Since I was born in 1990, I naturally have a larger knowledge of movies in the past 20 years than in the past 50-60 years. Therefore it would make a great deal of sense to start in the present and work my way through to the past. Not quite 'Back to the future' but still, one should excuse the attempted pun.
The 90's and 00's has seen real highs and lows, from 'The Lord of the Rings' to 'Untraceable'. From 'The Fugitive' to 'Saw'. From, perhaps one of the greatest movies ever made, 'Shawshank Redemption' to, one of the worst films ever made, 'Penance'. From 'Toy Story' to...err... 'Toy Story 3'.
Arguably the 90's hasn't been a significant proportion of the film industries history, and hasn't emulated the greats made in the previous decades; the 'Godfather' trilogy, 'Ghostbusters' and 'Psycho', for example.
The past few years has seen ground-breaking movements towards an ever growing feel of realism in entertainment with the rise of HD, Blu-ray and 3D in large proportions of cinemas. Technology has always been a substantial influence on the success of movies, perhaps over-shadowing the real professionalism and exertion Directors and Script-writers alike have constantly produced. This technology culture has made past films seem out-dated, as even big industry films such as 'Alien' and 'Aliens' appear as old as they are, despite being way ahead of their time when made in 1979 and 1986.
It seems modern technology has disorientated our perception and true understanding of the most integral elements of movies that make them truly great. I do not, however, wish to take technology out of (what I would name) the "Great Movie Equation", as it remains part of a films' spectacle and cannot be denied our attention.
Although I have not gone into great historical detail, I will now move on to the real film reviews and (for those of you who have read all the previous paragraphs and are now reading this) I will take requests for films to be reviewed, in as much depth as you so desire.
So true about technology having such a large influence. It scares me that all of a sudden all films are being released in 3D with 2D being a sort of aside option...What makes this worse is the fact that these films are often shot to work well in 3D - for example, scenes contain objects flying out at the audience or large explosions which in 2D, are not so impressive (nor neccesary)
ReplyDeleteI don't think the recent outbreak of hi tech stuff spells death for more traditional film any more than George Lucas' work did at the end of kid 70's. Doesn't innovation enrich life?
ReplyDeleteGood argument.
ReplyDeleteHowever, whereas we enjoy change and development, I hypothesise the new era of film will out-cast real film ground breakers.
The youths of today are brought into a technology- based world where there is no limit for the creation of Directors, save their imagination and wealth.
I believe in years to come, only film 'buffs', the elderly and knowledgable will remember the historical and cultural developments of the film industry.
They see 'Avatar', we see 'Psycho'. Worlds apart for spectacle.