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Whatever Happened to Great Movies?
(October 15, 2005)
I've seen nearly dozen films that have been released this year. I know that it isn't very much compared to the number of
movies that have actually been released, but I have tried to attend movies that have been praised by the critics,
The Island and Flightplan being odd exceptions. I saw Batman Begins and thought that it was vastly
overrated. I saw War of the Worlds and was unfulfilled. I saw Red Eye and thought that it was just a so-so
movie.
My two favorite films as of this writing have been Wallace and Gromit and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Let me repeat that. My two favorite films so far have been an animated film and a movie remake. Let me repeat that again.
My two favorite films so far have been a movie that earned 4.5/5 stars and a movie that earned 4/5 stars on my grading scale.
And the latter film was an insane movie directed by Tim Burton, no less.
This is sad. Something has happened to the movie industry. Movies were once a medium for telling great stories.
Now, they're little more than eye-candy. Special effects can be fun to watch when they're innovative; but once you've seen
a few special effects films, the effects lose their flair. Good stories and good characters will decide whether or not
a movie will live on in people's memories. Where are the great stories? Where are the great characters? I must be missing
something.
By the way, if you think that I’m just one of those annoying critics that believes that anything old is automatically good
just because it is old, you’re sadly mistaken. I do think that classic films have more than their fair share of overrated
features. I hated North by Northwest, one of Hitchcock's most highly-acclaimed movies. I thought that Shane
was a decent western, but it's not a movie that I’d consider placing in the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest
films of all time. Yes, at times, I've even found myself bored with the movies that are showing on TCM and AMC.
Alternately, I have seen a number of modern films that I would consider great. Apollo 13 ranks in my list of top ten
favorite films. I have loved every movie that Pixar has released, especially Toy Story and Finding Nemo,
both which I consider masterpieces of modern cinema. I liked Cast Away (until the ending, anyway). I enjoyed the
Lord of the Rings trilogy. And Pirates of the Caribbean, regardless of how silly and pointless it may be,
managed to sneak its way into my DVD collection.
So my argument isn't that classic movies are perfect and modern movies are not. My point is that I've found myself far more
likely to enjoy a classic movie than to enjoy a modern movie. Why? Because studios, and to a large extent also audiences,
have become so concerned with making sure that a film looks pretty that they’ve completely forgotten to pay any attention
to the truly important things like stories and characters. I consider It’s a Wonderful Life to be the greatest film
of all time, even though the movie clearly has some poor editing, both for video and for sound.
I don’t take points away for these flaws because the movie is incredibly moving and captivating regardless.
So what’s the point of this whole rant? Simply put, my point is this: I’d rather see a bad editing job with an interesting
story than a bad story with an interesting editing job. Unfortunately, the interesting editing jobs often seem the be the
only thing I’m getting out of the theater.
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