all, they’ve been using “boarding” in movies since at least 1985 (in _Back the the Future_) so if that’s the only thing “dating” the movie, it might not have as much of an impact as you’re expecting, depending on how much longer that use continues. Although, I haven’t seen TTT yet, nor have I seen Tarzan or Treasure Planet, so I don’t know how much the boarding style has changed. \*\* Yeah, but this is more in the style of snowboarding. It’s very _extreme_ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/65 "2003-01-05T23:41:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > Some people think Legolas’s skateboarding stunt in The Two Towers will date that movie. Still not quite sure whether I agree with that or not. If it does, it will probably confuse people as to when it was made. It looks a whole lot more like surfing than it does like skateboarding or snowboarding, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/66 "2003-01-06T00:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* > \*\*If it does, it will probably confuse people as to when it was made. It looks a whole lot more like surfing than it does like skateboarding or snowboarding, IMHO. \*\* That’s odd. It looks like someone standing on a shield sliding down stairs to me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/67 "2003-01-06T03:12:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > \*\*😃 > Yeah, I meant the whole distressed film popping around in the projector, with the text scratched into the negative and going blurry and all that, all while Nine Inch Nails music is blaring in the background. It definitely felt like every movie & music video was doing that kind of thing, although right now the only other ones I can think of are _Spawn_ and _The House on Haunted Hill_. \*\* XXX did it to. I remember thinking how SEVENish it looked. ---
**Author:** ![Riboflavin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Riboflavin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riboflavin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/68 "2003-01-06T18:09:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > I saw _Blade Runner_ for the first time in years and was surprised at how well it holds up. In fact, the only things that date it are the music, and the scenes in Tyrell’s office when talking to Rachel. All the smoke and the light coming through venetian blinds are so mid-80’s it could’ve come straight out of an episode of _Miami Vice_. (Not to mention Edward James Olmos’ costume). I love Blade Runner, but the whole look of it is **very** eighties. I’m not sure exactly which bits it is, but the costuming, hairstlyes, and film quality certainly contribute. The dark lighting and its style (not just in the office scene) and some of the other effects very strongly scream 80’s to me, and IIRC (I recently picked up the DvD but haven’t rewatched it yet) the hand to hand fighting styles are right out of the ‘80’s movie fighting handbook’. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/69 "2003-01-06T21:40:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > All the smoke and the light coming through venetian blinds are so mid-80’s it could’ve come straight out of an episode of _Miami Vice_. (Not to mention Edward James Olmos’ costume). \*\* Not to mention Edward James Olmos! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/70 "2003-01-07T00:52:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Shots of the WTC. Punk/goth clothing. People smoking cigarettes. \*\* Some things are cyclical…if everybody’s smoking in a movie, it’s either from the 1940’s or the 1990’s. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/71 "2003-01-07T00:56:25Z")
> [@](#): > > The dark lighting [of _Blade Runner_] and its style (not just in the office scene) and some of the other effects very strongly scream 80’s to me. A _film noir_ aesthetic screams _1980’s_ to you? How old are you? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/72 "2003-01-07T06:28:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > A _film noir_ aesthetic screams _1980’s_ to you? How old are you? \*\* Actually, the dark lighting of Blade Runner (and Alien, and Legend, 1492 and so on) screams Ridley Scott to me. Weponry always can date a film. Like the camcorder sized helmet cams in Aliens or how the Steyr Aug is used as a “futuristic” rifle. Gunfights will always date a movie. In the old days, you heard the characteristic _kashoo_ _kashoo_ the bad guy grabs his chest and falls off the cliff screaming. Every year the noise, mussle flashes and guns themselves got bigger and bigger until every gunfight is between two guys on wires firing double Uzis while bullets spray out and blow apart concrete and steel as if they were dueling with two 20mm Vulcan cannons. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/73 "2003-01-07T07:34:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > Gunfights will always date a movie. In the old days, you heard the characteristic _kashoo_ _kashoo_ the bad guy grabs his chest and falls off the cliff screaming. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Cashews. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/74 "2003-01-07T08:15:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*They could have avoided this by not giving a date at all, giving a more realistic date (i.e. ‘Los Angeles - 2119 AD’), or by trying to offer some explanation as to why technology seems so advanced in some ways, i.e. explain that cheap and practical antigravity and FTL travel were discovered in the 1980s which lead to a period of rapid expansion and technological advancement which leads to the world presented as Los Angeles in 2019 AD. Still wouldn’t explain the buildings that are huge on the outside and old-fashioned and mostly abandoned on the inside (the novel explained this better, nuclear war and emigration to off-world colonies depopulated the Earth, but I don’t think it was tied to a specific year, and as I recall it was written in the 50s or 60s). \*\* A bit too literal? It’s only a god damned movie. In other words, make believe? If we demanded a logical explantion for every fictional work, then 99.9 percent of all movies, plays and novels would collapse under the scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/75 "2003-01-08T07:04:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keith Berry \* > \*\*A bit too literal? It’s only a god damned movie. In other words, make believe? If we demanded a logical explantion for every fictional work, then 99.9 percent of all movies, plays and novels would collapse under the scrutiny. \*\* I keep higher standards. Unless the story is silly, allegorical, etc., I expect it to be internally consistent and have some degree of realism. Blade Runner attempts to tie its setting to the real world, and because of that I expect some kind of plausibility. When they set it in early 21st Century Los Angeles they should have put some thought into what’s possible by then. Some excesses are acceptable, but there are a few things that damage it’s immersiveness for me, which is a shame as it’s one of my favorite movies. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/76 "2003-01-08T14:43:00Z")
I just recalled this short lived action-adventure series that MTV aired in the early 90’s that’s hopelessly dated by a particular line of dialogue. The series was _Dead at 21_ and it dealt with a guy on the run from the feds because he found out on his 20th birthday that he was part of a government experiment to implant intellegence-enhancing computer chips into the brains of babies. The twist being of course, that the other test subjects have all been dying by age 21 because of the whole “Candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long” premise. One episode, the protagonist is trying to track down information about the scientist involved in the project, and he decides to do a little research on the internet. His friend pipes up “the internet? What’s that?” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/77 "2003-01-08T20:01:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keith Berry \* > \*\*A bit too literal? It’s only a god damned movie. In other words, make believe? If we demanded a logical explantion for every fictional work, then 99.9 percent of all movies, plays and novels would collapse under the scrutiny. \*\* I don’t think it’s reasonable to use the “it’s only a movie” argument in a thread whose purpose is, essentially, nitpicking. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/78 "2003-01-13T18:01:15Z")
How about this for dating movies from the 90s? A bunch of angst-ridden 20 somethings in flannel shirts hanging around coffee shops fearing the future and dealing with relationship problems while Tori Amos or Soundgarden plays in the background. ---
**Author:** ![epraz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@epraz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epraz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/79 "2003-01-13T19:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by interface2x \* > \*\*One thing that always brings me out of the fantasy when watching movies from a couple of years ago is when someone meets another person at the gate in the airport. \*\* This _still_ happens. It occured in **About Schmidt** , set my sensors off. ---
**Author:** ![NeutronJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neutronjack/32/4134_2.png) [@NeutronJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeutronJack)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/80 "2003-01-14T06:11:01Z")
Racial/ethnic terms, which change so quickly these days (at least in the U.S.), will date our movies:[ul][li]colored[/li][li]negro[/li][li]black[/li][li]afro-american[/li][li]person of color[/li][li]african-american[/li][li]mexican[/li][li]chicano[/li][li]hispanic[/li][li]oriental[/li][li]asian[/li][/ul] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342.md?page=5)