Just off hand, over the past few years I can think of a lot of remakes of old movies: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Ocean's 11, Posiedon Adventure, Flight of the Phoenix, Planet of the Apes...I believe this is because Hollywood, on the whole, lacks the talent to come up with anything new. As a bit more proof of this, here's a news story about a cutting-edge new movie...its about, get this!, sex....and, wow, that's a subject Hollywood has never tackled before...
CANNES (Reuters) - In his provocative new film "Shortbus", U.S. director John Cameron Mitchell is seeking to demystify sex on screen by making it real.
Showing out of competition at the Cannes film festival, the movie set around a colorful underground cabaret-cum-nightclub called Shortbus is the culmination of a long-held ambition of Mitchell's to present sex as no more than a fact of life.
It is not the first time real sex has appeared in a film outside the porn world. British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom included it in his "9 Songs" in 2004, for example.
But in his touching exploration of New York today, Mitchell features a range of relationships -- gay and straight -- which intertwine when people searching for something more in their lives descend on the club.
The opening sequence prepares audiences for what is to come, with three different sex scenes.
One features a young man ... (edited to remove revolting references - best not read before breakfast) ...in their apartment.
Mitchell succeeds in making the on-screen action less shocking than it sounds, and rather than gasps from the audience at a press screening, there was laughter at the comedy.
"This film was not pornographic," Mitchell told reporters...
We are saturated with sex - open and implied - in TV and movies all the time...and yet here's this write up of a porn movie disguised as a serious flick, and it is being treated as if we haven't droned on endlessly about sex for the past half century. Is it just me, or is sex becoming one of the most boring subjects out there? Is there really out there in Hollywood the worn-out concept that America is too puritannical about sex and that we need to have our sexual mores challenged?
Used to be that we said Hollywood shot for the lowest common denominator...now we know better: they are the lowest common denominator and they are trying to drag us down to their level.
Here's a challenge for any Hollywood person out there - create an adult drama without using profanity, nudity/sex or violence in the movie. See if you can do it - I'll bet a lot that they can't...they just don't have the talent.
Posted by Mark Noonan at May 21, 2006 10:46 AM
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As soon as the Catholic Church and Opus Dei can do the same you might have a point. Peace
Posted by: steve at May 21, 2006 11:29 AM
Well any film has got to be better than that piece o crap "Flight 93".
What a waste of celluloid.
Terrible !!!!!!
Posted by: jeff at May 21, 2006 12:19 PM
Mark, amazingly, I couldn't agree with you more. I consider the act of watching couples copulating a sex act, whether it's in your dorm room or on the silver screen. The primitive urge parts of our brains don't know the difference between two and three dimensions. I think this is true of violence as well. The thing that has kept me from ever trying pot or cocaine or any of the longlist of pleasure drugs is my choice to keep, pardon the honesty, sex with my wife the most pleaurable thing in my life, and strictly between my wife and myself. If there is something better than that, I personally don't want to know. If there are better-looking naked women than my wife, I choose not to see it. I've been married 24 years.
Do I think it should be outlawed in the movies? No. I don't claim to know what is best for everyone else.
But I think you are right on this one. There are WAY too few movies made that do not rely on adultery, casual and violent sex, and killing people. Movies like Carl Sagan's "Contact" where the main premise involves none of these generally stiff at the box office, though. Shame...
Posted by: congressive at May 21, 2006 12:55 PM
Ever since the breakup of the studio system and the rise of the corporate studio, Hollywood has been interested in only one thing. Making money.
Given the current cost of movie making in general, and spectaculars in particular, the usual course of action has been to play it safe. Remakes of moneymakers, sequels of moneymakers, and ripoffs of moneymakers.
In addition, the DVD industry has split movies into two groups - the ones you go to theatres to see, which have to be big, SFX laden epics no TV room can present properly, or movies you will see in the privacy of your own home.
Neither format lends itself to the type of movie you are asking for. Private movies (DVDs) push the sex as mush as decency allows, even in a horror flick, in order to get the biggest sales. Public movies don't have time for complicated plots - kiss the girl, shoot the villain, blow up the city.
Check out the indies for the movies you want. Yes, many indies are as bad or worse than the studios, but there are a few rebels.
Posted by: The Small Town hick at May 21, 2006 02:04 PM
congressive
You better reassure Mark that the sex you are having with your wife of 24 years is for the purpose of reproduction, otherwise you will be in his bad books. Remember, no sex for personal gratification.
Posted by: Canadian Observer at May 21, 2006 02:13 PM
Why does a movie containing sex take away all the plot and charecter development? I mean it seems to me that its kinda like Jackie Chan doing his own stunts. Everyone jerks off Mark, even you.
