*Video Game Rage
*Ignored by the Oscars
*Great Sequels
1.
Video Game Rage - Recently, I read a news report about a young man, Daniel Petric , who killed his mother and attempted to kill his father last year at the tender young age of 16. The reason he was in the news was he was recently sentenced to 23 years to life. Why is this news? The media is labeling the boy as the "Halo Killer". For the uninitiated, Halo is a video game. An immensely popular video game. Why is that significant? Daniel claimed insanity in his trial and "video game rage" was toted as the reason.Maybe it was insanity. Daniel was said to have had a hard time distinguishing between the the real world and the world of the "Master Chief". He was said to play Halo online everyday and most days up to 18 hours per day. Another instance of "video game rage" has been attributed to a 17 year old in Arkansas who also played Halo very heavily. One night in 2006, Allen Gann was playing video games and his grandmother grounded him for not doing his chores. He woke up the next day and played violent video games all day, which included Resident Evil, Smackdown vs. Raw and Midnight Club. When reminded of his punishment, he nearly choked the life out of his grandmother. When the state troopers arrived, Allen threw a hammer at one of them and was eventually subdued by being shot in the leg by the state troopers and charged with aggravated assault. And since the D.C. sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo regularly played Halo and the Columbine shooters were Doom fanatics, then all video games must be EVIL. RIGHT?
What do you think? Aren't parents supposed to monitor what their children watch, eat, play with, etc.... Many parents are too busy trying to do their own thing and neglect their children, thereby their children fill their time with the things that entertain them. Unfortunately, it is not a book. Those days of a village raising a child are over. Most kids are raised by cable television. Parents really need to get involved in their childrens' lives and figure out what is going on with them. Halo has sold probably 10 million copies. These are 4 instances. 4 out of 10 million is not an epidemic. Blaming video games is NOT the answer. No one watches what happens in movies and tries to imitate that. Blaming video games is an EXCUSE for bad parenting. Plain and simple. Don't believe me....check this out...
2.
Ignored by the Oscars - Over the history of cinema, there have been some movies and actors that for what ever reason were ignored by the Academy, or in other words, the people who give out the Oscar statues. Whom, you ask? Well, where to begin?When you think of great suspense and thrillers, one name comes to mind for EVERYONE. Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Birds, Psycho. That name is Alfred Hitchcock. However, he never won an Oscar. Nominated 5 times in 20 years (1941 - 1961) for Best Director. ZERO wins. He was given a "memorial award" in 1968. Not the same thing.
Orson Welles, whom is considered by many the Greatest Director who ever lived, never won an Oscar. Responsible for the radio scare that shook up America "War of the Worlds" in 1938, as well as movies like Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil. Citizen Kane lost RKO Pictures $150,000 (in 1941 money) and every movie Welles made was a commercial failure, however Citizen Kane is considered by many the BEST movie EVER made. Welles received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1975.
Many people will tell you "Lawrence of Arabia" was a classic movie, even if they have not seen it. The actor who played Lawrence.....Peter O'Toole. He lost out on the Best Actor Oscar to Gregory Peck in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and probably thought he would get another chance. 7 more nominations over 47 Years. Zero Wins. Sad.Despite having extraordinary careers and being revered by his colleagues, Robert Altman seems to have also missed the beckon of the Oscar statuette, along with Boris Karloff, Steve McQueen, Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise. Stanley Kubric was an amazing director and only received an Oscar for special effects on 2001: A Space Oddysey.
But
not just people have missed out on the chance to receive Oscars, fantastic movies have as well. Some of these movies are King Kong (the 1933 original version), The Searchers, Easy Rider, Empire of the Sun, Blade Runner, Once Upon A Time In America, Taxi Driver, 12 Angry Men, Frankenstein, Dr. Strangelove, Shawshank Redemption and Psycho. Another film that did not receive an Oscar but proved to be a revolutionary breakthrough in film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. There was no category for animated films back then. So Walt Disney was given an award the following year for "a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field."3.
Great Sequels - Really only four movie genres invest the time and money into producing sequels: Action, Sci-Fi, Comedy and Horror. However, most movies in general suffer from a dreadfully fatal disease in the industry called sequelitis. This is a dreaded illness and what was once a strong, viable and productive movie franchise can be brought to its knees and eventually die due to this debilitating curse. Remember "Chronicles of Riddick". Completely screwed up what could have been with "Pitch Black". How often is it that the video game is better than the sequel movie?What gives all sequels room to be better movies is you don't have to spend half or more of the movie setting up back story and introducing the characters. Not only introducing, but getting you to "buy-in", to become emotionally invested, to "care" about the characters. Sequels can spend only a few minutes getting people caught up, say with a montage, and go forward with the story. Anyway, Don't believe me....Check this out.....
