‘Frontline’ Looks at Film Business

After two months of focusing on topics related to the U.S. war on terrorism, the PBS documentary series “Frontline” takes a break tonight to do what millions of Americans have been doing for relief: It goes to the movies.

The report, called “The Monster That Ate Hollywood” (9 p.m. KCET), is a lot like the films it scrutinizes. The visuals are captivating (you can’t go wrong using clips from “Titanic,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Casablanca,” “Jaws,” “Men in Black” and “Chinatown”), but the plot is oh-so-familiar. Hollywood has gone corporate. The blockbuster mentality rules. Movie projects are evaluated not for their artistic merit but for their ability to generate ancillary money from the sale of toys, video games, theme park rides--and sequels.

It’s no accident that most of “Frontline’s” interviews are with print journalists, who’ve covered this story thoroughly for years. But for viewers who haven’t paid attention to these accounts, “Frontline” can serve as a primer on the current state of the movie business, explaining why, as critic Roger Ebert puts it tonight, “if you’re an intelligent adult, and you don’t live in a big city that has an art cinema there’s often no movie for you to go see.”

It’s not terrorism, granted, but for movie lovers, that’s pretty depressing too.