Quentin Tarantino originally began his career as an independent filmmaker using nonlinear storylines and aestheticization of violence. He has made several films starting with a movie called My Best Friend’s Birthday in 1987; unfortunately the final reel of the film was mostly destroyed in a fire. However the screenplay from that film was used for the film True Romance. Tarantino acted as well as directing, screenwriting and producing. One of the films that he acted in was From Dusk Till Dawn which he also wrote the script for.
Tarantino is known for several of his films ranging from Reservoir Dogs to Kill Bill to Pulp Fiction. When reading about Tarantino’s work I was surprised, I didn’t know that he had done as much as he has and I was very impressed. Kill Bill was unlike any film I had seen when I watched it and I was hooked on the movie from beginning to end. That was actually the first time I heard of Quentin Tarantino’s name, then I realized that he was actually the director for several films I liked. I think the reason I am interested in his films is because they follow a style that I am not used to seeing. Films like Sin City and Death Proof which were co directed with Robert Rodriguez were films that came out at a time when there was nothing similar to them so it was easy to be interested in them. Several of Tarantino’s films were nominated for Oscar awards such as Inglorious Bastards and Pulp Fiction.
Inglorious Bastards which came out in the summer of 2009 is a World War 2 movie about US soldiers in France which was occupied with Nazi’s. It turned out to become Tarantino’s highest grossing film and took the number one spot in the box office worldwide. It is a film that I personally have not yet seen but am definitely looking forward to after reading about Tarantino on Google and Wikipedia. I have heard and read very good reviews on the movie; I just haven’t gotten around to watching it. The movie was nominated for eight Oscars and won one for best supporting actor.
Tarantino has received several awards for his work including the Icon of the Decade award in 2005 at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards and a lifetime achievement award in 2007 presented by Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Malacanang Palace in Manila. I am very impressed with Tarantino’s works and achievements; he even starred in Wait Until Dark on Broadway in 1998. The reason I am so impressed with Tarantino’s work is because of the fact that he dropped out of school at the age of fifteen. He was also raised by a single mother due to the fact that his father had left before he was born. Even after dropping out of school he still attended an acting school at the James Best Theatre Company in Toluca Lake. It is impressive to me to see someone that dropped out of school to end up having as much success in life as Tarantino.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Golden Age of Film blog 2
Women’s roles in movies changed when movies changed from silent films to talkies. Women started playing more important roles, they played powerful, influential characters and women actors started becoming well known. I think a reason for this change may be the fact that women were becoming more equal to men; just before the golden age of film the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified.
A director during the golden age was Michael Curtiz, I read a short biography on him on IMBd.com that stated that during the golden age he made several movies consisting of nearly every genre imaginable. He was most well known for Casablanca and Mildred Pierce. He mainly made movies for Warner Bros. but in the 1950’s made some films for other studios. Directors like Michael Curtiz tend to influence other directors and movies. A director influenced by the work of Curtiz is Peter Chan, Peter Chan stated in an article on Hong Kong Cinematic that he was very influenced by Michael Curtiz and his film Casablanca.
Remakes of films are happening all the time. A remake from the golden age would be Psycho. Its original was released in 1960 but was remade in 1998. When remakes are done for modern days they are dramatized and horror movies add several special effects and a lot of blood. The plot gets altered and the acting seems to get worse. This tells us that in modern times people just look for the most special effects or the most visually entertaining movies and are losing respect for acting and storylines.
During the Golden Age different techniques and elements of film were used. On wordiq.com I read that Walt Disney had created his first cartoon with a fully synchronized soundtrack. It was a gamble but it paid off as his film Steamboat Willie was a huge success at the box office. A technology that most would not have thought came up in the 1950’s was 3-D films. Wikipedia states that 3-D has been around since 1950 but was not common due to the cost of the hardware. The entertainment business lacked the standardized format for the films as well but some were still featured in American cinema. 3-D filmmaking seems new to us now because now its getting big and a lot of movies are being made in 3-D but it’s something that has been around since the 1950’s.
There were many changes in film during the Golden Age of film starting from sound and ranging from changes in acting to changes in viewing the film. Film history is very interesting and it’s amazing to think of the success people have had in it. The Golden Age is a time of change and success and I think it would be fun and educational to do more research and learn more about how film has changed throughout history. It’s interesting to see how film changed as did America, from war to depression film changed and it can be seen in the movies and in the technology.
A director during the golden age was Michael Curtiz, I read a short biography on him on IMBd.com that stated that during the golden age he made several movies consisting of nearly every genre imaginable. He was most well known for Casablanca and Mildred Pierce. He mainly made movies for Warner Bros. but in the 1950’s made some films for other studios. Directors like Michael Curtiz tend to influence other directors and movies. A director influenced by the work of Curtiz is Peter Chan, Peter Chan stated in an article on Hong Kong Cinematic that he was very influenced by Michael Curtiz and his film Casablanca.
Remakes of films are happening all the time. A remake from the golden age would be Psycho. Its original was released in 1960 but was remade in 1998. When remakes are done for modern days they are dramatized and horror movies add several special effects and a lot of blood. The plot gets altered and the acting seems to get worse. This tells us that in modern times people just look for the most special effects or the most visually entertaining movies and are losing respect for acting and storylines.
During the Golden Age different techniques and elements of film were used. On wordiq.com I read that Walt Disney had created his first cartoon with a fully synchronized soundtrack. It was a gamble but it paid off as his film Steamboat Willie was a huge success at the box office. A technology that most would not have thought came up in the 1950’s was 3-D films. Wikipedia states that 3-D has been around since 1950 but was not common due to the cost of the hardware. The entertainment business lacked the standardized format for the films as well but some were still featured in American cinema. 3-D filmmaking seems new to us now because now its getting big and a lot of movies are being made in 3-D but it’s something that has been around since the 1950’s.
There were many changes in film during the Golden Age of film starting from sound and ranging from changes in acting to changes in viewing the film. Film history is very interesting and it’s amazing to think of the success people have had in it. The Golden Age is a time of change and success and I think it would be fun and educational to do more research and learn more about how film has changed throughout history. It’s interesting to see how film changed as did America, from war to depression film changed and it can be seen in the movies and in the technology.
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