'Banal' films

Interesting little piece in the London Times today with Michael Caine criticizing today's films.

FILMS made today pale against cinema classics of the past because they are so lacking in dialogue, character and plot, Sir Michael Caine told The Times yesterday.

Part of me wants to nod my head in agreement. There are some truly dreadful movies out there. 'Snakes on a Plane' was made because of how bad it looked to be. But that's only half the story. Huge numbers of movies are made today. And they're made for all kinds of people. Dozens of artsy and intellectual movies are made every year.
Apparently Caine made these remarks after looking at the top ten movies in the US today. Movie studios release movies in a predictable cycle every year. Fall is for thrillers. Winter is for serious Oscar-bait type movies. The first few months of the year is kind of a dumping ground for movies the studios don't have faith in. And summer is for action, adventure and comedies. Looking at August's box office results won't show a fair sampling of movies. It's like looking at last month's weather and concluding that Minnesota is running out of snow.
I did enjoy this,

Sir Michael, who won Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules, asked: “Who today writes such lines?”

Let's take those one at a time. Who today would write lines like those from 'Hannah and Her Sisters'? Um, how about the same guy, Woody Allen? He's made twenty some movies since that one. If you think he's lost it, let me throw two others at you. Wes Anderson and David Fincher. Both of them are top notch directors and I'd put them up against some of the best in Hollywood history.
And seriously, does anyone remember 'The Cider House Rules' because of the sparkling dialouge? Don't get me wrong, it was good but hardly an earthshaking event. And the movie was out seven years ago. Hardly a lifetime in the movie industry.
If all we had for movie options was 'Beerfest' or 'Miami Vice' Caine would have a point. But we have a much wider menu to choose from. This whole article smacks of sitting on the porch and complaining that life was better in the good old days.