Movies of the week - Wanted and Hancock
Watched 2 movies today - Wanted (Angelina Jolie) and Hancock (Will Smith). Both were disappointing. They were all about special effects and the razzmatazz of technology. I just wonder sometimes - are movies produced today as good as those produced a few decades back?
The movies then had the "human touch", which led to imperfections in editing, camera work, lighting etc. which in some strange way made them more likable. Will we ever be able to such classics like The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, The God Father (the list is endless)? These movies did not rely on technology so much to entertain people as the movies these days do. It was about good old fashioned acting and amazing scripts. These days the entertainment value of a movie to a large extent depends on how "realistic" the scenes the director wants to depict are. Studios rely on technology and not the actors to entertain. Seeing train compartments dangling from bridges, men throwing whales into the ocean, people jumping from rooftops and landing on trains is what leaves the audience breathless and this does hide any inherent weakness in the basic foundation of the film temporarily. The real test of how good it is depends on what sort of an impact it has on the audience when they have left the theaters. Will they watch it again? Will they recommend it to their family and/or friends? I am not saying that all movies made today are inferior to older ones. Juno, You've got Mail, Shawshank Redemption are all classics in their own rights. Sincerely hope that we get to see such movies more often than not.
Getting back to the ones I saw this week, in Mumbai terms, they were timepass. They were like chewing gum - harmless, but losing their charm after some time. Wanted was about some assassins killing people to promote a stable social order (jeez) and Hancock was about this superhero-prick who is almost immortal. Both had superstars in their cast and I was hoping they would stand up to the hype surrounding them - I was disappointed. The stories were directionless. The acting was strictly OK. The only great thing about both were the special effects. But then if that is what I wanted I would have played some crazy video game or watched someone else do so!!
All in all, I believe I could have done something better with the time and money that I spent...
The movies then had the "human touch", which led to imperfections in editing, camera work, lighting etc. which in some strange way made them more likable. Will we ever be able to such classics like The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, The God Father (the list is endless)? These movies did not rely on technology so much to entertain people as the movies these days do. It was about good old fashioned acting and amazing scripts. These days the entertainment value of a movie to a large extent depends on how "realistic" the scenes the director wants to depict are. Studios rely on technology and not the actors to entertain. Seeing train compartments dangling from bridges, men throwing whales into the ocean, people jumping from rooftops and landing on trains is what leaves the audience breathless and this does hide any inherent weakness in the basic foundation of the film temporarily. The real test of how good it is depends on what sort of an impact it has on the audience when they have left the theaters. Will they watch it again? Will they recommend it to their family and/or friends? I am not saying that all movies made today are inferior to older ones. Juno, You've got Mail, Shawshank Redemption are all classics in their own rights. Sincerely hope that we get to see such movies more often than not.
Getting back to the ones I saw this week, in Mumbai terms, they were timepass. They were like chewing gum - harmless, but losing their charm after some time. Wanted was about some assassins killing people to promote a stable social order (jeez) and Hancock was about this superhero-prick who is almost immortal. Both had superstars in their cast and I was hoping they would stand up to the hype surrounding them - I was disappointed. The stories were directionless. The acting was strictly OK. The only great thing about both were the special effects. But then if that is what I wanted I would have played some crazy video game or watched someone else do so!!
All in all, I believe I could have done something better with the time and money that I spent...
posted by ritwick at 11:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home