Flashback Friday #2 and the Greatest Movie Ever Sold

One of the writing challenges from Heck Yeah's Tumblr blog has a prompt for today on the topic of "A Favorite Beverage." SoBe Lifewater has been among my top beverage choices for a little while but whenever I get around to checking out Morgan Spurlock's (director of "Super Size Me") new movie, "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," I'll probably start drinking more Pomegranate juice within the next month or so....or I will at least try it!

Spurlock explores product placement and advertising in the movie industry but the way he went about making "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" has some questioning whether this is some sort of satire to make fund of these types of marketing deals in Hollywood or if he is trying to show how anything can be bought at the right price. Sometimes, you can get a point across without actually demonstrating it, which brings us to two previous posts that are like complete opposites of each other when it comes down to showing too much or too little.

The Erotic Nature of Stuck
A movie scene can be sexy, intimate and romantic all without actually showing the physical act of sex. It is a point that is covered in the "Erotic Nature of Stuck" post, so you are welcome to read it and add your two cents.

X-Rated Myths of the Chemically Brainwashed
While the movie "Stuck" does not show much in terms of people getting it on in the bedroom...or in the case of "Stuck"....the jail cell, it seems that other movies have no problem with showing a lot of graphic acts, whether that be sex or violence but some moviegoers tend to have misconceptions about what X-Rated means and what films are placed in that category....it's not always as simple as you may think!

Here are my questions for you: What is YOUR favorite beverage?

Also,

Does adding advertisements in the form of product placement in a movie about product placement such as "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" turn you off from wanting to watch it or do you think that it is appropriate because of the film's subject matter?

Oh, and here is the movie trailer for "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" if you never saw it or want to find out more about the premise of this new release. Enjoy!

A portion of this post was inspired by Two Hands and a Roadmap.

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On Expectations of Short & Feature Length Films (GBE 2 - wk1)

I remember when "Titanic" came out and a lot of people who went to see it were complaining about it's three-hour long running time. One complaint in particular came from a friend who did not like this movie. Today, the complaint got me thinking about the way that short films are often given a bad rep at film festivals, among many filmmakers, film industry experts and even movie fans.

A lot of people treat short films like they are unimportant or some type of neglected second cousin of the feature film club. The disappointment from a feature length movie like "Titanic" or action films such as "Transformers" usually arise when they do not meet the expectations that movie goers had when they decided to visit the theater and watch it based on its movie trailer.

It is not unusual for a movie goer to feel like time was wasted that they cannot get back....two hours is a lot of time out of someone's life that is used to watch a film, so it should be good or at the very least....entertaining, right? This is an issue where short films should be given the benefit of the doubt because they are useful forms of entertainment that do not take two hours to watch.

Many short films are under 10 minutes in length, so whether they are exceptional pieces of cinematic art like some of the Oscar nominated short films...or whether they are bland...or whether they are bad....short length movies do not have to meet the same level of expectations that feature length films do.

More than one dozen short films can be watched in the same time that one views "The Lord of the Rings" (this is not to say that LOTR falls into the same category of "Transformers" because LOTR is a good movie!) so even if movie fans come across a short film that they do not like, there wasn't that much time wasted in watching it because the average person usually spends the same amount of time in the bathroom. In fact, you could watch a short film while you are using the bathroom and get it done and over with....unless of course, you spend the bathroom time reading a book!

This post was written for the topic of "Expectations" in the new Group Blogging Experience (GBE 2). Also, I want to thank Alana at Writercize for letting me know about this blogging project!

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The Erotic Nature of 'Stuck'

How many erotic films have you seen in the last 12 months? I had to think about this today while trying to come up with a post based on the topic of “something erotic.” This subject is the 21st prompt in a 30 Day Creative Writing Challenge hosted by Heck Yeah Tumblr Challenges.....a site that I visit often to find ideas on what to blog about during times (like today) when get a case of writer’s block.

The only movie that comes to mind is “Stuck” by Steve Balderson. There is a jail scene before the main character is scheduled to be executed that I find to be very erotic. What makes it so is not only the fact that there is no sex in this particular scene, but also because the anxiety surrounding a prisoner about to be put to death is not would many people would consider to be a turn-on.....yet somehow, Balderson makes it work.

The director’s next movie, “The Casserole Club” is being released next month but I would recommend watching “Stuck” in the meantime if you want to see “something erotic.” If you haven't done so already, you are welcome to read all about the making of this movie by checking out my interview with Steve Balderson in April.

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