Posted on 10/22/2006 4:36:47 PM PDT by abb
How about "The Wrong Box," one of Michael Caine's first movies? A wonderful parody.
Give us a real movie -- Clinton - The Party. Take it from Unlimited Access by Gary Aldrich.
What really did it for me was the "remake" of Psycho. Not only did they completely miscast that movie (Vince Vaughn? I mean, come on! He was good in "Dodgeball, the Movie," but as Norman Bates?), but they must have realized that it perfect the way it was, since they used the original script and the same shots!
The only things they changed was the cast, the scenery, and they shot it in color!
Mark
It wasn't from the movies being blockbusters. In effect, he used the movies as commercials to sell stuff, like action figures, lunch boxes, and t-shirts!
Mark
The most disturbing thing about Hollywood is how it has robbed all of us of our innocence. When "Arsenic and Old Lace" (Cary Grant and Frank Capra classic) came out in the 40's plenty of people in our neighborhood had sleepless nights, including me and my mother. Now when I see it, I am not affected by the horror, I just laugh.
Visual media have a great capacity to insinuate negative ideas and attitudes into our minds, much more so than print. One wonders how fast our country would have declined if TV and the movies had not been part of our daily lives.
Do you think violence in literature like Shakespeare and Dickens and Greek Tragedy has done the same?
It can be. There are some great, serious, dark movies that deserve every accolade they have received. True artists know how to convey the essence of something like garbage without literally hitting us in the face with it.
I don't believe in art for art's sake, however. That probably makes me a barbarian in some people's eyes but I don't believe something is beautiful or valuable just because someone or even a lot of people call it art. Chris Ofili is, in my book, one of those "artists" whose work falls into this category. A lot of what Warhol did was just plain ugly and banal (yes, I know that was part of his oeuvre). Christo is one I can't identify with. And I wouldn't want to own a Picasso or Degas or Dali or a lot of other world-class artists except as investments. That art, while undeniably great, don't move me personally. Guess you could say I am the Burt Lancaster character in The Train.
What I want to see is Hollywood realizing that the bottom line means there are more of me than of the critics and making money means identifying the types of movies that appeal to people like me.
"How about "The Wrong Box,"
I enjoyed that one. I'm sure I could think of others that I really enjoyed but my brain is really starting to go on the fritz. It's been a very long month for me and sometimes my brain just shuts down. I like humor that makes you think, irony, mystery, historical, military and other types so long as I can either feel better about humankind or the future or it really makes me think enough to challenge my attitudes and ideas. Or is just plain clean laughs, the type where I could sit next to my folks or my ecclesiastical leader and not feel guilty about enjoying it.
I loved Chariots of Fire because it was a well-made, clean,thought-provoking, uplifting movie. I even love (sometimes) Abbott and Costello just for the pure comedy of that team. I liked the recent movie Down and Derby because it was current, a parody of Pinewood Derby fever and not a single swear word in the entire movie. Parodies are a great vehicle for teaching and preaching while generating laughs. I am just a little worried Hollywood has lost the ability to make such movies except as Disney cartoons.
Trying to appeal to the 'masses' however they are defined is what got us these gory horror movies and bathroom humor comedies. People should always strive to the very best they can do both as filmmakers and film-goers regardless of whether or not it has popular appeal.
You have a good point yet I think Hollywood created its own "masses" by first trying cutting edge films and implying that anyone who was anyone had to see that film. I really believe that society has been coarsened by Hollywood and that Hollywood tries to lead rather than follow popular tastes by constantly pushing the envelope enough to generate shock. Now it's a vicious circle of who can out-gross (and not in profits) the others.
Further, Michael Medved has made the point numerous times that Hollywood constantly pushes R rated films even though they rarely, if ever, make more money than the more benevolently-rated films. To that extent, Hollywood cuts it own throat for the sake of making a point or pushing the envelope.
You can see even more explicit stuff in the 'Pre Code' films made before the Production Code took effect in 1934. A number of them could not be released again uncut until the 60s.
Hollywood has "pushed the envelope" too often not for artistic or philosophical reasons but because they had a hidden agenda.
Too many writers, directors and actors have screwed-up personal lives and it is reflected in their work.
Somebody once said, in viewing an incomprehensible work of abstract art, "I just don't enjoy looking into the deranged mind of this artist."
Art can not be successful if it fails to communicate.
By "pushing the envelope", I meant it in the sense of the old standards committee which used to rein in excesses against public decency standards. There is artistic innovation and that is sometimes great, sometimes terrible but taht isn't what I was thinking about. Pushing the envelope solely to protest against moral standards and to generate shock by the audience is unworthy of the praise it often garners from critics.
Critics disagree about movies all the time so I don't know that shock for its own sake gathers the uniform praise you describe. Could you cite an example?
The work is always going to reflect the artist's point of view. How could it be otherwise?
Translation: Hollywood has to make movies people are willing to pay to see...
Hollywood, like Detroit, felt they could force out products the American people hated - and still succeed.
They were wrong.
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