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March 07, 2006
The best movies are playing at home
Anne Althouse had a couple of posts about the entertainment industry that got me thinking.
"I just feel that filmmakers are much more proactive since the second Bush administration,"
says Steven Spielberg. "I think that everybody is trying to declare their independence and state their case for things that we believe in. No one is really representing us, so we're representing our own feelings, and we're trying to strike back."Emanuel Levy, professor of critical studies in the UCLA Film School and author of the book "All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards," said he thinks the tremors of a post-9/11 world have just caught up with Hollywood in this year's Academy Award races. Levy said that when society faces a divisive issue, such as the war in Iraq or the response to terrorism, critical movies emerge, but not immediately.
There is an expression in Hollywood that the studios make movies about what people were talking about last year. There is always a lag between idea and premiere. "Munich" took six years to reach the multiplex. "Brokeback Mountain" took eight. "Syriana" is based on a book written during the Clinton administration.
In other words, Spielberg is totally bullshitting. It's not about Bush, it's about Clinton.
Ann also commented on the low numbers of Americans who had bothered going to a theater to see the pictures nominated for an Oscar, and whether many would bother to watch the Oscars.
Oddly enough, I've got something to say about this (and damn near anything else, too, I know).
I've been a HUGE movie buff (cinephile sounds too snobbish) since I was a little kid, when my mom would drop me off at the Studio City Theater and the La Reina on Ventura Blvd. for their summer movie programs in the early 70s.
My wife cautions before each Costco visit, "You're not going to buy anymore DVDs, are you?" Of course, it's hard to resist when you can own a classic flick, or even just a pretty good one, for less than the price of two tickets, drinks and popcorn.
Sigh.
I got to meet many old-time actors and technicians while hanging out at the Studio City Driving Range with my dad, and later when I got my first job in the coffee shop, where the duffers would drink coffee and shoot the breeze about the good old days.
How many kids got to see Jack Albertson do a softshoe with a putter standing in for his cane; Harry Warren talk about writing "Atchinson, Topeka & the Santa Fe," and "Chatanooga Choo-Choo," ; George Tobias talking about his time on the set with Cagney and Bogie.
I grew up watching the Oscars, and went to school with actor's kids; Walter Matthau's son would go to the races with his dad, sporting his own bankroll to bet on the ponies.
Anyhow, having stated my bona fides, I must also tell you that I didn't bother watching the Oscars Sunday night. I hadn't seen any of the nominated films, and have no interest in doing so.
Between the sexual identity agenda films (Brokeback and TransAmerica) and the anti-American, anti-Western political agenda flicks (Good NIght, Crash, Munich and Syriana), I've avoided the movies like a bathroom in a Chinese restaurant.
I wrote about Munich, Brokeback and TransAmerica here.
The theaters themselves are annoying, with high ticket prices, ads (frickin' ads!) playing before the feature, dim pictures because of theaterowners trying to extend the life of the projector bulbs, and rude, crude, socially inept patrons, talking, answering cell phones, and bringing squalling infants and complaining toddlers to grossly inappropriate films.
We bought an LCD front projector, which we put on the coffee table, and now watch on a pull-down six-foot widescreen screen, on a comfy couch, and quite frankly don't miss the communal experience of fighting for the armrest with the moron who showed up late and asked everybody in the row to move down one seat.
The only genre that suffers as a result is the comedy; nothing compares to hundreds or thousands of people laughing, the sounds of their laughter ebbing and building, rolling throughout a darkened theater.
But few comedies of late inspire that kind of hilarity. . . .
Finally, the last place I want to get my politics from is the movies. Spielberg has gone off the rails; a good technician who produced rousing pop entertainment has decided he needs to educate us about the moral complexities of the Middle East.
BWAHHHHAAAAA.
Sorry.
I wonder how Schindler's List would look had it been made during Spielberg's new, "speak-truth-to-power" phase.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 7, 2006 01:25 AM
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Comments
Gee Mike, you're picking on old Meg Ryan and the Jackson boys. These are good posts! Makes me want to watch Meet The Parents, which is always great for a few dozen laughs.
Spielberg's movies have never been my thing because he manipulates every emotion, every patron. Every scene. You can keep a tablet by the screen and mark down every time Steven wants you to laugh. Or cry. Or reflect. Gaa! Let me watch and decide for myself.
The biggest offending scene is when ET flies off into the moon. Even my brother, who was only about 10 at the time, had a tear rolling down his face. He's an attorney now and I don't think he likes having been sucker punched like that. Otherwise, Spielberg films are worth watching as long as you accept the fact that he's going to commandeer all your emotions.
Great pic of that marquee on Ventura Blvd.
Posted by: Vermont Neighbor at June 24, 2006 05:33 PM