Some Movies Make Me Sad for All the Wrong Reasons

Every once in a while I watch some news stories on the television. Practically every time I see a news story someone else is watching t.v. and has the news on, I don't seek out the news, but this past week I saw a brief story on one of the California news channels about a church offering people lessons on how to use handguns. I would link to any information regarding this story, but my lazy Google searches have returned no evidence of this story, so you'll have to take my word for it or just dismiss this as something stupid from my demented mind. The choice is yours. I saw this story and thought about the advertisement I see all over the place for the new Jason Bourne movie that just came out. I'm aware that the newest Bourne movie isn't getting many favorable reviews early on and I haven't seen it, but I think I know what the next Bourne movie should be about. I'll lay it out for you right here. See Jason Bourne as you've never seen him before in religious garb. This summer Jason is all in for the church in Bourne Again.

Comedy!

Alright, I digress from that idea which I will not describe with any adjectives. What I would like to discuss with myself here are movies, an entertainment medium that I very much enjoy, and a sad trend in the goal of movies. The movies I like best consist of an interesting story with a character or characters that the viewer actually gives a damn about. Now there are differences in what makes a good movie that are completely depending on the genre of movie. What makes a good comedy is completely different from what makes a good horror movie and what makes a good drama is completely different from what makes a good sci-fi adventure, etc. Also I'd like to take the time to acknowledge that I am fully aware that I'm a moron before I delve further into this, but I am sad that some movie makers have foregone making movies with good stories in an effort to push an agenda or pander to a certain group of people, or appeal to the largest amount of people. I've become a fan of Bret Easton Ellis' podcast recently and I particularly find his thoughts on movie making today interesting, especially when he touches on how ideology is trumping aesthetics a lot now. I know nobody cares what I think because I'm a nobody, but just because a movie is about a real life issue of importance doesn't mean that the movie is good. I feel like if a movie is about slavery you are expected to like it regardless of how good it is or else you're a racist. If the movie is about an empowered female lead and you don't like the movie, then you're a sexist. How about making a good movie?

Adventure!

Personally I'd like to see all the pandering and agenda pushing go away. I watch movies for entertainment. Sometimes I want to go on an adventure, sometimes I want to laugh until my eyes tear up, sometimes I want to get a scare that makes it hard to sleep at night, and sometimes I want to have whatever kind of an experience dramas engender, a dramatic experience I guess. I want buzz surrounding a movie because of the interesting story it's going to tell, but now a lot of the big headlines about movies have to do with social issues and to me social issues and entertainment do not go together. For example, I recently saw a report about the new Star Trek movie before it came out about how one of the characters is gay. All I could think about was why in the hell does that matter? I don't see characters in movies and instantly think I wonder if that guy wants to make out with the female character or take it in the ass. Especially in a movie like Star Trek where I can't imagine how a character's sexual orientation could matter. Then at the end of last week I read the intro to an article about a new Rocketeer movie. I remember watching that movie as a little kid and enjoying it so I was thinking "oh cool, there's going to be a new Rocketeer movie!" I only made it through one paragraph that said the new Rocketeer is going to be an African-American woman before I stopped reading. Again, why does that matter? Why is that the highlight of a new Rocketeer movie? I feel like whoever is making this movie is expecting praise just because of who is playing the lead role. The safety net has already been cast, if you don't like the movie, then you are a sexist and a racist. But obviously you can't have an opinion on a movie that hasn't come out yet.

Horror!

An important thing to take into account here, too is my age. I'm in the mid-twenties, twenty-six to be exact, so my overall scope is limited. I can't comment on the movies trends from decades ago, I'm merely reacting to what's going on now, but I believe this is a recent trend that has grown stronger over the past decade or so. The new Ghostbusters movie fits into this agenda pushing trend. I haven't seen it and I don't plan to because after seeing the trailers it simply didn't look like a movie I'd want to see. For one I wouldn't call myself a Ghostbusters fan, I've seen the first one which is good, but I never thought it was one of the best movies I'd seen or a personal favorite. Another reason I won't go see it is because of how Sony Pictures treated the people online for disliking the trailer and expressing negative opinions. Of course it's not a good thing to post hurtful comments, but remember this is the internet we're speaking about and as BanditIncorporated said, you can't out troll the internet trolls. Plus those people should be the target audience for a Ghostbusters movie. Lastly, I won't go watch this movie because from the reviews I've listened to the humor is not the humor of the first Ghostbusters movie and there is no horror element like the first Ghostbusters movie. Those two things are really what made the first Ghostbusters movie the popular movie it is. From what I have garnered from reviews is that Ghostbusters 2016 is a forgettable story centered around a whole bunch of dumb people with a whole lot of CGI. Simply, it's not a movie I'm interested in watching. I also get the impression that some of the people who like Ghostbusters 2016 like it because the men in the movie are stupid and the main characters are female and there's a part in the movie where the Ghostbusters shoot a ghost in the balls region. I hope my impression is wrong because it saddens me if people like a movie for those reasons.

Action!

I also believe that the newest Star Wars movie titled The Force Awakens is part of the we have to please certain people trend. This is a movie I have seen and if you've read my previous post, then you know I don't like it. In short, I didn't like The Force Awakens because I thought the story was weak and rushed along with lots of character issues for both old and new characters. I'm just a nobody, dumbass, but I could come up with some more interesting ideas for episode seven than what was in The Force Awakens which was more like a remake of the original Star Wars movies but a little different. Enough with these reboots and remakes of good movies of the past with new spins and bring back new ideas with fresh plot lines and characters.

Satire!

On an unrelated note, I've started a new blog dedicated to dumb short stories that cook inside my demented mind. I give you Absurdly Twisted Shorts! Follow the link if you'd like to read my dumb crap. Just made my first published post the other day and I might add some artwork to it which will most likely be very bad, but artwork nonetheless.

Drama!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Have a wonderful day!

Sci-Fi!