When a screenplay is well written. 1 1

[kav]

Not a comic movie but just discussing screenplays in general-started watching Richard Jewell.  Right off the bat he's the meek new stock guy and his boss is being a jerk and says he needs tape.  Jewell says you might wanna check your second drawer.  Full of tape.  Jewell says "I noticed you were running out".  Then "Might wanna check the third drawer".  Its full of snickers. Boss: "how'd you know I liked snickers?"  "I saw the empty wrappers in your trash".
Just 2 minutes into the film we know Jewell is meek, caring, and observant.  No expositional dialogue was used to transmit this information to the audience as we see in so many other films.  
The writing is compact and efficient.

[kav]

character develpment in this film is superb.  Character drives plot.  No amount of car chases or planets exploding can make up for character.

[@therealsilvermane]

30 minutes ago, kav said:

character develpment in this film is superb.  Character drives plot.  No amount of car chases or planets exploding can make up for character.

Of course, sometimes being in a car chase can be part of one's character development. It can tell us, for instance, that the character has nerves of steel and can think on his or her feet.

[kav]

2 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Of course, sometimes being in a car chase can be part of one's character development. It can tell us, for instance, that the character has nerves of steel and can think on his or her feet.

absolutely.  However, if a character has nerves of steel that should have been indicated by character action long before the car chase scene.  You should always bring forward your character quickly, then watch him react in various scenarios.  In Fargo, we see Marge Gunderman examing a triple murder scene and it does not phase her.  The only time we see her get upset is when an old classmate lied to her in an attempt to hook up with her. 

[kav]

If you are writing a car chase scene one should strive to do it differently. Tweak it. Most every car chase scene is the same thing.  Have a car chase where someone actually does the PIT maneuver.  Or have the good guy say man we are endangering a lot of innocent people running these stoplights I am pulling over-and he tries something else.

[@therealsilvermane]

4 minutes ago, kav said:

If you are writing a car chase scene one should strive to do it differently. Tweak it. Most every car chase scene is the same thing.  Have a car chase where someone actually does the PIT maneuver.  Or have the good guy say man we are endangering a lot of innocent people running these stoplights I am pulling over-and he tries something else.

It's not technically a car chase, but in Captain Marvel, when Nick Fury swerves the passenger side of his car into a bus to take out the Skrull attacking him from the passenger seat, that shows us how gutsy and resourceful Fury is.

[kav]

3 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

It's not technically a car chase, but in Captain Marvel, when Nick Fury swerves the passenger side of his car into a bus to take out the Skrull attacking him from the passenger seat, that shows us how gutsy and resourceful Fury is.

The car chase in civil war with Fury was well done-lots of surprises.

[@therealsilvermane]

8 minutes ago, kav said:

The car chase in civil war with Fury was well done-lots of surprises.

You mean Winter Soldier. I did bring it up elsewhere here that that Winter Soldier car chase scene bugs me a little because I thought if Alexander wanted to take out Fury, why did he wait until Fury was in his super spy bullet proof armed SUV? HYDRA hardly stood a chance with Fury inside that thing and they made a spectacle of it all. I'd have thought a smarter villain would have had Fury quietly taken out in the elevator or in the parking lot. Another poor choice in the movie was to have Winter Soldier try to finish the job in Captain America's apartment while Captain America is there although it served the purpose for Steve Rogers to see Bucky finally.

[kav]

3 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

You mean Winter Soldier. I did bring it up elsewhere here that that Winter Soldier car chase scene bugs me a little because I thought if Alexander wanted to take out Fury, why did he wait until Fury was in his super spy bullet proof armed SUV? HYDRA hardly stood a chance with Fury inside that thing and they made a spectacle of it all. I'd have thought a smarter villain would have had Fury quietly taken out in the elevator or in the parking lot. Another poor choice in the movie was to have Winter Soldier try to finish the job in Captain America's apartment while Captain America is there although it served the purpose for Steve Rogers to see Bucky finally.

Right right I knew i probably got confused!  And you are right abt those plot points but realistically there wouldnt be any action movies if bad guys did the most expedient thing.  Hell you can accidentally spill your drink on them like the Iceman did-cyanide dissolved in a solvent I will not mention.  Water balloon-squirt gun even.

Edited March 29, 2021 by kav

[kav]

Spoiler abt Richard Jewell movie-such a great film:

Spoiler

 

Richard Jewell movie is really good. FBI tried to trick him into signing document stating he waived his rights while being videotaped confessing. Before the tape started they said they were just 'role playing' for a 'training video; and they 'needed his help'.

