La fabuleuse aventure du cinéma américain

I expected explanations and how Kurosawa and other foreign directors influenced Hollywood movies but we mostly got list of movies from that era which we already knew. Movies that were significant for black culture were the only thing that were explained well. No Kurosawa no Fellini no Goddard no Ozu no Bergman and Tarkovsky... I loved when Edgar Wright and PTA were talking but that's about it.

1/3 (at most) of each episode dives shallowly into timeless movies of the decade. 1/3 focuses on movies that have political undertones and slants it towards our political enviornment of the last few years. Finally, any movie that fills the emptiness of the current new social movements.

This series brings you down after every episode.

It starts so well, until it rushes through movies that need to be talked about, to talk about some random film never heard of. The way they skip back and fourth through years skipping 9 yrs froward then 9 years back seems to damage what that decade did in Cinema and the 2000 taken over promoting the same bad films Oscar's did. If anything shows not much hope for cinema going forward. Tried to please too many people but missed so many movies and including cartoons like Pixard shows the program has no credibility. This could and should include movies in categories, Action, comedy etc. They could then do cartoons if they must. All you see today is directors controlled by studios and political pandering and lots of angry people wishing they re-shoot the failed movies rushed in to cinemas and studios trying to remake movies without a clue as to why the movie was a hit.

As with most of the CNN-produced mini-series in this ilk, if you are watching for deep, original revelations about the subject matter then you might be a little disappointed. That isn't the way that CNN operates. Instead, this is more like people sitting around talking about their favorite movies, completely with incredibly high production value graphics and clips.

Basically covering a decade per episode (the 1930s-50s are sort of smooshed together in one), "The Movies" looks at the trends of each ten-year span through a variety of lenses. The "big ones" are always covered, but perspectives are also given each episode on women, minority, and independent-led films. As such, it leads to a pretty well-rounded discussion for such a surface-level show.

Of course, as I said, there are really no "deep dives" here. This is meant to capture the eye of casual, all-age viewers sitting around on a Sunday night, not jump-start huge philosophical or in-depth discussions.

So, your enjoyment of "The Movies" will likely depend on what you are looking for. If you don't mind--like me--just sitting back and watches clips & brief commentary on your favorite flicks, you'll burn through this in no time! If you want more nuanced content, you may want to look elsewhere.

Where is european cinematography? Where are Jarmusch, Lynch? Where "Godfather"?