I had been thinking about this before the subject arose with "Dollhouse," so I'll rap about it a bit more. Call me elitist, but I think that there is a difference between good movies (or even "great movies") and those films I would call Art. Yes, this is pure opinion on my part, and as such purely subjective, but I have my reasons for drawing such a distinction.
It has to do with "formulas" and "templates." *Dan Brown* writes using formulas and templates. He even *taught* writing. And he makes a gazillion dollars writing stuff that people think is good. Some probably think it's great. But I doubt that anyone considers it Art. A *great deal* of filmmaking and television is is based on templates. Three acts. X happens in Act One, Y happens in Act Two, and Z happens in Act Three. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again and everybody lives happily ever after. Stranger rides into River City and finds Trouble with a capital "T" there, so the stranger kicks ass, cleans up all the loose karma, and rides off into the sunset. Someone can make a good movie -- or even a great movie -- by following templates. Case in point: Sergio Leone. His schooling as a filmmaker was to watch the films of the masters of his era. He then stole from each of them and put them together into movies of his own, some of which can be truly called great. But were they Art? I don't know. I'm just speculating and expressing personal preference here. But my feeling is that the thing that turns a great movie into Art is *breaking* the templates and fucking with them, not following them. Case in point: Quentin Tarantino. Nothing could *be* more formulaic and template-driven than the tale of a bunch of misfit soldiers who form into an elite band of warriors and do noble things. I mean, we're talkin' "The Wild Bunch," or "The Dirty Dozen," or even "Seven Samurai." The whole idea just *reeks* of cliches. But somehow "Inglorious Basterds" wasn't a cliche. It took all of the formulas and all of the templates and paid homage to them, but them *twisted* them and fucked with them as much as possible. Maybe it's because I'm more than a little twisted myself, but I like that. :-) "Once Upon A Time In The West" might be a great movie, but I don't think it's Art. "Inglorious Basterds," on the other hand, just may be Art.
