For the most part, I’m trying to make this series stand alone blog posts, but for this one I can’t help referencing an earlier one, The Four Things You Need To Know. This post might make a little more sense if you go read that one, but as a quick refresher, here are the four things: What does my character want? Why does my character … Continue reading Writing About Writing: Ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!!!
If I had to pick the two most common pieces of advice given to writers, they are as follows: Write a lot Read a lot There’s a damn fine reason they are so common. Ultimately, you won’t learn to write without writing. And it’s very hard to know what makes good writing good and bad writing bad if you aren’t consuming the work of others. … Continue reading Writing About Writing: Other Fields Writers Should Study
Potentially the most overrated exercise in creative writing is the character bio. It’s not that they’re COMPLETELY useless because I’m sure they’re at least somewhat helpful to at least some people. However, I think it’s also possible to trick yourself into thinking that you’re making a ton of progress by writing character bios when you’re not. You could write a bio for everyone from your … Continue reading Writing About Writing: A Case Against Character Bios (ft. Star Wars!!)
I am a huge believer in backwards writing. If there’s a more officially-accepted term for this practice, I have yet to hear it, so for me, it’s backwards writing. Backwards writing is the idea that some of the first scenes you write should be some of the later scenes in your script. I strongly believe that it’s virtually impossible to know what your beginning should … Continue reading Writing About Writing: Try Writing Backwards!
So you want to write a screenplay. Awesome! I’m proud of you. Remember, no matter how crappy your screenplay is, you will be miles ahead of every single person who’s ever said “I have a great idea for a movie!” but never bothered to write that script, which from my experience is the entire human population outside of screenwriters. So where do you start? I … Continue reading Writing About Writing: The Four Things You Need To Know
So I’m not super immersed in the world of live-your-best-life podcasts, but there is one I follow near religiously, which is the Office Hours Podcast with TK Coleman and Isaac Morehouse. This podcast’s advice actually helped me get the job I have now, so please check it out. It’s legit, and especially helpful if you’re pursuing a career in a creative field. Spoiler alert: they’re … Continue reading Another 30 Day Challenge: Writing About Writing
This is a big one, ya’all. Until yesterday, I had not seen a single Studio Ghibli film. There was never a deliberate desire to avoid them. I’ve spent the past several years telling people I’ve never seen one and quickly following it up with “Yeah, I need to do that.”
I’m not 100% sure why, but I’ve always gotten the impression that Spirited Away was THE quintessential Miyazaki film. Maybe it’s because it’s the only one that won an Oscar; Maybe I’ve just heard the name more than any other; Maybe it’s because No-Face merch is so ubiquitous. So when the lovely people of Fathom Events decided to bring it back to theaters, I decided to go. After all, if I had taken this long to watch it, might as well make sure I do it right.
Continue reading “Movies I Should’ve Seen By Now: Spirited Away”
If you follow a fair amount of movie-related media, you know it’s that time of year when everyone’s publishing those roundup posts of “Most Anticipated Fall 2018 Movies.” After binging these types of roundups for more time than I care to admit, I’ve assembled what I hope is a close-to-comprehensive list of all the narrative, feature-length, English language movies that will be widely theatrically released … Continue reading I Watched 75 Fall Movie Trailers So You Don’t Have To
I am a firm believer that you can learn a lot about someone by asking them what their guilty pleasure movies are. The reason why is because a person’s “guilty pleasure” reveals a little bit about their intellect as well as a little bit about their emotions. The very definition of a guilty pleasure is a struggle between these two sides that exist in every person. I love learning what makes someone happy as well as what a person believes should make them happy.
However, one thing I don’t think we talk about enough is the other side of the coin. That is, the movies that we think should make us happy that just don’t. I call them guilty apathy movies. These are those films where I recognize on an intellectual level that the movie is well-executed. It’s a solid idea that’s written well, acted well, shot well, and edited well. These are the cases where it’s incredibly difficult to point at something and say “welp, there’s the flaw that killed the whole thing” (not that I won’t try anyway).
Yet at the same time, guilty apathy movies just don’t punch me in the gut and make me feel something. They’re not fun the way something like Adventures in Babysitting or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is fun. They don’t give me a precious “d’awww” moment like When Harry Met Sally or Crazy, Stupid, Love. They don’t rip my heart out like Steel Magnolias or Pay it Forward. They don’t make me laugh the way I laugh at Mean Girls or My Cousin Vinny. They don’t inspire me like Sing Street or Whiplash. They don’t take me on the adventure of Kingsman: The Secret Service or Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
So the Internet is talking about the Oscars. Specifically, they’re talking about a controversial decision to present an award for “Achievement in Popular Film” in addition to the regular Best Picture Oscar.
It’s still up in the air as to what constitutes a “popular” movie and The Hollywood Reporter has a great piece articulating all the potential logistic issues with that. It seems to me though that the general intention of the Academy is to shrink the disconnect between its members and the general movie-going public. The logic seems to be “if our telecast features all these Star Wars and superhero movies that everyone likes, people will be more likely to care about our awards and tune into the ceremony.”
I will say I think the Academy’s heart is in the right place. It’s always been a little irksome to me how many awesome movies are never recognized by the Academy simply because they’re not the Academy’s type. Personally, I think a better solution would be to introduce genre categories. For example, there are Grammys for Best Country Album, Best Rock Album, Best Rap Album, etc. in addition to an overall Album of the Year award. Likewise there could be Oscars for Best Comedy, Best Horror, Best Action, Best Sci-Fi, etc. in addition to a Best Picture Award.
I have some issues with this whole “popular” thing though. There’s a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg issue because most years, there are a fair number of films that become more popular precisely because they are nominated for an Oscar. One of the more positive things about the awards is that they encourage audiences to go out and see smaller indie films that never would have had such a large audience without their nominations. Now, those small indie films may have to compete for screens with the popular movie nominees.
Continue reading “Let’s Talk About This Whole Popular Movie Oscar Thing”
Butcher Thoughts 