That's not cinema

​A very special thank you to Mr. Dan Sanders for his great post last week. Dan’s insights brought a lot of visitors to jplinde.com and I am sure he’ll be back.
 
And now, this week’s feature presentation.
 
“I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
 
Generally speaking, Martin Scorsese’s right. Most movies nowadays are theme park attractions! And it’s a simple deduction to make that these films are the ones studios believe are going to make the most money. No surprise. The movies audiences seem willing to sit through are the ones with the loudest snap, crackle and POP! It’s quite ironic to note, as attention spans get shorter, this particular cinematic eye candy gets longer; most of these tentpole films clocking in at over two hours. 
 
However, the fault, as Scorsese suggests, is not in Marvel’s films. I believe he may be painting with too big a brush. For the most part, Marvel films are better written than their counterparts. Their characters are smart, have at least some relatable emotional depth and are more complex than merely the dark and brooding of their counterparts. So, let’s release them from blame and focus on better examples of what the famed director might have meant.
 
Case in point.

​The original John Wick is a fantastic film. Original premise, well written and the creation of a world that is both complex and thought provoking. It features great performances with a stunning look and feel. Now, let’s jump ahead and consider John Wick; Chapter 3 Parabellum. Same stunning visual look, awesome stunts and fight sequences and even one exotic location thrown in for good measure. The Producer/writers even went so far to add a female John Wick, Halle Berry, and a couple of extra dogs. But, when it all comes down to it, it is only more of the same; just bigger, louder and featuring bigger pops. A 200+ million-dollar theme park ride. There are more of these type pictures out there, so let’s not place all the blame on Lionsgate. Some of the blame, dear reader, is in our selves.
 
A majority of movies are no nothing more than a sugar diet for the brain. The need to go big or go home has become the order of the day. Modern Hollywood is big business and needs boffo hits to survive. Another way to survive is to become a bigger shark. Disney/ABC, Comcast/Universal, and Paramount/CBS have all merged and their appetite for cash has grown expeditiously.

​Every once in a while, a smaller film squeaks by and surpasses everyone’s expectations. A good example of this is Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture. 30 million to make with a gross of over 200 million. Exception rather than the rule, but still. There is a dwindling market for smaller films.
 
Thank god for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and others. The smaller picture seems to have ended up with the streaming services and that’s a good thing…for now. But buyer beware. Our diet has the potential to end up on streaming services with producers, leaving, us with nowhere to turn but theatre and literature. Which would not be such a terrible place to end up; if we still have the ability to read or sit still for longer than 5 minutes.