Watching a show named Stardust (2007) and a kiss just a few minutes in was a spectacular kiss. It’d turn any mere mortal into a simping fool.
Made me think… what are some of the best kisses in movie?
I was looking through the top box office releases from the late 90s and 2000s, and the variety is staggering. Back then, a major American studio would happily greenlight a smart adult thriller, an original romantic drama, or a high-concept sci-fi without it needing to be part of a pre-existing multi-film franchise universe. Today, the industry has become completely polarized. A movie is either a $200 million franchise blockbuster greenlit by a corporate committee or a micro-budget indie darling fighting for a single week in a local arthouse theater. By erasing the middle tier, we are starving out our best mid-career writers and directors who need that exact playground to hone their craft. Accountants are running Hollywood instead of creatives, and it shows. What mid-budget classic from the last few decades could never get made in today’s studio system?