This doesn't seem like it would be very interesting. But from the point of view of trying to understand how things really work (as opposed to the public image) I found it fascinating. Not just the basic storyline of how the movies were financed, but seeing the producers (most of whom clearly have no place in front of a camera, only behind one!), and seeing some details of the big bank scandal which I was vaguely aware of but never knew anything about.
But the biggest insight was seeing why (if you ever noticed this) movies seemed to change in such a way from the 80s to the 2000s. There's not just the rise of sequels and prequels, everyone knows that; but the fact that independents no longer make *big* movies, just these tiny (usually boring, preachy, and predictable as hell) film festival movies, the type of movie you think of as "independent".
In the 80s, Terminator, Cliffhanger, Platoon, Dance with Wolves, Superman were independent movies! But that changed. This documentary explains what that change was, and it's not what you expect. Very much an example of how sometimes contingency, as opposed to "deep structural forces", rules history.
But the biggest insight was seeing why (if you ever noticed this) movies seemed to change in such a way from the 80s to the 2000s. There's not just the rise of sequels and prequels, everyone knows that; but the fact that independents no longer make *big* movies, just these tiny (usually boring, preachy, and predictable as hell) film festival movies, the type of movie you think of as "independent".
In the 80s, Terminator, Cliffhanger, Platoon, Dance with Wolves, Superman were independent movies! But that changed. This documentary explains what that change was, and it's not what you expect. Very much an example of how sometimes contingency, as opposed to "deep structural forces", rules history.
