What do
movies tell us about the world? Oh
forget it, what do movies tell us about Scooter?
.
Well, I hate
violence on screen. I do like mysteries
and detective stories, but mainly from the 40’s and 50’s when the production
code was in full swing. I don’t like
them know because I don’t need to see the guts on the ground, heads kicked in
or a lot of blood – even if it isn’t real.
What’s the point except to get a visceral reaction? It is lazy story telling. A head splitting as it is kicked from a steel
toed boots conveys the filmmaker want you to feel bad / be shocked / or
experience sadness but can’t waste time getting you there through storytelling,
so they will cut of a hand and spurt blood. Boo! Not always, don’t get me wrong, but often
enough that I don’t appreciate it.
.
I don’t do
violence against women (or children). I
can’t watch it. I had to leave Slum Dog Millionaire when they were forcing
little girls to be prostitutes because it made me physical ill. I really
can’t watch it when it is only exploitive.
.
I like black
and white, when it is well done. There
is, to my mind, nothing wrong with black and white when it is well done. There were cinematographers in through the
60’s that knew how to light and film black and white. They are pretty much gone now. Black and white now is dull and
haphazard. It signifies “serious” now –
but the expertise of lighting, filming and cutting black and white is mainly
lost. Look at the shadows in something
like Laura or A Place In the Sun. It
wouldn’t be the same in color.
.
I find
movies can be a release. If I need to laugh, to cheer up, to escape from the
constant drone of work and deadlines, then movies can provide that. And there are movies I can watch again and
again. And ones I can’t.
.
Just because
I can’t watch them again and again doesn’t mean they aren’t good. For example, I loved Brokeback Mountain. It was moving, beautiful and touching. But the techniques used (outside, open sky,
wide open places when they can be themselves vs. interiors, houses and families
where they couldn’t be) they don’t demand reviewing. It was great, and engaging and well done, but
seeing it once or twice was enough. Same
for Saving Private Ryan. The huge
invasion, the house to house combat.
Great movie. But once was
enough. Shakespeare in Love, on the
other hand, I could watch a million times.
It is intimate and intelligent and doesn’t rely on shock to get you to
the end.
.
There is no
yardstick on which Hudson Hawk or Sahara is a better movie that Saving Private
Ryan or Brokeback Mountain. Except the
yardstick that I can watch the first 2 a ton of times easily (and the Fox
Terrier count).
.
Speaking of Sahara, I think it is amazing how the simple poster for Sahara is changed for each market.
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| The Main Use Poster |
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| South Korea - Cruz is moved up |
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| I am not sure who this is, but it is close in on people only |
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| In French, Humpy Matthew takes center stage |