5 Awesome Emerging Cinema Trends and 5 That Suck

4. Sucks - "Insert Holiday Here" Movies

Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve are basically the same exact movie, with the same exact recipe: gather a ridiculously large ensemble cast together (the more recognizable faces on the poster, the better), pick a random holiday that people celebrate with loved ones, chose a bunch of simple stories that don't have enough strength on their own to warrant a feature, combine in a blender and hit frappe under the romantic comedy setting (you could even lump He's Just Not That Into You, and What to Expect When You're Expecting in with this type of movie.) They can afford the huge cast because they each only have to work like 3 or 4 days to shoot their entire piece. This is how Taylor Lautner and Robert DeNiro appear in the same movie - at least I think they were in the same one - it's hard to remember the details of such dross. Either way, it's 100% emblematic of a "paycheck movie" - where the actor is only there to collect money, not to stretch themselves as an actor. If you ask me, that's the worst thing an actor can do, and the audience is the one that has to suffer these unjust outrages. Long gone are the days when Robert Altman showed everyone what a true ensemble film looked like; seriously - go watch Nashville, or even better, Shortcuts, to see what a great filmmaker can do with an ensemble. Paul Thomas Anderson did his best to keep this tradition alive with Boogie Nights and Magnolia, with great success, but he's into a different phase of his career now. Christopher Guest and company are the closest to Altman's style with, Best in Show etc, but those ensembles are largely improvised and are cast with lesser known names (at least compared to the movies mentioned in the previous paragraph). Soon enough, if this trend continues, you'll be able to fill a whole shelf with these types of films, (hopefully just gathering dust) - I can see it now: a holiday for every month: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Watermelon Day (August sucks for big holidays, but Watermelons are awesome), Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. Ugh.