The Learning Curve

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

- Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) Ratatouille (2007)

I've been garnering a lot of approval of my positive review of Drive and my negative review of Yogi Bear. However, I've also gained highly negative criticism for my positive review of Footloose. This is not to say people can't enjoy one film and not another. This is America, the land of opportunity. Anybody can say whatever they want about a film they enjoy or don't enjoy.

I can't change my opinion of Footloose. It is a highly entertaining, wonderfully charming and all-in-all sweet film. Many, including film fans that I have deep respect for, have flat-out told me that Craig Brewer should not have wasted his time on this "stupid remake of that $#*!ty-ass '80s movie". Others have said:

"He has NO valid artistic reason for doing this!"

"If you think Footloose is a good movie, then I think drug testing is in order."

"Here's how much [I] want to see Footloose..... ZERO."

"Why anyone would want to remake a piece of tripe like Footloose is beyond me!"

I would imagine you get the point. If Footloose was as painful-looking as Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star, I would gladly join them. But enough care and time was given to it by Craig Brewer to elevate it beyond the simple title of "unwanted remake". It includes a lot of warmth and love to soften even the hardest critic's heart, if they are legitimately open to it and not let cynicism rule their lives. Filmmakers often get too much anger over their projects and when they come out to explain their choices, fanboys often rip them to shreds and want to string them up by the celluloid strips of their most-hated films.

As I've said before, Steven Spielberg received a lot of anger and hatred from displeased fanboys over elements (and to some, the whole) of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg did his best to douse the flames by proclaiming that the Blu-Ray of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial would only include the original 1982 version of the film and not the 2002 Anniversary Edition featuring digitized walkie-talkies replacing shotguns. And now, Spielberg has finally answered the damning 2008-era critics.

"I'm very happy with the movie. I always have been... I sympathise with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in - even if I don't believe in it - I'm going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it. I'll add my own touches, I'll bring my own cast in, I'll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that."

"Hey, George? George! Watch me invent the troll face!"

Now, granted, I can see how easy it would be for Spielberg in his position to say, "IT WAS ALL GEORGE'S IDEA! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I SWEAR!" Especially when most people are seeing red after the double-whammys of the altered Star Wars Blu-Rays and the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D. I'm sure he's received a damn decent share of death threats (maybe even from people I consider friends).

"Man... I'm standing next to Steven Spielberg. My life has meaning!"

May 22, 2008: When many people claimed their childhood was raped. When their hero was seemingly destroyed across a vast cinematic canvass. Indiana Jones, to them, was dead. The blame game had started. In 2010, during press tours for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Shia LaBeouf was reportedly prodded about his role in Crystal Skull and its derided place in pop culture. LaBeouf was said to have gotten heated over the question and said, "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you’ve made (slop). And I think if you don’t acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you’re promoting a movie. You can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven.... We [Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted….We need to be able to satiate the appetite. I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate. I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball." A year later, during his own press tours for Cowboys & Aliens, Harrison Ford had simply this to say, "I think he was a f*cking idiot. As an actor, I think it's my obligation to support the film without making a complete a** of myself."

So who is really at fault here? Many would scream their heads off saying, "LUCAS!" Others would vehemently say, "SPIELBERG!" Still few would say, "LABEOUF SUCKS," and not even be referring to Crystal Skull (while they beat him up outside a bar). Personally, I don't know why anyone hasn't blamed Jeff Nathanson, specifically by name. Oh wait. Cause he only wrote Crystal Skull, Catch Me If You Can, Rush Hour 2 and 3, The Terminal, Speed 2: Cruise Control and the upcoming Tower Heist (and we all know there's plenty wrong with that movie). Not the best track record ever.

I would like to think Steven Spielberg is one of those rare directors who learns from his mistakes. Take 1941. Yes, 1941. This was after Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was on top of the world. This was his chance to do a real big-budget comedy epic. About the day after Pearl Harbor. Yeah. Though he was smart to make fun of his own movie Jaws in the opening scene, Spielberg was dismayed to see that no one was laughing in a test screening. Although the film was a financial hit, it did not make the same amount of money that Spielberg's previous films made. Spielberg was practically defeated. Until he was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a friend of his who had a new idea for a film that would feature America's version of James Bond. That friend was George Lucas and the movie was Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I would take Spielberg at his word here and trust that he will not lead audiences astray with The Adventures of Tintin. And from all the reviews coming from overseas, it appears that we Americans have quite a treat coming in December. And if you don't like that... hey, you get a drama from Spielberg. War Horse.