Music to Film

Making the switch between music to film is something that a lot of singers have tried. I watched a trailer for a movie today called 13, it seems like a fairly decent thriller with respectable actors like Jason Stathom and Mickey Rourke and then came the sub title “Curtis 50 Cent Jackson” and my whole perspective on the film changed for about three seconds, and from the short time he is in the trailer he seems pretty good.

            There are only a few singers that have made this change gracefully. Beyonce made a pretty smooth transition from singing to acting although she usually only takes on projects that require a singer anyway. Another example of smooth transitions is Frank Sinatra, forever my hero, was in a number of movies but most notably the original Oceans 11.

Not everyone can make the change as easily as others. Most notably Mariah Carey, her performance won her a nomination for a Razzie, basically the same thing as an oscar just reverse.

Directors

Recently I watched the movie Signs. A movie directed by none other than M. Night Shyamalan. It got me thinking about directing but mostly the directors themselves, which drove me to right this blog. Most famous directors are famous because they found their niche in movie making and stick with it consequently making good movies.

A good movie can be made no matter what the concept is. M. Night Shyamalan used to be excellent at taking strange concepts and making great movies out of them. If you look at some of his past films this is incredibly apparent but around Lady in the Water everything went down hill. Enough with him though Christopher Nolan is similar to M. Night Shyamalan in the respects that a crazy concept into a good movie. Inception makes little sense on paper and even less on screen but it was an incredible movie. This man took the batman franchise and made one of the most profitable movies in history.

I have a great respect for James Cameron everything the man touches turns to money like a modern day King Midas; this is a man responsible for the Titanic the Terminator series and Avatar. This man can do no wrong as of late. Avatar two and three are already in production and by the time the series is finished it will probably have more money then most third world countries.     

Trailer Round up

This week, I will be taking a look at a few recent movie trailers that have been important enough to catch my attention and blog about.

First up we have Rare Exports, a movie based on the notion that Santa Clause was actually frozen inside a mountain and after being defrosted turns out to be a bloodthirsty mad man. That’s right you read that correctly a whole movie based on a murderous Santa Clause. After many minutes of research I deducted that this movie is based on a few short films from Finland. I have watched both of the short films and let me tell you; the shorts are as bat shit bonkers as the concept itself.

Red Riding Hood is a movie that I have very mixed emotions about. First off it looks like a very “Twilighty” version of a beloved children’s tale. It is very loosely based on the original story, I am very certain the only similarity between the original and this movie is the red hood and the wolf, that isn’t actually a wolf but a werewolf (hence the Twilight reference). By the same respects they could have called it Looney Toons if they gave Amanda Seyfried bunny ears and replaced the wolf with a hunter.

Lastly we have the Green Hornet, a movie about a rich guy with a sidekick that goes out fighting crime. Now I know what you’re thinking, Ben you charismatic devil you, this sounds a lot like Batman. I wont disagree with you but I will say the differences are a plenty. The two most prominent differences are that this is a comedy and robin could speak English. I’m not ragging on his sidekick, he is a very good actor and trained fighter, all I’m say is you can tell he doesn’t know what the words mean he is just saying them.

Music in Movies

As a lover of music, a movie having a good soundtrack is important to me. There are three routes a film can take when it comes to its music. They can have an original score made for the film, use pre existing music or a combination of the two. The Dark night had an all-original score made for the film and it won Academy Awards for the effort. I have seen a behind the scenes look at the making of the music for the film and the amount of work that went into it is astounding syncing certain parts of the song with parts of the movie and even creating low melodies that you might not even notice the first time watching it.

Quentin Tarentino is known for his selection of music in his films, turning previously unknown songs and turning them into instant classics just because they were the movies theme song. The song Little Green Bag from Reservoir Dogs was previously unknown to me before the film, but now it holds a spot on the most played section on my iPod.

Unfortunately the Twilight movies are worth noting because they are known for their use of the day’s hits and songs made specifically for the movies by hit artists like Metric. 

Pushing Boundries

I don’t expect all movies to leave a trail of satisfied audiences and awe struck critics in their wake, but I would like to see at least a little creativity. I recently watched the snore fest along the same lines as the other uninspired teen suspense remakes such as The Last House on the Left, Prom Night and When a Stranger Calls. I have unfortunately seen all of these movies because my friends roped me into watching them. In their hay day these movies were successful because they were a new and creative genre, but by today’s standards they are bland and unimaginative.

            The Stepfather follows a similar story line to that of Disturbia. The thing is Disturbia did almost everything better. It had better actors, better plot and better character development. The only thing separating The Stepfather and Distubia is the bad replacing the new neighbour for the new dad. Both films revolve around troubled teenage boys paranoid about the new man in their life.

            The reason I bring this up is because even if your not setting out to make a movie that will change film forever (see Inception, the Godfather, the Wizard of Oz for details) at least try to make it interesting and change something.

Now I’m not talking about people portraying political figures in movies and television shows. I’m saying actual politicians portraying themselves and other. This issue was brought to light after I heard a recent story about Bill Clinton guest starring as himself in The Hangover 2.

I thought this was interesting because Clinton has been surrounded by controversy since his affair. Clinton will be number two in the list of controversial guest stars for the Hangover movies after Mike Tyson in the first movie. A few years back Stephen Harper made an appearance on the hit T.V. show Corner Gas. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but now I realize why every one was surprised. On one hand it was hilarious due to the fact he parodied himself as himself. On the other hand him parodying himself he drove home the joke of Canada being a parody of the U.S. I in no way believe this but it makes us look bad in the eyes of the outside world.

Politicians in movies are always a controversial topic and I don’t think it would fly unless it was for a self-aware comedy.

Halloween Special

In the spirit of the holiday I decided to review a zombie movie. Also in the spirit of The Simpsons I’m doing it a week late. Although this isn’t your usual horror movie like most zombie movies filled with gore and cheap scares. 28 Days Later understands that zombies make excellent movies but it is hard to build entire movies around them. This is a good zombie movie because the plot isn’t based around them. The zombies are just set pieces that could easily be replaced with a story line along the lines what would happen if everyone on earth disappeared sans maybe 20 people.

In fact, in the third act the movie becomes less about zombies and more about the protagonist, Jim, saving his new girlfriend from a group of non-infected soldiers that plan on raping her. Needless to say he succeeds in saving her using a clever plan that involves using the undead to his advantage.

All being said this isn’t a perfect film, there are a few plot holes like how a bike messenger was able to take down around 15 trained soldiers guerilla style. What this movie does do well it does very well. The entire movie does an excellent job of making the viewer feel alone, the entire movie feels empty. Using many shots of the empty streets of England, which I imagine was hard to do seeing as the place is known for being very busy.

I’m going to end saying going to say that I shouldn’t be surprised this movie is so good. With director Danny Boyle the man behind Slum Dog Millionaire, the academy award winning love story, and the upcoming 127 Hours the true story of a man stuck with his arm under a boulder for 5 days.