I’m a Behind the Scenes freak and a Movie Science geek. Anything that explains how movies are made, from the magic of Hollywood to the innovations of the garage-effects producer, I’ll watch.

I’ve been laid up for the past two days recovering from dental surgery and I  pulled out a bunch of my favorite movies that have extensive behind-the-scenes (BTS) footage and How It’s Made stories. My favorites are when the directors’ commentaries explain the ingenious tricks they used that help make the movie production possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Hearing the news that Star Trek had a $76.5 million box office in its opening weekend, I thought that I had to chime in for a moment just to get a few things off my chest. Now listen up movie goers: Hollywood stinks! The current trend of rehashing old movies with a ramped up budget is driving me nuts. It is not creative, it does not require any skill or talent, it is obviously a movement based purely on capital that shouldn’t be rewarded. It is also creating a downward spiral for new directors and movie creators with original concepts. Who because of this trend can’t find work due to the proven trend of turning old movies around. I haven’t been to a theater in years, and the only reason is that I have seen all of the movies the first time around, when they were original in nature and new ideas based in skill and fresh concepts.

Why would I go see Jason again when I saw the original years ago? I want to remember it as it was, a very talented display of what horror can be and an entirely new take on the genre. Why should I see the new version, it has moved away from everything that made the original unique. Why should I pay to see a Land of the Lost movie? The reason that I enjoyed the show was because it was so cheesy and made me smile as an 8-year-old who liked dinosaurs. Now, it’s a Will Ferrell movie. Imagine if every CD you bought was nothing but cover songs from 10 years ago. Would you feel that you’re really getting a “new” CD? No, you wouldn’t.  And I want to see new movies, I want to hear new music, I want to know that there is a reason that a certain director made $50 million off of a concept. I want to support what I feel is truly deserving of my money. The economy is bad, so we are essentially voting with our Bejamins, and I refuse to vote for unoriginal, force-fed concepts that are based more in marketing than in true artistic merit…

Hollywood-you stink!