Meanwhile “original” filmmaking in the 80s
It's something I always have to remind myself, that there was terrible crap in every era. Some of the coolest and most interesting films I've ever seen were from the 60s, for instance. Like, In Cold Blood and In The Heat of The Night. But that's also the era of all the beach bunny movies with Annette Funicello.
In contrast to your point, the 80s also had Broadcast News and Kiss of The Spiderwoman. Children of a Lesser God. Kramer Vs Kramer. Silkwood. Running on Empty. Sophie's Choice. Raging Bull. The Mission. So many great films; I could go on.
I know there's good stuff now, but I just don't give a shit to try to seek it out. Maybe one day. But most of what I see from the modern era turns me off big time. Notable exceptions:
In music, I love the prog metal band Prototype. In film, I love the work of Jeff Nichols. I'm watching Breaking Bad right now (on the 5th season), and I love it.
But yeah, you can cherrypick the worst of the worst of any decade and paint the whole era with that brush, but there's usually good stuff you have to overlook to do that.
But even in the cheesy arena in 80s films, I think they produced some of the awesomest stuff I'll stand by any day. Rambo II? Bloodsport? Terminator? Predator? The Lost Boys? Miami Connection? Breakin? These are all awesome. And however someone might judge the writing or whatever, the personalities were big and cool and different, and in my book they were strong enough to trump any other considerations.
And the big difference to me is that these days some of the biggest stars don't act with much personality or character. I've seen several films with Scarlett Johansson, and other than her extraordinary beauty, I don't see anything there. Compare her with Sally Field in Norma Rae. Gorgeous, yeah, but also intense, overflowing with character, badass, smart, and cool as shit. Compare Chris Hemsworth to leading men of just the past few decads. Compare him with Sean Penn, what he was doing in his 30s. The level of difference is insane.
Notable exceptions: Jake Gyllenhaal (I've mentioned in this thread before). Michael Shannon. Colin Farrell. I know there are others I can't think of right now. The scarily intense Samantha Morton. Even though I don't give a shit to see much of his work, I respect Bradley Cooper for what I've seen of him.