THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE CROSS DRESSER.
Rented a movie with some friends last night, ‘3:10 to Yuma’. Or, as my buddy now refers to it, ‘3:10 to this sucks ass’.
Now Christian Bale is worth my nickel any day of the week, but it got me thinking. Exactly what ‘is’ good, anyway? Why is it that you can watch a film and be moved to tears and yet the retard next to you is laughing his ass off? (Provided that the guy next to you isn’t actually retarded.) Certainly it can’t be that relative?
It’s always struck me as quite the mystery that some of the best films I’ve ever seen died a quick and painful death and yet, there’s an Academy Award sitting on Whoopie Goldbergs mantel. God knows the films I’ve personally written or directed (although having received critical acclaim) have financially brought me little more than a croissant at a filmmakers breakfast.
But that’s my own personal rub. The films that inspired me when I was young have long gone extinct. The masterpieces of the 70’s. The social commentary of the 60’s. The zany fun of the 50’s. The glamour of the 40’s. Therefore the films I tend to personally make have the commercial staying power of an eight track tape.
So, what the hell is it? Is art really in the eye of the beholder or does a jar of urine and a canvas of chimp shit really deserve space in a room of full Rembrants?
Well, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the above and I think I’ve come up with an answer.
Identity.
Fewer and fewer people today know what they are anymore, let alone what is great. In today’s multi-cultural mud bog, you’re lost. Where’s the standard? When grades are given out for showing up, excellence not only becomes marginalized, it soon becomes illegal.
George Clooney recently lamented on the fact that there aren’t as many ‘masterpieces’ today as there were in the 70’s. Interesting point. Where are the classics of today? I guess they just don’t make them anymore.
Or do they?
Perhaps it’s not that they’re not made, it’s that you no longer give a shit. If you live in the west, you can’t scratch your ass without being branded a racist or a homophobe. And so, you’ve not only become jaded to the cries of your neighbors rape across the hall, you actually celebrate the guy who went to the Arts Council and got a hundred thousand dollars to piss on a crucifix. How the hell would you know what’s good? Greatness today has become the collective. Something ‘we all do’ by default and so naturally, nobody knows what the hell it is. But not to panic we have the tv to remind us.
Films today, although very good, shoot for little more now than the opening weekend box and zeitgeist. The styrofoam cup ‘gone wild’. The big ‘whatever’. And it’s epidemic. And not that I’m taking any proverbial high road. I’ve worked on some of the crappiest film and television (and some of the best) shows in the world.
But when I look at some of the filmmakers honored in my adopted Vancouver, I’m consistently amazed. I don’t know a single one of my peers who isn’t left scratching their heads. I mean not only is the Emperor walkin’ around naked, but there’s tissue stuck to his ass. And not that I haven’t seen some great Canadian films, I’ve just never seen any of them honored in Canada. Now, I suppose we can take comfort in the fact that they’re not American. (You know, American films having that whole ‘entertainment’ thing going on.) But how many films can you make about sex and heroin before somebody cries bullshit?
But that’s my thesis. When a nation loses it’s identity and standards are thrown out the window, greatness becomes little more than flashing your snatch from a limousine.
Know what I miss? I miss the movie Priest. Remember when the Priest was a symbol of strength and dignity? ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. ON THE WATERFRONT. MEN OF BOYS TOWN. Priests that would grab you by the scruff of the neck and kick your ass should they think you were on the wrong path. Symbols of strength and moral courage. The tough America. Not the pussy it’s become today. They were the real deal. Ambassadors to doing the right thing. Not some placating apologist.
One didn’t need to be Catholic to appreciate the movie Priest. He was always the moral compass to the harsh reality of life. The Bowery was hard. So he was harder. The bad guy was tough. He was tougher. He had to be. He stood alone. Didn’t have his ‘posse’ of thugs and other assorted pussies to make himself look bigger. Sure, he turned the other cheek, but he kept a big fist in his pocket.
I miss those guys. The Fathers that had the boxing gym. The ones who would take in the troubled kid, teach him how to box and turn him into a Golden Gloves champion. How to stand as a man. To earn it and ask nothing of nobody. To pass on the hand out. Christ, do that today and your local honor student carves ‘FASCIST’ into the side of your car.
Today, say Priest and what comes to mind? Pedophilia. Homosexuality. Sex Scandal. Deviance. Spineless pussy. Where have you gone Pat Obrien? Our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you.
Want to end the war in Iraq? Drop Karl Malden in there. Even from his wheel chair, that guy’d kick the snot out of those homosexual/women/freedom hating natzi’s with one hand and then still have time to drop kick that Iranian Howdy Doody they got over there into the stratosphere.
Good? What the hell is that? I don’t know anymore. When goodness is no longer cultivated, it’s asthetic becomes invisible.
But then again, what the hell do I know? My head’s still spinning from the recipient of this years (Vancouver’s) ‘WOMAN IN FILM AWARD’.
It went to a man. In a skirt.
Okay…..
Actually, I was kind of wondering how Centigrade went at Method Fest, it was screening this weekend wasn’t it?
And as far as what you have written today goes, there isn’t really any another comment that I can make apart from - You’re totally right, its sad isn’t it!!
Oh, and I’m glad your feeling better, I was worried about you.
Hall-a-frickin-lujah.
Hollywood used to help people learn how to live rightly while it entertained - without preaching but with great stories and strong characters. The Oscar statuette should be changed into the fat, lazy whore that Hollywood has become, glutting itself on whatever sells.
After reading this column, the average Hollywood exec would probably say, “Hey, we’re just giving people what they want.” But most people, especially the 18 to 25 crowd (the largest demographic of movie-goers and the age group for which most movies are made today) don’t have a clue what they want until it’s shown to them. Art can reflect or instruct.
Hollywood and the world needs Father O’Brian now more than ever. I feel like crying when I watch movies like Boys Town, and not just at the sad parts, because they mark the distance so well between what America was and what it has become.
Nice work, brother.
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” (Bertolt Brecht)
i don’t know anything about how the film industry really works. unlike the music industry.
which is backwards in some ways.
I agree. There haven’t been any “mainstream” films that I’ve been excited to see in a long while and what I am looking forward to or enjoyed is basically rehashing of existing material (Sweeney Todd, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and.. uh.. Horton Hears a Who).
I think some (most?) of the problem lies in the industry — the studios want a film that will give them the quickest return. Or at least, that’s what it seems like to me. The same trend is seen on TV. They give the show a ridiculously small window to perform and if the ratings aren’t up to par, the show gets the axe. If they were running this way 15 years ago, shows like The X-Files never would have made it past 6 episodes.
Thinking back over the last few years, there are only two films I insist people see: Nothing and Serenity (though this is much more emotional if you’ve seen the Firefly series).
You are so right Cyn, but it’s not just the movie/TV industry that wants the quickest return, it seems to be every industry. I manage apartment buildings; we take them over after they have been built. The new ones have been slapped together with shit material and cheapest crap from China that can possibly be found to maximise the developers profit. The result is, we have to budget in the most amazing amount for maintenance. On the other hand I have a heritage listed building that will still be standing after a nuclear war. What happened to people’s work ethic in every industry?
I used to love old Alfred Hitchcock movies when I was a kid, I’d stay up and watch them with my Dad, they were brilliant, scared the crap out of me, but in a great way. My other favourite movie is High Society. I named my first child Samantha, after ‘I love you Samantha’. Now how dedicated is that to a movie!!! But I certainly would be hard pushed to find a movie nowadays with a character worthy of naming a child after.
Sadly what Mark said is true “But most people, especially the 18 to 25 crowd (the largest demographic of movie-goers and the age group for which most movies are made today) don’t have a clue what they want until it’s shown to them. Art can reflect or instruct” The movie industry is shaping them not them shaping the movie industry, exactly like the fashion industry and so many others industries, and people are too dumb to get up and just switch the bloody thing off, stop buying or stop patronizing.
Recently we won a contract for the biggest most impressive building in Perth, but what impressed me the most is that they asked us our opinion on how it should be constructed and where things should go, AND they are flying us to Melbourne to gain further insight into how we can work with them now and in the future, these developers actually care about building a functional building that is of a high standard. But why were we impressed? It should be the norm.
I think the reason why we are all here is that Centigrade reminds us all of a lost quality in movies, well for me anyway, (which is the reason I want to know it did well at Method Fest, it deserved to, besides I busted my gut trying to get every person I knew in LA there, and it was a surprisingly long list) I loved it because it reminded me of late nights with my Dad watching scary movies that relied on a generated sense of fear rather that visual onslaught of ‘blood and guts’ to create the entertainment. I hated it because it reminded me of a childhood fear and experience, but in the end it was just that I was thinking about it hours after I finished watching it, how many movies do that these days………….
I couldn’t agree more, both with the original thoughts, and the comments above. Excrement is NOT Art! To me, for something to rate as art, there has to be some talent involved. If I, or my cats, could come up with something similar, then it isn’t praiseworthy, and certainly shouldn’t win huge cash awards and world-wide renown. Or perhaps my cats and I should start churning out ‘works of art’, and get the mortgage paid off! What do you reckon? Any buyers? Thought not! I won’t say I’m not sometimes happy just to be entertained. Check your brains and suspension of belief at the door, and pass a pleasant hour or two with the kids watching a chick-flick or fantasy film. Great. But that doesn’t mean I want my intelligence (such as it is) insulted either.
I may be easy to please, but I’m hard to impress. (The last film I saw in the cinema that really managed that for me, was “Phone Booth”) I like films that, as Bexter says, make you think about them hours after you’ve watched them. I like them, and I’d dare to say, I deserve them. We all do. All us ordinary Joes and Josephines can do, I guess, is vote with our feet. Stop watching the dross, then if the bums are no longer on the seats and the money isn’t flowing into the coffers, perhaps the message will finally filter through that the fodder they are churning out isn’t good enough. Oh, and how radical is this? If the young folk need to be told what they like, how about us parents being the ones to do the telling, instead of leaving it to the ‘media’? *Gasp!
ROFLMAO!!!
Went to the movies with my friend Beth last night, and what should be screening but… 3.10 to Yuma. Well thanks to your input Colin we gave that a wide berth, in fact nothing to inspire us at all so went to dinner at the Hogs Breath and then back to Beth’s for a DVD and plentiful beers.
And what piece of cinematic excellence did we watch?…. Knocked Up.
Well i laughed my arse off (beers helped) but believe me I was NOT thinking of it an hour after i watched it except for one line “take care of it… so and so (can’t remember name) took care of her problem and now she has a REAL baby!!!”
I guess if you look hard enough, you can find something to inspire you in any movie.
And by the way… Beth loved Centigrade!!!
Older post, but I just found it…
You know what? I really don’t know what ‘good’ is. I know what I like and do not like, but hesitate to say something good or well done. There are so many supposedly ‘educated’ people out there today telling us what good and bad is. Yet I seem to dislike what they tell me is ‘good’ and enjoy what they say is ‘bad’; though naturally there are exceptions. But… what the hell do I know? I’m just some country girl from West-BumbleFuck New York. Though I’m fairly sure I can spot a really bad film (just turn on the Scifi channel and watch their latest very own made for TV ‘movie’).
These days I find myself less willing to pay to go see a movie. (I tend to just rent old movies on Netflix.) Many seem to try so hard and come up short. Hire all the ‘right’ actors (basically whatever tabloid fixture they can afford), spend crazy money on special effects but end up being all flash and no substance. Then others have wonderful concepts, ideas and what could be a good script if they had gone about it differently or been able to spend decent money. Hell, maybe they just don’t care. Maybe all they want to do is spin out another piece of shit so they can move onto the next, quantity over quality seems to be the tend these days.
“Perhaps it’s not that they’re not made, it’s that you no longer give a shit.” I give a shit, somewhat. It’s just that I’m so tired of all the shit out there. Life is short, I have my own goings on to deal with. Why spend hours wading through shit to find what may or may not be a decent movie? I refuse to depend on snobbish critics to tell me right from wrong. I’m sick of people winning awards just because they ‘dared’ to go and made themselves ugly for the role. From where I sit the industry looks like a bunch of egotistical people making shit so they have an excuse to throw a party, pat each other on the back and pass out some awards. The more money the movies makes, the bigger the blockbuster the less ‘worthy’ it is of a big award? Elitist snobbery. Flipping the coin, just because a movie flops at the box office (or doesn’t even make it there) doesn’t mean it’s shit.
Still I hesitate to just call something shit outright. Even if it really is a waste of my time and money there’s always someone who worked their ass off to make it. Put months of their life into it. Put up with some diva’s tantrums. Got some asshole his coffee and managed to resist the urge to piss in it. Potentially risked their life for a ten second stunt no movie-goer will know they did. So I feel bad saying it’s shit after only giving it a quick once-over.
So we’re back to the point. What the fuck does ‘good’ mean? I guess it just goes to show that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Overall I feel like the majority of movie goers these days just want to be entertained. Mostly that means big names, big effects, shocking twists and not being forced to think too much. They want to laugh, they want to cry… they want a bang for their buck.
What do I want? I’d like to just watch whatever the hell I want without some sort of judgment being passed. Judgment about whether or not it‘s good, or whether or not I have any ‘taste‘. It’s just like any other form of art. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
But what do I know? Not like anyone’s going to read this anyway.
Colin said: Now Christian Bale is worth my nickel any day of the week
Oh yes! I’m just getting into Christian Bale. I loved him in The Prestige and Batman begins. I hope to get American Psycho on my Quickflix soon.
I hear he’s going to be in Terminator 4 as John Connor. Interesting.
Cheers, chev