tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post6060701746180935079..comments2024-03-28T21:13:53.845+00:00Comments on Fabled Lands: Small is beautifulDave Morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-47184859019802594742013-05-28T16:40:50.534+01:002013-05-28T16:40:50.534+01:00I fear that the trend now will be for movies that ...I fear that the trend now will be for movies that are built around spectacle rather than story. Both Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness don't seem to expect the the viewer to question why characters are acting as they do - "Hey, it's meant to be fun, it makes for a cool scene, don't rock the boat." Well, sorry, but I don't think that's good enough. It's a basic failure of the writer's craft to create stories that don't make sense.<br /><br />Hence my agreement with much of what Ricky Young had to say about Moff Who. (http://mostlyfilm.com/2012/10/05/all-that-were-left-with-is-the-how/ for those who don't follow me or Graham on Twitter.)<br /><br />Dust Devil - I haven't seen that, but will add it to the metaphorically teetering pile of movies I have booked on Lovefilm.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-51931289887334752312013-05-28T13:43:57.426+01:002013-05-28T13:43:57.426+01:00Yes, I liked “Moon”. I think the lesson of the var...Yes, I liked “Moon”. I think the lesson of the varied examples you give is that, despite what the executives of the big studios apparently think, there is no formula for making a good film other than to tell a good story on screen, by whatever method that can be achieved (and even then, it may still only correlate loosely with box-office success). Sometimes studio interference can all but destroy a film, as in the case of “Alien 3”; and yet one of my favourite films is the (admittedly very obscure) “Dust Devil”, which somehow works beautifully even though it’s clear from Richard Stanley’s director’s commentary on the DVD that to say the production was chaotic would be an understatement.<br /><br />As for “You Are Happy”: maybe that’s a new, ultra-niche format, the “branching-path short story”. Maybe it also demonstrates a way of focusing the reader’s attention on the text: the choices have consequences but don’t “feel” important because there’s no strong sense of the story being goal-oriented (no treasure-chest at paragraph 400), even though each path (presumably; I haven’t traced along all of them) has some sort of resolved ending.Graham Harthttps://twitter.com/editoriusnoreply@blogger.com