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Choosing a Satellite TV Provider
The satellite tv industry has made huge gains on the cable tv industry in the past several years. With the price of cable tv skyrocketing every year, many cable subscribers are making the switch over to satellite tv. Okay so you've decided to...
Does 50-50 Chore-Splitting an Equal Marriage Make?
Not long ago, I was doing the dishes and railing at my husband. I was holding forth on how important it is that we create deep, meaningful lives so that our nine-year-old daughter, Lillian, knows a spiritual way of living is possible and while I’m...
Eliott James Releases CD Cinematic Life
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, since 2009--Los Angeles, CA-- Eliott James is set to
release his new album Cinematic Life on January 10, since 2009.
Cinematic Life features the cello, harp, piano, upright
bass, guitar, and some sounds of nature...
History of the Camera
The camera and photography are an important part of the communication history of the world. The history of the camera is indelibly linked to the understanding and development of optics. Optics is the study of physical properties of light in terms...
"Sergio Leone and the Spaghetti Western"
Clint Eastwood should have thanked Italy's film industry when accepting his second Best Director Oscar for this year's critically acclaimed Million Dollar Baby, because without the advent of the Italian-born Spaghetti Western in the 1960s, Eastwood...
Special Effects Cast Shadow Over Storyline
Hollywood films have always been divided in two categories, the big budget action-adventure extravaganza and the quiet low-budget Indies. In addition to that, there is also a subcategory: the technology driven films and the human stories. ...
The Greatest Movie of All Time
Truth be told. Hollywood hasn't come out with a great movie for a long time. The last great, completely solid motion pictures in the last decade were films like Braveheart, American Beauty and Saving Private Ryan. Unfortunately, the rest of the...
The Singapore Taxi
Fast, easy and efficient could describe life in Singapore. You don’t stroll along the streets in a world of your own with time to spare and you definitely do not walk when a taxi is waiting nearby. Life in Singapore is geared towards the making of...
Want Your Children To Love Books - Go See A Movie!
Reading a book from which a movie is made is almost always a richer experience than simply watching the movie. The experience of savoring the words on the page and allowing yourself to be taken on a journey inspired by the author is sublime. As...
Zest For Action Driving The Animation Market
Nasscom in India puts the animation marketsize at over Rs 2000 crore, the industry is getting bigger, craving for high-quality animation - now even the Indian film makers are following the Hollywood footsteps
With – Hollywood blockbusters like...
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Special Effects Cast Shadow Over Storyline
Hollywood films have always been divided in two categories, the big budget action-adventure extravaganza and the quiet low-budget Indies. In addition to that, there is also a subcategory: the technology driven films and the human stories.
Recently in American cinema, there has been a large number of those technology fiestas including most Peter Jackson's deliveries of the three installments of the Lord of the Rings. Then Harry Potter, Spielberg's War of the Worlds, Spiderman 1 and 2, amongst countless others.
There have also been a few surprises in the story / character-driven independent flicks like Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), Napoleon Dynamite, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways.
It has been a rule of thumb that when a film can be one or the other, but it can never be both. Unfortunately that statement has come to be known as truth. Although some films like Spiderman 2, despite their gigantesque budgets, have tried to come close to a decent story, they haven't been able to recreate the golden age of cinema.
Before those great human stories that James L. Brooks brought to the screen like Terms of Endearment and As Good as it Gets, there were big-budget films that also dealt with the great complexities of the human psychology. Think of films like Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, Godfather 1 and 2.
These days, big budget is indirectly proportional with storyline. The closest that modern times have come to those ageless classics was Gladiator with its lavish set design and locations, but even then, the story was slim.
Titanic became the most expensive film to ever be produced and although it won 11 Oscars, it was criticized all around for its lack of story.
Those filmmakers who didn't have financial backing when they started, are the ones who got themselves used to writing with low-budgets in mind. And those who had the means all along to produce the best-looking films didn't see the necessity to concentrate so much on human stories.
Hollywood has to wake up and find a reasonable medium between the two so that we can go back to the time of those great classics that will live on beyond the years and the dollars. We are finally in an age of filmmaking where exciting new technologies are being introduced into the market, special effects and animations are achieving eye-popping visuals. Instead of relying completely on these strengths, filmmakers have to learn to incorporate them into the whole meaning of the film.
About the author:
Jessica Frederickson is a movie reviewer.
Machiavelli Hangman
http://www.hangmanmovie.com
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