From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ... In an article titled "In a losing race with the zeitgeist" that appears in today's Los Angeles Times, film business reporter Bruce Goldstein writes, "New technology is also accelerating word of mouth. Thanks to instant messaging and BlackBerries, bad buzz about a bad movie hits the streets fast enough to stop suckers from lining up to see a new stinker. Even worse, the people who run studios are living in such cocoons that they've become wildly out of touch with reality."
Interesting article, but like others I've seen on the same topic lately, it doesn't seem clear in identifying whether the industry's woes are due mainly to confusion over distribution -- theaters vs. DVDs -- or to the fact that so many movies stink. I think Goldstein should have focused more on the point that he raises: "It's become cool to dismiss movies as awful. Wherever I go, teenagers say, with chillingly casual adolescent contempt, that movies suck and cost too much." (BTW, it seems even the least promising genres have occasional gems. E.g., I recently saw "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," clearly targeted to the teen gross-out market, and found it very clever and funny.) Carl
