Movies

Ah, the movies.
The Art of telling stories with the use of moving pictures.

Yes, we all know examples of it, but I think most movies aren't as much art as I'd like them to be.
No, I don't define what is and what isn't art, but I know there are movies i go and watch for amusement, and others I go and watch because it's something I don't see that often.
No I don't watch movies all that often, I skip some because I don't have a TV close by but mostly because I really don't want to watch them.

Lots of movies remember the fact that they're supposed to tell stories (I've seen exceptions), but awkwardly few remeber that it's supposed to be an Artform. Lots of modern day movies seem to be made to show off the latest technologies, to make the experience as WOW as possible for people watching it, while forgetting you don't need huge explosions in SuperReal3D to have people impressed.

Let me compare the first Big Movie in 3D (Avatar) with one more recent one (Hugo)(watched it a few days ago). Avatar was a Huge success. Why? because of the 3D, the effects, the novelty of technics. It wasn't the story that reviewers were praising, it was the technique. Now 3D has become something of a gimmick for Big Budget movies with Big Explosions, while more storytelling movies still are in 2D (A Dangerous Method).
Now comes Hugo. Not that much action (almost none at all) but still wouldn't it be the same movie if they had released it in 2D. The "feel", the atmosphere wouldn't have been the same. I'm not going to tell you what Hugo is about, there are enough reviews out there to tell you that, but it's certainly a movie to be watched, especially if you tend to like steampunk (sorry, I had to include this, there's a lot of cogs and steam and copper and cast iron and mechanical stuff in it), movies and an Art-Nouveau timeframe.

What they did with 3D in Hugo is uncompareable of what they did in Avatar, and I regret that. If you take a look at the list below: most of them are movies where storytelling isn't only done by the characters, but also by the camera, the locations, the music and the time.
Too many movies nowadays seem to forget about that and I regret that...
Well, that's not entirely true. I do like a brainless movie from time to time. The remake of the A-Team some time ago, good for some laughs, but not something I would call art.

That's about it what I wanted to say...

For people wondering what movies I really enjoyed watching (listed without order):

• Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (don't forget the french audio, it's beautiful ...),
• The Matrix (the first one, everything that follows that is just increasing in WOW and decreasing in interest),
• Modern Times (by and with Charles Chaplin, ah, the Art, ah, the pleasure of watching),
• Inception (why don't you tip over?!!1!),
• The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin again, beautiful parody on Hitler (Der Führer himself has watched it 2 times, mind you)),
• The Lord Of The Rings (I must say the entire trilogy is really worth the watch, but especially the first movie),
• Hugo (Duh),
• Bin Jip (korean movie, also known as 3-iron, the 2 main characters almost don't speak),
• The early Star Wars movies (ah, the old fashioned sword fighting),
• The newer Star Wars movies,
• ...

and that's about it that I can think of at the moment.

Oh, and I'd like to give you a Youtube movie that kinda gave me the idea of starting to write this article: The Backwater Gospel. Warning: blood, gore and creepyness is present. But still a good story.

-ThOR