Episode 1: Hollywood’s Clone War

Well, Gee-howdy everyone. Welcome to the Rough Cut. It’s my monthly article on movie making through my eyes…so if you are wondering, this is totally opinion.

This week’s edition is on Hollywood’s lack of creativity in the past year of movie making and what is in store for you movie buffs.

Post September 11, everyone has seemed to take a hit in sales, and is desperately trying to make a buck. Looking at movie studios specifically, I see a growing trend that is frightening me. Big time studios aren’t looking at new franchise opportunities, and are not willing to take a gamble pouring millions of dollars into a flop. Instead they are using time-tested, mother approved formulas that work time and time again. We see the major trend with the Mummy Trilogy (Mummy, Mummy Returns, and the Scorpion King), The Matrix and its two sequels, Star Wars Episode II and III, and Lord of the Rings just to name a few.

For most of us, we rejoice at the thought of Neo kicking Agent Smith's ass or taking another trip back to Middle Earth. I am with the rest of you who would gladly shell out the mu-lah to see X-Men 2, but I think the Battle of the Blockbusters has blinded us to the real problem at hand. Where are the original movies? The studios have seemed to mask the lack of good scripts and writing with the movie magic of Industrial Light and Magic.

Studios shell out big time bucks for movies like Star Wars and Spider-Man in hopes of hitting a gold mine, but this could hurt movies like American Beauty, with studios overlooking the great writing for the biggest selling, most marketable movie. I’m just looking out for the little guys.

But as a final thought to all this jumble of madness, I would just like to say that if studios and producers keep with this trend, they need to start a quality control, making sure that each script contains feasible plot lines, believable characters and consistency with other movies. Don't go Batman on us please…

Movie Hiz-ouse

Just wanted to give some brief notes on what’s hot, and what’s not, and what is on the horizon.

Spider-Man: GO see it…its awesome and needs you to go see it. Maybe not this second, but soon…

Episode II: I can’t wait. It’s going to be awesome. YODA FIGHT SCENE! YOINKS!

Men in Black 2: We will have to see. Spielberg was behind the first one; let’s see if this gig can be pulled off twice.

Terminator 3: This mother is still pretty far off, they have started filming, but it’s on the way.

Final Words

Well that’s it. My first rant on movie stuff. Hope to see you back here next month, so check back with the NSP home page for more information…Remember, stay away from Jerry Bruckheimer, drink milk, and keep pulling, we’re all in this together.

 


Mike Harris


If you want more information on your favorite movies, or want to know what movies are coming out, head over to www.movies.com to learn more.