Thank You

Now that we've hit the end of our semester, I wanted to take a moment to personally thank those of you who have stayed with me and my blog until the very end. I've enjoyed being able to look into the movie industry in the perspective of originality. I hope that you've enjoyed it as well.

Have a great summer!

Most Anticipated Summer Films

Personally, these are some of the films that are already being talked about for this upcoming summer. Some are being rumored to break box office records! 

* The Avengers

* Prometheus

* The Dark Knight

* Brave

* The Expendables 2

* Snow White & The Huntsman

* The Amazing Spider-Man 

* Moonrise Kingdom 

* MIB 3

* Lawless

* Safety Not Guaranteed

* Ted

* Dark Shadows

* The Dictator 

According to http://www.imdb.com/list/3AW298Hr9Lw/. 

The 'Avengers' Review

Known as this year's summer blockbuster, Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" has captivated viewers recently worldwide and as one of the few who showed up for the midnight premiere, I can honestly promise you, my viewers, that it was a film worth seeing!

The film tells the story of a gathering of superheroes: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, in order to defeat an evil intruder named Loki. Though despite all luck, like any team, they all have their differences and struggle to get along.

Now, I won't ruin the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet but I would honestly advise that you go and see it. I feel that with all of the superhero's stories being combined, Joss Whedon's combination was incredibly original and a fun film to see!

Family Originality

Family movies have always been a personal favorite of mine. Why is that? No matter the storyline, a family movie always has at least one concept that has been borrowed from another film. The difference between a family movie and a horror film though is that the family movie adapts the borrowed concept and makes it completely original.

Take, "We Bought A Zoo," for example. This film tells the story of journalist, Benjamin Mee, who six months ago, lost his wife. While dealing with his grief, Ben has to handle his 7-year-old daughter and his 14-year-old-son. So, in an attempt to make things new for the family, he buys a new house on a large plantation. Unbeknownst to him, that plantation has an abandoned zoo on it that desperately needs his help.

Well, I won't ruin the story for anyone who hasn't seen the film but I can assure you - "We Bought A Zoo" is a family feel good movie that will leave you smiling after its over. Originality really has nothing to do with family films as long as they leave a happy impression on its viewers, or at least, that's what I think.


Photographs property of www.imdb.com

The Year's Most Provocative Movie

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Unlike my previous reviews that have been from the perspective of a college student,  I decided to interview Elizabeth Penton, a sophomore from Washburn Rural High School, on her opinion over the year's most provocative movie - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Most Original Films of the past Decade

My personal opinion regarding these films is all based on the attention the movies received their first week in the box office and how much total grossing  income the films produced as a whole. 

The number one movie in the box office was and still is James Cameron's "Titanic" and another of James Cameron's works has hit the top ten with "Avatar." 

The other films listed are all apart of two major series that have impacted my generation in the movie industry. J.R. Tolkien's series "The Lord of the Rings" and J.K. Rowling's series "Harry Potter." Growing up with both movies, how could I not add these to the list? 

Cheesy? or Copied?

Now, let me explain from the very beginning that I'm not a huge fan of romantic comedies. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy these movies, i'm just saying that I get annoyed of them very quickly.

Take the most recent romantic comedy coming to theater's, "The Lucky One." Which is the story of  U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault, who is in search of the woman who unknowingly saves his life. The Irony of this movie is that within weeks of lying to the woman who saved him, he's in love with her and his lie breaks them apart. 

I know i'm not ruining anything for anyone. I've never read the book, i've only ever seen the preview. I actually have no desire to watch the movie either. It just seems too predictable for my taste. After seeing the majority of Nicholas Sparks films, I'd say almost all romantic story lines have been taken. Unfortunately, for a movie goer annoyed with copy cats, "The Lucky One" doesn't make my cut. 

World Wide Phenomenon

“May the odds be ever in your favor,” has become the most known phrase worldwide over a two week time span—yes, I’m referring to Suzanne Collin’s “The Hunger Games” which hit theaters officially at midnight on March 22, 2012. Since then, the movie has eased its way into the top grossing movies on opening weekend with $150 million, earning the third top movie in opening weekend history next to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two and The Dark Knight.

The Hunger Games describes a post apologlyptic world where once the 12 separate districts of Panem attempted to overthrow the government in war and lost. In punishment, the Government has forced the 12 districts to provide one man and one woman between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in order to bring their districts honor and wealth to their families who would starve on their own. The movie follows young Katniss Everdeen, who at 16 years old, volunteered as tribute in her younger sister’s stead and recreates the emotional turmoil of having to comprehend the fact that she may die simply for the governments pleasure in the arena.

Despite the expectations and fears that fans had regarding turning a 350 page book into a two and a half hour film, director Gary Ross, did an excellent job. Sure, the film had a minor number of missing details, five in the least, but critics are praising “The Hunger Games” as one of the most sensational films to hit the theaters this year.

Personally, as a fan of the book series, I found that the film adaptation to be both riveting and emotionally gripping. Having seen the film twice now, I found that Jennifer Lawrence, the actress playing Katniss Everdeen, pulled her youth in to making a strong rebel of a teenage solider. Josh Hutcherson, the lead actor playing Peeta Mellark, also moved into playing his emotionally conflicted role.

Although the film is depicted to be a “simple adaptation” towards a novel filled with violence and heart ache, “The Hunger Games” is a movie that takes a toll on its viewers and has them thinking about it far after the movie has stopped screening.

