ALEX DAKOULAS NEWS/RANTS

The first theatrical poster for Richard Kelly's Southland Tales is now online. It's kind of cool, but still seems a bit too bland, too photoshopped. (the teaser wasn't anything spectacular either)

This is either going to be weirdly awesome, or insanely bad—Just like the opinions of his last effort, Donnie Darko. So it seems to be right on course. He may just be pushing it a bit too far over the edge with choice of (perhaps) unqualified actors and ridiculous plot, but will it be too far?

In November we find out!


Clip from the film. And see SMG talking frankly in another one here.

This past week I got around to watching director Dario Argento's Deep Red (aka Profondo rosso). It's a 1975 Italian Giallo horror film. The description of this style of filmmaking makes me think I would love them—with Argento being one of the masters. One of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes about this film describes it as beautiful as it is horrific. It's also been said that Halloween was influenced by them, which is one of my favorite films—mostly because of it's style.

After watching his other famous film Suspiria, and now this, I think I can solidly say I don't enjoy this style (or maybe it's just Argento's play on it) and that disappoints me. Both movies were drawn out, not that scary, and the music (which is supposed to be what sets them apart) is very distracting and doesn't seem to fit. It's an interesting style I will say (I could also just say weird) with an odd combination of outrageous theatrics and subtlety.

I can see sparks of great filmmaking in both of these movies I've seen from him (the kills are pretty great), but overall they don't seem to flow well and could use some solid editing. It really dumbfounds me why his films are so revered.

Other directors I'm giving up on include:

M. Night Shyamalan—I think his movies have gotten consistently worse and worse. It didn't start to bother me until The Village and The Lady in the Water was probably the final straw. They've become very self-indulgent, kind of obvious, and just plain weird and not that good. He seems to think they're masterpieces which makes them that much harder to get into. Take a step back Mr. Shyamalan and see your films from a new set of eyes. With each picture you're losing more and more of your touch. And I know you have superb talent in that brain.

Brian De Palma—Unlike Night and simliar to Dario, I haven't been able to watch his film career grow. I just knew that I really enjoyed Carrie, and that he was a famous director known for his beautiful camerawork and having a sort of niche following in the thriller genre. (There's been much speculation on whether he rips-off Hitchcock or honors him). As I watched his movies over the years I totally agree that his films look beautiful. They have such a gloss and class to them which is interesting because it's usually mixed with deaths and killings. But then you get past that look and realize almost all his stories are just dull and uninteresting. Not to mention he treats women so poorly in almost every film that some feminist organization must be out to get him. Mr. De Palma, try having a great story first and theeen work on how it looks.

This trailer played in front of Spider-Man 3 last weekend, and although a bit pretentious in its comments about itself, I'd like to see the movie. According the Apple this trailer was released way back in February, but I haven't heard anything about it until now. Nor is there any poster that I can find. Redoing The Beatles isn't that original (didn't I Am Sam have artists cover their songs?), but maybe it'll make sense for this movie.

Check out the trailer here!

And while you're at it, check out the video for Fiona Apple's version of “Across the Universe” which is from the movie Pleasantville. The video was directed by PT Anderson of Magnolia and Boogie Nights notoriety.

Thank you to people that came out last night to Portfolio Night. It was a lot of people checking out some really good work. (My classmates better put up websites so I can blog about them!)

One of the things that I “unveiled” last night was putting my degree project online. Now anyone can check it out!

In a very short summary of my 4 months of research into film advertising and movie marketing, the biggest thing I found is that people want to see something different, something unique or innovative, when it comes to ad campaigns. This not only catches their attention because it's not the same thing they see all the time, it can also create word-of-mouth publicity (a large tool for advertising movies), and it's good for design in general. If ads all look the same for every movie, they aren't being designed very well. They should be tailored to each project and each movie.

I would think this realization would be fairly obvious, but I don't think film companies are taking this into consideration because so many ads look the same! I decided to focus on the film poster as a basis to show just how formulaic film advertising has become by creating a toolbox of cliché advertising parts. Now anyone can be a professional poster designer!

Check it out for yourself at http://www.moviepostertoolbox.com.

I just finished watching Gattaca last night, and although I feel like I've seen it before I don't remember it like this. It was very touching, poignant, and beautiful. The look of the film is almost indescribable. It's set to take place in the near future, and although it looks futuristic, it almost does so by referencing back to classic clothing, and style. The whole film felt so clean and rich, with sets that I can't imagine where they are and style that is just amazing to look at.

I don't really hear anyone ever talk about this film, and looking at box office sales the film only grossed about a third of it's budget. That's disappointing to hear, because I feel like the writer/director had a real vision all his own and managed to make something that may be a bit too introspective for the everyday viewer, but is still a mainsteam enough movie. It's worth a real look for anyone interested in something full of substance, but doesn't have to yell it at you.