Movies

F/X PORN by David Foster Wallace : If you substitute F/X for intercourse, the parallels between the two genres [F/X blockbusters and porn ] become so obvious they’re eerie. Wallace makes an interesting and wholly reasonable case against Terminator 2, which, he claims, is an appalling betrayal of 1984’s The Terminator. I’ve always considered T2 to be inferior in many ways to its predecessor, but Wallace tears into T2 with both intellectual and practical arguments that can’t really be denied. The main thing that always upset me about the sequel was its blatant departure from the ironic way in which T1 solved the time travel paradox… in effect, T2 succumbs to the paradoxical nature of time travel! Why would you do such a thing? Apparently it has something to to with Wallace’s Inverse Cost and Quality Law (ICQL), which states that “the larger a movie’s budget is, the shittier that movie is going to be.”

Hate Letters of the Week : Samples of the type of “hate mail” sent in to Disney and Miramax concerning Kevin Smith’s film, Dogma. I found it to be somewhat disturbing reading, especially considering that most of the letters were sent before the film even began production (not to mention that many of the letters are shockingly ignorant). One would think that seeing the movie would be necessary in order to deride it. In an effort to better understand these folks, Kevin Smith decided to hang out with them at a protest outside a local movie theater where the film was showing. Interesting and funny stuff.

I bought the Dogma Special Edition DVD last night, and it is quite the treat. Come to think of it, all of Kevin Smith’s DVDs are well done and exceedingly enjoyable. Highlights include two feature length commentaries (a technical one in addition to the standard cast and crew funfest where Smith and Affleck crack jokes at each other’s expense) and over 100 minutes of deleted scenes, each of which are introduced by Kevin Smith and other various members of the View Askew team.

Insert Clint Mansell techno music here

Techno-Thriller, by Ian Frazier : An interesting little parody of computers in movies. I always found it funny that every computer in a movie has its very own unique graphical interface and hardware that is able to process even the most complex calculations in about 3 seconds – complete with comprehensive pie charts and bar graphs. An excerpt:

KEYS: Click-click-click. Click … click …

Shot of the fingers moving over the keyboard. Extreme close-up of right index finger moving slowly, slowly, to the Enter key. It pauses above the Enter key for several seconds. Then it hits the key.

Burst of loud, suspenseful music. Sudden close-up shot of computer screen. Flashing, in greenish computer type on the screen, the words ILLEGAL OPERATION ILLEGAL OPERATION ILLEGAL OPERATION

My favourite part of the screenplay is one scene towards the end: “Scene 55: Shot of Harrison Ford and Julia Roberts embracing.” There are only two lines of dialogue in the screenplay. Brilliant. [via Ned Blog]

This list of Top Ten Unproduced Scripts is interesting reading, though woefully incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. Take the assertion that the script for I am Legend sticks close to Matheson’s original novel (which it doesn’t; Hemocytes!?! What the hell are Hemocytes? Call them vampires, dammit!) and that its one of the best sci-fi-adventure films the world will never see (which it probably wouldn’t be). Matheson’s influential novel was a study of isolation and grim irony, which the script mostly reduces to thin action sequences and barely tolerable exposition. In all fairness, adapting the novel faithfully would be tremendously difficult, so I guess the script isn’t that bad.

Some notable absences from the list are the apocalyptic The Sky is Falling, which will never see the light of day due to its controversial premise:

Two clerics on an archaeological dig discover proof that God does not exist; with their faith irrevocably shattered, they go on an extremely violent crime spree, which includes murders, rapes, robbing and indulging in all sorts of drugs. The Catholic Church, faced with losing their power and influence, hire an assassin to stop the two clerics before the public learns of the truth.

Now that is some fucked up shit (pardon my language). Also missing from the list is Aliens vs. Predator. It sounds like a piece of crap, but AvP actually has a thoughtful premise and Dark Horse’s original comic was well executed and not at all cheesy. The script is not quite as good as its source material, but its decent. Unfortunately, the project seems to be stuck in Limbo. Speaking of the Alien franchise, David Twohy’s unused script for Alien3 is also worth looking at.

So there you have it. Just for good measure I’ll throw you a link to Drew’s Script-O-Rama, the definitive web resource for movie scripts. And look here, Samael’s started a nice discussion in the Kaedrin forum about “important” films.

