Morning Glory

Morning Glory follows young and committed morning television producer Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) who has dreamed since childhood of working for the Today show. Since graduating from college, she has dedicated her life to her job, but her devotion to her career is off-putting to potential suitors. After being laid off from her job at the local Good Morning New Jersey because of budget cuts, she finally gets hired as an executive producer on the long-running morning show DayBreak, at the once-prominent but currently failing station, IBS.

Determined to keep the show on air, she recruits former news journalist and anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), who disapproves of co-hosting a show that does not deal with real, hard news. Pomeroy proves to be tough going, constantly battling with his co-host Colleen (Diane Keaton), refusing to banter on air, and refusing certain pieces, like cooking segments, that he considers beneath him.

Between ratings beginning to drop and struggling with warring co-hosts, Becky is told that DayBreak may be canceled. As a last ditch effort to bump the ratings, Becky decides on a radical and desperate approach to try and save the show.

Though the film didn't to incredibly well at the box office, I personally loved it. I thought it was a very funny and cute twist on the television industry. All of the actors bring a comical breath of fresh air to the film, and you can't help but laugh. I would absolutely recommend this film to someone.

The Fun Left in Hollywood

Hollywood has always been known as the cutthroat heart to the American film industry, usually filled with professionals and never much room for laughter. And all of this is totally acceptable when many budgets cross over a hundred million dollars and studios are looking for the biggest bang for their buck. But it was the seventies and the rise of the American auteur that gave Hollywood some of the most iconic films and at the same time showed that directing is really just about the inner child's imagination. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg both created so many films that will be ingrained into film history for the rest of time. And as they dominated the seventies box office looking back it almost seems as if they were playing a game with each other.

In the late seventies George Lucas was nervous about his new release Star Wars. So when he turned to his friend Steven Spielberg and saw that he was was working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind it just made him feel worse. Lucas believed that Spielberg was creating "the biggest hit of all time" and that Star Wars would fail miserably. So as a small bet at the time Lucas bet 2.5% of Star Wars in exchange for 2.5% of Close Encounters. What was a small bet at the time turned into a forty million dollar investment for Spielberg. But even that wasn't the end to their game.

For the next decade the two would play box office ping pong and when it came to video rentals the two would send letters to each other publicly about the others success. 

The two showed that what they were doing was something that was fun no matter how serious it was, and that through the millions of dollars it wasn't about money. 

For a long time in Hollywood I feel like we have lost that. The sense of fun behind the movie making and that no matter what, film should be about making something that you feel should be made and having fun with it. But hope is not lost! There has been a new resergence in the industry and in a way it comes from the same franchise, Star Wars. 

J.J. Abrams is deep into production on the new trilogy and is bringing the same atitude as Lucas once did. Meanwhile on the other spectrum Zack Snyder is working on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and between the two films they are both approaching the situation just as the original duo did. With a twenty first century twist the two have been crossing their respective franchises in a way to respect the massive amount of pressures they both hold. It's the fun that Hollywood was missing and I hope it continues to stay. 

                                     
These images have been sent back and forth to each director. And the video below is the most recent gag from J. J. Abrams.

Here's to hoping the fun is still alive. 

When Will Film Die?

How many movies in a theatre have you seen in the past year that were shot on film? You could probably count them out on one hand. And at this point everyone knows why that is. Money, money, and more money. With the cost of everything else that is squeezed into a film production it is easy to understand why cutting something that is so expensive is reasonable. Digital movies are cheaper, most times easier to make, and way easier to manipulate in post production. The fact that cinema is dead is nothing new but the question is whether film stock will disappear forever?

 

The simple answer is no. Film is what created this industry and art form into what it is today. And with all the signs of film dying out it may look like it but the fact of the matter is that film will always have it's place. In a similar way to painting you can see the evolution of the materials used to create that art. Using acrylic paint does not mean that your painting is any better than a painting with oil paint. It is just different. And like movies that choice is made because of cost or the personal preference of the filmmaker. The way I see it is that without digital their would be a lot less films and a lot less films means a lot less stories. And who wants that? I don't care what you make your film on or what type of camera you used, just make a film. 

I will not lie and say that you will see a lot of film in the future of Hollywood but with enough money or power their will always be analog. Directors like Chris Nolan, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino have fought through the Hollywood main stream to support film. And even in July banned together with the help of their respected studios to support Kodak in it's effort to continue the production of film stock. Nolan and Tarantino have been behind film since the start of their careers and Abrams is currently shooting Star Wars: Episode VII on 35 mm. Hollywood will and always be a business and it's not a surprise why you will rarely see a movie shot on film in a AMC or Regal. In a way it's sad to see less and less of film but always remember that its out there. And movies will always be made. 

Check out the story below:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Quentin-Tarantino-Chris-Nolan-J-J-Abrams-Save-Film-From-Extinction-66537.html