blockbusters don't have to be stupid

The BBC film critic Mark Kermode has said that big Hollywood action films don't have to 'talk down' to its audience.

Here he is on the latest Planet of the Apes movie:



Mark kermode reviews Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - YouTube

And he really appreciated the intelligent blockbuster 'Inception':



Kermode Uncut: Inception reception - YouTube

Mark Kermode asks for some feedback, giving us another thread:

Summer Blockbusters

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Post categories: Summer Blockbusters

 Mark Kermode | 11:10 UK time, Friday, 17 August 2012

Every summer the cinemas are full of big dumb movies - but it wasn't always that way and it doesn't have to be in the future. What are the best and worst summer blockbusters since Jaws?

click on link below to see Mark...

Hear Mark Kermode review the week's new films every Friday from 2pm on BBC Radio 5 live. Kermode & Mayo's Film Review is also available as a free podcast to download and keep.

BBC - Mark Kermode's film blog: Summer Blockbusters

Meanwhile, the Guardian made a similar point:
2012: the year of the dumb blockbuster | Film | The Guardian

Back to Mark Kermode who has a regular column in the Guardian
Mark Kermode | The Guardian

He brought out a book a couple of years ago:

1. The world is round.

2. We are all going to die.

3. No one enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Oh, I know loads of people paid to see POTC3 (as I believe it is known in the industry). And some of them may claim to have enjoyed it. But they didn't. Not really. They just think they did. As a film critic, an important part of my job is explaining to people why they haven't actually enjoyed a movie even if they think they have. In the case of POTC3, the explanation is very simple.

It's called "diminished expectations".

Mark Kermode: How to make an intelligent blockbuster and not alienate people | Books | The Observer by Michael Chanan - Memonic
Mark Kermode: How to make an intelligent blockbuster and not alienate people | Books | The Observer

He is less impressed with most of the blockbusters he reviews on the BBC News channel and the Radio 5 Live show he co-hosts with Simon Mayo. His publisher’s lawyer was worried by his claim in his book that no one in the world enjoyed the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

“The lawyer said ‘This is ridiculous’. They only have to find one person who enjoyed it’,” he remembers. Kermode said he’d challenge them to find that person and put them on the witness stand.

“Just because people pay to see it, it doesn’t mean they enjoyed it,” he says of summer blockbusters.

“People have got used to accepting such a rotten and degenerate level of movie-making that they kind of expect it to be like that.”

While Kermode deeply resents the kind of movie turned out by director Michael Bay – responsible for Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys and the Transformers trilogy – he insists he isn’t against blockbusters. He just thinks that since their success is guaranteed anyway, Hollywood could afford to try making some intelligent ones.

“My favourite movie is The Exorcist, which is demonstrably a blockbuster,” he adds.

Mark Kermode: 'Give us some intelligent blockbusters!' (From Bournemouth Echo)

Others have made the same point:

Why Must Blockbusters Be Dumb?

MAR 2

Posted by jeffthewildman

I just got home from seeing The Lego Movie. On the surface that might seem like a dumbed down piece of product designed to sell more of the titular building blocks. But surprisingly it’s full of heart, soul and humor. Definitely the blockbuster to beat for 2014.

Unfortunately, well-done blockbusters of that type seem an endangered species in Hollywood. For every Avengers, there are ten Transformers. For every one that might succeed as a one-off you then have to deal with several lesser sequels (Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Matrix).

But there’s no law that says blockbusters must be dumb or badly written or weakly acted or poorly directed. Indeed the likes of Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Aliens, Face/off, Die Hard, Shrek, Toy Story, Lord Of The Rings, The Lego Movie and so on all prove that there can be popcorn movies with intelligence. But the majority of the ones that are released on a regular basis are the cinematic equivalent of McDonald’s.

A common myth has persisted since the mid 80s or there about that Jaws and Star Wars were the movies that created the blockbuster and reduced the likelihood of Hollywood making intelligent, idiosyncratic or personal films. I’ve always seen that as the myth that it is since good blockbusters never hurt anybody. Plus, in the 80s, there was room for intelligent blockbusters like Raiders, ET, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Aliens and others alongside well-done films outside of the popcorn range. Consider that the 80s gave us a Scorsese masterwork (Raging Bull), final masterpieces by brilliant foreign directors (Kurosawa’s Ran, Bergman’sFanny and Alexander), a sci-fi noir (Blade Runner), a searing Vietnam war drama (Platoon), a frankly adult oriented very erotic dark thriller (Blue Velvet), an effective combination of personal storytelling and social comment (Do The Right Thing), one of the best teen movies ever (Fast Times At Ridgemont High), John Hughes masterworks (The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), The Coen Brothers first two films (Blood Simple, Raising Arizona) and debut features also from the likes of Michael Mann, Steven Soderbergh, Jim Jarmusch and so on.

Why Must Blockbusters Be Dumb? | lebeau's le Blog

Here's a discussion thread following a basic question:

What makes a smart blockbuster? I hear this expression bandied around every summer when or two movies seemingly try to buck the trend and become a smart of intelligent blockbuster. I remember saying on these forums many years ago that there is no such thing as an intelligent movie. I said it tongue in cheek, but i was looking for the evidence of when a movie is stupid and when a movie is intelligent. When does something stop being dumb and become smart? In the summer climate it's always nice to have a movie that has a bit more going on than just FX and action etc (although i'm more than happy just to get that!). With the big successes of movies like Inception (a movie that surely in a lot of peoples opinions hold the crown for the 'smart' blockbuster) surely that proves that audiences want a well thought out blockbuster, or something that is trying to be a bit more. 

I recall last year a lot of people saying that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a smart blockbuster. Now i disagree with this (although i loved the movie) as it seemed pretty dopey in places and required some huge leaps of logic. So what does a blockbuster movie have to do to get this kind of label? Was Sherlock Holmes a 'smart' blockbuster? Is Spiderman 2? Is The Avengers a smart movie because it has an intelligent director behind it? What movies qualify for this label and why? I know my own opinions on it but really want to gauge what people think and why certain movies get this label. 

The 'Smart' Blockbuster

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