A Series of Genres: Sci-Fi

I think it’s about time to wrap up this series. This genre study has been an adventure, to say the less. I want to end this series with my all-time favorite genre, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi). In my Fantasy post I defined Sci-Fi as being, “rooted in science or scientific theory that usually has an outer space setting.” I would like to take that definition and expand upon it. Science fiction films use science, pseudoscience, and / or scientific theories as their primary plot device. The “science” in these films tend to be partially fabricated, if not totally fabricated. Along with “science”, the Sci-Fi genre usually showcases these characteristics: outer space as a setting, time or interstellar travel, new technology, aliens, mutants, androids / robots being used as characters, or exploration of an else-world scenarios. Sci-Fi films give the audience an outlet to escape reality, much like the Fantasy genre dose, hence why most combined the two genres as Sci-Fi / Fantasy. 

There have been many visionaries, throughout history that have given us that escape. In the modern world, movies and their director are the ones responsible for proving that form of entertainment. I would like to share a handful of directors that have given us some of the best Sci-Fi worlds in cinema. First off there is J.J Abrams, he started his career as a television producer, creating shows like Alias, Lost, and Fringe. He then made a jump to the silver screen directing Mission: Impossible III, from there Abrams flexed his geek muscles and made the reboot to Star Trek. J.J. Abrams has continued down this Sci-Fi path directing Super 8, and the sequel to Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness. His latest project is none other than Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. 

The next director I have to mention is James Cameron, the father of The Terminator. Looking at James Cameron’s filmography he has written pretty much everything in the Terminator universe. James Cameron is also responsible for Avatar (not the Last Airbender) and their sequels, which he is currently working on. His plan is to film Avatar 2, 3, and 4 all back-to-back. Other Sci-Fi films James Cameron has been a part of include, The Abyss and Aliens. Before James Cameron there was Ridley Scott, who made Alien, the preceding film to Aliens. His very next film was Blade Runner, which is arguable one of best Sci-fi films ever made. Ridley Scott didn't touch the Sci-Fi genre again until 2012 with the film Prometheus, which was a prequel / spin-off to the Alien franchise. As far as, Ridley Scott future career goes, he is in talks of producing an Alien movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, along with a sequel to Prometheus. 

I’m going to move from Ridley Scott to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is synonymous with filmmaking, his name has been attached to many different projects, spanning across film, television, and video games. I’m sure you have heard of this guy, but if not, let me rattle off some of his films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and, War of the Worlds (remake). Those are only the Sci-Fi films he has directed, which is only the tip of the iceberg, especially if factor in all of the films he has produced. Form his resume it seems like he know what he is doing when to come to Sci-Fi. As a matter of fact, some of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi films were directed by Spielberg. 

If you have been paying attention, so far, then you may have realized that a lot of the films I have mentioned are big budget summer blockbuster films, with intense visual effects. To bring these vast worlds to life on the big screen, filmmakers have to create them digitally and sometime partially. For me, good VFX is a perfect balance of “real” and “fake” some may even call it, seamless. I found it interesting that most filmmakers that work on Sci-Fi films usually have to create new ways to capture visual effect shots. One of those filmmakers is George Lucas, who founded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in 1975 while working on the first Star War film. ILM should sound fairly familiar because that company is responsible for most of the visual effects today. One of the films that stick out in my mind, which made major breakthroughs in visual effects and “CGI” is Tron (1982). 

Tron is credited as the first film to use extensive computer animation, but because of the capacity of the computers, at that time, the film only uses that form of technology for about twenty minutes of the film. The rest of the visual effect shots had to be done more traditionally by filming in black-and-white with an all-black backgrounds. The color bits were added in later with rotoscopic techniques and cel-animation. It’s been said that because of the process and cost, that form of animation hasn't really been used again in a feature film. The next film to have similar ambitions as Tron, visually speaking, was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was nearly ten years after Tron. T2’s visual effects, advanced the applications of CGI by being the first film to utilize natural human motion from a CG character. These advancements landed the film an Academy Award in the Best Visual Effects category. 

At the end of 1990’s, 1999 to be exact, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science gave The Matrix and Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Personally, I think The Matrix has heavily inspired visual effect artists today, by popularizing the effect known as “bullet time” See this effect for the “first time” in the Matrix was one of the coolest things in a movie. I remember being in full amazement at point in the film. Now days, that effect or a variant of that effect is used quite often, case and point, Zack Snyder. 

I could spend a whole post talking about visual effects and CGI, and I may in the future, but we are here talking about Sci-Fi films. Well, Sci-Fi films and visual effect go hand-in-hand, especially films being made now. The visual effects in a Sci-Fi film tend to be its best quality, so much so, the Academy takes notice awarding them the Best Visual Effects Oscar. This category and other visual categories like Best Make-Up is really the only love the Academy shows towards Sci-Fi films. Every once in a while a Sci-Fi film is nominated for the Best Picture category. In 1982, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was nominated for Best Picture but, Gandhi took home the prize that year. In recent years, the Best Picture category has expanded its potential list of nominations to ten nominations. Since that change, only five Sci-Fi films have been recognized as one of the greats: Avatar, District 9, Inception, Gravity, and Her. 

What Sci-Fi films are considered great? We have already examined some of the great directors that have produced great Sci-Fi films. We have even explored the world of visual effects and how Sci-Fi films have evolved that area of filmmaking. This exploration leads us into the many accolades these films have received for breathtaking visuals, some have even been nominated for the most prestigious film awards, The Academy Award (Oscar). Now, I want to share with you my favorite Sci-Fi films.

My favorite Big Budget Sci-Fi films are: 

1. Guardians of the Galaxy 
2. Tie: Interstellar / Inception 
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey 
5. Independence Day 

My favorite Indie Sci-Fi films are: 

1. Moon 
2. District 9 
3. Donnie Darko 
4. Sunshine 
5. Attack The Block 

• Recommendations: Her, Snowpiercer, and Ex Machina

Top Franchise in Sci-Fi:

1. Star Wars 
2. Back to the Future 
3. Jurassic Park 
4. Star Trek 
5. Terminator 

• Honorable Mention: Planet of the Apes 

I have mentioned before in this series that Star Wars was a Fantasy set in space. I still hold that to be true. The story element line up with many fantasy tales, but there a lot of Sci-Fi elements as well. Star Wars become a full Sci-Fi film, if you compare it to the definition I stated back in the first paragraph. I have been a Star Wars fan for quite some time, well since the 90’s when I first learned about Star Wars. My parents had the original Star War trilogy on VHS. I was part of the millions who watch every single prequel film at their midnight release. I understand why die hard Star Wars fan disown the prequels. As I aged, I began to sway with that line of thinking more and more because Star Wars became very kiddie. My excitement of Star Wars has been rekindled because of The Force Awakens. If you are a huge Star Wars fan, like me, than I suggest checking out AMC Jedi Council. It’s a weekly show, hosted by cast members of AMC Movie Talk, which covers everything Star Wars. 

Back to the Future is by far one of my all-time favorite movies. The funny thing about Back to the Future is that it could have been on any one of these genre lists. It is first and foremost a comedy, with the premises, what would it be like to hang out with your parents when they were a teenagers. To achieve that goal a time machine is in order, and if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? This film franchise first takes us back to 1955, were Marty has to hang out for a few days while Doc Brown figures outs how to send Marty back to 1985. The second film shows us the future, 2015, that right the future is now. In the third film, Doc has become trapped in 1885, the old west era, and Marty has to rescue him before Biff’s descendant kills him. Overall Back to the Future is a great action / adventure comedy with sci-fi elements. 

