Mark’s Site
Immediately after the porn review site incident, my friend Mark e-mailed me with a website idea of his own. He e-mailed less about the idea (which he believes is solid) than about the technical background required to create/run a website. I told him, shit, if I can do it, so can he.
But here’s the concept: defending movies that are universally bashed (most often by people who haven’t seen them) and arguing against movies that are universally loved. It struck an immediate chord with me, a closet Hudson Hawk fan who enjoys a great deal of tasteless, lowbrow entertainment that I find contains more substance and artistic merit than many critical darlings. What I’m trying to say is, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is 1000 times better than Juno. The sad thing is, Juno is so bad that that only puts Book of Secrets at “fun but forgettable.”
But beyond my own tastes, it sounded to me like the kind of site that can take off. The Internet has become a magical place where you can find people of similar mind, band together, and take over the world. Or, at least, get movies like Snakes on a Plane released. My most-read and most-commented-on post of all time is my analysis of Juno, 2007’s most overrated movie. It’s only partly because I’m so damn smart and insightful; mainly, it’s sought out by people looking for a comfortable environment to dislike something that’s beloved by all their friends, coworkers, family members, the media at large, etc…
The one hitch I could see is that he, apparently, wants to write all the content himself. That’s fine, and that’s his prerogative, but I think it’s a serious limitation. For instance, he loved Juno, and he’s part of the reason I went to see it. The previous year, he loved Pan’s Labyrinth and was the only reason I went to see it (I hadn’t even heard of it prior to him telling me of its profound emotional effect on him). I’m not saying he has bad taste — these two are probably the only movies where our opinions have differed — but, like I said, his love of those overrated crap factories will limit the success. I didn’t want to be presumptuous and toss my hat in his ring, but I’d gladly volunteer for it if he decided he wanted more writers or a broader perspective.
As I said, I don’t know much about the commercialization of the Web, but he’s a smart guy, a great writer, and this concept could take off. I’ve seen several sites with occasional dissenting-from-mainstream opinions or regular columns devoted to unsuccessful films (Nathan Rabin’s great My Year in Flops column at the A.V. Club is a good example), and I’ve seen sites like the Agony Booth that revel in badness, but I don’t think a site exist that’s solely devoted to defending supposed bad movies.
I’d like to see it succeed. I’m sure I’ll mention its progress in the future.
Posted by Stan on June 20, 2008 5:18 PM | Permalink | Print-Friendly | Friends: Can’t Live with ‘Em | Digg It
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