Jeremy Knox
01-16-2004, 08:37 AM
All the people in my list below get their due, but sometimes I don't think anyone realizes the full extent of what these artists contributed to the world of cinema.
Fritz Freleng & Chuck Jones - Can these guys be any LESS appreciated. I realize that they've gotten plenty of applause but it doesn't even BEGIN to cover everything these guys invented. They revolutionized the modern cartoon. Everything animated owes a debts of gratitude to these guys. They were as influencial and topical (most people miss that) in their time as Pixar is today.
James Cameron - His good work has led to many BAD imitations but James Cameron more or less invented the modern action movie. He was responsible for Terminator, Aliens, Rambo II and T2 which were imitated by the likes of Die Hard and Predator and opened the floodgates to much lesser clones. (I've always wondered what a McTiernan/Cameron production would look like.) Titanic aside the man knows how to tell thrilling stories that seem to move a million miles an hour, but in reviewing are actually much more talky than they seemed at first. Just compare T2 and T3 to see what I mean. T2 has maybe a total of 20 minutes of action scenes while T3 has something like 40 or 50. Cameron knew how to pace his movies superbly. In fact, I'll get blasted for this but..., if anyone can take the mantle from Kubrick for "Most Intricate Director" then Cameron could.
George Lucas - Oh shit. I better talk fast! Okay, forget Star Wars for a minute. Forget Lucas as a director and writer. Forget Skywalker Ranch. Just think of him as a producer, for just one minute. Now think of all the technical innovations this guy spearheaded in image and sound. CGI, THX, Digital camera use, you name it. He either tried it first on a big budget scale or had existing technology refined into something moviemakers could use. He didn't invent a single thing, but he created an atmosphere where people could be free to create newer and better effects. If it hadn't been for Lucas, movie "magic" would not be as realistic as it is today. I think that after the Star Wars prequel disasters, people forget just how hard he pressed for special effects realism and how much of his own money he invested to make it happen.
Clint Eastwood - This guy is going to be remembered like John Huston after he dies, but it's not an apt comparison. Huston was an obsessive, grandisose filmmaker while Eastwood has always been self-effacing and subtle. Name me one other sex-symbol who would have made a movie like "Play Misty For Me" A film that portrays him as a self-centered lout playing around with an obviously unstable woman simply because he views her as little more than entertainment for the night, then acting surprised when she snaps and goes bezerk. He's made a few duds, but movies like Misty, A Perfect World, Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter (think of it as Eastwood's "El Topo" and it starts to make sense) and White Hunter, Black Heart make up for it. All these movies are so subtle that most people don't even notice the subtext.
I know there's lesser know artists than these, but I just woke up and my brain ain't working as fast as it should. Come on! List your picks.
JK13
Fritz Freleng & Chuck Jones - Can these guys be any LESS appreciated. I realize that they've gotten plenty of applause but it doesn't even BEGIN to cover everything these guys invented. They revolutionized the modern cartoon. Everything animated owes a debts of gratitude to these guys. They were as influencial and topical (most people miss that) in their time as Pixar is today.
James Cameron - His good work has led to many BAD imitations but James Cameron more or less invented the modern action movie. He was responsible for Terminator, Aliens, Rambo II and T2 which were imitated by the likes of Die Hard and Predator and opened the floodgates to much lesser clones. (I've always wondered what a McTiernan/Cameron production would look like.) Titanic aside the man knows how to tell thrilling stories that seem to move a million miles an hour, but in reviewing are actually much more talky than they seemed at first. Just compare T2 and T3 to see what I mean. T2 has maybe a total of 20 minutes of action scenes while T3 has something like 40 or 50. Cameron knew how to pace his movies superbly. In fact, I'll get blasted for this but..., if anyone can take the mantle from Kubrick for "Most Intricate Director" then Cameron could.
George Lucas - Oh shit. I better talk fast! Okay, forget Star Wars for a minute. Forget Lucas as a director and writer. Forget Skywalker Ranch. Just think of him as a producer, for just one minute. Now think of all the technical innovations this guy spearheaded in image and sound. CGI, THX, Digital camera use, you name it. He either tried it first on a big budget scale or had existing technology refined into something moviemakers could use. He didn't invent a single thing, but he created an atmosphere where people could be free to create newer and better effects. If it hadn't been for Lucas, movie "magic" would not be as realistic as it is today. I think that after the Star Wars prequel disasters, people forget just how hard he pressed for special effects realism and how much of his own money he invested to make it happen.
Clint Eastwood - This guy is going to be remembered like John Huston after he dies, but it's not an apt comparison. Huston was an obsessive, grandisose filmmaker while Eastwood has always been self-effacing and subtle. Name me one other sex-symbol who would have made a movie like "Play Misty For Me" A film that portrays him as a self-centered lout playing around with an obviously unstable woman simply because he views her as little more than entertainment for the night, then acting surprised when she snaps and goes bezerk. He's made a few duds, but movies like Misty, A Perfect World, Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter (think of it as Eastwood's "El Topo" and it starts to make sense) and White Hunter, Black Heart make up for it. All these movies are so subtle that most people don't even notice the subtext.
I know there's lesser know artists than these, but I just woke up and my brain ain't working as fast as it should. Come on! List your picks.
JK13