Have you ever been to a museum and seen dinosaur bones, or even a model of a dinosaur and think, “I want to see a real dinosaur?” Well, the Jurassic Park franchise made that dream come true. Steven Spielberg brought, a world where dinosaur can be visited by humans at a theme park named Jurassic Park. Our amazement is shared with the character Dr Grant (Sam Neill) when the first dinosaur is revealed. By the end of the film our opinion to see a real dinosaur, changes because of the apex predator known as the T-Rex. He reigns king of the dinosaur until the third movie, when the Spinosaurus becomes the new big bad dinosaur. The next film in the franchise is Jurassic World, it’s kind of a reboot. The film’s synopses: In an attempt to boost visitor’s attendance, park scientist create a new dinosaur by mixing the DNA of many different dinosaurs. This new species of dinosaur, Indominus Rex, escapes its enclosure causing death and destruction upon the park. It’s up to Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save the day before too much damage has been done. 

I didn't really get into the Star Trek universe until the rebooted movies directed by J.J Abrams. These movies brought an updated version of the original Star Trek series / films, and revitalized the franchise. I personally liked The Next Generation television series a little better than the original series, but original series had a better set of films. Arguably, the best film in that franchise is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, some even claim it to be the best Sci-Fi film ever made. Star Trek is what I imagine when some say Sci-fi, because the characters have to use their own wits and science to solve the problems in the universe. Star Trek also screams Sci-Fi because of the tech. The original series didn't have that big of a budget, so the show’s creators had to be creative in creating “futuristic looking tech.” I know that some of these effects were achieved in the sound design, who could forget those classic beeps and bops. 

I almost didn't include The Terminator franchise because this film series hasn't made that immense of an impact on my viewing experience. I think I speak for most film fans that The Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are the best of the franchise. Let’s be honest guys the only real reason we watched Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is to see Kristanna Loken in tight leathers. Besides the eye candy I didn't think that film was that good. Terminator Salvation was a decent film. I’m personally NOT the biggest fan of McG’s work. I kind of enjoyed his television show, Chuck, but that’s about it. I’m kind of looking forward to Terminator Genisys, primarily because of the cast: Jason Clark (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Lee Byung-hun (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator). For me the one person that keeps The Terminator franchise alive is Arnold Schwarzenegger. He made The Terminator / T-800 an iconic character. This movie made Arnold Schwarzenegger a cool action hero that you don’t want to mess with. 

Honorable Mention: Planet of the Apes nearly made it to my top five over The Terminator. The main reason I didn't include this franchise is because I haven’t really been that invested into the films. Much like Star Trek I was more or less introduced to the franchise with the reboots. I do remember watching the 1963 film with my father, one of the times it aired on the television network TCM. I barely remember the first rebooted film by Tim Burton, starring Mark Wahlberg. The newest incarnations of Planet of the Apes are really good. I think Andy Serkis should have gotten at least a nomination for best supporting actor for his work in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I also think that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes should have won the Oscar for best visual effect last year, over Interstellar. 

What are your favorite Sci-Fi films?

A Series of Genres: Comic Book Movies

We are about one month away from the opening of Marvel’s Avengers Age of Ultron and the beginning of the summer blockbuster movie season. What a perfect way to get excited about the latest comic book movie, by dedicating this post, which is a part of my genre series, to comic book movies. My original plan was to save this genre to the end, so I could save the best for last. The last post in this series, animated film for those of you keeping track, through that plan out the window. There were a few other factors to focusing on this genre now, rather than later. One of those factors was a buddy of mine’s podcast title, Informal Talks. This podcast should sound somewhat familiar because this series was inspired by a post on their site. Anyways, in this past week’s episode Devon and friends began by talking about the latest movie news, which consisted primarily of comic book movies. Comments during the podcast were mostly about the new X-men, Batman, and Superman films and how they are “shit”. These comments got me heated, and jump started this post. 

I personally disagree with their comments, sort of. My disagreements are with the premise that those films are “shit” in general. I typically reserve that declaration for the worst of the worst, since that jargon is referring to defecation. I may be a little more empathic to the notion that the films didn’t do the characters justice. This area of expertise is where I have to tip my hat to Devon and the guests of Informal Talks, because they know WAY more about comic books than I do. Rightfully so, they have more creditably to how well the filmmaker adapted the various comic characters. With that being said I think a problem has arisen. In the sweaty nerd culture this problem is called the “Um, Actually” syndrome. This is the constant correction of people who spout the wrong information about the subject matters popular in the geek / nerd culture. These corrections are almost always prefaced by the phrase “um, actually.”  

For the well read this problem manifest in the form of, “The book was better” which is usually followed by a laundry list of inaccuracies. Simply, this is a bad argument when talking about movies, because movies are a different medium from books / comics. There may be a strong case to be had when talking about movies adapted from other materials, especially if major plot points or character were changed significantly. There is a debate waiting to be had on what constitutes as a significant change. Mr. Pedantic will get caught up on every little change and call them significant, whereas Mr. Apathetic is willing to let some details slide, as long as the core attributes are intact. I really don’t want this post to focus primarily on this subject, but I do want to showcase my line of thinking, when determining the best comic book movies. I attempt to measure all the attributes of a film, include the truthfulness to its source material, to get a better picture of their strengths and weakness, therefore receiving a more accurate analysis of the films. 

Hopefully this will give you a better idea on how I look at movies adapted from other materials. So, when I reveal my list, you know the metric of my measuring stick. Before I share with you my favorite comic book movies let’s explore this genre's history. A history that is the epitome of a roller coaster ride. A history that showcases a fight between DC Comics and Marvel Comic, as they race to the top of the box office. A history that start back in the 1940’s. 

In the 1940’s there were a number of Serial Films being produced featuring DC Comics two main superheroes, Superman and Batman. Batman made his first appearance in the 1943 in a Serial Films title Batman, staring Lewis Wilson as Bruce Wanye / Batman. Superman followed in 1948 in its own Serial titled, Superman, staring Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent / Superman. Other superheroes serials from the 1940’s included Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), The Phantom (1943) and Captain America (1944). 

The 1950’s was the decade for Superman with the TV series, Adventures of Superman, staring George Reeves, which spawn a movie titled Superman and the Mole Men. The following decade, the 1960’s, Batman took the spotlight with the TV Series, Batman, staring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. The cast of this television show would reprise their roles in 1966 with a full length feature titled, Batman: The Movie. DC Comics rode Superman and Batman to the bank throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Marvel tried to interject with their TV-made movies: Spider-Man (1977), Dr. Strange (1978), and Captain America and its sequel (1979). Marvel’s efforts were crushed in 1978 when Richard Donner released Superman (Superman: The Movie), starring Christopher Reeve. I would say this film kick started the comic book movie craze, which lead right into the 80’s 

Four, Superman related films came out during the 1980’s: Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Unfortunately the Superman films progressively worsen both in popularity and financially. Superman made a little over 300 million, while Superman IV made about 15.5 million. Marvel had success with their television show / TV made movies, during this time. Marvel only had one feature length film produced during the 80’s, that wasn’t TV made or direct to video, and that film was Howard the Duck. As the 80’s were coming to a close Tim Burton released a dark toned Batman film starring, Michael Keaton. The film's tone was heavily influenced by Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. It was this version of Batman that we as fans wanted, so much so, a film franchise was built upon it. 

The 90’s was a dark time for comic book movies, even for Batman, who had three films released in this decade: Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997). Batman & Robin is arguably the worst Batman movie ever made. George Clooney has been known for giving fans back their money for that film. DC Comics also produced Steel starring Shaquille O'Neal as John Henry Irons / Steel. Steel made less than 2 million at the box office. Marvel for the most part made their first major dent into the film world with Blade in 1998 which made about 131 million at the box office. It would take another two or so years before they revitalized the comic book movie genre. 

During The summer of the new millennium Bryan Singer gave us X-Men. X-Men made just shy of 300 million at the box office, with those numbers Marvel produced three more sequels / prequels: X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Marvel continued to steamroll through the competition, producing at least one film every year. Primarily under the 20th Century Fox banner Marvel attempt to bring to alive many of their properties: Daredevil, Hulk, The Punisher, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider. Some of these films were fairly successful, while the majority of them were not. Marvel had their most success over at Sony, with their Spider-Man franchise, starring Tobey Maguire. 

