Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ask Johnny, a biweekly forum for curious moviegoers who want to know anything (within reason) about movies. This is your chance to find out the name of that movie you saw over the weekend, why Hollywood acts the way it does and why do I review movies. It’s anything you want. If you have a question, just send an email to [email protected]. Please do not send comments – positive or negative – about any review that runs in the paper; just send your questions and marriage proposals please.
Why does Hollywood keep making so many Freddy Krueger movies? – Cameron
It’s all about the marketplace Cameron. Hollywood wholeheartedly believes that old “Field of Dreams” chestnut that says if you build it they will come, and when audiences flock to a movie en masse the first thought is to give it a sequel. The recent success of the recent “Freddy vs. Jason” movies ($80 million and counting) practically ensures that there will be another one, mainly because Hollywood executives think that initial monetary success means immediate audience loyalty (which is hardly the case – no one wanted to see “Tomb Raider 2” after all.) It also helps that these kinds of horror movies are often cheap and easy to make (which goes a long to explain why they are as slapdash as they are ubiquitous.)
What’s your favorite movie? – Ferron
Wow, Ferron, thanks for giving me such a hard question right off the bat. Since there are literally thousands of movies existing in some form since the advent of cinema, it would take me eons just to parse the list down to one singular achievement. At the risk of losing my license in the movie critic’s club, I’ll have to say the movie that brings me the most joy when seeing it has to be “Tremors” the 1990 Kevin Bacon homage to 50s giant monster flicks, about very large, very carnivorous worms living under the Nevada desert. It isn’t great moviemaking, but it does exactly what a movie should do and make you forget about everything except the movie itself.
Johnny Donaldson is a Collegian columnist.
