The writing blog of David Stringer
In recent years, Marvel’s cinematic arm has gone through an ambitious process – a series of seperate superhero films, coming together in a united film last summer.
They intend to build on this – all that’s gone so far is classed as ‘Phase One’; ‘Phase Two’ is now underway, starting with Iron Man 3.
Writing for Ann Arbor Review, I’ve looked back at the films in Phase One.
Click here to read Marathon Man: The Avengers, Phase One
Writing for the Ann Arbor Review of Books, I’ve reviewed a trio of Mark Wahlberg films ahead of what’s sure to be his greatest work yet, the Michael Bay directed weightlifter crime comedy Pain & Gain.
I’ve watched and reviewed The Other Guys, Ted, and Boogie Nights – three films I’d not previously seen. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised – though still with a few reservations.
I only used one ‘Marky Mark’ reference, which I would claim is a sign of restraint, but the truth is that I’m only very vaguely aware he was in New Kids on the Block
Click here to read Marathon Man: Mark Wahlberg
This weekend sees the American premiere of 42, a biopic of the American baseball player and race pioneer Jackie Robinson.
It’s written and directed by Brian Helgeland, the writer of some of some very good films in the last two decades – LA Confidential and Mystic River among them.
Writing for the Ann Arbor Review of Books, I’ve reviewed six of his more notable films, all of which he wrote, some of which he also directed. Those films are LA Confidential; Payback (also directed); A Knight’s Tale (also directed); Mystic River; Man on Fire; Green Zone.
Yes, you read that right – the same man who wrote LA Confidential and violent revenge fantasies Payback and Man on Fire also wrote and directed the tale of a jousting knight, set to Queen’s We Will Rock You.
Click here to read Marathon Man: Brian Helgeland
East and West, two witches, have for years been locked in a feud with their sister Glinda.
Glinda’s new ally Dorothy kills East, and draws together a small army, marching towards West’s castle.
Can West, armed only with her magical powers and a gang of genetically engineered monkeys, halt Dorothy before it’s too late?
Witty romantic comedy. James Bond is a hitman and a sociopath, with an MI5 approved licence to kill. Vesper Lynd is a government accountant.
When the pair spend a weekend together playing cards, will sparks fly?
And can Vesper make James see that there’s more to life than the exhilirating high of murder?
Three university scientists, accused by their dean of sloppy methods, at least one of whom has faked positive results, are kicked out of academia.
They then enter the private sector, where they present their crackpot theories as fact, and make a fortune, in the process avoiding environmental regulations and locking up the immortal souls of the recently deceased without any form of legal process.
Who ya gonna call?
A while back, I posted what was intended to be the first in a series of analyses of films using Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet.
I’ve put off doing more since. Among the reasons are the fact that the second film I tried to apply the formula to was Cowboys and Aliens, which I found difficult to classify at a crucial part, and Casino Royale, which I thought did some interesting things with its structure when I looked at it analytically. (I intend to analyse Casino Royale, but want to do a few more examples of the ‘classic’ style of beat sheet first.)
The next film I analyse will be a comedy – Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy.
When writing I felt like I was being a bit humourless looking at a comedy in this way, particularly one with a style so OTT. But the structure is still there, and is quite easy to spot, which I think proves that even bold, silly films like this need to have a decent structure to function as a story.
Blake Snyder wrote an influential plotting guide, Save The Cat, which contains his famous Beat Sheet.
Tim Stout, himself a writer of a how-to guide on writing graphic novels, has put a condensed version of the Beat Sheet up on his blog, and I’m going to quote the whole thing:
Continue reading “Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet – Planet of the Apes (1968)”
Sherlock Holmes is one of the classic characters of literature, and as such, has had his adventures turned into TV and movies, so people can share his adventures without all that pesky reading.
In fact, he’s suddenly so popular, that several franchises have taken advantage of Holmes being a public domain figure and produced alternate versions. There’s Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ BBC TV version, Guy Ritchie’s films, and now a CBS TV series starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.
Yes, really, that is an actual thing.
Over at The Leaky Wiki, I’ve uncovered the long term plans for the character:
Every Actor in The World to Play Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
I’m going to do something I’ve been planning to for a while – recommend some videos.
I still don’t really know what I’m doing here with the blog, so I’m throwing everything at the wall in the hope that some things stick.
The first is from ‘Honest Trailers’ – they do alternate trailers for films that are…well, more honest.
This is from the 3d release of The Phantom Menace. It’s decent, with one or two good jokes (mainly later on), but not hilarious.
Continue reading “The Phantom Menace? In Three Dimensions? Wow!”
SciFiFootball 