While Marvel was focusing on cranking out many films a year, DC focused on putting out “quality” films. In 2005, Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise. Then three years later, in 2008, Nolan gave us a sequel titled, The Dark Knight, which is arguably the best Batman film, if not the best comic book movie. During that same year Marvel launched their first two movies in what will later become the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) these two films were Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk, which was more of a reboot of Ang Lee’s Hulk from 2003. Also right around that same time we got our first taste of Zack Snyder’s style with the films 300 (2007), and Watchmen (2009). Zack Snyder could one of the main driving forces behind The DC Cinematic Universe as we enter the 2010’s. 

Well, we have made it to present time and comic book movie are a staple of the summer movie season. Right now, Marvel rules the box office with their films in the MCU, which is being led by The Avengers (2012), with 1.5 billion dollars at the box office. The 2010’s have also brought with it a great deal of reboots. Sony rebooted Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield called The Amazing Spider-Man. 20th Century Fox “rebooted” the X-Men franchise, using a younger cast, titled X-Men: First Class. Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. rebooted Superman, as the Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill. The reboots don’t end there, Fox plans on releasing a rebooted Fantastic Four film this summer. Also Marvel has a legal hand shake to use Spider-Man in the MCU which will lead to a reboot of the reboot. As far as the future goes, Marvel has a rough outline of movies to be released from now until 2019. DC has a similar plan, but focusing on establishing a cinematic universe themselves. 

There has been a fair amount of comic book movies throughout history, but which ones hold up as the best of the best. I’m going to give you my favorite comic book franchise. Before I do I want to warn you all, I’m a bit Marvel bias, so you may not see as much love for DC on this list. 

1. Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU) 
2. Christopher's Nolan's Batman Trilogy 
3. Sam Raimi’s Spider-man Trilogy 
4. X-Men Franchise 
5. Superman Franchise

At first I didn’t want to include the whole MCU because there are a lot of films included in that list. As I began to think of the films in the MCU only Iron Man has a full trilogy, so I decided to include all the films in the MCU. I will give you my top five films in the MCU: 

1. Marvel's The Avengers 
2. Guardians of the Galaxy 
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
4. Iron Man 
5. Thor

Christopher Nolan raised the bar of what it means to be a comic book movie. The Dark Knight alone tops most people’s lists as one of the best comic book movies ever. I personally think the series ended on a weak note with The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark Knight Rises is one of those films that is good overall, but has enough issues that it doesn't rise to greatness like its predecessors.

Sam Raimi has given me the better set of Spider-man films. The second Spider-man film in this trilogy is by far the best Spider-man movie, period. I believe Tobey Maguire gave us a better Peter Parker than Andrew Garfield. I’m not saying Garfield did a bad job, but he was too much of a “Chic Geek” or “Hipster”. Let’s be realistic here, the success of the Spider-man and X-men’s franchise had to be a big confidence boost for Marvel to create a cohesive cinematic universe. 

Do you remember the 90’s X-men cartoon opening theme? I’m not sure how much of that show influenced Bryan Singer, but from my perspective, most of the mutants showcased in that opening were placed in the first X-Men film. Then a few years later an even better X-Men movie came out. I can safely say X2: X-Men United is in my top ten favorite comic book movies. Then Bryan Singer left to direct Superman Returns, which lead to a major downgrade in quality. Matthew Vaughn was going to replace Singer at the helm, but left early on into production for personal reasons, his replacement was Brett Ratner. Ratner turned out a bad X-men film. Fox’s plans after X-Men: The Last Stand was to make a few origin stories, including Wolverine, Magneto, and “The First Class” (Cyclopes, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman). X-Men Origins: Wolverine more or less tanked. So, Fox brought back Matthew Vaughn as a director and allowed him to make his X-men film. He combined the Magneto origin story with his First Class story to create a prequel / “reboot” to the first X-men film. This film was going to take place in the 60’s and focus on a younger Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. The film had success and revitalized the franchise. A sequel titled, X-Men: Days of Future Past, was made with Bryan Singer at the helm. I thought DOFP was one of the best movies of this past summer, one word, Quicksilver. 

Superman is by far the most recognizable superhero, he is beloved by many including his films. Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman (Superman: The Move) pretty much defines who Superman was climatically. Yes, there were a few actors to bring Superman to life before Christopher Reeve, but it’s his take on the character that sticks in our minds. Like most comic book movies franchises, the films had a rapid decline in quality. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is arguably one of the worst comic movie ever made, and by far the worst Superman movie. Superman didn’t make another appearance on the big screen until 2006 with Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. It was a decent movie, but not the greatest Superman movie. I enjoyed the cast: Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth but I didn’t enjoy the story. Just a few years ago, summer 2013, we almost got a Superman film that was as good as the 1979 film. For me the Man of Steel was a good film, but the last 45 minutes gave me battle fatigue. Even with the “bad” I can’t wait for the next Superman film, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

What are your favorite comic book movies?

A Series of Genres: Animation

AMC Movie New launched their March Movie Madness Torment this past week. Last year they did the Best Comic Book Movies, this year they are going to do Best Animated films. Now that the brackets are released, movie fans, like you and me, can vote for the best animated films to proceed in the torment. John Campea, Editor-in-Chief, over at AMC Movie New explains it a bit better than me, in their video titled, “Animated Movie Madness Tournament Round 1 - AMC Movie News” On the surface, this post may seem like an advertisement for AMC Movie Talk, even though I highly recommend all of you to check out their new shows: AMC Heroes, AMC Jedi Council, and AMC Rewind, but it’s only an introduction to my next post in my genre series. 

Back in October of 2014, I set out a goal to write a series of post focusing on movie genres. I was determined to write at least one post each week, revealing my favorite movie franchise in each genre. A few weeks in, it turned into a bi-weekly project. Now it’s more or less a monthly project. With that being said I only have about three or four genres left to cover, which should lead us into the summer blockbuster season. Before I finish out my original plan for this series, I want to focus on animation films. I know there are a lot of people that categorize animation films as their own genre, but they’re not a genre. Animation is simply another medium for storytelling. Animation takes on many different forms, traditional 2-D animation, Stop-Motion / Claymation, and 3-D animation, to name a few. 

Animation is important to film history, we basically wouldn't have live action movies without it. Animation dates back to the Paleolithic cave painting era. We have found various cave paints with animals “in motion” symbolized by many legged creatures. In the 18th century, many spinning devices were created to achieve the illusion of motion of an illustration, most notably the Zoetrope. Animation evolved again in the form of flip books. In the 1900’s the flip book idea was expanded upon, which created what we know today as, traditional animation. Back then, each scene was drawn by hand, then photographed, then played back in rapid succession. Those techniques were improved upon spawning many short silent animated films. Walt Disney and the Warner Brother entered the animation game in the 20’s and 30’s, changing the industry forever. They brought color and sound to this new medium. Disney ran with this new medium, creating one of the first full length animation films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After that, animation evolved over the years, revealing different techniques, including stop-motion and computer animation. 

Now that you know a brief history of animation, let’s explore some of the greatest animation films. I want to let you guys know I’m a fan of Pixar and the films they produce. A few years back you may have caught me saying something along the line of, “Pixar is perfect.” During that same time frame I had to write a paper on a pioneer in the computer graphics world. I chose Edwin “Ed” Catmull, the president of Pixar, who helped design the software Pixar used to create their movies. I’m going to stray from my Pixar bias by not making a top 10 list complied of noting but Pixar films. Instead, I’m going to compile a hand full of top five lists that exemplify each of the animation styles. I have the lists broken down, more or less, by production companies: Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, DreamWorks Animation, Studio Ghibli, and Stop-Motion Animation. Let’s Get To It.

