Monday, August 30, 2010

You + Me & Rankography Movies Make 3

You + Me & Rankography Make 3
It is not too often that I am going to spend my time writing an article about another website, well not a website in full. However this website is not just any old website that I have come across on the internet. A little while ago now my former website (MdotMovieMan Reviews) caught the attention of the team over at Rankography Movies. I was asked to join this unique website and at first I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

Rankography Movies is a web site designed for movie reviewers and movie fans to take the opportunity to rank their favorite movies under user defined categories. I joined the site and immediately came up with some new categories to rank such as:
Best Of The Bad
Political Views

It was not long after this that my addition to the Rankography Movies became more apparent. The user friendly interface of the site make it easy for reviewers to add lists of their all time favorite movies as well as add movies to the database so that as a collective the site will end up with one of the most complete, interesting, and unique movie databases on the world wide web.

The staff at the site make things that much easier and more enjoyable to the users of the site as well. I was given the privilege of being able to guest blog over at Rankography Movies website. I have managed to post about four different blogs on the site including the first post from my new website Good Job Rob. As a guest blogger I am able to get my reviews of movies and the entertainment business out to a larger base of potential readers and it helps increase the traffic to my own site.

In return for the mass amount of traffic that gets to find its way over to my site, I am doing this review to also send traffic back to Rankography Movies. When you have the opportunity to do so, please take the time to read and discover their website, become a member, or even go about telling your friend and family about the site. I think you will soon find that you will find a slight addiction to Rankography Movies, and will soon be posting about it on your very own blog or website before you know it.

Many thanks go out to the hard working staff at RG for allowing me to not only be a member, but to also allow me to be a guest blogger on their site. I will continue to support RG and will frequently post blogs there tat are also found on my own site as well. Please continue to read my site and theirs as well.
It may be simple to shout out my way “Good Job Rob!” but in this case I believe the Good Job shout should go out to those behind the website Rankography Movies.

Rob Munson (MDot MovieMan) is the owner and operator of the website Good Job Rob located at robmunson.blogspot.com. Rob has been involved with the movie industry on and off camera now for over ten years. Please check out robmunson.blogspot.com for frequent movie and entertainment blogs, as well blogs that deal with everyday life.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Enjoyment Of A 3D Remake!

With a market flooded by 3D movies and remakes 2010 has been without a doubt the worst year for movies at the box office in a long time. Movies in 2010 have been boring, dismal, and nothing to tell your friends about. There have been a few gems in amongst the garbage pile, but there just has not been enough movie magic to keep audiences from yawning their way through the summer.

3D or Not 3D, That Is The Question
It seems more so this year then any other that the popularity of 3D movies has exploded beyond anyone's imagination. It is incredible to think that rendering images in a third dimension, a technology which has been around in some form since the 1950's. 3D in fact shared a popular trend during the 1980's up to the early 1990's when suddenly the fad so to speak completely died off. Now suddenly with digital film and increased budgets, more and more studios are starting to deliver their movies in 3D.

Is This What You Wanted?
These days I start to look at 3D as nothing more then a lazy way for studios to accommodate for their absolute lack of originality. When movies like Alice In Wonderland, Clash of The Titans, and The Last Airbender draw audiences solely for their 3D imaging then it really send the wrong message to studios that this is what the movie going public are looking for in their movies these days. No need to worry about a storyline, good acting, or anything resembling originality because we can always just go back, render the images in 3D and charge audiences 3 dollars more to go and see these lackluster movies.

Back To The Drawing Board
When all else fails these days with movie ideas, then it seems like studios have come up with the latest craze of remaking older movies for a new generation. Movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street and The Karate Kid are flocking the market and really offering up nothing new to the original ideas. In fact if you are going to go through with a remake that offers nothing new then the least they could be doing is making the movies fun to watch. The Karate Kid was all but boring with the exception of the acting from Jackie Chan which saved this dull remake from the dark abyss of forgotten movies. Mind you the movie along with many other remakes will soon be nothing more then the 3.99 purchase from the bargain bin at your local Walmart store.

A Guilty Pleasure
So take everything I have just written and call me an absolute hypocrite if you must because what I am about to say goes against everything I have been preaching. Last night my girlfriend Shaunna and I found ourselves at the theater to watch Piranha 3D. This movie is not only a 3D based movie, but it is also a remake on top of it all. The worst part of it all is I did not dislike the movie, in fact I found it rather entertaining to be perfectly honest. Piranha 3D which is written and directed by Alexandre Aja who you may know from his remake of The Hills Have Eyes or more recently Mirrors. It would appear to me that Aja had a very good understanding that the material he was working with was not going to ever be taken seriously, so when in doubt embrace your audience. Piranha 3D as a result of some quick thinking by Aja becomes very comical, graphically violent, and uses an over abundance of cheesy 3D effects to shock the audience. I mean where else can you see a fish swallow male genitalia on screen?

