Welcome to "8th Row Center," my reserved seat -- although every seat around me is empty, and probably for good reason. That's...not to speak of my hygiene, so much as the fare I'll be watching. Honest.
My Mission Statement: I will view & review mostly contemporary movies, many of them genre films, in an effort to keep current with viewing trends, marketing gimmickry, selling points, advertising and all the crazy-ass world of what Hollywood believes we'll pay 10 bucks to see.
The reviews will be based on the following philosophy (as was laid down to me a long time ago in my college film appreciation days): There are no good films; there are no bad films. Films are either effective to a given audience or they are not, and what may appeal to me will be God's Own Poo to you, and vice-versa.
But I want to see it all & know. Can movies be too violent and to no purpose? Is there a seed of genius in the most innocuous comedy? Can you really make a trend of interpreting childhood toys as box office gold? Are there breakout actors, directors, sfx people just now making a showing? Is Megan Fox all that? Can even the likes of Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic be wrong about a real stinkpot of cinema? (Probably not.)
When Ed Wood, Jr.'s "Plan 9 from Outer Space" first came out, it was, for its time, appropriately dragged through the muck and lambasted for crude acting, minimal production values, and outrageous directorial "skills". Wood was labeled The Worst Director of All Time.
But, now, 50 years later, we see the movie with new eyes. And it's still crap. But it's good crap, fun crap, and compared to like-minded idiocy today, even worthy crap. Will the oeuvre of Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeff Tremaine be rediscovered classics some far future day? God, I hope not.
Each movie will receive a neutral viewing, based on the following criteria: How clear the story is told, how competent the production is mounted, the good old-fashioned mise en scene, and if the whole magilla just holds together by the end credits. Afterwards I'll weigh in with a final paragraph about what I really think. Oh, and I will let you know.
What the hell are movies now? Where have the evocative film scores gone? Will something with the authoritative weight and scope of a "Gone With the Wind" or "Lawrence of Arabia" ever be made again? Or is the full-scale plummet to Straight-to-Video-and-Toys-R-Us the End of the Line for the 114 year-old medium? We'll see!
Or: I Will, So You Don't Have To.
Lights Out.
No comments:
Post a Comment