Hollywood 411

HW 9

2006-11-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

(this is late because i have just got back to the dorms from being home for the weekend, bad traveling plans on a terrible weather day)

HW9 Schwartz, Wikipedia

I'm choosing Wikipedia because of Drew's post. He poses a great point about how vast Wikipedia is in comparison to its competition, and that fact separates it from the rest. Yes, anyone can write on Wikipedia; however, because so many people edit the site, each information is continuously being corrected and furnished towards (hopefully) perfection.

HW 8

2006-11-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

The Internet Movie Database is one of my favorite websites to search for movies.

IMDB allows people to find out practically anything they want to know about a movie (or TV show). Movie lovers can find out actors and actresses for all their favorite movies, as well as find out every movie their favorite stars have performed in. They can rate movies and post reviews, or comment on other posts made already. Also, rumors and future information is posted on upcoming films. The people who run IMDB collaborate to post different movie information up on their site, all of the past movies come from factual sources (such as the studios' websites and actual credits given at the end of films) and the future movies' information comes from rumors around the entertainment world (newspapers, magazine articles, etc...), people also contribute at the bottom of pages in the posting section.

IMDB organizes the information into categories for each "Movie Page" and each "Celebrity Page." Every movie page is listed out the same way, the information given in the same order. (same for the celebrity pages.)

Another moviegoer website that I use is MovieTickets

MovieTickets allows viewers to purchase online tickets for the movies already in theaters (or very soon to be). IMDB is simply an information database, whereas MovieTickets allows you to purchase tickets for movies in the theaters. IMDB however, gives much more information about movies, now and upcoming.

Thank You... HW #6

2006-10-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks Melissa and Drew for putting a link to my blog in your sidebars!

HW #5

2006-10-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

I installed google analytics on my blog. I have had a few hits.

Date Range	Visits	Page Views
10/04-10/10	6	9

HW 4

2006-10-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

I chose to use Microsoft and Walt Disney as my two corporations to link. I found it very interesting that they are connected by such a short distance using board members of corporations to link them. I chose these two power house corporations because I felt that they had large enough companies for a link to occur but fairly different industries to make a longer path. I was wrong with the long path, however.

HW 3- Image Link

2006-09-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Click the Image to the left to go to the Boston University Home Page.

Added Bookmarks

2006-09-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to add the bookmarks: Boston University Calender and the BU Squirrel mail because they were the most useful for me. They allowed me to easily access both places without having to jump around the BU search until I found it. Thanks to luciam and dennymet!!

Creative Commons License

2006-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

At http://creativecommons.org/ I have found an appropriate license for my blog: The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. I felt that this was good for my blog because it allows others to share my opinions on movies with others as long as they share their own information from their sites.

Movie or Book?

2006-09-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Most people I know would say that movies based on books can never compare to the novels they are based on. The reason this is the case is actually quite simple. For a novel, the author pretty much has an unlimited amount of room to fill in information; whether it's background info on a character or just something to inform the reader a clue about the plot, the author can mention everything. However for a movie, the director has to struggle with the plot to pick and choose how much and what he/she is going to put into the film; movies that last more than 3 hours won't do very well because people just don't have that much free time and most moviegoers want to be entertained from beginning to end with no lapses. Movies based on novels have it even more difficult because they have to live up to the quality of the book, all they get is a storyline and characters to stick to. Obviously the director isn't able to put in all the information from the book into the film, so it's difficult to cut out chunks of the plot of the novel and still have the movie make sense. Here in lies the rub: people who love the novel, want to see the novel on film as what that envisioned in their minds while reading; however, that's impossible due to lack of space so when directors adapt the storyline and the characters a tad, viewers (who were readers) give poor reviews on the film. To name an example, The DaVinci Code. I felt that this film was extremely well done. The plot was more or less succinct to the plot of the novel, there were a few adaptations but necessary ones. Many people would disagree with my assessment because "too much was changed" but I feel all changes made were done so to fit the story in an operable timeframe as well as keep viewers entertained. The beauty of novels is that everyone uses their own imaginations to come up with mental imagery of the story. With regards to movies, everything is thrown at the viewers, nothing is left up to imagination and if it wasn't exactly like a viewer imagined it... it was not good enough. Some films successfully break this dilemma by "wowing" the audience with special effects and/or imaginative interpretations of the novel: The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Both series of films have taken their fair share of criticism, but have done well in the box offices nonetheless. Overall, directors have a difficult job when the are constrained to someone else's story, fit for a much longer medium of entertainment... and I think we should consider this when reviewing such films... we all beg and plead for them to make a movie out of these great novels, lets not all rip on the directors for trying to please everyone. This is just what I think.... any thoughts for or against?? http://www.imdb.com/ is a great site to check out anything and everything about a specific movie or actor/actress. Also, http://www.movietickets.com/ is a quick and easy way to check movie times for movies playing now and also release dates for upcoming films.

All Time, Top 5...

