Happy Holidays to all of my dedicated readers! As we close out 2008 and ring in 2009, just wanted to give you all an idea of what's to come from the Cinescapist.
First, to start the year, I'm gonna actually try out doing some real "blogging," rather than sporadic posting. What the emphasis will be on, is the awards season, especially the Oscars. Since we're getting into the meat of the season, no better time to get up to date on what's going on with the year end awards.
After that, I'm gonna go back to trying a few things, but mostly regular posting. The biggest change is that I'm gonna try to get a regular column going. Like once a week have a column that might cover a variety of different topics, and might be broad or specific, not too sure. Basically, I want to give you all something a bit more regular, rather than just sporadic posts. Plus, it'll keep me more disciplined.
Also, I haven't forgotten a standard top 10 list for 2008. Even though it wasn't as strong a year as last year, and the second half was a bit more disappointing than expected, I think it's still important to do one to illuminate some really great films that you all should check out.
So, that's where 2009 will be headed. Please spread the word, hopefully I'll have some great stuff that'll reward my faithful readers.
As always, comments are welcome and appreciated! Happy New Year!
Hey Cinescapists! I meant to get this post up a month ago, since it's timely after the election and all, so sorry for the delay. But anyway, a new era has dawned, a changing of the guard. In a few short weeks, Barack Obama will officially be the 44th President of the United States. While this will actually have quite the affect on the national and international culture as a whole, it'll probably have just as profound affect on Popular Culture as well. As the nation's attitude about the future changes from discouragement to hope, it's very possible that we'll see a change in the type of movies that audiences champion. In the past few years, we've seen a clear pattern of types of films that are both popular with critics and audiences, and they tend to be films that either deal with darker themes and anti-heroic characters, or wildly unrealistic fantasies featuring flawed superheroes. To find examples, we only need to look back to the past few years, when movies like THE DEPARTED and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN won Best Picture, and SPIDERMAN 3 and IRON MAN ruled the box office. In a time of political disillusionment, audiences were responding to either high forms of escape (superheroes) or characters that broke away from the norm (anti-heroes and villains). Most often, these themes combined, with more and more superhero films featuring protagonists that deal with darker issues. It was only this past summer when the culmination of superheroes and dark themes collided for massive success when THE DARK KNIGHT became a phenomenon for the ages.
What I believe we're going to see in this new era of hope is a turning away from darker films and people responding to lighter and more accessible films. There has certainly been historic precedence for this. Back in the 1970s, amidst a corrupt and failing government and disillusionment over the Vietnam War, the films that were produced and successful were ones that (like today) had darker themes. Movies like THE GODFATHER and THE EXORCIST were both the box office champs and award winners of the day. Truly not light fare. When 1976 came along, and with the Nixon administration gone and the war over, people were ready for change at the movies as well as in Washington. That was when ROCKY came out, and it was not only a huge box office hit, but also won Best Picture for that year. ROCKY changed everything for the movies that year and the years since, with more commercial movies from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas becoming the big hits of the era.
While we're only at the beginning of this new phase, I think what we'll see is more of a change towards that positive attitude reflected in the movies that are made and become successful. Already there is a wave of films that are on the way that reflect this new change. Movies like MILK and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE are ROCKY-like stories with themes of hope centered around protagonists who are underdogs and have to overcome adversity to succeed. While I think both of these films will do extremely well critically (I'm predicting right now that SLUMDOG will win best picture), it will be interesting to see how well they do when exposed to a wide audience. Much like JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, these movies could easily find a groove in the national zeitgeist, and become champions of a broad audience. Even though both films deal with somewhat uncomfortable subject matter (violence in India, gay rights), at the core, the hopeful themes and underdog characters are elements that any audience can respond to and root for. And while I always believe the movie will always speak for itself, it certainly does help that the national sentiments of change and hope (two themes of the coming administration) will be prevalent ideals throughout the country and in our popular culture. It would have been interesting to see how both MILK and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE would have been received had they been released a year or two ago.
