Meat's Back on the Menu

 

Five members of the Film Society embarked on a journey to create a short film on a FlipCam. They had little time to shoot, and little time to prepare, yet this is what they created

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnTrQsJbpc4

"A short film documenting the struggle of four teenage boys in coping with the chaos inflicted upon their school and the wider world following an apocalyptic event. This touching tale presents a startling insight into the nature of humanity."

(Credits in video)

Lord of the Rings - Visual Effects

By James Collyer

Lord of the Rings (LOTR) first hit the screens as a live action film in 2001. Directed by Peter Jackson with a budget of US $93 million, set in New Zealand, with an epic following, everyone knew it was going to be a hit. The first film alone won 4 of 13 Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, Best Effects – Visual Effects, Best Make-up and Best Music – Original Score. It is ranked 29^th on IMDB on the world wide box office lists of all time at US $860.7 million the lowest of the three films and at the time was in the top 10 of all time. The Two Towers in 2002 with a budget of $94 million won 2 of 8 Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing. Currently ranked 20^th on IMDB with US $921.6 million, it again broke the top 10 in 2002. Finally The Return of the King in 2003 had 11 nominations in the Academy Awards and won all 11 of them: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Make-up, Best Music (song), Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.

The recurring award that LOTR won over all 3 films was Best Visual Effects. This is no coincidence. LOTR had – and still does in my opinion – the best visual effects displayed in a movie.

Unbreakable (2000)

By Cameron Hollis

Definitely one of my favourite films, Unbreakable is constantly overshadowed by The Sixth Sense, to the point where it has not received the recognition and credit it deserves.

Firstly, one reason why you should watch this film:  Samuel L Jackson.

The film follows the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who is the only survivor of a train crash and who escapes with no injuries what so ever. He is contacted by Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson), known as Mr Glass – due to a rare disease that makes his bones break easily – who believes that because he is extremely frail, there must be someone who is extremely strong. Elijah proposes to David that he is the kind of person that superheroes in comics are modelled from. He continues to insist that this is the case and eventually David begins to test himself, finding that he is able to lift much larger weights than he previously thought, and that he has never been ill.David begins to develop extra sensory perception, and begins to accept that could be a superhero. He then goes on to use this perception to save a family who have been taken hostage by a sadistic janitor.

The Destruction of a Saga - George Lucas' Greatest Mistake

By James Colvin 

Many films have huge cult followings, but none so more than the Star Wars Saga. The first movie, 'A New Hope', brought in around $400 million in the United States alone, with the entire saga making around $4.5 billion in its box office run (not to mention the $15 billion or so it has made from toys over the years).

But for the purposes of this article, return yourself to 1997, 14 years after the last film, 'Return of the Jedi'. Fans everywhere reel to the news that a new trilogy will be released, showing the fall of the great Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. The first film, 'The Phantom Menace' brings in $924 million worldwide, a huge amount, which is a sign that the film is a hit. The next two come out, and bring in similar amounts.

However, while this is what George Lucas, director of the Saga aimed to achieve, it was not what the saga deserved. The films were to show the fall of Anakin Skywalker, a fabled Jedi Master. What the films failed to show was Anakin as anything more than an arrogant, whiny brat, a character comparable to Top Gun's Maverick in terms of the one-dimension shown.

Throughout the original films, Luke travels from his home, leaving behind all he knows to help this old Jedi, Ben Kenobi, eventually pushing through the struggles of fighting the near invincible foe of the Galactic Empire, and becoming a Jedi Knight in his own right. The story shows the growth of the boy into man, and sets up an unforgettable universe in which many characters develop, fighting for a greater cause. Even more incredible were the sets, created by Lucas and his team, creating a realism never before seen in movies. With ground breaking special effects, the movies achieved their well-deserved cult following from the hard work put into it by both the creative teams and the innovative directing.

