The new Aquaman movie is getting some very bad reviews - and this, along with the fact that Marvel has also well and truly reached a creative dead end, would seem to indicate we really are at the end of a very long cycle of comic book derived movies which was fun at its peak, but has run its course*. (See also the death of Star Wars as showing that franchises do have a natural life and simply cannot be extended forever. Perhaps Bond is an exception of sorts?)
This feels like a Very Good Thing, except that it also makes me a bit nervous as to the seeming lack of alternative ideas may be out there for studios to hang their hat on. It's very hard to imagine what kind of new genre or innovation could arise to get people excited again. I mean, there was something pretty unique about the cultural excitement that the first Star Wars movie generated, as a science fiction-y/fantasy world with a distinct look that felt new and full of promise. And for quite a long time after that, just the look of new movies (not only in science fiction, but also the amazing clarity of new animation that the first Toy Story brought) was often a very significant drawcard of its own. Now, computer generated visuals are too easily made and they simply don't draw a crowd on their own.
Still, one hopes there is a new "school" of creative types out there somewhere who have ideas worth committing to a big screen.
* I also want to extend my criticism to the idea of the more adult orientated "graphic novels" as a story source for movies. I have very rarely found movies based on such material to be very good, although it's hard to put my finger on why. The latest example - which I didn't even realise until I read a review - was the Netflix movie "The Killer" with Michael Fassbender. It got some very good reviews, but I found it dull, very pretentious, and unconvincing. (Apart from the ten minutes featuring Tilda Swinton. I wish I could work out why I find her acting so magnetic, but it just is.)
Still, one hopes there is a new "school" of creative types out there somewhere who have ideas worth committing to a big screen.
ReplyDeleteThere is a mountain of SciFi literature that should be transferred to the screen. Sci Fantasy also. I'd love to see some Moorcock's novels make it to the big screen. JG Ballard's The Drowned World is a good psychological novel that deserves the same. The Brisbane Scifi novelist Greg Egan has novels that might also make interesting movies. The difference though is these are not action oriented novels. They are about characters and drama, and sometimes explore themes about humanity and society. After decades of dumbing down the movie experience, perhaps these works won't attract a large audience.
I've never tried Michael Moorcock, to be honest. I always thought he was a bit too far on the fantasy side of the science fiction/fantasy spectrum, and I generally only feel lukewarm about fantasy. I think Tim Train has recommended him to me too?
ReplyDeleteI similarly have never read Terry Pratchett - apart from Good Omens - even though I know he has many fans and I doubt I would hate his Discworld: it's just that it sounds like (I dunno) twee fantasy?
Moorcock is pure fantasy. Fantasy can be entertaining and is much more creative than the comic book hero themes. Action movies are a type of fantasy so perhaps there is hope for Moorcock's novels.😀 I recently read a review of Napoleon which argued it was very historically inaccurate. I've watched Oppenheimer and Barbie and found both to be tedious.
ReplyDeletesov aquaman is sinking
ReplyDelete"I've watched Oppenheimer and Barbie and found both to be tedious."
ReplyDeleteI would never have expected you to turn up at Barbie! (I haven't seen it, but it looks harmless, at least.)
Thematically - don't you think it is disappointing that no one has been taking on the extreme nuttiness of Right wing politics in America in cinema? Are the studios still too scared of the MAGA crowd to make movies that show them up as dangerous, often redneck, nuts?
ReplyDeleteI have watched the first episode of the new season of Fargo on SBS, and it seems to "go there", but back in the 70's and 80's, movies attacking the state of American politics and society were much more "a thing" than in the last 10 years, when such critiquing is much, much more deserved.
The new season of Fargo doesn't quite go there. There are plenty of older US movies about questionable police officers and it is more in that mold than an outright portrayal of MAGA madness. To date this Fargo season is more about a diminutive woman taking on the big man. There is the movie Imperium which is about extreme right wing nationalism in the USA but that was before Trump. A movie addressing contemporary politics of Trump and his acolytes needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteBTW, agree on The Killer, movie didn't work for me.