Monkey Diaries Archive

They Shoot Movies Don't They I like movies. Movies shouldn't be mistaken for films. Movies are fun, exciting, edge-of-your-seat spectacles or laugh-out-loud funny stories that take you places you wouldn't normally visit for two hours. Films on the other hand are artful, cinematic masterpieces of storytelling, cinematography, direction and production. You should never confuse the two and THAT my friends and neighbors is where most average people make the mistake when they go to the theater for an evenings entertainment. I've got more than a few friends and acquaintances who often mistake one for the other and vice versa. They pan a movie like The Hulk, all the while missing the point of the movie: it is escapist entertainment. I didn't go to a prestigious film school nor did I intern at some independent studio but I know the difference between a movie and a film. I've always known the difference because I've had a 32 year love affair with the medium. I love films. The classics like To Kill A Mockingbird, On the Waterfront, and most notably, Night of the Hunter, shaped my understanding of film. I understood that these pieces of celluloid trascended the medium and took it somewhere that hollywood never intended it to go. They became art. I understood that they should be judged on a higher playing field, that in order to make the leap from "movie" to "film," they would have to push my buttons in such a way as to be memorable beyond a cliche line or specific scene. That the whole of the presentation would have to be consistently and patently GREAT. Movies, on the other hand, are nothing more than two hours of forgetting your mortgage. 2 hours of forgetting that your boss rides your ass like cowboy rides a bronco. Or that your girlfriend or boyfriend just broke up with you. Or that you're late on your car payment by 21 days. These movies serve a purpose... only if you let them. To place undue expectation on a film is just asking for disappointment. The funny thing is, most people don't realize they do it. Take for example two recent releases: From Justin to Kelly and The Hulk. This is the tale of two movies. One is mindless entertainment, the other mindless entertainment filled with possibilities. From Justin to Kelly has no expectations. Well, if you discount the fact that it is a movie with manufactured popstars who just competed in a reality TV competion, it has less than 0 expectations. The other is a movie that is laden with expectation. Misplaced expectation in my opinion. Most people can go see From Justin to Kelly without batting an eyelash and have a great time watching this ripoff of 60s beach blanket bingo movies. Now those same people will rip apart The Hulk because it failed to live up to their expecations or because this "piece of crap" isn't the sacharine, made-for-tv tripe that they grew up with. I haven't seen From Justin to Kelly but I have seen The Hulk and I can tell you that The Hulk will find its way into my DVD library while the aforementioned teeny-bop movie won't. Nothing against that movie but I just don't think it will hold my interest after repeat viewings. Anyway, a full review of The Hulk to come...