Pixar:

1. Toy Story Franchise
2. WALL-E
3. Up
4. The Incredibles
5. Monsters Inc.

Disney:

1. The Lion King
2. Aladdin
3. Mulan
4. The Jungle Book
5. Pinocchio

DreamWorks:

1. How to Train Your Dragon 
2. Kung Fu Panda 
3. Shrek 
4. The Prince of Egypt 
5. Megamind

Studio Ghibli:

1. Princess Mononoke 
2. Spirited Away 
3. Castle in the Sky 
4. Grave of the Fireflies 
5. Kiki’s Delivery Service

Stop-Motion Animation Films: 

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox 
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas 
3. Coraline 
4. Classic Christmas Claymation Movies 
5. James and the Giant Peach

This is where I normally write a short paragraph as to why each movie is on my list. Because of the sheer number of films I have included in this post, I have opted to only give explanations for the five number one’s. 

I would call the Toy Story franchise Pixar’s main flagship because that is where Pixar got its start in the animated feature film business. Before Pixar was an animation company they were a computer graphics company for Lucasfilms. George Lucas sold the technology rights to Steve Jobs for five million dollars. Jobs became the main investor of the new division. Dr. Edwin Catmull and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith ran the company as President and Executive Vice President. Walt Disney Studios took notice and started incorporating the “Pixar” technology into their projects. When “Pixar” was at its all-time low they hired on the Disney animator John Lasseter, who made a good case for the “Pixar” technology by making animated shorts, including Luxo Jr. This started a good relationship between Disney and Pixar, which lead a $26 million three picture deal with Disney. The first movie in this deal was Toy Story. Toy Story was inspired by one of Pixar’s animated shorts, Tin Toy, that tells a story from a small tin toy’s perspective. John Lasseter took that idea and expanded upon it, making a wonderful film. 

The Lion King is by far my all-time favorite animated Disney movie. If you have been following this series at all, you may recall The Lion King took my number one spot for best Musical Movie from the 90’s, rightfully so, with all the great musical numbers. There are many elements of this film that just work perfectly. I personally love the story the most, which draws inspiration from the biblical stories of Joseph, and Moses as well as the Shakespearean play Hamlet. I find it fascinating that The Lion King was one of the last movies, Disney made in the traditional way, before putting their faith in CGI animation that Pixar brought to the animation game. 

I tend to jokingly say something along the line of “DreamWorks animation makes one good movie out of ten.” Sadly, this is more or less true, I would even go as far to say they only have two or three great films, one of those being How to Train Your Dragon. What I like the most about How to Train Your Dragon is the personalities attached to the each character, including the dragons. Personally I think it was the personalities of the dragons, especially Toothless, that sold this film. 

Let’s talk about a group of animated films that I believe less people, including myself, have seen. I’m talking about the films that have come out of Studio Ghibli / Films by Hayao Miyazaki. These films are always very beautiful. It becomes fairly hard to describe the intricacies of these films. Most of these films are living paintings. With that being said, these films tactical serious themes and tell very human stories. Personally the film from Studio Ghibli that best exemplifies all those qualities is Princess Mononoke. 

I have a great deal of respect for a stop-motion animator. It takes a great deal of patience to work in that medium of animation. It’s safe to say most people would place The Nightmare Before Christmas at the top of their stop-motion animation list. That’s a fair placement because The Nightmare Before Christmas revolutionized that style of animation / storytelling. Even though I enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas I personally like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, maybe it’s because they change all the curse words to “cuss”. The film also has a stellar cast and that’s another contributing factor to why I like this film. It’s such a fun movie. 

Well, you have seen my top animated movies, what are your favorites?

A Series of Genres: Musical / Dance

My love for the theatrical arts rivals my love for the cinema, especially in high school and college. In high school I performed in my fair share of musicals, including Hello Dolly and The Wizard of Oz. In college, I work as a stagehand for the Honeywell Center, which is a local stage theater in central Indiana. While working at the Honeywell Center, I helped out with many performances including Annie and Cats. As you can see the theatre has left an imprint on my life, therefore I couldn’t skip the Musical / Dance genre. This genre typically doesn’t have sequels, so no real franchises have spawned out of this genre. Unless you want to count the bad sequels to classic Disney films. So, like before, I am going to do a top ten list, but this time around I’m going to put a bit of a spin on it. I’m going to do my favorite musicals throughout history. Let’s get started. 

2010’s: Les Misérables (2012) 

I know this decade hasn’t even reached the half-way point yet, but there have been a lot good movie to come out already. Les Misérables is by far the best musical film of the decade so far. Over the past five years or so, these are my favorite musicals to contend with Les Misérables: The Muppets (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), and Frozen (2013). Even though Frozen and The Muppets had better songs (“Let It Go” and “Man or Muppet”) Les Misérables was a better film overall, which it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. 

2000’s “Modern Musical Era”: The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Moulin Rouge! (2001) 

The 2000’s was a great decade for musicals, just look at all these contenders: Chicago (2002), The Producers (2005), Rent (2005), Dreamgirls (2006), Across the Universe (2007), Enchanted (2007) Hairspray (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Mamma Mia! (2008), and The Princess and the Frog (2009). There were a lot of choices from this decade. From a personal stand point most of these films came out while I was in high school and college, when my love for the theatre was at its peak. The merit of these film were also good. Chicago won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2002 and, Moulin Rouge was nominated for Best Picture in 2001. Dreamgirls and Enchanted both had three of their songs nominated for Best Song. I personally didn’t enjoy those films as much as The Phantom of the Opera. The factor that placed The Phantom of the Opera at the top of my list was it visuals. It was nominated for Best Cinematography, but was beaten out by The Aviator. 

1990’s “Modern Disney Era”: The Lion King (1994) 

The 90’s was the decade that housed a good amount of Disney movies with great songs, thanks primarily to Alan Menken. Here are the songs that won Best Song at the Academy Awards, that were produced by Disney: “Beauty and the Beast”, "A Whole New World", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Colors of the Wind", and "You'll Be in My Heart". I’m going to lump in "Under the Sea" even though that song won in 1989. Both The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast had three songs nominated for best song during their respectful years. Beauty and the Beast one-upped The Lion King and earned a Best Picture nomination in 1991. Beauty and the Beast may have bested The Lion King at the Oscars, but The Lion King is one of favorite Disney movies, so it has Beauty and the Beast beat in my opinion. 

1980’s “Dance Era”: Footloose (1984) 

You couldn't have two left feet in the 80’s because there were a good amount of dance themed movies: Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983), Staying Alive (1983), and Dirty Dancing (1987). All of these films were good to groove to but some better than the other. The songs “Fame”, “Flashdance…What a Felling”, and “(I've Had) The Time of My Life” all won the Oscar for Best Song. The song “Footloose” was nominated, but was knocked out by “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder. I believe Footloose had the better story out of the dance movies in the 80’s. 

1970’s “Silver Age of Musicals”: Grease (1978) 

There were a lot of musicals released in the 70’s, three of which were recognized as great films by being nominated for Academy Awards, those are, Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Cabaret (1972), and All That Jazz (1979). Some of the other musical released in the 70’s that I thought were good: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Pete's Dragon (1977), and The Muppet Movie (1978). Some of these movies had Best Song nomination with these songs: "Candle on the Water" and "Rainbow Connection". Grease is a classic movie musical with good songs. 

1960’s “Golden Age of Musicals”: West Side Story (1961) 

Musical movies in the 1960’s brought home the golden Oscar many times, four musicals won Best Picture in the 60’s. Those Films are as followed, West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), and Oilver! (1968). Other musical movies were nominated for Best Picture but didn't win: The Music Man (1962) was beat out by Lawrence of Arabia, Marry Poppins (1964) lost to My Fair Lady, Funny Girl (1968) was defeated by Oilver!, and Hello, Dolly! (1969) did make the cut verse Midnight Cowboy. If you have been counting that’s eight musical movies nominated for Best Picture. Marry Poppins may have not taken home the Oscar for Best picture, but it takes home the Oscar for Best song with “Chim Chim Cher-ee” I want to say Marry Poppins is second favorite musical of this decade, mixing animation and live action was spectacular, especially for that time period. 

