2008 Woodie Awards
Where have all the creativity gone?
David Ashby
Issue date: 11/14/05 Section: Opinions
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The conservative right wing criticizes Hollywood filmmakers of having a dangerous left-wing agenda, while pro-family advocates criticize Hollywood big shots of deliberately depraving America's youth with foul language and adult situations. I, on the other hand, criticize Hollywood for a growing trend in showbusiness that has become more and more obvious in recent years: the decline of creativity and originality.
This horrible decline into mediocrity has become most obvious with this past summer's movie season, where the most common trend was remakes and sequels, remakes and sequels, remakes and sequels. It seemed that no matter how good a classic film like "The Amityville Horror" or "The Fog" was, there was some slimy producer who felt it was necessary to remake it.
Some of these redos and sequels were huge hits (like the long-awaited "Revenge of the Sith"), but too many of them were bombs (I would have seen "Herbie: Fully Loaded," but it was only in theaters for about five hours).
The worst of the remakes were those based on campy old television shows from the 60s and 70s, like "Bewitched" and "The Dukes of Hazard." What is particularly funny about this is that these television shows were initially made into television shows because the ideas weren't good enough to be made into feature films.
What's even worse is that even Hollywood's top stars and directors couldn't be relied on for a creative and award-caliber alternative. Steven Spielberg was too busy rehashing "War of the Worlds" with escaped mental patient Tom Cruise, while the usually reliable Billy Bob Thornton was stuck rehashing his brilliant performance in "Bad Santa" in the not-so-brilliant "The Bad News Bears."
All and all, it was a dreadful summer at the movies for people who expect a little more creative effort from America's Dreamland in Southern California, and it looks to be even worse in the coming months as more and more movie producers continue to ruin old movies by either remaking them or expanding the franchises with more unnecessary sequels. Slated to soon be released are remakes of "King Kong," "Yours, Mine, and Ours" "The Shaggy Dog," "Oh God!," and "Back to School," as well as sequels to "Harry Potter," Spiderman," "X-Men," "Die Hard," and "Indiana Jones."
This horrible decline into mediocrity has become most obvious with this past summer's movie season, where the most common trend was remakes and sequels, remakes and sequels, remakes and sequels. It seemed that no matter how good a classic film like "The Amityville Horror" or "The Fog" was, there was some slimy producer who felt it was necessary to remake it.
Some of these redos and sequels were huge hits (like the long-awaited "Revenge of the Sith"), but too many of them were bombs (I would have seen "Herbie: Fully Loaded," but it was only in theaters for about five hours).
The worst of the remakes were those based on campy old television shows from the 60s and 70s, like "Bewitched" and "The Dukes of Hazard." What is particularly funny about this is that these television shows were initially made into television shows because the ideas weren't good enough to be made into feature films.
What's even worse is that even Hollywood's top stars and directors couldn't be relied on for a creative and award-caliber alternative. Steven Spielberg was too busy rehashing "War of the Worlds" with escaped mental patient Tom Cruise, while the usually reliable Billy Bob Thornton was stuck rehashing his brilliant performance in "Bad Santa" in the not-so-brilliant "The Bad News Bears."
All and all, it was a dreadful summer at the movies for people who expect a little more creative effort from America's Dreamland in Southern California, and it looks to be even worse in the coming months as more and more movie producers continue to ruin old movies by either remaking them or expanding the franchises with more unnecessary sequels. Slated to soon be released are remakes of "King Kong," "Yours, Mine, and Ours" "The Shaggy Dog," "Oh God!," and "Back to School," as well as sequels to "Harry Potter," Spiderman," "X-Men," "Die Hard," and "Indiana Jones."
