Welcome to issue four of The Iron Warrior. The term is now past the half-way mark, with the relaxation of reading week a distant memory and finals looming on the horizon. Hopefully by now we all know where we will be next term, whether it be travelling, on co-op or back in Waterloo for another term of school. I cannot believe that my contemporaries and I are now entering our final year as undergrads. I am starting my last co-op term this spring but it seems like only yesterday I was looking for my first co-op placement. It really is startling how time flies.
Over the past year, I have had intermittent interludes of free time. With this free time, I attempted to learn more about filmmaking and the history of film. I am by no means an expert in this field; however, I have observed a few things. Since the summer, I have asked almost everyone I know what their favourite must-see movies are and I have compiled quite the list, containing everything: the black and white classics; films created from literature; science fiction phenomena; comedies of the 80s; foreign films from across the globe; and newly animated hits. If I had to narrow this down to a varied group of top ten movies, they would be: Singin’ In The Rain, Up, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Darjeeling Limited, Amélie, The Dead Poets Society, The Departed, The Shawshank Redemption, The Princess Bride, and Into the Wild. Wow, that was difficult to do since there are definitely hundreds of amazing movies worthy of being viewed. And what are rainy afternoons for anyway, right?
It is remarkable to think how much the movie industry has changed since it started out, not that long ago at all. I mean, so much of what I learn takes place on a geologic time scale, completely unfathomable in comparison to a human life. But movies are changing so rapidly, it is amazing to be seeing these changes happen in our lifetime. Technology is the way in which this art form has been allowed flourish. Just to put it in perspective, silent films gave way to synchronized sound at the turn of the century. The first talking picture feature film was The Jazz Singer, released in 1927, around the time when our grandparents were born. This was followed by modern day colour motion pictures, which were common in theatres by the 1930s. A big advancement that we have all observed is the introduction of special effects. Anyone who has seen all of the Star Wars films can attest to this (although whether these improved special effects have lead to better movies in this particular case is questionable).
Animated movies have visibly advanced the most of any form since we were young. This medium is no longer restricted to the typical kid movie. Don’t get me wrong, I can definitely appreciate Bambi and Cinderella as much as the next person, but the new wave of Pixar and DreamWorks pictures are hilarious for those of all ages. Toy Story triggered what seems to be an endless wave of these new animated movies. Wall-E, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me are just four movies that are slightly more unconventional than the average animated film, containing messages of true value, like environmental protection, as well as pushing the bounds of hilarity with larger than life characters and story lines. “It’s so fluffy!!!”
Interestingly, small, independent films are being viewed more than ever before. The availability of information through the internet has contributed to this immensely. One of my favourite ways to find movies I would like to rent or see in the theatre is by watching trailers on YouTube. Another great way to find movies is by searching for similar films based on theme, actor or style. Clerkdogs.com is a great site for this, where you can search for movies with commonalities to one another. The site even says whether its recommendations are darker, wittier, or more mainstream, and can match based on character depth, pace, mood and cinematography.
Movies such as Black Swan and Barney’s Version are shown in major chain movie theatres across Canada now too. In part, this may be the result of famous actors and actresses taking pay cuts to star in lower budget films. Natalie Portman and George Clooney are a few in the movie business who have taken on these types of projects, starring in Garden State and Burn after Reading, respectively. Small movie theatres are ideal, whether you want to see foreign films or other unique movies that are rarely seen outside of film festivals. We are lucky enough to have the Princess Cinemas in Uptown Waterloo that offer a new spin on the classic movie-viewing experience.
Inversely, mainstream blockbusters are becoming more and more recognized by critics. Long ago, this was always the case, where studios like MGM dominated the box office but in the more recent past, blockbusters were tossed aside by critics as being mass produced money-making machines. Lately, this has changed and a balance exists between larger and smaller movie productions. This is due in part to the efforts made by productions such as the Academy Awards who are attempting to increase viewership to their programs. Having younger hosts, like James Franco and Anne Hathaway, have drawn larger crowds to their television sets in hopes of boosting the dwindling ratings of the past decade. The recognition of large scale action movies such as Avatar and Inception, in conjunction with the smaller, offbeat films, also entices a variety of people to tune in.
The question could be raised as to whether this is hindering or helping the movie industry. Is the further promotion of big budget movies holding back smaller movies made by newcomers to the film world? Is quantity being favoured over quality? Is money being valued over creativity? That could definitely be disputed. However, I feel that the continual growth of international film festivals, like those in Toronto and Cannes, is a sign not to worry. More and more people are watching all types of movies, regardless to their star power or genre.
On February 27th, the 83rd Academy Awards were held once again at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. As I mentioned above, James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted this year’s Oscars. I was really hoping that they would do a spectacular job but I, like many others, was disappointed. There were many costume changes with lots of very big and expensive looking smiles, but I found it light on the actual joke content. Perhaps it was just nerves, but Franco appeared to be rather lost throughout the entire show. Hathaway, in an eager attempt to drag along her less conscious co-host, was overly bubbly, like a clown at a kid’s birthday party. I found myself wishing that Billy Crystal would have just stayed on stage to host after he introduced a small Bob Hope vignette.
There are a few shining moments in the program. The attempt to reach out to the younger audiences lent itself nicely to an auto-tuned mash-up which made fun of the lack of musicals released in 2010. So instead, a mix of Harry Potter, Twilight, and Toy Story clips were compiled into a hilarious song, if you can call it that. It was also nice to see Toy Story 3 win for Animated Feature Film and Best Song, by Randy Newman. Actually, his acceptance speech was my favourite of the night, poking fun at the music that begins during the speeches to coerce the winners to wrap it up.
Overall, it was a somewhat mundane show and I was disappointed by the lack of excitement. There was no distinct ‘winner’ of the show, with The Fighter, Inception and The Social Network all performing respectably. The King’s Speech received the top honour with Best Picture. Predictably, Natalie Portman and Colin Firth won for best acting, both giving very sweet, heartfelt acceptance speeches. Personally, I would have loved to have seen the Coen brothers win in the Best Director category for True Grit, an amazing dark humour spin to an old western. Although True Grit did not win in any category, this movie was one of my favourite Oscar hopefuls, having been nominated for ten awards.
I really hope that some of this rambling has been interesting. I know not everyone enjoys watching awards shows or even watching movies necessarily, but for me it is one of the best ways to escape for two hours or so. If you have any good movie suggestions, be sure to let me know!
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