Stuart Homfray The Weblog

Making Movies: Art Or Business

In his Art v Business posting, Lee Penney at The Digital Peninsula asks the question: can art (specifically films) sit comfortably with business? Are films, in fact, actually art at all, or simply business?

My take on this seems to be similar in general to Lee’s in that I also feel anything creative may be considered art, but that it’s all, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder (apologies for the obvious cliche there!) What I would like to add to this is that I feel that there should definitely be some semblance of skill and technique in there, but I’m starting to digress a little…

Back to the question - are films art or business? I think the answer to this is simply yes! That may sound like a cop-out, but sitting this on particular fence is not all that painful!! :) Spending millions on making a movie does not preclude it from being artistic, but judging by most blockbusters, it certainly doesn’t help. Conversly, making a film for peanuts does not neccessarily mean that it’s suitable for anyone other than monkeys (sorry to simian readers out there for that gratuitous pun).

It’s all down to attitudes - the attidude of the director and the attitudes of those supplying the money. Lee wonders whether …big salaries are limiting the number of ‘masterpieces’ that are being produced. I think that it’s more a question of whether the aim of making the film is to make a profit, or whether it’s to make a significant, valuable (in artistic terms) piece of work. If it’s the former, then we’re highly unlikely to get ‘art’ - if the latter, then at least there’s more of a chance.

But hell, that’s just my opinion - as I stated earlier, it’s up to the individual concerned as to what they consider art! Who knows, you may think that Spiderman 2 was as significant as anything produced by Michaelangelo!

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

Now THIS is the most enjoyable movie review website I’ve ever seen!

Basically, it looks at the physics of films (not surprisingly!) and points out the flaws in the science of submachine guns:

“…the thirty-round magazine in a Mac 10 will be expended in a mere 1.8 seconds of sustained fire! If our shooter blazes away steadily for a total of only 3 minutes, his or her Mac 10 will spit out around 3000 chunks of lead at roughly 15 grams a piece. This amounts to 45 kilograms or a little less than 100 pounds of lead.“

scaling:

“…a misguided scientist, radioactive fallout, pollution, or some other folly of mankind abnormally shrinks or expands someone or some creature… Expanded objects or persons would have such low densities that they would be blown away in the wind like big balloons. Tiny people would suddenly exert huge pressures under their little feet since the area of their feet would be miniscule but their weight the same.“

and

“the attractive force of glass“

when someone gets shot!

Amongst the reviews are “The Hulk“, “The Matrix Reloaded“, “K-19 The Widowmaker“, “Titanic“, and “Speed“.

Latest Top Secret MGM DVD Film Series Proposal!!

A confidential email that has been passed to me from a spy within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talks about a planned new trilogy of films about Jesus. Although still at a very early stage, the proposed film titles are:

• Jesus - his birth, early life, and search for his real father
• Jesus II: Messiah Under Fire - realisation of his true vocation, friendships, relationships, betrayal, and dinner parties
• Jesus Threesus - the final years, ascension, reunion with his father, and dealing with inacccurate biographers

Each DVD will feature extras such as commentaries, interviews, games, and competitions, and a boxed set will feature an extra DVD titled ‘Holier Than Thou: The Making of the Jesus Chronicles‘, discussing the origins of the story, the actors, and an interview with the director of all three films, Paul Anderson

Potential Late Addition to the third Matrix movie…

Silicon.com’s Weekly Roundup Newsletter posts the following ‘advisory’ to Microsoft:

“with the third Matrix film due for release later this year, the film makers might yet be persuaded to include a scene showing Trinity using Windows to connect to a printer without having to reinstall the damn drivers four times“

One thing that amused me about the original Matrix movie, is the role of Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving. Weaving also took the role of Douglas Jardine in the 1984 mini-series, Bodyline, a role not completely dissimilar to that of Agent Smith!

Jardine became possibly the most hated man in Australia after he took an England cricket team there in 1932 in order to win back The Ashes. Jardine’s team utilised a new fielding tactic named ‘Leg Theory’, that soon came to be referred to as ‘Bodyline’.

Put simply, the goal of this tactic was to have the bowler deliver a short pitched bouncing ball on a line on or outside the leg stump. On the leg side there would be almost the entire fielding team, and thus the only option for scoring was to hit the ball to the leg side where there was quite a good chance of being caught if you got the shot even slightly wrong. Added to this, the English bowling attack contained two extremely good bowlers - Harold Larwood and Bill Voce - with Larwood being able to bowl at 90mph. As you can imagine, this ever-so-slightly dangerous tactic unnerved the Aussies a little!

Anyway, I find the Weaving connection between these two characters quite amusing:

“Mr…..Anderson. I am…..not here to win friends……I am here….to win the Ashes. Do you hear that…….Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of…….inevitability.“

Film News…

The first (and probably the last) of my short movie info bursts…

I’ve just seen (yes, I’m so in the know!) that a remake of the classic Japanese horror tale Ringu (no, not Pingu - that’s completely different, although it’s sometimes just as disturbing!) has been released in the States. The remake, entitled, not surprisingly, The Ring, seems to get pretty good reviews, so it’s definately something that needs to be seen…

Don’t watch any strange videotapes……