The Summer That Has Nothing Good To Watch

Have you noticed that the movies that Hollywood has put out in the last few years have been utter trash? Last night, I took a trip to the video store, and amidst a very large selection, I could hardly find anything worth watching.

If you want to watch a movie these days, you have to either be a Disney fanatic, or a horny teenager who likes to ogle over models like Lindsay Lohan or Hilary Duff. On top of that, I could not believe all the television series that have been transferred to DVD -- including the ones from the 1980's that should never have been preserved in the digital medium in the first place.

What's with all the television series being re-created for the big screen this year? How about all the movies of ages past being re-created and re-released? Is it nostalgia? Somehow, I don't think so. Is it to expose a new generation of moviegoers to the old classics? Why not just give them another run in the theatres? It would be cheaper than to produce an entire new film.

As of late, I have read many bloggers complain about the lack of quality, and originality in Hollywood movies this year. I, for one, am in agreement, but I think this has been a steady slide for at least five years.

Part of the reason for this is that the motion picture industry is suffering from the same ailment as the music industry (and don't get me started about the music industry, that's a whole other post altogether). The motion picture industry is afraid of taking chances. This wasn't the case very long ago, but every summer the motion-picture industry tries to out-do itself in terms of box-office sales. I think they've finally tapped the well dry.

The major problem is that the motion picture industry is looking for "franchise"-type movies. That is to say, that they will not commit to producing a motion picture unless they can get sequels out of the picture.

Time and time again, the fine arts are being sacrificed in order to make killer profits. I am afraid this might affect the psyche of an entire generation. They may never know what good art is.

Mind you, the winds of change might be blowing -- a mere breeze right now. Being a professional musician for nearly a decade, I have never seen so many youths (teenagers, young adults) be so enthused about classic rock music. When I first started gigging, the 18-24 crowd did not relate to -- or appeared to not appreciate the music their parents might have listened to. Hell, I didn't appreciate my parents' taste in music until I was 22 or 23. I spent many years playing music for the 30-50 crowd, the younger crowd all left the bar as soon as we started playing. This last year while I was gigging with SK and Mule Shoe, the bars were packed with young adults, all of them excited about the 60's, 70's and 80's rock we would play. A number of my students have been coming to lessons with Led Zeppelin CD's and other great rock of a generation past.

Could it be that the youth also know that the quality of popular music and film is going down the toilet? It's no secret that this has been one of the worst summers at the box office in years. And don't blame peer-to-peer software for poor record sales or lousy box office sales. We all know what's going on here.

We are tired. Very tired of bad entertainment with huge marketing budgets that try to force us to pay for sub-par entertainment.