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(Back to Black Swan for a moment: Natalie is flawless, mesmerizing acting, and she is worth the entire film. Not a bad film anyway, but she is what makes it so watchable. She deserved those awards.)
Filmmaker responsible for Clerks, Clerks II, Dogma, Mallrats, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Chasing Amy, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, ... :-)
I personally loved Dogma, and the man himself is a walking fan-geek encyclopedia.
One of my favorite TV shows is the comic book version of Pawn Stars, also known as Comic Book Men. The man's a comic book fan like me, and he's a bearded fat guy, we're practically brothers.
but personally, i ran the gamut with Kevin Smith... i loved him - kind of hated/got annoyed by him - now i love him again, and he's become a major influence on me pursuing filmmaking.. i had reached a point recently (about a year ago) when I wasn't sure if i wanted to continue pursuing film as a potential career, because all i had done was 1 student film, a handful of shorts for my college and youtube, and i had just come off of two 48 Hour film projects that became more of hassle than they should've been, which led to me losing a friend because we both blew up on each other, to which my friend called me a "2 bit hack, and a worthless human being." - and on top of all that, i lost my job at the media production company i had been working at for 6 months....
needless to say i was pretty down about everything, and i began second guessing everything that i had done over the past few years - was i just wasting my time? what is the point? i am going nowhere fast. I am 30 (or was going to be 30), and everyone else i know is well into their careers, have families, homes - and here i am, fat, unemployed, bordering 30 with nothing to show for myself..... - that sort of stuff....
then something told me to re-watch "An Evening With Kevin Smith" his first Q&A video - forgot how funny it was - but then i watched one of his more recent ones (i can't remember the name of it) but i really paid attention to when he was talking about all the crap he went through, and how he started second guessing himself as well as a filmmaker.. and that's when he said something to the tune of "Don't let anyone tell you 'you can't do anything' or 'you can't be a filmmaker' - just go out and do it." - and he went on about how he reached a point in his life where he stopped giving a f### about what people thought of his films, and that he just wanted to make films that he liked - and if other people liked them, then great - if not, so be it, but he wasn't going to let it stand in way of him being creative..... and that really hit home for me, and i've used that as motivation for whenever i get down, to not give up chasing what i want to be, and as long as i keep moving forward, and keep putting stuff out there, something good will happen eventually.
since then, i started a small local production crew last summer called Cosmic Octopus.. our first two 48 hour film projects "Domestic" and "Dog Fog" were both nominated for multiple awards in the competition, as well as being nominated for Audience Favourite awards. And we also produced a cheesy and fun low budget music video for a local nerdcore rap duo called 2D6.. but for 2015, we got a couple short films lined up, as well as the start of a web series - so things are moving forward :)
I think I haven´t seen much Kevin Smith, except for his little part in Die Hard 4.0. I think Clerks might be interesting.
With Avatar though the whole thing was mocap/CGI. The enviroments, the people (not just the aliens), everything. So I think in terms of CGI film making Avatar hasn't been beaten yet. I prefer the Planet Of The Apes way of doing things though (or preferably, no CGI at all, although I understand with stuff like Avatar and Apes it is needed).
See Clerks at all costs!
i would have to be then (unless someone else beats me to it) the first american director to do a Bond movie... not sure everyone here would be comfortable with that - might make some enemies real quick lol
</b>"Old movies": boring, charming or superior?</font>
Obviously, you decide when a film is to be called 'old'. ;-)
Mostly they are superior in that they *had* to rely on the writing because CGI wasn't around to WOW us into a false sense of event. Plus lack of obligatory ultra-violence (80's), PC (90's) or gritty (now) led to more varied ways of telling stories IMO.
Just compare the first Bond to the most recent to see what I mean- Which has better writing? Which is more charming? Which is less a manufactured event and more an actual tale of intrigue & suspense?
Give me the likes of The Wizard Of Oz, The Man In The White Suit, Dr. Strangelove, From Russia With Love, 2001, Jesus Christ Superstar & Superman over most of the stuff that followed...
2006's Casino Royale.
