You're standing in line at the cinema trying to decide what to watch. And often you feel that the new superhero movie is so much talked about and done so well at the box office that you just have to see it. Today, Hollywood is churning out superhero movies like there's no tomorrow. And what do we end up with? More stereotypical movies that cater to the general public. Hollywood knows that it's smart to use already well-known brands, like superhero/cartoon characters. Superman (1,2,3,4 etc), Batman (1,2,3,4, etc), Iron man, Watchmen, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, X-men, Wolverine are all superhero movies that currently pollutes our cinemas.
I am myself guilty of choosing superhero movies, just because everyone else has seen them. Well, don't do it! It's much better to choose a lower budget, non-hollywood film (if you're interested in them, of course. I'm not trying to dictate which movie you should see). You support other movie producers, instead of feeding the big Hollywood machinery. You get diversity, so "smaller movies" gets a little more capital so they can produce more movies. Or at least choose a more unique Hollywood movie. The audience is making Hollywood lazy. When choosing simple genre excercizes like Confessions of a Shopaholic or How to lose friends and alienate people, you are basically supporting Hollywood for making the same movies over and over again. This is not a new phenomena in Hollywood (remaking movies, that is), but with a more picky audience, Hollywood needs to put a lot of care into each movie.
The superhero formula is beginning to look pathetic. Hollywood buy the rights to a franchise, make a-dime-a-dozen script, spend a lot of money on effects and advertising. Voila! You have an easily sold commodity, and millions of teens standing in line to watch the effects and the image of their favorite superhero. But for us others, who do not associate ourselves with comic-obsessing teens, who like many types of movies, who often watch European and Asian movies as well and who really isn't expecting a movie revelation when watching superhero movies: don't do it! It's like fast food; you crave it, it is advertized all over, but when the meal is over you feel cheated. It's a falsely created need from smart business men that know how to create illusions.Be proud if you haven't seen the latest Batman film or the next X-men spin-off. It's all right! On a side note, I have yet to see Braveheart. Everyone says: "Whaaat? You call yourself a movie fan, and haven't seen Braveheart?" Well, guess what; I know enough about that movie to know it's not something I will be blown away by. There are thousands of other movies I am more interested in watching that haven't made as much money as Braveheart has.
I don't know exactly what Braveheart has to do with superhero movies, but yeah, it's not too great, so you aren't missing out on anything. Otherwise, I agree with you. I have a friend who is obsessed with superhero movies, and he draged me to go see Watchmen, and it was quite poor. I also had to see Dark Knight because of all the freaking hype, but otherwise, X-men, Spiderman and Superman don't interest me at all.
SvarSlettYeah, The Braveheart comment was a sidetrack, just to illustrate that big-budget event movies are rarely worth the trip, and it creates an illusion that you have to see a certain movie just because everybody else has.
SvarSlettWhat did you think of The Dark Knight?
I do agree with you, although there actually are some really good big-budget films worth watching, but most of them are just cash machines. Somehow, though, I don't feel Braveheart was a cash machine, not in the classical sense anyway, but it is still a poor film.
SvarSlettI actually wrote a review on The Dark Knight which you can read, it was the last review posted in 2008.