Loved a couple of moments, like the locator thrown into coffee pot… but that’s about it.

Even Scott Adkins, great as he is, he was so underused and I thought his fight with Kelly Hu was kinda flowery.

“Where is the next Scorsesse, Kurosawa, Lucas or Romero? Any hints, fellas?”

Well, to be fair, most of these guys didn’t arrive as fully formed auteurs. Godard came up with BREATHLESS pretty quick, Romero made NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD right out the gate, but other than that most of these guys spent time in the trenches making movies/TV we would barely remember them for if they hadn’t gone on to their signature work. It’s unrealistic to expect that you’ll be able to identify an auteur based on a movie or two. Bringing up guys like Fincher, Aronofsky, Nolan, Tarantino, Soderbergh, Charlie Kaufman, Lars von Trier, etc etc is fair, as they all (hopefully) have decades of work ahead of them and more creative freedom with each passing film.

But the landscape of film production is also different now than it was in the golden age of the auteur. I mean when you say the word “auteur”, most people think: Bergman. Godard. Truffaut. Antonioni. Fellini. Tarkovsky. Kurosawa. Kubrick. Malick. Georges-Clouzot. Herzog. Hitchcock. Scorsese. Leone. Bunuel. Jodorowsky. And for the most part, most of these guys’ best work comes from the same two decade window (1960-1980). It was a time when cinematic artistry was fostered in the American studio system. And as for the foreign filmmakers, they were more appreciated here. Other countries still foster their artistic filmmakers, but the market for their work isn’t nearly as appreciative. Every year I go to my local film festival and see 50-60 movies. I usually see at least a dozen that are worthy of being mentioned with the greats, but it’s hard to tell if any of the filmmakers will ever develop into full fledged auteurs because the industry is so cutthroat now. Bong Joon Ho has a good a chance as any, but over here he’s most known for his American-sensibilities-friendly silly monster movie THE HOST, and not his brilliant thrillers MEMORIES OF MURDER or MOTHER. These days we want our auteurs to direct fucking superhero movies. If they’re coming up in the system and want a respectable budget to make their art picture, they basically have to make a blockbuster first.

And even with non-blockbusters let me tell you, as an aspiring screenwriter who has been down the development road with a studio twice now, trying to sneak your desired vision into a commercial enterprise is not fucking easy. The notes I have gotten back on my stuff are enough to make me want to give up sometimes, but I am not a quitter or a pussy. But I doubt the guys in the 70s had to deal with execs and story departments that have honed their generic lowest-common-denominator sensibilities down to such a science, that have read the entire canon of 80s-00s screenwriting dogma and will call you out the instant you step on Aristotle’s toes or violate one of McKee’s golden rules. If you truly want to be creative and transgressive, film is not the easiest place to do it.

Long ramble short: the talent is there. The ideas are there. They always are. We are not “running out” of ideas and filmmakers. They are just being choked to death by the system.

It’s true that a lot of the stuff we’re seeing has been done before, but that’s always been the case since very early on in the history of film – hell, probably since “Citizen Kane”. And yet I still find myself regularly surprised and entertained.

I haven`t seen Scott Pilgrim yet, but I liked Inception a lot. I just don`t think that Nolan is the second coming. Hell, I don`t even think that he`s a great director. He`s a master of convoluted screenplays that fucks with your mind and he has made some great flicks, but his style of directing is underwhelming, to put it mildly.

Yeah, I know blow things out of proportions, but my point still stands. Am I excited about any coming movies? Hell yeah! Caspar Noe, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Gondry, Von Trier etc still amazes me. But all my favorite directors have worked for decades. Where`s the new blood? Where are the new directors with their distinct voices, storytellers who excite and push the envelope of cinematic language?

Spectacle just doesn`t do it for me anymore. There`s no uncharted teretory anymore. No wonder and no “holyshithowdidtheydothat”-moments. No transgression or taboos left to break. All we audience really got left to be excited about is the progression of cinematic language. And the most progressive directors we got, are the dudes who doesn`t shake the camera while filming action.