I walked away from Piranha 3D thinking to myself that at least if nothing else Alexander Aja understood that he was making a movie for audience wanting to have fun at the movies, as a result the movie worked on every level and achieved what most 3D movies do not, and that is to entertain the audience. If your core audience is paying that much extra to see your movie then you need to give them enough to walk away satisfied. Piranha 3D is by no means for everyone, and nor is it about to turn any heads in terms of originality, but if a person wants to go to the movies and have a good time then I would have to recommend Piranha 3D solely for that purpose.

Originality
It is tough for me to preach originality and then also to attempt to explain my guilty pleasure of enjoying Piranha 3D but I hope that many or all of my readers will understand where it is I am coming from. Also if you are tired of the lack of originality in Hollywood then try to limit the movies you attend in theaters. Wait for video releases, Netflix rentals, etc or simply wait for the movies to come on to the television and watch them with family and friends at that point. This will force the overall Hollywood numbers down and hopefully get the studios to consider picking up some new and innovative ideas. I don't want to condone illegal downloading of movies on my site but I do feel that if studios want to avoid having this issue then they truly need to work on their original content to draw back their core audiences.

Also write letters, emails, and make your voice heard to sites and studios so that they start to get the message about their ability to fail the movie going public. There are some young new and ambitious film makers out there these days who are dying for the opportunity to get noticed, all we need to do is start directing our attention over to the lesser known movies.

Together we can make the movie world a unique and beautiful work of art like it once was.

Thank you for listening to my rants, please leave any comments if you would like to discuss this post further.

My name is Rob Munson and I say what I think and what I feel, and as a result the people always reply "Good Job Rob!"

Rob Munson (MDotMovieMan) is the former operator of the website M Dot Movie Man Reviews. Rob's new site Good Job Rob! is aimed more at articles revolving around every day life and life in the Hollywood scene. You can check out Rob's blog over at robmunson.blogspot.com. Rob has spent over 10 years working with movies behind the camera and on camera.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Quintessential Modern Movie Soundtracks

Utilizing the recent Rankography's Best Movie Soundtracks Composite Ranking list as inspiration, I felt compelled to highlight my top modern (post 1990s) soundtracks. For me, the best soundtracks manage to play like a favorite mixtape: While each song should contribute to the picture as viewed, the album should also stand alone as an exciting auditory experience.

Three contemporary directors stand-out as having keen taste in music: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola and Quentin Tarantio. While many directors may not be involved with the soundtrack process (typically giving music directors 'free rein' to produce), it is clear that Anderson, Coppola and Tarantino have had strong direct and/or indirect influence at crafting their movie's musical experience. (And, why not given the strong (emotional, intellectual) impact music can have on the story?) Therefore, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite soundtracks from each of these auteurs.

Wes Anderson/Rushmore (1999): Rushmore is my favorite soundtrack of all time; great for almost any occasion, though highly recommended for road tripping cross country. While the original Rushmore soundtrack concept = 100% The Kinks, the final version included one Kinks track with a number of fantastic 1960's and 1970's songs. Most of the songs are by well-known bands - Faces, Chad & Jeremy, John Lennon, Cat Stevens, The Who - with some lesser-known artists - Unit 4 + 2, The Creation and Zoot Sims. Moreover, Mark Mothersbraugh's score elements are effortlessly woven within the 60's/70's pop music.

Other great Wes Anderson Soundtracks: The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Sofia Coppola/Marie Antoinette (2006): Marie Antoinette is a double-disc with amazing musical range: rock and electronic atmospheric music, 1980s new wave and post punk rock/pop, with a dash of period baroque pieces. The music - specifically the 1980s stuff - juxtaposed with the film elements (18th century France) is aesthetically brilliant. The Maria Antoinette film teaser-trailer (Age of Consent, New Order) is my vote for the most innovative and interesting use of music in a recent trailer.

Other great Sofia Coppola Soundtracks: Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides

Quentin Tarantino/Grind House, Deathproof (2007): A while ago I caught the Sundance Channel's ICONOCLASTS with Tarantino and Fiona Apple. Given Apple's musical background, lots of the conversation revolved around Tarantino's extreme passion for music (and extensive vinyl collection). This is not surprising; the Pulp Fiction soundtrack seemed to revitalize the soundtrack genre in the mid 90s. The Deathproof soundtrack may be lesser know but is just as genius. Tarantino continues his trend of including audio clips from the film and focusing on just plain cool rock songs (mainly 60's and 70's). Some high points include: Jeepster (British Glam Rock Band T-Rex), Down in Mexico (The Coasters), Baby it's You (Smith (not The Smiths)) and Staggolee (Pacific Gas & Electric).

Other great Quentin Tarantino Soundtracks: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2

You can check-out Rankography for a full composite list of Movie Soundtracks and more...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Art of Placing One Film Ahead of Another

When I was first invited to guest blog for Rankography movies, I wasn’t sure exactly what to write about.  So I went over to the website and browsed around for a little while, hoping to find something interesting that I could discuss.  Thirty minutes later I had looked at many lists of movies and had created two of my own. 

Let’s face it: ranking movies is fun!  The critics get to rank their favorites at the end of every year.  They all publish their top ten lists – although most of them look more like a Guide to This Year’s Oscar Contenders than a list of their actual preferences.  Here in the world of online film fanatics and movie bloggers, we’re not afraid to throw a “Watchmen” or a “Star Trek” onto our lists. 

