Category: Genre
Speaking of Oscars, it’s Been a Pretty Good Year for the Western
Across the misty landscape of this year’s prolonged Oscars race, ride three films that somehow or another shake up the roots of the classic western…
Biopic Fever (and the Unexpected Virtue of Innovation)
The world of cinema is, perhaps, the most fast-paced entertainment industry. For decades, following its initial launch, many genres began to shape up and fill…
76th Golden Globe Nominations Announced
As I said when I made my nomination predictions, you never know what you are going to get with these tricky voters. Much like the…
Genre Blast: Family Matters & the Ties that Bind
If society can be considered the organism, the family is the structural adhesive that holds the cells of that organism together. As every organism is bombarded daily by threats and external pressures, the family is where these challenges are met and dealt with; problems are examined and the family unit adapts, and the organism evolves. Things can get dicey, however, when the adjustment that works for the family does not exactly jive with society’s expectations, and this makes for inimitable drama onscreen.
Boy in the Dark: A Conversation with Filmmaker Jason Ragosta
Jason Ragosta not only knows what he wants to do in the future, he’s become proficient in pulling it off at every level. Filmotomy will stalk his career with big expectations – watch Boy in the Dark here and see if you don’t agree. The Vimeo password for the short is: Diana
A Few Words On This Sunday's Oscars..
The 90th Academy Awards will be taking place on Sunday. It is a time where we celebrate the best in cinema from 2017 and watch…
Genre Blast: Stop the Presses! The Journalism Genre
“Journalism is the first draft of history,” Phil Graham, newspaper publisher and part owner of the Washington Post, once said. I would add that films about journalism – whether fictional or based on true events – would be the postscript to history, with license.
Genre Blast: When the Backdrop is Christmas – The Yuletide Genre
Ah, the obligatory list of Christmas films, you’re thinking. Well, Santa Claus, presents for precocious kids, heartwarmingly comical family get-togethers…I’m not going there. In place…
Genre Blast: Beat It! It’s the Cops! – Police Genre
Whether it’s a frustrated and dedicated maverick taking on a situation alone – often against orders – or an escalated paramilitary effort launched due to the scale and sophistication of the lawbreakers, we like our law enforcement tales precise and no-nonsense.
GENRE BLAST: When Push Comes to Shove – the Genre of Disparity
One of the miraculous benefits from storytelling – especially in cinema – is its ability to teach and inform, enabling empathy by making news and history come alive. We share experiences not necessarily from historical perspective, but also as a plea to correct or change direction into the future. By recounting and reenacting acts of bravery and resistance, film can serve as both acknowledgement and inspiration.
GENRE BLAST: Love and Laughter – The Romantic Comedy
So how does one determine the best of this tired old chestnut of a genre? Simply take at least one of the steps in the overused recipe and invert it, turn it upside down, inside out, or just throw it away Add some intelligent dialog relating to philosophy or metaphysics and maybe add a third party to spice-up the natural balance. Top it off with some serious social commentary and some snappy editing, even perhaps a dash of kink (critics love all three if you can swing it). Now, season with humor to taste and “Bob’s your uncle.”
Genre Blast: Truth Be Told – Documentary Features
As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, a documentary is a film “that provides a factual record or report.” What the dictionary does not say is that an effective documentarian takes those raw facts and arranges them in such a way as to clarify a point or to provide additional weight and understanding to the topic at hand. This makes the documentary nearly as subjective as a fictional work …
Genre Blast: Brass Ringers – BizFlicks
At the core of every protagonist in this genre is the seed of origin, that thing, that career, that idea that they either love so much that they dare not take their attention away from it, or a past so traumatically unsatisfying that they can’t reinvent themselves quickly enough.
GENRE BLAST: Things That Go Bump, III – Fantasy
They fracture time and space, reference our libraries of mythology and ethics, and take us far outside – or inside – of our hopes, our dreams and nightmares.