J.P. Shiel

Putting words into interesting orders since 1991.

Contributor II

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    Latest Articles

    Breaking Bad
    TV
    32
    Film
    23
    Superman Logo
    Film
    16
    Revenge of the Jedi
    Film
    10
    Film
    19
    Tim Burton
    Film
    27
    Film
    26
    TV
    15

    Latest Topics

    2
    Published

    Time to trim trailers? The death of surprise in modern Hollywood

    Discuss the ever-increasing role of trailers in modern blockbuster movies – analyse whether trailers now give away too much of modern cinema, and look at existing trailers and see if you can actually decipher the plot of the film from the trailers. Think about the implications of a world where there is less and less surprise and mystique in going to the cinema.

    • I think this is influenced by the current struggle of less people going out to the movies. With platforms like Netflix and illegal streaming sites there is less appeal to going out and overspending on tickets. Therefore Hollywood trying even harder to entice people into see their films. – LaRose 8 years ago
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    • Look at the trailer of Titanic. It gives the whole story not to mention history has revealed the ending and yet it was a huge blockbuster. Who can tell with audiences and films? Movie magic is a mystery. – Munjeera 8 years ago
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    • This is something I think about every time I watch movie trailers. They give away everything and the magic kind of just goes away. I find Disney to be one of the only big names in the industry that are good at keeping the magic. From this I would honestly go on to say I think there is a huge difference in the way films are displayed in commercials depending on the audience. Films for adults are far more exposed, but maybe we ask for it since we are so hard to please? Maybe it's more of a standard thing. – fallonhewitt 8 years ago
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    • This is something I think about every time I watch movie trailers. They give away everything and the magic kind of just goes away. I find Disney to be one of the only big names in the industry that are good at keeping the magic. From this I would honestly go on to say I think there is a huge difference in the way films are displayed in commercials depending on the audience. Films for adults are far more exposed, but maybe we ask for it since we are so hard to please? Maybe it's more of a standard thing. – fallonhewitt 8 years ago
      0

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    Latest Comments

    I regard the first two prequels as mildly entertaining, nothing like the catastrophic blights on the franchise that some say, and I’m a big fan of Revenge of the Sith. I feel you could almost just start watching Star Wars with RotS and go on from there!
    Kudos for going against the grain with this article.

    In Defense of the Star Wars Prequels

    It does seem like we are creating a society where women and men in the public eye, and thus the characters they play on films and TV, must conform to increasingly unattainable standards of physical perfection or risk being discarded. I think there’s a yawning chasm of space waiting to be filled by superheroes who look and act just like ordinary people, and I mean actual ordinary people.

    Overweight Superheroes and Supervillains

    1. Pulp Fiction.
    2. Reservoir Dogs.
    3. Django Unchained.

    Never watched Jackie Brown to the end. Loved Christoph Waltz’s scenes in IB and the bar scene but the rest doesn’t do as much for me. Tarantino is an iconic film-maker, but that can be a double-edged sword. It means that he is capable of amazing work, but it also means there is no-one to rein him in when he’s being self-indulgent (IB and DU could both have been a half-hour shorter, and both would be better for it).

    Overall, a good article and a fantastic, if sometimes flawed, creator.

    The Work of Quentin Tarantino: Quality Over Quantity

    I agree with everything you wrote and I too am sick of the cheap ‘Non-Lethal Death’ as a way of eliciting false emotion out of the audience. It’s not quite up there with ‘I Allowed Myself To Be Captured To Mess With You’ (which Skyfall, TDK and TDKR all make use of), but it’s close.

    Gosh, the Main Character Is Dead!? So, When Do They Come Back?

    I think we’re much closer now to Brave New World than 1984. In the Western world, our focus seems to be on medical and technological ‘progress’, and I see little overt sign of the kind of totalitarian government Orwell described. That’s not to say that there’s no government control exerted over citizens, but our world today is one of consumers who mostly spurn the harsh realities of our planet in order to attain more possessions, which they believe will in turn bring them happiness.

    7 Classic Books For Those New to Dystopia

    With any minority or oppressed/post-oppressed group, the instinct of the majority is to erroneously bring every member of that group under the representation of one terrible example of it. So some stupid men are stupid enough to believe that Amy’s actions in this film must, of course, be representative of many or even all women everywhere. It’s the same process as people believing that the actions of some extremist terrorist reflect the views and values of ordinary Muslims who live ordinary lives. By grouping the entire section of society, be it women, Muslims or any other, by the actions of one or a small group of its number, the majority is able to remove agency from the oppressed group, tar every member of it with the same brush, and treat it as one homogenous block.

    What The Audience Got Wrong About "Gone Girl"

    I don’t agree; it’s possible she could have moved onto her back without Walt being there. Also, even if he did accidentally knock her onto her back, it was just that: accidental. He didn’t intend to do it, and when he then lets her die, I still think it ties into what I’ve said in the article, which is that Walt is a man who finds himself at the mercy of circumstance, and makes his decisions in response to this. He may have caused it, but he didn’t orchestrate it, and that’s the difference I think.

    The Moral Conundrum of 'Breaking Bad': Fate or Fortune?

    Agree with every word. However we feel about his actions, the spine of the series is a man getting up off his knees and, in his view, taking back control, albeit with terrible consequences for all involved.
    Anyway, thanks for reading!

    The Moral Conundrum of 'Breaking Bad': Fate or Fortune?