George Lucas – Visionary or Hack?

Posted on by HakSnider33

Lucas arrested for crimes against Star WarsDirector George Lucas is one of the most famous filmmakers in the world due to the enormous success of his Star Wars series of films.  Starting with the original film, STAR WARS:  A NEW HOPE, Lucas has done much to change the game, when it comes to blockbuster films and the selling of licensed merchandise.  Even three decades after the original film, the marketplace for Star Wars collectibles should be considered an economy onto itself.  George Lucas the marketer and business is obviously one of the titans of industry.  However, what about George Lucas the film director?  Should we consider him to be a visionary filmmaker or is crass hack, only interested in the bottom line? Read More

Review: Joe Wright’s Hanna

Posted on by Mr Ridley

Joe Wright: Visionary?

Director Joe Wright’s Hanna is a stylish suspense thriller, which re-invents the story of the rogue assassin. 

Wright is the talented filmmaker behind 2007’s Atonement, which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress Oscars (Saoirse Ronan, who also plays Hanna’s title character).  Hanna may include familiar plot points of the modern-day thriller, but its execution is anything but typical. 

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Review: Robert Redford’s The Conspirator

Posted on by Mr Ridley

Robert Redford: Visionary

The Conspirator is an historical drama, which reveals a little known story about those connected with President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This is the debut film for The American Film Company, which plans to highlight historical dramas drawn from American history. It seems only appropriate that Robert Redford would be the director behind the company’s debut.

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China is now North Korea!

Posted on by Mr Ridley

Dan Bradley: Hack

In today’s remake frenzy, studios are going to the bottom of the barrel for content.  One such remake is a new rendition of 1984’s Red Dawn.

The remake by first-time director Dan Bradley was completed and readied for release last year. But the real story is the behind-the-scenes’ efforts to submit to the politics of global economics and digitally alter the baddies for this remake.

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Homage vs. Unoriginality Part II

Posted on by HakSnider33

Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino - Visionary or Plagarist?

by HakSnider33
Previously, we explored what happens when a hack director pays homage to a scene from a superior film by clumsily directing a scene that plays like a pale facsimile of the original scene.   However, when done correctly, an homage can breath new life into a cliched or inferior scene.  The man who is obviously known as the master of this is Quentin Tarantino.  Although his detractors label him a poseur without an original bone in his body, his films have exposed many film aficionados to older and forgotten films through his clever homages.

Examples include KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (2003), which introduced many to 70’s cult Asian films such as LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973) and MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1977), PULP FICTION (1994), which introduced younger viewers to films by French New Wave directors such as Truffaut and Godard and of course, Tarantino’s JACKIE BROWN (1997), which started a revival of interest in Blaxpoitation films such as FOXY BROWN and SUPERFLY.  However, it is the homage that Tarantino’s first feature film, RESERVOIR DOGS (1992), pays to Ringo Lam’s 1987 Hong Kong gangster film CITY ON FIRE that his critics point to as evidence of his originality. Read More

The Visionary’s Toolbox – The Long Tracking Shot

Posted on by HakSnider33

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil (1958, dir. Orson Welles)

by HakSnider33
One of the trademarks of the hack filmmaker is the way that they often bombard you with a dizzying array of MTV-style short takes. Such rapid-fire ADD sequences may be used to mask a multitude of film-making sins, including poor fight choreography and mediocre shot composition. This visual style only requires the hack director to worry about coverage, as the footage will be handed over to a professional editor to “make the magic happen”. Conversely, a true visionary filmmaker possesses the confidence to let the action in front of the camera speak for itself.
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The worst kind of hack is a money-losing hack

Posted on by Late Night

Patrick Lussier: Hacking in 3D? (Note the now-obligatory eye logo; et tu Comic con?)

Did you see DRIVE ANGRY (in 3D!)?  Probably not.  Turns out almost no one “turned out” for the cool car + sexygirl redneck revenge fantasy.  Box Office Mojo dissed it like this:

Drive Angry was the biggest loser this week, debuting all the way down in ninth place with just $6.9 million. That’s the worst nationwide opening in the modern 3D era and the lowest-grossing start for star Nicolas Cage since The Weather Man in 2005. When adjusting for ticket price inflation and 3D premiums, it’s essentially neck-and-neck with Racing with the Moon from 1984 as Cage’s least-attended start ever.

Here it is, months later Memorial Day weekend, and the movie has only grossed $10.7 million. The audience has spoken. How much of this blame shall we lay on director Patrick Lussier?  Take a look at the clip below, and then consider that he also wrote and edited the film.   I say it’s all on him.

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Is ‘X-Men: First Class’ Director Vaughn the New Comic Book Adaptation King?

Posted on by HakSnider33

Matthew Vaughn

Does Vaughn have the X-factor?

by HakSnider33
English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn first burst on to the international film scene as a producer of his friend Guy Ritchie’s breakthrough films LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and SNATCH.  He then made to transition into directing with the 2004 film LAYER CAKE, which starred Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller.   Layer Cake, a stylish British gangster film based on a hit novel, not only established Craig as a superstar (and the new 007), it turned Vaughn into a hot commodity in Hollywood.

His next two films, STARDUST and KICK-ASS, were adaptations of popular graphic novels.  The 2010 Kick-Ass was an independently financed film that Lions Gate placed high hopes on after footage from the film stole the show at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.   Unfortunately, the film underperformed badly at the box office as the marketing campaign for this R-rated film failed miserably.   However, his work on the film impressed 20th Century Fox enough to select him to be Bryan Singer’s replacement as director of the upcoming X-MEN:  FIRST CLASS, which opens nationwide on June 3rd.  Does Vaughn have the chops to resuscitate an X-Men film franchise that has suffered nearly mortal wounds due to pathetic films directed by hack filmmakers such as Brett Ratner (X-MEN:  THE LAST STAND) and Gavin Hood (X-MEN ORIGINS:  WOLVERINE)?

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13 Assassins Director Miike – Too Prolific to be a Visionary?

Posted on by HakSnider33

Takeshi Miike

Takeshi Miike - Hardest Working Man in Show Business

Japanese director Takeshi Miike’s latest film, 13 ASSASSINS, a big budget remake of a 1963 classic samurai film, has been receiving a lot of hype due to its current simultaneous theatrical and VOD release by Magnolia.  Starring, top acting talent such as Koji Yakusho (SHALL WE DANCE, BABEL) and Yūsuke Iseya (MEMORIES OF MATSUKO), it has already been positioned for top awards since its premiere at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.   However, Miike first made his mark directing straight-to-video Japanese “V-Cinema” exploitation films, churning numerous films each year, including an insane 15 films in 2001 and 2002 alone.  Read More

Lars Von Trier: Visionary or Nazi?

Posted on by Late Night

Von Trier: "Persona non grata?"

Or both?  As Roman Polanski easily proved, visionary film makers can certainly be evil.  Or at least devilishly provocative like Von Trier, who was physically kicked out of the Cannes Festival (though his new film, MELANCHOLIA, remains in competition) for “joking” about being a Nazi. Read More