It's been a progression since the beginning of the movies. As the silents to the talkies, people mourned the death of cinema. Movies turned to color, and while the masses cheered, purists thought it more of an end than a beginning.

Technicolor, CinemaScope, 3D, computerized effects and editing. Film morphed into digital photography. Film projectors went the way of the videocassette. Home video, once a huge industry, went under in favor of streaming.

Remnants remain of course. Companies still manufacture DVDs and Blu-rays. A few even make new VHS tapes. Black and white movies are made now and then. Some theaters still have oldtime projectors. These have become quaint curiosity pieces.

When I was young everything in the movie industry was perfect. I was in love with it all. We had drive-in theaters, and they played offbeat exploitation you couldn't find anywhere else. Independent indoors theaters were more intimate than any AMC or Regal conglomerate could hope to be. Watching uncut movies on cable seemed miraculous. When VHS became prominent, everything clicked into place.

It was the best of all possible worlds when I was in my mid-twenties. I had a great video store right across the street from my house. Eight screens of indoor movies were within close walking distance. We had one drive-in left. Horror fiction was exploding, and I got my paperbacks at WaldenBooks in the nearby mall.

The old timers complained, of course. Action movies were ridiculous. Horror degraded into cheap slasher movies. Those hippie splatterpunks ruined horror fiction. Angsty teenage movies featuring spoiled suburban brats were everywhere. God, how I loved it. I couldn't care less what the fossils said.

But I started to get older too.

I liked Terminator 2 a lot, but the computer effects rubbed me a little bit wrong. Deep down I thought it was the beginning of the end. The feeling become stronger as I watched Jurassic Park and From Dusk Til Dawn. Computerized imagery was quickly becoming more economical than paying for practical effects.

I still loved those films, but artificiality gradually overtook cinema.

CGI bullet shots, gore, fire, all look phony. I thought Oh Brother, Where Art Thou was another milestone in the wrong direction. I liked the movie a lot, but the entire production seemed pixelated. Too-green grass, the sky looked way too perfect. Movies began to look more like cartoons, or worse, video games, than real life.

Looking back, it seems like I blinked my eyes and everything changed. Home video went south, CGI permeated every aspect of the movies. People began to ask the question: Will we reach a point where actors are no longer even needed?

We've reached a crossroads. AI is rapidly becoming the new reality. It isn't going away, that's for sure. Screenwriters have been on strike for months. Actors and directors are joining in. Hollywood is in turmoil.

There've been crises before. Television changed the landscape of cinema, and the industry had to evolve in order to survice. The advent of VHS did the same thing.

This, this, is something different. Sources claim the execs have said they would love to see writers, actors, directors, makeup artists, technicians, caterers, everything be gone. Just tell AI what to make and wait for it to happen.

I don't think we are quite at the point for it to happen. Yet. What about in three years? Five? Ten? I'm not optimistic about the future of the movies.

Many won't care. I think most people who read these words give a damn, but we are the minority. How many modern individuals sit with their devices in hand, scrolling for their latest dopamine rush from social media, and only pay attention when something exciting comes on the movie screen? I look at the current crop of releases and I see a whole lot of retread plots.

The only answer I have lies in the past. There are thousands of movies I still need to see, or to re-watch. I don't want to give a penny to the greedy, cheap streaming companies.

It's why I continue to stockpile DVDs and Blu-rays. I buy as many as I can, and I plan to keep a lot of them. Others I will pass along to fellow movie lovers. The cream of America's movie crop. I do so at minimal profit.

I also contribute to the wonderful people bringing classic, and not-so-classic, pictures out on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. Synapse, Kino, Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow, Shout! Factory (oops, now they are Shout! Studios), Criterion, and all the rest. These companies are in the game for the love, the passion, of the movies. They are the ones who deserve our dollars. Not the streamers, who want to faze out the real creative talent in the industry.

Yes, there are exceptions. I know Shudder is a fan's network, and they do it right. The Criterion Channel is well worth investing in.

As for me, I'm down here, hunkered in, my head low. I am watching Madman, The New Kids, Monster on the Campus, Don't Answer the Phone, Tower of Evil, and dozens more relics from days gone by. I'm perfectly content to miss the latest Indiana Jones or Insidious mess.

This isn't going to help the struggling writers and directors, but I sadly feel they are fighting a losing battle. Humanity is being squeezed out of every aspect of our lives. I'm struggling for my own happiness and contentment. I'm not an old man yelling at the cloud. I'm weeping in the rain that's pouring on us all.

Written by Mark Sieber

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