2013 turned out to be a pretty bad year for me from a
personal standpoint. My pleasant experiences have been marred and tainted by
many displeasing ones, including job losses, suicide and relationship worries.
It’s nothing that many others have faced, but for the first time in my own
life, I’ve found it more than a little overwhelming. Mostly due to the intense
timeframe of when these things occurred. It is times like these that make me happy that
I can still lose myself in the glare of the screen.
On New Year’s Eve, I once again found myself talking to some
old friends about movies, with more current features gaining much of the focus. “I just want to watch silly, stupid things” said a old
university friend, who quit film studies during the first year as he felt the
course sucked the fun out of the actual watching of movies.
Another friend (who
completed film studies with much displeasure) appeared to nod in agreement.
This isn’t new to me. I’ve seen a few old friends both in college and
university, become disinterested in film, due to having to study it.
As usual, I opened my big mouth and nearly killed the
conversation with my belief that when it comes to film, there must be a decent
balance between easy entertainment that most audiences appear to crave and of
course films which look to enrich the viewer with what it considers intelligent
discourse. While it’s great to crunch the corn, slurp the soda and zone out to
the often stated (by critics) “mindless spectacle”, I do believe there should
also be room for something else. Something that can be savoured without the
need for a second or third part to rectify all that was “missing” from the film
you just spent XX amount on. What frustrated me with a lot of this year’s viewing,
looking back, was that I really noticed that balance starting to slip. Not just
from film to film (just speak to Mark Kermode about the false belief of choice
at a multiplex) but within film themselves.
Many complained about
how disappointing the summer blockbusters were and there are some interesting theories behind that. For me what I found was a lack of risk,
ambition and that very balance that we used to find in films before. Three of
the biggest films; Iron Man 3, Star Trek into Darkness and Man of Steel were
all different franchises at different stages in their cycles, and yet every
villain was a typical terrorist and their schemes had very little to differ
them. All had lengthy running times, but plots that couldn’t really sustain
them. All were shinny enough for brief amusement but did little to cement them
within my mind. I couldn’t tell you anything about Star Trek in Darkness now,
and I only watched it in the summer. I warmed to Man of Steel while I wrote
about the film, but after a week I felt I lied about what I had scribbled down
previously. There are other entries that I would like to re-engage with, but I
know that deep down those titles can wait. Honestly; it’s not usually like this.
I think part of the problem is this the continuous arrested
development which is taking place in mainstream movies. These features are
becoming more and more impersonal with the only thing connecting them being the
knowledge of the brand itself. The Benidict Cumberbatch’s twist that wasn’t a
twist in Star Trek into Darkness was a very clear example of this. The reason this
character exists in this film universe is only to remind you that he does. The
same goes with the vague and needless nods that littered Spike Lee’s oddly limp
Oldboy. The words cut and paste has
never felt more apt. But then again it is said that they’re all singing from
the same hymn sheet.
With that in mind, I found it harder to gain that inmate
connection I often get with movies. I’m now even less surprised by the
continuous rise of the television golden age. The Walter Whites and Dexters of
the small screen, present character conundrums that seem to appear less and
less as brand recognition and franchise entries strengthen their hold. Let’s not
lie to ourselves as if the era of Don Simpson didn’t exist and that all
mainstream, populist films gave us intellectual sustenance. Broad is broad. But
you only need to watch the first 30 minutes of A Good Day to Die Hard to notice
there’s been an uncomfortable shift somewhere. As these characters and
narratives are given less nuance, the warm feeling I enjoy has dimmed slightly.
The rabid internet culture hasn’t helped things, nor has the
transitional state caused by technology dismantling the business model as we
know it. Now we have an audience that want original and new product that doesn't stray
from whatever source material it’s from and they want it at decent quality...
for free. A quick glance at a film forum, comment board or twitter feed has
reminded me just how all consuming the internet as become.
Normally I’m more critical of the idea that the quality of films
are going down and often mention that we, the audience, are masters of our own
cinematic destiny. Yet as 2013 wore on, I found myself becoming wearier of
things I usually found easier to ignore. I’ve moved back to a town which has
two cinemas, and yet both still show signs of only chasing the same audience to
compete. It becomes maddening to know that certain films play at both while
others (that could possibly do ok business) play at neither. I’ve upped my
streaming options at home by signings on Netflix, but as this article illustrates,
Netflix isn’t as welcoming to certain types of film lover as you may think. Issues
I’ve found problematic in the past have improved their voice and learned to
shout a little louder.
I shouldn’t complain too much, because as always, I still
had some great film experiences at the cinema as well as at home. I still
managed to struggle with picking ten favourite films out of a fair few that
really hit the mark and I still enjoyed more than I truly hated. I’m just in
the minority that’s seeing a bit too much of mould, and wouldn’t mind it being
broken a bit more. Silly stupid films are fine, but there used to be a time when they felt smarter than that.
As always; these are my favourites and you shouldn’t
complain if you don’t see yours (No order):
What Richard Did
Damn Fine Honorable Mentions:
Django
Side Effects
Mud
Filth
Captain Phillips
Bling Ring
