Author Archives: Wael Khairy

MY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

BEST PICTURE   Predicted Winner: The Hurt Locker       Why? Simply because it deserves it more than any other movie this year. ‘Avatar’ was a tremendous achievement. It may revolutionize cinema for its technical achievements. However, the “Best Picture” belongs to the best film of the year. ‘The Hurt Locker’ was exactly that.Continue reading “MY OSCAR PREDICTIONS”

Film Genres, Actors and their Choices “Would Would You Ask a Heart Surgeon to Operate on Your Teeth?”

To read my article regarding genres, actors and their choices. Go to the excellent ‘Touching From a Distance’ website where I wrote a blog post as a guest. Link to the article:   http://www.touchingfromadistance.co.uk/2010/02/would-you-ask-a-heart-surgeon-to-operate-on-your-teeth/

European Art Film: An Analysis of Luis Bunuel’s “The Exterminating Angel”

Whenever people utter the word ‘movie’, the first thing that pops into the listener’s mind is a narrative fictional movie, be it horror, thriller, crime, romance, comedy, or so on. However, there’s an entire genre dedicated to art movies, and the reason why they aren’t as popular is because they are targeted to a limited audience, rather than the typical mass audience. Most people go watch a movie, to kill time or escape the harsh reality yet in order to fully understand an art film one should keep an eye on the highly symbolic content within the movie, and try to makes sense out of the movie, even though it might seem impossible to do so. The Golden Age for art films was the sixties, for it was when rebellious European movies broke most of the rules of the traditional classical cinema established by Hollywood. Movies suddenly appeared without having a satisfying ending, in addition to that, the characters within the European art films would often go through a serious of events that they have no control over, and unlike in narrative fictional movies, they have no choice. In the midst of that age, a director by the name of Luis Bunuel reached his peak, and at the age of 60 through 70, he directed probably the greatest surreal European art films of all time, for he is to art films what Hitchcock is to suspense movies.

The Roots and History of the Horror Film

Each genre has a specific effect on the viewer. When it comes to the horror genre, that effect is fear. The horror genre has a very unique history, for unlike genres like the film noir or the gangster genre, the horror genre originated in Germany with the expressionistic movement. World War I affected numerous lives. The decade following the war was crucial for the horror film genre. It was in the 1920’s that saw German Expressionism develop into full form. Prior to that period (during World War I), all studios were controlled by the German government in order t produce propaganda films. Foreign movies were banned till 1916 but this ended in 1921 and German cinema benefited a lot from the situation. The reason for that being is, after the First World War UFA (Germany’s major studio at the time) was fully capitalized and hired the most talented German filmmakers to put cinema back on its feet. From that moment on, the horror genre was changed forever.

A Study of Celebrity Worship

There are several types of obsessions, from war veterans obsessed with the act of battle to over religious terrorists obsessed with the act of violence, the list goes on and on; however, the most widely spread type of obsession is most commonly known as celebrity worship. As time passed celebrating celebrities has become more and more active. It started since the dawn of time when someone who was regarded as superior than the average human being was idolized by his fans. Sportsmen, actors, actresses, artists and singers are just some of the people that could be regarded or labeled as celebrities. Since the media nowadays is more than focused on celebrities, we live in the age where celebrity worship is most widely spread, for never before has the concept of celebrity worship reached the standard it lays at today. Since it has become of today’s main factors of life, many researches have been developed studying this form of obsession. Some researches study the aspect of why people tend to lean towards celebrity worship, while others study whether it’s a good habit or a bad habit. The truth is the only way to fully understand celebrity worship is to take all theories and opinions into consideration and drawing up conclusions.

The Merging of Mise-en-Scene and Narrative Style (Run Lola Run and Hero)

Cartoon of Lola Running      When it comes to movies, one would find that there are numerous ways for the director to tell his story and just as much ways for him display it on screen. The narrative style of a movie depends mostly on the screenplay of the movie and unlike most people think,Continue reading “The Merging of Mise-en-Scene and Narrative Style (Run Lola Run and Hero)”

The Power of Sound and Editing (The Conversation and Psycho)

When most people think about movies, they usually judge them in terms of acting and directing, rarely does a person judge its editing or sound mixing. The reason for that being is because most editors and sound editors do all they can to make their editing as smooth as possible for the audience. When editing and sound mixing is used correctly there’s a certain flow that’s required in a good movie, the movie seems to fit better, and the truth is without editing and sound mixing most great movies wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are regarded. The 1974 Francis Ford Coppola thriller The Conversation and the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock horror movie Psycho are perfect examples of movies largely depending on the process and technique of editing and sound mixing. Each of those movies can be seen as perfect examples where the editing and sound mixing were used to perfection.

Strokes of Light and Shadow: The Impact of Citizen Kane

When one thinks back to the turning points of film history, the first few events that come to mind are the first edited fiction film, ‘Jazz Singer’ and the transition to sound or the first feature film in color. Some even mention the extensive use of deep focus in ‘Citizen Kane’ and while all these events are clearly revolutionary in terms of the development of film as a medium, the use of lighting creatively is often overlooked. Exploiting light and shadow inventively to express meaning and establish a desired atmosphere made Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ a significant historical event that impacted both audiences and film genre in many ways. (Continued)