More than a Good
Story
Movie making is an art. I have really come to realize that in
the recent past. In high school I would see a movie because it
was a great action flick or because it had the cute actress. In
college I had a couple of classes that really changed the way I
see movies. One class was a humanities class where we had to
watch x number of foreign films. At first I hated it. They made
no sense to me and bored me. Well, I have been one for art for
many years but if it didn't have a great fast pace I wanted out.
Over time the instructors reviews and tips on what to watch for
sparked an interest and I began to watch for much more than the
storyline (many foreign films have odd storylines). Movies are
chuck full of symbolism, great screen play and trickery,
history, foreshadow, cross-references, political statements,
etc. Soon after I took a Spanish lit. class and hated the
instructor. It took a long time to realize that the movies that
we were watching in class and the sharp critique on our review
was teaching us to open our eyes. Now, I love watching films for
much more than the plot. I love to think of how something was
accomplished or what a stabbed fruit represents or what water or
death may represent to a character. Every piece on a set or
scene is deliberately placed for some reason whether it be aesthetic
or symbolic. In the Raiders of the Lost Ark there are images of
R2-D2. What references does that have? In Much Ado about Nothing
(modern version) there is a scene at the end of the movie that
goes on forever. The camera pan all over and end up many feet in
the air without a single cut. Dinosaurs come alive on the
screen. How does that happen? How close did Peter Jackson stay
to Tolkein's LOTR?
There are many things that take
place in film that we overlook unless we are searching for them.
Some movies really stink. They have little or no meaning, the
acting stinks, and there is no depth to any aspect of the movie.
When critiquing a movie I use a different set of glasses than I
used to and I find movies very entertaining and artistic.
This site is dedicated to the big
screen. It will become more robust as I have time to dedicate to
it.
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