Has Hollywood Run Out of Ideas?

Is Hollywood running out of original ideas? Sometimes I think so, but occasionally my mind is changed. It has been a very long time since I have seen something with no familiar plot devices or story elements, something that is truly original, creative and innovative. However, some have come close. Avengers: Infinity War would be an example to this as I consider it more than a regular film, because nothing of that scale has ever been done before. Besides that, 2018 had a couple other instances of attempts at original material. Hereditary was, in my opinion, another piece that brought many new things to the horror genre, like psychological bombardment, and using real life events to absolutely emotionally wreck you as opposed to paranormal elements attempting to spook you. But act three decided to devolve into a jump scare ridden mess and diverging away from what made the rest of the film great.

These are just a couple examples. A director that I believe has a bright future ahead of him and a wealth of ideas for future films is Jordan Peele, director of Get Out, and more recently, Us. While I enjoyed Get Out much more than Us, both films succeeded in being very original, creative and bringing forth very interesting concepts. Jordan Peele has been heralded as creating an entirely new sub-genre of thriller, known as social thrillers. Social thrillers are stories that are told with real life issues being kept in mind. Get Out tells a story that is representative of African American oppression in the US. Absolutely skin crawling soundtracks and horrifying cinematography are implemented by Peele to tell his stories.

While truly great films have come out over the last 20 years, I feel as though everything is at least somewhat derivative, and that can mean only one thing, that the film industry has run out of original ideas, and the only thing that matters now is making money by utilizing CGI to dazzle the audience. Storytelling has taken a backseat to expensive and over the top special effects.

An interesting thought that I take into account is the fact that Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, and Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption were all in theatres at the same time in 1994. I consider all of these films very original and among my favourites of all time. The 90s was the last golden age of film in my opinion, and I don’t know if we can ever get back to that. One can dream.

Review - Alien: Covenant 6.5/10 QUICK REVIEW

Alien: Covenant was a good movie visually, but in terms of storytelling, it fell short. The film was meant to expand upon what its predecessor Prometheus established. The engineers, the deacon, the origin of the xenomorphs, all things that Prometheus set up were seemingly dropped in favour of an action packed science fiction blockbuster. I don't hate Prometheus as much as other people, I actually don't think it's that bad. It's a superior movie to Covenant. I just hope that the third entry in this new series of Alien films will tie it all together to make Covenant a better film than it currently is.

Streaming Services Harming the Film Industry?

I've been thinking a lot lately about films like The Cloverfield Paradox and Bright. Netflix has allowed filmmakers to create very mediocre movies because the viewership will inevitably be there. The days of going out to the theatre and paying money to see individual films are coming to an end. Why leave the house and spend money when you can just watch something on Netflix for no cost other than your subscription? I'll use Adam Sandler as an example for what I mean. Sandler has released his last few films on Netflix as opposed to theatres, and it has proven to be a much better outlet for films of that quality. None of his films are winning any awards, and low quality work can thrive on Netflix when people are bored enough to watch it. I'm guilty of it, I'll admit it. I watch crap movies on Netflix when I'm bored, and that's a huge problem that'll continue to plague the film industry. Just some thoughts I had today.

It Comes at Night - Review - 7.7/10 *SPOILERS*

I managed to watch It Comes at Night last night when I should have been sleeping (school's rough). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was highly praised by classmates of mine. It was my understanding that most people who saw it last year had a lot of negative reactions to it, so I didn't really bother. However, after seeing it on Netflix, I can honestly say, it did not deserve the hate that it received. The problem that led to it's generally negative response was the marketing. It was marketed as a generic horror movie, when in reality it is a psychological thriller with a few elements of horror. It takes place in a world where an unknown illness that has been implied to have wiped out much of the human race. That isn't the point though, the sickness isn't the focus of the story. It is a smaller and well contained story surrounding two families that end up having to share a house and work together to make a life in this new world. Travis, played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., is the 17 year old who is arguably the main protagonist of the film. He's plagued by nightmares that form metaphors for events going on in the real world, and these visions he has help to progress the story by giving a sneak peak into upcoming events. The movie has an excellent story, a solid cast, and really cool ideas presented to the thriller genre, but ultimately, it's downfall came from the false marketing of what the movie was, subverting audiences expectations for what kind of film they were going to see. I give the movie a 7.7, a win in my books.

Merely a Setback...

Lots has been going on in the last couple months, in both my personal life and professional life. I know I'm always saying I'll update this blog more often and I don't, but I MEAN IT this time. School, for the most part, is going well. I failed my camera practical exam, but as Kael'thas Sunstrider once said, "It is merely a setback." I continue to work on my writing, editing, and camera work in the hopes that one of those avenues will turn into a potential career for me. The dream is, and always will be, to make movies. That is my ultimate goal, and which form that takes is still up in the air. I will post videos, scripts, and edits that I create on this blog, so for those who peruse this page, you have much to look forward to.

Regards,
Conner.

Week Two

Successfully finished my first two weeks at BCIT. So far, I've learned how to operate a $12,000 camera, and also somehow managed to hit my head on a different $12,000 camera. Other than that, I'd say things are going good, classmates are all cool people, and I'm really looking to spending the next two years filming videos and suffering through editing with them. Things are looking good for the future and I'm really happy about it.

School

Well, I'm down to the final days before I head off to school. I'm nervous and excited at the same time, it's awful. For real this time, I'm going to keep this blog as up to date as possible and share some of my projects on here. I might be helping start up and run a comedy YouTube channel just for fun, so that's something. Anyway, just updating this so it looks like I still use it.

Have a great week of work/school everybody, and God bless.