Thursday, November 09, 2006
commentary: movies
I was talking to my music-, photo-, and movie-snob brother yesterday (yes, I say that lovingly), and sadly realized that I was the one out of touch with reality. But am I?
What has happened to movies nowadays? Borat is the most successful recent movie, and it is a mockumentary rather than a blockbuster or a thriller. Where have the romantic comedies gone (not that I miss them), and how did Reese Witherspoon become one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood ($30 mill in 2005 alone)? Where in the world have I been? Oh yeah, the "capital of the world."
Where have the epics gone? The new 007 is coming out soon, and critics have already begun raving about Daniel Craig's performance in a remake of Casino Royale (I don't know why they didn't just use a new story), but will audiences embrace a blonde Bond? I'm not convinced (yet), and probably won't go to the theaters to see it either.
A good point Derrick brought up yesterday was a question: Is America getting more stupid or more smart in terms of their movie-watching? Borat is a mockumentary (like I mentioned above), and to understand it for those purposes takes a certain level of intelligence. Has everyone who's seen it understood it, or are some people not getting the intended message? That's hard to say.
Have we progressed beyond two hours of straight action? Or the old boy meets girl story? Or have we just gotten bored? It seems the only movies getting good reviews have been animated (those Happy Feet commercials are just so cute). It doesn't help that prices for movie tickets have gone up while services like Netflix have made it so much more convenient (and cost effective) to just wait a few months and rent the movie.
Just a thought.
What has happened to movies nowadays? Borat is the most successful recent movie, and it is a mockumentary rather than a blockbuster or a thriller. Where have the romantic comedies gone (not that I miss them), and how did Reese Witherspoon become one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood ($30 mill in 2005 alone)? Where in the world have I been? Oh yeah, the "capital of the world."
Where have the epics gone? The new 007 is coming out soon, and critics have already begun raving about Daniel Craig's performance in a remake of Casino Royale (I don't know why they didn't just use a new story), but will audiences embrace a blonde Bond? I'm not convinced (yet), and probably won't go to the theaters to see it either.
A good point Derrick brought up yesterday was a question: Is America getting more stupid or more smart in terms of their movie-watching? Borat is a mockumentary (like I mentioned above), and to understand it for those purposes takes a certain level of intelligence. Has everyone who's seen it understood it, or are some people not getting the intended message? That's hard to say.
Have we progressed beyond two hours of straight action? Or the old boy meets girl story? Or have we just gotten bored? It seems the only movies getting good reviews have been animated (those Happy Feet commercials are just so cute). It doesn't help that prices for movie tickets have gone up while services like Netflix have made it so much more convenient (and cost effective) to just wait a few months and rent the movie.
Just a thought.
# posted by ange : 10:26 AM
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daniel craig IS good bond! i didn't like him either (not cause he's blond, wtf kind of stupid reason would that be? but because he's not really good looking [a much better reason!], lol, no, but really. bond is supposed to be hella good looking), but then i saw the movie and boy am i sold! (as for reese, it was probably for 'walk the line' which i think she won an oscar for...)
about audiences getting stupider... i dunno. borat doesn't require any smarts to 'get' the movie. well, maybe it does. some think that it's just about how 'strange' borat is, but really, it shows the american people and how they react to 'strange' people and situations (and it's split, btw, some are good, some are bad, of course, i think the movie tried to highlight the bad...)
a trend in movies i have noticed is gore (saw, hostel), which is more than just a little disturbing. but at the same time, the highest rated show this week (as reported by tv.com) is prison break, which isn't exactly a stupid show. and the highest rated comedy is south park, which DEFINITELY isn't just for stupid people.
about audiences getting stupider... i dunno. borat doesn't require any smarts to 'get' the movie. well, maybe it does. some think that it's just about how 'strange' borat is, but really, it shows the american people and how they react to 'strange' people and situations (and it's split, btw, some are good, some are bad, of course, i think the movie tried to highlight the bad...)
a trend in movies i have noticed is gore (saw, hostel), which is more than just a little disturbing. but at the same time, the highest rated show this week (as reported by tv.com) is prison break, which isn't exactly a stupid show. and the highest rated comedy is south park, which DEFINITELY isn't just for stupid people.
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