Movie Dialogue- Past and Present

So now having watched several classic films in my film class right now and also keeping up with some of the more recent films in theaters, it is most apparent that film dialogue has changed drastically between the classics and today and mostly for worse. The dialogue in such films as The Big Sleep, The Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is overall really witty and the quips are so strong you can't help but laugh. Clearly, this type of writing in films nowadays has gone away and been replaced with childish ignorance much of the time. Occasionally you'll still find a gem where the dialogue is very strong, but even some of the stronger writing nowadays can be overfilled with cliches. Admittedly, it's harder to write dialogue into a film these days and not write some cliche material since new films are likely to only take some sort of material from their predecessors, but I say to any screenwriter, if a section of dialogue comes off as funny when it was meant to be serious, either rewrite that scene or cut it out. I bring up a perfect example of this in the recent X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaughn. There is some dialogue with the Russians and the Americans in regards to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The background music clearly brings the emotion that the scene is supposed to be a suspenseful, dangerous one, yet I could not help but laugh at the way the scene played out because of the dialogue. My only thinking was that seeing Bryan Singer's name in the writing credits of the film is that the specific scene to which I refer was written by him, speaking from experience with Singer's Superman Returns starring Brandon Routh. Needless to say, if you see a new film in theaters and actually believe the dialogue, more than likely it is a great film and will probably be up for an Oscar nom in its respective year.

Thor-MovieEmperor's Review

One of the better Marvel films yet in my opinion. As a lover of Norsk mythology, it touches upon it in the film to the extent that it doesn't alienate the audience from it being a summer movie but leaves any intellectual yearning to delve deeper into the mythology after the movie if not the comic book itself. There are some really cliche moments thrown in between Hemsworth and Portman, but moreso to keep the flow of the film and not to veer off into arbitrary nonsense. These cliche moments are few and easily overpowered by the rest of the film in some of its jaw-dropping scenes. Be forewarned that there is a huge amount of CGI, however, it shouldn't be as distracting when thinking about where a good chunk of the story takes place, namely in a mythological realm of deities.

Underrated Actors/Actresses

New topic of discussion: underrated actors and/or actresses. We can also throw in there underused. The first one I'm throwing out there is Paul Giamatti. For ever since I can remember seeing him in something, I've always thought of him as a fantastic actor. He has the acting chops for quite a lot, but I mostly find him excellent in dramatic roles. This being said, I don't think he is praised highly enough, I don't think he is used for enough roles, and I don't think he is always cast properly in some of the roles that he has played in the past. One of my favorite roles I've seen him in is the HBO miniseries John Adams, in which he of course plays John Adams himself. He does a superb job from beginning to end. I have in fact rewatched that series a couple of times, having it on DVD, just because I can't get enough of him in that series. I tend to get excited about any role he plays, even if the movie is not quite tracking the best, just because I know that with whatever role he is given he is going to do an amazing job with it.

What about you guys? Are there any actors and/or actresses that come to mind when it comes to being underrated and/or underused?

Boxed Sets

Alright, so kind of playing of the start of our discussion the other day, I want to bring up this topic in full. I don't remember which boxed set it was exactly that we were talking about, think maybe it was the Aliens set, but the fact then came up that the individual blu-rays are finally coming out soon. It seems like many distributors tend to do that these days. For marketing purposes it makes sense from the standpoint of the distributor, but only if the boxed set has enough decent films within it that enough people will want to buy the whole set rather than actually wait for the individual films to come out. Usually most boxed sets will have a few scrappers in them that no one would usually buy individually, but because it comes in the set and the brunt of the whole set is a good series, people put up having to buy that one or those two not-so-good films in order to enjoy the greater good of the series. This brings me to the question for this section of the topic. Are there any boxed sets you guys can think of that you have already bought perhaps, but then later found out that the individual films were being released, and you wished you would have waited for the individual releases so as not to have to buy the crap films? Are there any boxed sets you guys are planning on buying in the future that you will buy knowing full well there are at least one or two bad films but it's worth it to get them if buying the whole boxed set? Are there any boxed sets you know you want overall but are definitely willing to wait until the individual films are released?

I will tell you right off that I will be buying the whole 6-episode boxed set for Star Wars on blu-ray when it comes out in September, even though the prequels are clearly not the best. I do this for a couple reasons. I feel like if I have 4-6 on blu-ray, it just wouldn't be right to not own 1-3 as well. This is the completionist coming out in me. The other reason is, even though 1-3 already looks pretty good on DVD and even more so if you have an upconverter, I think they will still look that much better on blu-ray. Obviously, 4-6 will benefit the most from enhancement, but 1-3 will still look that much more awesome as well. You have to admit, even though the story lines, acting, dialogue are not the best in the prequels, some of the visuals are completely awesome.

Quick Fact

Not really starting a topic with this one, but I recently finished another section in Rosenbaum's book and it was all about cinema during the W. Bush years. Did you guys know that W. tried to view the movie Osama to obtain information that would help him find and defeat Osama bin Laden?

Also, when Black Hawk Down came out, Saddam Hussein distributed the movie out to all his troops in hopes that by viewing it they could obtain information on better ways to kill American soldiers?

Freaky...