However, when it came to the prequels, Lucas took the films in a new direction. He had decided that special effects were the best way to tell the story, and while the effects used were, in most cases, stunning, they were relied upon too heavily. Near all backgrounds were shot in front of a blue screen, creating an environment difficult for actors to react to, as well as looking noticeably unbelievable, retracting from the universe, a fate the originals did not suffer from. Furthermore, most alien characters were achieved through CGI effects, leading to another case where it was difficult for characters to interact with, again pulling the audience away from the realism of the film.

The Truth about Star Wars

By Daniel Dobrowolski

Star Wars; a franchise that has had one of the largest impacts on the world of speculative fiction. It consists of six films, the original and the newer prequel trilogies, and yet it is the prequel trilogy that is considered largely inferior by a surprisingly large number of Star Wars fans. When you take a closer look, however, perhaps it’s not so surprising that this is the case.

After all, the originals were produced over forty years ago, at a time when the Space Opera genre had only just begun to be taken seriously, a time when nothing quite like Star Wars had ever been seen before and a time when certain clichés like a definitively good and evil set of characters and a plot revolving around a one-dimensional Bildungsroman-style main character were actually revered. No wonder, then, that the original Star Wars films became such classics.

When one is able to set aside the dispositions of those who dote upon the words of the stubborn middle-aged man defending his childhood favourites, the prequels begin to take a different light. One reason for this is the far greater complexity with which Anakin Skywalker’s character develops as compared to Luke’s.

Pulp Fiction: A starting point

By Callum Reid

We kicked off The Film Society's 'Cult Classic' season with a screening of Pulp Fiction to bring people up to speed. Before we get a review out I thought I would give some (hopefully) insightful information and consider a few of the questions the film raises.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Release Date: October 14 1994

Why 'Pulp Fiction'?

The title in itself is ambiguous. The opening of the film gives the definitions of the words but neither really give away much of a hint as to what Tarantino was getting at with the title. In the poster (pictured) for the film we can see a small, round 10 cents price tag. "Pulp Fiction" was the name given to 50's paperback comics and mini-novels which contained stories generally about gangsters and solving crimes, typically costing a 'dime'. Clearly there is some parallel between the fiction in these old school mini-novels, and the narrative of Tarantino's film, hence the name 'Pulp Fiction'.

What's in the Box?

We are never shown the suitcase Jules an Vincent are sent to retrieve on Marcellus's behalf. All we are told is that 'it's beautiful' and it has a faint golden glow to it, as we see the light reflect on the faces of characters who open it. At first glance, you may be tempted to think its just gold, but gold never really shines that brightly, and would be very difficult to carry in a suitcase due to its weight. One popular theory is that it's Marcellus's soul in the case, the combination lock being '666' and it being of such great importance to him. Marcellus is also seen in the film with a plaster on his neck which later disappears. In some religions the back of the neck is considered the gateway to the soul and so perhaps the plaster was testament to its removal? Tarantino originally wanted the case to contain the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs, but decided it was too boring and predictable so the mystery was left in. We'll never know what was meant to be inside, except for the yellow light bulb they used on set.

Chronology

The chronology of the narrative is pretty messed up in the film. Tarantino does like to play with time in his films which in some ways keeps it fresh and interesting, in other ways makes it slightly annoying. There  are many attempts create a chronologically ordered timeline of the events in Pulp Fiction. Many are terrible squiggley messes but I managed to find one which is reasonably easy to read/understand. Link here for the enlarged version.

I challenge anyone to best this timeline.

Welcome...

Welcome to the WCGS Film Society blog! Our first season is entitled "Cult Classics" meaning that most of our features will be based around cult films (for those lost as to what a cult film is, follow the link). Throughout the period we will have posts from different members of The Film Society creating all kinds of stuff from reviews and posters to alternative commentaries.

'Film Society Essentials' will be those features which are directly related to the season's theme, and on occasion we will have 'Off-topic' features which could be about anything at all film-related for those members who choose to go above and beyond their limits. Feel free to leave comments and spread the word of The Film Society wherever you go.

Peace.