RIP The Original Hollywood Film

Seems like it's more of an indictment of the ticket-buying audience than "Hollywood." If it's an indictment at all.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
Wow. This is a Pookie Post, sad and true.
Dead. Dead. Dead.
Click to expand...
Dead. Dead. Deadily Darn Dead.

Dead as the leisure suit.
dad-leisure-suit.jpg


Dead.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/450292/75_movie_remakes_and_reboots_currently_in_the_works.html
 
David Jimerson said:
Seems like it's more of an indictment of the ticket-buying audience than "Hollywood." If it's an indictment at all.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, the ol' "Which came first... Audience preference or studio output debate..."! I kind of go with supply fuels the demand side of that argument, lack of originality not withstanding. I have been lamenting the lack of originality from Hollywood for a long time, but I have to say that the expansion of the access to alternative content, whether from alt cinema venues or the internet has kind of ameliorated the lack of originality from mainstream movies. While the top of the Box Office Mojo top grossing lists are populated by the lowest common denominator movies, if you scrolled down the list, there is quite a diverse range of movies out there. You just have to seek them out.
 
David G. Smith said:
Ahhh, the ol' "Which came first... Audience preference or studio output debate..."! I kind of go with supply fuels the demand side of that argument, lack of originality not withstanding. I have been lamenting the lack of originality from Hollywood for a long time, but I have to say that the expansion of the access to alternative content, whether from alt cinema venues or the internet has kind of ameliorated the lack of originality from mainstream movies. While the top of the Box Office Mojo top grossing lists are populated by the lowest common denominator movies, if you scrolled down the list, there is quite a diverse range of movies out there. You just have to seek them out.
Click to expand...

The problem is how few people who complain about unoriginality in Hollywood actually make the effort to support the intelligent films. I always hear "Oh, that sounds good, I'll have to see if it's on Netflix."

I'm really not the kind of guy who uses the word "support" in reference to the filmmaker-audience relationship. I don't think it's a good idea for indie filmmakers to rely on audience sympathy for their "plight" (which is almost always "I poured my heart and soul and life-savings into this s..tty film, and I know it's a really stupid movie, but you should see it to support indie film!").

But bottom line, studios are composed entirely of dollar signs. The people who work at them aren't. But ultimately, the people who work at (and even run) studios are subservient to the investors, so the dollar is king. And if Jack and Jill makes over seventy million dollars, and Beginners makes less than six, what faith are you, the audience member, putting in good movies?

This isn't directed at anyone in particular. I just get tired of the "Hollywood is dead" argument. Hollywood is alive and well and just waiting to take your dollars. All you have to do is show them that you're willing to give them your money if they're willing to give you good movies. But Hollywood is a megacorpocracy, and you can't expect "it" to take the first step.

-JMT
 
David G. Smith said:
While the top of the Box Office Mojo top grossing lists are populated by the lowest common denominator movies, if you scrolled down the list, there is quite a diverse range of movies out there. You just have to seek them out.
Click to expand...

That's my point. The diversity and originality was there. It's just not what the audiences chose to pay for the most.
 
_snarky_moviereviews.jpg


Barbara Nicolsi
As cultural power brokers, the Boomers have stamped their downward spiral from stoned rebels to cynical whiners on many aspects of Hollywood's once great storytelling voice. Greedy for the power and control they have lusted for since they came of age, the Boomers created the factory model of blockbuster movies in which the pursuit of mega-dollars eliminated creative story choices again and again. They bequeath to an age desperately in need of hope and heroes, a storytelling industry that is shattered to its core in having forgotten how to weave a good tale. For decades Hollywood had the whole world sitting on its lap. The Boomer elites squandered that global audience in their one lifetime.
--
First is the effect on the gargantuan Boomer generation of a lifetime of listening to their own voices. The movies being created by and for the Boomers today are a very unentertaining mix of "Never regret! Life starts at 70!" and "Life is a cruel joke, ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'" Movies like It's Complicated showcase a bunch of grey hairs still acting badly, swallowing their shame and ignoring their appropriate role as the wise mentors of the younger generations. The Dorian Greyish dark echo of this kind of story are movies like There Will Be Blood and the chillingly titled No Country for Old Men, in which the characters' lives of narcissism and greed devolve into cynicism and brutality.
--
If they would be saved, the Boomer Generation must be guided into repentance for the way they self-righteously sacrificed all others as they fled from the simple heroism of adult human life. The rigid eradication of tradition, the gross materialism, the unbridled license, the embarrassing promiscuity -- all always accompanied by shrill distortion and denial -- have left our society disconnected, bloated, poorly educated, unable to trust and simmering in resentment. If the Boomers don't begin to admit to the rest of us where they went wrong, we all risk losing any of the positive achievements the generation has contributed to human history. I see many of my Millennial Generation students clamoring to set back the clock to a day before the Sixties, when there were grown-ups.
 
Yeah Pookie, sadly, the children of the "Greatest Generation" are going to be looked back on as a boil on the a** of history... I would continue this comment, but that would mean I would have to divert into forum forbidden topics...

EDIT: But I totally disagree with Ms. Nicolsi's take on the generation's failings. ... but not here.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top