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2004 a Bad Year for Movies?
Here is a case in point- 2004 was a strange, if not bad, year for movies. Now, I'm not talking about the quality of films, they were probably right on par. But, Hollywood has been growing scared. Scared to create films that fall away from standard...
Installing a Home Theater
Thinking about installing a home theater system? You’re not alone. Home theater is one of the fastest growing areas areas in home entertainment and the advent of DVD recorders means your set-up can now be entirely digital, without an inch of video...
MusicIndustryStocks.com Reports: Signature Gear For Artists In The Rock And Roll Spotlight
MusicIndustryStocks.com Reports: Signature Gear For Artists In The Rock And Roll Spotlight – Co-Development Deals With Quincy Jones, Joe Satriani, Billy Sheehan, Gene Simmons and Sammy Hagar Add Up To Star Sized Equipment Sales
Companies such...
The Great Guitar Playing Secret
So, you want to be a guitar player huh? You want to strut like Chuck Berry, be as cool as Keith Richards, rock like Jimi Hendrix and astound like Steve Vai. You want to wake up in the morning a beginner and go to bed at night an expert. You want to...
Where Did The Music Video Come From?
Although the first music video ever broadcasted was ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ played by MTV in 1981, some consider the music video to be much older than that year. It seems that the film Alexander Nevsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1938...
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Entertainers On The Rebound
Everyone who starts in TV, radio or theatre eventually wants to make their way to Hollywood. This isn't new; we've all seen transitions from the music industry, including J-Lo, Britney Spears, Beoncee Knowles, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Witney Houston and countless others. Generally, those artists who have specialized and mastered a certain craft have a hard time delivering in the film industry.
This is the same with Commercial directors like Michael Bay who was originally a music video/commercial director and then turned his focus to motion pictures by making films like Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the latest The Island with Ewan McGregor. As a result, all his films feel like they are extended versions of those mini commercials and music videos he used to make. The cinematography is perfect while the editing is breathless and doesn't give enough time to the viewer to digest all the information they are receiving.
Napoleon Dynamite was so successful with the audiences because it was the complete opposite of Michael Bay films. Instead of fast-paced editing, the camera lingered on the actors letting them settle into the scene and as a result letting the viewer settle into the scene as well. Machiavelli Hangman is another picture that is up for release later this year that will give its audiences these longer scenes with more focus on acting.
There are other films like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and most likely his upcoming remake of King Kong that fall in a middle ground between
fast-based Hollywood studio films and equally successful independent and quieter films like Napoleon Dynamite and Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com).
Peter Jackson has always focused on motion pictures and that craft shows off in his ability to tie all the strings together. When the viewers sit to watch his films, they are entertained and they are also given enough material to think about it.
Madonna has had a tremendously successful musical career, but she began to venture into motion pictures with her debut with Warren Beatty in Dick Tracey. Then she made such films as Evita and Swept Away and on each occasion, critics bashed her performances and said that she should simply stick to her music.
There are other instances when the transitions prove to be the right thing to do. For example, Sam Mendes who was a prominent theatre director moved to Hollywood and was offered to do American Beauty by Steven Spielberg. That film that Spielberg proclaimed to be an instant classic went on to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
Sure there are exceptions, but the history of entertainment shows that it is more beneficial for artists to stick to what they know best, or they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot.
About the author:
Steve Lowery is a movie reviewer. His current
review concerns the upcoming movie release of
Machiavelli Hangman: http://www.hangmanmovie.com
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