Movie Reviews - Biggest Gripes About Movies

Anyone who is particularly fond or knowledgeable about a subject also acquires some deeply rooted pet peeves. Here's a list in progress of some of mine ... there is always room for more.

Add your opinions or repudiate mine in the Back-Talk forum. Let it be known in advance that one of my big gripes is people that don't think before they type, can't write a complete sentence, don't capitalize or (worse yet) use all caps. In exchange for making a forum that needs no registration and does not require you to give your email address, please leave intelligent messages.

People That Won't Watch Old Films

This is a multi-level issue because some people simply must have color and others just don't think they would be good. For starters, the problem with not watching old movies is that you cannot become an intelligent film enthusiast if you don't know anything about the history of film. Obviously you can't know about the history of film unless you watch old films!

How many younger movie-goers (that's a stupid term isn't it) don't even know when the film they are watching is a remake? How many people know that "You've Got Mail" was an email update of the old Jimmy Stewart classic, "Little Shop Around the Corner" and the list goes on and on. Hollywood will always be making remakes so there is little value in getting upset over the fact that they do it. Largely it is just to make money without having to be very creative but there are also some very good remakes. It is the lack of knowledge that bugs me, not the remake.

Great dialog is not as common in today's films as it was in the classics. This could be a gripe of its own but illustrates the point here. When the audience is not discriminating about such matters because they lack perspective, the industry can easily throw in more special effects to wow the viewer and eliminate the need for the characters to say more than a few spiffy lines. Watch "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or "Twelve Angry Men" and then compare the dialog (and the delivery!) to some of the current "blockbuster" films today ... no contest! Occasionally a great script comes along like "As Good As It Gets" and is equally well delivered but does the audience really know why that film was so good? Did you hear people leaving the theatre saying "what a great script" or "that was good dialog?"

Colorization of Old B&W Films

This is perhaps the worst use of digital imagery technology imaginable. Hopefully it has now come to a halt! John Huston literally went to his grave fighting against bean counters that sought to alter HIS creations to suit what they saw as a chance to make bucks for themselves. He appeared before the Senate with an Oxygen tank by his side to express a contempt for the practice that is shared by virtually everyone in film, expect for the front office business people. Of course they can't make films themselves so they are always ready to capitalize on the creativity of others.