Hollywood needs a renaissance.

There was a time that the cinema was more than watching two hours of predicable eye candy carefully constructed using a repeatable formula. Just the right amount of danger and a safe amount of tension. The good guy rarely loses despite the fabrication of impossible odds. The instant gratification to choose one of a thousand movies on demand on a small screen at home. The opportunity to dream big and see events as larger than life.

We used to attend cinematic events to escape from the real world, a world full of war, depression, exhaustion, and grim circumstances. Where movie stars were a mystery and the performances heartfelt and captivating. As dated these may be today these were once believable characters and stories that connected with the audience. The 1920s until the early 1960s was a golden age of cinema. Then something shifted, these films became predictable, dated, out of touch with the modern world. At the height of the 1960s counter culture, people wanted to face these issues head on, not just escape from them anymore.

This era ushered in a new wave of modern filmmakers, ones that wanted to take what they saw in the world and bring it to the big screen. Coppola, Scorsese, Kubrick and Friedkin were bringing gritty, realistic stories to the big screen that differed from the polished "safe" formula of the past 40 years. Instead of hearing about the size of the box office receipts, we were part of millions of conversations and discussions interpreting what we watched unfold before us for two hours. Experiences that sat with for days, or even weeks after viewing.

The experience of seeing a story unfold on the big screen revealing much more than the next plot point, rather the nuances of important facial expressions, movements, and subtle tells beyond the reliance of the spoken word or a ten million dollar CGI scene. The characters themselves become larger than life and the experience becomes the ride, instead of another way to fill the void.

Could we find ourselves on the verge of a cinematic renaissance? Where gritty film makers on limited budgets can have free reign and complete control over there stories. Where the big screen becomes the best way to live these moments again? As popular as the CGI fueled mega-blockbusters are, could audiences be hungry for depth and creativity over formula and predictability?

Just like any innovative era, it just takes one to break down the door and once again capture the imagination of film lovers. At the same time, create an entire generation that appreciates quality over formula.