Confessions of an armchair film critic
Filed under Reviews, Soapbox on April 19, 2004
Tagged: Hellboy, Hidalgo, movies
Over the last few years, I’ve developed a bad habit. When watching movies, I analyze the story, picking out plotholes, poor pacing, or bad dialogue. I’ll even go so far as to rewrite scenes in my head during the movie. I consider a movie good if, by the end, I haven’t made any mental notes about how I’d have done something different.
For example, my wife and I went to go see Hidalgo this past Friday. An excellent movie that so enthralled me, I never had the chance to break my suspension of belief long enough to critique it. I highly recommend seeing this movie. On the other hand, a friend and I saw Hellboy last week. While the dialogue was witty and humourous at times, the movie was anti-climatic and had at least one useless subplot. Stick with the comic book on this one.
Now, I’ve never written a script (other than a single act play with only four characters, back in high school), nor have I taken any film classes. But I do know how to tell a story, and I can’t believe that studios are paying people to write some of this stuff. Or that audiences consider them good enough stories to shell out $8 more than once (or buy the DVD). I realize some of it has to do with the director’s handling, and the actors, but it all starts with a well-written script. And there doesn’t seem to be too many of those around any more.
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