What a year! In terms of entertainment, it’s been a doozy. We’ve had astronomical Blockbusters such as Avengers: Infinity War and Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and the resurgence of great horrors with Hereditary and A Quiet Place. Then you’ve had the hidden gems such as Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale. This blog summarises the best of the best, and how each of them have influenced my approach and outlook to filmmaking.
Years ago, in the end of the 20th Century, we had CGI and Digital Filmmaking finally break free into the cinemas. Star Wars was re-energised, Terminator looked sleek and jawdropping, then you had the pioneering Avatar that introduced Real 3D to the mainstream and the dawn of Motion-Capture. Of course The Lord of the Rings beat them to it with Gollum, but James Cameron was onto something, something that other director’s couldn’t quite grasp. So it was a surprise when Stephen Spielberg gave it a shot this year with Ready Player One. This film showed how motion-capture, CGI and filmmaking has come a long way. We had a beautiful film for all ages.
From video games, to classic cinema and beyond it was an ode to “geeks” who love their easter eggs, their games and their heroes in all mediums. It also felt like an ode to cinema, how far we’ve come and how we should look to the future. Spielberg can do no wrong, and this looked like old-school filmmaking with a modern edge, something only he can pull off.
In October this year, we had a lot of great films. However, two in particular shone from the rest, and shone from everything else that has been released this year. The first, A Star is Born, felt so inspiring, so true to reality and so true to storytelling that it blew me away.
Bradley Cooper, actor and director, proved to us how important it is for us to feel for films and not just to “watch” films.
If you’ve seen it then you probably came away feeling entrapped within the relationship between the two characters of Jackson Maine and Ally. Honestly, this isn’t exactly revolutionary I know, but that is why is succeeds. We don’t always have to look for the next big thing, the next story, instead we can just look back at what has been achieved and reformat it. It’s a beautiful film that deserves a lot of awards, and a big screen for everyone to watch it.
The other film is quite possibly the best film I’ve seen all year. A few months ago I mentioned how I love director’s who add a particular style to their filmmaking, and I finally discovered someone new. Drew Goddard is an unsung hero of cinema, writing many fantastic films such as The Martian and World War Z, and has only directed one film prior to this; The Cabin in the Woods. He’s crafted a well executed film which balances character, story, cinematography and choreography.
It’s a beautiful story of how a group of strangers share a night in a motel, all of which have their own agenda. Every scene raises the tension up until the finale where you don’t know what could happen next. This sort of film would inspire any budding filmmaker, and for me it’s help to inspire and explore originality and also that a bit style does go a long way.
I could spend a lot more time talking about how Avengers: Infinity War is the biggest blockbuster of all time; and how that will shape the future for every blockbuster in development.
I could spend more time discussing how animation is slowly evolving with the likes of Isle of Dogs and Incredibles 2. Sadly, that’s all I have time for today and I hope my love of cinema, and of storytelling, has been insightful enough to know what future projects Eyesight Productions could be making.
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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