The Mainstream & Me

I feel that I am rebellious against today's mainstream culture. I find that I appreciate and enjoy the films of older generations whether it be a mainstream blockbuster or something slightly more abstract. Today however I can easily recognize the unoriginality, corporateness and therefore shallowness of it all. An argument would be that films then were made back then for money purposes as well, but it feels less obvious when you watch them, what with the rampant product placement in movies today. It is possible that things have not changed at all and I just can not recognize the falseness of older films because I was not around then. When I do walk into a cinema however, it is all too obvious and it bothers me constantly - cinemas that make more money on popcorn than the films, around 20 advertisements before the film starts not to mention the trailers and sponsors. My awareness on the subject grew with further research particularly the writings of film critic Mark Kermode, whose views I find very entertaining (going as far to liken Michael Bay to the Anti-Christ).
Being disillusioned with Hollywood says something about my identity and today's society would probably pin me down in a certain sub-culture, most likely an anti-mainstream hipster sort, or just an uptight and pretentious person. This is something I ignore since I am not anti-mainstream by any means. If something  in the mainstream is inspirational or enlightening to me in any way then I will make no attempt to hide my admiration for it. There are a fair few films released every year that I greatly enjoy, for example Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" I thought had some very powerful moments. There is a paradoxical nature to this though - It could be only because of the identification and familiarity I already held with the films characters that I found the film very striking. Say if it had been an original film, something I and others yearn for, then in all honesty, I probably would not have cared all that much about seeing it.
The same thing can be applied with these older films I like so much. By the time I was born, most of these films have become world famous or even enormous franchises, so while you grow up you hear and learn things: characters names, iconic scenes or phrases, elements of the plot (I certainly wasn't shocked when I learnt that Darth Vader was Luke's Father).The problem with my generation is that you never go into a film completely cold...

Here, respected British film critic and theorist Mark Kermode, who is highly critical of the industry today, gives a positive review for Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises". At 11.40 he gives insights into the politics around the film and the industry behind it.