1950’s “Classic Era”: Singin' in the Rain (1952) 

This decade brought with it a lot of classic movies in general, naturally the musical movie world followed suit release some classics of its own. Gigi (1958) won Best Pasture and Best Song, were as, The King and I was nominated, but was bested by Around the World in 80 Days (1956). A hand-full of classic Disney film also came out during this decade, Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland, (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), granted these films are less known for their musical numbers. Overall this decade produced many musical that are seen as classic films today. 

1940’s “Classic Disney Era": Pinocchio (1940) 

It could be argued that 1950’s is the “Classic Disney Era” because of the Disney film that came out during those years, but I’m going to make a case for the 40’s. Disney was making his mark in the 40’s with films such as, Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Melody Time (1948) and, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). Again not all these movie are 100% musicals, per se, but they do have great music that is beatifically worked into the stories. I think Pinocchio dose this best with all of its songs, but most noteworthy with it songs, "When You Wish Upon a Star” and "I've Got No Strings.” For those of you who might be thinking, “He has spent a lot of time on Disney films”, well Disney has produced many movies and a large percentage of them have been musicals, and good musical if I may add. Tommy from Informal Talks might argue I didn't spend enough time on Disney movies. With that being said, I may do post on animated film in the future, keep your eyes peeled. 

1930’s: The Wizard of Oz (1939) 

Going to be honest, I have seen many films from this decade and beyond. I know that I really like The Wizard of Oz as both a musical and movie. The film was nominated for Best Picture but lost to Gone with the Wind. The Wizard of Oz’s song “Over the Rainbow” won the Oscar for Best Song. What else do I have to say about this classic timeless musical movie? That’s right nothing! 

What are your favorite Movie Musicals?

A Series of Genres: Horror

The horror genre is our next stop on the journey through the various film genres. This is a genre I rather skip because I have little knowledge of the films in this genre. Even with being a huge film fan, I haven’t seen that many horror films compared to other genres. What I’m trying to say is that the horror genre is my least favorite. With all things being equal, I’m going to give my best shot of putting together a top five list of the best horror film franchise.

Before we get to that list, let’s define fear, or at least paint a better picture of fear. I personally like how Stephen King breaks down fear. He explains that there are three types: The Gross-out, Horror, and Terror. The Gross-out are things that gross you out like blood, gore, or slime. The ooey-gooey and yucky bits, as it were. Horror is the scary “monsters” in the world, ranging from giant spiders to zombies. From my understanding Terror is the unseen monsters, the supernatural, or eerie things in the world. Have you ever had the feeling like someone or something is standing right behind you, but when you turn around there’s nothing there, that’s terror. Oddly enough Horror films follow that model fairly close, creating a few different sub-genres.

The sub-genres of Splatter Films or Torture Porn brings with it, a whole lot of blood and guts. These films tend to focus on the survival of a character or group of characters as they endure many tests, usually involving torture devices. These sub-genres best exemplify the gross-out because of the exorbitant amount blood and guts used.

Slasher films are in between the gross-out and horror on the “fear scale” Slasher films became very popular in the 80’s and 90’s with classic killers like Jason Voorhees, Micheal Myers, and Freddy Krueger. The films in this genre, usually deal with a killer running around killing teenagers, who are up to no good (those partaking in sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll). This genre uses a good mixture of gore and the fear of being chased by a killer to scare its audience.

Creature Features / Monster Movies I think best describes Horror on the “fear scale.” The classic horror film featured many of the common monsters that we know and love today, monster such as, vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies, ghouls, ghosts, and Frankenstein. The monster genre has evolved over the years, sadly, into movies that aren't even that scary, Thanks Twilight. I’m glad that giant monsters and H.P Lovecraft-esk movies haven’t been glossed over by pointless teenage love stories. It is fun to see a kaiju wreck a city, every once in a while.

Terror best comes from the Supernatural and Paranormal films. This sub-genre has blown up in popularity in recent history with film such as Paranormal Activity. These films scares its audience to jump-scares that were built up via the film’s ambiance. Filmmakers in this genre achieve their scare tactics by making the “camera man” the most ominous person or thing, on screen.

Now that you have a basic idea of the different fears and how they play into the horror genre, l can reveal my top five horror franchise.

1. The Evil Dead
2. 28 Days Later
3. Scream
4. Saw
5. Paranormal Activity

I have great respect for Sam Raimi and his filmmaking genius in his 80’s classic horror flick, The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead has an inserting backstory. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi have been friends for quite some time, creating many short films together. Raimi, Campbell, and their close friends, and family made a short horror film called Within the Woods. They hoped this film would get enough buzz to make a bigger budget horror film. The film didn’t really impress, so Raimi and Campbell ask for donation from friends and family. Eventually the two of them raised enough money to make The Evil Dead. They took their small budget to a cabin in the middle of the woods near Morristown, Tennessee. The production had many issues because of its small budget, which included getting lost and hurt. Raimi found creative ways to achieve certain shots that would require equipment they couldn't afford. One of those shots was achieved by taping a camera to a bicycle. Raimi stretched his dollars by using his own arms and legs for close ups. Basically Raimi and friends endured the elements, to create a “realistic” horror flick, sounds a bit crazy. Their hard work paid off, the film is one of the best low-budget horror movies ever made. Critically, it has done well, Rotten Tomatoes have given the film a 96%, while another review site place the film above the 70% mark. The Evil Dead is only the beginning, Sam Raimi counted his legacy in the horror genre with Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness. The franchise was rebooted in 2013 with a remake titled Evil Dead directed by Fede Alvarez. Even with Raimi and Campbell on as producers the remake didn't have as much charm as the original film.

28 Days Later brought to life a new way to look at the zombie genre. The classic zombie is a re-animated corpse with a healthy appetite for brains and human flesh. In 28 Days Later, humans are infected by a highly contagious virus that causes rage in its victims. The film follows the hero character, Jim (Cillian Murphy), who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic version of London. Jim is saved from a group of infected by Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley). The rest of the film focuses on the three of them surviving this treacherous new world. 28 Days Later’s sequel, 28 Weeks Later, follows another group of survivors of the “Rage Virus”. Danny Boyle, the director of the first film, has shown interest in returning to this franchise but has been busy with other projects. I personally wouldn't mind seeing a 28 Months Later film, especially if Danny Boyle returned as director.

One of the Kings of Horror, Wes Craven, best known for the Nightmare on Elm Street / Freddy Krueger franchise brought us another set of successful Slasher films in the late 90’s. This film series changed the rules of the Slasher genre. For starters the film was more or less a satire of the Slasher genre. The film did this by making most of the main characters wildly familiar with “Scary Movies” and their clichés. The killer, Ghostface, broke the rules set forth by Slasher films, he loved, in doing so creating a new set of rules to kill by. The opening scene of the film set the tone of how the killer operates. His first victim’s death set into motion because a high school girl fails at a scary movie trivia question. I personally didn’t fall in love with this film like other Slasher film aficionados, but this franchise is one of my favorite Slashers. Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street may have paved the way for these films, but they weren't as entertaining as the Scream films.

