Anyone that is truly a film buff, be it an amateur or someone who is a professional are constantly complaining about the state of Hollywood. Too many remakes, too many sequels, too many soulless horror movies and the list goes on. Yet, I feel there’s a new problem today: It seems like every movie now is some graphic novel being made for the big screen. And I know a lot of people will take offense to this and ignore what I am writing. But I feel like ever since Batman Begins, every comic book or graphic novel that the studios can get their hands on are being made into a movie. Now, I do agree that this trend is not nearly as soul sucking as shitty remakes and bloated sequels but, see, I’m not that into comic books and graphic novels. I’ve read a few and I enjoyed them. I loved both of Nolan’s Batman films, I thought Iron Man was spectacular and I’m a fan of the first two Spider-Man flicks. But for me, I am not waiting the next great superhero or graphic novel film. And so for a guy like me, this trend is flooding the market just as badly as those other god awful trends.
Sure, V for Vendetta was a pretty kick ass movie, but how many more similar movies can we have? Doesn’t anyone realize that putting out whatever they can get their hands on will just ruin everything? Hollywood has always exploited something until it’s bled dry and with Batman Begins they saw a new opportunity. For me, I want to see some original scripts being made into films. Between all the newly adapted graphic novels, franchises, sequels, blockbusters and remakes there’s barely any room for a good, original story. And when there is, there’s still a lot of crap to cut through. Sure I thought Juno was ok, but I do not believe that it deserved all that credit. There were way better indie films last year and yet, that one was pushed the hardest.
I don’t know if I’m making sense, but the bottom line is that I’m sick of hearing about the latest graphic novel that is being adapted and every fanboy doing backflips. I was excited when Sin City came out, but now I’m just bored with it and watch as a true filmmaker like Charlie Kaufman gets pushed into the background as people would rather ask when Batman 3 comes out rather than really delve deep into a film that deserves 100% of our brains. I’m not saying you must like a Kaufman flick over a superhero movie, everyone has opinions, but this year I just feel like the film business is mostly about comics and that’s not my bag. Am I the only one out there who is sick of super heroes?