Why Today's Movies Suck, Part 1: Good Movies vs. Bad Movies

Having already tackled the plague upon our nation that is today's music, but now it's time to tackle another epidemic -- Today's movies. For every Lady Gaga and Willow Smith, we have a "Transformers" sequel and a remake of some 80's horror flick.

If your head and your eyes hurt more often when you come out of the cinema nowadays, it's more than likely due to the fact that most movies today suck. Mind you, I'm not talking about all movies released in the 21st century, but most. See, bad movies have always existed in every decade in the past. The 60's and 70's had their own fair share of bad flicks and then so did the 80's and the 90's. The reason behind the creation of this online web documentary (which I will try to cover in twenty parts or less) is because lately, in the 21st century, Hollywood has been churning out more garbage than before despite a few memorable gems every once in a while.

To make things easier, let's put movies into two different categories: The intelligent film and the pure entertainment film. Both can be done correctly and incorrectly in any genre. Movies like "Alien", "What's Up, Doc?", "Saving Private Ryan", and "Stand by Me" are intelligent films while "Total Recall", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Die Hard", and "Independence Day" are purely entertainment at its finest. The latter category doesn't need to have the heart and brains of the first category but it should have a little bit of both, plus it needs to have realistic special effects and keep you on the edge of your seat. Movies like "Transformers" and "Wanted" are examples of this being done incorrectly.

Sometimes, the intelligent films can be highly entertaining as well (i.e. "Heat"). Then again, the opposite category can sometimes be highly intelligent (i.e. "The Dark Knight"). The ball can roll in either direction.

No matter which is chosen, every movie should have an easily identifiable beginning, middle, and end that is executed very well from a story and filmmaking perspective (unlike the recent "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"). It shouldn't fully depend on ideas and concepts from past movies as well, inspiration is appropriate but it's very easy tell apart when one filmmaker has gone a little "too far" with his "inspiration" (shall we compare "Fatal Attraction" and "Obsessed", anyone?).