Monday, February 21, 2022

Ignore the bullshit and enjoy the film



There's a certain age in life when you can go to all the movies you want to go to, earning adult wages without any of the real responsibilities of being an old fart. It's fucking excellent. I went to Escape From LA seven goddamn times at the movies and have never regretted it.

Life gives you a few uppercuts as you get older, but you don't really lose that passion for cinema. I've been total film nerd for 30 years now. They were just another form of entertainment as a kid, as valid as TV or books or anything (except comics, because comics were everything).

But then, at that age when I was really getting into movies, filling head with endless trivia about all aspects of the the medium, I discovered I desperately don't care about a lot of the bullshit surrounding the films, and about a lot of thins that are still going on today in the endless social media chatter. I'm happily out of the loop on many of the things that grip Film Twitter.

I don't care what movies costs - it was boring when everybody said James Cameron was a fool for making films that cost fuckity million dollars 30 years ago and then they turn out to make even more fuck-off money, and it's fucking boring now. There hasn't been so much of a focus on it as there used to be, especially when prices started spiraling over the $100m mark, but it still makes headlines.

I don't care about the box office, I've seen many of my favourite films in empty theatres, and remain confident that that the 'failures' I've enjoyed will have a lasting life. It might be interesting in finding out that something made so much money that a sequel will be rapidly produced, but that's about it.

And I really don't care who is fucking who. Celebrities are great and all - we've had a gorgeous unauthorised Tom Hardy calendar on the kitchen wall for the past three years - but they're never that interesting. And the more you find out about them, the more off putting the whole thing gets.

I don't care about ranking films or comparing films by a particular director. I don't care when a filmmaker known for making transcendent examinations of the human condition says they didn't like the new Captain Marvel movie.

And I powerfully don't care about any of the awards. My favourite film of the year hasn't won the Oscar, and that's fine. It does its things and sometimes showcases the most terrific films to the oblivious masses. But the endless talk about who deserved nominations and who ultimately wins is vapid, and should only matter to producers getting more people to see their efforts..

The films survive forever, and the themes and feelings they conjure out of thin air are absolutely fucking miraculous. You buy your ticket, you take the ride, and you gets thrills and style and emotion painted on the wall in bright light. It's just miraculous and nothing else matters.

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