Tag Archives: TV

The Future of the MPAA Ratings System

One of the primary complaints I hear and read from critics of the current ratings system is that it prevents NC-17 (X-rated) movies from being shown in most theaters and decreases advertising venues for such films. It is for this reason that, when filmmakers claim they are being forced to edit/censor their movies, what they’re actually complaining about is that their movies will receive a higher rating in its original form and, thus, be less likely to rake in significant revenues. Continue reading

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Television Was Theater, Television is Cinema

More often than not, those discussing the history of television tend to focus on changes in social content or technology. Interesting though those topics may be, my thoughts linger on the change in style and presentation. Continue reading

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Favorite Versions of A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol has been adapted as a film so many times, it seems almost impossible to count. Everyone has a few of them they like more than the others. Here are three of my favorites: Continue reading

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Boom Times for Film and Video Makers

Web video has become very profitable and there will be huge increases in motion picture / video related job markets. In other words, now is a good time to be a filmmaker. Continue reading

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The British Invasion . . . of American Television

Watching as much television as I do, I’ve noticed what seems to be turning into an enormous trend: British actors (and some actresses) playing Americans in American TV shows. Continue reading

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My Top 13 Halloween Movies!

The spooky season is upon us once again! For cineastes, that means putting together a marathon of films to watch on Halloween. In keeping with the festivities, I’ve decided to start a tradition on this blog of listing my top 13 movies to watch on Halloween. This year, I’m listing my top 13 comedic Halloween movies: Continue reading

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Film, TV, & Modern Media as the New Mythology

In the 1988 mini-series “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,” one of the ideas Campbell explores is that fictional media (TV, radio, movies, etc) have taken the place of traditional mythology (religious texts/rituals/verbal histories) in the American culture. He further posits that this new mythology is insufficient to support the American psyche in the same way as ancient religions. Is this so? Continue reading

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The Angsty, Angsty Antihero

My previous post about superheroes got me thinking about the rising popularity of antiheroes. In attempting to define antiheroes, however, there seems to be some conflict as to whether an antihero is a protagonist who happens to be a villain or just a severely flawed hero… Continue reading

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Is There an Easy Genre of Film to Write?

Although, like any form of writing, easy is purely subjective; it seems like some genres are easier to write than others. I don’t know about most people, but for me relationship-based melodramas and horror stories are the easiest. Continue reading

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The X-Files and Kolchak: The Night Stalker (part 1)

The X-Files began largely as a modernized take on the 1974 series Kolchak: The Night Stalker – or so it would appear. Both shows focus on a character who is investigating paranormal phenomena (although Kolchak does so only whenever he happens to come upon such situations while Mulder usually seeks them out), but the parallels don’t end there… Continue reading

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