One major setback though has caused major disturbance amongst movie critics across the nation—the film is receiving huge discriminatory comments towards three of its central characters. To anyone who has a twitter account, I’m sure you’ve seen what I’m talking about. Far too many posts have been reoccurring since the film’s premiere about how three African American characters: Rue, Thresh, and Cinna ruined the film because of their skin color—critics are extremely disappointed in this outcome.

If you’d like to see an example of this, please visit an article by Jorge Rivas on ColorLines.com. (http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/03/on_twitter_hunger_games_fans_demand_to_know_why_black_characters_are_black.html)

Topeka's Current Films

Topeka's theater, particularly "Hollywood 14" is currently showing these films:

* Safe House
* The Vow
* A Thousand Words
* John Carter
* Silent House
* Act of Valor
* The Lorax
* Project X

Are any of these films original? Maybe you can answer.

Photos provided by: http://www.fandango.com/hollywoodtheatershollywood14_aatjg/theaterpage

Topeka's Location

For those of you who are interested in making your own decisions on Hollywood's newest films (and whether or not they're good or bad) please feel free to check it out here in Topeka at Hollywood 14 theaters (the theater receiving the highest rating.) The Artist is now playing! :)

Hollywood 14 is located at 6200 Southwest 6th Avenue, Topeka, KS. and can be reached at (785) 228-0444



The image was provided by Google Maps
and was generated by me, property rights 
belong to Google. 

Project X

Ok, my newest rip on Hollywood's unoriginality chain is the new movie (coming out this friday) - Project X.

According to associates of mine who have seen the film, it is supposed to be based on a group of young teenagers who will "waste their lives and reputations" for one night of being cool (this includes all disasters, illegal activity, anything that could happen, etc.. )

I just don't understand the plot of this movie. Why? It seems like nothing less than a bunch of teenagers put together to act like they are in a music video. Want to see what I'm talking about? I'm attaching the short trailer of this movie from youtube (because it's mostly appropriate unlike the others).. what a waste of money, Hollywood.

What happened to spending money on a movie that everyone will like.. unlike what this is?

Oscar Sunday - Originality's Only Moment

Now, I know the purpose of this blog is to talk about hollywood's unoriginality but I'd like to dedicate a post specifically to thank the Academy for the most original film that deserved the award it received tonight.

Michel Hazanavicius's, "The Artist" won the Oscar tonight for Best Motion Picture. Why is this such a big deal? The film is the first black and white silent movie to win an Oscar since 1928 and it's by a French director. 


The movie takes place in Hollywood in the era of the 1920's and the 1930's and focuses on the relationship between both young and experienced silent film stars as the 'silent cinema' falls from its strength and is replaced by 'talkes.' 


As a avid fan of black and white films myself, I was more than excited as the film won the award tonight. The fact that Michel Hazanavicius took a chance on recreating a genre of movies most believed to be dead is what willed the Academy to award it for its risk and I personally commend them for it. 

Congratulations on breaking an area of unoriginality tonight at the Oscars, Michel Hazanavicius. Hopefully, your risk at bringing back a genre that was once believed to be dead will awaken a new string of movie originals. 

Hollywood's Source of Unoriginality

Instead of looking through movie scripts, Hollywood jumps the bandwagon for its movies with books that seem like they'll be good thrillers as soon as they hit the shelves; for example: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.


I've only begun reading the story recently but so far the novel follows a young boy who explores the ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and comes across old/frightening photographs of children who unbeknownst to him, may still be alive.

With the novel being his first, Ransom Riggs probably wasn't expecting his story to be picked up by Hollywood so quickly, but already the movie has been signed on to be produced in the late 2013 by famous director, Tim Burton.

I'm not trying to be inconsiderate towards the author, i'm enjoying the novel immensely. I'm just curious as to why these are the kinds of stories that Hollywood instantly picks up to promote for movies--I mean, come on, how many horror films or mystery movies can you think of that follow this storyline?

With books, it's acceptable to have similar stories. Why? It's been found that the practice of writing novels cannot be done without borrowing one aspect from something that the author has seen before--it's called "borrowing plot."

Why should Hollywood be picking up stories that are so familiar for new movie scripts when there are so many new novels that have something completely original that perhaps, as movie goers, we've never seen before.

Hollywood's Biggest Horror - Unoriginality

Recently, after persuading my boyfriend, I went to see James Watkin's "The Woman in Black." Needless to say, as a horror movie buff, I wasn't impressed with the film. 


"The Woman in Black" is the story of widowed lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who is sent to the small town of Crythin Gifford to put the affairs of the late Mrs. Alice Drablow to rest. Unknowingly, Kipps walks into a horror story straight from the sickly marshes.  Children are locked in their houses, unable to play outside or look a mere stranger in the eye. Why? The parents of Crythin Gifford are too afraid of local secret that they refuse to tell, leaving Arthur Kipps to wallow in the marshes himself.

Not only is "The Woman in Black" a remake, it's the remake of a play production.

Horror stories in this generation are generally growing duller with every movie. Why? We've heard almost all of the stories before!

I'm not mocking the movie at all, please, don't think that. The theater I watched the film in was filled with screaming movie goers and small children. I'm just saying originality isn't subtle now a days and with Susan Hill's original story "The Woman in Black" being made into a cheap thriller whose story is altered from the original, I personally believe that Hollywood needs to look into being more original. It's ether that, or the script writers or authors need to take a look into what we, the movie goers, never seen before.

 

Welcome to FF :)

Hi, welcome to Fostered Focus. This blog will be based upon my opinions concerning Hollywood's most recent films, scripts, and how almost all are based upon complete unoriginality. Are the creative minds behind Hollywood's most elite really losing their touch?

For those of you who don't believe me, just wait, my first official post will be up soon.