Saw is another low-budget success story. Oddly enough, Saw’s beginnings were similar to The Evil Dead. Saw started out as a short film with the same titled with intentions to attract film studios. Unlike The Evil Dead, Saw had some success at this stage and caught their eyes of some producers at Evolution Entertainment. These producers decided to make a horror division called Twisted Pictures, allowing James Wan and Leigh Whannell to expand their short film into a feature length film. (Note: One of the producers at Twisted Pictures is Oren Koules, that such a good name.) The Saw franchise was born along with the “Torture Porn” genre. Saw isn't the first film to use gore and torture as the main element in a film, but it sure did popularize in the modern era of filmmaking. Saw was released on Halloween 2004, becoming a hit. Saw took its new popularity and created a fairly successful franchise spanning seven films, each taking the top box office spot of the Halloween weekend. To put this perceptive numerically: The seven films have made roughly 873 million worldwide (Highest: Saw III with 165 million, Lowest: Saw VI with 68 million, Average: 125 million) Compare those numbers to their budgets (Highest: Saw 3D with 17million, Lowest: Saw with 1 – 1.2 million, Average: 9 million). As you can see, the films did well at the box office. Critically the film was pretty bad. Saw has the highest review on Rotten Tomatoes topping the charts at 48% and the lowest is Saw V with 12%, giving the franchise an average rating of roughly 25%.

To be honest, I really dislike the Paranormal Activity franchise. One of the main reasons I dislike these films is the teenagers that made my job harder. I worked at an AMC theater throughout college and every new Paranormal Activity brought with it a list of problems from the crowd. Even if I didn't have those bad experiences, the films didn't really turn my crank. These films may have perfected the jump-scar, but I wasn't that scared. With all the negative remarks, you may be asking yourself; why are these films on your top five list then, surly there are better suited films? I wanted to make an effort to include at least one franchise from each horror sub-genre, also I have to give credit where credit is due. The Paranormal Activity franchise is by far one of, if not the most profitable horror film franchise. The average budget of these films is roughly 3.5 million and the first film was made for 15,000 dollars. The Paranormal Activity franchise has made just over 811.5 million. That’s a good amount of dough for a “found –footage” film. (Note: These films are directed by Oren Peli, such a good name.)

A Series of Genres: Epic

This blog is going to take a turn for the epic, or at least its contents will. That’s right, we are going to talk about Epic and Historical films this week. A genre that could be renamed, Sword and Sandal, for the attire the characters wear in these films. An Epic film is a story that is larger than life, even if the story was embellished upon. Most Epic films are rooted in historical events and follow a hero with an extraordinary life. That is the type of Epic films we are going to explore this week. Epics can come in many forms; Adventure films can reach epic proportions like in The Lord of the Rings. Even some War film can have an epic scope like Saving Private Ryan. Even though these are good films in the Epic genre, I want to focus more on the Sword and Sandal style of film. If you want to see my opinion on the Tolkien films, check out my top five franchises in the Adventure genre, here. For my opinion on Saving Private Ryan and other War films, stay tuned to this blog because I plan on writing about War films near the end of my genre series. This week I’m going to break away from my format because of the nature of Epic films. Epic films tend not to have sequels, so I can’t really give a top five list in the Epic genre. Instead of skipping the Epic genre entirely, I decide to compile a top ten list. One of the lists, I drew inspiration from is, WatchMojo’s Top 10 Sword and Sandal Movies, seen here. Let’s compare their list to my list:

1. Gladiator
2. Ben-Hur
3. Spartacus
4. The Ten Commandments
5. 300
6. The Passion of the Christ
7. Conan the Barbarian
8. Troy
9. Clash of the Titans (1981)
10. Jason and the Argonauts

• Gladiator follows the life of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe). Maximus is Roman General in Marcus Aurelius’ army that becomes a slave because of Commodus’ scheming plot against him and his family. While in slavery, Maximus used his military training to rise in fame as a gladiator. As a famous gladiator, Maximus was presented with an opportunity to fight in Roman Colosseum, which impressed Commodus himself. After learning that Maximus is the identity behind the gladiator, Commodus arranged a fight between himself and Maximus in the arena that ends with Maximus restoring his honor as a good man. This story is mixed with a healthy amount of epic gladiatorial battle sequences that were obviously inspired from other film on this list, including Ben-Hur and Spartacus. Both Russell Crow and Joaquin Phoenix showcase Oscar worthy performance.

• Ben-Hur follows the life of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston). Judah Ben-Hur was a rich Jewish prince who becomes a slave at the hands of his childhood friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd), who happens to be the newest commanding officer of a Roman Legion. Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) offers to be Ben-Hur’s personal trainer as charioteer because he admires Ben-Hur’s determination and self-discipline. Three years later Ben-Hur becomes a free man learning Roman rule from Arrius, his now adopted father, which leads to him becoming a champion charioteer. Ben-Hur longs for more than fame and fortune so he travels back home to Jerusalem. On his way through Judea, Ben-Hur learns about a chariot race being held in honor of Pontius Pilate from an Arab sheik named Balthasar. Ben-Hur declines the offer to compete even after hearing his friend, now rival, Messala would be attending. In Jerusalem, Ben-Hur meets with Messala, in an attempt to free his mother and sister from prison. The two women concreted leprosy while in prison and were sent out of the city. The women didn’t want Ben-Hur to find out about this truth so they asked Esther, Ben-Hur’s love interest, to cover for them. Esther tells Ben-Hur that his mother and sister have died, which in turns changed his decision to compete in the chariot race.

• Spartacus follows the life of a gladiator named Spartacus (Kirk Douglas). Spartacus and his fellow slave buddy’s lead a slave uprising against Roman rule during the events known as The Third Servile War. Spartacus and Ben-Hur paved the way for most of the film on this list.

• The Ten Commandments follows the life of Moses (Charlton Heston). Moses was a Hebrew boy born during Pharaoh Rameses’ decree, to kill all firstborn Hebrews males. Since Moses matched that description, his mother decided to place him in a basket and float him down the Nile River. Pharaoh's daughter finds the basket with the baby Moses and raises the child as her own. Moses is seen as a “Prince of Egypt” and equal to Rameses II, his brother and rightful heir. Moses discovers his heritage and realized he belonged with his people. Moses defends the Hebrew slaves and is banished out of Egypt by the new Pharaoh, his brother, Rameses II. Moses and his family move to the desert and settle in the land of Midian. While attending to his flock Moses is contacted by the Hebrew God via a burning bush. God requires of Moses to save his people from Egypt. Moses returns to Egypt and kindly asks Pharaoh Rameses II to free the slave, he refuse. God answers his refusal in the form of ten plagues. In the final plague, God sends the angel of death to take the life of all first born males, not protect by the blood of the lamb. After finding his son dead, Rameses II free the Hebrew people, but only for a moment. Rameses and an army of chariots pursue Moses. They meet at the impassable Red Sea. Moses raises his staff and the Red Sea parts, allowing the Hebrews to cross on dry land. Rameses and his army follow, but are washed away by the sea. Moses climbs Mount Sinai to receive God’s laws, while away the Hebrew’s create a golden calf. Moses returns down the mount with God’s laws, The Ten Commandments, and see the calf. Out of anger he smashed the tables on the calf. After this event the Hebrew’s wander the wilderness for forty years, finally stumbling upon Canaan, the promise land. Not being able to enter this promise land because of his disobedience, Moses appoints as the new leader of the Hebrew people. Moses life has been told many times on the silver screen in films such as The Prince of Egypt, and Exodus Gods and Kings but, I personally think The Ten Commandments is the best rendition.

• 300 follows the life of King Leonidas (Gerard Bulter) and his 300 Spartans as they battle King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive Persian army. This story is rooted in history, but heavily embellished upon. This film is based on the graphic novel with the same title written by Frank Miller. Frank Miller took the main players and events in the Battle of Thermopylae and created a story fitting for a graphic novel. One aspect of the film I like the most is the panel by panel accuracy.

