Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hollywood Today

Movies are a great form of entertainment. They can take us places we have never been, to the future, the past, great moments in history. Movies can tell us great epic stories, or small meaningful ones. They make us laugh, cry, scare us, excite us. But the last few years, in my opinion, have seen a steady decline in the quality of movies. Sure, technology is evolving and letting movies do things they could not do 20 years ago, but it seems to be an excuse for the lack of a good story to tell. Flash some great visual effects at an audience, and a lot of times they will forget they are watching something with no story, or at the least a thin one that is just an excuse to show the visual effects. Old ideas recycled and not even done well. Remakes of movies that should not be done, too many sequels, no more original ideas, all part of the problem.

In 2007, 6 of the top ten films of the year were sequels. The two biggest ("Spider Man 3" and "Shrek The Third") were sequels. Now don't get me wrong, sequels are not a bad thing, most of the time they are an opportunity to tell an ongoing story with characters we really like and want to see again. What bothers me is when movies are made with the notion of a sequel (or sequels) in mind, therefore giving us a sort of incomplete movie. "Star Wars", "Back To The Future", "Die Hard" were all movies that were stand alone movies, conceived without the notion of a sequel and therefore the sequels that followed were solid films. Now, "Back To The Future" II & III were filmed back to back, and the quality dropped off from II to III and the box office reflected that. George Lucas did want to do a continuation of "Star Wars" when he was filming it, but he never thought the film we be successful, because at the time science fiction was not a popular genre, so he ended the film in such a way that it did not warrant a sequel had the film not been a success. A perfect example of an incomplete film is "Jumper" released earlier this year. The film had it's fun moments, but when it was over you felt there was something missing, like the movie should have been longer. My girlfriend described it as an "hour and a half trailer", and that is just how it felt. It was as if the film makers were trying to get us excited for more, but didn't deliver on it, the movie left you wanting more, but not more as in another movie, more as in more movie, right now. The ending was anti climactic, and left you scratching your head and wondering what the producers were thinking. A good example of a movie that delivers the goods and leaves you wanting more is this years "Iron Man". It was in terms of comic book movies, an "origin" story. Just as the first "Spider Man" was. The thing these two movies did well is tell a complete story, and at the end you don't feel like you did not get a complete movie, but at the same time you want to see more.

Therein lies the problem, Hollywood anticipates that audiences will want to see more and therefore gives us incomplete films. With an established names, like Star Wars, James Bond, Harry Potter, sequels are expected and wanted. When you make a film that is something new, it is always best, in my opinion, to tell a complete story, make the film stand on its own. Even if the intention is to make more than one, make it so that a sequel is not necessary, but can be done.

Another evolving problem in Hollywood: remakes. I know I have talked about this before ("Remakes And Hollywood") but it is a constant irritant to me. Everything it seems is being remade these days. Oh I know they have other terms for it- "reboot", "re imagining" "re visioning", all terms I hate. Even sequels are being called remakes. I have heard rumblings about a "sequel" to "Point Break", and that is just ridiculous. The same story, different actors, that is not a sequel, but a remake. A sequel is a continuation of the first movie, same characters, different story, or a continuation of the first films story. That's what "Dirty Dancing :Havana Nights" was, a remake. Sure, Patrick Swayze had a cameo in it, but that was merely to give it the "Dirty Dancing" name. One of the latest things is a new "Robocop" movie. Which I don't necessarily have a problem with if they are going to make something new out of it and not just remake the original, which does not need to be remade. What else, a remake of "Friday The 13th", "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "Highlander". My point here is that Hollywood is trading imagination for established properties. I understand that movies are a business and are supposed to make money. I also know that the American public is growing more and more undemanding as far as movies are concerned, but Hollywood has lowered its standards and so has the American public. But we need to demand better from Hollywood, because they sure as heck can deliver it if they want to. Originality is almost non existent in Hollywood these days, and being someone who loves movies, I not only want it to come back, I demand it to come back. Most of the movies I love and treasure were made 10 years ago or longer, and while there have been quality movies the last decade or so, there have not been enough of them. I will never stop going to the movies because I love them, but I want going to the movies to be an experience again like they used to be. Wake up Hollywood.

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