I caught a video today by Chris Stuckmann on the future of film, at least his take. Now while I disagree with… most of it, but I figure I ought to talk about it because I think it is important, especially to show that people like Chris, who are entirely fanatical about movies, don’t really represent the actual issues facing modern day cinema.

So, there will be a link to the video below the fold if you want to watch it, but let’s get at it.

The video is here, for those interested.

So let me say this first. I used to watch Chris Stuckmann a long time ago. Then, he decided that because he was a budding filmmaker, he wouldn’t actually give honest opinions about movies, he’d just say nice things  because he wanted everyone to think good things about his movies.

Sorry, if you can’t just be honest and call a spade a spade, I’ve got no use for you. I only watched this video because someone pointed it out.

The problem is, because Chris is so adamantly pro-movie, to the point that he just sees movies, not because they’re any  good, but because he thinks he has to “support the industry”, that it’s hard to take anything that he says seriously, at least for me.

One of the points he brought up was “support the theaters!” Sorry, not interested. I don’t go to a particular grocery store because I want to support that store, or the industry. I go because it has something that I want. I think the theater experience, in general, is terrible. Loud, rude people, talking on cell phones, kicking the back of your chair, sticky floors, you name it. I have no interest in that. It is easier for me to sit at home and watch things on my wide-screen TV, where I can start and stop the movie as many times as I want and I don’t have to deal with anyone but my wife and our pets. She agrees with me. It’s why we haven’t been to a theater since 2007 and, with only a few exceptions, will probably never do it again. A friend invited us to go to see the Monty Python and the Holy Grail re-release in December. We might do that, but that’s a real rarity.

So, I don’t go to theaters, pretty much ever. I will buy your DVD or Bluray, if the movie is worth it, but if you choose not to release it on physical media, that’s your fault, not mine. In that instance, I will absolutely and unapologetically pirate it, burn it to disk on my own and have it forever and ever. I’m happy to hand over my money for quality. If you refuse to take it, that’s your problem.

He talks about Marvel movies, which I agree are going straight downhill. I haven’t seen a single Marvel movie since Endgame and, based on the quality that I’ve seen, I have no interest in ever seeing one again. I don’t care about any of the shows on Disney+. I am off of the Marvel train, probably forever. It’s not me that’s changed, it’s them. They are no longer making movies aimed at a mainstream audience. They have an agenda and that has cratered their box office scores. The Marvels had the lowest opening weekend in MCU history and probably deserved it. I don’t know, I’m not going to see it because I have zero interest. The last Marvel Bluray I bought was Endgame. There probably will be no more.

I was just thinking about it and I believe there were only three movies that I bought from 2022, Top Gun: Maverick, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, and Bullet Train. If I’m not mistaken, that was it. So far from 2023, the only movie I will probably pick up is the Mission Impossible movie, but then only to have a complete set. i could be misremembering there too, but I don’t think so. I’d have to go look at my Amazon list.

This is where I think people like Chris Stuckmann have it wrong. Most people are not just “fans of movies”. They are looking for high quality entertainment and there’s painfully little of that coming out of Hollywood these days. I don’t want to support filmmakers, I want to consume good movies. I get to decide what I think is good and what I think is bad. I can look at a movie and decide whether I think I am likely to enjoy that movie or not. In a world with unlimited free time, just seeing endless movies might be an option, but that is not the world that any of us live in. We have to make choices and those choices have been made much easier by Hollywood these days, since they aren’t putting out a lot of good films. The box office shows that clearly.

Yet people like Chris are looking for excuses. It can’t be the quality of the films that’s to blame, it has to be something else. He has a vested interest in the status quo because that’s what he wants to remain.  He’s a fan of the concept, not of the actuality. I only care about the actuality. If Hollywood ceased to exist, I wouldn’t care because I have more media to watch than I could ever get through in a dozen lifetimes. I don’t need more movies. They have to earn my viewership and my viewership dollars.

Most just aren’t.

Here’s something that I’ve noticed of late though, the idea that we’re supposed to “support” things. They don’t have to earn that support, we just do it because… well, hell if I know. I am not going to support Hollywood because I have no vested interest in Hollywood continuing. I don’t care if all of the theaters go out of business. Just because that’s how it’s always been done, that doesn’t mean it will continue that way forever. I don’t care. Now, are there people who are going to get hurt if all of the theaters go under? Probably. Yet I don’t feel any worse for them than I would have for the people making stagecoach wheels, just because reality moved on. It is the job of the individual to make good decisions and see these things coming, and honestly, Hollywood has sucked for so long that it’s hard to imagine every theater owner or employee hasn’t seen this coming from a long way off.

You can say “but I love theaters!” but that  doesn’t mean anything. There’s a difference between loving a thing and recognizing that said thing has a future. When he acted like David Zaslav was some evil dictator who didn’t love movies, that was laughable. His job is to make the company solvent. It is not to be a film fan-boy. The reality is, there are probably too many movies out there. There just don’t need to be so many. They don’t need to cost as much. There needs to be some rationality in Hollywood and at the moment, there isn’t. It’s why the box office looks like it does. Because movie making, whether anyone likes it or not, it’s a business. It’s not art. There can certainly be art in it, but at the end of the day, if it’s not making a profit, then it shouldn’t exist.

There’s a lot in Hollywood these days that shouldn’t exist, not that people like Chris Stuckmann would ever be able to understand that. The whole “but I have a vision!” is absurd. Your vision has to be profitable. If it’s not, then your vision means nothing to anyone but you.

It’s just bizarre how terrible a lot of these people are at reality.