The critics also place all their choices on a single Top Ten List.  How can you rank “Precious” next to “The Hangover” and not feel weird?  They’re different in every way imaginable.  Likewise, should you really be comparing animated films like “Up” with documentaries like “The Cove”?  Films with different styles and tones deserve different lists. 

At Rankography, we don’t just choose our favorite films, we categorize them for better comparisons.  So put “Precious” in Tearjerkers, put “The Hangover” in Funny Movies, and so forth.  There are all sorts of categories, from the broad (Animated Films) to the more specifics (Oscar Best Picture Winners) to the very specifics (rank the Rocky movies).

After you select your favorites in any particular category, you can compare them with the lists of others.  For example, I was glad to see that someone else thinks that “Blood Diamond” is Leonardo DiCaprio’s best film.  But in the Comic Book category, why did someone rank the average “Iron Man 2” ahead of its superior predecessor?  Of course, who am I to criticize?  I put Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” on my list of favorite WWII movies.

There are many benefits to being a part of this community.  We can suggest to the world our favorite films, and in turn view countless recommendations from others.  We can see which members’ tastes in movies best match ours, possibly forming connections and perhaps even friendships.  We can also use the collective wisdom of the Composite Rankings to come to a consensus as a moviegoing community about which films truly deserve that number one spot. 

I have a suggestion.  It would be great to have a way for the Rankography community to engage in live interactive discussions – we could chat about the merits and flaws of various films, justify why this film made our list and why this film didn’t, and perhaps even have scheduled debates about which movies are the best.  Live interaction is much more appealing than exchanging posts on a forum.  Perhaps a more direct method of communication will be a reality for us sometime down the road.

Rankography celebrates the skill and talent required to construct a list of great movies and place them in the correct order.  I am very exited to be a part of this community and look forward to seeing it grow.  So join us, create your profile and start ranking movies.  When you do, look me up: my username is John49.


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Introducing Composite Rankings!

We are introducing Composite Rankings for any category with at least five member-ranked lists.  We already have over 20 categories with Composite Rankings.

The Composites are calculated using a weighted scale, meaning that if a movie is rated #1 on somebody's lists it is going to receive more points than a movie ranked #5 on the same or another list.  So both the number of times a movie is ranked and the placement in the rankings are factors in determining the Composite Rank.

Here are the Composite Rankings for some of the most popular categories so far:

Comedies from the 80s - This golden age of the Comedy Movie yielded so many great movies that inevitably some really good movies get left of a list of the Top 30.  The Top 5 on the Composite currently includes Caddyshack, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, This is Spinal Tap and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Animated Films - Animated films are no longer just chidren's movies, adults love them too.  Here are the Top 5 from the Composite for this popular category; Shrek, Up, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Wall-E.

Horror Comedy - Our growing list of movie blogger members created this category and have filled it with some outstanding ranked lists.  Proving their deep knowledge of movies, the movie bloggers' have created lists with many interesting movies that I had never heard of such as Otis, Machine Girl and Idle Hands.  The Top 5 on the list were Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Re-Animator, Scary Movie and Fido.

Musicals - I have to admit I was surprised by the popularity of this category, but that is part of the charm of the site; users decide what is popular.  This category has an interesting blend of classic movies such as Singin in the Rain and newer cult classics such as Cannibal! The Musical.  The Top 5 Composite Musicals are Singin in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Band Wagon and The Sound of Music.

It will be fun to watch how these Composite Rankings change over time as more and more members rank the categories.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Should we Blame Ourselves for the Lack of Originality in Hollywood?

My god I am sick of the remakes and endless cycle of sequels coming out of Hollywood the days.  It seems that for every truly original movie, such as Inception or Dinner for Schmucks, we have at least 4 or 5 remake/sequels.  Do we really need to remake a movie, like Halloween or Let the Right One In, that were both incredible the first time around.  What does the medium gain by doing it?  I would say nothing.

However, should we actually be looking in the mirror to find the reason for this proliferation of trash?  Is it the direct result of all these "free movie download" ads and links I see whenever I google the word movie?  I am not a free movie downloader - both out of principle and a supreme fear of spyware and viruses, but clearly thousands of web-users are.  I can't help but think that Hollywood's sudden aversion to risk is related to the increased activity in "free movie downloads".

I have not back-tested the data to compare the number of remakes and sequels in the last two years to that of 10 years ago, but it certainly feels like there are a lot more now than there used to be.  It is also a very popular topic in the movie blogosphere.  Whether or not the incidence has increased, one thing is for sure -- if the profit is driven out of the movie business, the quality of the product will suffer.

Some artists will continue to create movie masterpieces without a thought of earning a profit, but even they would not be able to lose money making movies over the long-term.  I am a huge believer in free speech, but not copyright theft.  I believe in paying fair value for a product and downloading movies for free is theft. 

So please think about the future of the movie industry the next time you go to download a movie for free.  Whether your favorites are big-budget action movies or low-budget human interest stories, the quality will suffer if we don't let the artists make money.

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