The Underneath Of It
In today’s 12.26 N.Y. Times, Michael Cieply offers a cursory profile of Concept Modeling guru Winston Peretz.
“In a business as ephemeral as the entertainment industry, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re really selling,” Peretz says. “The truly great ideas are built on concept” because filmmakers need to “get beyond plot and dialogue” and into “the essence of a movie, a video game or an entire film-based franchise.”
Peretz isn’t wrong in identifying plot and dialogue as secondary elements, and saying that movies tend to sink or swim because of things within that resonate with people due to their own personal reasons. But marketing people who try to simplify the mystical process of movie-creation and movie-selling always seem intellectually smug. In itself the phrase “get beyond plot and dialogue” is enough to make my blood boil, but what really sets me off is Peretz’s assessment of the James Bond franchise.
Bond “is not a cold-blooded killer but “a cool-blooded one who must temper every assassination with a joke,” Cieply summarizes. But “when Bond became too serious in Quantum of Solace,” Peretz reportedly believes, “the entire franchise was put at risk because it wandered off-concept.” (This despite “healthy worldwide ticket sales of $586 million,” Cieply notes.) The killing-with-a-wry-joke thing goes back to Dr. No, and it was the staleness of this attitude or behavior that led to Quantum taking things into an angrier, more visceral direction.
Meet The Parents was conceptually popular because we’ve all been grilled and assessed and perhaps unfairly judged by families of boyfriends or girlfriends. But the second and third Fockers didn’t connect, in part, because misjudgments tend to be early and temporary and the basic truth of things tends to prevail after a while, so it made no sense that Ben Stiller‘s Greg Focker would continue to suffer except for the persistence of asshole-ism, which is not restricted to families. The second and third films were made in order to make money, plain and simple.
Frankly I thought the concept of Meet The Parents was to show DeNiro playing off of his image for comedic effect. That was, in essence, what drove B.O. for that film.
As for his Quantum Of Solace idea – WRONG. The “killer with a quip” thing would never play in a post-9/11, post-Bourne world. The James Bond series actually gained a fan in me because of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, which are still the only two Bond films I can watch.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
GOLDFINGER
I can watch those every year and not get bored at any point. RUSSIA is one of those films that you are embarrassed to admit you were bored with as a kid because it didn’t have the big action set pieces. But its one that I think many film lovers rediscover when they are mature enough to appreciate. I can do THUNDERBALL every other year, it having the best opening of most of them.
For SOME films, plot and dialogue become secondary (like say 2001 or I guess BLACK SWAN for some). But it’s a truly inane position to take when accessing mainstream American films in general. The dearth of great dialogue is one of the issues that is giving us one of the worst periods in American film since either the early 60′s or the mid-40′s.
Think about it, what was the last great line or exchange you heard in a movie? Just how far back do you have to go to find one that doesn’t need more than a cursory understanding of the story to appreciate?
I was interested in the article up until that final line:
“The rest of the time travel model Mr. Perez is keeping to himself. ‘I’m writing a script,’ he says.”
Well of COURSE you are.
Let’s get past this guy’s palaver for a minute. Here, I just made this up:
ALWAYS CONNECT.
Let’s get past this guy’s palaver for a minute. Here, I just made this up:
ALWAYS CONNECT.
The comment so nice a posted it twice. Not to mention, P.S., I’m must be old enough, per Deathtongue, that when I saw those movies, as a kid, those WERE awesome action set pieces.
Add this to the list of reasons why there was no ALL ABOUT EVE produced by the Studios in 2010. You’ll notice that there’s no search for the next Joe Mankiewicsz, just the next mass-marketable commodity and the wizard who can sell it.
Joseph Mankiewicz, please.
What are you saying? There were plenty of great films this year that weren’t mass-marketed or for casual fans.
Regarding Casino Royale, it was great because it focused on plot and dialogue, had interesting characters who had consequences to their actions.
QoS was shaky-cam, quick editing mess that was a bore from beginning to end. The story wasn’t good, and the bad guy completely uninteresting.
One man’s “great” is another man’s pedestrian small-screen literalist social drama.
“Think about it, what was the last great line or exchange you heard in a movie? ”
Somebody hasn’t seen ‘True Grit’ yet.
“Just how far back do you have to go to find one that doesn’t need more than a cursory understanding of the story to appreciate?”
I completely disagree with this. You’re talking about, at best, great trailer dialogue. How great can dialogue be if it is entirely removed from character and situation to the point where it makes sense without knowledge of either?
I mean, as an example, is “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” a great line in and of itself, or is it a great culmination following a romance where he loves this woman who constantly treats him like shit and openly talks about loving another man? If you picked the former, you have to explain why it’s a great line without knowing who the two characters are (which seems impossible from where I sit).
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