Anybody seen a good movie lately? I’d like to go see one if I could leave Sam home alone for a couple of hours. Trouble is, I just scanned the entertainment section of the local newspaper and not one of the movies being shown right now appeals to me.
I just can’t get excited about going to see the Avengers movie or Dark Shadows or The Dictator or The Raven or The Hunger Games or Bully or Lockout. Those movies all involve explosions, terror, violence, bad language or things I just don’t want to see in a movie.
Alternative choices include such offerings as The Five-Year Engagement, The Lucky One, Mirror, Mirror, Monsieur Lazhar, Think Like A Man, Damsels in Distress, and Sound of My Voice, all of which include sexual situations, sexual references, nudity, bad language, drug use, crude humor and so on. I’m no prude, but don’t our movie makers know how to put together an entertaining film without sex and bad language? They used to be able to do that.
The only remotely interesting movies showing right now might be Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, about a bunch of British pensioners; Chimpanzee, a “dazzling” look inside the world of chimpanzees; or The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a claymation feature.
NOT INTERESTED! Where are the movies like Driving Miss Daisy, Rain Man, Sandlot, A Man for All Seasons, Marley and Me, Fried Green Tomatoes, To Kill A Mockingbird, The King’s Speech - movies that depict people in realistic life situations where they are making well-intentioned efforts to do the right thing against all odds, where we share their angst as they try desperately to connect with each other? Those movies seem to come along so rarely. Sometimes, of course, a silly movie like Beverly Hills Chihuahua or a swashbuckler like Jewel of the Nile or a sci-fi like Star Wars is even worth watching.
Sam and I wonder if the problem with today’s movies is like the Sunday comic strip of Frank and Ernest. The two guys are lamenting the fact that the amusement park is no fun anymore because all of the rides are too much like real life. An acquaintance of mine said something similar recently too, that she didn’t like a book that was too realistic.
I’m sorry. I fail to see how realism is a problem. Okay, I admit I don’t care much for movies about chimps, or penguins or meerkats and such and in my youth I watched Roy Rogers and Buck Rogers movies. But real life’s a problem? Remember, life is (often) stranger than fiction.
Yes, good fiction does provide us with an escape from real life. And if you suspend disbelief as you are encouraged to do when partaking of fiction, it’s understandable how you might not like something too realistic. But good grief, I can’t personally suspend my disbelief long enough to watch movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon where people fly around in trees or like Harry Potter. To me, good movies allow us some suspension of disbelief while not taking us totally beyond the realm of realism.
Meryl Streep said on 60 Minutes the other night that big movie producers cater to the younger crowd (who don’t want seem to want realism) because the producers can sell more spinoff toys and goodies to the younger people. That’s something to think about, But meanwhile, Sam and I say two bags of poop on totally unrealistic movies.
I just can’t get excited about going to see the Avengers movie or Dark Shadows or The Dictator or The Raven or The Hunger Games or Bully or Lockout. Those movies all involve explosions, terror, violence, bad language or things I just don’t want to see in a movie.
Alternative choices include such offerings as The Five-Year Engagement, The Lucky One, Mirror, Mirror, Monsieur Lazhar, Think Like A Man, Damsels in Distress, and Sound of My Voice, all of which include sexual situations, sexual references, nudity, bad language, drug use, crude humor and so on. I’m no prude, but don’t our movie makers know how to put together an entertaining film without sex and bad language? They used to be able to do that.
The only remotely interesting movies showing right now might be Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, about a bunch of British pensioners; Chimpanzee, a “dazzling” look inside the world of chimpanzees; or The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a claymation feature.
NOT INTERESTED! Where are the movies like Driving Miss Daisy, Rain Man, Sandlot, A Man for All Seasons, Marley and Me, Fried Green Tomatoes, To Kill A Mockingbird, The King’s Speech - movies that depict people in realistic life situations where they are making well-intentioned efforts to do the right thing against all odds, where we share their angst as they try desperately to connect with each other? Those movies seem to come along so rarely. Sometimes, of course, a silly movie like Beverly Hills Chihuahua or a swashbuckler like Jewel of the Nile or a sci-fi like Star Wars is even worth watching.
Sam and I wonder if the problem with today’s movies is like the Sunday comic strip of Frank and Ernest. The two guys are lamenting the fact that the amusement park is no fun anymore because all of the rides are too much like real life. An acquaintance of mine said something similar recently too, that she didn’t like a book that was too realistic.
I’m sorry. I fail to see how realism is a problem. Okay, I admit I don’t care much for movies about chimps, or penguins or meerkats and such and in my youth I watched Roy Rogers and Buck Rogers movies. But real life’s a problem? Remember, life is (often) stranger than fiction.
Yes, good fiction does provide us with an escape from real life. And if you suspend disbelief as you are encouraged to do when partaking of fiction, it’s understandable how you might not like something too realistic. But good grief, I can’t personally suspend my disbelief long enough to watch movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon where people fly around in trees or like Harry Potter. To me, good movies allow us some suspension of disbelief while not taking us totally beyond the realm of realism.
Meryl Streep said on 60 Minutes the other night that big movie producers cater to the younger crowd (who don’t want seem to want realism) because the producers can sell more spinoff toys and goodies to the younger people. That’s something to think about, But meanwhile, Sam and I say two bags of poop on totally unrealistic movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment