Today was as close to heaven as I get... I snuck off to watch a movie all by myself: Hell or Highwater, with a brilliant Jeff Bridges and a revelatory Chris Pine. (As an aside, miss it at your peril). As I sat in the darkened room, I felt such comfort. A movie theatre has always been my go-to place at times of upset, loss, disappointment - and also when I am absolutely desperate to see a film. Sadly, that rarely happens these days... Instead of wanting to get to the flicks 3 times a week, it is maybe 3 times a month.
For a while, I put this down to the fact that I have kids and therefor it is infinitely harder to get to a cinema - even though I have a stunning art deco cinema in my town - replete with a bar... But then it dawned on me that there simply aren't the same type of films made these days that I was once so desperate to watch. (In August I manned to see The Shallows and David Brent... and Finding Dory. EXACTLY).
Sure the 70s and 80s were the halcyon days of cinema - but this year when I read an article with the brilliant Jodie Foster in the Times, I was shocked when she commented that a film like 'The Accused' for which she won one or her two Oscars, wouldn't get made these days. Why is this??
An article by Jonathan Dean (also in the Times) lists the box office top ten in 1993: Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, The Firm, Sleepless in Seattle, Schindler's List and In the Line of Fire in there... Groundhog Day at number 13. That list is just teaming with memorable films... Last year, the list is largely re-makes or sequels or kid's films... and how in the world is Ant Man at number 14? Around Jan/Feb we get a quick fix of brilliant films: The Revenant, Room, Spotlight and then..... nada. Bar the odd gem like Hell or Highwater, or Sing Street - nothing. The only other memorable film I have seen this year is Mustang - and that was a Turkish film with a whiff of the brilliant Virgin Suicides about it...
What is Sophia Coppola doing now? Peter Weir (who made 3 of my fav films), Curtis Hanson? Sodenbergh? I find David O'Russell overrated (sorry - I thought Bradley Cooper went from crazy to normal with no turning point in Silver Linings, I hated Joy and found American Hustle bloated - plus I've never forgotten that Clooney punched him for treating an extra badly... and he made Amy Adams cry on AH - to the point Christian Bale had to intervene and call him an asshole...) and Todd Hayne's Carol was a case of style over substance...
So where are the: In the Bedroom, LA Confidential, Swingers, Fatal Attraction, Being John Malkovich, Dead Man Walking, Leaving Las Vegas, Rosemary's Baby, Almost Famous, Tootsie, Footloose, Flashdance, American Werewolf in London, After Hours, Witness, Moonstruck, Stand By Me, The Big Chill, Dead Poets, Silence of the Lambs, American Beauty, Little Children, Clerks, Good Will Hunting, Out of Sight, Thelma and Louise, Goodfellas, Rushmore, My Own Private Idaho, JFK, Sideways, You can Count on Me, Memento, Se7en, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine, Boogie Nights etc. etc. etc. ???
WHERE ARE THEY? Is it just bloody Marvel characters ad infinitum?? According to Dean's article, 71 comic book based films are in the works. SIGH.
I preferred Robert Downey Junior in Two Girls and a Guy than in any of his Iron Man formulaic hits.... because I am not a 12 year old boy... Obviously these type of Blockbuster films have an audience and I don't dispute the necessity of such films to bring butts on seats and cash flowing in - but what I do resent is that these are the only type of films getting made... Do the studios and indies think that we have dumbed down? That people over 30 only venture to the cinema with their sprogs in tow? That we need CGI and loud explosions to be enthralled? I just need a good script...
I am desperate to have lists of films that I urgently need to watch.... Like the time I cycled in the rain to see Crash, or made my husband drive for 50 mins and pay twice what I usually do to see the excellent Whiplash. (Yes that was only a couple of years ago - but it falls into the Oscar handful of great films). I want to come home and hand my babysitter the £30 I pay her and think - that film? Totally worth it.
But that SO rarely happens. I remember the good old days of boring colleagues with my endless talk on such beauties as Drive - filled with enthusiasm to finally see something adult, engaging and downright memorable.
We have no end of acting talent - we have brilliant writers - female directors gagging to get work - and in a male dominated industry, the best we can come up with is - Thor?
I miss going to the cinema. But most of all I miss wanting to go there... Please, can things change?
For a while, I put this down to the fact that I have kids and therefor it is infinitely harder to get to a cinema - even though I have a stunning art deco cinema in my town - replete with a bar... But then it dawned on me that there simply aren't the same type of films made these days that I was once so desperate to watch. (In August I manned to see The Shallows and David Brent... and Finding Dory. EXACTLY).
Sure the 70s and 80s were the halcyon days of cinema - but this year when I read an article with the brilliant Jodie Foster in the Times, I was shocked when she commented that a film like 'The Accused' for which she won one or her two Oscars, wouldn't get made these days. Why is this??
An article by Jonathan Dean (also in the Times) lists the box office top ten in 1993: Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, The Firm, Sleepless in Seattle, Schindler's List and In the Line of Fire in there... Groundhog Day at number 13. That list is just teaming with memorable films... Last year, the list is largely re-makes or sequels or kid's films... and how in the world is Ant Man at number 14? Around Jan/Feb we get a quick fix of brilliant films: The Revenant, Room, Spotlight and then..... nada. Bar the odd gem like Hell or Highwater, or Sing Street - nothing. The only other memorable film I have seen this year is Mustang - and that was a Turkish film with a whiff of the brilliant Virgin Suicides about it...
What is Sophia Coppola doing now? Peter Weir (who made 3 of my fav films), Curtis Hanson? Sodenbergh? I find David O'Russell overrated (sorry - I thought Bradley Cooper went from crazy to normal with no turning point in Silver Linings, I hated Joy and found American Hustle bloated - plus I've never forgotten that Clooney punched him for treating an extra badly... and he made Amy Adams cry on AH - to the point Christian Bale had to intervene and call him an asshole...) and Todd Hayne's Carol was a case of style over substance...
So where are the: In the Bedroom, LA Confidential, Swingers, Fatal Attraction, Being John Malkovich, Dead Man Walking, Leaving Las Vegas, Rosemary's Baby, Almost Famous, Tootsie, Footloose, Flashdance, American Werewolf in London, After Hours, Witness, Moonstruck, Stand By Me, The Big Chill, Dead Poets, Silence of the Lambs, American Beauty, Little Children, Clerks, Good Will Hunting, Out of Sight, Thelma and Louise, Goodfellas, Rushmore, My Own Private Idaho, JFK, Sideways, You can Count on Me, Memento, Se7en, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine, Boogie Nights etc. etc. etc. ???
WHERE ARE THEY? Is it just bloody Marvel characters ad infinitum?? According to Dean's article, 71 comic book based films are in the works. SIGH.
I preferred Robert Downey Junior in Two Girls and a Guy than in any of his Iron Man formulaic hits.... because I am not a 12 year old boy... Obviously these type of Blockbuster films have an audience and I don't dispute the necessity of such films to bring butts on seats and cash flowing in - but what I do resent is that these are the only type of films getting made... Do the studios and indies think that we have dumbed down? That people over 30 only venture to the cinema with their sprogs in tow? That we need CGI and loud explosions to be enthralled? I just need a good script...
I am desperate to have lists of films that I urgently need to watch.... Like the time I cycled in the rain to see Crash, or made my husband drive for 50 mins and pay twice what I usually do to see the excellent Whiplash. (Yes that was only a couple of years ago - but it falls into the Oscar handful of great films). I want to come home and hand my babysitter the £30 I pay her and think - that film? Totally worth it.
But that SO rarely happens. I remember the good old days of boring colleagues with my endless talk on such beauties as Drive - filled with enthusiasm to finally see something adult, engaging and downright memorable.
We have no end of acting talent - we have brilliant writers - female directors gagging to get work - and in a male dominated industry, the best we can come up with is - Thor?
I miss going to the cinema. But most of all I miss wanting to go there... Please, can things change?