2006-09-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Now it's extremely difficult to make a best-list for movies; because movies fall in all sorts of genres, and above all, people have different opinions. However, I felt it was necessary for me to put up a few lists of my favorites in order to let everyone feel out what type of movie watcher I am.

Top 5 Dramas:

1. High Fidelity
2. Crash
3. Fight Club
4. Shawshank Redemtion
5. Goodfellas

Top 5 Action/Thrillers:

1. The Rock
2. Minority Report
3. Gladiator
4. Saving Private Ryan
5. Independence Day

Top 5 Comedies:

1. Spaceballs
2. Liar, Liar
3. Office Space
4. Animal House
5. Dodgeball: A True Underdog's Story

Top 5 SciFi/Horrors:

1. The Exorcist
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. The Matrix: Trilogy
4. Star Wars: Trilogies
5. Lord of the Rings: Trilogy

Top 5 Sports Movies:

1. Coach Carter
2. Remember the Titans
3. White Men Can't Jump
4. Major League
5. Celtic Pride

Top 5 Animated/Kids Movies:

1. The Incredibles
2. Shrek
3. Good Burger
4. Ice Age (soley for the dodo melon scene)
5. Aladdin

Actors, Actress, and Directers also deserve the attention of the viewers because many movies are seen entirely on who's in or behind the scenes of the film.

Top 5 Actors:

1. John Cusack
2. Samuel L. Jackson
3. Will Ferrell
4. Joe Pesci
5. Ed Norton

Top 5 Actresses:

1. Scarlett Johanssen
2. Jessica Alba
3. Natalie Portman
4. Jodi Foster
5. Kate Beckinsale

Top 5 Directors:

1. Ron Howard
2. M. Night Shyamalan
3. Woody Allen
4. Clint Eastwood
5. Spike Lee

As I said before, it is extremely difficult to sum up your favorites, even spacing them through all these categories... if you think i've missed some huge ones... let me know. I've tried to put in my personal favorites as well as some classic greats. Post yours!!

The End

2006-09-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have a theory about endings. Every time I go to the movies, especially good movies, some groans about how they HATED the ending. There are 3 reasons why people dislike endings:

1. The ending is experimental. The director decided to try something new with the finale; new camera work, plot twist, something unexpected, or something quick. Viewers dislike these types of endings usually because they expected something, or at least one of a few things, to happen in the end.
2. This leads right into the second reason people don't like how a movie ends: It's Too Predictable. People hate it when they guessed how a movie was gonna end before it happens. It's like the directors can't win.
3. And lastly, people dislike the end of a movie because they love the rest of it. Seems obvious right?? People don't want the movie to end, so they complain that the ending was stupid simply because it happened before they were ready for the film to be over.

Now i'm not disregarding the fact that movies have terrible endings... Crank for instance has a terrible ending. (I would explain it, but i dont wanna ruin it for anyone). And movies also have amazing endings, usually action packed spectaculars but every once in a while a director gets it just right. For example, Minority Report is a movie that grabs viewers attention from the beginning right through the end. It ends with an elongated action sequence ultimately leading to Tom Cruise proving his own innocence, while exposing the faults of the futuristic police system surrounding the movie. Throughout the plot, there are many twists and turns but they save the best for last when ultimately the bad guy chooses suicide over murder once his reputation is ripped to shreds. Again this is my opinion of a great ending to a drama; while others may critique it, I felt that the twists gave viewers a chance to figure it out on their own and then astonished the entire theater with one final thrilling moment. Office Space is an example of a comedy that I believe has an amazing ending. It concludes with the plan being foiled and Peter finally confessing everything they had done to the boss in a letter, but before it could be read, Melvin burns down the entire office, letting them get away with what they had done.

Ultimately, movies aren't make or break on their endings, but people sometimes don't appreciate how difficult it is to please everyone, while still being creative. Step into the shoes of a screenwriter for a day... then comeback and complain about endings...

9/11

2006-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the 9/11 related movies today. The first one being Flight 93. This movie was released in the Spring of '06, only a little more than 5 years after the catastrophic events that occurred on that heinous date, 9/11/01. Being a New Yorker myself, I was quite hesitant to go see Flight 93; considering both the relatively soon release and the fear of a Hollywood portrayal of such a touchy subject. If you look at some of the past movies based on terrible events in history: Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor, you'll notice a few misleading trends. Saving Private Ryan, in my opinion, was a phenomenal movie because of the spectacular acting and accurate portrayals of World War II. Also, the film was released well after the war itself, when people don't feel as upset looking back on the carnage that occurred. However, Pearl Harbor in my opinion, was mediocre at best, even though it was well after. One of the most horrific events in American history... portrayed as a love triangle... with Josh Hartnett of all people?? cmon... Yes, the special effects of the actual attack were pretty cool, and most of the acting was decent, but the movie dragged and the 'Hollywoodness' about it disgraced the day it was based on; the day that will live in infamy. Saying all that, I still mustered up the courage to see Flight 93 after all. The best way I can rate my feelings on this film is if you really want to go see it, you'll respect the film for how it was done; but if you are veering more towards passing on it, you will probably feel awkward in the theater seeing it anyways. It was very moving and very well done. There was no 'Hollywoodness' that ruined the movie and it focussed on the story of the actual flight rather than bringing tears to everyone's eyes by lingering on death tolls and showing too much footage of the crashes. I am an avid movie-goer, and it's a way for me to reflect on what happened that day, because i'm sure that everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing that day... and it's good to be reminded the past sometimes... even if it hurts. The second 9/11 film has only recently been released, World Trade Center. Now this film scares me personally. I have yet to see it myself and have heard good things... but this movie features big name actors like Nicholas Cage. Yes Saving Private Ryan had Tom Hanks, but this movie is much more current relative to the event than Saving Private Ryan was to World War II. I plan on seeing World Trade Center tonight, on the day's 6th year anniversary and will post a follow up after I have experienced the film first hand. plz... any thoughts on the timing or quality of the films... let your heart out.

