Every year when Oscar season rolls around I become an increasingly cynical person. I stop enjoying the movies I’m watching and instead start to tick off the list of tropes I see in a game I like to call “Oscar-bait Bingo.” In the coming months, cinema screens worldwide will be treated to my two least favorite Oscar-baiting sub-genres:
It seems to happen far too often: A new, original comedy premieres, to mostly good reviews, and so the studio decides to seize on the original’s success and create a sequel. And the sequel is not nearly as good as the first.
Animism is the belief that inanimate objects have souls. In a way, it’s self-reflective as people often project themselves upon many things. Many movies share this view as produced by such companies as Disney and Pixar.
The road of the motherless child is long and hard. So is the process of watching Hitch Hike, a short film about a teenage boy hitching a lift to find his birth mother. Although writer and director Matthew Saville’s story has the potential to be a powerful message that touches on a very real social issue, he shoots far too wide of the mark for any meaningful impact.
As much as I love movies, I’m completely against the franchise bandwagon. Every time I hear about a movie I love having a successful opening weekend at the box office I get a sense of impending dread that they are going to ruin my memories of it with a plethora of inferior sequels. Even though I grew up on the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, both the books and the films, I’m not feeling nostalgia so much as cynicism whenever a prequel is announced or released.
Every week Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week only four films are opening, most importantly the long awaited and much hyped The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1).
“These men who bust their asses work like dogs. And I believe in them, but every day they hurt. They get old, they peel back…
Stories are built around characters. No matter how complex and fascinating a narrative may be, the only way to make people care is by implanting interesting characters to whom we can relate, root for, loathe, or sympathize with. Character creation is a skill that too few filmmakers possess today.
McFarland is a city in California with a population of 13,745. It lies in the San Joaquin valley in Kern County. Taken from the 2010 Census and Wikipedia, the population density is upwards of about 4,700 persons per square mile.
Soundtracks are often not given enough credit in the film world, from us as critics and film lovers, but they have a stronger effect on the audience than you’d think. I have found that those pivotal goose bump moments occur when the music over the image is perfectly fitting; culturally and emotionally, allowing us to feel more involved with the movie. Since soundtracks aren’t often conversed I thought I would shine a light on the under-discussed element of which soundtracks really absorb you into the film and make you feel like you’re fighting alongside Jack Sparrow on the Black Pearl, or you’re beating up Edward Norton in Fight Club.
Before I start the article, I have to discuss what Illumination Entertainment’s definition of a minion is. Their wiki describes “Minions” as simple-minded homunculi (small human representations) that are cylindrical and yellow in appearance. That is where the similarities stop as differences in height, roundness, hair, clothing, eye size and eye number differentiate them.
What is it about the fantasy genre that we find so fascinating? Is it the lure of escapism, the feeling of delight one finds being transported to the various textured habitats of places such as Middle Earth, Westeros, or Hogwarts? Or marvel over the depictions of fabled historical retellings that have taken on mythic qualities over the years?
When I was young my Uncle Fred was our gateway to cool movies at a young age. He would babysit my brother and I, and going to the video store (yes, VHS) was the high point of the evening. After running the gamut of classic R rated action, and horror films we landed on the iconic movies of Bruce Lee.
Michael Keaton is one of those “If only he was given a chance, he could have done great things” type of guys. Edward Norton is one of those “If he could just suck it up and take other people’s advice he could be one of the biggest stars in the world” type of guys. This is no secret to us and it is certainly no secret to Alejandro González Iñárritu, who takes full advantage of our outside knowledge to create the only slightly twisted reality of Birdman.
Every week Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: Foxcatcher, Dumb and Dumber To, Beyond the Lights, The Homesman, Rosewater, The Toy Soldier and Saving Christmas.