The Best Movie of the Summer May Lead to the Worst Movies of Next

The "Matrix Reloaded' was the best movie of the summer. Hands down. Sure, there were others that made more money, Finding Nemo; that were surprisingly entertaining, Pirates of the Caribbean; that exceeded expectations, X-Men 2; or failed to meet them, The Hulk; and those that were just plain great, Seabiscuit. But Reloaded was the most ambitious and promising piece of filmmaking in a summer whose two genuine surprises were Pirates and The Italian Job, two films based on a theme-park ride and an old Michael Caine flick, respectively.

Sure, Reloaded didn't necessarily meet its gargantuan expectations but what movie could. There was more press during the filming of the Titanic than at the sinking. Reloaded was on more magazine covers than Heidi Klum, with about as much anticipation as the words "Heidi Klum Revealed Naked". Reloaded was expected to be the second-coming and the Dalai Lama all rolled into one, which if memory serves, is antithetical. What it was, in fact, was two-and-a-half hours of visual effects orgasm wrapped around a chewy philosophical core. So how could the best movie of the summer possibility lead to an increase of lousy filmmaking -- I'll tell you.

Reloaded is going to lead to a glut of pseudo-erudite action flicks that attempt to inform and entertain, a quality that Hollywood really hasn't got right in years, probably since the passing of Frank Capra. Why? Because they confuse cleverness with being smart, and witty with being smarmy. This will not, however, stop THEM. Who are THEM you ask?

Well, THEY are those guys and gals whose job it is to manufacture entertainment for the masses, that's US, in an near-endless supply designed to satiate and appease us to prevent revolu -- Wait, for a second there I was back in school. They make a product, if we like it we watch it, and ideally tell all our friends to watch and bring their friends, a perfect little circle that ensures the creation of a new crop of films each and every year. I don't honestly believe anybody starts out their day saying, "Today, I'm gonna make the most average, saccharine piece of celluloid since last week's Everybody Loves Raymond". I think it's probably easier to give up a little at a time, than to constantly fight hard for something. The reason is simple: They don't really care about the movies they service.

Allow me to illustrate: It begins with a very lonely and sad young man/woman whose only purpose in life is to share their ideas with the world (kind of like I'm doing here) and the format they've chosen is the written word. Now, in the not-so-distant past, writers were given the respect and adulation they rightly deserve. In Greek and Roman times, writers and philosophers were given time to create and inspire the world with their words, along with the pampering and adulation necessary to produce quality works. I'm not saying that we need the same level of veneration No wait, that's exactly what I'm saying. Without that writer pouring his voice onto the page, none of the other events in the chain, could, or would, occur.

Fast-forward twenty-five hundred years or so, and the writer is the least significant cog in a very aquiline process. Heart and soul is poured onto the page and if he's very, very lucky, and a little talented, he'll sell it. A bankable star is attached, a director intrigued by the story, a studio does market research indicating that this type of genre, which didn't used to be popular five minutes ago, is due to make a resurgence and with the right ad during the Superbowl could be responsible for the most exciting ninety minutes next summer. Or the worst. It really doesn't matter to them as long as the opening weekend's gross is high enough. See the dirty little secret of movie studios is that they make the majority of their money in the first few weeks. The longer a movie plays, the greater the share that's split with the theatre chains. Thus, it's in the studio's interest to produce highly popular and disposable entertainment rather than emotionally resonant films because the money is in the big bucks of the first weekend. For shame, Hollywood, for shame (to be continued)

Join me next time where we learn why action movies and spiritual enlightenment should never be mixed much like clamato and vermouth, and why you should always bet on the mongoose.
Jess Nakaska is an aspiring screenwriter always on the lookout for the next great script idea. He'll let you know if he finds it. Feel free to contact him at jessnakaska@hotmail.com.