Ridiculous Opinions #267
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about Ridiculous Opinions as of late and I’ve come to the conclusion that things are a bit stale. Sure, you all love to hear my thoughts, because they are, in fact, genius thoughts, but as of late, I don’t have a lot of them that I feel are worth sharing about me, personally.
So in my last couple of weeks of thinking, I found a new path for this little newsletter. Because I teach film, I am asked, over and over again, about my opinions on film. People want to know what I thought about certain movies. Of course, there are a billion reasons why people ask those thoughts. Sometimes, they just want to provoke me into one of my diatribes against modern cinema. Sometimes, they want validation for their own feelings about movies that are personal to them. Sometimes, they’re looking for recommendations for good films, and sometimes, they’re wanting to recommend something to me. Any way you swing it, people are interested in what I have to say about films (misguided though they may be).
But for the last few years, I very rarely have anything positive to say about the films that I watch (if I watch any films at all). Most people find this funny. “Oh, Randall doesn’t like anything. He’s such a curmudgeon.” And when people say these things, I usually laugh about the whole thing and go on about my business, muttering something along the lines of, “Yeah, I’m getting old.”
Still, every once in a while those thoughts echo through my head. "Randall doesn’t like anything…” and in the deep, dark hours of the night, I wonder if that’s true. Do I like anything anymore? Why is it so hard to keep me entertained? Is this me? Or is something more going on? For someone who used to be so enthralled with film, why have I become so disinterested? There is a line from one of my favorite movies that I think sums up my feelings. The movie is The Fisher King from 1989. The line comes in this speech, which you should watch in its entirety:
”He was sick with experience…” That’s what it feels like for me sometimes. I have seen too many movies. I have seen so many movies that I no longer have interest in seeing movies. It’s very rare that a movie can show me something I haven’t seen before, or make me feel something new and exciting. I’m not saying that these things don’t happen; I’m simply saying that it’s very rare for me to see something that just knocks my socks off. The most cardinal sin for me when it comes to movies in this day and age is for a movie to simply be forgettable.
I am sick with experience.
But I don’t want to be that way, and I’ve decided that I’m going to use my writing to change that feeling.
How am I going to do that? Well, this newsletter is going to become a book. I’ve decided to dedicate myself over the next year-plus to using the newsletter to figure out why movies don’t do it for me any more. The newsletter will be a quasi-review column that not only dissects current films that I have seen, but also becomes a love-letter to the movies that I adore. Along the way, I plan to try to rediscover my love for movies and offer a game plan on how to fix things when it comes to film.
“But who are you to have the gall to offer a solution on how to fix Hollywood, Randall?”
Well, I’m nobody. My opinion doesn’t really matter. No one in Hollywood is going to listen to me and me writing a weekly newsletter that I will eventually turn into a book ain’t gonna change a single thing. But in doing this, perhaps I will figure out a way to fix myself in the process. Perhaps I will find a way back to those things that filled me with so much curiosity and sense of adventure when I was young.
I also plan to pull no punches when I’m writing these things. There are many out there who feel that you shouldn’t criticize; that nobody in Hollywood sets out to make a bad film. Things go wrong. A vision that one might have could turn astray through no fault of their own. If that’s your opinion, then unsubscribe now! I’m going to savage people, companies, and ideas, because I just don’t care. And the truth is that if you are swayed by my arguments, then your opinions weren’t really solid in the first place. If you have real opinions on something, then someone else’s thoughts shouldn’t change your mind.
At the same time, it’s not all going to be negative. After all, I’m trying to rekindle my love for cinema. I’m also going to tell you why I like some films. I’m going to try to convince you why certain films are worthy of praise, or why I like something personally. And in that process, perhaps I will win you over to my opinion (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a masterpiece), or perhaps I will help you understand why a film like Bachelor Party shaped me fundamentally. Or perhaps I’ll even just help you understand a movie better, either intellectually or emotionally.
Either way, we’re going to use this time to figure out what the hell is going on.
As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed! He looked in his hands, and there was the Holy Grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."
Here we go…
NEXT WEEK: I will savage the film, Gladiator II.
