They are just movies after all

I remember a few years ago when I used to give Erik a real hard time about his stance on movies. I used to tell him there was nothing wrong with turning off your brain and just enjoying some movie fun. I complained about his love of documentaries and black and white movies and was constantly trying to change him. His nickname was "The Film Nazi." It was a good time for all and I do believe it got him to loosen up a bit and start seeing movies he would not have ordinarily seen, not that that was always a good thing- Garfield, The Pacifier and Barbershop 2, come to mind. Recently though, I have been on the receiving end of such teasing. I am not sure when it happened but somewhere in the last two years I stopped finding merit in movies that had no real redeeming qualities. People have told me they feel sorry for me because I take movies too seriously, They are just movies, after all, right? Sure, they are just movies. But, why shouldn't they just be movies with something deep or entertaining about them?


"When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'" - Quentin Tarantino

This all seems to have started with Evan Almighty. For those of you not in the know, I took a tremendous amount of glee in the ultimate failure of that movie. While it may creep into $100 million dollar status by the end of this year, it was considered a bomb at the Box Office and it made me a lot more happy than I should have been. I did not see this movie, so I cannot tell you that it sucked. I can tell you that it looked awful, unimaginative and so blandly unfunny, Napoleon dynamite had reason to think it would not be the worst comedy ever anymore. But why should any of that matter to me? Why should I care if a movie made money or not? Why should I care if people want to go watch a movie where every joke is borrowed from hundreds of other movies? Am I just a movie snob who only wants to see deep movies worthy of Oscars? Well, my love for Transformers would negate that point, or maybe I just don't like dumb comedies? Well, I count Tommy Boy as one of the funniest movies ever and that is not exactly a smart comedy, so it isn't that either. I can't really put my finger on why, I just know that there were better movies out and it disgusted me that a studio shelled out $150 million dollars to make something that looked so crappy. IS that so wrong?


If I have to see 3 Nobits get made in order for one Children of Men to get made, I can live with that.

Is it so wrong to want to persuade people away from Balls of Fury? Is it so wrong to get passionate when speaking about how awful that movie looks? For me an average trip to the movie costs about $18.00. $7.00 for a ticket and $11.00 in popcorn and soda and maybe a candy. $18.00 is roughly the cost of a community theater ticket or a new book or a c.d. If you bought a c.d for 18 bucks and only liked 5 songs on it would you consider it a good purchase, or would you be upset? Would you waste your money on that c.d if you had heard 2 songs on the radio from the c.d and hated them both? I highly doubt it, so why should pay money to see a movie that has a trailer that looks awful, especially a comedy? Comedies should look and sound like Superbad, Knocked up, Hot Fuzz or Thank you for smoking. Watching Will Ferrell play the same obnoxious clueless character in 10 different movies does nothing for me and if asked I will say that. Is that so wrong? People say I shove my opinions down people's throats and if you think that, that is fine, but I believe in honesty and if asked I will give my unfiltered my opinion, it is not my fault it offends you because you enjoy such god-awful movies!

The older I get, the more I look at movies as a moving miracle.- Steven Speilberg

I do not go into each and every movie expecting them to all be like Children of men, I don't, but when I go into a comedy I expect to laugh and when I go into an action movie I expect great action, nothing more nothing less. I believe movies can be more than just ways to pass time. When people think a movie is cute, I don't understand that concept, really. To me, finding a movie cute means it didn't do anything for you, but you can't bring yourself to say you hated it. People are so afraid of forming real concrete opinions and when they start talking to me and I am not afraid of such opinions that they think I am putting them down personally for thinking something different from me. I am not opposed to someone thinking something different than me, but I do ask why they feel this way. If they liked a movie I like to know why and if they can't come up with anything other than "well, it was cute" then I say, that is not an opinion, that is an absence of opinion. There is nothing wrong with loving whatever movie you love or hating any movie you hate, but is it too much to ask to have a reason for it. Look, if you find Will Ferrell funny, that is fine, really it is. But, I disagree with you and I have no problem telling you so and if you really love his movies, you should have no problem going back and forth with me as to why you do love him.

"Basically, you make another movie, and another, and hopefully you feel good about every picture you make. And you say: 'My name is on that. I did that. It's OK.' But don't get me wrong, I still get excited by it all. That, I hope, will never disappear." - Martin Scorsese

Should we have to turn off our brains to enjoy a movie? Should I feel bad for not liking everything I am force fed? I don't think so. I don't think every popular movie is bad but I don't' think I should like something just because everyone else does. If it were up to me, Children of Men would have been the highest seen movie of last year, but that is because I think it is such a brilliant and not much seen movie and I think that is a crime. If you read a book you love, do you not want other people to enjoy it as well? I used to call this whole idea of brainless entertainment, the Dan Brown disease. Everyone was enamored with the hype and the semi interesting story of The DaVinci Code that most people didn't even realize how poorly written it was. With movies it is similar. We are so busy being told that Will Ferrell is funny and that Johnny Depp is an awesome actor that so many people don't even think to wonder if it is true. I am not one of those anti-Hollywood people because I think big summer blockbusters are fabulous, I just wish that all of those people sitting and enjoying Transformers will find a way to enjoy something like No Country for Old Men later on this year.

"I like the movie to be about the movie and to allow people to think about the movie the way I always thought about movies I watched and admired"- Curtis Hanson

I know I care about movies more than the average person. I am perfectly ok with that and I understand I have a habit of being loud, argumentative and passionate about such things and I am ok with that as well, but to be told I take movies too seriously is not something I am ok with. That is like telling anyone their hobby, or their passion is silly. When I say I hate country music around people who love country music, I get an earful and I can respect that. When I say that soccer is not a sport and that rare soccer fan is around, I have to hear about it and I can respect that too (even if I do not respect soccer) so when movies are brought up I have a duty to depend my passion like everyone else. Usually people just keep quiet because no one wants to ruffle any feathers but I am not afraid to do so, so why should that be a bad thing? If everyone stood up for the things they loved it would be a much more fun place to be. You may think this whole essay is silly and that is perfectly fine with me, because it is my blog so I can say whatever the hell I want.

When people see some depth you never intended that's really cool, you just put on a face and say "Oh, yeah, that was deep". What are you going to say? I'm just a moron with luck?- Alfonso Cuaron (director of Children of Men)

In closing I just want to say with four months left in this year, we have plenty of awesome movies about to come out so do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for- Shoot em up, American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, 3:10 to Yuma, Eastern Promises, In the valley of Elah, Across the universe, Into the Wild, Lust Caution, The Darjelling Limited, We own the night, Michael Clayton, Sleuth, Lars and the Real Girl, 30 days of night, Gone baby gone, Lions for Lambs, Leatherheads, Sweeney Todd, The Savages and Charlie Wilson's War.