The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 809: Bad Movies

How do you define a bad movie? It was a question many people probably asked themselves, just as Matthew was now, sitting in the screening room.

A bad movie isn't necessarily a box office bomb, just as a box office hit isn't necessarily a good film.

Hollywood has never been short on critical duds that become box office sensations, or acclaimed films that earn laughably little.

Matthew had seen his share of bad movies—the kind so awful they defied belief—and he knew all too well that watching one was never an enjoyable experience.

As a film enthusiast with a keen eye for cinema, he had gradually developed a basic rule of thumb for spotting a bad movie.

There were three genres you could almost always bet would be bad before even seeing them, and you'd be right about eighty percent of the time: historical epics, fantasy films, and horror movies.

It wasn't a prejudice, just an observation born from experience; the proportion of truly terrible movies in those fields was simply staggering.

Compared to those, "John Carter" wasn't so terrible. It was undeniably well-crafted; every frame was beautiful, and whether it was the background visuals or the fight sequences, the effects were certainly top-tier for their time.

When it came to special effects, the $250 million production budget had clearly been put to good use.

But Matthew knew that when a major Hollywood blockbuster failed, it wasn't because everything about it was bad. Rather, it was usually fatally flawed in one crucial aspect.Often, a single, glaring problem would leave audiences feeling dissatisfied by the time the credits rolled.

Take "John Carter," for instance. The production values were absolutely superb, but it just wasn't an enjoyable watch. The plot was dated, employing tropes that even Hollywood had long since abandoned. Paired with a pompous and dull narrative, it was the perfect example of a soulless, assembly-line product gone wrong.

Of course, the sheer number of bad movies produced in Hollywood was far greater than most people imagined.

This was especially true of smaller productions.

Hollywood churned out a vast number of bad movies every year, but they usually followed a pattern. They'd have a no-name director and star, perhaps with one or two B- or C-list actors in the lead roles to give it a veneer of legitimacy. The budget would be low, with almost nothing spent on promotion. Science fiction, fantasy, action, and horror were the genres most plagued by these kinds of Hollywood duds.

If you looked closely at the posters, trailers, and stills for these subpar Hollywood films, the difference in quality was usually obvious.

The path these films took was always depressingly consistent: a complete lack of creativity, resulting in something utterly banal and boring.

The truly abysmal Hollywood films rarely made it to theaters worldwide. Even in North America, they were typically critical and commercial failures. A director who made two consecutive films that were neither well-received nor profitable would struggle to find a studio willing to invest in them again.

The director Wolfgang Petersen still hadn't found work after his films "Troy" and "Poseidon" bombed one after the other. Even a famous actor's career could be derailed by starring in too many bad movies—just look at how far Nicolas Cage had fallen, reduced to starring in one low-budget film after another.

There was even a company in Hollywood called "The Asylum" that specialized in producing all kinds of mockbusters. When a studio released "Transformers," they would release "Transmorphers." When "I Am Legend" came out, they put out "I Am Omega." When "10,000 BC" hit theaters, they released "100 Million BC."

The budget for each film rarely exceeded $1 million. Their movies were never released in theaters, going straight to DVD instead. They relied on shoddy production to make a quick buck by piggybacking on the hype of the newly released blockbusters.

Movies like that were pure garbage, completely devoid of substance and offering nothing but deceit.

"John Carter," of course, was not one of those films.

It was just that no one could have predicted that the Oscar-winning Andrew Stanton, one of the core creative minds at Pixar, would create a film like this after stepping away from the animated features he was so brilliant at making.

After watching the film, Matthew found himself admiring James Cameron even more.

Countless people, Matthew included, had called the plot of "Avatar" a simple cliché. But as flawed as James Cameron's storytelling might have been, at least he could tell a simple story. "John Carter," on the other hand, had failed even at that.

It felt more like a tech demo for the latest in Hollywood CGI than an actual movie.

Andrew Stanton really needed to go back to directing animated features instead of dabbling in live-action.

Perhaps live-action and animation truly were two completely different worlds.

The screening ended to a round of enthusiastic applause, and Matthew, along with the other guests, made his way to the front row where the cast and crew were seated to offer his congratulations.

"A beautifully made film," Matthew remarked, shaking Andrew Stanton's hand.

He could hardly tell him the film wasn't very good, could he?

Saying nothing more, Matthew shook hands with Brad Pitt, then moved on to Natalie Portman.

"So, what's it like being a princess on Mars, Nat?" Matthew asked with a wry smile. "Must be a unique feeling."

Natalie Portman smiled back. "This will be my last big commercial production," she replied.

She knew all about the reactions from the early screenings; returning to independent, character-driven films was her only viable path forward.

Matthew nodded at her. "Well, I hope you get what you're wishing for."

Natalie Portman knew he was referring to "Black Swan" and her Oscar hopes. She gave him a confident smile. "Thanks."

Her energy had long since shifted to "Black Swan." It was her best shot at reaching the next level.

"Black Swan" had already wrapped production and even held two early screenings for critics, both of which had been extremely well-received.

This had bolstered her confidence, and she was already using the situation to formulate a more solid plan for her Oscar campaign.