MOVIES STINK!
Hearing the news that Star Trek had a $76.5 million box office in its opening weekend, I thought that I had to chime in for a moment just to get a few things off my chest. Now listen up movie goers: Hollywood stinks! The current trend of rehashing old movies with a ramped up budget is driving me nuts. It is not creative, it does not require any skill or talent, it is obviously a movement based purely on capital that shouldn’t be rewarded. It is also creating a downward spiral for new directors and movie creators with original concepts. Who because of this trend can’t find work due to the proven trend of turning old movies around. I haven’t been to a theater in years, and the only reason is that I have seen all of the movies the first time around, when they were original in nature and new ideas based in skill and fresh concepts.
Why would I go see Jason again when I saw the original years ago? I want to remember it as it was, a very talented display of what horror can be and an entirely new take on the genre. Why should I see the new version, it has moved away from everything that made the original unique. Why should I pay to see a Land of the Lost movie? The reason that I enjoyed the show was because it was so cheesy and made me smile as an 8-year-old who liked dinosaurs. Now, it’s a Will Ferrell movie. Imagine if every CD you bought was nothing but cover songs from 10 years ago. Would you feel that you’re really getting a “new” CD? No, you wouldn’t. And I want to see new movies, I want to hear new music, I want to know that there is a reason that a certain director made $50 million off of a concept. I want to support what I feel is truly deserving of my money. The economy is bad, so we are essentially voting with our Bejamins, and I refuse to vote for unoriginal, force-fed concepts that are based more in marketing than in true artistic merit…
Hollywood-you stink!
May 13th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I saw the new Star Trek movie last night and must admit I’m a closet Trekkie. I’m a purist, though, only the old TV show interests me. I loved this movie, It portrayed how I envisioned the early years of my favorite Starfleet crew might have been, by Hollywood standards, anyway… but.. I have to agree with Tom. Sitting through the previews made me wonder if it was me, not the Star Trek crew, caught in an alternate universe. All, and I mean EVERY ONE of the previews, was a rehash of some other movie from the 1980s or 1990s. What’s next: a remake of Casablanca? They tired that, it didn’t work. They even tried a Casablanca TV show in the 1960s that failed miserably. I say let the classics live as classics, and find new fodder to foist at film fans.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I would dissagree on that I would rather see the newer one insted of the oder version. maybe older people wouldn’t want to see old movies redone but us younger generation would probly like to see it redone in our time. I would of never seen the other star trek movies but this one I would like to see. kinda like the transformer movie some people didn’t like it and it wasn’t like the what older transformers were but I loved it!
I guess you older people can stay home and watch your VHS and I can go so my newer movies on the big screen in HD and watch on Blu ray 
May 16th, 2009 at 8:23 am
I have to say I have some really mixed feelings about this post. Tomskowronski makes a good point; this trend may not be a good thing for those with original concepts. All the movies and shows he mentioned were original concepts at one time, and they worked with the audience. However, seeing that Star Trek grossed 76.5 million on opening weekend, the remakes are working as well. Let’s see how it does on video. But I have to admit that I really liked this movie. The characters are rebuilt to suit a modern audience. The main way I see is that Captain Kirk isn’t perfect like he was in the original series. People don’t want to see perfect anymore. The modern audience finds internal struggle as important as external. Maybe it’s a smarter audience we’re seeing. But speaking of remakes of classics, a lot of people thought that remaking “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was a mistake. I have to say I was one of them, but after seeing the movie, I believe that it’s what the original would have been if it could have. (But to be absolutely fair, give me the original “The Hills Have Eyes” over the original any day.)
Another place where I disagree with tomskowronski is that remakes are completely unoriginal. Storytelling is an art. Sometimes the only difference in a good story and a bad story is in who tells it. How many unrelated movies are made with the exact same plot? Different setting and characters, but still, the same movie? Also, why are some of these movies good and others are not? (Of course, I know this stands to open a debate over budget versus creativity — an arguement that does have merit — but we’ll leave that to another post.) The merit that remakes have over these movies is that remakes aren’t hipocritical. You know what the remake is when you see it.
May 17th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Whoops! Typo in the last post…I meant to say (But to be absolutely fair, give me the original “The Hills Have Eyes” over the REMAKE any day.)
May 18th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Interesting that us “older people” haven’t even reached our late 20s yet! haha And I am not saying that I want to see older movies, I am saying that I want to see new movies. It’s not an original or new idea to remake somebody’s original film. It doesn’t take that much talent to do. Part of the movie making process revolves around mapping out your project & figuring out how tell your story effectively. If you just remake a movie, that process no longer exists. The movie has already been mapped out… or “mapquested” as you young ones might say. Me, I like new movies that are indeed new. You know, like the kind that haven’t been remade yet!
May 18th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Ah yes CSWatkins I agree that newer can be better, however I am just fed up with the idea that I can just go shoot my version of somebody’s work… Then say it’s mine. Imagine if you shot a youtube video, then somebody remade it & started marketing it & did multiple interviews about how original they were. Yeah right ya know! They just copied you! That is stealing! lol. Not creativity. But thats just my opinion…
And ya remakes can get a tad bit revamped which kinda ruins the original point, such as in the case of “The Hills Have Eyes.” The new “Dawn of the Dead” was an example of that, the story was just all over the place & it didn’t feel original. Just like a bad version of one of my favorite Romero classics.