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Okay, so who's running Hollywood anymore? Well, we all know the answer is the "Benjamins", as it were. And society as a whole in it's own way. But seriously, does anyone else find it entirely annoying - and wasteful - that Hollywood can push out so many numbers of movies with so little value? In our current culture climate, we all find ourselves wanting a good movie to see on the weekend for entertainment. Unfortunately, it seems we also end up wasting our money on something cheesy and ridiculous. It wasn't that long ago when movie stars actually had to perform in top order to be known. Not for their anorexic-waist-size, rehab-once-again-at-age-fifteen, or the fact that they were having another baby/divorce/marriage. Old Hollywood wasn't perfect, but it had certain standards. In the movie "The Holiday" (which I happened to enjoy), an older gentleman said something so simple yet true, about how in his day, movies took time to make, they were nutured and it was personal to many. He went on to say how disappointing it was that these days, five new movies are churned out in one weekend, only to fight for top-spot rankings and to trample the competition, and not one of those movies even need to have any real value. How true. Movies are made for entertainment and sometimes it's great to get out of our own minds and worlds and into a fantasy world for two hours. Even I enjoy a fun flick. But wouldn't it be that much better if Hollywood wasted less money on lame movies and put it to good use? Hello, it's a big world out there. Why does ANYONE need to be paid 20 million per picture? That's absurd. Not that I'm looking to Hollywood for my value/morale system (hah), but you'd think there would be some sense of structure that's called "common sense".  

I think the real problem is that hollywood is learning that if they hype up a movie enough, it doesn't matter if it's any good. They will make so much in tickets on opening night that it doesn't matter so much if anyone actually likes the movie. If they step up the merchandising enough, they can make plenty more cash. So they don't really need repeat customers anymore. Unfortunately, cold economics dictates most of our society. I doubt the movie industry is much different.

I would sure like it if we could have more amazing movies that really took a lot of time and loving care to produce. We still have them, and those are the ones we end up buying on video and watching over and over. And the other movies burn out bright and fast in the box office and are never remembered, except occasionally as a good laughing stock.