I'm 29 and loved 2001, for what it's worth. It's not really just age, I don't think. I remember showing college friends Hard-Boiled (the John Woo film starring Chow Yun Fat) and they all got bored and stopped watching. Meanwhile I'm wondering how anyone could find a scene where there's a shootout involving guys on motorcycles with machine guns not to be simulating enough. I guess the mind of the cineaste works differently.
On the other hand, I watched High Sierra recently and the pre-Bullit notion of a car chase scene was, uh, less than thrilling.
Ugh, I hear you. That B-word is what really grinds my gears, and frankly makes me a little frightened at how society's tastes are seemingly permanently changing. Anything that doesn't have continuous in-your-face stimulation nowadays is boring. Nobody can tolerate a movie anymore if it has any "slow" parts. Everything has to be a Vin Diesel explosion-fest. Nobody can sit through a full 60-70 minute CD unless every song is 130BPM+ and full volume. Nobody but me even buys full albums anymore really, it's just 2 minute blips on iTunes. My own 5 year old daughter can't even make it through any of the old Disney movies that are specifically made for kids because as soon as the action slows down and the characters start talking, her mind wanders off and she wants to go do something else.
We've lost the concept of sitting down for the sole purpose of enjoying a single work that is more complex than a 3 minute YouTube clip.
> Nobody can tolerate a movie anymore if it has any "slow" parts.
As someone (from several generations ago) who watches plenty of "slow" movies (try a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes or some of the early monster movies), I found 2001 to be profoundly boring and dull - to the extent that it's only one of three films that's caused me to fall asleep in the cinema (the others being "Transformers: The Last Knight" and "Avengers Apocalypse" - neither of which can be said to be "slow".)
2001 has a 9(?)-minute scene of nothing. It's intentionally boring, in a way like John Cage's 4'33".
It's fine if you don't like it, but part of the point is to experience the feeling of slowness of space travel, and appreciate the pain. Compare to a horror movie "I don't like it because it makes my stomach turn" or a drama "I don't like it because it made me sad".
> Nobody but me even buys full albums anymore really
Nobody but very few people even buys full symphonies anymore really, to play them themselves. Nobody can tolerate a piece of music if it doesn't have someone singing on it. Young people with their "songs" and their "Elvis"!
> My own 5 year old daughter can't even make it
Duh, of course she can't - she's a kid. But if you are saying that her inability is somehow due to consuming "bad media", or too much media... well, that's your fault as a parent, isn't it?
On the other hand, I watched High Sierra recently and the pre-Bullit notion of a car chase scene was, uh, less than thrilling.