That said, I`m totally hyped about ENTER THE VOID, BLACK SWAN and SUCKERPUNCH.

Damn, I thought I was cynical, but I really think that takes the cake. Thinking over some of the movies I’ve seen recently… “Inception”, “Scott Pilgrim”, “Rogue”, etc… I mean, what exactly do you want here? Every day news comes through on the Internet about some new film that does something different or great. It’s a great time to be a film fan.

And as for “lowering expectations in order to experience the thrill”, I watched “The Tournament”. It was competently done, some of the action scenes were good, but the story and characters stank of movie-morality to the point where it really, really pissed me off. I enjoyed it in part, but comparing it to “Scott Pilgrim” or “Inception” strikes me as ridiculous. Are you honestly saying you weren’t even a little awestruck by what these films accomplished – visually, thematically, or in any other way? Would you say that about other recent films you’ve seen, if you didn’t like the two that I mentioned?

If you honestly feel that the answer to that question is “yes”, there’s only one thing to do. Take a few months in which you don’t watch any films at all. Then gradually work your way back into them, watching ONLY films that have been recommended to you by people you trust. In other words, try and get your sense of wonder back. Otherwise watching films just becomes a chore; and if it’s gotten to that point, no wonder you’re underwhelmed with Hollywood right now.

I think you are right about the debate being focused on action filmatism, but it doesn`t seem to be a lot left to discuss about movies nowadays (except taste, which can`t be discussed anyway). Yeah, that`s a pretty harsh statement and not entirely true, but my point is that we have seen everything cinema has to offer now. No more surprises. No more sfx, insane stunts, unpreeceded brutality, broken taboos or stylistic choices, that we haven`t seen a thousand times before. No stories that haven`t been told before. Yeah, I guess we can discuss subtext in movies. I would frigging love to se Vern getting all political and shit like in his old columns. Maybe I`ve been reading too much Hunter S. Thompson lately, but something something hangover something.. Yeah, my point being that I haven`t really been suprised by a movie in years. No context, image or context can compare to experiencing the opening of Starwars, the psychological mindfuck of Blue Velvet, the style of Tarkowsky, the post-modern coolness of Tarantino etc. When the most exciting new “visionary” director is Zack Snyder, what`s left to get excited about? Where`s the new Bergman, Hitchcock, Godard, Spielberg? Who`s pushing cinama in new exciting directions? And why haven`t I heard about them yet?

I liked the tournament a lot. I didn`t think much of story or the actors, despite Carlyle being a favorite of mine, but the movie surprised me. I usually don`t watch direct to dvd-action, so the sweet awesomeness and brutality of the action-scenes caught me off guard. I don`t think theres a lot to discuss about The Tournament, but it´s interesting that I have to watch a low-budget direct to dvd action-movie to experience the old thrill of cinema; the joy of seeing something I didn`t expect!!

If I watch a blockbuster, I know they spent 150 mill, so everything can happen and nothing surprises me. That might be why The Tournament hit a sweet spot with its fans. But I guess it`s kind of sad that one has to lower his expectations by watching direct to dvd in order to experience the thrill of being surprised by a movie.

Where is the next Scorsesse, Kurosawa, Lucas or Romero? Any hints, fellas?

Would definitely like to debate this one some more. It does seem that this forum has specifically become about action filmatism recently, to the exclusion of a lot else. (Yeah, I know that there’s just been a topic specifically about that, but has anybody else noticed that several of the review topics have got “hijacked” by this subject as well?) Not, you understand, that I have any objection to the debate over action movies – heck, it’s what we do! – but things do seem to have got rather narrowly focussed recently, and it’d be nice to get back to a broader perspective.

In the words of General MacArthur, “I shall return.”

Meanwhile, don’t lemmeforgetyah?