Movie madness

So i hear the new Pirates of The Caribbean installment  was a monumental failure. Am i surprised? Nope...They had it coming. You can only exploit a good thing for so long. I feel sorry for Johnny Depp but he will only suffer a  while for the bad reviews this movie keeps getting. Its the money people that will get most of the heat and frankly  :p. Like almost everything in the world today, its how much you take to the bank that matters and not the people you impacted upon.

But it isn't just Pirates that has failed at the movies this year and before. Despite all the pre-excitement about Thor, Priest, Transformers 2, Iron man, etcetra...most movies of the past few years have failed to move and convince movie-goers that they actually received value for their money. Transformers 3 is coming out soon. I expect to be disappointed as well. 

I love movies. As a child, i saw The Champ a record of six times. With the Sound of Music, i have lost count. I remember Bed-knobs and Broomsticks vividly. As an adult, i love the Godfather, Crash, Inception, Lords of the Ring, the Notebook etcetra. I love the fact that movies tell a story. whether its a sad, happy, funny or horrifying story. Everyone loves a good story. Unfortunately the movie industry today keeps churning out movies that tell no tales. More often than not i come out of the cinemas unable to remember the first scene talk less of what the movie was about.

It seems this present day generation of script writers are failing in their duties or maybe(and most probably), the industry is stifling their talents in its fury to make loads of green paper.

I once read somewhere that John Irving adamantly refused to let Hollywood make a movie out of one of his book without his playing a  pivotal role. That movie ended up winning two Oscars -one for Mr Irving as best Screen writer. I haven't seen the movie but i have read the book a total of eight times. Its called The Cider House Rules. 

There are good stories all around us but stories are a dime a dozen whereas storytellers are few and far between. Its time we paid more attention to talents that make these stories come alive for us whether on film, paper or on stage. 

Its time the movie industry (yes Nollywood, that includes you) pays more attention to these talents. Its time to look beyond over-stretching franchises and churning out movie sequels. it was understandable for Lords of the Rings, Stars Wars and X-men but come on, one Sex and the city movie is fine!!! Save us the horror of seeing middle-aged women express their frustrations a second, maybe third time!!!

As for Nollywood...sigh...there is hope for you yet!!! Thank God for Mr Afolayan and others...