Mad Max, Mythology and the Millennium : An extract from a book that regards the trilogy as a reconstitution of archetypal tales of social decline and rebirth. The Mad Max films were tapping into some of the classic story telling elements, seen in similar stories and myths of cultures worldwide. This conforms with Joseph Campbell’s concept of the Universal Myth (also seen in other films like Star Wars and the Matix) ; “the evolution of Max as hero – from his rejection of the ‘outside world’ due to personal tragedy in the first feature; his wanderings, trials and tests in the hostile wilderness of both the sequels; through to his individual (if not yet communal) reconciliation with his humane self in Beyond Thunderdome.” George Miller’s trilogy is certainly a thought-provoking and unexpectedly pertinent series. Interestingly, Miller’s other work includes the critically acclaimed series, Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, playful stories about a sheep herding pig (yes, you heard correctly).

This article focuses on the legendary filmmaker’s days as a photographer for Look magazine. While he was still in high school, at age 16, Kubrick happened to snap a photo of a newsstand owner on the morning following FDR’s death. He soon sold the photograph to Look, a well-known news and photo magazine in its day, for $25. When Kubrick finally managed to graduate from high school (he was not one for formal schooling), Look decided to employ him as an apprentice photographer. Its widely regarded that his cinematic style has its origins in his time at Look, which makes a lot of sense. Nowadays though, young directors start off with music videos or commercials (like David Fincher, for example).

Interview with Oliver Stone and Darren Aronofsky: Its interesting to note the dynamic between the older veteran filmmaker and the fresh-faced, spunky young director. I’ve never been much of a fan of Stone (especially his newer works), but its clear that Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) looks up to him. I didn’t get the feeling that Stone had actually seen any of Aronofsky’s films, which I thought was kinda funny (though its probably not true). I saw Requiem for a Dream the other night; its probably the best flick of last year. I’m now looking into therapy though. Very brutal movie. Stylistically brilliant, Aronofsky pulls just about every punch in the cinematic book, and it works.

I’m looking forward to his upcoming projects too. Originally, he was going to work on a WWII haunted submarine movie called Proteus that was going to revolutionize the horror genre (he said this film would be the scariest film you’ve seen in the last ten years), but he chose to do Requiem instead and handed the script over to David Twohy (director of Pitch Black and The Arrival). Twohy renamed the movie Below and is reportedly retooling the script, which (for me) is bad news. I really would have liked seeing what Aronofsky would have done with it. Next up is Batman: Year One. Aronofsky is working with Frank Miller on a script, and if Warner Brothers likes it, he might also be directing. Don’t hold your breath though. Then there is this Untitled Aronofsky science fiction project that he keeps mentioning in interviews and talks, but refuses to give any details about… this is apparently the next thing we’ll see from him. He said the movie, which he co-wrote with his old roommate, would be huge in scope, and “freaky.” I can’t wait.

It seems the marketing guys at Dreamworks/WarnerBros have been hard at work setting up an intricate web of sites that pertain to the world of the upcoming film A.I. in the mid-22nd century. Apparently this has “set off an entire underground of researchers who are uncovering more and more of this web of mystery. There are entire layers of plot centering around the murder of one Evan Chan involving affiars and various humans and A.I.s. There are real phone numbers to call, emails which send back clues, places people have left there phone number and may be called back, and passwords and access codes etc to uncover new pages in the mystery.” Wow, while those marketing fellows are most likely evil, I have to admit, they are running quite an interesting show over there. There are even rumors that this internet mystery is not limited to a static, linear flow; that the marketing fellows are actually altering the websites as needed based on progress made. Theres a bunch of interesting discussion dedicated to the A.I. game, including a yahoo group, CA’s thread and AICN’s. Much of this is most likely the work of a bunch of evil ad agency trolls who are pushing and manipulating the discussion (“these guys made that kick-ass game called Majestik”), but its interesting nonetheless.

The Mandarin term wu xia pian originally referred to the genre of martial arts films. “Wu xia” means chivalrous combat, and “pian” means film. It�s China’s version of the Western, but instead of six-shooters and saloons, its swords and kung-fu. It’s arguably the first form of martial arts film, with its origins dating back hundreds of years (in the form of literature and theater).

Which is probably why the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon flopped in its homeland. To us Westerners, CTHD embodied a different culture with a familiar edge and it was a refreshing change from the typical Hollywood action flick. Critics and audiences alike hailed it as an original blurring between eastern and western cinema, but these types of films have been around for decades back in China.

That being said, CTHD is a particularly good example of the Eastern and Western combination that will hopefully improve both sides of the equation. I, for one, will certainly investigate the genre further, as doubtless others will, but CTHD is definitely going to be the standard by which the others will be judged.

Wrong! You are a filmmaker. So am I. And it only took 10 minutes to learn everything I needed to know. Thank you, Robert Rodriguez. Once you’re ready to make your movie, you might want to take this Filmmaker’s Exam.