The History of Bond...James Bond

     Having made $669 million since opening earlier this month, Skyfall has become the highest grossing James Bond film in history, and according to Guinness World Records, the James Bond film series has become the most profitable film series of all time. It certainly hasn't been a bad week for Agent 007.
     The modern day action-hero that we all know for his daring heroics and ability to charm the ladies, is loosely based on British author Ian Fleming's series of James Bond novels. Bond's first non-literary appearance, before the movies, was on CBS in 1954, airing as an American adaptation of the character. After becoming highly successful with the public due to his witty humor and dialogue, exciting and impressive gadgets, audacious stunts, and gorgeous female-companions all, Bond and his tales were adapted to the big screen. Sean Connery (below) became the first actor to play Bond in a movie, with Dr. No being released in 1962. 

    




 




     Since then, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Skyfall's Daniel Craig (right) have all played the secret agent with a superhero-like persona. With each Bond has come new memorable quotes ("Shaken, not stirred"), new Aston Martins (deemed by many the "Bond-mobile") with new features, and an array beautiful women. It has been announced that Daniel Craig will return for at least one more James Bond film, but after that, there is only speculation as to who the next Bond might be. One thing is for sure though: no matter how many actors come and go, Agent 007 isn't going to stop saving the world anytime soon.


Images from guardian.co, screenrant.com, and wordpress.com

A Star Wars Trilogy for the Next Generation

As many people are now aware due to the ridiculous amounts of attention  it has received online and in the news, Disney has purchased George Lucas' company, Lucasfilm. Disney gained the rights to all of Lucasfilm's franchises, including Indiana Jones, for the meager price of $4.05 billion. It is not Indiana Jones that Disney has its sights set on, but rather George Lucas' most famous (and most profitable) franchise, Star Wars. Disney has already announced that they plan to film another trilogy of Star Wars movies, with Episode 7 (Lucas had already created six) to be released in 2015. Lucasfilm had previously mapped out a general storyline for the continuation of the saga, and Disney plans to use it, having acquired it in the massive purchase.

Lucas has made it clear that he is letting go of his famous franchise, stating earlier this year that he was looking forward to making “experimental movies” in his garage.  Lucas has had a strong relationship with the Disney since Star Wars themed rides opened in Disneyland years ago, and Disney has assured other figureheads of Lucasfilm that the franchise will be in good hands.

Other tentative plans have been announced, including Episodes 8 and 9 in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Also in the works is an animated series for Disney XD, a popular kids' channel. One thing remains clear, no matter who is in charge of producing the films, Star Wars will always have an unmatched fan base.



Pictures courtesy of abc.com and guardian.co.uk

Movie Trailer History: Part 2

Movie trailers began to reach their full potential during the second half of the twentieth century.  By the late 1950s, the National Screen Service had begun to decline, and most studios were creating their own movie trailers. This brought about a revolution in the movie trailer industry, breaking the monotony of the trailers produced by the NSS and creating a plethora of creative new promotional styles.

               

           Trailers in the 1960s most often used some narration to get the point of the story across, but attempted to promote the actors starring in the films. Most movie trailers came away from the “name-dropping” tactic by the 1970s and began to focus on the story of the movie, trying to fascinate the audience, rather than impress them.  The trailer for the film Night of the Iguana pioneered the use of an original musical score, combined with a voice over done by someone with a deep and dramatic voice; none other than James Earl Jones was used for this trailer.

                 

           It was no until the 1980s that using television to advertise movies became popular. Studios began to recognize the potential in using shorter previews that gave away less of the story and left viewers curious. Television was the perfect place to do that, and also reached a massive market. Trailer production studios soon realized that “fast-cutting,” or editing many different scenes and pieces of a film together, was effective in covering the flaws of a film and making it appear that every minute would be action-packed or fascinating.

                 

           Today’s trailers have evolved only slightly from those of the end of the twentieth century. For the most part, they try to overload viewers’ senses, with dramatic voiceovers, loud music (most commonly rock), and fast-moving, exciting compilations of different parts of the film, leaving the ending, and sometimes the entire plot, a mystery. How long this method will last, no one can say. There is no doubt that movie trailers will continue to evolve, but one thing will remain the same: Hollywood will continue to convince viewers that there is another more exciting, even more captivating movie, coming to a theater near you.

 Images courtesy of imdb.com and whynotcoconut.com

Movie Trailer History: Part 1

                When the movie industry began, there was no need to advertise specific movies. People did not care what they saw; seeing any movie was a thrilling enough event. Once the novelty wore off, though, people began to develop preferences in genre or appreciate a certain actor’s skills. Theater owners soon realized they needed a way to ensure that their customers would return.

