Is it possible for Hollywood to make a good movie anymore?

[Frimp]

As box office sales reflect, Hollywood has seriously lost something over the last 5 years. Now, it seems like they only know how to make 3 kinds of films and all 3 kinds suck.

1...Remakes
With all the remakes they've made, now they seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. They remade "The Hills Have Eyes." That movie wasn't that good in the first place. What's next? A remake of Jaws? Or better yet...How about a remake of Critters?

2...Propaganda films.
The Day After Tomorow, Category 7, Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, farenheit 9/11 etc.  When the ratings on these movies suck, the writers blame America as was the case with Brokeback Mountain. Its just a matter of time before there is a movie made where a conservative vice president shoots and kills someone in cold blood. I'll put money on that one.

3...Sequals.
Big Momma's House 2. Need I say more? Yes.  This next sequal was what brought on this whole rant.

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/basicinstinct2/index.html

That might have been a good idea about 10 years ago, but Sharon Stone doing that whole Basic Instinct bit now? Maybe after a 12 pack. 

[GUATARICCAN]

I'm all over V for Vendetta. It was based off a comic book from 1982, so I wouldn't really consider it a propaganda film.

[Frimp]

I'm all over V for Vendetta. It was based off a comic book from 1982, so I wouldn't really consider it a propaganda film.

You're right. Just pulled up the review. I'll edit it as soon as I post this. I confused the title with another film that comes out this year with the lead character, a Muslim terrorist who destroys everything American. I can't remember the name of it.

[Brian Fein]

you forgot type 4 - books/comics converted to movies.

I can't remember the last time an original idea was brought to the big screen. 

[Thundergod]

I can't remember the last time an original idea was brought to the big screen. 

I know there are certain formulas for movies, eg: hero saves world, woman, family love story etc.  So creating something original with a formula that has never been done is virtually impossible without borrowing from something thats been done before.  As for actual story,  I thought The Matrix was pretty original.  Frimp is right though, people in Hollywood couldn't create an original idea if the script hit them right in the face. Like I said before,  it's all about the cash,  and as long as we saps keep fueling the machine,  it'll keep pumping out turd after turd. 
 
I don't mind comics / books converted to movies as long as it hasn't been done before.  Just keep it as close to the original story as possible. 

NO MORE PREQUELS AND SEQUELS PLEASE!!!!

[Brian Fein]

I thought The Matrix was pretty original. 

I revolted against seeing the Matrix for a long time  Now, its one of my favorites.  I'm still struggling to understand the end of Revolutions, though.

[Sunstroke]

I'm all over V for Vendetta. It was based off a comic book from 1982, so I wouldn't really consider it a propaganda film.

This is one of the two movies that started this week that I really want to see. The other is The Libertine.

[Dave Gray]

I'm not sure how Brokeback Mountain is a propoganda film, other than it has gay guys in it.  And from my understanding, the reviews of it were great and it did well at the box office.  How does this apply?

And I've Seen the Day After Tommorow.  ...hardly a propoganda film...it's just a harmless action movie.  The scenerio isn't even possible.  It's like Armageddon.

[Brian Fein]

The scenerio isn't even possible.  It's like Armageddon.

Sir, if you think the scenario of Armageddon is not possible, I recommend you do some research on the topic of near earth-object collisions and get back to me.

[Frimp]

I'm not sure how Brokeback Mountain is a propoganda film, other than it has gay guys in it.  And from my understanding, the reviews of it were great and it did well at the box office.  How does this apply?

And I've Seen the Day After Tommorow.  ...hardly a propoganda film...it's just a harmless action movie.  The scenerio isn't even possible.  It's like Armageddon.

I read a review of Brokeback when it first came out. It said something along the lines of "Get over your homophobia and go see this great movie."

Let me break it down here...

1, Liberals ASSUME that everyone that doesnt want to see that movie is homophobic. Like there's a problem with you if you don't want to see it.

2, They want you to change something about yourself to promote the movie. I don't watch Will and Grace, and I'm sure as heck not going to waste my money on a film that I have no intrest in seeing in the first place just to be politicly correct.

3, The Passion of the Christ could also have been considered a propaganda film, yet you didn't hear people saying that there was something wrong with you if you didn't want to see it.

