Shady in Montage-World

Has anyone else realised that so many recent films boil down to an endless bombardment of quick, by themselves worthless, filmographic* efforts? Seriously, half the time I watch an American action film I expect the song "We're Gonna Need a Montage" from Team America to pop up out of the blue. Stories unfold by snapshots of a real life. It's infuriating and often gives me a headache after too much of it. It's like bad sex. Sure, there are some good bits amidst the swathe of average, but you inevitably leave disappointed and unable to really remember anything specific about it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix seems one of the best films to put here. Seriously, I spent about 5 minutes sitting here trying to remember that film. The furthest I got was remembering that pang of loathing after I realised Sirius was dead...Only I realised this on the way home from the Cinema. These films hold absolutely no emotional grip on you, because the characters are more like cardboard cut outs wheeled into frame whenever the director wants another 20 second peek into the life of the main character. Seriously, what did Ron do in that film? I can't remember anything. He's one of the main characters and as far as I can remember he had maybe 3 or 4 lines! This, of course, brings us to that argument made by so many grumpy geriatrics to so many enthralled youngsters, "Films have too much special effects these days."

And you know what, I agree with the senile old men of the world! What this means for my aging psyche I don't know, maybe by the age of 80 I'll just end up rabid and biting people who state any of the Twilight saga amongst their favourite movies. But still, films that use less CGI end up having a much deeper impact on us! Inglorious Bastards, for instance, uses incredibly little and is honestly one of the best films i've seen in recent cinema. Shutter Island, another affecting film, has even less albeit with a lot of heavy light filters.

Actually this entire post is stemmed from last weeks review of Alice in Wonderland. That film embodies everything I am arguing against here. It was pretty, sure, but you never became emotionally attached to any of the characters as they flittered in and out of Alices' singular viewpoint. Also, while the CGI was very cool in places, in completely detached you from most of the characters as they were just to freakish to really relate to, and the fight scenes became really just a melange of colour and blur effects. It's the porn star of film. Most of it isn't real, and you don't feel involved because it's quick, larger-than-life (unfortunately) and ends awkwardly.

But that's probably enough of the hating on Alice. I hear you all out there, all three of you, and I think you're crying "yeah, but if everything's so shit, what's actually good then?". Well, I hope so, because I'm going to answer that question anyway. Inglorious Basterds my friends, is a great recent film. Every scene lingers, you remember every detail, line and character because they're all quite memorable. The same goes for Shutter Island, as I mentioned earlier. Even Iron Man, a typical comic book film, had scenes that you remembered because they took their time unfolding more often then not. It wasn't some Bourne Identity hack job where if there hasn't been a jump cut within the last 3 seconds then the editor obviously isn't working hard enough. It wasn't some earlier Harry potter knock up where CGI takes precedence over story. It told it's narrative in time, while mixing in enough generic action bits and humour (with the occasional bit of product placement) to keep all the corporate, idiot and plain average types happy.

So who else is sick of the incredible amount of 90 minute Montages out there? Who wants films of substance? Who wants to remember their sex!? I mean Movies!? Well, I'm not sure what to do about it, because there isn't much we people can do against the corporate cats. Once we've paid to see a movie we don't like, they already have our money. BUT we can stop liking films just cause that cool actor is in it. Or because Tim Burton directed it. Just saying.

Thanks Folks, This has been Shady.

*I know filmographic isn't a word, but god damn I'm going to make it one.