I'm sure you've heard it a million times before, so here is a million and one. What in the hell is up with Hollywood movies now days? It's nothing new that some of them suck and some of them don't, but it has gotten horrendously bad. I'm sure most of you that follow what I say will probably think I'm going to just blather on about the Hollywood evil corporate empire and such (which I will, I'm getting to that), but it's gotten to the point where I don't care anymore, I just want to see a good movie!
The scenario goes something like this.... I'm someone, or a group of people. "What to do?" we wonder. Well why don't we go see a movie. Great. Then get to the theater and see what movies are playing. Not so great anymore. It's funny because I find myself going to the theaters (to see what's playing) and NOT going in as often as actually seeing a movie. Obviously some will wonder why not just look it up on-line, but usually these are spurr of the moment things. Seeing a movie is a safe way to burn time that's entertaining and will give you something to talk about. Besides that, many of us just enjoy going to the movies (occasionally at least). But I see the advertisements on TV. I see the movie trailers online. I'm puzzled because I MUST be missing the good movie advertisements, but I only realize when I reach the theater that they just aren't there. It's not worth blowing money on crap so I end up doing... well I donno, something else.
But Hollywood has actually admitted this... a long time ago now (months and months), that the reason viewer ship is down is because movies blow. Surprise! What is sort of surprising is that movies are still really bad. It's like Hollywood is an addict that has fried its brains by snorting too many lines of its own bullshit to get itself on track. But that's the main issue here, Hollywood is Hollywood. As much as people don't like to admit it, the movie industry is based off of 3 aspects. First being the business aspect. Watch our movie, give us money! Okay, that's fair. It is entertainment after all. But the industry acts as if it is their God given right. "Go ahead, Don't which our movie. What are you going to do then eh? Play BINGO?! BWAHAHAHA!". But even these soulless bastards get the point when the cash don't flow. That of course is the irony, because even though they finance, distribute, and approve movies; these guys don't actually drive the bus. That leads me to the second aspect: the old boys club.
You see, Hollywood isn't like the Olympics where the guy who can throw a pole the farthest gets to be on a team. Nor is it like getting into the Guinness Book of World records, where all you have to do is stick more cheesy poofs up your nose than the other guy to be the "winner". No the real trick is to have passable "talent" and to schmooze. Everyone in Hollywood gives each other jobs. Director hires writer and producer. These people pick the cast, etc, etc. Hollywood even pats itself on the back every year and televises the event so we can all be so privileged to see them in their glory. But that has a bad side. You see when everyone kisses everyone else's ass simultaneously, eventually you end up going around in a big circle. That's fine for kids who play ring-around-the-rosie, but to the rest of the world; that ain't progress. The end result is akin to inbreeding.
Sound evil? It is in a way. But think about this. If I was some guy who made millions of dollars, was married to a super model while banging tons of hot girls in my fan club and getting wasted on my endless supply of heroin trying to pass the time until I have to attend the next party... I might not want to give that up so fast either. And that is the sort of scary weird thing about Hollywood. A movie is just a movie, but it can also grab you and convey a message. It can be profound and life changing, or it can just make you happy when you were sad. It can also do absolutely NOTHING. So you have this strange sort of tryst of people who get into the right circles, and people on this spiritual power trip who think they can preach to your very soul. The results vary from interesting, to bazaar, to disgusting and lame - but the business guys in the first category don't care how messed up it is as long as it makes them money. But what happens when you've got all of these people together and they can't think up stuff no matter how much weed they smoke?
Actually not much of anything happens. That's how you end up with so many remakes I think. And as an aside I find it sort of ironic that the 21st century was always looked forward to as the wondrous future where we were going to have flying cars and shit, but instead we got remakes of all the stuff that was made in the 20th century. I mean King Kong man. Freaking KING KONG?! Sheesh. And that is the third aspect of movie making. Like a lone dandelion on a baron property surrounded by dead and withered plants, art plays a part. Yes movie making can be about art too. But art is never as simple as it sounds once you try to make money off of it.
You see people are quirky creatures. One girl might think up fantastic ideas for a year and never think of anything ever again. Some guy may think up great ideas for the rest of his life. Others may think up the same idea over and over, but THINK it's original and try to go with it anyway. Still others live in a drug infested haze and hallucinate most of their originality only to discover later that it was just the drugs, pizza and late night infomercials that really gave them any ideas. You can't predict art, and you can't really force it either.
In the current state I'd say they days of Hollywood are numbered. But I don't think change is going to come from the U.S. I think it's going to come from Europe. As technology gets better and better, and the bar of entry to passable special effects lowers, many lower budget movies will have the tools for the effects they need, good actors, and a pool of good writing (and bad too of course). Each country has a local movie scene even if it's pretty small, but eventually I think some pretty good content is going to start emerging from places that are outside the Hollywood circle.
After all of my drivel here, one thing I'd like to point out is that if you have any inclination to write or think up a movie... you're probably just as good as Hollywood. And that makes you just as special as any of the big movie masterminds. So think up that movie masterpiece and maybe support others if they have projects making movies. It's a sad reality but it's almost more fun to think up movies with your friends than it is to go to them. And the really weird thing, that I end up talking about a movie in a restaurant or coffee shop because I went to the theater and found nothing there worth watching.