4, When BBM didn't win Best Picture, the screenwriter said in an interview "I guess the problem is that the American public just doesn't want cowboys to be gay." No one blames the American public when a "standard" romance film doesn't win an award.

BBM was a propaganda film, and nothing more. Yes, it did fairly well at the box office, the majority of the movies that came out this year were crap. Thats why it was so easy for BBM to do so well.

The Day After Tomorrow makes the case that global warming is fact, and depicts a man who happens to look just like Vice President Cheney as the vice president who "sees the error of his ways" at the end, complete with a role reversal of Americans jumping the border in Mexico. How could you not call this propaganda?

[Dave Gray]

I read a review of Brokeback when it first came out. It said something along the lines of "Get over your homophobia and go see this great movie."

Let me break it down here...

1, Liberals ASSUME that everyone that doesnt want to see that movie is homophobic. Like there's a problem with you if you don't want to see it.

This doesn't make it a propaganda film.  I hear that it's just a love story.  I don't see it pushing any agenda, just because the main characters are gay.  Besides, don't blame liberals for this.

2, They want you to change something about yourself to promote the movie. I don't watch Will and Grace, and I'm sure as heck not going to waste my money on a film that I have no intrest in seeing in the first place just to be politicly correct.

I don't watch Will and Grace either, and I don't expect you to see Brokeback just because it is about gay guys.  ..nor does anything else I've ever heard...  People are saying that you should watch it because it's a good movie.  ...just as Crash was....were you offended when people said to watch that, or did you think they were secretly calling you a racist?

3, The Passion of the Christ could also have been considered a propaganda film, yet you didn't hear people saying that there was something wrong with you if you didn't want to see it.

The Passion wasn't a propaganda film, because it didn't have an agenda.  ...just as Brokeback didn't. 

4, When BBM didn't win Best Picture, the screenwriter said in an interview "I guess the problem is that the American public just doesn't want cowboys to be gay." No one blames the American public when a "standard" romance film doesn't win an award.

I haven't seen this quote, but even if it's true, it still doesn't make the film a propaganda film.  Farenheit was a propaganda film.  This isn't.

[bsmooth]

Jarhead wasn't propaganda. It was based on experiences of a former marine. I don't know how you could watch it think that. I told a friend of mine about the stupid and crazy shit we did in the field and when she went to see Jarhead to review it, she mentioned in her review how I had told her things she didn't believe until she saw that movie.
The Day After Tommorrow could happen over a long period of time, not in three weeks, which is what made that movie unbelievable.
Lastly Hollywood caters to the viewing public. The viewing public hasn't flocked to see great movies throughout the last couple of decades, instead they go to mindless movies that don't make them think, or challenge their ideals. That is why after years of loosing millions of dollars to fund well written and directed movies that flopped, movie studios have gone with time tested formulas. Also people don't know how to watch movies anymore i.e. they talk throughout the movie, answer cellphones, bring their screaming satan spawn, etc. People don't want to pay $10 apiece for tickets only to have the experience ruined by some slack jawed, sloped forehead, mouth breathing, assholes.

[Dave Gray]

One last thing: just because a movie has a moral or a message, doesn't make it propaganda.  The X-Men series is clearly about racism (or minorities of any kind, really) and there is a message of equality, but it's not propaganda.

[Househead]

Sick of Hollywood? Want original & creative ideas? I recommand indies or foreign films. There is so much more out there than that crap they show you at local movie theater. You just have to dig a little to find the good stuff.

[Frimp]

Propaganda:

1 capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect



If Hollywood had been putting out good movies, BBM probably would have just been another movie. (From what I understand, it was very well written and well acted) But, since it wasn't and it was the best they had, they had to drum up all the contraversey in an attempt to sell more tickets. (They being the Hollywood media and promoters)

Propaganda isn't always a bad thing. (as the definition says) My comparison of BBM and Passion of the Christ are apples and oranges for content, but they were very contraversial. My point was that I wasnt ashamed to call Passion a propaganda film. I saw it in the theater and I bought it on DVD. The people who were shoving BBM down our throats are the first to cry foul when its labled as a propaganda film. o drum up all the contraversey in an attempt to sell more tickets. (They being the Hollywood media and promoters)