So while we'll have to really wait and see if change really does come to this country with the arrival of a new President, it's already clear to see that change is coming to the movies. Audiences are ready to be inspired again. They want people to root for, and causes to champion. We're becoming a glass-half full nation again, meaning we'd rather see the hero succeed rather than just the villain fail.
Well I'm back! Really no excuse for the delay, but since it has been a slow fall season, there really hasn't been too much to report. But hopefully with the Holiday movie season coming up, that'll all change.
So, being in the middle of the fall season we're really in the middle of an interesting time time of year for the movies. Not only do we have the upcoming Holiday movie season that will bring the end of the year blockbusters but also we will get a flood of Award season hopefuls. What this usually causes is a flood of movies, both good and bad. While many studios are advertising and positioning their "prestige" films, a lot of times, these films usually underperform, are underwhelming, or just don't get enough attention to merit award consideration. Are all of these films deserving of this lack of attention? Some yes, some no. Are there a lot of movies out there that don't get ENOUGH deserving attention? Absolutely. What's important to remember, however, is that films are made for audiences, not for critics or academy members. We, as the audience, are the ones that determine the value of a movie. What most movie "classics" or award winners have in common is a deep love from an audience. "Forrest Gump," "Titanic," "The Departed," and even last year's Oscar winner "No Country For Old Men," are examples where they have won over the audience, despite critics or award campaigns.
Why I bring this up, is because at this time of year when there is a flood of movies in theaters, and a lot of mixed messages coming from critics or the news calling movies not even released yet the "Awards contender to beat," it's important that the first and last word remain with the audience. How can anyone predict that upcoming films such as "Frost/Nixon," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," or "Revolutionary Road" are likely candidates for Best Picture? Until these movies are seen or embraced by audiences, it's really hard to predict anything. Therefore, what I'm urging my readers is to get out and see anything and everything. What turns movies into classics are people discovering something new and exciting. No one wants to be told what's good or bad, or told what's GOING to be good or bad. There are so many movies out there that might be great, but since they don't have the major press or ads running, they may be undiscovered. So, see something new, tell your friends what you loved recently, weather it's a dumb and fun comedy, or a moving drama, or a revelatory documentary. There are so many great movies waiting to be discovered, and new classics just waiting for audiences to put on their shoulders.
What are some great movies out there that you've seen that people might not know about? As always, comments are greatly welcome and encouraged!
Just an FYI for anyone in the LA area, Thurs. Aug. 21 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood there will be a double feature screening of two of the all time classics: Ridley Scott's ALIEN and James Cameron's ALIENS. One a sci-fi/horror masterpiece, the other an action masterpiece. Both are absolutely amazing films, and although they belong to the same franchise and mythology, are completely distinct and artistically different films. I'm insanely excited for this since I've never watched both back-to-back, and have never seen ALIENS on the big screen. Check it out if you are in the area.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. What is your ideal double feature?
In honor of the start of the Beijing Olympics, it's only appropriate to talk about some of the great movies about the Olympic games. Actually, there's really not a whole lot of movies featuring the Olympics, but it certainly provides a compelling backdrop, weather it's a sports movie or not. Every four years, for a few weeks the world is attracted by the human drama created by obscure sports that no one watches the other 204 weeks. I think that's what makes the following movies memorable is because it exposes more of the emotion and human drama of sports rather than just the excitement of competition. Catch a couple of these before the games, you won't be disappointed and might even take more of an interest in some of the events. CHARIOTS OF FIRE- The Olympic "prestige" film that won Best Picture in 1981, CHARIOTS OF FIRE is the story of two sprinters chasing Olympic gold in the 1924 games. It's a really compelling drama that shows the passion, dedication and sacrifice of Olympic athletes. As a runner myself, I think it does a great job in expressing the devotion runners have to their sport that many people don't get to see first hand, or really understand. It also has that really memorable Vangelis score.
COOL RUNNINGS- While most Olympic movies are already feel good movies, COOL RUNNINGS will also make you laugh. It's fun and silly at times, but has a lot of heart, and the story (based on fact) itself is pretty amazing. It's hard now not to watch the winter Olympics and not cheer on the Jamaican bobsled team.
