What is new is old again

(how special effects make movies suck)



So. The last installment of the Prequel to the Star Wars saga is out. Episode 3. And the last new episodes of Enterprise, the final show that started it all, are airing this month on UPN. And Revelations is out on network television, and Passion of the Christ is being re-released, only some parts cut out for younger viewers. All of this movie mania includes a whole heck of a lot of movie remakes, and sequels to remakes.



None of which makes any sense to me. I remember going to the Westwood 9 to see Star Wars when I was 12 years old, more specifically, I went with my younger brother and was AMAZED. Sure it was kinda campy, and it was the same "good vs. evil and good wins" story, but it had a punch. It had characters that you remembered, that made an impression. The same could be said for a lot of movies made in that timeframe. Special effects were just becoming something to be used, mostly hit and miss technology, so a movie needed a STORY. It had to tell us something outside our normal lives, draw us in and keep us rooted for 2 hours in front a gigantic screen with speakers bigger than our bedroom door to knock us around with sound. Going to the Movies was date with a girl, a night out with friends, a Family Event, complete with popcorn and soda. Even Television had "EVENTS". Shows airing for the first time, a movie , editing down to just over 1 hour, being played on network TV. And shows like Star Trek, campy lil sci fi show that tackled current issues set in a futuristic time when those issue didn't really exist on Earth.

Now, having said that, let me say this. Almost every movie this past 2 years has been an utter disappointment. Sequels and prequels and remakes and retellings abound. There are no new stories to be told. "Biopics" are the fad now, a 2 hour movie based on someone's biography. And not just anyone, oh no. People like Larry Flynn, paragon of virtue that he is. And movies based on "true stories", like Carandiru, a movie about a social worker in Brazilian prison that finds prisoners living in horrible conditions. What? Criminals not living like princes, like we treat them here in the US??



Movies used to be an escape, a pleasant diversion, money well spent for entertainment. Now it's political agenda, a 2 hour commercial (Sahara and it's JEEP theme ), or worse, 2 hours of mindless drivel disguised as "art". And when all else fails, nothing new works, the movie industry falls back on what has worked before. A Jurassic Park 4, another Batman movie, more "live action" movies based on cartoons, and movies based on popular TV shows. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, an A Team movie is coming out, and someone made a movie based on Bewitched. Children's movies and books don't escape either. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is coming out. A live action version of Charlotte's Web. And ONE more Harry Potter movie, which I might actually BUY when it comes out on DVD.



Now there are some movies I look forward too. Books that I loved reading can now be made into movies, thanks to breakthroughs in special effects, CGI, things of that nature. Lord of the Rings was absolutely awesome. The Harry Potter series has turned out quite well. And the Chronicles of Narnia are coming out. But that's it. I don't see alot of really good STORIES anymore, I see alot of computer game based movies, alot of remakes, which leads to a sequel of the remake. And it really bugs me. I used to love planning a night out, sometimes alone, to see 2 or even 3 movies all in a row, at the local Cineplex. Now I can only hope to see 1 at the movie theater, and if that ONE sucks, I head home and won't go see another until they come out on DVD.



I guess what I am saying is, I want to see a really good, really well written STORY. I'm not so much wanting vampires or were wolves, or action scenes loaded with fights and explosions and superheroes. But I don't want to spend 2 hours watching something I coulda learned in history class in 10th grade either.