Do you still have the same passion for movies?

I guess so. I still watch several movies every week, although I must say that in recent years the proportion between movies and TV has probably been shifting steadily towards the latter.

Love discovering or rediscovering older movies, love seeing brand new movies, I just love movies! 📽😉🎬👍

I guess it is about the same. There are movies I watch now I would never have watched-20-30 years ago. Spy movies, westerns, foreign. I was more likely to watch newer stuff 20-30 years ago. Now, it is mostly older ones.

As I get older I care less and less about anything other people think is important. All I care about is whether I am engaged, interested and entertained. I have serious issues that I care about passionately, but I have learned to use wisdom in exposing myself to too much negative material.  I have learned it is better to take in one film, article book etc and let it speak to me, than to take in several a day.

For the most part yes! but been disappointed too.

I guess it has to do with my fascination with old-fashioned star power, not fanatism.

Actually, I think I see your point. Yes, it doesn't matter to me if something's considered important. But I do feel it's important to credit innovation and I enjoy learning about influence.

That’s it absolutely. When I read of something that interests me , it’s my choice! Not trying to please someone whose criticism I fear. 

Thanks for the great Lumet clip, petrolino. I love to hear that great actor's director discuss his craft. There aren't many like him left anymore, and I could listen to him for hours.

As for your question, I don't know what to say.  I've been quite overwhelmed by the volume of film production these days. There's just too much of it, with so much streaming in so many venues. And so much of it is bad and/or is not really interesting to me at all. I hate the gratuitous sex, violence, and profanity in too many films these days.  Lazy writing, I call it.  And, to me, deeply offensive. 

That makes me weary and wary of too many of the new films, and I've seen the old ones too many times (with the exception of some foreign films, but right now I can't read subtitles very well).  So I'm a bit at sea about it at the moment.  Yes, I still love the medium that has defined me since I was 13, but I also desperately long for more rich and meaningful productions that inspire me without offending me. I know films are still being made that can do that, but they are absolutely in the minority right now/these days, in my opinion.

That said, I'm hoping my negative feelings will change in time if/as more and more films follow the trajectory of the films I saw last year, which provided the sense of art and humanity that I long for (Minari, Nomadland, The Father, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and The Land, among a few others).

For those experiences alone I'm trying to be optimistic.  Hope it pays off, not only for me, but for the culture at large.

Oh, yes, indeed.  I got to do that with my beloved idol, Kazan, and I'll treasure that memory forever.  But time with Lumet would have been a great gift, too.  I urge you to check out his book on directing ("Making Movies") if you haven't already.  It's not long and is very practical, notwithstanding his magical moment-to-moment approach in his on-set work.

But surely there were not too many to watch back in the 1900s?