Summer Summary**When they're over, they're over. What's next?**
Review by Duncan Shepherd
September 16, 2004
Duncan Shepherd looks in the rearview mirror
Is it me or is it movies? Something pretty close to parity seems to have come over the contemporary cinemascape, even more than over (where we usually hear about it) the professional footballscape. It would be nice -- it would be a sign of robust good health -- to be able to perceive a clear separation between movies (thumbs up or thumbs down, hot or not, yea or nay, excellent or execrable), with of course a graceful arc of foothills connecting the flatlands to the mountaintops. That, no doubt, is how it would look in a cultural scene as exciting as, say, the Sixties and early Seventies. But then came Jaws and Star Wars, and everything changed forever: the commodification of the art form. The sky was no longer the limit, if only financially.
Excitement, whether visceral or intellectual, the kind of excitement that lingers long after the curtain has closed (when theaters still had curtains), is not to be manufactured on a schedule, like factory quotas of balloons and noisemakers. Nor is it to be feigned.
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Topic - "Today's movies are not built to last." - clarkjohnsen 09:56:51 09/16/04 (29)
- 'Jaws' Will Forever Generate Gut Fear Excitement. Us... - AudioHead 06:27:37 09/17/04 (2)
- You can't top fear of being eaten alive! Base, evolutionary adrenoline. n - albee33 06:55:41 09/17/04 (1)
- Sure helps Open Water work! nt - clarkjohnsen 08:35:50 09/18/04 (0)
- You got that RIGHT! - grhughes 06:22:12 09/17/04 (14)
- Re: You got that RIGHT! - jamesgarvin 10:00:15 09/17/04 (13)
- It's a matter of TASTE! - grhughes 12:10:57 09/17/04 (4)
- Re: It's a matter of TASTE! - jamesgarvin 17:39:39 09/17/04 (3)
- You let critics suggest? - grhughes 20:42:10 09/17/04 (2)
- Re: You let critics suggest? - jamesgarvin 14:24:53 09/19/04 (1)
- I'm not in a TYRADE? But you certainly are! - grhughes 08:42:42 09/20/04 (0)
- Re: I have long felt - rico 11:23:38 09/17/04 (7)
- Rico - you are a lot more generous than most!! (ie 10 films) NT - PdL 20:08:51 09/17/04 (0)
- Re: I have long felt - jamesgarvin 11:59:53 09/17/04 (5)
- Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - clarkjohnsen 08:35:01 09/18/04 (4)
- I thought Gosford Park was terrific & I did not have any probs with the audio.... - PdL 15:23:58 09/19/04 (1)
- Must have been the print I saw... actually, several prints because... - clarkjohnsen 07:10:21 09/20/04 (0)
- Re: Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - jamesgarvin 14:45:02 09/19/04 (1)
- Re: Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - clarkjohnsen 07:42:49 09/20/04 (0)
- Nor was "Casablanca" - Auricle 15:57:25 09/16/04 (5)
- With Casablanca they made great art *despite themselves*! nt - clarkjohnsen 08:29:52 09/18/04 (4)
- Yes..... - AudioHead 13:47:55 09/18/04 (2)
- Bergman/Bogart/Rains: - tinear 09:33:55 09/19/04 (1)
- Re: Bergman/Bogart/Rains: - AudioHead 12:42:26 09/19/04 (0)
- My point, exactly. One never knows! -nt- - Auricle 10:02:10 09/18/04 (0)
- Re: "Today's movies are not built to last." - jamesgarvin 13:42:17 09/16/04 (4)
- "Garbage films." Hmmm... - clarkjohnsen 08:28:31 09/18/04 (3)
- Re: "Garbage films." Hmmm... - AudioHead 14:14:55 09/18/04 (2)
- Re: "Garbage films." Hmmm... - jamesgarvin 15:08:32 09/19/04 (0)
- Uh... Sure... What you said... nt - clarkjohnsen 11:07:42 09/19/04 (0)