Catering to the LCD

In a New York Times article dated December 26 entitled Hollywood Moves Away From Middlebrow Brooks Barnes writes about the "new" tendency in Hollywood to try and come up with more "original" material or hire directors with "quirkier sensibilities" as a result of the effect online social networks have had on the way movies are being marketed. It's funny how every few years one reads a line like "we can't settle for good - we have to be great" when it comes to moviemaking. It's as if as soon as one generation of "suits" learns that simple lesson, it is supplanted by another one that still needs to understand that constantly and consistently catering to the lowest common denominator results in a quick buck for a short while but does not a long terms strategy make. And so once again the suits are surprised that while "Sex and the City 2" flops, an original concept like "Inception" pays off. In the long run quality is the name of the game. That is a simple enough lesson to internalize and stick to. To quote Bob Marley (who adapted it from either Abraham Lincoln or PT Barnum): "you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time".

Expected inception of a new TV Season

The end of the Summer break is slowly approaching and while kids are starting to get nervous about the slow approach of the next school-year, some of us TV addicts are actually looking forward to the new TV Season. Some of this Summer's TV shows were actually not bad. We are still in the middle of a very exciting season of "True Blood", and "Entourage" has us smiling once a week, some of us like "Rubicon" better than others. and everyone loves "Sherlock". I have not been following the extremely well received "Mad Men" but have become acquainted with a cute little gem called "The Big C" that shows some promise. Those who caught the brief but superb (hopefully first) season of "Luther" right before the Summer break started, were left a little spoiled by the type of excellent drama only the BBC seems to be able to produce and others can only aspire to come close to. 

But this little preview for the next season of "Dexter" definitely caught my attention. It would appear the popularity and "look" of "Inception" made its way across to TV-Land, as this clip clearly shows. Can't wait to take another trip into the mind of this very deranged, yet so lovable, serial killer.

"Within the architecture of the mind..."

With "Inception", what Christopher Nolan concocted in his fertile mind is nothing short of brilliant. Having just seen the movie I am still somewhat caught in its spell. I am not going to spoil anything for anyone here by revealing details about the story. Actually the best way to approach this movie is to walk in with no preconceived notions and just go with the flow. I suggest not even reading a single review. Reviewers often tend to be frustrated directors and sometimes like to spoil the experience for viewers by revealing just a little bit too much in their columns. 

I am actually quite encouraged by the fact that the Hollywood movie machine was able to produce something of this calibre and intelligence. I can only imagine that the "pitch" session with producers must have been somewhat of a challenge. This is not a movie one can encapsulate in a 5 word sentence (anything above that tends to stretch the mental capacity of some of these producers) . Actually I challenge anyone to do it effectively in a 140 letter tweet. 

I look forward to Mr Nolan's next projects. Maybe a movie like Inception will open the doors for other creative directors with slightly more complex projects than "Transformers XIV". Unless we are just going to wake up from this dream...