Inside the Screenplay

One of my favorite movies of all time is Pixar's Inside Out. The movie pushing the boundaries of not only kids movies, but movies in general. Pixar's movies tend to be classics but in my opinion Inside Out is in a league of its own. Check this awesome video done by Lesson from the Screenplay analyzing the amazing film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulm7bcB2xvY

The Beauty of Media

I tend to watch movies more than I watch tv and I definitely watch tv more than I play video games. That being said I recently stumbled upon an amazing YouTube channel that is everything that YouTube aspires to be an more. Funny, creative, different, educational, and beautifully made. It combines so many different types of media into a six minute video and it is impossible for me to do it justice. Just watch and enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja9DjLG8paU

The Blockbuster War

The Avengers: Infinity War is set to release on April 27th, 2018. An unprecedented ten years of film making and eighteen films are all leading to this movie. There is no doubt in my mind that the movie will be a blast and the public will love it. On the other side of that coin is super hero fatigue. While I do love movies like Iron Man and Black Panther, seeing something without a Marvel or DC logo in the opening credits is pretty neat too. If I were a betting man I would say that after the Infinity War movies the super hero movie genre will slowly start to decline and we will have a new blockbuster giant. Who could fill that monstrous gap left my the super hero genre? How about a big monster? The recent success of  2014 Godzilla and 2017 Kong: Skull Island shows that the public wants big monster movies like that. On top of that the company that owns that majority of the big monster franchises, Legendary, clearly has plans for a cinematic universe much like Marvel. Then in the horizon we see Pacific Rim: Uprising and Rampage which are causing lots of internet buzz and have lots of star power to help bring in casual fans. The big monster movies are a dark horse in the blockbuster war and I think I have a good feel about the inevitable change. But only time will tell which one truly is the King of movies.

The Shape of Film

I'm a little late to the party on this one but let's talk about the Oscars. Sadly I was wrong about my pick for the Best Picture, but I think that's a good thing. In 2009 the Academy changed the number of nominees in the Best Picture race from five to ten. They did this with the hope of bringing in more diverse films which would result in more people watching the ceremony. While oddball films like District 9, Mad Max, and Get Out have been nominated, sadly they rarely stand a chance to take home the crown since they weren't "Oscar movies". Then along comes Guillermo Del Toro with The Shape of Water. I loved the movie when I saw it but I enjoyed others more so it wasn't even on my radar for the Best Picture winner. That being said, The Shape of Water winning that accolade just might change film as we know it. The movie's story, unorthodox. The movie's style, stunning. The movie's music, magical. Guillermo Del Toro takes an indie story and combines it with a blockbuster budget to give us a story like no other. What does this mean though? This means that original, ambitious, weird, different film making is now "prestige" worthy in the eyes of the Academy. Outside the box movies like these aren't condemned to the cult classic life cycle anymore. They can get the recognition they deserve and change the shape of film making as we know it.