Failure in film


This past weekend my grandmother told me that she hated to go to the movies. I asked her why and she said because there is nothing showing except smut. My grandmother is an ultra-conservative but she does have a point. Writers have stopped trying as hard to make good movies. I'll give you an example. I recently saw the movie 'Saw II'. Holy shit it was bad!! I wanted to get some holy water, a young priest, an old priest and perform an exorcism. The sad part is that the theater was pretty full and people were actually leaving the theater entertained. I don't pretend to be an elitist but it is just my opinion that if you have two brain cells you would not enjoy the film. It tried to pass gore off as horror. 'The Omen' was scary. 'Poltergeist' was scary. 'Saw II' made me feel sterile and disgusted.
After thinking about 'Saw II' I looked at some of the other options in the theater and thought about it. 'Doom' starring the Rock was showing but I don't think a first-person shooter game would translate well to film. There was also 'The Weatherman' which I heard was depressing and subpar. What happened to good movies?
Fortunately film companies are starting to market for Oscar season which has officially started. I haven't seen 'Walk the Line' but I hear it is supposed to be this year's 'Ray' and garner Oscar attention for Reese Witherspoon as June Carter and Joaquin Phoenix as the man in black Johnny Cash. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' is coming out soon, which is supposed to be good. There is 'Capote', starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote. But the movie which is supposed to be the film is 'Brokeback Mountain' which is based on Anne Prolux's short story about two gay cowboys. It seems like a oxymoron, but it is supposed to be pretty good. The question is how to market such a movie and will anyone see it. I live in the Bible Belt and I really don't think the idea of two men in a love story will sell. I'm not saying that the movie isn't valid. It has swept all the film festivals at Toronto and New York. The notion of shifting the idea of homosexuality to being one of semi-normalcy is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people. I'm curious just to see how Mr. Ang Lee pulled it off.
But still the question remains. Why make bad movies? Maybe the more essential question is what makes a bad movie? In my skewed estimation I think a bad movie results from 1. a lack of plot, 2. a lack of believability in the characters, 3. a lack of connection between the audience and the film, 4. a failure to entertain, and 5. an ending that is totally without purpose or validity. The thing that is particularly disturbing for me is that movies cost a tremendous sum of money to finance. Sometimes companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars into making a film. $100 million dollars to make movies like 'Titanic' (which only caught my interest when Kate Winslet was in the nude) 'The English Patient' (I've had more fun in dental surgery than watching that movie) and 'Waterworld' (which proves there is a Hell). Not every movie has to win an Academy Award to be considered valid but they should be able to make the audience think as well as be entertained.
I'll list characteristics for a good movie 1. it should allow the audience to suspend their disbelief without conflict, 2. The characters should be dynamic and believable, 3. The plot should escalate at a reasonable and balanced pace, filling in details yet not being monotonous, 4. the audience should be able to connect on some level to the plight of the characters, 5. the film exposes ideals and concepts that are challenging yet vital to the audience in its explanation of the human condition, and 6. the film entertains on a level that usurps the budget of the film and actually is good because the actors and directors have mastered their craft and not because Industrial Light and Magic has developed a special effect which is visually stimulating.
Some relatively recent movies that are good in my estimation:

1. American Splendor
2. The Tao of Steve
3. Love and Basketball
4. Lost in Translation
5. The Virgin Suicides
5. Shaun of the Dead