Tuesday, February 2, 2010

What's it all about?

What this blog is all about:

I see movies. Not as many as I used to mostly because there seem to be fewer and fewer that are well made, engaging or without serious flaw. I used to go to the theatre once a week. Now it's more like once a month or less. So many times I've watched a film and winced as some plot hole or mechanism has made itself known and jarred me loose from being immersed in the story. Since I believe that's the whole point of storytelling in general, captivating an audience for a certain period of time so that you can get your point across, these lapses in storytelling skill really bother me.

So I started this blog to offer up what I see as 'fixes' for movies I've seen. Likely, I couldn't do any better than anyone in Hollywood. On the other hand, I may have a point. These are my opinions only and are done for my own amusement and, in some cases, to exorcise film-demons from my head. I think it likely also a good exercise as I wish to be a storyteller myself.

Comments are totally welcome, but I reserve the right to remove those that are not constructive to the point of being insulting or mere trolling. This is meant to be a creative exercise. I do not intend to 'bash,' but to offer my own solutions to what I see as problems in a given film. Some might argue with my definition of or identification of any given 'problem' in any given film. So be it. Art of all types engenders strong convictions.

Regardless of whether or not people agree with me, thanks for reading the blog.

3 comments:

  1. just found your new(ish) blog! Remember when we would make fun of all the ridiculous films we saw? Anyway, as usual, you've really thought out things, I can't disagree with much if any of it. Avatar bugged me on many levels including the "no one but a white guy off-lander can save the native people". Good luck with the blog I'll be reading it for sure!

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  2. Sneaky Vince! Didn't tell anyone about this one as I don't know how often I'll have a chance to post to it. Thanks for reading it! Avatar made me mad. I recently watched "Bulitt," having never seen it and was dismayed to see how many steps backwards we've made in storytelling since that movie. It's SO understated, and for an action movie, doesn't insult its audience at all. Would love to see a sci fi movie done with that kind of subtlety.

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  3. They've confused genres so much, and science fiction and fantasy are the same thing in the minds of marketers it seems that subtly is thrown out the window. Even films like "Sunshine" which had huge potential sunk into ridiculous horror film at the end. "Moon" was great in some respects, but you had no way of knowing cloning was frowned upon until the end credits (plus the gravity on the moon was exactly the same as earth in this movie, very Space 1999). They just don't think these things through! In honesty... i clicked your profile icon by mistake and this blog was listed... how could I not look at it?

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