As many of you already know by my review of "Resident Evil : Afterlife" I was very disappointed, well after I write my own review and have it up on the site often I like to go around the web and read what other critics had to say. Over and over again I see various websites saying sure it's got a terrible storyline, overuse of action movie gimmicks, a insanely hard to understand storyline, and characters with zero depth beyond the main Alice, but who cares you should expect this by now followed by most of the time a very high score.
Is that really an excuse to make a bad film over and over again? The fans should be use to this by now? Is that really how a lot of movie goers feel at this point? I have never found myself saying oh well I know this is going to be a piece of shit movie but its I have no other options so I guess it's pretty good if you ignore all of its faults. If a movie has faults it should be held accountable for them plain and fucking simple, you can't sit there and tell me how many holes and how bad most areas of a film is then give it a 7+ score and expect me to not go what the fuck?
And this isn't just something I saw with "Resident Evil: Afterlife" I see it time and time again, another prime example is the "Saw" series, let's face it people it's been pointless and simply a mindless oh look I have neat traps movie for a very long time, honestly "Saw" didn't need a sequel much less to become a yearly franchise of the same old movie repackaged again and again. And what kills me each time a new "Saw" is released, a lot of sites will talk about how needless the latest sequel is and how it's simply a showcase of creative ways to kill someone and go on and on about how uninspired the film is but then give it an amazing score and say but that is what you get with you see a "Saw" film after all and sometimes even end up saying they can't wait for the next one right after telling everyone how needless the current one was.
Am I missing something? Have the masses just given up on Hollywood doing anything inspired or imaginative anymore? Are people just submitting instead of speaking their minds or what? Why is it as a Horror community we are so quick to excuse films just because they belong within our genre of choice and made it to the theatre? If you are sick of being ripped off at the box office, then as cliché as it may sound speak with your wallet, take that 12$ or 20$ or however much a movie ticket is in your town and purchase a indie film that deserves to be seen, don't simply say fuck it and cave in for the sake of having something to do.
And don't get me wrong I'm not saying don't watch movies that make it to the theatre, but when you do if it's bad be honest about it, don't make excuses and candy coat the fact that the movie did not satisfy you as a viewer. And as I mentioned before on my Facebook, please stop watching movies solely based on the fact you think some popular sex symbol is hot and is featured in a movie, and once again if you can't resist and the movie is bad don't try and act like it's the best thing since sliced bread because fucking Mrs. tiger beat shows her boobs or because Mr. heart throb has killer abs.
If you want better movies, and are sick of being spoon fed the same old scripts with new pretty faces inserted to replace the last, simply stop watching them or at least make them accountable for what makes them bad movies and fall short of expectations of many.
And before anyone tries to accuse of me of not being a fan of the "Resident Evil" games or expecting the movies to follow the game storyline, don't bother, I have played all of the games, and after the first one become very aware of the fact that the films are very loosely based on characters from the game and the similarities end there. I'm simply just not willing to excuse a film for being bad for the sake of being loyal to an IP that I hold dear to some degree. And that is all I will say on the subject, talk to you all again next time I decide to rant.
- Ted "Ritualistic" Brown
Ted, I love this. This is why I stick to indie films and so-called "bad" movies instead of freaking out over going out to see "Saw", or "Paranormal Activity" or whatever. I'm not going to say that all mainstream horror is bad--there are some good ones out there (I for one am a major fan of John Carpenter's The Thing, if you count that as mainstream)--but I just love indie stuff much better. I just got done watching a zombie movie, "Platoon of the Dead" (which I'll be reviewing in a few days) made independently last year. It has a 1.9 out of 10 on IMDB--I thought it was original (even if the acting was pretty bad) and I actually really liked it just because you could tell it was made by a real person.
ReplyDeletePeople like us just need to stick up for the underdogs and not give in, no matter what!
What you are facing down is called the North American Cookie Cutter. The music industries artiest face it all too often and so does the movie/tv. The industry wants to push product that sells to it consumers and the consumer is at large a blind animal that gorges itself on what it considers "good eats". When you get a positive reaction to something that may not even be in the popular mainstream but makes a chunk of cash, the industry takes notice. They make a move to get more out of it.
ReplyDeleteThe movie industry has opened it's doors to the indie business but it has in my opinion been failure. They "Americanize" the plot-line taking out the heart of the beast they are transforming. At times they attempt to make contracts with these directors and that too becomes a dead result. All too often the companies "love" the script but then the panic button hits when it comes to funding such new and strange material into film. The foreign directors get sent back, scratching their heads into their homeland where they continue on.
I do often hope for something to shake the industry up and see something more meaty to fall out of the tree but until then... one must travel to strange new lands and see wonderful sights to break up your diet.