It seems like every new Hollywood movie is the same exact thing; CGI explosions, poor writing, and needless, unnecessary sequels. What happened to the good old days when movies were masterpieces, in an age where studios were noble havens for all types of artists instead of the cash-grabbers they are today? What if we told you it never existed... and that Hollywood isnt actually all that bad. Here are ten common criticisms of Hollywood and ten reasons why theyre horribly unjust.
In todays age, it seems like movies are just 90 minutes of explosions. Hell, we have a whole genre called Summer Blockbusters that embodies that very idea. Wouldnt it be nice to go see a movie where the action is controlled, or at least balanced with amazing acting? No, it wouldnt. We would all hate that immensely. Lets go back to our movies list of 2011. Of the 50 highest grossing movies, around 9 are action packed blockbusters. And of these, only 5 did well. That means only 1 in 10 summer blockbusters did well- not exactly the ubiquity you were thinking of. OK fine, you say. But thats still much more than the past. Well, one thing you need to take into account is the technology. Today, it is much easier to make an explosion than in 1971 -when we needed an actual explosion. Still, lets look at some cinematic legends over the years: Pulp fiction, The Godfather, Lord of the Rings, Fight Club. Star Wars singlehandedly created the Summer Blockbuster genre. And thats not us pulling movies out of our ass to prove a point. Those are the some of the top rated movies of all time. According to a study by the University of Westminster, watching horror movies causes a spike in adrenaline, and the same holds true for action movies. Adrenaline spikes make us excited and create a sort of high that we tend to enjoy. Basically, we as a society are addicted to high octane movies.
When was the last time you laughed consistently at a movie and left feeling good? A major complaint against Hollywood is that there are no good comedies anymore. What happened to the good old days when we could watch a movie that starred Eddie Murphy as a donkey or Chris Tucker as a zebra and just laugh the whole time? Today, every comedy puts its best jokes in the trailer. Just look at The Watch, that movie starred an alien and three other very talented comedians. And yet the actual result stank worse than the underwear of a homeless man. In reality, comedy movies are like every other movie in the sense that we cant expect every movie to be balls-out hilarious. These movies would actually do well if they hadnt put the jokes in the trailer. At least then we would have had a few genuine laughs at the theater. But its a Catch-22, because without their best jokes in the trailer, theres no reason for anyone to watch the movie. Which brings me to my main point: the comedy aspect of comedy movies is its only redeeming factor. What actually is lacking in comedies today isnt the jokes after all, we saw some pretty good ones in the trailer its the story and acting. Dont get me wrong, every once in a while we do get a nice comedy like Madagascar or Hangover. 2013 has Movie 43 coming out, which
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basically stars every comedian you know and more in what seems to be 90 minutes of awesomeness. And if it does poorly, we at least know for sure it wasnt for its comedy.
Every great 80s and 90s action movie is being remade today, whether it be A-Team, Total Recall, Dredd, or Red Dawn. The problem with these remakes is that they all suck and it almost ruins our memories of childhood. The thing with remakes is that it would actually be nice if we could see a new take with modern visuals and actors. But a lot of us go into the theater with a bad mindset to begin with. We assume that the movie will suck only because we dont want something to be better than a classic. Dont get us wrong some of the remakes do suck. But have you ever heard of a remake doing well, period? Dredd is currently being ripped apart despite being a great movie. The same goes with A-Team. Sure these movies may not be the classics that were made decades ago, but theyre also not the steaming piles of turd we think they are. Next time you see a remake, try watching it with an open mind you may see a difference.
