America is retarded

There is an article I read this morning about the failure that is Grindhouse and how it leaves Tarantino’s and Rodriguez’ careers in question. [hahah RIGHT!] It does make me wonder if the film revolution redux, a’la the 1970’s, I have been waiting to happen ever will. I’ve long felt that the state of Hollywood and its obvious deterioration was a good thing and sooner or later we will have another film revolution and there will be this happy explosion of original artful cinema. I thought this time was fast approaching, but I think we have quite a ways to go, sadly.

The article references the success of “dumb” movies such as 300 and Ghost Rider. I saw 300, it is style over substance all the way. I do believe, however its style is genuinely artful, not that the masses give a shit. None of this seems like “news” to me. Dumb regurgitated tripe has always been by and large the most successful thing in U.S. box offices. Only recently has America started to get wise to the retarded formula [or have they?]. But just when you think Hollywood is starting to get the message, Wild Hogs makes 5 billion dollars. I’m just as confused as they are. What the hell do people want? I thought the success of 300 was due to an original and interesting visual style combined with a relatively simple comic book plot and tons of action, similar to what made 80’s theatrical movies so great. With that assumption, one would deduce that Grindhouse had a fairly good shot at tapping into this market. Obviously, 3 hours scares a lot of people, or this market doesn’t actually exist. Not to mention there are people reportedly leaving halfway through, unaware it’s a double feature?! Wow, do the world a favor and slap a padded helmet on these people and throw them in a cell. I think my morning commute would be a lot less stressful if we thinned the herd a little.

The most disturbing part in all of this and Grindhouse’s obvious failure in the box office, is the message Hollywood is getting. They won’t be taking any artistic risks any time soon. This was a test and we failed big time. Get ready for things to get a LOT worse before they get better. Good job America, you have great taste!