Is Hollywood Running Out of Ideas?
In the past, even when there were the expected flops in the box office, movie-goers seemed to have a few good options to choose from. The seventies, eighties, and nineties produced some of the greatest films ever made.
The list of hits strongly out weighs the list of flops, and America and the rest of the world has had an array of classics like Jaws and E.T. stashed away for the occasional viewing when nothing good seems to be in theaters.
But, recently, it seems as if Hollywood has run out of original scripts altogether. Not including those hit movies based on great literature such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, most of what comes out of Hollywood today is pure crap.
Seriously, how many movies do we really need on the same topic. Take Chasing Liberty and First Daughter. Both of these movies were released in 2004, both follow almost the exact same story line, and both flopped at the theaters.
Freaky Friday was another display of unoriginality. Although it held its own at the box office, it is only one of a series of remakes that leaves little to be desired. We’ve all seen the original as well as take-offs such as Vice Versa. We get the idea. Please no more!
And what about 13 Going on 30? This is the Jennifer Garner film where a thirteen your old girl makes a wish, is sprinkled with angel dust, and miraculously becomes herself at 30.
Again we’ve seen it all before. And I have to say that Tom Hanks seemed to capture something in the movie Big that Jennifer Garner did not. I don’t know, maybe it was good acting.
Then there are those movies that seem like a great idea to a select few and somehow make it past the rest of the well- adjusted individuals in Hollywood. We’ve all heard the jokes on late night TV about the so-called movie Gigly.
But this is just one piece of trash littering theater signs around the country. There were also such flicks as Glitter, White Chicks, Without a Paddle, Intolerable Cruelty and my all-time favorite, Napoleon Dynamite. Seriously, what the hell was that? All of these movies were a waste of expensive resources and good judgment.
And now, as if coming up with new bad ideas wasn’t enough, Hollywood is making a habit out of taking great classics and giving them a new spin. The original Psycho still ranks as one of the scariest movies around. Unfortunately, the identical remake left nothing to the imagination. And the only thing it left to be desired was a refund.
Now, Warner Bros has decided to cast Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka in a new adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Okay, I like Johnny Depp as much as the next person, and I must admit that Pirates of the Carribean was definitely a high in the repeated lows of new Hollywood creations. But like my dad always said, if it aint broke, don’t fix it. I highly doubt anyone will ever top the comedic genius of Gene Wilder, so why spend millions of dollars trying?
Will we ever get back to the days of interesting entertainment? I hope that Hollywood can turn it around soon, because if not, we are all going to be forced to watch re-runs of the pathetic new trend that is reality TV. And I for one would rather watch Gigly.
