American Cinema: Classic Hollywood Today (1995)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The final episode in this 13-part series is a round table discussion with filmmakers Whit Stillman, Paul Schrader, James Toback and Joan Micklin Silver. The discussion pretty much goes from where Hollywood was in the 30s and where it's at today. The moderator really doesn't do a very good job with the discussion and keeping it on target because everything pretty much jumps around. At one point they're talking about what independent films are and then we jump to what Hollywood was doing in the 1930s. We also cover topics like why Hollywood won't touch dangerous subjects and as Schrader rightfully says it's because they're a business meant to make money. There's also some talk about "risky" projects like PHILADELPHIA and if these would lead to more movies like that. I think time has proved that Hollywood still hasn't jump onto the "lets take chances" mode. Overall this is a fair discussion but one wishes it was more on target and didn't jump all over the place so much. At just 27-minutes by the time it's over with all the topics have had such limited detail on them that you really do feel as if you haven't learned a thing.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The final episode in this 13-part series is a round table discussion with filmmakers Whit Stillman, Paul Schrader, James Toback and Joan Micklin Silver. The discussion pretty much goes from where Hollywood was in the 30s and where it's at today. The moderator really doesn't do a very good job with the discussion and keeping it on target because everything pretty much jumps around. At one point they're talking about what independent films are and then we jump to what Hollywood was doing in the 1930s. We also cover topics like why Hollywood won't touch dangerous subjects and as Schrader rightfully says it's because they're a business meant to make money. There's also some talk about "risky" projects like PHILADELPHIA and if these would lead to more movies like that. I think time has proved that Hollywood still hasn't jump onto the "lets take chances" mode. Overall this is a fair discussion but one wishes it was more on target and didn't jump all over the place so much. At just 27-minutes by the time it's over with all the topics have had such limited detail on them that you really do feel as if you haven't learned a thing.