Written by Max Thornton.
I have a confession to make:
Last year, I only went to the movies a dozen times, and only 7 of those were 2012 releases.
That is the least time I have spent at the movies in any year since I started going to the movies. There are a few reasons for this tragic failure of mine:
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I’m a grad student, so I don’t have much free time.
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I’m a grad student, so I don’t have much spare money.
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After a blissful six-month stint working in a cinema in 2011 and taking full advantage of my comps, I am still a little resistant to the prospect of having to pay to go to the movies.
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I no longer live in London, where there is a glorious wealth of theaters screening any and every movie you could want to see. All of four movie theaters exist within walking distance of me now, and most of them have a pretty unexciting selection of films most of the time.
The biggest reason, though, is my general sense of disillusionment with Hollywood as a whole. I’m not sure if this is because the past year or two offered genuinely fewer interesting movies than previous years, or because inevitably a sense of ennui sets in after a while. For example, I thought The Master was okay, but it didn’t blow me away like There Will Be Blood did in 2007. Is this because The Master is an inferior film, or because, with five more years of film-watching behind me, I am just bored to death of movies about white dudes talking about stuff?
To be honest, 2013 doesn’t look much better than 2012 when it comes to movies that grab my attention. A cursory glance over the list of forthcoming releases fills me with despondence. I want to see Zero Dark Thirty, but I’m disturbed by reports that it’s naked CIA propaganda. I’ll see the Evil Dead remake, though my expectations are lowered with every advance word that trickle out. There won’t be any escape from seeing Star Trek: Into Skegness (British joke!). Just about the only 2013 movie I have unmitigated, childlike excitement for is Pacific Rim. Giant robots, giant sea monsters, Guillermo del Toro, and Idris Elba are four of my favorite things, and I can only hope and pray that the combination will be as marvelous as I’m anticipating.
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| I can’t be the only one who would switch teams for this dude in a heartbeat, right? |
The thing about being a grouchy griping curmudgeon, though, is that it gets old fast. I want to like things. I want to get excited about upcoming movies. Salivating over a giant-robots-versus-sea-beasties movie is way more fun than shitting all over the latest crop of derivative, kyriarchal tedium. I’m not going to quit fighting the good fight, but I am going to change my focus a little. Here are my pop-culture resolutions for 2013:
I will see more movies alone.
Last week, I went to the movies alone for the first time in eighteen months. It was FANTASTIC. I used to go to the cinema alone all the time, back when I was a fresher in university trying to escape roommate troubles, and I’d forgotten just how brilliant it is. Something about sitting in a darkened auditorium with a group of strangers, never speaking to each other but sharing the cognitive experience onscreen, is just delightful to me.
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| I’m certain I get this exact expression when I see a good movie alone. |
I will seek out more foreign and independent films.
It was so easy when I lived in London. I had maybe half a dozen favorite cinemas, scattered all around central London; anything that got any kind of UK release was guaranteed to be screening somewhere nearby. In 2012, shamefully enough, I didn’t see a single foreign-language film. Not one. I haven’t even seen Les Misérables yet, and I’m pretty sure the title and character names are the only French things about that movie. I pledge to make more of an effort this year. Hollywood might be boring me silly, but there must be interesting things going on elsewhere in the world.
I will not be ungrateful about Community, no matter what happens.
When showrunner Dan Harmon was unceremoniously fired from his brainchild, it seemed like yet another death-knell in the long, slow, painful process of NBC’s gradual euthanizing of my favorite show. I had spent so much energy hoping for Community‘s unlikely season-four renewal that, when it actually happened, it seemed churlish to carp about Harmon’s absence. Some fans are predicting that season four can only be a vortex of suck without his guidance. For now I reserve judgment – though, after being so vocal about my hope for a fourth season, I won’t really feel I can legitimately complain even if I do wind up hating it.
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| This picture does a lot to assuage my fears. |
Anyone else have any pop-culture resolutions? What are you planning to do or not do in 2013?
I share your disillusionment with movies recently–and completely agree about ‘The Master’ versus ‘There Will Be Blood.’ Unlike you, I’ve never been a fan of going to the movies alone, but think I’ll take a cue from your resolution and go see some alone this year.
Also, Idris Elba is a good reason to see just about any movie.
I agree, but why can’t I get into Luther??? I keep watching it for Elba, but it isn’t growing on me like it’s supposed to. (!!!) Also, going to the movies alone is my favorite. I vow to do that more this year, too.
I loved your resolutions, i also have been, little by little, decreasing the habit of going to the movies. And in my case, almost for all the same reasons as you: money, time (i’m a grad-student too), and lack of good movies. Of course we always have exceptions, but Hollywood has sucked lately. I’m brazilian, and the theathers that screen independent, not-american movies (including good brazilian movies) are very few, and most of them, far from where i live, so most of the theaters, especially the ones in popular areas, screen, most of the time, hollywood blockbusters (i’m not saying it’s always bad, of course, but most of it has been, lately).
I hope i can go more to the movies this year, but also, there aren’t a lot of upcoming movies that i’m really looking forward. The movie you talked about, with Idris, i never heard of it, but now i’m interested, thanks for the tip! haha 😉 And, unfortunelly, about going to the movies by myself, i’ve only done it, like, 4 times, and i hated. It’s such a shame, because i lose a lot of great things because of it (most of my friends’ taste is nothing like mine).
Xx!