art
I love a good documentary, more than that I love a good mystery. While documentaries such as The Wolfpack have great stories, it’s the films that delve into the depths of the truth that really shine through for me. Finding Vivian Maier and Carol Morley’s Dreams Of A Life excel at this.
If people know one thing about Kathryn Bigelow, hopefully it is the fact that she became the first woman to win an Academy Award for directing The Hurt Locker. But the reality may be people know her because she directed Point Break or was married to director James Cameron. Most of her career, she has been pegged as a female action director, a label which diminished her influence and films.
The link between film and art is well-documented, especially how filmmakers are influenced and inspired by their favourite artists and paintings. One of the best and most famous examples is Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, where many scenes imitate classical paintings from the 1700s. There are plenty of contemporary examples too.
This April, Cobain: Montage of Heck, the new rock doc by Brett Morgen, was released into the world. I was a little apprehensive because I felt as if all the insight that we would be given into the life of Kurt Cobain had already been exposed.
Back in January Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9, Elysium and the forthcoming Chappie posted online some intriguing fan/concept art for an as-yet-announced project related to the now floundering Alien franchise. The art featured some very intriguing illustrations of not only Sigourney Weaver as an almost fully evolved Ripley/xenomorph hybrid but also Michael Biehn as a battle scarred Corporal Hicks. At the time nobody knew what they were for:
Biopics are difficult to get right, especially if you’re covering the life story of somebody whose life story is already well known. How do you make it entertaining to an audience familiar with the backstory, yet still entertaining to a new audience who aren’t? Mike Leigh’s latest directorial effort Mr.
Nothing is more disturbing than a Disney Princess gone bad. Artist Jeffrey Thomas proves this with his creepy Twisted Princesses artwork on deviantART. Along with most of the illustrations, Thomas tells a story depicting his creative alternate film endings for each female character.
If you’re a bit like me, you’re eagerly awaiting the release of the third part of the The Hunger Games film franchise: Mockingjay Part 1. I was already a fan of the books before the films came out, and I’m a satisfied fan – in my opinion, they’re doing really good at translating the original trilogy to the screen.
Artist Sketchesnatched, or Massimo Carnevale, draws images of movie and TV characters. Among them are Jay and Silent Bob of Clerks, Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Django of Django Unchained. They’re very artistic, and I love the high saturation of color.
I came across this video today (directed by Lyle Lindgren) and it pretty much knocked my socks off. It’s a tribute to Breaking Bad and Walter White. The mashup of the music and soundbites from the series is amazing, the way it’s filmed is great and I love how they spray-painted on “crystal” (I take it’s acrylic glass but still, pretty awesome).
I really like TED. I enjoy watching the videos, to be awed, to be inspired. I also really like the videos that discuss the movie industry or movies themselves.