Tuesday, May 27, 2008

CGI Hasn't made movies better.....why?

I saw the new Indiana Jones movie yesterday, and while it wasn't awful, it was not great either. Not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon. But here is the bigger question: Since the first 3 Indy movies came out, special effects technology has advanced by great leaps. But the first 3 movies are far better, with much more cleaver scripts. Same for the Star Wars movies, the last 3 being no where near as good as the first 3, despite the new technologies......or because of them!

Has Hollywood gotten so enamored of its new gizmos that is has forgotten that a good movie requires a good story, interesting characters, witty lines....the same things that made Casablanca the greatest movie ever made. If they made Casablanca today, they would likely add about 30 minutes of Bogey dodging slow motion bullets fired by an army of CGI nazis. "Here's looking at you kid" would be edited, because we wouldn't be able to hear it over the exploding planes in the background.

I blame The Matrix, the most overrated movie since Rocky. People went gaga over the special effects in this boring piece of crap, and failed to realize the story made no frigging sense ( and, by the way, if Keanu Reeves is the best hope for humanity, we don't deserve to exist!). Now, everyone figures they can save a movie with a bunch of cool effects.

Personally, I know I'm spending a lot less money at the movie theater in recent years. The price is up, and the quality is down. There are too many other good things to do around here.

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