Movies in a morass |
 |
| As teen movies dominate multiplex screens the future does not look bright for serious filmgoers |
Round about now, with the annual orgy of sub-thespian back slapping and partying and plaudits, one might be lulled into believing that the movie industry is in great shape – physically and financially and that we can gleefully anticipate a slew of thoughtful, intelligent and gloriously high-end product to hit our local fleapit for our pleasure and delectation over the next few months. Wrong. So sadly wrong…
Once the awards season and its contiguous interest spike have been fully exploited, the quality of the releases descends into a morass with which we, the consumer, have become sullenly accustomed. A glance at the slated offerings for this year, once The King's Speech, Black Swan, The Fighter, True Grit and The Social Network are packed off to DVD heaven, makes for pretty depressing reading, as Hollywood (and it is, essentially, Hollywood producers making the big money decisions) opt for the safe, but ultimately bland verging on narcoleptic, path of heaping franchise upon franchise.
An embarrassment of lowest common denominator remakes gives us Mad Max 4, Kick Ass 2, Saw VIII, Transformers 3, Spy Kids 4, Rambo 5, Hangover 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Scary Movie 5, Scream 4, Paranormal Activity 3 – even Ghostbusters 3, and any number of Tom Cruise/Jennifer Aniston/Cameron Diaz/Ben Stiller/Robert Pattison vacuous vehicles. Notwithstanding the fact that audiences are voting with their feet and that an admissions decline is now apparent, in the 22 years I worked in the medium, 2011 is the year I would have found most challenging to promote to advertisers.
Far from being a safe route, it can be argued that sequels heaven will prove a very short-termist view on the part of the money men. Pretty unwise, given that should an entire sector of the movie-going public be effectively driven from the cinema shores by the tsunami of dross therein, then the moviegoing habit is broken – possibly terminally.
The over 25s realise a DVD comes far cheaper than the price of two cinema tickets (not including the absolute robbery that is popcorn). The ambience chez lui is far more congenial to movie engagement and appreciation than sitting through 20 minutes of ads and trailers in a greasy sweat-stained emporium in the company of munching, mobile masturbating morons (the Lighthouse and Movies@ cinemas graciously excluded).
Apart from the overwhelming smorgasbord of kids product during school holiday periods (most, in the kindest sense, mere regurgitated appendages to the original which at least offered a dim spark of creativity), the movie industry is now courting one single, narrow target audience – the easiest pickings of all – the adolescent male who rushes to see the hot new ‘cool' movie on the weekend it opens, regardless or oblivious of critical mauling.
In contrast, the music industry is busily embracing anti-blandness in all its various forms, with the likes of Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and Paloma Faith flying the flag of diversity and niche appeal. Sky Atlantic recognises there is an audience out there with an attention span and the desire to use it It is attracting the audience numbers and demographics that cinema has so casually discarded. For example, Boardwalk Empire.
 |
GANGSTER HITSteve Buscemi plays Enoch ‘Nucky' Thompson in the Mafia series Boardwalk Empire on the new Sky Atlantic channel. As Hollywood relies on teen movies to boost admissions, movie buffs are turning to the likes of HBO for well-written and ably acted dramas. |
Ushering in a new digital age has long been hailed as the means to revolutionise the future of the movie industry, enabling the democratisation of movie making as costs for production and distribution plummet, but the pace of change has been precious slow and hugely erratic, partly due to the variability of the service provision technologies.
3D has been a PR dream, but again its enchantment extends to and ends with our pre-adolescent and teenage chums. The promise of extended product offerings, making cinema spaces platforms for unique viewing opportunities such as the streaming of rock concerts, high end interactive live interviews, big matches and sporting events, seems to be taking off in the US, but the ingenuity of ‘the digital promise' is replicated here. Equally, the struggling indigenous movie maker, the new Neil Jordan or Jim Sheridan, buoyed up by the expectation that the new dawn of digital would indeed usher in a utopian dream of hand-held movie magic transferring for half nothing to the embracing bosom of nationwide auditoria, has been sadly disenchanted. The buzzword is safe and safe it shall stay while the franchises continue to turn a buck for the studios.
Cinema and too much of its erstwhile acting talent has well and truly sold out. Robert De Niro's bloated self-parodying ‘performance' in Little Fockers is perhaps the most depressing evidence of this trend. The towering tours de force of Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, which earned him ‘greatest living actor' plaudits, have been well and truly smothered by this high fat, easily digestible comfort food for the masses.
There is real culture out there – real erudition, polish, intelligence, enlightenment, entertainment. Just don't expect to find it resident in the multiplex anytime soon.
