The facts and they (make me) furious : Movie Drift.

The facts and they (make me) furious : Movie Drift. (Originally published in January 2007)

A lot of people ask me why I hate 90% of modern movies so much. Why did I despise X3 so? Why do the trailers for anything with Paul Walker make me want to Paul Walk my ass out of the theatre? Why did Poseidon make me want to vomit without ever getting on that boat? Why am I writing in cheesy contorted metaphors?

Now...I'm no hoity-toity, pompous, art film aficionado wearing sandles and a pony tail.

But I knows what I likes.

When I was a kid my Dad would watch movies that I, at first, thought were amazingly boring.

I remember one, in particular, was about some very gayish British guy who spent a lot of time in the desert. It had Obi Wan Kenobi in it, though he was painted darker and spoke funny.

My Dad would try to get me to watch it with him. But I was eleven years old, I wanted him to bring me to see Top Gun again.

Lawrence Of Arabia (in case you haven't figured it out yet) would be one of the movies that opened my eyes to how great movies can truly be.

In thinking about all of this, I realized what the problem is with movies these days.

I was blessed with a Dad and Uncles who wanted me to watch films like Lawrence Of Arabia, Bridge On The River Kwai, Glory and even The Godfather when I was young.

You've heard of letting the television babysit your kids these days? Well, It's worse than we thought. Parents give their kids cash to go see whatever Rob Cohen movie they want. When they get home they give their teens more money to buy a Michael Bay film on DVD. The movie studios know that teens these days have the money. So they play to the market. It's understandable, but unfortunate.

When I was a young teen the movie studios didn't really care about me. It was the 80's. The studios cared less about the young male demographic and made pretty good films. Sure there was the occasional brainless film. But, thanks to my family not letting me become an idiot, even at 12 I knew Top Gun was stupid.

That's why I stand by my constant claim that the golden age of (American) movies was the 70's. The studios not only cared less about the young people...they couldn't care less about young people. And what happened? The greatest movies of all time. Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, The French Connection, Apocalypse Now, Chinatown. Any questions?

Young people were all the better for it. They were forced to rise to the occasion, smarten up rather than dumb down.

Today, it's all about dumbing down. If the lowest common denominator makes money, it's the easiest way to go. The road the most travelled.

So they make crap, and the target audience (which I should amend from just teens to teens and people who never grew or smartened up.) goes to see this crap. Worst of all they defend this crap with "oh it's enjoyable get away fare."

Then get the hell away. Go somewhere where Michael Bay is an auteur instead of autistic. Maybe The Island.

-Elias

Ps. I caught The Station Agent on TV the other day. Its one of those movies where nothing happens except the characters evolution. Its great. I recommend it highly.