Art Is Art
Art is an expression of the Unconscious. The deepest layer of man’s Psyche.
The Unconscious expresses itself in various forms – Art being one of them.
Why Art?
Art exists to move man away from the intellectual thinking to the emotive feeling side of his personality.
Art in all forms, exists to move, to shock, to produce a non intellectual reaction.
Watch It!
I’m watching a movie the other night, not a great movie, but I sat through it anyhow.
The story was okay, nothing special. Characters and dialogue were at best pretty ordinary.
I ask myself why it was so many lame movies are made each year? Why so many average and so many poor movies?
I started thinking about the demise of story telling over the last 100 years. Story telling played an important part in every culture. Fairy stories, legends, myths, fables and so on.
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Posted by Patrick
Cameron’s Demise
Watched a trailer for James Cameron’s new multi-million dollar extravaganza, that has been many years in the making. Have to say, I’m not impressed.
If that’s the best Cameron can do, he’s past his sell-by-date.
The story looks pathetically weak. Crammed full of special effects. All kinds or new machinery, hardware and weapons. Its little more than Alien plus bits taken from Terminator and hashed together.
Mining crew land on planet with hostile alien race. Mining planet contains toxic atmosphere. Mining crew fights alien race. Even stars Sigourney Weaver. Cameron looks desperate to recapture some of his old glory.
The storyline is weak. No movie can live on special effects alone.
For a movie to succeed it needs a good solid storyline as a basis. It needs characters you can relate to and empathise with. It needs character development and a plot that supports these essentials.
Don’t believe me? Look at these:
The Matrix (number 1) was an outstanding movie. It had a good plot. Character development, outstanding novelty value coupled with excellent special effects.
Matrix Revisted (number 2) was okay. 50% was watchable. The other 50% was awful. The scenes in Zion were sleep inducing. The plot had lost its way. Many elements did not make sense. They hatched various threads together from the first movie, parts did not jell. Special effects were good.
Matrix Revolution (number 3) was almost unwatchable. It was dire. The plot was lousy. Character development was weak. By the end, you couldn’t give a damn what happened to whom. And the storyline was laughable. A complete joke.
Other examples?
Starship Troopers.
Marines fighting Alien life forms on another planet. Very weak plot. Very weak characters. In fact they were one-dimensional. Movie relied almost entirely on special effects for spectacle. It was unwatchable.
Terminator 3
Weak almost non-existent plot. Pathetic characters. Relied heavily, almost totally on special effects.
The hollywood executives may not have realised it yet, so here’s a pointer.
No movie can stand on SFX alone. A decent plot is essential. Characters you can relate to and empathise with. A plot that moves you. And if you can throw it in the mix, decent dialogue.
Take a look at Pans Labyrinth. A very low budget movie, with good special effects integrated into the storyline. The special effects don’t dominate the story like some absurd advertising hoarding shouting “Look At Me” “Look At Me”.
Special effects must support the story, support the movie. They cannot be the story or the movie. Human beings quickly tire of gimmicks such as special effects.
Another ingredient lacking in many movies is originality.
Don’t think so?
How many sequels matched the original movie?
You can probably count them on one finger.
All sequels are top-ups. The audience has dipped its toe in the water, and may come back a second time to pick up the thread. Invariably sequels are lousy.
I reckon this movie (Avator) is a dud.
Not recommended.
Runtime: 162 mins.