Blogging Ottinger (tim)Mumble Movies
Scott Adams has it right this time though he didn’t mention that the sound effects and music are five times louder than anything else. So you turn up the tube to hear the dialog (as such) and you finally get comfy until an actor drops a spoon, which will sound like an oil pipeline dropped from the space shuttle landing on a tin roof. And then the violins will start, sounding like a fleet of bombers overhead.
He’s right about movies seeming to spend all their time making you feel bad. I watched some 12 tv last night and was disgusted with how each of them is mean-spirited (either the characters, the producer, the writer, or all of the above) and wanted to make you feel as if you’d been abused and were in physical danger. I guess that’s “impact”. I guess all the “important” movies are the ones that have “raw impact” — sort of like the way a crater hits the planet. On the other hand, I am an odd character and tend to turn to TV either for something called “information” or something called “entertainment”. If I wanted to be ‘impacted’ I would go lay down in traffic. I don’t want to suffer for their art, I want to be entertained by it. I would prefer a blockbuster to an “important” movie anyday because I would rather leave the theater entertained than impacted. And yes, the worse it makes you feel, the longer it is. I guess we’re supposed to pay once at the box office, and once again in the seats.
