DARK KNIGHT

Just wanted to post this up for anyone who wants to talk about Dark Knight or anything we discussed. All topics like vengeance, malice, is anyone really good?, and is working outside the law alright?

Feel free to post whatever you want about our films, film discussion, or even off topic things. If you have any films you've recently seen or wish to see post or comment them.

Also if anyone wishes to contribute posts please email Alan Reynolds at areynolds@dcad.edu.

The Remakes Cometh

Doubtless, many of you have been aware of the hordes of remakes invading cinemas lately. This isn't a new trend by any means, but it seems to be taking a greater precedence in the industry than ever before. Many people are not even aware that some of these are remakes and so never learn of the original's existence, which is a blasted shame. For remakes seem to inadvertantly remove the elements that made the original so appealing and enduring, overshadowing those aspects with monumentally distracting (and unnecessary) special effects. Such reamkes for the Day the Earth Stood Still and Clash of the Titans are examples of such indignitys. Recently the remakes have reached an unbelievably pathetic stride. Take the recent "remake" of The Incredible Hulk, made only a few years after the original! Granted, I'm not saying the original was any good, but this is like saying the previous film didn't count and we're just going to make a do-over. Anything to expedite a profit from the ever stimulatable mass market. Many of the younger, new filmmakers (who seem more like they were born fully grown and indoctrinated into our society) who speak of the remakes they are producing say things like this: "It is not really a remake, it is more of a reimagining." This is merely a sad facade for the fact that Hollywood is out of good ideas and will simply take the skeleton of a pre-existing story for them to use.  These films are merely creating a "Zombie Hollywood", if you will.  An industry that will keep itself alive by any means, even if it must sap the creativity of previous generations. Money is the main root of this problem. Those leading the executive offices in Hollywood care more about gaining massive profits from cheap drivel than progressing the art of film these days. [Not all remakes are bad in my mind, take, for instance the 1982 remake of The Thing.] This is indeed that sad part, there are far too many people out there who profess to be "movie lovers", when indeed they only care to be titilated by any film whatsoever. These are the kind of people who are dangerous to the art of film. They care not whether they're watching a bouncing ball, just as long as its on a screen. This is not to say there are no more well made films that are artisticly splendid, but they are few and far between. As I have maintained since my earlier days, a reformation is necessary. (I don't even want to get started on sequels.)

A Brief History of the Brief History of the DCAD Film Club

The DCAD Film Club originated in Writing and Literature I class discussions during the spring semester of 2009. In the cours of that semester thematic aspects of the works under consideration (Gilgamesh, Odyssey, Aeneid, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures, and classical works of India, China, and Japan) were often illuminated by reference to films. The discussion continued in the second part of the Writing and Lit sequence during the summer, which focused on works of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and in the Fall of 2009 the DCAD film club had its inception under the loose thematic rubric of The Quest. The first semester's films included Wrist-Cutters , The Fountain, Easy Rider, Time Bandits, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The basic format for the meetings has been brief presentations by faculty and students on significant aspects of the film, and a viewing of the film followed by refreshments and general discussion.
This semester's theme is Bad Guys and Failed Kingdoms and is loosely geared to some of the themes that are being explored in the King Arthur and Robin Hood elective. Scheduled films include Dark Knight, Bonnie and Clyde, Unforgiven, Fisher King, The Mission, and Satyricon.
We will shortly publish a schedule for the semester. Future posts will review the previous semester's films, including some of the original faculty and student commentary on the films and open threads for ongoing discussion. Also being planned is a history of the legendary band Elvish Presley (no relation to the New Jersey comedy troupe of the same name). This history is also linked to course content in that it explores the reltionship between reality, imagination, and myth generation with especial emphasis on the last two.