But when wasn't this true? That's my point.
What the author completely fails to demonstrate is that this is some kind of change from the way films used to be. In short, he's "faking" the argument, by making some sweeping generalizations but not provided any justification for them.
Instead, they rip off the car chase stuff from Bullitt and French Connection.
No, the bad moviemakers rip off the car chase stuff from Buillitt and French Connection. Yet again you're comparing bad movies of today with good films of yesteryear. I have yet to see one fair comparison.
They have an explosion scene.
Yup, Saving Private Ryan had an "explosion scene" (Normandy). How derivative....
When they are thru, you have a big-name big-cost movie that is really just a string of scenes and no real pretense of a movie. That is a fake.
No, it's a schlocky, bad, movie. It's not a "fake". It's still a movie, isn't it? Just not a very good one. And?
Are you under the impression that bad movies didn't exist however many years ago?
Did producers make fake and crap before, in the 50's and 60's for example.
Heck yeah. You really don't think so?
The point is that we simply don't remember the bad crappy derivative stuff which was put out in the 50s and 60s, because it was (drumroll) bad. That doesn't mean that all the movies that came out between 1950-1969 were of the quality of North by Northwest. Ever seen those "beach" movies with Annette Funicello? Give me a break.