Whats your take on the state of modern movies?
And its DVD that perhaps has made cinemas look for different ways of distinguishing themselves?
It turns out to be another revenue stream.
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As far as DVD making cinemas behaving badly, I dont think thats the case.
And the cinemas that dont will have a problem.
As far as 3D is concerned, thats clearly a response to the home viewing market.
And what they wanted to do is create something that said you have to go back to the cinema.
The mistake is thinking that the thing that gets people into the cinema is stereoscopy, or smell-o-vision.
Thats not the solution to the problem.
The thing that gets people back into the cinema is proper projection and ushers.
They dont say its because the seats arent wired up to vibrate.
They say theyve got fed up of the cinema experience being so bad.
And lets start by saying that all cinemas should have a trained projectionist on hand at all times.
Thats not happened as a result of DVD.
But 3D happened as a result of piracy and home viewing.
The problem isnt DVD.
Its cinemas forgetting what constitutes a theatrical performance.
And stereo sound, too.
Those being the big innovations, surround sound too, to some extent.
But actually cinema kind of settled on that, and said thats what cinema looks like.
And theres a reason why that formula works.
Theres a reason why cinema didnt make the leap into 3D.
And it was that 3D isnt the next dimension.
What do you think cinema needs the most?
Is it ushers, or projectionists?
The decline of the projectionist is, for me, talismanic.
Its at the very heart of what went wrong.
I said that the projectionist should have looked out and fixed it.
Weve now got directors writing to projectionists too, of course.
Weve gone to great trouble to get the historical accuracy of the costumes right.
Thats, actually, indicative of what happened.
There was a very funny response to that Michael Bay letter, written, allegedly, by a projectionist.
That was more interesting.
The thing is, the dialogue between filmmakers and projectionists is ongoing.
But you cant take projectionists out of the equation.
Digital projection itself is not the problem.
The problem is imagining you might do it without having craftsman there to do it properly.
Digital projection requires craftsmen, just like celluloid projection.
You raise the example ofSevenin the book, when a digital version was closer to what David Fincher intended.
Yeah, on DVD, yeah.
Now, it seems that a middle ground has developed.
And theyre getting to do things, because they know how to spend and stretch money a lot better.
People like Duncan Jones.
Sure, sure.Source Code…
In terms ofSkyline, I thought it was an in interesting case.
Actually, I dont thinkSkylineis rotten.
I didnt think it was very good… We did the Shetland Film Festival, and we showedMonsters, and I watched it again, projected.
That movie is astonishing.
What he did with that money.
The funny thing was, people originally talked about the great video revolution.
Nowadays, people are demonstrating that you’re free to go out and make a movie…
I dont know if youve seen any of the trailers forIron Sky.
Iron Skyis one of these things thats been bubbling under for ages.
The story is that in 1945, Nazis went to the moon.
In 2012, theyre coming back.
But the way they started off is that they made a trailer for it on their home computers.
And you look at it, and you go, Thats unbelievable.
These guys knocked this up on their home computer, and it looks really good.
It looks likeMars Attacks!
Maybe things are changing.
I think the breadth of stuff fromWaltz With Bashir,right through toHow To Train Your Dragon… RangoIve got an awful lot of time for.
The best 3D film of the year.
Yes, and its 2D isnt it?
I mean, I thinkChico And Ritais wonderful.
We showed that again at the Shetland Film Festival, and its just breathtaking.
The idea of an animation documentary, which people couldnt get their head around… it was really beautiful.
Whats the name of that Belgian film, a really crazy, anarchic little film, with toy figures?
A Town Called Panic?
I agree with you.
There were the famous stories about people going through studios and turning off the lightboxes.
Thats how it works.
The distinction doesnt exist any more.
And its diverse, and splendid.
If only the rest of cinema could have that kind of level of success.
Really, really great.
Would you concur with that?
And Im not trying to say in the book that movies are getting worse.
Ive kind of been misrepresented there, as I dont think thats the case at all.
And it pretty much evens out.
The argument that we all heard was, look, you cant complain about these movies being stupid.
Thats what theyre there for.
And as a critic, I heard it so many times.
Oh, youre just bringing highbrow critical criteria to bear on movies that dont warrant it.
There are such things as good, expensive blockbusters, and bad, expensive blockbusters.
Its patently not the case.
But already this year, who knew Id love a documentary about motor racing [Senna]?
Which is the thing youre always told when reviewingPirates Of The Caribbean 3: its stupid.
Yeah, its a blockbuster, but thats not an answer.
These films didnt happen becauseInceptionwas successful.
People around the same time just said you know, actually maybe theres another way of doing this.
And the market just swung back the other way.
I think thats true.
I think things are getting better.
Even films that people werent expecting much of have worked.Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes,for example.
I think thats the only thing lacking this year.
Thats always been the case.
And then, what they did was they released theMadame Butterflyending in Japan, where it did really well.
Did you like him?
Did you like that?
The funny thing is we now take [changed endings] for granted.
And I remember writing that story in the late 80s/early 90s, and people going, youre kidding?
Is that really how it works?
Because for a start, the movie with the Kill the bitch ending doesnt make any sense.
Before, it was considered to be a little bit not quite right.
We all accept now that movies are preview screened.
We now accept that the version ofThe Wolfmanthat appeared on the Internet wasnt the finished version.
And, although I havent seen it, it looks potentially much more interesting.
But at least hes as good as his word.
Hes worth more than that.
And I suspect he would say the same thing himself.
Were not saying it because were terrible, over-privileged, whingy critics.
According to your book, 97% of people dont trust you anyway!
[Laughs] Exactly.
And I think what hes doing withRed Stateis interesting.
And actually, one of the examples of that isTitanic.
I dont likeTitanic, but you cant deny that a lot of people really do likeTitanic.
And that doesnt look like a film that was made by committee.
I do believe that James Cameron believes that to be the best movie possible.
I dont think thatTitanicwas dumbed down for anyone.
I think its dumb, but I dont think it was dumbed down.Pearl Harborwas dumbed down.
At the moment, its only the two.
I do plan to write more, and Ive started the next one already.
Any hints on what it is?
Ill tell you once Ive finished writing the first chapter!
Im slightly superstitious about it.
Its Michael Bays biography isnt it?
[Laughs] Yes, thats right!
But remember this: Michael Bay might make a good film.
You have to believe in the possibility of it.
I quite like one or two of his films.
But you have to be open minded about the fact that it might happen.
Look, Guy Ritchie madeSherlock Holmes.Who knew?
Who knew, genuinely?
Mark Kermode, thank you very much!
The Good, The Bad And The Multiplexis out now, and is published by Random House.
