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I may be somewhat odd for a professional filmmaker in this, but my reaction is less "aargh, no, my pure pure art!" and more "Hmm, interesting, I wonder if I hav
by thenomad 13y ago
I may be somewhat odd for a professional filmmaker in this, but my reaction is less "aargh, no, my pure pure art!" and more "Hmm, interesting, I wonder if I have time to try that out?"
Frameworks work well for visual design, adverts, web design, music (to a certain extent), so I can't see a problem with them for films.
Of course, if one framework becomes the One Possible Framework, that's more of an issue. But there are enough filmmakers out there willing to try seriously wierd shit that I don't think that's a problem yet.
For example, David Lynch is working on a new feature film right now. Call me crazy, but I don't think he'll be sticking to Save The Cat's formula.
- georgemcbay 13y agoWell, among the supposedly "Hollywood killing" samey movies mentioned in the article is "The Dark Knight", regarded by many as the greatest "action" movie of all time. Which goes to show that there's still plenty of creativity to be had while following classic structure, and proving once again that broad ideas are meaningless and execution is everything.
- thenomad 13y agoYeah - if I only manage to make movies as good as "The Dark Knight" (one of my more favourite films), I'm reasonably OK with that.
- foobarqux 13y agoTh best action movie as determined by whom? Obviously the generally movie-going populace likes the movies that Hollywood produces otherwise they wouldn't go see them.
- thenomad 13y agoThe comment above just said that TDK was "regarded by many as the greatest "action" movie of all time.", rather than making an absolute judgement. I think that's a reasonably defensible statement - http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-dark-knight http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-dark-knight.
- foobarqux 13y agoI'm questioning the validity of using the general population as an authoritative source of film critique. Although it's probably silly to ask for an artistic critique of an action film at all.
- georgemcbay 13y agoWho said I was using the general population as an authoritative source of film critique? "regarded by many as the greatest "action" movie of all time" means just what it says. I never claimed nor even implied that the view was authoritative simply because it was widely held.
- foobarqux 13y agoYou stated explicitly that you thought it was a quality film due to its wide popularity. (As an aside the article itself never criticizes Dark Knight for being poor only for being formulaic).
- vacri 13y ago'regarded by many as' is pretty much the living, breathing definition of 'authority as implied by popularity'.
- anigbrowl 13y agoit's probably silly to ask for an artistic critique of an action film Far from it; action films are extremely interesting from an artistic POV because they are often so uncontrived that they offer an unusually direct insight into the society that made them. John McTiernan's Predator is a superb film, for example - it's 30 years old and still plays well on TV or the big screen.
- megablast 13y agoOr predator is the greatest film ever written.
- georgemcbay 13y agoDetermined by "many". Granted, that's vague, but certainly among people I know, The Dark Knight is considered the high water mark of modern action films. And while this still is just more anecdotal data and not scientific proof, the movie sits at #6 on imdb's list of top 250 movies of all time: http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=nb_mv_3_chttp http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=nb_mv_3_chttp Which suggests strongly that this view is shared more widely in the general movie-watching population.
- gambler 13y agoThe Dark Knight is good despite using a lot of Hollywood conventions, not because of them. What Nolan can shrug off might annihilate the remnants of creativity in a lesser director. I've seen similar things happen in writing.
- LokiSnake 13y agoTDK was mentioned for a having a villain that gets caught on purpose. I think TDK did it well, but doesn't change the fact that so many are applying it like a formula and failing.
- regularfry 13y agoIt's not just the "getting caught on purpose" trope that annoys me, it's the whole omnipotent-(bad/good)-guy thing. The Ocean's Eleven sequels were particularly bad at this.
- wahnfrieden 13y agoTangential, but you got me excited about a new feature film project from Lynch... I can't find anything about one though. Did you make it up for an example? EDIT: seems to be just a script so far, http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/david-lynch-working-on-a-new-typically-dark-script-20130227 http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/david-lynch-working-o...
- thenomad 13y agoHere's the source I have: http://www.screendaily.com/home/blogs/david-lynch-hints-at-new-film/5049373.article?blocktitle=Diary-Blog&contentID=2048 http://www.screendaily.com/home/blogs/david-lynch-hints-at-n... I'm also VERY excited about this one.
- wahnfrieden 13y agoFantastic! Thanks. Lynch holds a place in my heart for getting me deeply into abstract film early on, and then greater cinema in general, though I haven't watched him in ages now and don't really feel drawn toward revisiting. I guess I could say he prepared me eventually for the likes of Tarkovsky, Bergman (easy to see parallels with Persona in his work, though there're echoes of that one all over), Hou Hsiao-Hsien, etc. I've been meaning to watch Philippe Grandieux, who I've read compares well with Lynch.