I watched Jaws for the first time in years, possibly decades, because I wanted something different from the rest of the catalog on Netflix. I wanted to watch something good. I have been diving back into the classics these days, the types of films that influenced directors and changed movies for years to come. A few weeks ago, I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A few days later it was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I heard a story today about the director for Roma going on stage at the Oscars and making an acceptance speech. Jaws was the first movie he had seen that made him want to become a film maker. The audience laughed and he looked around wondering what part of his statement was a joke. People do not understand what great films are anymore. This is how we ended up with Michael Bay, J. J. Abrams, and a long list of wannabe film makers who try to fix everything with CGI and don’t have an original bone in their bodies.
I watched Overlord the other day. I should have known better picking up a J. J. Abrams movie well known for lens flares and bad acting. His movies lack direction and like his hit TV show Lost they are poorly written and leave more plot twist left unexplained than the entire series of Unsolved Mysteries. What I had read about Overlord was that it took place on D-Day and followed a group of soldiers sent to destroy a tower with a radar system. It was the typical WWII movie. Only a few minutes into the film I noticed that it was a lot like Band of Brothers, except for all the good stuff you enjoyed in Band of Brothers. The characters were horrible, the acting lacking, the plot thin, and the usual twist that are no longer twist and leave nothing to the imagination. This is what I hate about todays movies. Everything is CGI to the point where nobody is creative with shots or how to make things look real for the camera. No need for blood splatter these days we can use a computer to add it in? why use makeup when you can digitally create the look you want? Hollywood has become lazy. Was that a damn lens flare in the middle of the night inside a burning plane? If I see one more damn lens flare I’m throwing my television in the trash.