a celluloid lament
:: MOVIES ::
i guess it all started with this ridiculous "obsession" withneeding wanting to watch Speed (dun laff, me senile-mind needed random-gratification ;p) ... and the next thing i know? i have in my possession now: Demolition Man, Big Trouble in Little China and The Crow. (thank the celluloid-gawds for them 2-for-$10-vcd-offers, innit? *heh*)
not to mention Terminator and T2 - quivering in me hands (but alas, i put them back in the bargain-box) ... altho im still looking for Judge Dredd and mayhap even a He-Man and The Masters of the Universe? *shudder the wee Gen-W3 children* ... *HAH*
i really can't explain "why" ... and watching them flicks fills me head with nostalgia and a warm-fuzzy-feeling ... mayhap tis a fleeting-feeling and mundane-memory of "them carefree years of yonks ago", a sense of "order" to the ever-changing world around me, at least in the ever changing moviescape that which we are engulfed in now, more so turbulent than i've ever remembered it to be ... or mayhap (dare i say it?) those movies of "old" were somehow"better" "more enjoyable" than the offerings on our silver-screens now? (hard argument, i too admit ... given the good movies that do fill the cinema-screens) - moreso the "reaction" they afforded, rather than the CG-spectacle that fills every nook'n'sprocket-hole of modern-cinema ... and tho i'd admit im still a sucker for the "when harry met sally / sleepless in seattle / you've got mail-fare", romance movies nowsadays have, mayhap, lost their "magic" too? altho "innocence" might be a thin-tightrope-line too, innit?
then i remembered this article by Warren Ellis ...
"But what happened to the time when the marketing of a movie made it clear that if you didn’t see it you would die alone and unloved?
When’s the last time you saw a trailer, or even a poster, that made you feel that if you didn’t see the movie an essential part of you would wither and die?
We’re all children when we go into the cinema. The actors stand four times our height and speak louder than we can. We hand over our cash to be told terrible and wonderful things, and to see all kinds of magic."
truthfully, when was the last time ya really wanted to watch a movie? for me, it had been Star Wars 3 (becoz of nostalgia and hype) and currently, MirrorMask! (which still eludes singapore, even tho the carrot had been left dangling whence) ... other than that? miss it, can still get the dvd lor ... which is a tad saddening, becoz of the seeming loss of pure unadulterated shivers when ya watch something truly magnificant and made for the big screen ... regardless of supposidly-shitty story, i had missed Cassehern in the cinemas, and could only shed longing tears whilst i watch the dvd on me 14" teevee ... becoz, let's face it, some shows are made for the big screen, while some can still be enjoyed on the telly, altho the spectacle is surely different.
and that sadly seems to be where films are at, in this day and age, where "marketing" (and mayhap even "merchandizing") plays a much bigger part, than the actual movie itself?
altho it might not mean seeing McD's Narnia toys would make me NOT wanna watch the movie, nor would reading Star Wars comics want to make me run away from the film (*Disclaimer: Dark Horse's SW Comics are the bomb!). the movie as a stand alone, can only do so much now ... even on our lil shores of singalalaland, where (commercial) movies abound and film festivals with art house fare regales us with their stories and antics, ever more so now (altho i dun have any research nor figures to justify other Asian countries, mind) than mayhap, 5 years ago?
even with the influx of Korean fare (overtaking Japanese movies by a major leap), fighting for screentime with hollywood reharshes of literary/childrenbooks/remakes of Asian films ... and with Bollywood catchingup pretty darn fast - which as of now, has remaded Old Boy and is remaking Fight Club ... *double-shudder*
whereas (personally), with alla the remakes and adaptations, the only "true" (and i say that with a heavy dose of positive-skeptisim) genre to rule 2006, might just be Kung Fu! regardless of era or period. heck, Jet Li's going thru his final period kungfu-tenure, while even Chile has kungfuflick on the edges and the tradition continues on in HK ... but of coz iveer dangerously off track digress ...
if in the end tis about CHOICES and what we wanna do with our movie-moolah, then what choice do we have left, with what's being offered us in the first place?
me? maybe "looking back" is a better way to satisfy my celluloid-cravings, IMHO.
*heh*
._.
i guess it all started with this ridiculous "obsession" with
not to mention Terminator and T2 - quivering in me hands (but alas, i put them back in the bargain-box) ... altho im still looking for Judge Dredd and mayhap even a He-Man and The Masters of the Universe? *shudder the wee Gen-W3 children* ... *HAH*
i really can't explain "why" ... and watching them flicks fills me head with nostalgia and a warm-fuzzy-feeling ... mayhap tis a fleeting-feeling and mundane-memory of "them carefree years of yonks ago", a sense of "order" to the ever-changing world around me, at least in the ever changing moviescape that which we are engulfed in now, more so turbulent than i've ever remembered it to be ... or mayhap (dare i say it?) those movies of "old" were somehow
then i remembered this article by Warren Ellis ...
"But what happened to the time when the marketing of a movie made it clear that if you didn’t see it you would die alone and unloved?
When’s the last time you saw a trailer, or even a poster, that made you feel that if you didn’t see the movie an essential part of you would wither and die?
We’re all children when we go into the cinema. The actors stand four times our height and speak louder than we can. We hand over our cash to be told terrible and wonderful things, and to see all kinds of magic."
truthfully, when was the last time ya really wanted to watch a movie? for me, it had been Star Wars 3 (becoz of nostalgia and hype) and currently, MirrorMask! (which still eludes singapore, even tho the carrot had been left dangling whence) ... other than that? miss it, can still get the dvd lor ... which is a tad saddening, becoz of the seeming loss of pure unadulterated shivers when ya watch something truly magnificant and made for the big screen ... regardless of supposidly-shitty story, i had missed Cassehern in the cinemas, and could only shed longing tears whilst i watch the dvd on me 14" teevee ... becoz, let's face it, some shows are made for the big screen, while some can still be enjoyed on the telly, altho the spectacle is surely different.
and that sadly seems to be where films are at, in this day and age, where "marketing" (and mayhap even "merchandizing") plays a much bigger part, than the actual movie itself?
altho it might not mean seeing McD's Narnia toys would make me NOT wanna watch the movie, nor would reading Star Wars comics want to make me run away from the film (*Disclaimer: Dark Horse's SW Comics are the bomb!). the movie as a stand alone, can only do so much now ... even on our lil shores of singalalaland, where (commercial) movies abound and film festivals with art house fare regales us with their stories and antics, ever more so now (altho i dun have any research nor figures to justify other Asian countries, mind) than mayhap, 5 years ago?
even with the influx of Korean fare (overtaking Japanese movies by a major leap), fighting for screentime with hollywood reharshes of literary/childrenbooks/remakes of Asian films ... and with Bollywood catchingup pretty darn fast - which as of now, has remaded Old Boy and is remaking Fight Club ... *double-shudder*
whereas (personally), with alla the remakes and adaptations, the only "true" (and i say that with a heavy dose of positive-skeptisim) genre to rule 2006, might just be Kung Fu! regardless of era or period. heck, Jet Li's going thru his final period kungfu-tenure, while even Chile has kungfuflick on the edges and the tradition continues on in HK ... but of coz i
if in the end tis about CHOICES and what we wanna do with our movie-moolah, then what choice do we have left, with what's being offered us in the first place?
me? maybe "looking back" is a better way to satisfy my celluloid-cravings, IMHO.
*heh*
._.
