Let me get this straight.I am talking about reviews of things. Books, audiobooks, movies, television shows. I should include music, but I don’t real reviews of music and to be absolutely honest, I haven’t read anything about music, other than which classical pianist plays, oh I don’t know … Beethoven’s sonatas or Chopin’s nocturnes better than whoever else plays them … and that was 50 years ago. A child, was I back then.
These days, Garry usually reads the reviews and the ones he thinks I’d enjoy, he passes over to me.
The moment I see any of these words:
- Nuance
- Poignant
- Sensitive
- Touching
- Artistic
and others I can’t think of right now because I haven’t had enough coffee, I know I will not see that movie. Anyway, who really goes to the movies? If you aren’t a kid dating another kid, who actually watches the crud they are playing? My granddaughter won’t go either because she says the stories are “stupid” and she’s not quite 21. Ah from the mouths of babes.
All those words mean one thing.
Dull. Sometimes, really boring. Occasionally, merely “lacking anything resembling a plot.” I don’t care how many Hollywood, London, or Melbourne “Big Name Actors” are in it. As often as not, when you see a big crowd of expensive actors in one cast, you can put money on the lack of a decent script. They had to save money somewhere, you know.
When asked the three most important points of movie making, Alfred Hitchcock said: “The script, the script, and the script.”
Good acting counts, too — if there’s a script. As does excellent cinematography, set design, directing … all of it matters. When there’s a story.
If you don’t have a script, the rest of it is “nuanced nothing.” A sensitive, artistic, subtle yet somehow, poignant (and deeply touching) movie which will be admired by the artsy crowd. And forgotten by everyone else before six months has passed.
This is my very nuanced opinion on nuance. Shoot me dead, I do not care. If the script, the story, the characters, the follow through don’t work? Boring. Dull. You want to make everyone older than 14 go to the movies? Make movies that feel like life. Doesn’t have to be life right now. It can be life 500 years ago. Regardless, give us life.
Give us stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Give us a tale to tell our kids. Make that story rock!
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Categories: Book Review, Celebrities, Entertainment, Movie Review, Movies, Personal
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
As far as i have been able to make out the main reason for the current quality of movies is that Hollywood believes the most profitable market (and therefore the opinions that matter the most) is from tweeners and early teenagers from the Mid-West!
I cannot recall the last time i went and paid to see a movie – the last movie i enjoyed was Gravity – it made me think afterwards and the effects were superb.As a large part of the movie involved just one actor alone in space, the acting and the script had to be good for me to enjoy it.
love
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I suppose if a film doesn’t involve zombies getting their heads shot off, a good plot is the next best thing.
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At least you know what’s IMPORTANT!
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I’m sorry but I’ll have to agree with you. I wish it were otherwise.
Leslie
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Maybe better movies will come back into style. It COULD happen, right?
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Most things are possible, Marilyn. This could happen.
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That’s funny, my mum literally just emailed me “Went to see Batman Lego movie last night, seriously stressed me out, so noisy and overstimulating. Haha, getting old!” and as a 21 year old, I fully agree with your blog. Thanks for the read
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You are welcome. When my granddaughter said it was too stupid for HER too, I realized it wasn’t just an old person thing. The movies are just BAD.
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I dunno, parts of all my books are poignant, though I’d never claim that preferring, as I do, “Gut wrenching.” My stories are NEVER nuanced. That’s an artsy-fartsy word.
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I think you know what I mean. The fancier the words get, the duller the story will be. I don’t expect every story to be THE STORY, but I expect a beginning, a middle, and something like and ending unless there’s a sequel on the way. I want stuff that happens first to stay there while things that happen next don’t slither back, unless we’re talking about time travel. It’s not so complicated. I hate being in the middle of a movie, looking at Garry and asking him “Do you know what’s going on?” And he doesn’t.
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My biggest bitch about newer movies is the flat, characterless acting. Sometimes I can’t bear it long enough to find out if there IS a story.
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Well, yeah, that too. Bad acting AND a crappy script? No matter how much money they spend on CGI special effects, it isn’t going to make me like it.
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Me neither.
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Intersting, but I rarely read reviews, because I usually do not agree in any case when I see the film or whatever. Mr. Swiss is a great follower of reviews. If the mysterious “they” say it is good, he will watch it, although often switches off half way through to something else, because he realises that what “they” say if not always what he thinks. Too many nuances that seem to grow.
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Marilyn is spot on about those buzz words in reviews. Dead giveaways.
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It’s like when you are looking for a history book and the review says “informative” rather than, say interesting, or fascinating or whatever. That means “dry as dust.” Where history is concerned, I’ll probably read it anyway. i don’t expect them to be a rocking good story as long as they are accurate, but when it’s a TV show or a movie, I figure it ought to at least be entertaining!
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