• Film Ratings

    Film Ratings

    How movies are assigned their ratings has become something of a hot topic in the past few years. Although I have never seen much written about the subject, listening to the commentaries on several DVD’s (Kevin Smith’s in particular) have offered some insight into how the MPAA rates films. There is of course the documentary…

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  • Oliver Stapleton

    Oliver Stapleton

    Whether you are a casual moviegoer or a film buff chances are unless you are also a cinematographer you don’t pay too much attention to this particular profession. Certainly we all notice the way films look and when it is either exceptionally beautiful or painfully drab the credit nearly always falls on the person making…

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  • Marcia Angell and Mental Illness

    This summer the New York Review of Books published a two-part article written by Marcia Angell. Ostensibly the article was a review of three new books concerning mental illness and pharmaceutical companies. Ms. Angell offers more than reviews of these three books, this article provides a brief history of the DSM, an understanding of how…

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  • 3D and Your Eyes

    3D and Your Eyes

    James Cameron defending 3D technology.

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  • Term of the Day: Effort Shock

    While visiting www.imdb.com  I came across a link titled, “How the Karate Kid Ruined the Modern World” and I figured wherever I wound up I would find a mildly amusing read. The link opened to the website for Cracked magazine and my prejudice kicked in and all hope for amusement curled up and quietly died. However,…

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  • Lack of Definition

    Lack of Definition

    I have recently discovered that I am attracted to and yearn for rules and definitions. Whether in social settings, the workplace or areas of study I find that rules and definitions allow everyone to behave, work and learn more effectively. That is the reason for this post (for I admit it does seem a bit…

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  • What’s Wrong with Sentiment?

    While visiting the trailers page on Apple’s website today I saw the poster of the film The Father of My Children. On it is a quote from Gavin Smith, editor of Film Comment magazine which reads — “Deeply Moving. Incredibly tender and heartbreaking without ever getting sentimental.” I am, admittedly, a bit picky about some…

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  • John August – Workspaces

    John August has a very nice site. There is a new section on his site called Workspace. Screenwriters give provide answers to questions concerning where they write and what they use to write. It is interesting and provides what I am always looking for online, whether it is about writing, filmmaking or how to change…

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  • Music Reworked for Film, #2

    The cover of Black Sheep by the band Metric is really quite something. In addition to building a scene around the song, the actress who replaces the original vocals does a fantastic job giving a performance. I would argue that she does a better job than the original singer. To be fair she has Edgar…

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  • Music reworked for Film, #1

    It never ceases to amaze me the power of film editing. Whether it’s the opening sequence of Up in The Air or the dinner in Sideways, watching masterful editing is a wonderful thing. This post is about when movies use an existing song and rework it to suit the film. Sometimes the song is rerecorded…

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