It seems that I’m not the only one who is discontented with the new norm in entertainment. After 23 years in the business, the New York Times movie critic, A. O. (Tony) Scott, is calling it quits. I’m a believer that, love or hate the Times, you’ve got to admit have a decent track record of hiring the best. So when the guy who’s seen just about every film released for over two decades says, “That’s enough,” you should listen to his reasons. And he gives them in a recent episode of The Daily.
I personally think Scott’s complaints can be summed up in reflecting on the shallowness of the movies we’ve seen released in recent years. The rise of the franchise leads the charge here. To quote Scott – “The secret of The Avengers is that it is a snappy little dialogue comedy dressed up as something else; that something else being a giant ATM for Marvel and its new studio overlords, the Walt Disney Company.” He firmly believes that franchise movies are “sucking up a lot of oxygen in the movie world,” and I wholeheartedly agree.
I remember, before COVID and my subsequent self-exile from Facebook, I often gave my two cents on the movies I was seeing. I’m a far cry from a New York Times critic, but I certainly know what I like, and I think I had a lot of meaningful things to say back then. Now? I’m a broken record. I feel redeemed though in that I’m starting to see a lot more people falling in line with my point of view. I was listening to another podcast recently in which the host summed it up along these lines: If you make a copy of what everyone else is doing and it fails, it’s a blip – you lick your wounds and move on to other projects. But if you try to be original and it fails, well, then you’ve failed spectacularly. In short: suck like everyone else, and you’re safe. Suck in a new way, and you’re toast (I’ve got a whole different piece in the works on the subject of that podcast, so I’ll leave it at that for now). No risks taken, no creativity explored.
The bottom line for me (and I’ve said it before) is that we’re settling for far too little. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s because we’ve given up on deep thought. We can’t pay attention to anything longer than a few snippets’ worth unless there’s something blowing up or someone getting gunned down to keep the story moving. Or in the case of Marvel, an overwhelming display of flashy and gratuitous effects, with a steady beat of cheap punchlines.
And now the film critic at the New York Times apparently agrees with me (says I, though I never had his depth of taste, experience, flare for writing, keen eye, etc…). Good for him. I’ve got no antidote for you in the way of movies. I’m seeing now, with the rise of AI, we’ll be able to bypass the drivel of the big studios and put together our own cheap trash. I can only hope that a few creative minds might be able to actually shine out from the rest of the garbage in the dump, but I’m not encouraged. One of our biggest problems now is the overwhelming nature of everything. There’s just too much out there, and it all amounts to a mere millisecond blip to our ever-dulling senses. Blink, and you’ll miss it. Not that it matters.
But I do have an idea that works. Dump the “entertainment” of our modern culture and go to the library. Find a great book (maybe you can resolve to read nothing but Pulitzer prize-winners for a year). I can guarantee you that there are literally thousands of them that you’ve never read — probably never even heard of. And while you’re at it, be sure to get it in hard copy. Put down the temptation of an e-device that interrupts you every time you get a text. Say goodbye to the shallow world for something much better. I’ll certainly thank you for not adding to the noise.