The folks at ReelzChannel know a little something about the power of controversy.

The film-focused network bought the rights to broadcast “The Kennedys” earlier this year, and the consternation over the film’s alleged mistreatment of its source drew plenty of eyeballs to the network.

Now, the cable channel’s newest special looks at some of the most controversial films ever made. Ten, in fact.

The latest installment of “Hollywood’s Top Ten,” airing at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight, counts down films which drew endless bickering around the time of their release. Some still draw heated debates amongst movie lovers today.

“Hollywoood’s Top Ten” executive producer Steve Holzer says the list came from a combination of online viewer voting and consultation with the network’s resident movie gurus, Leonard Maltin and Richard Roeper.

The Top Ten doesn’t include “Birth of a Nation” – “we know it’s a controversial movie for its time,” Holzer says – but the list spans the last 50 years of movie making.

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When we go to a movie, we know we’re watching entertainment, but are we watching art?  Big Hollywood readers should take a look at Abraham Kaplan’s 1966 essay, “The Aesthetics of Popular Art” if they are interested in a set of criteria that distinguishes popular art from what some might call “high art.”

Kaplan’s essay is too detailed to summarize here, but there are a few criteria that crystallize exactly why most films don’t resonate with audiences.  So if you’ve ever wondered why it is that a movie just didn’t do it for you, even if it was entertaining, this may help explain it.

By the way, Kaplan is quick to point out that this is not an exercise in snobbery.  “Popular art” does not necessarily mean “bad art,” and “high art” doesn’t have to be boring and pretentious.

Shape vs. Form

When we watch a movie, we are usually focused on the movie itself, and not on our experience of the movie.  We are interested in outcomes as opposed to the unfolding of events.  We are engaged by curiosity, but not by suspense.  It’s like looking at a sketch of Michelangelo’s David as opposed to beholding the sculpture in all its glory.  We have traced a shape but not experienced a form.  In other words, we don’t have to do any work as a viewer.  It’s all predigested.

Think about the difference between Little Miss Sunshine and Mulholland Dr. I enjoyed the former, curious about how it would end, and let it happen to me.  With the latter, the experience of the mystery unfolding is itself the purpose of the film.  I was engaged entirely by suspense.  We impose ourselves and our perception onto Mulholland Dr., whereas we merely recognize and acknowledge Little Miss Sunshine. (more…)

Over the weekend, I was pondering why the low budget, standard genre pic The Haunting in Connecticut (Lionsgate) has become a nifty little box office hit. The film added almost $9.5M over the weekend for a new 10-day cume of $37M, and the only conclusion I have been able to reach is that it’s all about the poster.

Creepy, right? I have not seen Haunting and will probably wait for DVD or pay cable, but that is a weird, startling, attention-grabbing image. As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own. These are my favorites, buit it is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add your favorites (and subtract any of mine).

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