First, Honorable Mentions - X2: X-Men United - The first movie started the whole superhero/comic book kick of the past decade. However, the second movie did not skimp on special effects or huge action pieces and juggle a dozen different stories into a more cohesive story. Rocky II - Rocky told a great story of a common man succeeding against all odds and the best part of the movie was that HE LOST! Rocky II was where the payoff came and it was earned and that made Rocky II special. Transformers 2 - A geek's wet dream was realized when the first movie finally hit the big screen and was done properly. The second movie introduced new robots, ramped up the violence and action 100 fold and even hit racial lines and controversy by adding two foul mouthed steppin fetchit caricatures in robot form. However, still a much better flick than the first.
Now, my top ten in no real particular order, however I think I did put them in my favorite order.
10. Road Warrior - George Miller shot the first film, Mad Max, for virtually nothing and edited the film in his bedroom and it became a huge hit. The second takes the violence and action up a notch, expands the character and mythology and gave us one of the great cinema chase scenes of all time.9. Superman II - This movie gave us arguably one of the best movie villains ever in Terence Stamp's portrayal of General Zod. Without the mythology and backstory that slowed down the first movie, this was just pure fun to see Superman battle not one, but three supervillains as powerful as he was.
8. Spider-Man 2 - Once again, after the first movie cleared the way of backstory, the path was set to introduce one of Spider-Man's greatest villains wonderfully portrayed by Alfred Molina. More action, superior story and the high point in Cinema for all comic book based movies.
7. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - The first Star Trek movie sucked. Yes, I said it and Yes, I am a Star Wars fan. However, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was outstanding. This movie single-handedly saved the entire franchise and birthed countless TV shows, spin-offs and movies. Ricardo Montalban's turn as Khan was electrifying and made him a dynamic screen villain. This movie made me think differently about Star Trek. That is saying something. Now, if only J.J. Abrams can keep up the good work with his fantastic reboot, maybe there is hope for Star Trek.6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Just like "The Road Warrior", T2 improved in every way possible on the original film and concept. And also just like "The Road Warrior's " predecessor, Mad Max, The original Terminator film had high concept and high promise. James Cameron stepped in and took a "B" movie and drop kicked in amazing action effects, spectacular special effects and gave us an awesome villian in the liquid metal T-1000. The high point in Schwarzenegger's career. James Cameron did have that whole "Titanic" thing and he has bet the farm on "Avatar". Still liked T2 the best.
5. Aliens - Ridley Scott's "Alien" was one of the best science-fiction horror movies ever made. Hard to top that right? James Cameron was able to do it with the sequel. He turned a haunted house in space into an an absolutely terrifying, nerve shaking, edge of your seat thrill ride. The whole Marines vs. Aliens angle was a nice touch and even though Cameron spent the 1st hour developing characters until we saw the first Alien, the movie ended up with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) being empowered and not the victim and kicking some Alien ass!
4. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Even with the complaints that the entire trilogy was ONLY about people WALKING and that the third parts last 15 minutes messed up what could have been a perfect franchise, the second movie is by far the best of the three. No backstory. No character development. Just character enhancement and pure action featuring one of the greatest battles on film. Frodo realizes that he is probably going to lose his life on this quest and the darkness of the ring begins to take him was pure cinema magic. Not to mention the introduction of Gollum, a digital character that appeared real and further helped to pull you into believing the story through special effects sorcery. Peter Jackson's crown jewel. The best book to movie adaptation to date.3. Batman: The Dark Knight - The first Chris Nolan attempt at the superhero genre, Batman Begins, was a pretty good movie. It made us want to see more. Not perfect, but good. Better than all of the other batman movies except the first (and that's only due to a stellar performance by Jack Nicholson). However, the second movie shifts it's tone to a darker, more brooding movie and in turn will affect every other superhero movie made after it. The best superhero movie thus far.
2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - The high point for the entire double trilogy. While the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was fun, the second movie darkened the series, developed the characters more fully and improved on some new technologies. Arguably the best sci-fi movie ever, it is often referred to as the "Godfather II of sci-fi movies". This was the gold standard of science-fiction movies on how to improve upon a concept. It had one of the all time great battle scenes and a super dramatic climax that was further propelled into Cinema legend with one line, "Luke, I am your father." Genius directing. The one movie George Lucas did not tinker with too much to screw it up.
AND FINALLY NUMBER 1. The Godfather II - The Godfather series is my favorite series of all time. I can forgive the feeble attempt at the Godfather III, however I loved Andy Garcia's character and wanted to see more done with him. The first Godfather movie was a masterpiece unto itself and just like in the Alien series, the second movie actually improved upon the first movie. The story of a young Vito Corleone, brilliantly played by Robert De Niro, and the story of a wiser, aging Michael Corleone told simultaneously was superb. Al Pacino had really settled into his role as Michael and played his character perfectly, even when it came to taking out his own brother. This is the watermark of storytelling and is definitely the movie that all sequels are judged against. It is also the only movie series in history where two different actors (Marlon Brando & Robert De Niro) won the Best Actor Oscar for playing the SAME PART. Both were Don Vito Corleone. Brilliant. My favorite movie EVER.Well until next time....
R. Steed (Big Goldie)
"Fluffy Puffy - The Media Mogul in Training"
www.dashowtv.com
www.arewenotentertained.blogspot.com
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