I Don’t Know Art, But I Know What I Write:
Introduction
This is a joke I tell on myself: I may be a tech geek now, but before that I was a film geek. Before that I was...I don't know...a geek…
Laughter is Always Appropriate
1. Sullivan's Wisdom We all know the story, but, like all good fables, we have to remind ourselves of it in times of trouble. Sullivan is a director of light…
Trends in Hollywood Screen Comedy
Introduction Every few months or so a major Hollywood executive complains that there is a dearth of good scripts being circulated in that town. Underlings nod their heads in approval…
Pop Go the Weasels:
Pop Cultural References in the Screenplays of Quentin Tarantino
Introduction You can tell a lot about a film director's vision by the environments he or she creates. Consider the Exotica club which gives Atom Egoyan's latest film its name.…
A Network To Die For:
Twenty Years of Satires of Television
Introduction "I am gross and perverted I'm obsessed 'n deranged I have existed for years But very little has changed I am a tool of the Government And industry too…
The Adaptable Altman
Introduction Adapting short stories or novels into films is a mug's game. Those who loved the book are likely to be more critical of the film version than they would…
Not Just Idle Chitchat:
Dialogue in the Screenplays of Stanley Kubrick
Introduction Director Stanley Kubrick is mostly known for the memorable quality of the images in his films. The Korova Milk Bar in A Clockwork Orange. Jack Nicholson frozen to death…
Son of a Gun:
The Uncomfortable Mix of Violence and Humour
Introduction We all know jokes about action/adventure films: "Yeah, sure, the last feature length action script I wrote contained three pages of dialogue and sixty-five pages of scene description!" Ha…
From Androids to Blade Runners:
Adapting Philip K. Dick
Introduction Unless you haunt used book stores, you won't be able to find a copy of Philip K. Dick's science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. With the…
Wholesale Creativity
Introduction Given the cult success of the science fiction film Blade Runner, which was based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, it was inevitable that…
The Unflinching Comic Gaze of Billy Wilder
Introduction I remember seeing Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard on television as a kid, being totally creeped out by the Gothic mansion and the weird behavior of the characters. It would…
Film, Dreams and Stolen Pocketwatches
Introduction In the silent film Sherlock, Jr. Buster Keaton plays an impoverished young cinema projectionist who dreams of being a great detective. The first time we see him, he's wearing…