Cartoons: They Aren't Just For Kids Anymore

2006-09-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

In the past 10 years the animated film genre has grown due to the many advances in technology. Old animated movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Fantasia and The Little Mermaid, were targetted to children ages 4 to a generous 15. Parents enjoyed watching these classic toons with their their child; however, the stories were usually just fair at best with some clever characters and cute but corny ending. Around the release of The Lion King the target audiance expanded. Instead of having a simple, young dialogue, the characters' dynamic humor ranged to attract both the young and old. Audiances of all ages are drawn to these animated spectacles nowadays, and the advances in graphic filmography hasn't hurt the calling. Pixar released animated greats such as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Shrek. Above having phenominal animation, the dynamics of each original storyline captured the hearts of viewers from 6 to 60. Others, such as: Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, Ice Age, and The Incredibles have also moved viewers, but now its seems almost like overkill. Since those releases, its like every month a new animated adventure dawns the movie previews. It's like soon the animated films will replace the real ones... well not too soon... I mean The Final Fantasy Movie had such unbelievable graphics that the animated characters almost appeared human... but that movie didn't do so well. The animation gives a director no boundaries to the extent of his/her storyline... Ray Romano can be a Wooly Mammoth and Will Smith can be a fish... and people pay to see such hilarity. I'm really not trying to put down these films, I've enjoyed a lot of them, I just don't wanna see Disney and Pixar release something like a Beauty and the Beast II featuring Rob Schnieder as the Beast. Milk the animation as long as graphics are improving Hollywood, but don't go overboard... plz.

Heroics

2006-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Buzz around Hollywood these days has been action packed comic book thrillers. Every comic-book's rights from Superman to V for Vendetta to Archie has been signed for. Why has the comic rage hit the hollywood scene so hard I wonder?? Well for one thing... SpiderMan grossed a record breaking $114,500,000 in sales during the opening weekend. (now second all-time to Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest) With SpiderMan sparking this bandwagon of comic extravagance production companies have released tons since: Dare Devil, Batman Begins, Elektra, V for Vendetta, Superman Returns, The Hulk, Blade, X-MEN, Sin City, and The Fantastic Four. Out of all these thrilling recreations, according to the consumer Toby McGuire is the greatest hero of them all... go figure. Upcoming comic releases include SpiderMan 3 and Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. Personally, I think they should just do what the comics eventually did, combine as many of them into one action-packed spectacular.

What is the deal with Trilogies??

2006-09-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not exactly sure when it started, but around the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movies began coming in threes. Other than The Lord of the Rings Trilogy there have been tons of other movie releases that became trilogies: Blade, X-MEN, (of course Star Wars), Pirates of the Carribean, Spiderman, Batman, Superman... I could go on for a while. The Austin Powers movies weren't planning on being a trilogy but they jumped on the bandwagon. It's like every blockbuster hit has to have at least a sequel, most likely a trilogy. Even the ones that don't have Hollywood releases have trilogies on video: Chronicles of Riddick and even Bring it On. Honestly, I'm getting pretty sick of it. If they're going to continue the plot of the film, the might as well milk it as long as it's popular, right?? Why not have 5 or 6 movies?? 10 even?? Why not a made for TV movie series?? Movies should just go back to solo films, where the whole story, beginning to end, is shown right there in one sitting. If i wanted to pay an overpriced ticket for a to-be-continued, I would buy HBO and watch Entourage. Kevin Costner made his name by refusing to ever do a sequel... just imagine if he had done Waterworld II, we would be sitting through 3 more hours of pure shit.

The New Frat Pack

2006-09-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

Since the release of movies such as Old School, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, and The 40-Year Old Virgin, the pubblic has created the term "Frat Pack" to categorize these hilarious comedies. After the success of the "Frat Pack," many other releases have attempted to mimic the humor, yet in my opinion have fallen well short of funny. Newer releases such as Taladega Nights and Accepted do not nearly compare to the first batch in my opinion. Which will be the next great Frat Pack film?? Will the sequels even compare to the originals?? Do these Frat Pack films match up to 90's great comedies such as Liar, Liar or Ace Ventura?? or will Airplane forever hold the top comedy spot?? Any thoughts...