Do you remember the days when you used to be able to head out to the cinema safe in the knowledge that even if the film you wanted to see had sold out, there’d be something else worth watching? I’m talking about 10,000 years ago, obviously, because here’s what’s on at your local multiplex.
Screen one: a 3D CGI cartoon about a wisecracking badger with attitude you’d quite happily reverse a six-tonne tractor over. Screen two: a 3D superhero theme park ride that thinks it’s King Lear. Screen three: a rom-com so formulaic you suspect it was created from a template on Moonpig.com. Screen four: The Very Hungry Caterpillar 3D. Screen five: all of the above, randomly intercut with one another because no one’s paying attention anyway. Screen six: a lightshow for cattle. And so on.
About once a month there’s a film actually worth bothering with: either something with a quirky sensibility and a modest budget, or the occasional decent blockbuster the studios have made by mistake. There seems to be something missing from cinema: big budget dramas with panache, aimed at an adult audience. Where are they? They migrated to television. And – don’t snort with derision here – to video games.
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From the desk of Jason Heppler.Me, Elsewhere
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