Posted by: Keefer at May 21, 2006 02:51 PM
Hollywood has always been about making money. Problem today is that it seems studios are more and more afraid to take risks in the pursuit of making money.
When Easy Rider came out and became an unexpected hit, studios realized there was a large youth market they didn't know anything about, so they through money at young directors like Coppalla, Scorcese, Bogdonovick, Ashby, etc... and the result was perhaps the best decade of American film.
The downfall came with Jaws and Star Wars when the studios realized just how much money could be made and the concept of tent pole pictures was created.
There are good and great movies being made, but often they are relegated to "art house" status, while the major releases are watered-down, lowest common denomenator films that aim for big profits.
There seems to be a growing gap between art house films and major releases and major releases are suffering because of it. I wish that circumstances would change and a situation similar to the early-seventies occurred and studios began taking more chances, but when the Daddy Day Cares of the world continue to top the box office, it doesn't seem that will happen.
Now, about this film and sex. I think showing sex can and has worked in film. It's a human act just like everything else, but more so than other acts has the potential to be more powerful, violent, intimate, distant, etc...
Mark, I really don't see how you can tab this is an example lack of talent or creativity. I'm mean, you haven't even seen the film.
As to your point that this is an example of Hollywood trying to drag the rest of America down to it's level, well, Hollywood wouldn't touch this film. It was produced by an New York company called Process Media.
Ironically, their aim is to produce quality adult films that don't rely on cheap sex and voilence (though, that's not to say sex and voilence isn't in them). I've seen two films they've produced, World Traveler and Myth of Fingerprints and both are serious and thoughtful films about relationships and family.
http://www.oxygen.com/Press/Programming/RomancingTheBride/Bios/ProcessMedia.aspx
Posted by: Tom Shipley at May 21, 2006 02:56 PM
Keefer,
Actually, no - I don't. Used to; don't any more...there is nothing quite so pointless and self destructive as that...
Posted by: Mark Noonan at May 21, 2006 07:35 PM
You better reassure Mark that the sex you are having with your wife of 24 years is for the purpose of reproduction, otherwise you will be in his bad books. Remember, no sex for personal gratification.
Run out of horse again, dumbass?
Mark, fake Keefer needs to go...
Well any film has got to be better than that piece o crap "Flight 93".
What a waste of celluloid.
Speaking of pieces of crap, jeffie, let's talk about you. And speaking of wastes, let's talk about you again. You're a piece of crap who's a waste of precious oxygen. Why don't you do us all a favour, and go jump in front of a train.
Just kidding, jeffie, why dirty-up a train like that? Just go jump off a cliff...
Posted by: keefer at May 21, 2006 09:38 PM
So what do you do in that toll booth all shift keefer? Ugh what a visual. If I come through your toll, uh, keep the change!
Posted by: keyfur at May 21, 2006 10:20 PM
Look all I'm saying is we are ridiculous when trying to deny something that every living thing does. Its just like the Janet Jackson thing. What, have kids never looked in the mirror? Who gives a crap about a nipple? WE ALL HAVE NIPPLES. WE ALL HAVE SEX. ITS ISN'T WRONG OF DIRTY OR SOMETHING THAT DOESNT HAPPEN ON ITS OWN. Its a part of life, like breathing, so get over it and stop being such a child.
Posted by: Keefer at May 22, 2006 02:03 PM
Ok, let's all grow up.
"...there is nothing quite so pointless and self destructive as that..."
Actually, Mark, it might be worth reading THIS ARTICLE from The Male Health Center.
Read the very last paragraph on that page. Quite the opposite of "destructive," for you single guys trying not to fornicate, monkey spanking just might save your lives. Married guys, well, it's not our problem...
Posted by: congressive at May 23, 2006 02:35 AM
Post a comment
As soon as the Catholic Church and Opus Dei can do the same you might have a point. Peace
Well any film has got to be better than that piece o crap "Flight 93".
What a waste of celluloid.
Terrible !!!!!!
Mark, amazingly, I couldn't agree with you more. I consider the act of watching couples copulating a sex act, whether it's in your dorm room or on the silver screen. The primitive urge parts of our brains don't know the difference between two and three dimensions. I think this is true of violence as well. The thing that has kept me from ever trying pot or cocaine or any of the longlist of pleasure drugs is my choice to keep, pardon the honesty, sex with my wife the most pleaurable thing in my life, and strictly between my wife and myself. If there is something better than that, I personally don't want to know. If there are better-looking naked women than my wife, I choose not to see it. I've been married 24 years.
Do I think it should be outlawed in the movies? No. I don't claim to know what is best for everyone else.
