Happy Birthday, Old Man.

Today is my birthday; I’m 35 years old. 15 years ago some of my friends were about to turn 25, I couldn’t conceive turning 25, it was so old sounding. Now I’m 35 and I’m thinking is half my life over? Maybe not quite, but 70 is a good innings.

But enough of the depressing stuff, it got me thinking about movies, and how the industry has changed. When I was a kid going to the movies was a treat. The same movie would play in the cinema for weeks, so you really only went to the movie occasionally. Renting Videos was rare, as the technology was so darn expensive.

Then, when I was at tech (15 years ago) the multiplex arrived, and you could choose from 10 different movies, withy new ones arriving weekly. You could watch as many movies as your wallet could handle.

Then came the DVD, but the technology was so expensive, people didn’t think it was going to last. But it did, and now I watch about 15 movies a month – that’s more that I watched in an entire year when I was a kid!

Which is probably why we get so many bad movies these days – demand for movies is so intense that movie companies have gotton lazy and know that anything will sale – if not at the movies, then the DVD will make the money.

Fortunately people are starting to get wise and foreign movies are becoming popular, as the realisation sets in; if you want to watch quality movies and an ever increasing pace, you’ll have to look out side of Hollywood occasionally.

And this is a good thing, as you probably have noticed, foreign movies tend to pop up quite often on this blog.

So what does the future hold for movies? If well scripted, story driven movies become more and more popular, people might change how they see movies, and start to slow down, wanting to digest what they have seen rather than gorging them selves silly on Hollywood blockbusters. The multiplexes might close down and comfortable art house cinemas may emerge, with comfort and service being back on the menu.

Who really knows – It’ll take a lot for Hollywood to loose it’s grip on the industry.

But more importantly, it’s my birthday. If you’re feeling generous, I’d love an X-Box 360. Email me if you’re willing to make a donation to the cause!