Jewell got suspicious he said 'um this is a real document'. FBI dude said 'yes we want the training video to be as realistic as possible'. Jewell then said he wanted to call his attorney. He called 3 times his old boss/friend who was an attorney and left messages.

Attorney finally got back to office when he called FBI field office they said "i'm sorry we have no one here by that name". and hung up.

Attorney called back and said yes this is me again-my next call is going to be to Mike Wallace to ask him why the FBI is refusing a suspect his constitutional right to an attorney.

Yeah they put him thru that time-

After he was dropped as a suspect, Jewell filed libel suits against the FBI, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN, the New York Post, and Piedmont College. He is now a millionaire.

 

 

[bentbryan]

9 hours ago, kav said:

Spoiler abt Richard Jewell movie-such a great film:

  Hide contents

 

Richard Jewell movie is really good. FBI tried to trick him into signing document stating he waived his rights while being videotaped confessing. Before the tape started they said they were just 'role playing' for a 'training video; and they 'needed his help'.

Jewell got suspicious he said 'um this is a real document'. FBI dude said 'yes we want the training video to be as realistic as possible'. Jewell then said he wanted to call his attorney. He called 3 times his old boss/friend who was an attorney and left messages.

Attorney finally got back to office when he called FBI field office they said "i'm sorry we have no one here by that name". and hung up.

Attorney called back and said yes this is me again-my next call is going to be to Mike Wallace to ask him why the FBI is refusing a suspect his constitutional right to an attorney.

Yeah they put him thru that time-

After he was dropped as a suspect, Jewell filed libel suits against the FBI, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN, the New York Post, and Piedmont College. He is now a millionaire.

 

 

It was a really good movie. They definitely over-played the dumb card, if you’ve ever seen a real interview with him he doesn’t seem quite as slow as the film depicts. Also, if I was his lawyer I would have punched him several times   

[Muno42]

The barber shop scene in Mississippi Burning gets you amped up. "This is tricky! Heh, heh, heh..." is one of my favorite lines ever.

[kav]

4 hours ago, bentbryan said:

It was a really good movie. They definitely over-played the dumb card, if you’ve ever seen a real interview with him he doesn’t seem quite as slow as the film depicts. Also, if I was his lawyer I would have punched him several times   

agreed.  

[@therealsilvermane]

I always dig it when one line can sum up the theme of a movie, so Vision's line in WandaVision, "What is grief but love persevering?" is a powerful line. Good writing.

[Bosco685]

A case study when an actor starts to feel like he has transcended his part of a production by now also serving as the screenwriter too.

Why Edward Norton Doesn't Get Many Movie Offers

The Incredible Hulk

Quote

In 2008, Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the Incredible Hulk from Universal, following the poorly reviewed 2003 Hulk. Marvel opted to reboot the franchise as The Incredible Hulk and hired Zak Penn (who'd co-written a couple of X-Men movies) to write the screenplay. The studio approached Norton to star, and after meeting with director Louis Leterrier, he signed on, provided any suggestions he made to Penn's screenplay be incorporated into the --script.

Norton evidently did a substantial rewrite of the movie just weeks before filming started, and Leterrier shot as much of Norton's --script as possible, along with Penn's, which resulted in a very messy, convoluted cut.

Marvel executives hated the edit and ordered a new one, with more action and less dialogue and character development—the latter two were largely Norton's focus.

Marvel so resented Norton's meddling that when it came time to bring the Hulk back to the big screen as part of The Avengers, the role was given to Mark Ruffalo. Studios almost never comment on why an actor is or isn't cast, but Marvel took the rare step of issuing a statement saying they wanted "an actor who embodies the creative and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members." In short: they were sick of him and didn't want to deal with his shenanigans again.

Red Dragon

Quote

During the filming of the 2002 Silence of the Lambs prequel Red Dragon, Norton showed up on set to film his scenes as FBI profiler Will Graham. He was apparently a little bit over-prepared, because in his hands were brand-new (and totally unsolicited) -script pages that Norton had taken it upon himself to write. He also demanded that director Brett Ratner shoot them.

 

Neither Ratner nor the film's producers took kindly to Norton's spontaneous and unwarranted -script doctoring (to a screenplay by Academy Award-winner Ted Tally), and much professional arguing ensued. You can't blame Ratner or Red Dragon's producers, though — movie scenes have to be carefully planned out, budgeted, and storyboarded before filming ... not to mention how actors need to learn their lines and explore their characters beforehand, as well as the basic chain of command that makes a movie set run smoothly.

 

Norton disrespected all of that, so you can see why everyone else was angry with him.