WHERE HAVE ALL THE MOVIES GONE?

From Curt Wiser Writer/Director of Cam-Girl (AKA) Web-Cam
and author of the novel Box Cutter Killer.
　


The day before I wrote this a fellow film fanatic said to me “I just miss good movies.” Then he went on to say, “Remember when you used to be able to walk up to the movie theater on a whim, like one in the mall and pick a quality movie to go in and see?”

He was right, movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Crash (2004), Taxi Driver,       The Breakfast Club and The Graduate shaped and spoke to their generation are history. Now our multiplexes are filled with Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Paranormal Activity 4. I reminded this big lumbering film fan that all of the studios are making fewer movies and producing them on skyrocketing budgets which dictates that they release these homogenous event pictures, or tent pole releases as they call them buoyed by a media blitz costing around 100 million dollars a piece. Imagine spending that much just on advertising, then you see it from the studios perspective.

This extravagant spending is what informs every decision they make. To do all they can to ensure profits, they need film franchises or at least a story with a pre-existing marketability. By that I mean a movie based on a popular book, The Hunger Games (which I liked) for example or even bank on the name recognition of a board game, as in the case of Battleship (2012). When they are digging deep enough to find source material like that it is no wonder why the result is a story as thin as the chipboard the board game is printed on.

The industry have developing mass-market films down to such a science, they even gave it a name. A four-quadrant film is the holly grail for studio executives. That means a movie designed to appeal to an audience of male, female, over and under the age of 25. They also want a story that is basic or primal enough to play just as well for foreign markets. That means action and sex, these subjects translate into any language.

Movies really are the most influential art form. They delight our primary senses and let us live out new experiences. Film is the largest communal outlet we have. Large gatherings of people sit in the dark and hope to watch something that entertains and enlightens, a movie that relates to our lives and shows us more about he human condition.

What can be done about this? Hear is the hard fact, the man who said “I just miss good movies” and I are both in our early 30’s. The majority of filmgoers are teenagers and under 25. If that is the group you’re aiming for making a baseless movie about a young male who chases an attractive woman while driving fast cars is a sound investment. So if you have a younger Brother or Sister, they are the ones who can make a difference. Show them what a relevant, well written movie looks like. Rare gems like Black Swan and Inception make there way into theaters. Seek out independent films, like I do. Usually this means straight to home video or video on demand titles but I’m fortunate enough to have an independent theater close to where I live called the Enzian. Is there an art house theater or a film festival near your town?

Lastly, let me say that I enjoy the occasional “feel good movie” as much as anyone, Evil Dead II, Taken and Death Sentence (2007) directed by James Wan of Saw fame are not high art character driven stories, yet they are exciting movies that are favorites of mine. The documentary The Blockbuster Imperative (2003) put it best when Dean Devlin mega-producer of films like Independence Day and Godzilla (1998) equated high budget, mass market movies to hot dogs. Devlin said “To me, a phenomenal French cuisine dinner is great but sometimes a hot dog is all you need and I’d like to say that we make pretty darn good hot dogs.” To which the narrator replies, “Hot dogs are fun but if you eat too many you get sick, sometimes you need a good cinematic meal and it’s no longer on the menu.”