It’s always amusing to me when people who don’t go to many or any movies complain about the “state of movies today” when, unless you live in hicksville where the theater selection is dismal, which you don’t because Philadelphia is not, there’s always something to see that’s not wrist slitting-inducing.
It’s not amusing when people like you complain about films but when a good film of the type that you would probably enjoy comes out, you don’t go to see and support it, therefore it bombs, and what’s the incentive of studios to make more like it? It’s people like you, on a large scale, that makes studios think “nobody wants to see these kinds of movies” when it comes to quality, interesting, inspiring films.
Luckily they’re still making them because their money will probably be made back on DVD and television sales, but you’re not helping.
I just looked through the list of movies I saw in 2007 (around 150), deleted the Seriously Heavy Dramas such as There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, the genre movies like 3:10 to Yuma, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Grindhouse, the more mainstream dramas like Michael Clayton and We Own The Night, and the embarrassments (god help me, I didn’t WANT to go see Fred Claus, but I thought, how bad could it be with the amiable Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti? god help me, I found out). I also took out the blockbusters like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The ones that remain range from the enjoyably frothy (like Enchanted and Stardust) to the really dumb but lots of fun (like Balls of Fury and Dragon Wars), to some more serious and with weighter subjects, but enjoyable and inspiring (such as Amazing Grace, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Talk To Me, The Great Debates and Freedom Writers).
(Btw, the ratings only indicate how much I enjoyed them, not to indicate a be-all and end-all of their quality. I enjoyed the hell out of Across the Universe, it was my 3rd favorite film of 2007, but it’s not on the same level as, say, There Will Be Blood, which would also get an A+. TWBB I consider a masterpiece, a classic, AtC I consider a cracking good time at the movies. I know that makes my ratings fairly useless, but I only kept this list for myself, not to post, and I’m too lazy to take out all the ratings.)
The bolded ones were nominated for Oscars.
Across The Universe - A+
Amazing Grace - A
Astronaut Farmer, The - B
August Rush - B+
Balls of Fury - C+
Becoming Jane - B
Bee Movie - B
Bridge to Terebithia - B+
Bucket List, The - B-
Catch And Release - B-
Charlie Wilson’s War - A+
Dan In Real Life - B+
Darjeerling Limited, The - A-
Death At A Funeral - B
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The - A+
Dragon Wars - C+
Enchanted - A+
Feast Of Love - B+
Final Season, The - B
Freedom Writers - B
Golden Compass, The - B
Gracie - B+
Gray Matters - B
Great Debaters, The - B+
Hairspray - A-
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - B+
Hot Fuzz - A-
In The Land Of Women - B
Introducing the Dwights - B
Jane Austin Book Club, The - B
Juno - B+
Knocked Up - A-
Ladron Que Roba A Ladron - B+
Lars and the Real Girl - A-
Last Mimzy, The - B-
Martian Child - B+
Meet The Robinsons - B
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium - C
Music Within - A
Namesake, The - A
No Reservations - B-
Ocean’s Thirteen - B-
Once - A-
P.S. I Love You - B-
Perfect Holiday, The - B-
Ratatouille - A+
Savages, The - A
Shoot 'em Up - B+
Simpsons Movie, The - B+
Stardust - A-
Starter For 10 - B+
Superbad - A-
Surf’s Up - B+
Talk To Me - A
Waitress - B+
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - B
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The - B
Wristcutters: A Love Story - B
Year Of The Dog - B+
You Kill Me - B
There were some decent blockbusters. Harry Potter, The Bourne Ultimatum, Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3, and I Am Legend. I actually even enjoyed Transformers.
I’m not implying you should have to care about the Oscars or the Oscar movies. If Big Heavy Dramas are not your thing, no problem, but the Oscars are not the People’s Choice Awards and BHDs are, as ArchiveGuy pointed out, usually what gets nominated for Oscars for their content, the craft involved, and for their performances. There’s almost always the enjoyable Little Movie That Could in the mix, like Babe, The Full Monty, Little Miss Sunshine and this year’s Juno, which you admit you haven’t even seen (so don’t say there’s “nothing but” BHDs). In years to come the Oscar history books aren’t going to notate which movies Twickster wanted to see nominated and win, they’ll show a cross-selection of (usually) very good movies from that year. Not all the very good ones can get in, and not all the best ones win (subjective), but they’re always quality movies worthy of attention for one reason or another no matter what the naysayers say (“How the hell did Titanic get nominated for anything, let alone win?” “Why in the world is Michael Clayton up for Best Picture??” “Babe? Are you freakin’ kidding me?”).
