5 posts tagged “film”

I was intrigued by this forum while I was browsing on The Star. And I thought no artists/actors really has the guts to talk about it in public. Why people don't watch Malay films? Why people prefer Hollywood than Malay films. These celebrities share their thoughts and opinions about why this phenomena happens.

And I like the way Hans Isaac throws his views about our film. Very thoughtful. The reasons: Script writing, budget, cencorship, and season. It's easy to produce so many films. But it's hard to get a good number of people to watch. And when the time comes for hollywood box office movies to pour out in cinemas, people wouldn't look at decent film like cuci.

David has a different opinion. His perspective is more towards a producer's pov. And it's all about making money. And I have to admit, if you can't make something that audience like, how can you make money? In the end, you keep on making the same comedy movie. Because that's what malaysians would like to watch.

Ida and V are also critical in their views and keep blaming themselves for not working hard to make the best for their films. Well, I think they have tried their best.

However, I think directors and producers should not think it that way. Don't make movies as a conservative mainstream. When cencorship was lifted up for horror films,  people started making horror movies. When senario makes a hit in the cinemas, director started to make comedy movies. In my opinion, that might've been the reason why people don't want to watch Malay movies. It's too typical. Like myself, reading Malay novels or watching Malay movies can mean the same thing - whether in the end the main character gets married, or the other way round. No specific themes like honour, pride, poverty, power etc.  Directors think that audience only wants to be entertained with laughters and such, so they don't really have to rely on the plot and storyline. And as another option, they can always 'borrow' plots from bollywood films.

When I watch cuci, cicakman, and some other films from afdlin and yasmin ahmad, I can say that there are directors who want to break this tradition. During those days when Malay films were a hit Aziz M. Osman was one of my favourite directors. He didn't have to use so much of budget to produce XXRay. But this story really makes a hit. And remember the story Cili Padi? And Awang Spanar which was way back in the 80s?  Or a sad story like Kami? We should reevaluate our story and make something like that. Or make something more serious like Sepet or Muhsin. We may not be able to win on budget against Hollywood, but we can win on storyline and cultural values. And with these 2 we can also make profit overseas. All we need is a 'twist' in our story. And get into the society, ask around and interview people to get ideas. I really like the opening scene for cuci when they show the kampung lifestyle. Make something like that more often and obvious. Then will people appreciate our movies.

Remember how a low-budget film using videocam like the BWP can sell millions of tickets.

And as for getting the scriptwriting, I guess they can also make a scriptwriting contest to save cost.  There are just too many people who wants to share their ideas, but they just don't know where  to  initiate the sharing. I think with the budget provided by the government, the filmmakers can always find ways to get in touch with the public the get the idea on how to make 'the best movie ever'.  Then it'll be worth watching.

And with the advent of the internet, everything is possible. Don't make excuse saying that we lack promotion because we don't have money and the time is running out.

You can always promote your movies through Utube, or make viral marketing like Cloverfield and The Dark Knight. Put some elements of suspense on the web. Run a blog. I bet it will sell.

In conclusion, I have enough with slapstick comedy and typical bollywood kinda romance. Whether you are a prof of a doctor or a rich man or an experienced man in the industry, if you keep on making the same movies to attract the same viewers those titles are just plain worthless.

 

I've just watched the best movie so far after Spiderman and Pirates of the Carribean...
    The Autobots are making their debut Hollywood's Transformers, created in a totally different world with absolute mouth-watering actions. Transformers is one of those popular 80's cartoon series which has spanned for generations. Up until now, people still look up at the original Takara's transformers as the pioneer of transformable robots series.
    The story is no longer about the father-son adventure in the realm of the giant robots in conquest of energon. It is more focused on a boy-robot relationship, or more precisely about Sam and his newly bought car Bumblebee, and how they encounter the arch enemy of the Autobots, the Decepticons, in their search for the AllSpark (a cube thing that can create mechanical lifeforms). The Decepticon's leader, Megatron had resided in the north pole for thousands of year and was 'accidentally' found by Sam's great grandfather, Mr Witwicky. He had his glasses printed with the map to the AllSpark, making him a wanted man by the Autobots and Decepticons. The story starts with Sam working on his presentation in class, talking about the glasses which was once owned by his great grandfather...
    The storyline is absolutely great as the story is not stereotyped as in most of the transformers series. It involves more on the human intervention of the Autobot-Decepticon matter, while emphasizing on Sam-Bumblebee relationship. Not too sentimental, but good enough to make us feel that both Sam and Bumblebee play a very important part in the story. The quest for the AllSpark was not as easy as ABC, as one had to get through the menace of the Decepticons while avoiding human involvement in the matter.  And avoiding the humans is one of the toughest thing a robot can do...
    The special effect looks really like we are involved in that warlike situation. It's like the robots are just above you, wrestling with each other. And you'll feel the adrenaline once the human characters are being chased by these robots. The dogfight is just as real as the one in 'the Independence Day', except for the fact that it's much faster and violent.
    The mechanical designs aren't so bad either. It seemed almost logical, as if you want your car to be able to transform in that way. Maybe it might dissatisfy some of the fans, as they did not follow the practical transforming process but hey, like I said in my previous post about Spiderman: There are versions of Transformers. But one thing I didn't really like is for the fact that Optimus Prime (leader of the Autobots) has an uncovered mouth, and only covers it during fight (which really reminds me of Beast Wars' Prime). They also portrayed him as having lack of leadership by leaving his teammates to death. But I do like Peter Cullen's voice acting. Reminds me of the good ol' days.
     And what surprises me is that Shia LaBeouf can actually act in a less-comical movie.
    All in all I recommend this movie to everyone reading this blog. You will see something you have never seen before in Hollywood's science fiction history. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, it's just something you wouldn't want to miss.

How do you feel like when you're watching the same movie over and over again? If you're a fan of that movie, I'm sure you wouldn't mind. With actors like Nicholas Cage and Jessica Biel, people wouldn't want to miss a single action in the film. Even if you miss watching the actions, you don't have to worry because it will happen again -but in a slightly different manner. Just like a deja vu.

The story is basically about a guy who has the ability to see two minutes of his future. It's something like a spider-sense -albeit spidey's ability cannot clearly see what's really going to happen. He is on a wanted list by the FBI not because of his wrongdoings -but because of his ability that hopefully would save the world from a nuclear threat. However, he believes that he may not be able to do that due to circumstances -especially when it involves his newfound girlfriend. He has this special connection with this lady that he is able to see up to a week of her future. And he finds out that her life is in trouble, that he has to take multiple previsions as to make sure that he can save her as well as the world.

After watching the movie, I found it very interesting with the style they presented when it comes to a particular prevision sequence. At first you may find Cage been shot by a sniper when it is only actually part of his foretelling. This makes the story 'unpredictable', compared to other action movies. This guy's ability also makes him almost impenetrable -ha can dodge bullets, avoid dangers etc., much like other superheroes out there. So I guess you wouldn't want to miss a single action in the movie. Even if happen to miss one, you might have the opportunity to see it again.

Show us your favorite work of art (fiction, music, sculpture, painting, architecture, dance, etc).
Submitted by Dean.

"Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are, that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men's eyes, because they know, or think they know, some things which other men have told them."

-Bram Stoker's Dracula

I was fascinated  to see my roommate reading this every single day and night -and even sleeping with it that I decided to take a serious attention to it. It turned the attention to almost everyone -even to the lecturers who would at first thought at it was a non-fictional book. And now, it is going to be made a film!