There are so, so many movies that are stuck in this thing called development hell which is basically when studios block their production, distribution, or just plain set fire to the sets to stop them from being made. Many movies are sucked into this void if the studio doesnt think its worthy enough, or if they have another project theyd like to feature instead. As a result, movies that couldve been great are never made. On one hand, the dickery of the studios is hard to ignore. However, it actually results in better movies for us in the long run. X Men First Class for example, was almost thrust into development hell, but was rescued at the last second by Bryan Singer. Now we have a rushed version of what couldve been amazing. Except, we totally get to see that movie in the version of its sequel. Other movies like the Total Recall remake were also in development hell, and tanked when they came out. However in their case, these were movies doomed to fail anyway, if anything because no one likes a reboot. A number of these movies are thought to have great potential only because theyre in development hell. Look at Peter Jacksons almost-Halo movie. That sounds amazing on paper, but then look at his other big project non-Lord of the Rings movie King Kong, and youll see the potential this has to fail. Movies in development hell are incomplete, we cant tell if theyre good or bad its too early. If the movie survives development hell and is good, well see a proper sequel.
When Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney and we were told that Star Wars 7 would be out in 2015, people started complaining. They assumed the movie would be botched because, well, look at Tron Legacy. Also look at X-Men 3, which couldve been amazing. I like to call this the
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Dark Knight Rises Effect, because thats where its most prevalent. The hype going into that movie was so great. It was supposed to be better than the Dark Knight, which some called the perfect movie. When the movie came out and there were plot holes, people started to complain. They blamed Nolan, they blamed WB, they even blamed fans of Batman. DKR was a decent film if you look at it. But after the movie came out, there was too much This Movie Rox and Oh God That Movie Was Crap for any reasonable opinion to be made. The movie couldnt live up to the hype it created. Thats what happens when you have to follow up on an amazing movie with something even better. Theres this mindset that the movie must be amazing because I wanted it to be. And when it isnt at the level you imagined, you feel betrayed.
Hollywood would like us to believe that guns can fire for ages without reloading; that archeologists get their artifacts by punching Nazis; and that scientific breakthroughs can happen overnight. Why cant movies be realistic? Because in reality, the material is boring often painfully so. It takes years to get a scientific breakthrough. Machine guns last a few seconds before they need reloading, and archeologists usually hire cheap labor to do their digging. But when we go to a movie, we dont want to see 90 minutes of poor Egyptians digging for gold while a white man stands over them. We want to see Harrison Ford take the gold from a temple while running away from a boulder. We dont want the truth, we want the fiction. This complaint goes especially to historical movies. Whether it be 10,000 BC or Troy, most movies that take place centuries ago are off the mark by a lot. But thats the problem; movies that are used to exemplify the problem are often bad for other reasons. Lets look at some historically accurate movies: theres Saving Private Ryan, which is lauded for being accurate. Its also chock-full of great actors and a great story. We as an audience dont care for historical accuracy over acting or a story so neither does Hollywood.
Remember that list of sequels I mentioned earlier? Did you notice how almost all of them werent based on original ideas? There isnt any creativity left in Hollywood, every movie you see is either based on a book, an already-existing movie, or some poor souls life story. Why is it that nowadays, we cant we get any original yet thoroughly enjoyable movies? Put simply, its because we dont care for them. How many people do you know that actually took their kids to see Hugo over Alvin and the Chipmunks 3? (Three?!) How many of your own friends do you know who went and saw The Kings Speech? When we get news that theres a movie adaptation of a book or a comic or a videogame that we loved as kids, were more excited to see them on the big screen with CGI and A-list actors than
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we are for original movies. But okay Ill admit that its your right to ask for at least one original movie that breaks the Hollywood norm and wows us all with an enjoyable and compelling story. We totally get at least one of those movies each year. In 2009 it was Hangover, in 2010 it was Inception, in 2011 it was Bridesmaids etc., etc. This year, we have Cloud Atlas, which set out to do exactly what we want from a movie. Heres a movie that breaks every Hollywood norm, is chock full of amazing actors and has stunning visuals. Instead we get complaints about yellow face and Wreck-it-Ralph takes the number 1 position at the Box office. What should you take away from all this? Hollywood doesnt suck, Hollywood is Hollywood just making movies and having fun. Haters suck. And movies suck because of them. Read more:http://listverse.com/2012/12/22/top-10-reasons-hollywood-doesnt-suck/ Top 10 Reasons Hollywood Doesn't Suck To read more on this topic click here
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