Once upon a time, in a land 2 hours down the M6, in a small town near Burnley, there was a boy, a boy who cherished everything he watched. Going to the cinema was an event, a treat, and everything was fantastic. Some of that enthusiasm for cinema is still there, but an unabashed and wide eyed view of films has been replaced with some cynicism. Why? Well when I began studying film I realised that for every good and bad profitable movie, there were a number of unprofitable ones, some bad but some criminally good. Which leads me to a trailer I watched today. This is due to hit cinemas but what baffles me is how this is getting to a cinema. I just can't believe that some people are given the amazing opportunity to make a film and they create something like this . . .
One comment reads 'we basically just watched the whole movie'. I could not have put it better myself. How are production companies and distributors not aware that this kind of behaviour isn't doing anyone any favours? Films like Inception and The Artist, proved wide audiences have the capacity to think for themselves and understand cinema as visual language. Time and time again multiplexes will put on this trash in favour of something that might actually be good. I know why but can you honestly see this film pulling in the punters? Especially after seeing most of the film in the trailer? Horror has proved time and again that subtlety is the way to a good scare. How can this be coming to our cinemas . . . now? Ok, we had our run of thrillers/horrors back when remakes and conceptual thrillers based around modern society had a brief and not very lucrative run. God remember Cellular?
And Phone Booth which I personally enjoyed. But there they seemed to get the measure right, the story made sense, even if it tore a leaf out of the book of clichés. ATM just looks like the definition of retarded, how the hell do you get trapped in an ATM by Bansky standing out in the middle of a car park?? I guess that may be a selling point. I know for a fact why ATM was made; low budget, conceptual idea, and the murder factor. If I'm at all honest I noticed that one of the popular genres asked about when I worked in retail was thriller or horror. People like to be scared and in all fairness there are hundreds more atrocities out there, but they usually hide their shame and do a straight to dvd release. And rarely do they ever actually scare anyone. I cannot believe that this was written by the guy who wrote the brilliant Buried, a really great thriller that actually had me on the edge of my seat. I can't imagine why any distributor in the UK would even consider putting this car crash of a movie on the big screen. However . . . *breathe* . . . this is all based on the trailer. It gives away nearly all of it's cards, but has saved one crucial thing that will get people interested in seeing it. Who is the guy and why is he doing this? My bet is disgruntled ex-boyfriend, or even better a taxi driver who missed a fare thanks to the douche who gave the girl a ride home. If Buried is anything to go by it will probably try and teach some moral lesson about our reliance on technology and how isolated we can end up. A noble moral, but it looks like the wrong way to slant it in this case.
Needless to say most of youtube seems to agree in their comments. It is pure garbage and looks ridiculous, I might just have to see it to prove a point. I'll eat my words if it's any good, but judging from the reviews I can't see me doing that.
Anyway let me know what you thought.
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