johnlinkmovies

FILM 101: Three Act Structure

•January 20, 2013 • 7 Comments

For my first FILM 101 session, I figured I would start with something I refer to frequently in my film writing: Three Act Structure. I want to preface all of this by saying that Three Act Structure is not a perfect science. There can be disagreement on where an act breaks, or whether the structure is bucked altogether. Often, writers write in Three Act Structure without knowing it, heck all of my previous (terrible) script writing endeavors used it just because I was copying the model of what I saw on-screen: Build character, give them some problems which get increasingly worse, and then get them out of there. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

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Posted in Film 101

johnlink ranks SHAME (2011)

•January 18, 2013 • 3 Comments

Michael Fassbender has exploded on to the scene in the past couple of years with turns in the retro X-MEN film and PROMETHEUS, among others. SHAME is a small NC-17 film he made with Director Steve McQueen about a successful loner who doesn’t realize just how uncontrollably addicted to sex he has become. This is certainly not light fare, and I was happy to see that it was getting a run on HBO.

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Posted in ~ S ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
Tags: drama

johnlink ranks THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

•January 17, 2013 • 9 Comments

I’m going to go ahead and list this as 2012, even though it was filmed in 2009 and IMDB lists it at 2011. In reality, this thing hit theaters in 2012, so that’s what I am going with. Normally, it is not a good sign if you can’t pin down a year for a movie. Graveyards are filled with movies which couldn’t get a foothold and were released years after they were made. Would CABIN IN THE WOODS be such a movie?

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Posted in johnlink favorite flicks, ~ C ~, ~~~ 2012 ~~~
Tags: horror

johnlink ranks TRANSIT (2012)

•January 17, 2013 • 3 Comments

Thanks to my appreciation for his show Person of Interest, Jim Caviezel has become one of those actors whose movies I would watch in a pinch. Of course, I say that having not seen PASSION OF THE CHRIST, but otherwise I’ve seen most everything else. He plays a fascinatingly stoic character, even if they usually turn out to be fairly similar to each other. I hadn’t even heard of TRANSIT before it hit HBO recently, so I didn’t know what to expect of this little thriller.

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Posted in ~ T ~, ~~~ 2012 ~~~
Tags: action, suspense

johnlink ranks LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955)

•January 10, 2013 • 2 Comments

My movie viewing has been all over the map so far this year. That trend continues with one of the most beloved classic Disney films: LADY AND THE TRAMP. Liz and I were both fighting colds and we certainly needed something cheerful and uplifting. Besides, this blog is missing some of the great animated classics. Time to get on that.

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Posted in ~ L ~, ~~~ 1955 ~~~
Tags: animated, drama, musical

johnlink ranks THE DRAGON PAINTER (1919)

•January 8, 2013 • 1 Comment

So here it is! Movie number 500 for this blog! I had spent a good amount of time thinking what I would put in for number 500. I figured I should go to the top 10 of IMDB and do something like THE GODFATHER or maybe FIGHT CLUB. I considered rewriting on an old favorite like GHOST BUSTERS or THE PRINCESS BRIDE. But, no. Instead, I watched a 1919 silent film which I had never heard of. I suppose that isn’t the most glorious way to hit 500 movies, but it is somehow fitting when considering the seemingly random scattering of movies I’ve watched in the four years of doing this. Anyway, away we go…

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Posted in ~ D ~, ~~~ 1919 ~~~
Tags: drama, silent

johnlink ranks THE LOOKOUT (2007)

•January 7, 2013 • 3 Comments

THE LOOKOUT served as the directing debut of Scott Frank, writer of such quality films as MINORITY REPORT, OUT OF SIGHT, and MALICE. He is also the writer of the upcoming WOLVERINE film which, hopefully, will not suck as much as the last WOLVERINE film. With Scott Frank on board, it is already in better shape than the last one. THE LOOKOUT is a movie I had seen once before and very much remember liking. So, here we go with movie ranking number 499…

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Posted in ~ L ~, ~~~ 2007 ~~~
Tags: suspense

johnlink ranks THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)

•January 5, 2013 • 1 Comment

Back in 2005, as I was finishing up my undergrad degree, we almost watched this movie in one of my film classes. It ended up being outvoted (by quite a bit, frankly), but I went out and bought it because the idea of it was intriguing. It’s been sitting on my shelf for the past 7 years, give or take, and seemed like a perfect title to knock off my list as I close in on 500 rankings.

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Posted in ~ M ~, ~~~ 1962 ~~~
Tags: western

johnlink ranks TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D (2013)

•January 4, 2013 • 6 Comments

After watching the original MASSACRE the other day, I followed with the new release TEXAS CHAINSAW IN 3D. This marked my first 2013 release watched, and my first 3D movie in a couple of years. I’m just not a huge fan of the format. But, we had our employee gathering last night and this was the movie we decided to put on. I was in the mindset to see something which would try to live up to the pacing and relatively high standard set by the original. While this is the 7th movie made in the series, this is the first one to pick up in the hours after the 1974 version ended.