Have You No Shame?

It should be no secret that I love movies (WHOA! That's a shock right there! I'd better leave you all to recover!) and I also love going to the cinema. The atmosphere, the grandeur of the big screen, the prospect of things to come in the movie world, good stuff. In the past two years, I've found myself going to the cinema more and more. Compared to between 2007-2009, when I only saw literally five movies each year (2007- Wild Hogs, Ghost Rider, Transformers, Spider-Man 3 and The Simpsons Movie; 2008- Juno, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Iron Man, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and The Dark Knight; 2009- Watchmen, Angels And Demons, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and Saw 6), my film horizons have expanded. 2010 saw a little over double that and 2011 was a huge improvement on that, with 2012 looking to be even bigger still, with it being only February and I've seen seven movies in the cinema, with another two planned for this weekend (which I will be blogging about, expect them early next week).

But where am I going with this? Well, despite the year holding many promising films still to come, some of which will go straight to DVD but I still highly anticipate, there have been several films that I have had a strong desire to see, but my local cinema has decided to forgo them. And before the question is raised, no nearby cinema had screenings either. In fact, through one big cinema chain (one branch being my local cinema, about a fifteen minute drive from where I live), only three of their cinemas were showing each of the films I wanted to see. So far, there have been four films I have been denied: Young Adult, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Shame and now My Week With Marilyn, which was due this week down here.

Now, another question that may be raised is “why can't you go to one of those few cinemas playing if you want to see the movie so much?” Here's why: I work six nights a week, and in the later half of the week, I often come home at erratic times. Driving to an unfamiliar location, not knowing how long it will take, not even knowing if I'll make the movie and then having to account for the time coming back, it makes it hard to do. Even on my night off, when I don't have to worry about getting back in time to get some sleep before work, it's a hassle. So, I pretty much have the one cinema. But with these four films bypassing my local cinema, I'm annoyed. Yes, I know they'll be on DVD before the year's end but I fear this is the start of a trend.

I've noticed that all four of these films could be considered arthouse or films for a more select crowd. That's what I believe the problem to be. That the films don't hold enough “mainstream” appeal to be shown at every cinema. And I get that these films need to make money, obviously, and that appealing to niche markets instead of a more general audience isn't something that brings the consumers en masse. But if the films are limited to such a small number of cinemas, well, that's WHY they lose money. You're kind of screwing yourself over if you keep these things small.

Also, let's take a look and see what aspects of these films that the “mainstream” (I'm not putting the word in air quotes to be pretentious, it's just hard to pin down exactly what the mainstream is so it's kind of an undefinable term) audiences would be attracted to.
Young Adult is directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody and stars Charlize Thereon. Jason and Diablo previously worked together on Juno, Jason has also directed Thank You For Smoking and Up In The Air and Diablo created The United States Of Tara and wrote Jennifer's Body. So... you're telling me THIS lacks “mainstream” appeal? Hell, it has Charlize Thereon and it's a romantic comedy with dramatic elements, isn't that what studio suits love to hear?
Martha May Marcy Marlene, that I can understand. The director and cast are relatively unknown and the plot isn't something that screams “date night” or “fun for the family” (it deals with a woman who escapes the clutches of a cult and her attempts to live a normal life). Doesn't mean it should be shunted, though.
Shame, much like the above film, has a plot that might seem confrontational (sex addict has a sister that comes to live with him, and that's being very brief and not doing it any service), but since it stars Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, I thought that might have been enough to warrant some attention.
And now, My Week With Marilyn. It's a film about Marilyn Monroe during the filming of The Prince And The Showgirl, starring Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Watson. I'm sorry, where's the factor that would keep most audiences from seeing this? Marilyn Monroe is well known to even the younger crowd (surprising, seeing as how kids these days hate anything that was created before them) and it's a biopic, which don't tend to do too badly (except maybe J. Edgar, I don't know how well it's going).

Without trying to come off as pretentious, it saddens me that cinemas will fall over themselves to get endless Chipmunk sequels and in the case of my country, any old crap we'll make (Any Questions For Ben? Yeah, I have a question: why does you suck?) but we won't broaden our horizons and try to cater to markets looking for something new?

That's not to say I'll shun anything “commercial”, I'm on the edge of my seat for The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and Skyfall. Hell, I've seen all seven Police Academy movies, I own them in a collector pack and I actually like all of them (well, six of them and I tolerate Mission To Moscow. Just barely), so I'm the last person to turn to for higher culture. I'm as dumb as they come, ask anyone I know. My criteria for film isn't based on being an indie or being the summer blockbuster. It basically goes “What's it about and does it have anyone in it that would make me want to jump out a window after setting myself on fire?” I believe it was Roger Ebert who said, and I may be paraphrasing slightly “A film's not about what its about, its how it goes about it”. That's all I need from my movies. I can sit there and watch comedy capers like Rat Race and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, but I can also appreciate deep and thought provoking fair like Memento and One Hour Photo. All I want is to be allowed to see these films daring to be different.

And is that too much to ask?