[RANT] Movies and Hype!

[2099net]

Oh no, here comes 2099net to have another moan and grumble. Anyone who doesn't want to read the ramblings of a bitter and twisted old man had better look away now.

I'm fed up with all the hype and marketing of this year's summer films. I've never known a movie year with as many "wannabe" box office blockbusters, and I've never known a year with wall to wall hype from the studios.

Look at the promotion of these films. Every week it seems is the week of the "movie event of the year". Not the week of anything as mundane as "the movie of the year" (although that would be hype enough) but the "event" of the year. Like everyone should stop what they are doing and rush to the cinema just for the privilege of being part of the "event" themselves. And people are bound to like the movie they watch, because the studios are paying shed-loads of money to tell people that they will like it.

Any such marketing is going to put me off a movie. You see so much of the films in the trailers, tv specials, movie magazines etc that their inevitable-inadequacies become more than apparent. While I wasn't 100% okay with the concept of Van Helsing, I was more than curious to see it. Until the marketing kicked into overdrive and revealed that the movie would be nothing more than an empty experience propped up with the now ubiquitous for any "blockbuster" digital effects. The more I saw of the movie in the marketing, the less I wanted to actually see the movie.

And then there's the time when you see a movie which has lots of hype and can only be disappointed. Finding Nemo is an excellent example. Through no fault of my own, living in the UK, the US hype machine was in danger of exploding by the time the film reached our shores. How could any movie, built up to such an extent in people's imaginations thanks to the non-stop hype, live up to the expectations? Simple answer, it couldn't. It didn't stand a snowball's chance of living up even half-way to most people's expectations. As a result, seeing the movie ends up being a worse experience than it would be if the movie was just released with little fanfare.

I much prefer films that I 'discover' on my own. Many of my favourite films are films quickly dismissed by others or, perhaps, not even known by others. Stuart Saves His Family, The Brady Bunch Movies, The Frighteners, The Mummy (1932). All are films I watch with little expectations and in some cases, even negative expectations. Heck, I even like The Country Bears.

Of course there are exceptions. Citizen Kane is probably the most retrospectively hyped film of all time, and it is only this 'hype' that got me to give it another chance after viewing of the film when I was in my late teens didn't impress me. And boy, am I glad I did. While it's not my favourite film (not even close) it possibly is "the greatest film of all time" - Citizen Kane did rewrite a lot of the rules on film making.

It would be interesting to hear your views on the Hollywood hype machine. Personally, I hope this year or next year the public will finally find some common sense and a backlash against such marketing will happen (fat chance though, given the success of Shrek 2).

[Mr. Toad]

I agree with everything you said except for one thing - this has been an ongoing problem for years. I don't perceive it as even being worse this year than last. Last year had the horrid Hulk which they promoted the heck out of to no avail.

My experience with Citizen Kane was the same as yours. Did not get it as a teen, but now understand what they were doing. And while also not my favorite, I can understand how it can be the best.

[Disney Guru]

I am sick of the hype of all of these stuped new movies to but you can't talk about it because a lot of people might not agree with you at all on the matter.