Director's Cuts

I picked up a copy of Jonathan Rosenbaum's Goodbye Cinema Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition the other day at Borders and it has been very interesting from the get-go to say the least. I have a feeling I will be bringing up many topics of discussion from this book. The first one I want to talk about is director's cuts. Rosenbaum brings up an interesting point in regards to how director's cuts are brought about both by the director of the film as well as the production companies. There are those director's cuts that are truly director's cuts. These versions of the films are truly and accurately what the director was trying to go for, but due to time constraints or editing wishes by the studios or production companies, the film was of course shortened or just changed around to make it more commercialized for audiences. These director's cuts are then of course released, most of the time after the theatrical version has been seen by audiences, and placed onto DVDs or Blu-Rays nowadays. On the other side though, we have the director's cuts that are either not even close to what the director was going for or are closer but not quite there. Rosenbaum brought this to light as you have a correct version (being of course the theatrical release) and then you have the more correct version (being the version most like what the director intended for). Sometimes of course the production company that owns the rights to the film will put out a "Director's Cut" without any consultation from the director, usually in hopes that it will of course boost their sales. They foresee that people get in their heads that simply because it says "Director's Cut", it is a more exact version of what the film should have been, when perhaps that version was not what the director intended at all. Rosenbaum brought up a few examples and the one that sticks out to me, the one being what popped into my own head as I started reading his section about director's cuts, was none other than Blade Runner. Blade Runner has six different so-called "Director's Cuts", come to find out none of what Ridley Scott really had intentions of fully portraying in the movie. He was consulted for all of them at one point or another throughout their releases and, according to Rosenbaum, claims that the sixth and final cut is closest to what he was going for (the more correct version). However, it brings up the point again that all of those so-called "Director's Cuts" are not really director's cuts. They are just other versions of the same film.

This now leads me into my question for discussion. What other movies have you guys seen or might you know of where there is a director's cut available, however, it's not a true director's cut? Also, what movies DO have true director's cuts?

Film Classes

So it's almost time for me to pick out my classes for summer and fall and I was able to find a film class to fulfill one of my general electives. I'm going to sign up for it once I can, and it will be for the summer. The class takes place at the Cinema Center downtown Fort Wayne on Thursday night from 7-10:20. The broader aspect of the class is about film and society; however they usually have a more narrow topic to go along with that, and this time around it's Hollywood Leading Men. This might not sound like such an intellectual class by just the title, but if you take into consideration what might be shown film-wise and how the discussions would fit into society and how society views leading men in Hollywood these days, it seems way more fascinating. I have only ever taken one other film class when I went to Purdue University several years ago now, and it was a German film class, which was completely awesome. The films in that class ranged from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligiari and Metropolis all the way up to more modern things such as Nowhere in Africa. It was even more interesting as I almost have a minor in German and know the language fairly well, would say I am semi-fluent. This got me thinking though of how many different possibilities for film classes there are. I would like to start a discussion to see if anyone would like to post as to other film classes they have taken and what they liked and/or didn't like about the class. Also, if anyone wants to brainstorm to come up with an interesting topic for a film class, by all means shoot it out there, and then we can discuss on possibilities of what that film class might entail in its curriculum, i.e. films to be watched, discussions to be had.

Oscars 2011

To kick things off, I want to start with talking about this year's Oscars coming up tomorrow. Clearly there were several great films this year and there could be some categories that might pull out some surprises. I am going to post the nominations below for each category. Tell me who you think should win for each category, and then see if you think you can correctly predict who will actually win the category based on how you think the Academy will vote. I am highlighting who I think will be the winner in each category by who I think the Academy will vote for even if I don't agree with it or haven't seen the movie. I can tell you right now I haven't seen The King's Speech, which is supposed to be the clear top winner in numerous categories this year.

Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”                             
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

• “Alice in Wonderland”
  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Inception”
  Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King's Speech”
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit”
  Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
  

Cinematography

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister
• “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

• “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
• “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
• “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
• “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
• “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
• “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
• “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
• “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
• “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

• “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
• “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
• “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
• “127 Hours” Jon Harris
• “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

• “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
• “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
• “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
• “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Confession” Tanel Toom
• “The Crush” Michael Creagh
• “God of Love” Luke Matheny
• “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
• “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

• “Inception” Richard King
• “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

• “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
• “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

• “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
• “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
• “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

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Initial Post

Hey everyone...this is of course the first post out of however long I can keep this blog going, and hopefully I can get this going and keep it growing. I'm mostly dedicating this blog, as is most apparent in the title, to talk about anything and everything involving movies and documentaries. I have a subscription to Netflix that I use all the time to stream and watch physical copies as well. My passion is movies and docs, the reason why I am doing this. I have a Twitter account and Facebook account as well that I am linking to this blog. I generally post a little snipit on Twitter of each film I watch and give it a rating, but I'm hoping to then use this blog to talk about each movie more in depth since of course Twitter only allows 140 characters which is difficult to paraphrase a whole movie in. I try to watch several films a week, usually new, sometimes rewatches. Anyway, let me know if any of you have ideas of discussions you would like to talk about. I am thinking about starting off the first discussion on the Oscars since that's coming up on Sunday and I plan on watching it. I've already made my predictions, some of course on what I've heard will most likely win since I haven't been able to catch everything this year. Anyway, hope to get things rollin'.