The leaves are changing, cool crisp breezes greet the day, and the biopics are being released in full force, meaning that fall has now arrived. The past two weeks alone have each brought us two biopics, Sully and Snowden, with the usual slate of historical drama, crime thriller, and bizzare indie films coming down the pipeline in the next few months. However, this round of films seems oddly familar this year, because they are largely reproducions of previous movies from the same actors
Somehow 2016 has become more of a rehashing of previosuly good ideas for Oscar Glory, instead of a forray into more creative ideas. Take the next two Ben Affleck releases as our sample example. In the next few months, The Accountant and Run by Night will be released, both Crime Dramas where Ben Affleck plays a confliced criminal in the midst of a harrowing criminal endeavor. Sounds interesting right? The issue is that Ben Affleck ahs been making these kind of moies since 2010 when he made the hit Heist film, The Town.
Like many actors, Ben Affleck has played into his safe zone for Oscar recognition and he is not the only actor sacrificing artistic potential for the little golden man. Will Sith's run of dramtic films (Seven Pounds, The Pursuit of Happiness) always features him playing some sort of emotionally crippled man on the brink of falling apart but comes together with hardwork for the sake of family. This pattern looks to be extended with the holliday release of his new film, Collateral Beauty.
Even the great Tom Hanks has fallen into this pattern despite being immensely taleted. In recent years, the rolls taken on by one of the greatest actors of his generation ahve become incresingly familiar. Aside from his franchise rolls in Toy Story and Dan Brown movies, Hanks has almost exclusively stuck to biopics about American Heroes, (Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies, Saving Mr. Banks, Sully).
Compare this to the bold and outlandish rolls taken by Hanks in his early career, like the bizzare comedy about human sacrifice known as Joe Vs. the Volcano, or the heartwarming journey of everyone's favorite Ping Pong player, Forrest Gump. There was a clear amount of effort put into the roles without an impending desire to meet an oscar goal. However since winning his oscars and losing the continued race after several well received films in the late 90's and early 2000's, this ambtion has faded.
It's in this familairity that we have come to see the unimagintiave movies that take up our award season. Our leading actors have rejected their roots and acting craft for the sake of creating a movie that plays into the easily digestable for award taste makers. Every campaign we take on agaisnt mainstream Hollywood, especially Oscar's So white, si a result from this continued famialrity that we keep pushing through.
If we want real change in Hollywood and to keep making films that push the boundries of the medium, we must reject high end mediocrity. Let's make the Tom Hanks and Will SMith's of the world take risks if they want the accolades they crave. Perhaps right now, it is up to La La Land and Arrival to make us permote more orignal ideas, however we must stop giving our money to see Tom Hanks dress up as another american hero. Let's make him dress up like soemthing crazy for that third oscar. Lets make them earn it.
