If you looked at this year’s output by the major studios, would you believe that these people once gave the green light to classics like Ben-Hur, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, and Amadeus? Sure, not all movies from those periods were good, but would you believe that these movies were produced under a system that allowed The Last Airbender to go into production with that script? A system that would allow the production of Little Fockers and How Do You Know to get so out of hand that the budget went over 100 million dollars for a simple comedy? A system that would allow a the latest film by a master filmmaker like Peter Weir to go unnoticed?
I know I wouldn’t.
I know that Hollywood is not the only system that makes good movies, but living in the middle of Nowhere, USA, I rely mostly on Hollywood to deliver movies that not only deliver quality entertainment, but also some sort of food for thought. But this year, with the exception of a few movies, they failed. Just look at the top 10 highest grossing movies of the year. In there, there are only two original movies, Inception and Despicable Me, and only one of them is good, and one that although based on an existing property, was not a brand name. The rest are sequels and remakes, varying in quality from a masterpiece, and a very good movie, to a bunch of above average or mediocre titles. If you extend that to the top 20, there are a few other original movies, but the only ones I liked were Tangled, TRON Legacy, and The Other Guys, The others are merely entertaining or pure crap.
A Journey Through Cinematic Heaven and Hell 