• The Passion of the Christ follows the life of Jesus of Nazareth (Jim Caviezel), or at least the last 12 hours of his life. The film focuses primarily on Jesus arrest, trial, and crucifixion. The film does a decent job at compiling the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) into a signal narrative. The film also sprinkles in references to other religious text in the Judeo-Christian belief, to paint a picture of Jesus as Lord and Savior. The film is fairly accurate in historical science. It does this by showcasing the Romans meticulous facilitation of crucifixions and the choice to use regional and historical languages, making The Passion of the Christ a quasi- Foreign Language Film.

• Conan the Barbarian follows the life of Conan (Arnold Schwarzeneggere). Conan is a barbarian who witnessed the savage death of his parent's by the wizard Thulsa Doom. Conan becomes a strong man by working in the slave pits. He earns his freedom by winning numerous gladiatorial battles. As a free man Conan set out on a quest to avenge his parent death. Taking up a sword he finds in an ancient tomb, Conan cuts down his enemies, unless they are female then he may sleep them for information. If this classic 80’s sword and sorcery film doesn’t spark your fancy, then maybe the remake starring Jason Momoa will.

• Troy follows the life of Achilles (Brad Pitt) as a hero in the Trojan War. Troy is loosely based on Homer’s Iliad, which is an epic that tells the story of the quarrels between King Agamemnon and Achilles during the Trojan War. The Trojan War is a great war in Greek mythology between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans. This war starts at the hand of Paris, a prince of Troy, abducted King Menelaus’ wife, Helen of Sparta. The Greek’s retaliate by setting in motion a siege upon the city of Troy lead by King Menelaus’s brother King Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. King Agamemnon recruits many heroes to fight along his side, including Achilles and Ajax the Greater.

• Clash of the Titans follows the life of Perseus (Harry Hamlin). Clash of the Titans is another movie rooted in Greek mythology. In this story, Perseus is sent on many quests to fight monster including Medusa and the Kraken, in doing so, winning the heart of Princess Andromeda. To complete his missions, Perseus is guided by the gods and gifted a sword, a helmet, and shield. Zeus himself gives Perseus a flying horse named Pegasus. After Perseus victories the gods, honor him and his companions in the stars. What I like most of this film is the stop-motion animation used for the monster.

• Jason and the Argonauts follows the life of Jason (Todd Armstrong) and his Argonauts on their quest to find the famous Golden Fleece. Yet another story from Greek mythology, Jason is tasked from Pelias to find the legendary Golden Fleece. Jason assembles a crew to help him sail the ship Argo, among them is the hero Hercules (Nigel Green). On their journey the men fight many monsters including harpies, a giant bronze Talos, a hydra, and an animated skeleton army. Another favorite Greek mythology, film caulk full of stop-motion animation.

I’m sorry that it has taken some time to post this epic blog. I plan on focusing on Fantasy film in the upcoming weeks. With that being said, I will talk about the Tolkien films again, because they made a great impact on both the adventure and fantasy world. I will wait until after the premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies this coming Tuesday (December 16), to post. In the meantime, give me your thought on either epic movies or the Tolkien films, since that’s where we are going to next.

A Series of Genres: Crime

This post is going up later than normal, hopefully I’m not committing any crimes

This week we are going to look at both sides of the “crime genre” coin. On one side the Crime and Gangster genre appears and on the other the Detective and Mystery genre. Hopefully, we will learn about how intertwined these two genres are by a simple comparing and contrasting of the two.

The Crime and Gangster genre gives us a variety of sub-genres, including, Serial Killer, Heist, Organized Crime, and Gangster. Each of these sub-genre gives the audience an inside look at the psychology of a criminal or group of criminals. I believe a good Serial Killer movie achieves this the best, because filmmakers tend to focus on the “why” question. While the other sub-genres do a good job of showcasing the plotting of the crime. Most Heist films have a simple formula that exemplifies the plotting attributes I mention earlier. The formula is planning the heist followed by the execution of the plan. Heist films are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to organized crime. Now, real organized crime comes in the form of the Mafia; a group of individuals who controls the inner workings of all the crime in a large metropolitan area like Chicago. A lot of the 1940’s and 50’s films focused on the drama in the organized crime scene, labeling them as Film Noir.

On the flip side, the Detective and Mystery genre has a few sub-genres of its own. Law and Order start on the streets with the fine police work from a good Buddy Cop movie. Movies such as Lethal Weapon 2 and Hot Fuzz. Sometimes the job takes a turn for the serous creating thrilling moments. Some films have captured these moments given us a nice insight on the day-and-life of a police officer; films such as Training Day and End of Watch. Other sub-genre include Film Noir, Courtroom Drama and Mystery. Film Noir is basically an old crime drama made between the 1940’s and the 1950’s known for its low-key black-and-white style. As film has evolved over the years, the Noir genre has as well. One of the modern terms for a newer Noir style film is Neo-Noir. Some of the most successful directors in the Neo-Noir genre include, Martin Scorsese, Joel and Ethan Coen, David Fincher, and Quentin Tarantino.

Justice comes in many forms, sometimes it fought over in the court of law. Courtroom Drama’s showcase various court cases ranging from murder to civil liberties, both scenarios have a lot tension that makes for good drama. Some of the most renowned Courtroom Drama films include, Kramer vs Kramer, A Few Good Men, and To Kill a Mockingbird

As you can see there are many ways to view the Crime genre. I want to take a little bit of time and point out a few stand-alone films in the Crime genre. As I explore these films in the crime genre, I would like to name drop a few filmmaker, which I mentioned above, who have made a career out making good crime films.

Let’s start with Martin Scorsese. I would say he’s the king of Crime and Gangster movies. I personally like the Gangs of New York, a film about two gangs and their feud that lead to a blood bath hand-to-hand combat. The two opposing sides consist of the U.S born nativist gang lead by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) and The Dead Rabbits, an Irish Catholic immigrant gang lead by Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio). Gangs of New York maybe one of my favorites, but Martin Scorsese has many films that are better and revered as great crime films. Films such as, Goodfellas, Casino and, The Departed.

Joel and Ethan Coen are brother filmmakers who I would call pioneers in the Crime genre. One of my favorite films from them is Fargo. Fargo is both a great dark comedy and crime film. The film takes place in the great white northern states of Minnesota and North Dakota. The film is told from two perspectives; from the detective side, Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) has to investigate the homicides. From the criminal side, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) hires two guys to kidnap his wife in an attempt to con is boss out of money.

David Fincher is one of my favorite directors in general, but he has displayed some good crime films. The cult classic that everyone praises is Fight Club. This film is more of a dark comedy with crime elements. The story becomes more of an activist type of film, where the activism turns into vandalism. Some of David Fincher’s other works have been labeled as mystery thrillers, and for good reason. The Game, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl all revolve around the protagonist working on solving a mystery. David Fincher even has a film that incorporates Courtroom Drama elements, this film is The Social Network. The film may be known as the Facebook film, but the various legal battles Mark Zuckerberg faced is what makes the film dramatic. The only David Fincher film I haven’t mentioned, that fits the theme, is Se7en. Se7en is one of my favorites of his. I think the film dose a good job of relaying the duality of the crime genre. The film follows two detectives, David Mills (Brad Pitt) and William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), as they unravel the clues in a serial killer case with a killing pattern corresponding to the seven deadly sins.

Briefly, I want to touch on Quentin Tarantino and his crime themed film. There are two that come to mind, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Both have renowned status as cult classics. Out of the two, I think I prefer Reservoir Dogs. I like that the film is a heist movie, which focus more on the before-and-after than the heist itself.

There are a lot of good stand-alone crime films, so much so, I could talk about for days. We both know what you came here for, to see my top five franchises in the crime genre. So with nothing further to do here is my top five list:

1. The Godfather Trilogy
2. Hannibal Series
3. The Dark Knight Trilogy
4. Sherlock Holmes Series
5. The Boondock Saints

• Not including The Godfather films on my list would be sacrilege, even more so if I didn't place them at number one. The Godfather is the epitome of a Gangster movie. The film explores the inner workings of the Corleone crime family. The film was well received by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Godfather Part I won Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Marlon Brando performance, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Parts II and III rack up its fair share of nominations and wins, including another Best Picture win from The Godfather Part II.

