MOVIES : The Age of Insolence

Kalle Matso and Scott White, both 26, have been film critics for the Beach Reporter, a weekly newspaper, since August, 1992. In their column, “The Reel Deal,” they chat back and forth about their opinions of the movies they’re reviewing--sort of a Siskel & Ebert for the twentysomething set--though they would like it to be pointed out that they have not been to film school and don’t profess to know more about movies than anyone else. Today’s topic is the current debate raging through Hollywood: Are Generation X movie- g oers, weaned on MTV and Nike ads, physically addicted to films that are long on style and short on substance, and are studios pandering to them? And if so, does anybody care?

Kalle Matso: You know, people are always saying, “They don’t make movies like they used to.” My take on that is . . . duh. The technology has completely changed, and so has the audience. The real issue is are we hitting new lows in entertainment or reaching new highs?

Scott White: New lows. No doubt about it. As a self-loathing member of the much ballyhooed Generation X, I’m a testament to the negative effects of too much Diet Coke, MTV and Sega Genesis. If I go just one day without some kaleidoscopic visual input, my mother has to call the family internist.

Matso: Well, look, that’s life. It’s a cosmic law that everything gets faster and faster, and that applies to movies as well.

White: I know what the trends are, but because big studios target my demographic, great movies--like “The Godfather” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”--are fewer and farther between.

Matso: It sounds to me like you have some kind of sick fascination with the ‘70s.

White: Oh, I can name some great modern movies. “Dances With Wolves” and “The Remains of the Day” are both fine films. My point is that the movie industry mirrors the times, and right now we are in an age where Howard Stern and Jerry Seinfeld top the nonfiction bestseller list, and there’s more interest in who will replace Chevy Chase than there is in the fact that Roger Clinton has unlimited access to the White House.

Matso: That’s such a reactionary viewpoint. Every age decries the values of the younger generation. My father and his buddies were called “juvenile delinquents” for wearing red jackets after they saw “Rebel Without a Cause.” I was labeled “not quite right” when, after seeing “Batman,” I took to wearing a utility belt. What’s the difference?

White: The difference is in the degree. Now, even people’s reactions to movies are dumber and more self-destructive. Look at all these dolts daring cars to run them over after seeing it done in “The Program.” I’d be very surprised if your dad or any of his buddies ever saw “The Grapes of Wrath” and thought it would be pretty cool to become oppressed migrant workers.

Matso: So would I, but Generation X doesn’t have a monopoly on stupid audiences or stupid films. People talk wistfully about the era that produced “The Graduate” and forget that, right next door, Jane Fonda and a guy with wings were going at it on the set of “Barbarella.”

White: But if they remade “Barbarella” with THX sound and Industrial Light and Magic special effects, it would probably be a serious contender for a People’s Choice Award. With computer-generated animation, MTV-style camera work and a soundtrack by a couple of Seattle bands, they could make a PG-13 blockbuster based on the last days of Dylan Thomas. Most of the big movies of this age (“Star Wars,” “Terminator,” “Jurassic Park”), sans technological advancements, would have been B-movies 20 years ago.

Matso: Great. I’m debating movies with one of the Monkey Wrench Gang. Look, you’re never going to stop the progression of technology, and there’s no reason to try unless you’re a Pennsylvania Mennonite. More sophisticated movie-making techniques make for more sophisticated entertainment. Just be thankful that “Jurassic Park” was an amazingly realistic foray into the prehistoric era rather than 120 minutes of “The Land of the Lost.”

White: But it’s all technique now. “Jurassic Park” was impressive, but anything cerebral in the film was completely overshadowed by the highly provocative scene in which Laura Dern plunges her hands into a big pile of dinosaur doo-doo.

Matso: I disagree. I came out of “Jurassic Park” asking myself lots of questions. How much do I really know about genetic engineering? Where do we draw the line between manipulating nature and playing God? Does Jeff Goldblum’s chaos theory have any effect on keno?

White: I don’t know. “Jurassic Park” might have inspired spirited discourse on the moral implications of cloning in Newsweek and Scientific American, but over at the Mann 6, the debate centered squarely on who would win in a fight: T. rex or Carl (The Truth) Williams.

Matso: Look, I think you’re searching for subtlety in all the wrong places. You should see one less flick a week and squeeze in a visit to the Getty Museum. Great movies that completely lack intellectual qualities are a staple of Hollywood filmmaking. Check out “Jaws,” “Star Wars” and “Ghostbusters,” great films mostly devoid of social commentary, unless you count the thematic motif in all three films--that, in the end, evil will always get blown up.

White: But we’ve let fast and flashy movies--like all three “Back to the Futures”--define our theater experiences. We don’t want movies to pose questions any more profound than “would going back in time and being able to predict future events help me meet babes?”

Matso: Challenging intellectual concepts are all well and good, but I can’t tell you how stoked I was as a 14-year-old watching “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to forget, for at least two hours, that I was wearing headgear for my braces. I don’t think there’s any reason to apologize for creating good escapism.

White: The problem is that escapism is no longer a means to an end but an end in itself. At least past generations had a reason to escape; they were living under the threat of nuclear Armageddon. What are we worried about--the future of GATT?