But I think you are right on this one. There are WAY too few movies made that do not rely on adultery, casual and violent sex, and killing people. Movies like Carl Sagan's "Contact" where the main premise involves none of these generally stiff at the box office, though. Shame...
Ever since the breakup of the studio system and the rise of the corporate studio, Hollywood has been interested in only one thing. Making money.
Given the current cost of movie making in general, and spectaculars in particular, the usual course of action has been to play it safe. Remakes of moneymakers, sequels of moneymakers, and ripoffs of moneymakers.
In addition, the DVD industry has split movies into two groups - the ones you go to theatres to see, which have to be big, SFX laden epics no TV room can present properly, or movies you will see in the privacy of your own home.
Neither format lends itself to the type of movie you are asking for. Private movies (DVDs) push the sex as mush as decency allows, even in a horror flick, in order to get the biggest sales. Public movies don't have time for complicated plots - kiss the girl, shoot the villain, blow up the city.
Check out the indies for the movies you want. Yes, many indies are as bad or worse than the studios, but there are a few rebels.
congressive
You better reassure Mark that the sex you are having with your wife of 24 years is for the purpose of reproduction, otherwise you will be in his bad books. Remember, no sex for personal gratification.
Why does a movie containing sex take away all the plot and charecter development? I mean it seems to me that its kinda like Jackie Chan doing his own stunts. Everyone jerks off Mark, even you.
Hollywood has always been about making money. Problem today is that it seems studios are more and more afraid to take risks in the pursuit of making money.
When Easy Rider came out and became an unexpected hit, studios realized there was a large youth market they didn't know anything about, so they through money at young directors like Coppalla, Scorcese, Bogdonovick, Ashby, etc... and the result was perhaps the best decade of American film.
The downfall came with Jaws and Star Wars when the studios realized just how much money could be made and the concept of tent pole pictures was created.
There are good and great movies being made, but often they are relegated to "art house" status, while the major releases are watered-down, lowest common denomenator films that aim for big profits.
There seems to be a growing gap between art house films and major releases and major releases are suffering because of it. I wish that circumstances would change and a situation similar to the early-seventies occurred and studios began taking more chances, but when the Daddy Day Cares of the world continue to top the box office, it doesn't seem that will happen.
Now, about this film and sex. I think showing sex can and has worked in film. It's a human act just like everything else, but more so than other acts has the potential to be more powerful, violent, intimate, distant, etc...
Mark, I really don't see how you can tab this is an example lack of talent or creativity. I'm mean, you haven't even seen the film.
As to your point that this is an example of Hollywood trying to drag the rest of America down to it's level, well, Hollywood wouldn't touch this film. It was produced by an New York company called Process Media.
Ironically, their aim is to produce quality adult films that don't rely on cheap sex and voilence (though, that's not to say sex and voilence isn't in them). I've seen two films they've produced, World Traveler and Myth of Fingerprints and both are serious and thoughtful films about relationships and family.
http://www.oxygen.com/Press/Programming/RomancingTheBride/Bios/ProcessMedia.aspx
Keefer,
Actually, no - I don't. Used to; don't any more...there is nothing quite so pointless and self destructive as that...
You better reassure Mark that the sex you are having with your wife of 24 years is for the purpose of reproduction, otherwise you will be in his bad books. Remember, no sex for personal gratification.
Run out of horse again, dumbass?
Mark, fake Keefer needs to go...
Well any film has got to be better than that piece o crap "Flight 93".
What a waste of celluloid.
Speaking of pieces of crap, jeffie, let's talk about you. And speaking of wastes, let's talk about you again. You're a piece of crap who's a waste of precious oxygen. Why don't you do us all a favour, and go jump in front of a train.
Just kidding, jeffie, why dirty-up a train like that? Just go jump off a cliff...
So what do you do in that toll booth all shift keefer? Ugh what a visual. If I come through your toll, uh, keep the change!
Look all I'm saying is we are ridiculous when trying to deny something that every living thing does. Its just like the Janet Jackson thing. What, have kids never looked in the mirror? Who gives a crap about a nipple? WE ALL HAVE NIPPLES. WE ALL HAVE SEX. ITS ISN'T WRONG OF DIRTY OR SOMETHING THAT DOESNT HAPPEN ON ITS OWN. Its a part of life, like breathing, so get over it and stop being such a child.
Ok, let's all grow up.
"...there is nothing quite so pointless and self destructive as that..."
Actually, Mark, it might be worth reading THIS ARTICLE from The Male Health Center.
Read the very last paragraph on that page. Quite the opposite of "destructive," for you single guys trying not to fornicate, monkey spanking just might save your lives. Married guys, well, it's not our problem...