Movie Roll

Uplifting, thrilling and filled with sincere emotion Patty Jenkins's "Wonder Woman" redeems the entire DC Universe movies while bringing a completely new focus on what a female superhero should be, passionate, determined and, in the truest meaning of the word, strong. An Amazon princess finds her life completely occupied by female warriors interrupted when a pilot crashes near the island. After rescuing him she learns that the world is lost in the midst of World War I and vows to use her ability to save the world, believing it is all caused by an ancient Greek god she must kill in order to restore peace. Gal Gadot shines in the role as princess Diana of Themyscira, a.k.a Wonder Woman, not only by delivering what might be the best performance of her career, so far, but also by fearlessly stepping into the shoes of a naive heroine who believes humanity and the world are solely black and white. Gadot doesn't bring a realistic and uplifting portrayal for females on...

On the previous post on the Screenwriting 101 I covered the basic definitions of what a screenplay is, macro descriptions of the starting stages of screenplay development some little advice. Then I posted an entry on the origins of screenplay formatting. If you haven't read any of those two articles, I strongly recommend you do before reading this one. Here are the links: Screenwriting 101 The Origins of Screenplay Formatting Now, in this post I'll be talking about the basic elements of screenplay formatting. If you're planning to write a screenplay right now it is necessary to write it according to the Master Scene Script format, which has six elements that we will touch on ahead. Scene Heading Action Character Name Parentheticals Dialogue Transitions Scene Heading This is the first element, oftentimes known as slug line. All screenplays written in the Master Scene format are broken into individual scenes. Each scene heading is written in all ca...

Origins of Formatting Film goes back to the 1800s, when movies were nothing else than photographic techniques mixed with light bulb effects to create a moving picture effect. These film were called "Scenarios", which were no longer than 40 seconds. The writing for these scenarios were short synopses used both for film description and marketing. For example: Edison's 1897 tale "Pillow Fight" is described as: “Four young ladies, in their nightgowns, are having a romp. One of the pillows gets torn, and the feathers fly all over the room.” John P. Hess. (2017). Proto-Screenplay-The Essentials of Screenplay Formatting. 2017, by Filmmaker IQ Website: https://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/silent-era-scenarios/ But with time it was discovered that different pieces of film could be put together to tell a story. The first screenplays were only written as technical support, so the director knew what to shoot and in what order. Later,  by 1903 it was start...

It's interesting how even when "Alien: Covenant" begins with a human crew on a mission to preserve humankind in a state of peace it portrays a sense of persecusion and fear at the same time. With this second film in the "Alien" prequels, director Ridley Scott goes back to the movie's sci-fi/horror origins, bringing a whole new outlook  with a movie that keeps you closing your eyes, grasping the armrests of your seat and  being in a constant state of suspense, always expecting the worst out of the creature that haunts the protagonists of the story, adding up to the fact that it was awakened by them. The crew of a colonizing ship set for a remote planet, far in the galaxy, discovers what appears to be a paradise in a dark dangerous world. When the real threat is uncovered, it turns out to be far more unexpected and cruel than what they had imagined, a sudden escape must be attempted. Despite not moving the franchise in any new directions, it ...

Every year, the eyes of all moviegoers and film fans turn to the Academy Awards, where the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences  pick the best five performances by leading actresses and end up awarding one. Of course, these recognition is according to the criteria of aforementioned members and sometimes we don't agree with their decisions, but that doesn't mean their mistakes are to be forgotten. In this post you'll find a list of Oscar-winning performances by actress in leading roles that, according to a majority of the public, did not deserve the highest honor in the film industry. Katherine Hepburn, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) Fellow nominees: Anne Bancroft "The Graduate" Faye Dunaway "Bonnie & Clyde" Edith Evans "The Whisperers" Audrey Hepburn "Wait Until Dark" "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is the final film of late Hollywood legend Spen...

Strange, quirky and, yet, in a very original manner, a fine piece of art. Led by outstanding  performances by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, 'Colossal' is a comedy, that not only explores science fiction, but romance, drama and action as well. Wrapping it up with a beautiful ribbon, showing that original filmmaking can still be found in the most unlikely places. Walking in to 'Colossal' I had high expectations, since I loved the trailer, but the movie didn't only fulfill my expectations, but exceeded them by a huge margin. The film revolves around Gloria, an unemployed party girl who is forced to leave her life in New York and move back to her hometown after her boyfriend kicks her out. As news about a giant creature destroying Seul, South Korea start to break out, she slowly comes to the realization that she is, in some way, connected to the monster. When events start to get out of control, Gloria must determine why her, seemingly, insig...

The huge success 'Wonder Woman' is for DC and Warner Brothers just added another accolade to its name. 'Wonder Woman' isn't just a blockbuster, it became the first of DC's critically acclaimed movies and now, it is, officially, the highest grossing female directed live action film. Even though it's a shame that gender distinctions are made when these type of achievements are earned, it's definetely a solid step toward change in gender bias. This means Hollywood can start to realize men and women can equally direct and produce critical and box office hits, like 'Wonder Woman' director Patty Jenkins did. As of Thursday, the film surpassed  the $609.8 million mark previously set by 'Mamma Mia', thus earning the previously mentioned title. It is amazing how one movie can start a change, especially when it comes to big issues like gender bias in Hollywood. Congratulations.

Screenplays are often defined as the blueprints for a movie, the document that will guide the filmmaking and storytelling processes from beginning to end. Screenwriting is also conceived as one of the most difficult writing tasks in the world, due to its limitations (page count, writing style, tense, etc.), limitations novelists and poets don’t have. This post is the first one, in a series, to bring a wider understanding of what screenwriting is, its purpose and tips on how to write better screenplays. With that said, first things first: What is a screenplay? Wikipedia defines a screenplay as: A written work by screenwriters for a film, video game or television program. These  screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. I think this is a great definition of what a screenplay is; like I said before a screenplay is the blueprint for a story, any type of story that is set to become an audiovisual production. It is also a g...