Matso: C’mon. It doesn’t take much for people to feel the need to escape. In fact, sometimes I need to escape from bad entertainment. It was absolutely essential for me to re-rent my favorite movie, “Witness,” after sitting through four hours of the Rose Parade.

White: I just think that our generation has defined itself by its ability to find various ways of avoiding responsibility. In their middle 20s, our parents went to John Wayne films to forget about house payments. I spend endless hours in coffee shops wondering why my mother insists on charging me a token rent.

Matso: Generation X doesn’t avoid responsibility. I think we forget about it because today’s entertainment is so good. I used to do small chores during television ads; now I stay put for fear of missing a new Miller Lite commercial.

White: I don’t think entertainment is any better, just more ubiquitous, so that we actually get shocked if there’s nothing captivating on the tube. In the past, if there was nothing good on TV, people would converse or read. Now, if all 50-plus channels fail, people panic and beeline to a video outlet, hoping that at least one of the “Police Academy” movies will still be available.

Matso: We do have more entertainment options than any generation before us. I mean, I’ve been planning to buy a chess set for a while, but I figure why not wait until it comes out on virtual reality?

White: Your fascination with flash is exactly what I’m talking about, and it’s reflected in the movies that Hollywood pumps out. Most Generation X moviegoers are hooked on fast-paced flicks and consider anything else a bad substitute. Of course, these are the movies that make the big bucks, which explains why George Lucas is poised to displace Italy in the Group of Seven while the maker of “The Wedding Banquet” can be seen holding a sign that says, “Will direct for food.”

Matso: What are you telling me--that soon it will be impossible to find movies that are out of the mainstream?

White: No, but there are a lot of us who love the medium of film and want desperately to kick the pulp habit, and it just seems that there are fewer and fewer movies that allow us to “go on the wagon” every once in a while.

Matso: That I can agree with. There aren’t enough movies made these days that explore the middle ground between compelling visuals and intriguing stories. There are some exceptions--”Boyz N the Hood” and “Unforgiven,” to name a couple--but mostly the movie listings consist of “Wayne’s World 2” playing right next to “The Piano.” It’s the restaurant equivalent of offering patrons either a chili dog or escargot.

White: It’s either period pieces or pyrotechnics. I very much liked “The Remains of the Day” but, because my grandmother was unwilling to forgo her aqua therapy, was forced to see it alone. I had difficulty convincing friends my age to spend $7 to watch a sexually repressed British butler for 2 1/2 hours.

Matso: Yeah. I was clearly the youngest person in the theater when I saw “Remains.” And it was the same thing with “The Age of Innocence,” a movie that, in my opinion, was extremely well made but had nothing to offer our generation. I guarantee that virtually no one in the 20th Century can empathize with a character that turns down Michelle Pfeiffer because of social pressures. If people want to get Generation X’ers into more thought-provoking movies, they should pick subjects that are more relevant.

White: What, like the upcoming “Beavis and Butt-head” and “Jerky Boys” projects? If the movie industry completely kowtows to our spiraling standards we’ll end up with “Geraldo: The Movie.” Doesn’t it trouble you that challenging films are made almost exclusively by foreign and independent filmmakers or by directors who have more money than you can shake a stick at?

Matso: Not particularly. I think it’s great that Steven Spielberg made “Schindler’s List,” a very heavy, black-and-white movie about the Holocaust. There’s no way it will generate his usual gross, and I doubt that he’ll be able to make much money on merchandising rights.

White: But only Spielberg can pull off a risky movie like that. He could make a megahit about philately.

Matso: That’s not true. Look at “Flesh and Bone,” for example. Here’s a movie billed as a thriller and yet only has five gunshots in the entire screenplay. It was a tight and deliberately slower-paced film.

White: Which no one saw. If you’re going to make a movie that’s driven more by the characters than by the action, the protagonist has got to do more than restock vending machines and stare cryptically at the open road.

Matso: You’re being a little harsh. “Flesh and Bone” was a good movie.

White: To you, maybe. To me it was a boring version of “The Hitcher.” Still, I hope it encourages producers to sanction movies that aren’t based on television sitcoms and don’t have Roman numerals in the title.

Matso: Need I remind you that “The Godfather II” won an Academy Award for best picture?

White: Need I remind you that “Rocky IV” sucked even more than “The Exorcist III”?

Matso: Look, the bottom line is that you’re worried for no reason. I think people have always had high- and low-road entertainment options.

White: I still think there are fewer and fewer exceptions to what is becoming an ever-hardening rule. Our generation demands films that fit easily into one of three categories: fast-paced, light or maudlin.

Matso: Let me just ask you one last question. Don’t you think twentysomethings’ demand for snappy and wisecracking cinema has also produced some good movies? I mean, in a less frenetic decade, the Coen brothers (“Raising Arizona,” “Miller’s Crossing”) would have been diagnosed with brain fever.

White: Sure. There’s been some good stuff, and, yes, I’m certain that James Cameron’s next movie will be a real joy ride. On the other hand, I’m equally certain that our generation is paying a price for its addiction to flash. Maybe it’s because I have younger brothers who bring up the tail end of Generation X. I know for a fact there is only one way I could get them into an edifying film like “The Remains of the Day.”

Matso: And that is?

White: I’d have to tell them that Merchant and Ivory, while famous for excellent adaptations of literary works, are also renowned for really bitchin’ graphics.