Last week I wrote about how negativity is permeating through the culture of film going. This week I want to talk about one specific part that of that negativity: plot holes.

It seems that one major way the negativity in movie discussions manifests itself is through plot holes. If you look at a website like Cracked.com, many of their movie related articles are centered around plot holes. I’m not claiming Cracked is solely responsible leading the charge in conversations about plot holes. It’s just that the discussions about plot holes are definitely part of our collective conscious now. (Not that plot holes weren’t discussed in the past, but there has been a marked increase in it.)

Plot holes are definitely frustrating to deal with as a viewer. You want to get immersed into a fictional world but are continually drawn out by lazy and/or incompetent filmmaking. I’m not saying you should just accept plot holes. It’s not fun when you encounter one.

However, there is a certain type of discussion about plot holes that really, really, really bothers me.

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I recently got into a light-hearted disagreement about whether Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol was a good movie. I was the lone person defending the movie as good, while a couple other people declared the movie to be quite bad. At the end of the conversation, neither myself nor the others’ opinion had changed. I still like M:I GP; they don’t.

What I got out the conversation was a sense that I like more movies than most people. I’m not claiming I like watching movies more than most people. I’m claiming that from the quantity of movies I’ve seen, the percentage of those that I like is higher than an average person.

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In light of recent news about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot or the Robocop reboot, I feel that I should re-emphasize my point about expectations and movie going.

If you haven’t heard, there’s a bit of hubbub about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot coming out next year. Turns out that the filmmakers are altering the story of the turtles so they have alien origins. Many, many, many people have taken issue to this. The response has been vitriolic and quite nasty to the filmmakers. This is partially because Michael Bay’s production company, Platinum Dunes, is producing the film. Another big reason for the outrage is that the TMNT franchise is very dear to the 20 somethings of today. For many of us, it was the first big pop culture obsession and movement in our lives.

I’ll admit that I’m a little leery about this news, but I think everyone should relax and just wait for the movie to come out before bashing it. This is because There hasn’t actually been any concrete description of how aliens are exactly going to factor in to the story. Many people have written nasty op-ed pieces and angry internet comments about this reboot without knowing one iota of the real story. They’ve latched onto this one piece of information that has been released about the movie without knowing any further context.

The director, Jonathan Liebesman, released a statement that the ooze the turtles come in contact with is of alien nature. So perhaps this ooze is collected by scientists and then four turtles are exposed to it. That’s not that big of a change. It’s really just changing the origin of the ooze, not the turtles.

The reaction so far to this TMNT reboot has been particularly damaging — not to the filmmaker’s, but to the fans. This reaction is immensely immature.

All it really shows to Hollywood is that what we really want is the same thing rehashed over and over again. Obviously this isn’t the case. People nowadays have major gripes with the filmmaking industry for constantly rehashing old material instead of coming up with something new.

But when you angrily declare the filmmakers are “raping your childhood” by not sticking to the source material 100%, you are just sending the message that you don’t want change. It’s saying all you’d really want is for the first movie to be re-released in theaters. And considering the reaction to the Phantom Menace re-release or the Titanic re-release, that’s not something audiences want.

Look. This movie might be bad. It might be good. That’s the point. Until the movie is released, until you watch the movie, you’re never going to know its quality. You have a 50/50 shot at liking a movie until you see it. There’s been great movies that had horrible trailers or starred actors who had less than good reputations. There’s also been bad movies that had amazing premises or a great cast.

Michael Bay’s reaction to the fans was to “Chill out.” That’s not exactly a tactful way to say it, but he’s right. As a TMNT fan, you need to accept that there has been a change. The filmmakers might come up with a brilliant script that really pushes the TMNT franchise into a great direction. They might not. But the hyperbolic reaction to the news of the reboot does not help anyone.

-Harrison

Ghostbusters, along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has a special place in my heart as one of my first pop culture obsessions. I remember I never missed an episode of the cartoon series, The Real Ghostbusters. I owned a legitimate copy of Ghostbusters II on VHS and would watch it religiously. Unfortunately, the only version of the first movie my family had was a poor quality VHS copy. At one point I lost the tape. When I found it again I was in early teens. To my surprise the audio of the movie was abysmal. Turns out all those times I had watch the movie as a child, I was only watching the visuals. This is a long, roundabout way of saying that until the movie came out on DVD, I had no idea how funny it really was.

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As much as I wish I could, I can’t empirically say whether DVD commentaries are still popular or not. I do remember at the onset of DVDs that having a commentary was a major selling point. Most DVD and Blu Ray releases still have commentaries on them, but I get the feeling that it’s more of afterthought than something the filmmakers or studios are passionate about releasing.

Of course, it could be that not every commentary is a good one. It could be that the majority of DVD commentaries are bad. Which brings me to the point of the article. I have a few DVD commentaries that I think are worth your time.

As an aspiring writer, I naturally gravitate towards commentaries that discuss the art of screenwriting. Here are three commentaries that do a good job of that (plus a bonus one).

Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite is the hilarious throwback/spoof of 1970s Blaxplotation movies. The story follows Black Dynamite as he tears through his city to clean up crime. What really sells the movie is the production value. Everything from the script, the clothes, the acting, and the story are all perfectly lifted from the 70s.

The commentary has a great mix of general behind the scenes shop talk. What’s particularly interesting is hearing the writers discuss all the more subtle jokes that test audiences missed. It’s also fun to learn about all the different Blaxplotation movies that inspired Black Dynamite.

True Romance

This sprawling crime movie is about two newlyweds as they try to sell some drugs they’ve happened upon in Los Angeles. The movie is jam-packed with notable actors in great roles. Particularly stand out is the tete-a-tete between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper.

Quentin Tarantino wrote the script to True Romance. What makes this a great DVD commentary is A) Tarantino rarely does commentaries. (To date he has not provided a commentary for any movie he has directed.) B) Tarantino goes very in depth about how his initial script had a different act structure than the final film. For anyone interested in writing it’s fascinating to get inside Tarantino’s brain and see why he valued one story structure over the other.

Fight Club

Does Fight Club really need a plot recap? I don’t mean to be glib, but considering the movie’s marketing fiasco in 1999, I think it’s best just to watch the movie cold.

The particular commentary to look out for (there’s four commentary tracks on the special edition DVD) is the one with novel writer Chuck Palahniuk and screenwriter Jim Uhls. The two writers are very respectful of each other’s work. It’s a great listen because it helps the viewer see an inside look at two writers handling the same story for different mediums. There’s a couple of parts where Palahniuk complements Uhls on improving the novel.

Community Season 1

I know this site is called MovieDebaters. However, Community is a show that heavily references movies. Why recommend a TV show on a movie blog? A) Every single episode in the 25 episode first season has commentary on it. That’s almost unheard of. Most shows only have one or two commentaries for an entire season. B) The creator of the show, Dan Harmon, has an unparalleled grasp on his characters. The depth of knowledge and understanding he exhibits is amazing. It’s a great insight into writer’s brain regarding character. Not only that, but just about everything he says can be turned into a lesson for blossoming writers.

Do you have any favorite commentaries? Post them below in the comments.

-Harrison