Show Me the Movies

If you haven't noticed, for people who don't watch television, Matt and I do watch a lot of movies. Christmas break afforded us the opportunity to do even more of that, and in so doing I was struck by just how much the average blockbuster has gone downhill. Series like Alien provide a prime opportunity for observing the evolution (or devolution) of filmmaking within the framework of a similar plot context.

First--starting with the original Alien, I was amazed by how slowly its rising action takes off. The film essentially opens with silence. Since we're in space, there's very little visual stimulus either. A slow pan around the universe and people sleeping in little pods. While the movie is remembered and beloved for its horrific chest-bursting death scenes, those don't actually come up until probably 2/3 of the way through the movie. Up until then, we're forced to consider things like the characters and the plot. If you've watched an action movie released in the last 5-10 years (including but not limited to Alien vs Predator), they almost always start off with a bang, either of the explosive type or that featuring a comely young woman. Which leads me to my second point.

I fully believe that if they were shooting the original Alien series today, Sigourney Weaver wouldn't have made it past the first round of auditions. Her intelligence and confidence border on abrasiveness, and her angular features and somewhat awkward voice would be considered no match for the lithe, silky charms of today's Jessica Albas, Katherine Heigls, or Scarlett Johanssons. Her closest parallel that I can think of is probably Hilary Swank, whom I adore, but one can argue that--PS I Love You aside--her movies haven't exactly been mainstream. (Other risk-takers include America Ferrerra and Felicity Huffman, though the latter does star in a television show that I absolutely cannot stand.) Hilary is also definitely the exception rather than the rule, and furthermore, she's got Sigourney knocked cold in the bust-waist-hip ratio department. I think that at the very least, Sigourney would have been physically or digitally enhanced as opposed to showing her in all of her flat-chested, droopy-butted glory like they do in Aliens. Don't get me wrong--I think it's great, and I wish we saw it more often. Instead, it seems like everybody from leading ladies to extras has been mass-produced for perfect skin, long straight hair, ample cleavage, and a tight belly. Any sense of personality or difference between them has more or less been ironed out. While it may be visually pleasing to look at, it gets boring after awhile. Perhaps sensing this, every so often moviemakers may cast a hot actress to play ugly for awhile, but it's not quite the same thing as appreciating a diverse range of face and body types. Alas, with men ranging from Anthony Hopkins to the aforementioned Michael Cera to Steve Carrell all finding steady and well-acclaimed work, the casting of male actors does not seem to have been similarly plagued.

Third, it seems like plots have gotten more and more inane, like the movie equivalent of fast food. You can consume it quickly and you don't have to think about it, but after a certain point I think most people start to crave some sort of substance. While I'm all for the extremism of movies like Borat and Superbad, it seems like when it comes to the much-hyped summer or Christmas blockbusters, all we have left are some kind of combination of action/gross-out/"teen sex comedy" (I hesitate to call them romantic comedies, because they're not--and since that's a pretty apt description of the age range usually depicted, I find that this categorization of my father's is pretty accurate). The action has passed the point of being believable or original, and maybe it was never supposed to be (Die Hard, I'm talking to you); there's very little territory left uncharted on the gross-out front, now that we've seen back waxes and transvaginal ultrasounds in mainstream settings; and how many more times can we really sit through two hours of two people refusing to admit until the end how much they really love each other?

I'm not saying that they don't make good movies anymore. We've talked about Black Snake Moan, for example; as mentioned above, I love pretty much anything Hilary Swank has ever done. Juno is a movie that looks like it might be promising (though it appears that it will cement my conviction that Michael Cera is not acting, just being himself in front of a camera). I think they are becoming less common, and less appreciated when they do show up. What we really need are more movies like those, and more like the two below, which I enjoyed for the first time over Christmas vacation.

Fried Green Tomatoes. Yes, I know I'm coming to this one a little late, and ditto for the movie below. Also notable is that these are two of the most quintessential women's movies (I refuse to call them by that other name) and I was introduced to both of them by Matt--who genuinely respects and appreciates women far more than most, well, women I know. Anyway, while FGT has some sillier moments in it, for the most part it's a well-done and very original story with some of film's more excellent and unconventional-looking actresses: Jessica Tandy, Mary-Louise Parker, and Kathy Bates. Stories about actual friendships between women--as opposed to ones which merely use them as vehicles to meet and sleep with men--seem to have fallen out of favor.


Boys on the Side. Once again, it has its sillier moments, and I don't know why Drew Barrymore always has to play the same character (a free spirit who is underappreciated by those around her--see also Riding in Cars With Boys, Home Fries, Never Been Kissed, Mad Love, Ever After, and The Wedding Singer, just to name a few), but aside from that--the story of a black lesbian and a woman with HIV and said free spirit (pregnant, and having killed her abusive baby daddy in self defense) navigating the waters of unusual friendship is one that's original and, yes, even heartwarming. My above comments about movies featuring women's genuine friendship once again apply here, and once again, Mary-Louise Parker is once again strangely addictive to watch. Plus, the soundtrack is just phenomenal.