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Saturday, May 01, 2010

Yes, 3-D Sucks

Besides making me want to hurl about 30 minutes in to the film, there are other reasons why 3-D sucks.

3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension. Hollywood's current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience. For some, it is an annoying distraction. For others, it creates nausea and headaches. It is driven largely to sell expensive projection equipment and add a $5 to $7.50 surcharge on already expensive movie tickets.

Combined with a film as horrid as Avatar, and it teeters dangerously close to a capital offense.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

God Damn The Shaky Cam

Oh, how I agree.

You’re not using the Almighty’s name in vain when you mean it. So everybody all together now: God Damn the Shaky-Cam.

Seriously, can’t an action film be produced anymore that doesn’t involve spastic camera work throughout the whole damn flick?

Just saying. 

Friday, August 21, 2009

Hollywood’s Self Imposed Bleed Out

One of my favorite web sites points to some articles concerning some of the problems concerning Hollywood. Part 1 is here, and part 2 is here.

Most telling is;

Exacerbating this issue (and with apologies to friends in the industry) is that most development staff historically possesses neither writing nor storytelling experience. What they have, and what they are mandated to exercise, is an ability to anticipate what their superiors desire. The Hollywood hierarchy is thus reactionary, and not driven to just tell a good story.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Night Before The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life

Earlier, my wife and I watched a splendid film entitled Les Invasions Barbares--in English it translates to The Barbarian Invasions. If you don’t mind reading subtitles, I highly recommend it. One thing that struck me was the stinging indictment the writer/director delivered concerning Canada’s version of socialized health care. The film isn’t about Canada’s socialized health care system, to be sure. But I can’t decide if the filmmaker was indeed making a statement or if he was simply portraying a fact of life in a Canadian hospital; much of the film takes place in a hospital. You know, if you make a film, say, about a bunch of skiers in a mountain town in the Colorado Rockies, the film isn’t about the Colorado Rockies, but mountains will be present in the film as a simple matter of fact. If the film’s treatment of Canada’s health care is even remotely indicative of reality, I’m telling you right now that I want no part of it. Just saying.

Okay, moving on. Related to my previous post I direct you to this article. It touches on the notion that, basically, most American voters are probably not well enough educated on the political issues of the day to be voting. Well, to be honest, I may be throwing out a bit of hyperbole, but you get the drift.

Studies of this sort make it pretty clear that political ignorance ­matters—­not only for individual votes, but also for election outcomes.

Gee, ya think?

For example, a team of psychologists led by Alex Todorov established that candidates for governor, senator, or representative who are rated as “competent” by people judging them solely on the basis of photographs are considerably more likely to win ­real-­world elections than those who look less competent. Brief exposure to the ­photographs—­as little as one-tenth of a ­second—­is sufficient to produce a significant correlation with actual election outcomes. A ­follow-­up study showed that the electoral advantage of ­competent-­looking candidates is strongest among ­less ­informed voters and those most heavily exposed to political ­advertising.

It makes one wonder how the hell any democracy can work. Again, this all comes back to the above hyperbole. Should there be some kind of test to determine who should be able to vote? Should voting be relegated to those who have a vested interest, such as tax payers? I mean, it’s amazing to me how many people don’t even know who their representatives are, or can’t identify the three branches of Government. Granted, knowing the basics of how our country works does not guarantee political sophistication, but, at least, if someone is interested enough to give a damn, they may have a better chance of being able to cast a reasoned vote, right?

Alas, it all may be a valiant attempt at pissing up a rope:

For one thing, voters’ perceptions may be seriously skewed by partisan biases. For example, in a 1988 survey a majority of respondents who described themselves as strong Democrats said that inflation had “gotten worse” over the eight years of the Reagan administration; in fact, it had fallen from 13.5 percent in 1980 to 4.1 percent in 1988. Conversely, a majority of Republicans in a 1996 survey said that the federal budget deficit had increased under Bill Clinton; in fact, the deficit had shrunk from $255 billion to $22 billion. Surprisingly, misperceptions of this sort are often most prevalent among people who should know ­better—­those who are generally ­well ­informed about politics, at least as evidenced by their answers to factual questions about political figures, issues, and textbook civics. If close attention to elite political discourse mostly teaches people to believe what the partisan elites on “their” side would like to be true, the fundamental premise of books such as Rick ­Shenkman’s—­that a more attentive, politically engaged electorate would make for a healthier ­democracy—­may be ­groundless.

If the above is true--and I’m leaning towards it--than it does not bode well for the future of any democracy.

Let’s see, started out the post discussing a fine film and a question regarding it, then ended on this note.

Probably time for bed.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

300

I must admit that although the reviews are mixed, I do have an urge to check out 300. I mean, look at the pic. Any movie still-photo showing a bunch of Spartan warriors standing in front of a mountain of bodies can't be all bad, can it? Also, I'm wondering, did they hit up every Golds Gym in the country for their extras?

The Battle of Thermopylae has always been of interest to me. After all, many historians view the battle as the pivotal moment in Western civilization.

And with a mountain of dead bodies, one wonders how you can go wrong.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

John Wayne Is No Genghis Kahn

But someone should be.

One thing I’ve wondered for some time is why there has never been a big-budget film take on Genghis Kahn. I know, we have this gem, but for some reason I just can’t get too excited about John Wayne sporting a Fu Manchu. I’ll pass, thank you.

Nah, I’m talking of a real, honest to God, big budget flick that tries to adhere somewhat to historical fact. Personally, I think that Genghis Kahn was one of the most interesting people in history. 

Monday, September 04, 2006

Michael Caine On Modern Film

And it’s not pretty.

FILMS made today pale against cinema classics of the past because they are so lacking in dialogue, character and plot ...

In today’s world, dialogue is anathema and plots that are not designed to quite literally beat you about the head and shoulders are few and far between.

The Oscar-winning star has lost count of the number of times he has seen films such as Casablanca, On the Waterfront and The Third Man, which he never tires of watching. Which is more, he said, than can be said for today’s “banal” films: “I can’t think of one I could see again,” he said.

Bottom line: He’s right.