What I Don't Like About Movies

Any number of things can set me off when I get angry at a movie. I dislike films which take no risks, which are most of the mainstream films. Anything that blatantly mimics a proven formula will set me off. That having been said, I usually find new combinations of old formulas to be some of the most interesting work, and Hollywood puts out a few of these every year. I also think it's important to note that the typical Hollywood formulas - the Joseph Campbell hero epic, the rom com, the action heist film, etc. - aren't the only formulas out there. I equally detest all of the pop indie formulas - the quirky family dramedy, the dark "war-is-bad" drama, the minority struggling against oppression, etc. After watching enough of these, you can easily read which older, truly original films influenced any of these ripoffs (and I'm sure this sensation will get worse as I age). True art lies not in how we mimic the films we idolize, but in how we use them to motivate us to create something just as creative and original.

I also don't like self-important films, where the film seems to be the end in itself, rather than the means to another end. Film school, and the film world in general, are full of these. Production for the sake of production. Good story ideas are great, as are deep characters, but you have to attach them to some deeper theme in order to make a film which will truly matter, and stand the test of time. I have my doubts about the specifics of the COP, but I absolutely agree with the general concept. I don't think most films - both mainstream and indie - have one of these, and it's a shame.

I don't like films which stand out as high-concept pitches. "What if you have a Western with cowboys ... but there are also aliens fighting them?" It makes a great pitch, but a pitch has a long way to go to becoming a film with a fleshed-out story, honest characters, and deep thematic roots.

The main quality I dislike in cinema today is a lack of genuine focus on story, despite a seemingly massive focus on story. The word "story" is thrown around a lot out in the film world, and in film school, but then why do most of the movies made suck so badly? I think modern storytellers forget how long the history of storytelling is, and the infinitely diverse stories which can be told. We let ourselves be confined by the past century of pop-culture consumption, where art is also an industry. I don't think people are afraid to think outside the boxes of genre, target market, and story structure - I just don't think it ever crosses people's minds, because we're so busy focusing on what will sell in the mainstream, or how to build an audience in the microbudget world. All that stuff is important; I just wish storytellers could learn to think outside of the box without resorting all the way to left-field experiments with the form.

I try to rebel against all of the above in my own work. I enjoy combining disparate old things into something new, defying genre expectations, while maintaining artistic humility. There's really not much else to write about it.