Films @ Dave’s Info Cafe

Random observations on movies

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Entries from March 24th, 2007

300 or The 300 Spartans?

March 24th, 2007 · No Comments · Film Criticism and Analysis, Film History, Film Special Effects, Genre

I’ve just been taken back to my childhood this afternoon. “The 300 Spartans” has been shown on ITV1. A friend and I saw this at one of the cinemas in Scunthorpe (my home town) when I was 11 during a wonderful and formative time in my life.
I guess this latest TV showing is tied into [...]

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Film Making – The Future

March 22nd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Cinematography, Film Directing, Film Editing, Film Producing, Film Special Effects

It must be a great time to be a young energetic and imaginative film-maker at the moment. “The world is your lobster!” as Derek Trotter might have said. Why do I say that?  Because it seems to me that they have more options now than their predecessors ever had.
It was not so long ago that fresh-faced [...]

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Screenwriting – The Inner Movie Method

March 13th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Screenwriting

There are many books on screenwriting that give you a formula or set of rules to build (and sell) your script. Having read a number of them over the years, the one I go back to for a little inspiration from time to time is a “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days” by [...]

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The Straight Story

March 7th, 2007 · No Comments · Film Criticism and Analysis, Film Directing

I was watching the television when The Straight Story was showing last night. It reminded me of the first time that I’d seen that film and the emotions that I’d experienced.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting on a bit in years that I found it very moving. And it was all the more moving because it [...]

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Kurosawa’s Influence

March 5th, 2007 · No Comments · Cinematography, Film Directing, Film History, Film Narrative

One of my favourite film directors is Akira Kurosawa. Sadly, he is no longer with us but he has left a fantastic legacy of fine films which have had so much influence in the film world.
Most people will know of him as the maker of “The Seven Samurai” – a film that told the story [...]

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The Oscars 2007 – Marty’s Moment

March 1st, 2007 · No Comments · Film Directing, Film News

Hooray for Hollywood. The Academy got it right in the end. Best Director went belatedly to Martin Scorcese.
I don’t know about you but it felt like The Academy were clearing up a mess in the best way they knew how. Scorcese had been overlooked so many times with infinitely superior films that they had to [...]

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Film Screenplays – The Perfect Story?

March 1st, 2007 · No Comments · Film Criticism and Analysis, Film Narrative, Screenwriting

Ever since cinema began Hollywood executives and screenwriters have been looking for the holy grail – a story structure that will work over and over again in different environments, across different genres and with different characters to lay the foundations for a successful screenplay. If you had this formula it would be like pure gold [...]

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