• The Hannibal Series features the fictional serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. The films were inspired from a series of books with the same titles. The first film in the series was Manhunter, a film adapted from the book Red Dragon. Will Graham ( William Peterson) is a FBI detective brought in on a case to track down a killer known as “The Tooth Fairy” To do so Graham has to interview a imprisoned, Hannibal Lecter (Brian Cox), who almost killed Graham before becoming imprisoned. The next film in the series is most known and revered. The Silence of the Lambs has a very similar plot as Manhunter, but the detective in this film is Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and Hannibal Lecter is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. Just like in Manhunter the deceive has to interview Hannibal Lecter in hopes to catch a killer, in this film they are searching for Buffalo Bill, a serial killer known for skinning young females. Hannibal is a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, which takes place ten years later. Red Dragon is the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs that was basically a remake of Manhunter. The last film in the series is Hannibal Rising. This film tells the story of Hannibal Lecter as a younger man.

• The Dark Knight trilogy is Christopher Nolan’s version of Batman. Batman as a character is supposed to be on par with Sherlock Holmes when it comes to the uncanny ability to do detective work. The Dark Knight Trilogy maybe one of the greatest set of comic book movies, but it is also a soiled crime film. The themes in The Dark Knight alone give this trilogy enough clout as a crime film. Heck the opening scene start off with a heist. For the rest of the film the Joker causes chaos while Batman tries to stop him. What’s inserting is Christopher Nolan isn't new to these themes. In his three previous films (Following, Memento, and Insomnia) he explores similar themes. To be frank, Christopher Nolan is another filmmaker that I would consider as someone who has made a career out of crime films.

• Sherlock Holmes is a modern telling of the character Sherlock Holmes. The film stars Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. Even with Sherlock Holmes being the greatest detective, that’s not the main reason I included films about him on my list. I want to praise Guy Ritchie, the director of the Sherlock Films. If Guy Ritchie hadn't directed these films, I would have talked about him in the stand-alone section because he has directed some great crime film. If you liked the Sherlock Films I recommend checking out Guy Ritchie’s other works: Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and RocknRolla.

• The Boondock Saints directed by Troy Duffy, tells a story about two Irish Catholic brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) who get a vision from God to clean up Boston. There righteous justice comes in the form of killing evil men. The saint’s killing spree grabs the attention of an FBI agent played by Willem Dafoe. The movie becomes an elaborate game of cat and mouse. In the second movie the brothers come out of hiding and travel from Ireland to Boston to avenge the death of their beloved priest. From my understanding Troy Duffy is working on the third one currently.

A Series of Genres: Comedy Part Three

Before I move onto the Crime and Gangster / Detective and Mystery genre study; I want to reveal my top five list you all have been waiting for. So here you go:

1. Wayne’s World
2. American Pie
3. National Lampoon’s Vacation
4. Home Alone
5. The Hangover

• Wayne’s World spawns from a sketch comedy show that airs on Saturday called Saturday Night Live (SNL). The skit focus on two rock music fanboys named Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) who happen to run their own television show names Wayne’s World. I typically don’t like adapted sketch comedy skit as feature length films, but these two films make me want to party on for some reason.

• American Pie captured the fantasy of high school life in the late 90’s. A story about four guys who make a pact to score by senior prom. The preceding films follow those four guys through college and even marriage. The films give a nice outlook on the folly of pretty much every young adult’s exploration of their sexual maturity. I remember when the first American Pie film came out. I was in Junior High School and all my classmates were quoting the film left and right, but I hadn't seen the film yet. Let’s just say rated R films were more or less forbidden when I was growing up. When I finally did watch the film, years later, I thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately there were four or five spin-off films that dawn the American Pie brad, but not the quality.

• National Lampoon’s Vacation movies follow the Griswold family and their various family vacations, which usually have many mishaps. Their first vacation destination is a Disney-esk theme park named Walley World. The family has travelled to Europe and Vegas, but my favorite vacation of theirs is Christmas Vacation. It’s a good film to dust off and watch during the holidays. The film is a good reminder that, family may be dysfunctional, but you got to love them.

• Home Alone is another great holiday treat. Another film with a dysfunctional family, so much so, they leave their youngest home alone. While home alone the protagonist Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) has to defend his house from the “Wet Bandits” played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. He does so by placing various Rube Goldberg style booby traps throughout the house. Home Alone 2 plays out a similar scenario, but in a Ney York City hotel. While the third film is basically Home Alone one, but with a new protagonist Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz). I personally didn’t like the third film.

• The Hangover is a film about three guys trying to find their friend after a long night of partying in Vegas. When this film came out, it was one of the first films to keep me laughing from start to finish, in a long time. Then the sequel came out and it was just the Hangover but in Bangkok. I didn’t even see the third film because part two wasn’t that great. This film series proves that comedy struggle with making good sequel. There maybe more story to tell or even new adventures to go on with the characters but there is no new jokes. Even with bad reception of two and three, The Hangover is a solid comedy to cover the butts of Part One and Two.

There you have it, my top five franchises in the comedy genre. Let me know you’re thought in the comments.

A Series of Genres: Comedy Part Two

For me, some of the best comedies are films with a group of witty people that can rift off each other. I believe that to be true for filmmaking in general. Time and time again, I see films made by a group of close knit friends do better than films made by professional strangers. Genuine chemistry between actors come from good friendships off screen. In this next part of the exploration of the comedy genre, I want to look at the different ensemble of cast members that have created great comedies.

• Monty Python: Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) started out as a British television sketch comedy act in the late 60’s, known as Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Their film debut was in 1971 with the film And Now for Something Completely Different. Four years later they produced one of my all-time favorite comedies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This film is a parody of the Arthurian Legends that turn the story of an epic into a farce. See the silliness in the trailer here. There follow up film was Monty Python's Life of Brian, a film that was a mockery of the times surrounding Jesus’s life. A funny parody that taught us to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”

• Marx Brothers: These five brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo) had a knack for entertaining people. The family started off with vaudeville acts on Broadway, then they graduated to film in the 1920’s. The three eldest brothers Chico, Harpo and Groucho became the stars of their act in the mid 1930’s when Gummo and Zeppo decided to pursue other careers. I personally have only watched one of their films, Duck Soup. Duck Soup is known for popularizing the famous mirror gag or mirror scene. A scene that has been copied many times even by Bugs Bunny.

• The Brat Pack: Named after the Rat Pack, this cast of “teenagers” (Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy) frequently appeared in John Hughes’s coming-of-age films. The Brat Pack film that sticks with me the most is The Breakfast Club; a story of five teens and their Saturday morning detention. What I like about The Breakfast Club is that the film gives an opportunity to connect with every teenage. Each student in the film represents one of the main clique in high school. Also the film has one of the best endings. Other Brat Pack films include Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo’s Fire, and Pretty in Pink.

• The Frat Pack: A group of comedic actors who either act like frat boys or portray frat boys in the movies. (Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell) This group of guys is led primarily by Ben Stiller, and his films. There are a couple of filmmaker I mention in part one that have worked with many of the actors in this group. The Farrelly Brothers have worked with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson in films such as There's Something About Mary, Shallow Hal, and Hall Pass. The other is Judd Apatow, who has produced many of the films starring the Frat Pack. Judd Apatow is actually the connecting person between this group and the next on my list, via his film The 40-Year-Old Virgin starring Steve Carell.

• Team Apatow: A group named, well, after Judd Apatow, a producer known for making stoner comedies, as you may recall from part one. The actors that belong to this group have had many roles in Judd Apatow’s films. Actors such as, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, and Craig Robinson. Most of these actors have become close friends with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and have made many films together.

Hopefully, this will tide you all over until I reveal my top five in part three.