It got great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and is on my Amazon watch list. I know what you mean about mumbled dialogue. Nice thing about streaming is the "instant rewind" button that replays the last 7 seconds or so or with subtitles.
I find myself hitting that rewind more and more these days to literally see what the actors said. I'm sure 57 years of shooting has nothing to do with that...
Jim, it ain't your hearing. My wife has superb hearing and she is like me: "What did he/she say??" I have good hearing too but it's the same with me. "What did he/she say?" I have spoken with a number of people I know in "the Business" and all say the same. "Can't understand the freakin' dialogue in that flick!!"
There are several reasons for this. Actors no longer articulate as actors were trained in "the old days." Elocution is neglected in flicks these days. Because dubbing or lip syncing is expensive, the studios pay little attention to it in order to save money on the production.
Another reason is because a director is so familiar with the script, even if he is watching the "dallies" or watching the film editing when the sound track has been cut in, he recognizes what the actor(s) said because the line is imprinted in his mind.
Same with the sound engineer. He has the script in front of him as he plays the sound track so if a line or word is mumbled or slightly incoherent, he doesn't catch it becuase he is reading the line from the script as he hears the actor. Sounds okay to him.
Another problem today is that a boom mike is rarely used because all the actors are "wired up" with a tiny transmitter mike hidden beneath their clothes. In the "old days" if a boom mike did not pick up the dialogue so the sound engineer understood it at the moment of filming, he'd tell the director he did not get the dialogue and the director would reshoot the scene. That, for all practical purposes, is long gone because of those tiny mikes hidden under the actors' clothes.
Another problem today is a director in the cutting room either cutting the film or watching the film editor do it,will run the sound effects track and/or the music track so loudly over the actors' dialogue, their lines are drowned out. Some directors call this "The totality of my great art is all that is important. Screw the unwashed audience."
Anyway, this is just to dispel your worries about your hearing.
It ain't you: it's the narcissistic RR-Teests" in Hollywood who couldn't care less if you understand the actors' dialogue.
L.W.
