Dear movies, why can't you entertain me?
As some of you already know, and some of you have yet to figure out, movies and myself have never had a peaceful existence together. To their benefit I have seen several movies are extremely good. Unfortunately however, most of them suck. After seeing the movie Garden State I now believe I have a better understanding of how to identify this hit-or-miss dynamic.
I enjoyed Garden State. I didn't think it was "cute" or "happy" but more importantly I thought it was entertaining. It was funny. It didn't go out of its way to be funny but it had a certain element to it which did not take itself seriously yet guided the viewer through an interesting journey at the same time. The pseudo-intellectual self discovery it tried to accomplish I can live without. If I'm trying to discover a buried aspect of my emotional side or learn something I'm going to read Kant, not watch a movie. Kant is more efficient.
Going further into discovering this dynamic relationship between movies that suck and don't suck I thought about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie is fun. While not incredibly funny it follows an interesting premise that twists the story every which way. Through the myriad of tangents that the movie takes the viewer on it hits upon a final destination of entertainment. Again, I really don't care about the self-discovery aspect of it, that's for people who enjoy saying they like an intellectual movie because there's a metaphor in it that you couldn't miss if it were glued onto the back of your hand on a 3x5 card.
I guess all that I really want out of a movie is entertainment. I don't want to learn something from it or I don't want it to try and teach me something. I want a movie that shows its redeeming value either through an extravagant premise or a subtle sense of humor.
I enjoyed Garden State. I didn't think it was "cute" or "happy" but more importantly I thought it was entertaining. It was funny. It didn't go out of its way to be funny but it had a certain element to it which did not take itself seriously yet guided the viewer through an interesting journey at the same time. The pseudo-intellectual self discovery it tried to accomplish I can live without. If I'm trying to discover a buried aspect of my emotional side or learn something I'm going to read Kant, not watch a movie. Kant is more efficient.
Going further into discovering this dynamic relationship between movies that suck and don't suck I thought about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie is fun. While not incredibly funny it follows an interesting premise that twists the story every which way. Through the myriad of tangents that the movie takes the viewer on it hits upon a final destination of entertainment. Again, I really don't care about the self-discovery aspect of it, that's for people who enjoy saying they like an intellectual movie because there's a metaphor in it that you couldn't miss if it were glued onto the back of your hand on a 3x5 card.
I guess all that I really want out of a movie is entertainment. I don't want to learn something from it or I don't want it to try and teach me something. I want a movie that shows its redeeming value either through an extravagant premise or a subtle sense of humor.