Thursday, March 23, 2006
Forget the cinema, stay home and watch Desperate Housewives!
There has been much said over the last couple of years about the decline in movie attendance. My own thoughts on the matter are if they made better movies more people would go and watch them, but I think it goes farther than that too. Television right now is better than it has ever been in my lifetime. I find myself all too often at home with a movie and deciding that I would rather watch a new episode of The Sopranos, House, or The Shield.
Recently at the movies we have seen The Pink Panther and Failure to Launch as box office successes. Now I realize I should hold my critiquing of these movies until after I have seen them, but I feel pretty safe in saying that the story, acting, and intangiable interest factor for these movies can not be as good as say The Sopranos. Television has become everything that once made movies the preferred form of entertainment. The quality of actors on television is prime cut, and the directors and writers of television seem to have more of a grasp on how to tell a story and keep the viewer entertained and well as keeping them on the edge of their seat.
What we have is the return of watercooler television. Many days I go to work or hang with friends and discuss the last episode of CSI, Sopranos, The Shield, or Prison Break. Consistently for the last couple of years Lost and Desperate Housewives have kept the audience so riveted that it has become all but impossible to avoid hearing what happened on the last episode. When was the last time a movie came out that everyone couldn't stop talking about, Titanic, The Matrix, Lord 0f the Rings. Television is starting to turn these shows out by the dozen.
Where have all the great iconic movie characters gone. It seems that all the best characters in cinema today where created in literature of some form originally. If your looking for great enigmatic, engaging characters these days your best bet to find them is to turn on your television. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, Hugh Laurie as Gregory House, Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, William Peterson as Gil Grissom, all these actors were for the most part failed movies stars, at least in the sense that nobody in film wanted to take a chance on them now they are all emmy and/or golden globe winners. And there has been a lot of well known movie stars turning toward television as well, Steve Buscemi on The Sopranos, Glenn Close on The Shield, Gary Sinese on CSI:NY, here they have found different levels of success, Glenn Close was emmy and golden globe nominated. But the acting in television is as good and in many cases better than in cinema.
The acting is important but the writing is what is really setting television apart right now. The last couple of years has seen the birth of some great concepts in an attempt to lure audiences away from the stupid, mind-numbing, pointless reality television. 24 is a show done in real time(kind of anyway), Prison Break is a show center completely around the act that it's name implies. Someone threw out the cookie cutter that television shows used to be made from, well maybe they gave it to the movie industry instead.
I don't mean to say that there aren't any movies out there worth seeing, there are. I myself am looking forward to when King Kong comes out on DVD next week. I am looking very forward to X-Men 3, this summer, and I am on pins and needles for Spiderman 3 next summer. Our recent Oscar winner Crash was not just one of the best movies I saw last year, it is one of the best movies I ever saw. But there are fewer of these kinds of movies these days. All I am saying is if you want to make an investment in your entertainment forget a movie ticket or netflix, buy a TiVo.
Recently at the movies we have seen The Pink Panther and Failure to Launch as box office successes. Now I realize I should hold my critiquing of these movies until after I have seen them, but I feel pretty safe in saying that the story, acting, and intangiable interest factor for these movies can not be as good as say The Sopranos. Television has become everything that once made movies the preferred form of entertainment. The quality of actors on television is prime cut, and the directors and writers of television seem to have more of a grasp on how to tell a story and keep the viewer entertained and well as keeping them on the edge of their seat.
What we have is the return of watercooler television. Many days I go to work or hang with friends and discuss the last episode of CSI, Sopranos, The Shield, or Prison Break. Consistently for the last couple of years Lost and Desperate Housewives have kept the audience so riveted that it has become all but impossible to avoid hearing what happened on the last episode. When was the last time a movie came out that everyone couldn't stop talking about, Titanic, The Matrix, Lord 0f the Rings. Television is starting to turn these shows out by the dozen.
Where have all the great iconic movie characters gone. It seems that all the best characters in cinema today where created in literature of some form originally. If your looking for great enigmatic, engaging characters these days your best bet to find them is to turn on your television. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, Hugh Laurie as Gregory House, Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, William Peterson as Gil Grissom, all these actors were for the most part failed movies stars, at least in the sense that nobody in film wanted to take a chance on them now they are all emmy and/or golden globe winners. And there has been a lot of well known movie stars turning toward television as well, Steve Buscemi on The Sopranos, Glenn Close on The Shield, Gary Sinese on CSI:NY, here they have found different levels of success, Glenn Close was emmy and golden globe nominated. But the acting in television is as good and in many cases better than in cinema.
The acting is important but the writing is what is really setting television apart right now. The last couple of years has seen the birth of some great concepts in an attempt to lure audiences away from the stupid, mind-numbing, pointless reality television. 24 is a show done in real time(kind of anyway), Prison Break is a show center completely around the act that it's name implies. Someone threw out the cookie cutter that television shows used to be made from, well maybe they gave it to the movie industry instead.
I don't mean to say that there aren't any movies out there worth seeing, there are. I myself am looking forward to when King Kong comes out on DVD next week. I am looking very forward to X-Men 3, this summer, and I am on pins and needles for Spiderman 3 next summer. Our recent Oscar winner Crash was not just one of the best movies I saw last year, it is one of the best movies I ever saw. But there are fewer of these kinds of movies these days. All I am saying is if you want to make an investment in your entertainment forget a movie ticket or netflix, buy a TiVo.
# posted by Brandon Michael Collinsworth @ 8:31 AM 
Comments:
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I think you make some good points. Of the shows you've mentioned, I've only seen either a few episodes or snippets, but based on the way I've felt about WEST WING, I know exactly what you are saying. It's the first piece of entertainment to truly move me since KING KONG.
Within the last 6 months, I've only wanted to see 2 movies at the theater--NARNIA and KING KONG. There have been nights where Jessica and I have a babysitter, and I think, "Cool. We could go see a movie!" We get to the theater and think, "Man. Should we fork out $15.00 to watch any of this stuff." Several times, we've opted to leave the theater and do something else. There are very few movies that are worth paying $15.00 to see.
Also, technology has reached a point where many people have a better movie experience within their own homes than they have at the theaters.
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Within the last 6 months, I've only wanted to see 2 movies at the theater--NARNIA and KING KONG. There have been nights where Jessica and I have a babysitter, and I think, "Cool. We could go see a movie!" We get to the theater and think, "Man. Should we fork out $15.00 to watch any of this stuff." Several times, we've opted to leave the theater and do something else. There are very few movies that are worth paying $15.00 to see.
Also, technology has reached a point where many people have a better movie experience within their own homes than they have at the theaters.
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