THE CUTTING EDGE- This movie is purely a guilty pleasure, but it's still very entertaining and works well as an Olympics movie. And, it actually makes pairs figure skating seem exciting! Some of it is a bit cheesy and far fetched, and the love story doesn't work, but I think it's worthy of a spot on this list.
MIRACLE- If you're a true American, you already know the story of the US hockey team beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics in NY. I wasn't even born yet, so it's not an event that I can truly appreciate the magnitude of. All that comes to mind when I hear of it is the famous clip with Al Michael's screaming at the end of the game. MIRACLE isn't an amazing movie, but I think it does a pretty good job at dramatizing a huge moment in United States sports history. And Kurt Russell is great in it, too.
WITHOUT LIMITS- My favorite of the bunch, and one of my faves of all time, WITHOUT LIMITS is a severely under-appreciated and underrated movie. It's the story of Steve Prefontaine, a legend to all distance runners and would have been an Olympic legend had he not died in a car accident at a young age. In the running world, his death is seen much like John Lennon's was to the music world- a hero taken too soon. The movie also contains the best running scene ever dramatized on film (the Munich Olympics race). WITHOUT LIMITS is a really well made (written and directed by Robert Towne and even produced by Tom Cruise), but unfortunately little-seen movie. Check this one out for sure.
Hopefully you'll enjoy one of two of these movies and get excited about the Olympics starting in a couple of days. As you can see, there are a lot of diverse movies about the Olympics, but all are very enjoyable and rewarding viewing experiences.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. What are your favorite movies that feature the Olympics? Which of the above movies do you like best?
In an effort to expand the diversity of my blog, I'm gonna try a few new kinds of columns to have, especially ones that I can post on a more regular basis. The first kind is what I'm gonna call DAILIES- meaning just random thoughts on the day's entertainment news, and also interesting links relating to the film biz. I'll try to do it with some frequency, but who knows how long that will last. Let me know what you think...
DAILIES for Monday 8/4/08
-Box office recap: THE DARK KNIGHT continues to be an unstoppable force. One note I have to say about this: I hope the repeat biz on this movie continues. One thing that's been depressing in the past few years is how quickly these megahits make their money, then disappear from movie theaters until they're on DVD in 3 months. I hope THE DARK KNIGHT breaks that trend and plays in theaters for a few more months.
- Still President Bush: The teaser trailer released last week for Oliver Stone's W was just okay, but the advertising is really intriguing. This could be an interesting movie in the fall. I'm curious to know a) if the movie will be any good and b) if audiences will respond to it.
-Rebirth of a genre?: Interesting article about PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, which after seeing I'm surprised is getting as much press as it is. While I'm sure the movie will make a bunch of money, I have a feeling audiences will be a bit disappointed. The movie is good, but not great, and certainly not as laugh out loud funny as the trailers have you believe.
-The Govenator Responds: Some interesting thoughts from the original Terminator himself. He's right about a lot of points about James Cameron's vision for the first two TERMINATOR films, but TERMINATOR: SALVATION, to me, looks pretty badass and could bring the Terminator mythology in a really cool direction.
After graduating college I moved out to Los Angeles to pursue my lifelong dream to work in the Entertainment Industry. After 5 years where I had some incredible experiences and met a lot of great people, I decided that my chosen career was not all that I had hoped it to be and longed to do something more fulfilling to me personally. After experiencing my own personal “Quarterlife Crisis,” I made a personal decision to explore other passions I had before settling down. After leaving the Entertainment Industry, I chose to pursue a passion I had for teaching and helping others and joined an organization called WorldTeach, where I am currently volunteering in Africa and teaching English to high school students in Tanzania. While I am still learning my own Quarterlife lessons and finding my own path, through a lot of trial and error I have become more confident in myself as an individual and learning to love every day that I get to experience as a twentysomething adult. I started this blog because I am passionate about helping other Quarterlifers find their path, as I am, and spreading the message that this truly can be the most rewarding, fun and fulfilling time of your life.
