Saturday, September 29, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Film of Quality
I watch a lot of movies. Like piles. In my lame, boring existence, pretty much all I do is rape my Netflix queue. Anyway, that being said, I have found a lack of great movies being made anymore. This saddens me. I spend all day watching sub-par movies that just don't capture any feelings or truth or mystery. What happened to those movies? Have they all been done? Or has artistry become a thing that the movie industry is no longer interested in producing?
The movies I'm talking about, and you may or may not agree with my choices, are movies like Planet of the Apes (1968). The thing about Planet of the Apes, the original mind you, is that it is fantastic. It takes you on this ride to another planet and makes you use your imagination. Suppose Apes were the rulers and the humans were...not. Which is a sweet concept in and of itself without going into the underlying messages bullshit, but then it turns into a total mindfuck at the end. If you didn't already know the end, when you got there, that was the most awesome feeling. The feeling that you got an actual trick ending. It was somehow satisfying. I miss that. I miss being satisfyingly tricked.
I wonder how much of that has to do with being older and expecting the tricks and how much it has to do with quality film. Fight Club is another example of that trick ending that was more than just expected. I would even have to admit to The Sixth Sense having that, although every M. Night movie thereafter kinda just fell flat by exploiting that initial concept.
Another genre I'd like to explore is the romantic-comedy. As a connoisseur of the genre, I tend to be overly picky sometimes. Really though, I feel like a lot of these movies should just not be made. When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride are my standards. Roll your eyes all you want, but Rob Reiner really defined the genre for me. He used the formula, but still made it feel like love. The only rom-com I've seen this year to meet these standards is Friends With Kids, which features Jennifer Westfeldt(who is just always amazing).
What I miss about this genre is actual character development. I'm sick of watching a stereotype of a romance. I know it's hard to make an actual human being like-able, but I do wish someone would at least try. Because at the heart of it, there's nothing about two people with no real depth or obstacles in their life getting together that is at all worth watching (ex. Bounty Hunter). Shit, I get that everyday on my Facebook feed.
The movies I'm talking about, and you may or may not agree with my choices, are movies like Planet of the Apes (1968). The thing about Planet of the Apes, the original mind you, is that it is fantastic. It takes you on this ride to another planet and makes you use your imagination. Suppose Apes were the rulers and the humans were...not. Which is a sweet concept in and of itself without going into the underlying messages bullshit, but then it turns into a total mindfuck at the end. If you didn't already know the end, when you got there, that was the most awesome feeling. The feeling that you got an actual trick ending. It was somehow satisfying. I miss that. I miss being satisfyingly tricked.
I wonder how much of that has to do with being older and expecting the tricks and how much it has to do with quality film. Fight Club is another example of that trick ending that was more than just expected. I would even have to admit to The Sixth Sense having that, although every M. Night movie thereafter kinda just fell flat by exploiting that initial concept.
Another genre I'd like to explore is the romantic-comedy. As a connoisseur of the genre, I tend to be overly picky sometimes. Really though, I feel like a lot of these movies should just not be made. When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride are my standards. Roll your eyes all you want, but Rob Reiner really defined the genre for me. He used the formula, but still made it feel like love. The only rom-com I've seen this year to meet these standards is Friends With Kids, which features Jennifer Westfeldt(who is just always amazing).
What I miss about this genre is actual character development. I'm sick of watching a stereotype of a romance. I know it's hard to make an actual human being like-able, but I do wish someone would at least try. Because at the heart of it, there's nothing about two people with no real depth or obstacles in their life getting together that is at all worth watching (ex. Bounty Hunter). Shit, I get that everyday on my Facebook feed.
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