The idea of allowing customers to preview next week’s shows seemed like a clever solution to this problem. The first movie trailers, however, were far from the epic, special-effects-filled previews we see today. The film industry’s first trailers, created in 1912, followed a formula that was rarely strayed from in the following years.  Nearly all showed a brief scene from the movie, and had exaggerated captions such as “NEVER BEFORE SEEN,” or “THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER.” Though every preview claimed that the movie it was advertising was phenomenal, there was little faith in this advertising method at the start.

Paramount Studios soon realized otherwise, and by 1919 it became the first studio to release trailers for all their movies. Later that year, the National Screen Service was created and began overseeing the creation and distribution of advertisements for all major Hollywood studios. They were not afraid to overdo the basic formula that had been created, and the following decades’ movie trailers were all fairly similar, showing only one scene of a movie and then flashing over-top-promises that took advantage of gullible audiences.

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This tactic came to an end, however, in the 1950s, when the movie trailer industry was revolutionized and trailers began to resemble what we know today.

Annoying Trends and Clichés

    Since Hollywood became the center of the movie production industry at the beginning of the twentieth century, several distinct formulas for making a successful movie have developed. Within these formulas are countless clichés that have proven to be successful in building suspense, making viewers laugh, or drawing attention. Writers, directors, and producers have shown that they have no qualms when it comes to shamelessly repeating these overused trends. I've created a list below of 17 trends that I think viewers have had enough of.

1. Cell phones dying at the least opportune of moments, or having no signal, ever (most commonly found in thrillers and horror movies)

2. People walking away from massive explosions without flinching or suffering any injury

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 3. Movies based on boardgames or toys: Battleship, Transformers, G.I. Joe (soon we'll be seeing previews for Chutes and Ladders: The Movie)

4. "Home footage" movies that use a constantly-shaking camera

5. All conflict being solved as soon as the lead villain is killed, or the mothership is destroyed, etc.

6. Having every villain be intimidating/ugly/deformed/anything other than a normal-looking human

7. These villains explaining their master plan to the hero before attempting to kill them

8. Every movie being released in 3D

9. Vampire movies (We're embarrassing ourselves; what will future generations say about our vampire obsession?)

10. The hero having perfect aim while the villain and his henchmen are all terrible shots, using up thousands of bullets

11. Characters trying to escape a killer or some other danger and dropping their keys or finding that
their vehicle won't start (again, most common in horror films)

12. Turning cartoons into realistic movies (Scooby-Doo, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Smurfs)

13. The hero saving the villain at the end, apparently forgetting that he has been trying to kill him for the majority of the story

14. "Let's split up, even though there's a killer after us and our chances of survival are much better as a group," or "Let's check out that creepy house/abandoned asylum."

15. Johnny Depp wearing white makeup (there's no way it's a coincidence)

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16. Injured characters refusing medical attention at the end of the movie, despite gunshot wounds or worse

17. Characters dying just before they are able to share important information: "The code to stop the bomb is.. is..."

 

     

     Unfortunately for audiences, these clichés are not likley to fade from movies, as today's writers and directors frequently rip off entire plots, let alone small trends. It appears that we will have to suffer through this period of unoriginality, but Hollywood, would it kill you to end just these few?

Leonardo DiCaprio

Okay, I know what you're thinking: I'm really going to read about Leonardo DiCaprio? And the answer is yes, because he's awesome. Few other actors have the range that DiCaprio does, as he can play a street-smart hoodlum, a sixty year-old politician, or an obsessive-compulsive germaphobic pilot in the 1920s. But the true proof of his talent, is that every movie he is a part of is an epic success in both the box office and in the eyes of critics. The list of his accomplishments is seemingly endless as countless awards have been won by his movies Titanic, Inception, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Aviator, Shutter Island, and others.

Introduction and Whatnot

From Die Hard to The Hangover to Forrest Gump, movies have always fascinated me. They are an art form like no other. There are few better ways than watching a movie to invest two hours , with the countless stories that can be told and the intense moments that are captured and displayed so vividly. Such up-close and personal viewpoints of epic events are impossible to find anywhere other than in film.
I plan to discuss something different about movies in each entry. It could be reviews and analyses movies I've watched recently, or my thoughts on certain cliches or trends in films, or my opinion of specific actors and actresses. It'll probably be really awesome.