The Silver Screen Oasis

Oh I totally get that, red! It used to be that MacDonalds would have the latest toy - action figure - whatever. Or there might be the occasional other summertime tie in. But now, it's everything, and it doesn't even matter if there's a connection. Like they think we're so stupid that we will buy either a ticket to the movie because State Farm is touting it, or buy State Farm because Superman is touting IT? For heaven's sake, your commercial doesn't even make sense.... and I've got to see it twenty times? NO. Someone should do a new study on commercials and see if there are any results that make people actively AVOID brands.

Simple reason for those marketing ploys, people. Most movies released today are crap - high grosses or not. At least that's my opinion. Haven't been to a theater screening in a dog's age. Picked up a few I was curious about later on pay-per-view. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't spend the bucks to see them on release.

Maybe I'm an old fudge, but I'll stick with TCM. Contemporary Hollywood product sucks.

In general, I am with you Stone, but occasionally I do find something worth watching at the theatre. I like to go once every month or two, just to see some of the littler movies that are out. My movie theatre luckily gets some of the cream of the crop - it's privately owned by a guy who is wealthy - he just likes to see the independents and the foreign films get a chance. It's a really dinky theatre though, so that limits their selections. This month I haven't seen anything listed that looks interesting.

You know Wendy, almost every other weekend my wife and I go through the paper to see if there is any movie we want to invest in . . . and I gotta tell you we're not thrilled by anything that's out there. So it's pay-for-view (again, generally a disappointment), TCM, or we pull something we've already watched from our DVD collection.

I think the movies are out there, but you have to work to find them.

For heaven's sake, your commercial doesn't even make sense

That's it in a nutshell. I keep thinking, What is the point of all this? My apologies to any George Raft fans who are wondering, Where the heck did our thread go?

Pyrotechnics, sex romps (teen and otherwise), unfunny comedies with humor based on gross bodily functions, nihilism, torture porn, zombie movies . . .

Uh, I dunno, Wendy. Think I'll stick with my classics collection.

Golly! Sounds like '50s movies.

They just haven't made good movies since 1941 (that would be "Citizen Kane").

Should have been more specific: Mindless pyrotechnics. Reminds me of the hillbilly movie reviewers portrayed by John Candy and Joe Flaherty on SCTV: "They blowed up real good."

ChiO, good point . . . only I don't think scatological humor was much in vogue back in the 50's. Sad to think that today most comedy has to rely on toilet jokes. Or vocal vulgarity.

And when the creative well runs dry . . . well, let's just remake a classic and see how bad we can mess it up. That's a virtually endless list . . . including updates of classic television, as well.

Oh yes, the future of movie entertainment does not look promising, my friends . . .

Have you spoken to Guy Maddin about contemporary filmmaking?

I looked at a couple of today's local newspapers, limited myself to 3 (out of 4) star movies, and generally continued to screen out anything "R" and anything dealing with zombies (goodbye WORLD WAR Z), vampires (goodbye BYZANTIUM), pyrotechnics (mindless or otherwise -- good thing nothing with James Bond is in first-run), remakes (I didn't exclude MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING -- adaptations of Shakespeare don't count) and humor that I just sense would border on the "stupid" (scatological or otherwise), I counted about eight first-run movies currently playing in Chicago that remained.

Granted, eight is fewer than dozens, but when were there ever dozens one wanted to see. And I may not wish to see all of these eight. But, this is just a snapshot -- add in recent Woody Allen films, A SEPARATION, AMOUR, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL and many others -- and I'm not convinced that the future is so bleak. Different? Yes. (One would hope, as every period differs from ones before it, otherwise there's this thing called stagnation.) To everyone's taste? No. (When is any period to everyone's taste?) The end of the world? I doubt it. (Just call me "Pollyanna".)

Not a fan of Guy Maddin's work. His films literally give me a headache. Interestingly, one of Maddin's inspirations was John Paizs, who went on to do some esoteric film work as well, including TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN with Campbell Scott. Went to high school with John and he was one of my closest friends. He went on to make movies, I went on to write books.

humor based on gross bodily functions

Puke seems to be in these days. Can't tell you how many so-called comedies, film and TV, have featured it recently. Rule of thumb: Something that's revolting, unpleasant and disgusting? Generally not funny!

updates of classic television, as well

Which wasn't all that good to begin with! THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES? The show was cute enough. But clearly not movie material.

The bottom line R.R. is that there's a dearth of originality existing in today's so-called entertainment industry. It's apparent in television with the proliferation of reality programming; movies follow surefire formulas often to the detriment of creative imagination (hey, hasn't the White House been assaulted twice this year?) What other comic book character can we devote a multi-million dollar feature to? Who's untalented but "hot" at the moment? Zombies, teenage vampires!!!

And yes, if scatological humor works, let's throw in more toilet humor. Or show the morning after of a "hangover".

My God, I feel as if I'm on a soap box. But it does really bother me when I compare what is to what was.

I'm an anachronism and proud of it.

I can even live without originality. Let's face it. Many of the classic era westerns and detective stories rekindled Plot 37 A. But presented efficiently and with respect, that can be entertaining enough. The comic book formula worked pretty well for a few years. The road trip. The coming of age story. But they keep getting bigger, more exaggerated, less focused. Instead of a story, we have...noise. Graphics, shock value.

The low budget horror films on Svengoolie are not all good. But they're honest. They don't try to dupe the viewer into thinking there's more to it. With much of today's fare, there should be LESS to it!

Yes R.R., we are in agreement. The other thing that is missing in much of today's "entertainment" is artistry.

And btw: I'll take the craftsmanship of a Willis O'Brien or Ray Harryhausen over CGI effects any day. So much of the latter substitutes for story; with Willis, Ray and others of their type the effects added to the story, not overtook the plot -- if one even exists in many of these films today.