It seems these days that nearly every Friday another trashy, action-packed Hollywood blockbuster makes its big debut. If it is not an action flick, it is the newest slice-and-dice movie or dumb chick flick. In any case it is sure to feature some combination of rapid sequences of car chases, robot battles, killer corpses and sexual jokes. This is what modern film has become: an unoriginal, formulaic mesh of boring plots, pretty faces, stupid jokes and mind-numbing violence.
Film is an extremely powerful form of art and entertainment. Movies should reflect culture, provoke reactions and stimulate discussions. Great movies can be inspirational, powerful, mind-blowing experiences. The effects of a great movie should be felt long after the final credits. A great movie should be the kind of thing you can’t get out of your head. It should be something you keep thinking about long after your first viewing.
However, these days it is hard to find a movie worth sitting through, let alone one that is intellectually stimulating or emotionally captivating. The only reason the trash playing at your local multiplex is likely to catch your attention is because of its atrocious quality and lack of entertainment value. Take one look at the list of movies playing at your local theatre, and you will be hit by a disturbing reality -- quality has almost completely disappeared from the modern movie theatre.
Just take a look at some of Hollywood’s latest releases. There is “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” a silly, unrealistic romance that seems to serve no purpose beyond reinforcing the unrealistic fantasies of American girls.
Also playing is “All About Steve”, an impossibly stupid comedy built around a washed-up and overpaid Sandra Bullock who portrays a pathetic character put in situations so stupid that a movie critic from Rolling Stone magazine went so far as to label it “unwatchable”. There is also “Jennifer’s Body,” “Sorority Row,” and “The Final
Destination” --gruesome terror flicks that appear to serve no creative purpose beyond presenting more disturbing ways to kill higher numbers of dumb teenagers.
This summer might as well have been branded the “Summer of the Sequel.” Hollywood insisted on shoving an endless number of poorly conceived and unnecessary sequels such as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Night at the Museum 2” down our quality-starved throats.
Indeed you would think moviegoers would grow tired of these boring, stale ideas, but you would be wrong.
No one seems to care that nearly all popular films show no real effort on the part of the filmmakers to create interesting characters or thoughtful plots. In fact, the American public would seemingly prefer not to think at all but instead to be simply be entertained by a barrage of mind-numbing car chases, silly romances and stupid, childish jokes. This is the state of modern film in America, and it sickens me. It used to be that Hollywood filmmakers would work hard to produce great movies like “Forrest Gump”, “Schindler’s List”, “Star Wars” and “Casablanca”. These were the kinds of movies that Americans could really enjoy. However, the modern film industry, like the rest of American society, is all about money. The quickest way to make a buck is to produce more of the mindless trash Americans love and crave.
Audiences have shown studios that it is much easier and far more profitable to simply create another sequel or to remake a previously successful series than to actually make a good movie. Filmmakers no longer have to put forth much effort they simply must follow this simple formula to be guaranteed millions of dollars. With this in mind, it is easy to see why quality has all but disappeared from the mainstream movie theatre.
So this weekend if you find yourself thinking about your movie going habits and you decide that you too are also tired of the trash Hollywood is creating seek out one of the few independently made movies such as “Milk,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “The Hurt Locker,” and “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” that continue to survive at isolated, independent art film centers such as the Mayan in Denver or Landmark In Greenwood Village instead. You might be surprised by just how good movies can be.