Everyone is complaining about the sour box office this summer, leading experts to blame everything from DVDs to lousy movies. Here we are in the middle of July, when it should be fun city, and it feels like the August dumping grounds: this weekend audiences have to choose between the awful Dark Water and the even worse Fantastic Four.
But a look at the charts shows even more baffling evidence. People keep returning to see mediocre films like Batman Begins and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but are completely ignoring great films like Land of the Dead, not to mention modern art house classics like Tropical Malady and Saraband. Saraband, by the way, is Ingmar Bergman's triumphant return to American screens for the first time since After the Rehearsal in 1984. It also happens to be far and away the best film I've seen this year so far.
Fall looks slightly more promising, with new films coming up by Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Roman Polanski (Oliver Twist) and Terrence Malick (The New World). All in all, this year really isn't very different from any other year in the history of movies. People will always pay more attention to the bad movies, but the good ones always surface later. Just look at Million Dollar Baby, out on DVD this Tuesday, for a perfect example.
But a look at the charts shows even more baffling evidence. People keep returning to see mediocre films like Batman Begins and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but are completely ignoring great films like Land of the Dead, not to mention modern art house classics like Tropical Malady and Saraband. Saraband, by the way, is Ingmar Bergman's triumphant return to American screens for the first time since After the Rehearsal in 1984. It also happens to be far and away the best film I've seen this year so far.
Fall looks slightly more promising, with new films coming up by Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Roman Polanski (Oliver Twist) and Terrence Malick (The New World). All in all, this year really isn't very different from any other year in the history of movies. People will always pay more attention to the bad movies, but the good ones always surface later. Just look at Million Dollar Baby, out on DVD this Tuesday, for a perfect example.
| :: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/08/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
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