One of the great paradoxes of old movies is that the more influential they are, the more predictable they become. You've already seen generations of movies that were working off of the original's basic blueprint. It can be frustrating, particularly if you're showing someone a classic for the first time. It's particularly notable with movies from the 1980s or earlier, which were made before all of American pop culture acquired its protective coating of reflexive irony.

Steven Spielberg's Always, for example, is an unapologetic melodrama that also pays homage to love stories from the golden age of Hollywood. It's also one of Spielberg's smaller films, often overshadowed by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’s release that same year. If you've never seen Always, it's on Netflix now, but it's leaving on Oct. 1.

Always is a remake of 1943's A Guy Named Joe, which was a World War II movie starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, and it's careful to keep much of that movie's style and tone. I'd assumed Always was a period piece for the first 20 minutes, until one character happens to mention that it's 1989; the only conclusively modern element of the film is Holly Hunter's haircut, which makes her look like one of the Bangles.

Pete (Dreyfuss) flies a firefighting plane and is infamous in his field for taking unnecessary risks. Finally, his girlfriend Dorinda (Holly Hunter) puts her foot down: either Pete finds a safer line of work, or she's leaving.

Source link