Spy Movies

I loved The Debt. 

The Debt (2010) is about three retired spies and a fatal secret from their past resurfacing. The cinematography: excellent. The plot: engaging. The acting: top notch.

Helen Mirren executed her lead role flawlessly and convincingly.

But rather than review this movie. I'd like to talk about spy movies. I love spy movies. As a kid, my brother and I watched every James Bond movie and even classics like Where Eagles Dare.

I'm not exactly sure why, but I can feel a distinct style developing for recent espionage movies. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Debt, The Bourne Trilogy (Quadrilogy now?), Taken, The Good Shepard, and The American are all movies that come to mind when thinking about the recent trend of slow-to-start, cold, gritty and beautifully shot spy movies.

All of these blockbuster spy movies rely heavily on star appeal. Stars like Colin Firth, Helen Mirren, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, and George Clooney are all cast in hopes of Academy Nominations.

The lead spies are usually rogue intellectual types, with either a moral or selfless mission. Spies are never meant to be self serving. If they were, the film would simply be labeled as a gangster or crime movie.

This recent trend I'm referring to runs counter to the old kind of spy movie which placed an emphasis on the luxury, the gadgets, and traditional war movie. In the past, James Bond was watched by people envious of his lifestyle. Now, spies are more often depicted as living on the run or with some kind of deep internal conflict. It's less about good v. bad, and more about internal struggles.

5 Trends That Make Every Movie Look the Same

I'll be the first to admit that I probably spend too much time online. But it's so hard to say no when there's such quality time-wasters out there! One of my perennial favorites is Cracked.com, a humor site known for their bitingly hysterical, yet informative articles. It may not be the most reputable source available for filmmaking theory, but there was one article that I just couldn't keep to myself:

5 Annoying Trends That Make Every Movie Look the Same

This article covers stylistic trends that Hollywood seems to be stuck in a rut with. Included are:

1. Movies that are color-coded by genre
2. The excessive use of orange and teal tones
3. Time ramping use in action films
4. Faking the look of a documentary
5. Using 3D in a way that degrades the quality of the film

Reading the article, I was rather dumbfounded to see how predictable Hollywood has become, if you only know where to look.

Granted, this article does stem from the view of a snarky pundit. There are understandable rationals behind these trends rather than the production staff becoming "lazy," as the author suggests. For example, the heavy use of orange and teal imagery is really just a side effect of filmmakers wanting color contrast in scenes with the flesh tones of their human actors. You can't change the color of their flesh, and the color wheel dictates a nice blue looks great with the slight orange of skin. There is not much leeway there.

Also, there are considerable commercial reasons behind many of the trends listed. For example, the "color-coding by genre" argument never takes into consideration the importance of playing to the audience's expectation. If an unprepared audience is presented with something completely foreign, then they will not accept it as readily. Could you imagine Dark Knight done in vibrant Technicolor?

Still, some arguments ring true, especially the one about lackluster 3D movies. Some filmmakers have used the technique to immerse their audiences in a visceral way. Others do it for the 15 dollar ticket price they can charge. Though unfortunate, that is the way things are.

The article gives a refreshing perspective for me as a filmmaker. I have made a mental note to try not to unnecessarily add my work to the evidence supporting this article. Still, I believe filmmakers should be free to make their films using whatever techniques they want, regardless of how trendy or worn out they are.

Funny, But True

While deciding what to post today, I decided to search google for the trends vs. movies and their effects. The first thing that popped up, even though it wasn't what I was looking for, was just as interesting. An article from Cracked, a humor site that often raises some very true points. The title of the article is "5 Annoying Trends That Make Every Movie Look the Same."

For those of you feeling too lazy to read the article, I'll summarize it for you.
The five main claims are
5. Movies are color coded (color corrected) by genre
4. Everything else is teal and orange
3. Ramping (everything slows down, then speeds up)
2. Faking the documentary look, even when it isn't a documentary
1. 3D that makes the movie look worse

And the thing is, I can agree with all of these claims. Of course, saying every single movie ever made falls into one of these trends is a bit of an exaggeration, but there is still a lot of truth to it with more recent films. The article provides stills and poster images that clearly prove their points. These are all claims I've overheard in movie theaters, except the claims about the color correction--which the general audience normally doesn't think about.

Just figured I'd pass on this article, the link is posted below.


http://www.cracked.com/article_18664_5-annoying-trends-that-make-every-movie-look-same.html