Showbiz Wednesday
Continuing the new themed days for my blog, today we are going to look at the entertainment industry… or as I like to call it, the escapism industry. The say that Hollywood is the one industry protected from recessions because no matter how bad things get, people still need to escape from reality in two-hour chunks. Movies were still made during the depression, during the war and even during the ‘Red Scare’ and they will continue to be made because people will continue to go. A movie ticket cost around $9.00 a person yet people are still paying to see whatever Hollywood pushes out.
Now the summer blockbuster season is upon us but I’ll be honest, at the moment there are only three movies that I’m really interested in seeing at a theater. The Da Vinci Code looks amazing and I loved the book. X-Men 3 looks good but I’m a touch worried about the change of directors… I didn’t watch Rush Hour and think ‘this guy should direct Wolverine’. Superman Returns looks good but I’m worried about some of the choices Singer made; mostly cosmetic like the look of the costume and having Clark look nerdy, but I will give it a shot.
Other than that, I can’t think of one movie coming out this summer that will get me to a theater. I’m more likely to spend the $18.99 on a DVD with all of its extras than to pay almost the same price for my wife and I to see a movie. The additional thing is that not only do I get to watch the DVD as often as I like, but I then loan it to my parents and then my brother… so by the time a DVD I buy makes the rounds it’s been viewed by 6 to 8 people. The same number of people at a theater would cost over $50.
Now the problem isn’t that I think Hollywood is making bad movies. Well, they are but no more than they have for years. The problem is that I can’t sit through the good movies that make you think anymore. Mysteries are usually obvious to me within the first ten minutes. I usually know the real history of the historical dramas and just about every other movie I go see I end up knowing what’s going to happen. This is because I’m a writer. I’ve had to learn all the tricks to tell a story in a specific amount of time. How you introduce a character trait in the first ten minutes so that later on you can make that a crucial turning point for the movie.
Proof of this… the Usual Suspects. I had heard what an amazing movie this was and was looking forward to seeing it. My girlfriend bought the movie, brought it over and we started watching it. She had seen it in the theater and loved it. A few minutes into the movie I see the ‘Kaiser Sosa’ character go to shoot Gabriel Byrne’s character. At the crucial moment, Sosa moves the gun from his right hand to his left hand. Then we do the flashback and Kevin Spacey comes on screen with a deformed left hand. At that moment I turned to my girlfriend and said… we can stop the movie now.
So at this point in my life, the only kind of movies I can enjoy in a theater are big mindless action movies; hence Superman and X-Men. The Da Vinci Code isn’t mindless, but I already know the story so it’s just a matter of enjoying the acting and not trying to solve the mystery.
Okay, so this entry wasn’t exactly about the entertainment industry… but I’ve spent the last three days buried in a screenplay so reading the latest in Hollywood didn’t make the list today.
Continuing the new themed days for my blog, today we are going to look at the entertainment industry… or as I like to call it, the escapism industry. The say that Hollywood is the one industry protected from recessions because no matter how bad things get, people still need to escape from reality in two-hour chunks. Movies were still made during the depression, during the war and even during the ‘Red Scare’ and they will continue to be made because people will continue to go. A movie ticket cost around $9.00 a person yet people are still paying to see whatever Hollywood pushes out.
Now the summer blockbuster season is upon us but I’ll be honest, at the moment there are only three movies that I’m really interested in seeing at a theater. The Da Vinci Code looks amazing and I loved the book. X-Men 3 looks good but I’m a touch worried about the change of directors… I didn’t watch Rush Hour and think ‘this guy should direct Wolverine’. Superman Returns looks good but I’m worried about some of the choices Singer made; mostly cosmetic like the look of the costume and having Clark look nerdy, but I will give it a shot.
Other than that, I can’t think of one movie coming out this summer that will get me to a theater. I’m more likely to spend the $18.99 on a DVD with all of its extras than to pay almost the same price for my wife and I to see a movie. The additional thing is that not only do I get to watch the DVD as often as I like, but I then loan it to my parents and then my brother… so by the time a DVD I buy makes the rounds it’s been viewed by 6 to 8 people. The same number of people at a theater would cost over $50.
Now the problem isn’t that I think Hollywood is making bad movies. Well, they are but no more than they have for years. The problem is that I can’t sit through the good movies that make you think anymore. Mysteries are usually obvious to me within the first ten minutes. I usually know the real history of the historical dramas and just about every other movie I go see I end up knowing what’s going to happen. This is because I’m a writer. I’ve had to learn all the tricks to tell a story in a specific amount of time. How you introduce a character trait in the first ten minutes so that later on you can make that a crucial turning point for the movie.
Proof of this… the Usual Suspects. I had heard what an amazing movie this was and was looking forward to seeing it. My girlfriend bought the movie, brought it over and we started watching it. She had seen it in the theater and loved it. A few minutes into the movie I see the ‘Kaiser Sosa’ character go to shoot Gabriel Byrne’s character. At the crucial moment, Sosa moves the gun from his right hand to his left hand. Then we do the flashback and Kevin Spacey comes on screen with a deformed left hand. At that moment I turned to my girlfriend and said… we can stop the movie now.
So at this point in my life, the only kind of movies I can enjoy in a theater are big mindless action movies; hence Superman and X-Men. The Da Vinci Code isn’t mindless, but I already know the story so it’s just a matter of enjoying the acting and not trying to solve the mystery.
Okay, so this entry wasn’t exactly about the entertainment industry… but I’ve spent the last three days buried in a screenplay so reading the latest in Hollywood didn’t make the list today.
2 Comments:
Have to disagree with you about The Usual Suspects. Although everyone seems to talk about the big reveal, I watched it the first time knowing what it was and still enjoyed it. Even without the mystery of Kaiser Soze, I could appreciate the craft of the script, the direction and the acting.
Likewise, I knew the big reveal of the Sixth Sense when I watched it and was still able to appreciate the film.
As much as if I hadn't known? Probably not. Still enjoyable, though.
PDS
Kinski agrees with Wickline...
...well at least about The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense. Oddly enough, I like all of Shayalaman's other films ... but they don't seem to need the shock ending to make them work ... they have enough going for them otherwise. But I found The Usual Suspects mildly interesting for the acting when I saw it in the theater ... but nothing to write home about.
That being said, there's only one movie I'm going to definitely pay cash money to see this summer - A Scanner Darkly. That's it.
Ha! - Joe
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