C’MON HOLLYWOOD: Don’t Revisit the Sins of the Past!

…don’t revisit the sins of the past!
by J.A. Hamilton

Summing up the past decade in cinema is no easy feat; though pointing out some of the places Hollywood went wrong is a smidge easier. The movie tree certainly did bare some luscious fruit over the past ten years with highlights like Disney/Pixar coming into their own, the surprisingly entertaining HARRY POTTER series, the epic LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and a sleek new Bond in Daniel Craig to name but a few. But fans also bit into their fair share of rotten apples with nonsense like the last two MATRIX films, a horrendous TRANSFORMERS sequel and all out crap like THE WICKER MAN, CATWOMAN and of course Indy’s last adventure. Here’s a recap of some the areas I think they can do better.

Emma Watson’s becoming quite the little vixen

It should be no secret by now that I’m not a huge fan of unnecessary sequels or remakes. I know we have a lot of pre-production plans in the pipeline right now but for God sakes forget about stuff like the CROW, CLIFFHANGER and FRIGHT NIGHT remakes (and I’m still worried as hell about a re-envisioned HIGHLANDER), and if you’re going to play hard ball with sequels, give them to surefire titles like BOND, STAR TREK, THE HANGOVER, IRON MAN, DISTRICT 9 or even FRIDAY THE 13th and depending on how well it goes, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. I’m also digging the comic book film craze, as long as they keep it smart and don’t over think the scripts.

I still have high hopes for Freddy’s new nightmare

Speaking of the over thinking process, I’d also love it if Hollywood would stop trying so hard to find the next “HARRY POTTER” or “LORD OF THE RINGS” with crap like ERAGON, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE and a slew of other titles that they’re running with in hopes of filling the gap once Harry and co. have run their theatrical course. I love fantasy, and I know there’s a couple slots that need filled, but TF3 could be good if Bay learns from his mistakes and G.I.JOE is also just getting warmed up and has potential to boot. Some of these newer “tent pole” franchises like JOE always start out rough around the edges (X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN did), but tend to bloom by round two. So here’s hoping on that end.

I enjoyed Rise of Cobra for what it was

I suppose I should toss in a word about PG-13 fluff here as well, as we seemed to be drowning in it for awhile there, but I’m happy to say that the R rated flicks have been much more abundant nearing the end of this past decade which puts a big smile on my face. I’m not the only one to piss and moan about the PG-13 plague, so I can only hope that the hate mail, complaints, poor reviews and forum rants have gotten through to the right people and are indeed being acknowledged. I’m not trying to ban PG-13 films, there is both a need and demand for them, but we’re all just sick of seeing great films being dissected and watered down to meet a lower rating standard.

This remains one of my favorite R rated flicks of the decade

Lastly I’d like to see less annoying “just trying to get a paycheck” performances from our stars and starlets this go around. Come on, have people like Nicolas Cage, Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler (though I did enjoy FUNNY PEOPLE) done anything of interest lately? I’m also hoping to see more ass kicking from guys like Daniel Craig, Liam Neeson, Ryan Reynolds and even Gerard Butler (if he’d lay off the romantic comedies). There are more than enough sins from the past ten years to make up for in the new year/decade and I can only hope and pray we see some of these things fixed and or realized in the days to come. Happy New year all!