The Dark Knight Rises

The latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises can be a treat to watch, if you are willing to let yourself sucked into the fantastical world of Gotham and its dark secrets. The city of Gotham, in the last Batman film, The Dark Knight, saw the triangular drama among Harvey Dent, Batman and the Joker. Harvey Dent, who saw his girlfriend die in front of his eyes, had lost faith in the goodness of man and had started believing in luck, in chaos, in disorder. He had lost faith in order, justice and fairness in the system. In fact, he had given up on the system in entirety. This remains the central theme of Nolan's next Batman adventure. The film is about Batman instilling faith in the system in the hearts of the people, saving Gotham from anarchist tendencies. Here we have a new villain, the son of the master from whom Batman had received his training, Bane. He is seen taking control over the city, inciting in people anarchist ideals and asking them to "take control" and uproot the existing elite. Batman is predictably in trouble like the last movie, where he has to choose between being Wayne and Batman, even as his business is crumbling and the city's people are getting frustrated over its grim prospects.
Batman finally comes to the rescue and saves Gotham from this anarchist and reinvigorates the eternal faith of people in the ruling elite and the order of a police and law controlled state machinery. The rest, you would just have to see for yourself! 

Birth of a Nation - Griffith's Classic Movie

One finds endless number of blogs on the latest movies. But what about the classics? Don't they deserve the same respect? Of course they do. 

This is why we will discuss a bit about one of the most popular movies of all time, D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. 

This movie is considered to be a classic in more than one respect. There are few movies which have attracted the attention that this movie has. Birth of a Nation happens to be one of the rarest instances where a movie is popular both for being controversial as well as being held as one of the greatest and most important movies of all time. 

So what is so special about Birth of a Nation anyway? The story of this film is based on a novel written by Thomas Dixon, The Clansman. In fact, the name of the movie Birth of a Nation was initially The Clansman only. Later the name of the film was changed. 

The movie is based on the part of the novel that revolves around the condition of the American South, before and after the Civil War. The movie is heavily tilted in favor of the Southerners and is starkly racist. It portrays the Southern whites who kept slaves as very good, decent, honest and hard working people, while at the same time projecting the blacks as unruly and almost beast-like with no "manners". These "brute" blacks then find good comradeship in their Northerner friends who in the name of "democracy" and "equal rights" are only exploiting the situation and exercising political opportunism. The Northerners are shown somewhat like the Southerners. 

The movie goes on to show how the South is invaded. It demonizes the prospect of a "black rule", constantly implying how terrible it would be for the "civilized" whites to live under the "brutes". Finally, the KKK or the Ku Klux Klan, the dreaded racist Christian orthodox organization is shown to be the "mutineers" of the South who destroy the occupying Northern forces as well as the "brute" blacks. 

This entire incident is used as a backdrop and the focus is mainly on a Southern family of whites who are so good to their slaves. Stereotyping of blacks was done to a nasty extent. 

No wonder the NAACP or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples took objection to the movie. There were even reports of violent riots breaking out in some parts of the Northern states after this movie was screened. 

In spite of all these controversies, the movie not only made a fortune (and helped Mr. Mayer, who later went on to own MGM or Metro Goldwyn Mayer, earn a lot of money for his future projects!) but also managed to attract the attention of critics back then and ever since.

The movie, for starters, was a bold step into the world of full length feature films. It was over 3 hours long, much in contrast to the movies that used to be made up to that point, which were mostly short films and even the longest ones were not more than 1 hour long. Besides, this movie saw quite a few firsts or one of the firsts: great use of lighting, sophisticated camera-work like close-ups to show expressions, use of continuity editing as well as epic shots that showed the grandeur of natural scenery. 

Movie cinema halls - a thing of the past?

Movies are entertaining stuff. There are few people on earth who do not like to watch movies. This is because movies can make you laugh, cry, feel pain and sorrow, as well as happy and joyous. There are many kinds of films out there - are there comedies, there are tragedy movies, animation movies, romantic movies, war or historical movies, fantasy films and what not. Take the example of Avatar or Batman. These movies are meant for all ages, across all cultures. Why? We must investigate and dig a little deeper to find the answer. 

Did you get the answer as yet? If not, let me help you with it. The reason is simple: in almost every culture in the world, there is the concept of a superhero; a superman or woman who will come and solve all the problems of that community or nation or whatever constitutes that entity or group of people. 

So, different kinds of movies are made depending on the geographical, cultural, social, economic and political views and backgrounds of the filmmakers as well as the target audience being kept in mind. 

Most of the movies are of commercial nature, i.e. the main aim is to get returns or profits, which then can be invested in other projects to make more wonderful films. So in a way, by visiting the movie theaters, you are paving way for future movies to be made, by paying for the ticket. 

But many people don't like to go to the movie halls anymore, they simply love to watch movies from home. Why is that? This is obviously because of the rise of computers, disc players and other gadgets of the digital era. There is, however, a huge digital divide in the world. This means that a good section of people, especially in the third world countries, cannot to afford to buy such expensive electronic gadgets which can allow them to watch movies from home or even while on the move, for eg. on an I-phone or I-pad or a tablet etc. 

The key therefore, is to identify the important social patterns if one has to understand about the film industry and its future prospects. Wrong are those who say that the future of the movie theater market is bleak. That may be the case in the immediate future, but not only the poor people from both third world and even developed countries will continue to visit the movie theaters like now, but also the richer, artistically minded individuals will keep visiting movie halls. 

There is a wholly different experience of watching movies in the halls. Nothing can replace that experience. It is also a great experience to watch with many other people. Private, group or personal viewing has its own place in its own right, but neither can replace the other. 

Cinema halls are therefore, there to stay, irrespective of developments in the film technology. 

All About Movies!

Hi I am a blogger who likes everything related to movies. So I will be posting on almost anything under the sky that is related to movies. So keep visiting and enjoy my posts. So much for now! See you later!