Tag Archives: the monday question

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The Monday Question: Educate!

I’ve been blogging about movies for a couple of years now and with the amount of movies I watch of course I’ve picked up on techniques (when it comes to storylines/camera movements etc). Experience comes with practise as they say, but it is always good to pick up extra knowledge through other ways. I have been reading some books about the history of movies, local cinemas and specific directors. Online there are also a lot of resources available in order to learn. One I have been visiting regularly lately is Filmmaker IQ, which has these awesome articles (also in video form) dealing with various subjects. Whether it is the evolution of color or the history of popcorn, it offers a treasure of information and I suggest checking it out as I’m sure you will enjoy it. My question to you is:

Which site(s) do you use to learn more about the history of movies and techniques about making them?

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The Monday Question: Place!

Two weeks ago I asked you about the screen size in the cinema and if you would still go if it was small. I got some interesting answers and I have another question along those lines:

If each and every movie which came out was available both in the cinema and on demand (Netflix/iTunes etc) would you still go to the cinema? (and a small question, do you think instant availability at home will be realised in the future)?

Personally I don’t think I would be heading to the cinema much. The reality is that going means a lot of extra time to set apart. If I’d be single I know I’d visit the cinema a whole lot more, but time often does not allow it with three kids running round the house. I would love to have the choice available. I think the current state is very artificial.

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The Monday Question: Score!

When you blog about movies and write down your thoughts, usually you will end that review with a score. Of course that number can not cover everything you think about it and one 8 can mean something completely different as the other 8. The question I want to ask this week is not how do you decide what the score should be, but more about the moment that you decide what it will be. Personally I usually already know the score while the movie has not finished yet. My score mainly represents how much I enjoyed a movie so that makes getting to score a movie a bit easier. Some of you might take several days though to give that ultimate summary of what you think of a movie.

How quickly do you decide what kind of score you will give a movie and when do you think is the best moment to score a movie?

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The Monday Question: Cinema screen size!

What is the reason you want to see movies at the cinema? I think a lot of people will give two possible answers. First of all because it is not available anywhere else and secondly because of seeing it on the big screen. The second answer made me wonder as there are many cinemas around which have small screens and where you get the feeling you are sitting in a big living room. Luckily almost all cinemas near me all have huge screens, but there is an older one which has a couple of very small screens. I have visited it a couple of times (usually if a movie wasn’t playing anywhere else anymore) and although I still enjoyed seeing it in the cinema I thought the impact would not have been that different compared to watching it at home.

My question to you:
Do you think a movie is worth seeing at the cinema if the screen is small?

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The Monday Question: Accuracy!

Lately I have seen a couple of biopics, which obviously are based on real people and events. I saw the TLC story last week (review will be up later this week) and recently also The Butler, jOBS, Zero Dark Thirty and Fruitvale Station. These movies try to stick to the facts, but if you do a quick Google after having seen the movie you quickly realise that some facts are missing or completely changed. It can diminish your appreciation of a movie, but on the other hand a movie has to be kept interesting to the viewer.

I’m interested in your thoughts on the subject:
Do you think biopics are woth watching and how closely should they adhere to real life?

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The Monday Question: TV Shows!

Last week I was hooked on House of Cards. For a few days I watched nothing else but this great show starring Kevin Spacey. I stopped watching TV shows for a while (the last one probably was Breaking Bad where I stopped watching during season 3), but watching this it reminded me how great they can be and how much more depth they can offer compared of a movie because of their longer running time. It also made me wonder about your own personal favorites. Mine definitely would be The Sopranos, The Wire and Lost and the first couple of seasons of 24.

What are your favorite TV shows and what’s the first one that really got you into the format, wanting to follow it “religiously”?

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The Monday Question: Technique!

This past weekend I was thinking about something which should not be apparent, but will add a lot to the amount you will enjoy a movie: the techniques used to make a movie. I have never studied film (although I watch a lot of them) and I am not planning to start a study either, but I wondered:

Do you think knowing a lot about the techniques used for making movies can make you enjoy a movie less, because you might be focussing on it instead of the movie?

So let’s say you know a lot about cameras and camera moves, wouldn’t you constantly look at what is being done and realise you are watching someone operating a camera instead on focussing on what matters, a compelling story. I personally do not focus too much on them and think if I would I would need to watch movies at least twice and realistically I’d rather watch another movie instead of seeing something twice.

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The Monday Question: Bad movies!

The world of movies is a huge one and as movie bloggers we watch more movies a year than some people will watch in 10. It is inevitable that we will see movies which won’t be of the quality we hope, which will simply be very bad. We hope we won’t see too much of those, but know this is the “risk” of a movie blogger. There are some bloggers though who will purposely seek out the worst movies and it made me think of the following question:

Do you sometimes watch bad movies on purpose and why?

If I look at my own movie watching habits I will watch a movie which has had bad reviews for a couple of reasons:
1. I will know that it could be a movie I would still enjoy (think movies like John Carter, Battle L.A. or Battleship)
2. If it is a comedy because one man’s trash is the other man’s treasure
3. I’m curious about how bad a movie is. For example I watched Plan 9 From Outer Space simply because I wanted to know how bad a Ed Wood was. I considered a bit of education.

Interested in your answers.

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The Monday Question: Practical effects!

The world of movies has never been the same since the introduction of computer generated imagery. Although it has meant that specific movies could be made not possible without them it also has meant that practical effects are used less. The simple reason often is that it is cheaper to create something in the computer instead of building (for example) minitures. Personally I am a big fan of practical effects. I don’t think Alien or The Thing would have been as effective if they had used CG monsters. They look different, just compare the first Star Wars (original) with Phantom Menace and you know what I mean. As a viewer a practical effect like that has a much bigger impact on you. Although practical effects are still used (for example, Pacific Rim did still use it in various shots) in general they are much rarer nowadays. So this week’s question:

Should movies start using more practical effects again?