:))
I dunno... I got everything I wanted out of Casino Royale... Dr. No and his hands were just a little... I don't know the right words to express what I mean here.
But unlike my peers in school, I soon found new love for the cinema of decades long gone. Even as a 14 or 15 year old, I showed particular interest in films that most of my classmates considered downright unwatchable. The best example is Gone With The Wind. Four hours of it and not a single minute of boredom. Yet everybody else on the playground thought Titanic the epitome of romance.
Yet despite this love for older films at an unlikely age, my affection for them grew only stronger and stronger. By the age of 20, I had developed an almost academic interest in film in general, meaning I would deliberately watch a film I didn't feel very passionate about just because it felt like mandatory viewing if I was ever to call myself a film expert (which I still don't think I am). So I began to explore the silent films of the 20s, the Universal monster movies of the 30s and 40s, the cinema noir of the 40s and 50s, ...
And lo and behold, I didn't merely broaden my interest in, but my love for movies from my grandparents' youth too. I actually think it's simple to evaluate older movies: like all other movies, some are boring, others aren't. But I certainly wouldn't say that all older movies are by definition boring. Many are charming. But are they superior? There may have been a time when I would have said yes, if only to act 'cool' by pretending that modern stuff is worthless (an act I have been putting on for music though). But I'm smarter than that now; many films made today are of an exceptionally high quality too. I guess every decade sits well with me; it just depends on the movie itself, though preferably watched in a time capsule, i.e. I can't evaluate Metropolis with the same criteria I use to evaluate Inception for example. That would be quite unfair.
Still, I do know a few people who feel that modern filmmaking is worthless compared to old Hollywood and that modern films are all about making money and nothing else. I believe both statements to be wrong. Firstly, "bad" old movies have mostly been forgotten. You'd be surprised how many of them are lost, never made it to VHS, Beta, laser disc, DVD or BR. Collections of old movies usually contain the ones that by some consensus are absolutely worth seeing. So if you randomly buy 20 old movies and 20 modern movies on DVD, chances are the overall quality of the old movies is higher because they went through some selection. To put it differently, the average Uwe Boll film may not have been in existence any more at this point had it been made in the 1930s.
Secondly, Hollywood was always about money. Read about the old studio system; how to make money fast and easy has always been a driving force behind the movie business. To pretend that cheap commercialism is a sickness of our times only would be fairly naive.
So to summarize, I watch a lot - A LOT - of old movies, sometimes out of interest or because I feel I should given their reputation and such, often because I quite simply think they are very good movies. But I'm not so pretentious as to claim that modern films belong in the sewer. I do feel it's essential though to judge every film by reasonable parameters; you can't say "M" is a bad film because it lacks colour, nor can you say The Birds is bad because it lacks CGI.
Right?
Bond.
:)>-
Nah. Not sure those were it... I mean, I love Dr. No, it's a wonderful film, and I don't think it being an older film puts it at a disadvantage to other, more recent films, but I love plenty of old movies and recent movies side-by-side. I don't judge them on their technical issues, on their use or disuse of CGI, I just judge them on "Did I enjoy the movie I just watched?". The answer can be yes or the answer can be no.
Great movie. Floored me.
So yeah, still happens. <:-P
at the end of the day, regardless of what technological advances are made, at the heart of every great film is a great story - it doesn't matter if it's old or new, has loads of flashy effects or is a static black and white shot. If you have a lousy story, all the special effects in the world wont be able to bail your film out (Transformers).. but if you've created a compelling story, with interesting characters that people buy into - then they could watch them sitting down talking about nothing in a static shot for an hour and a half and love every second (Clerks).
I can´t quite put my finger on it, but many films I enjoyed in my childhood don´t fit to my requirements anymore. Doesn´t mean there are none such films. Early Bond was always fast-paced and still contains its urgency. I´m sure there also older films I will find very interesting, but I still have to get the drive to find them. So far, I have worked my way back from Das Boot, via Jaws, to All the President´s Men.
</b>Wes Craven: "Master Of Horror" or lousy filmmaker?</font>