A Brief Response to Comments

The Problems With Modern Hollywood and Why Noir is Better

Why is it that some people love Noir’s and others do not? A Film Noir is not universally liked, despite my personal opinion that it should be. This can largely be attributed to American pop culture and the American standard of entertainment. It seems to be becoming the trend in America that intellectual movies with lush stories are being replaced with formulaic Hollywood scripts written off of the words of marketing analysts. The worst part is, filmgoers are supporting this. What are the big blockbusters that are coming out right now? I am currently looking at a list of the top movies at the moment on IMDB.com. We have, The Hunger Games, a film based off of a popular novel; The Three Stooges, a film rehash of the classic slapstick trio; Titanic 3D, another shameless and unnecessary money maker for James Cameron; American Reunion, yet another sequel that will probably be just as bad as the others were; and Wrath of the Titans, a sequel to a film called Clash of the Titans which was a remake of a film with the same title from 1981. Where is the originality? We are in an era of Hollywood film where executives are only greenlighting films that are remakes of old films, sequels, or book adaptations. Not to say that all of these films are bad, cause that would simply be an over generalization. But to be completely honest, many to most of them are bad and do not offer much to film as an “art.”

From: Tooth and Nail

http://toothandnailcomic.com/2012/04/03/tooth-nail-presents-the-michael-bay-press-conference/

 

I know that there are a large portion of the public who is with me on this and agrees with what I am saying here. And if we let our numbers grow then one day we may force the executives to start letting studios make movies with more substance. It is we who understand what makes a film Noir great. We understand that film is an art form and should be treated as such. And people like you and me are drawn to Noir for that reason. It is composed beautifully and the nuances of each composition was specifically designed to evoke an emotional reaction. Take this photo from Gun Crazy for example.

Our main character is about his first robbery as an adult. The composition is dark and full of shadows, using hard lighting in the noir fashion. But there is much more to this composition that you would be able to see if you have watched this movie. At the beginning of the movie we see our main character as a young boy with a fascination for guns. He ventures to his local hardware store in the pouring rain where he breaks the window to grab an ornate revolver on display. Now in the scene above what do you see in the background of his first robbery? It just so happens to be a hardware store. Coincidence? I think not. It is this attention to detail that makes a film truly artistic. This composition speaks more than what it may first appear.

Film is an art medium and modern Hollywood is treating it as a selfish moneymaker. We love Noir’s because they are artistic, because the creators felt something when they made this movie! There are so few movies that are made this way nowadays. Wes till have Spielberg who takes great joy and love with his job, and we have people like Christopher Nolan who is breaking barriers by making blockbuster hits that don’t fit into the Hollywood mode of formulaic scripts, and we have filmmakers like the Coen Brothers who are incredibly original and creative with every movie they put their minds to. So all is not lost, but we need to support filmmakers like these and not support the Hollywood drones.