A Thought On The State Of Visual Entertainment

I recently finished the first season of HBO's new series True Detective. It definitely is the best show on television right now, easily the best written show since Breaking Bad. The quality of the writing, acting, and directing has become typical of HBO over the years. It actually got me to thinking and I came to this conclusion: The real good visual entertainment is on television right now, not in the movie theaters. I am not quite sure of the reason why this is, but I can definitely speculate on why. One possible reason is because of my generation. We are usually very impatient and can barely sit through a movie that is just over two hours long, unless it is something that is very simple to understand, a la The Hunger Games or The Avengers. Enter TV, where you can get your comedy, drama, crime, action, etc. fix that you normally would at the movies in a fraction of the time. The advent of Netflix has definitely spurred this along, as somebody can get a quick episode in before work or class and not have to worry about catching at it's regular time slot or remembering to record it to their DVR. These are only a few possible reasons, because, honestly, I don't know the answer. Now, another question I had was "When did this advent of amazing television start?" Over the past fifteen years, we have seen some of the greatest dramas grace our television sets, with some of them being far better than the films that were coming out during that time. This new wave of great television started way back in 1999 with the airing of the first season of The Sopranos. Considered by many to be the greatest television series to ever air, it has since been surpassed, in my opinion anyway. But without The Sopranos, we have no Breaking Bad, True Detective, The Wire, etc. Tony Soprano is directly responsible for the advent of complex anti-heroes as the central characters of these shows, and many others, for that matter. Walter White, Jimmy McNulty, Rustin Cohle, Omar Little and the rest of the memorable characters are all a result of the genius of Tony Soprano. In my opinion, The Sopranos is definitely the most groundbreaking show of all time, even though it can no longer be considered the best. Now, the industry's focus seems to be getting the good stuff on television. This is evident in the amount of big names that are becoming more and more attached to new series. Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, two of the most acclaimed actors in recent years, rule Washington together as Frank and Claire Underwood in the Netflix original series, House Of Cards. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey showed us darkness in True Detective. Again, McConaughey has been gaining a large following ever since he broke free of his romantic comedy typecasting and really showed his chops as an actor, with it all culminating in an Oscar win for Best Actor for his film Dallas Buyers Club. On a side note, True Detective is going to bring in two new stars each season and will feature a different story, so it will be interesting to see how this anthology approach attracts other big names in the business. Woody Harrelson has been doing the same thing since he was exposed to my generation in the film Zombieland. The point that I am trying to make with all of this blabbing is that, quite simply, audiences are not pulled to film as they were a few years ago. While I think that this is a natural up and down process in the industry, especially as the visual entertainment medium keeps evolving, it is undeniable right now that TV is the king of the entertainment world. With channels like HBO, Showtime, and Starz able to film series with quality picture, writing, and acting, it really is no surprise. HBO, to be quite honest, has churned out the best shows of all time. There is a standard that they have for themselves and their tagline, "It's not TV, it's HBO" is actually a very accurate statement. During The Wire, The Sopranos, Game Of Thrones, True Detective, Boardwalk Empire, and the rest of the HBO shows, it never once felt like I was watching a television show. It's very hard to explain, and this may sound very odd, but I can at once tell the quality of a television show based on the quality of the camera used to film the series. You can tell that shows like Arrow, Smallville, Scrubs, The Walking Dead, etc. are all television shows because of the quality of their picture. Not that these are bad shows, I actually really enjoy all of them, but they just don't meet the standard of HBO. I really don't mean to sound like a fanboy (even though I am because HBO has made almost all of my favorite television series), but it simply is the truth. Again, TV is king right now, but that could possibly change in the coming years. If Hollywood is smart, they will scale back the rate of their productions, as I feel like the film industry has over saturated theaters. Somebody pointed out to me that during the time when The Godfather was released in theaters, new movies would come out maybe once a month. Now, we are seeing slates of new films every week. Sinking money into tent-pole films that fail miserable at the box office (The Lone Ranger, for example) can only be done for so long. While Disney could definitely afford the failure of that film (they own Marvel, also known as the cash cow's cash cow), it goes to show that the more expensive the production doesn't necessarily mean the better the film. In the coming years, we are seeing the return of Star Wars, Marvel continuing its Cinematic Universe, and Superman and Batman meeting on the big screen for the first time. It remains to be seen if these movies and other great indie dramas can revive interest in the film industry. I hope all of you are well, forgive me if this post seemed very scatterbrained but it was just a random thought that I had early this morning. For my next post, I think I am going to continue with the plan of reviewing either Nevermind by Nirvana or Ten by Pearl Jam. If I don't do that, I will most likely review each episode of the first season of True Detective, as it is only eight episodes and I intend to go through it at least two more times before the year is out. Thanks for reading and check out True Detective!

My Favorites (Movies)

When it comes to media, I generally hold that the area I love the most is movies. This has been the case ever since the first Monster Madness feature on Cinemassacre.com, hosted by James Rolfe, who is famous as The Angry Video Game Nerd. Hearing him discuss the history of the films just sucked me in and has become something of an obsession for me. The night the Academy Awards are broadcasted is like a second Christmas to me, even though they usually fill me with unconsolable rage most of the time. It's hard to pinpoint why I love movies so much. Maybe it's because they allow us to escape reality for a few hours, maybe it's because we can get so invested in the characters that we find ourselves feeling for them, despite the fact that they don't exist, etc. I believe that one of the reason why movies are so profound for many people is simply how much we try to make real life like the movies. There is a great quote that mentions how art tries to imitate real life, but, far more often, real life imitates art. This is such a true statement. Just look at how simple lines of dialogue from films have entered our very way of life. Many a movie quote make up the way I talk. It's to the point where I quote films without even thinking about it. We fall in love with these worlds so much that we try to bring them into ours to spice it up even further. Ok, enough philosophical stuff for now. I would list my top 10 favorite films but the bottom half is always changing so I will just present my top 5. My all time favorite film is the masterpiece GoodFellas. Made by my favorite director, Martin Scorsese, this is an absolute triumph for filmmaking. I can't think of any time in my life where 2 and a half hours went by so fast. This movie is what I like to call pure film. It's that simple sensation where you just get sucked into the film and suddenly, it's over. You look at your watch and just say to yourself "Where did all that time go?" It's a very rare thing but it's amazing when it happens. GoodFellas is one of those times. This film is essential viewing for everybody everywhere. My second favorite film is another Scorsese picture, Taxi Driver. This dark, gritty film is a fantastic look at how a morally ambiguous character can draw you into the film. I will go more depth about this later, along with my other favorite movies. Third is the Scorsese classic, Raging Bull. Amazing central performance by Robert DeNiro (as expected), and, coincidentally enough, this movie actually saved Scorsese's life. More on that in a later post. Fourth is the Scorsese gangster classic, The Departed. As you can tell, I really love his movies. This is another movie that has that pure film element. Could watch it over and over again. My fifth favorite film is the David Fincher cult classic, Fight Club. This is an amazing and polarizing film that demands repeat viewings. I fall in love with it every time I watch it and it is a very profound film, full of life changing ideas and philosophical questions. Many people are thrown off by the title of the film, but I assure you, it is far more than that. Well, that's just a little about my one true love in life. I hope all are well and I will start off the real blog with an album review, I think. It may be either Nevermind by Nirvana or Ten by Pearl Jam. I have yet to decide. Till next time!