Tag: movies

The best writers in films

Last week, we talked about ten of the best fictional writers on television. Which of course got me thinking about some of my other favorite fictional writers. The writers portrayed on the big screen. Because of course, people love talking about what they’re passionate about. And what writers are passionate about, more often than not, is writing. 

Today, I’m bringing you the top seven best portrayals of writers in movies. Some of them are funny. Some are scary. And some made me bawl like a baby. But all of them are great examples of flawed people trying to do the same thing we’re trying to do; craft stories.

Secret Window

Starring Johnny Depp and based on a short story by Stephen King, Secret Window is the story of a writer named Mort Rainey looking for some peace to write his latest book. This quiet is destroyed by a man named Shooter, who insists that Rainey stole his short story. Rainey desperately tries to prove that he didn’t commit plagiarism, while Shooter stalks him through town.

I honestly think being accused of plagiarism is scarier than being accosted by some hayseed in a wide-brim hat. I adored this movie. And I thought the ending, unlike some of King’s other endings, was truly satisfying. 

Orange County 

Starring Colin Hanks and Jack Black, this is the hilarious story of a young writer named Shaun, desperate to escape his dysfunctional family. He goes through a series of hilarious hijinks with his brother and girlfriend, trying to get him into a writing program at Stanford. 

If you’ve never seen this movie, it’s a great time. And of course, it discusses the very real issue of whether or not to attend higher education. 

The Shining

Of course, I was going to be talking about this one. It’s not the first Stephen King story on this list, and it won’t be the last. It is, perhaps, the most famous. 

Do I even need to summarise this story? Jack and Wendy, and their son Danny, spend the winter at a hotel as caretakers. This is every writer’s dream, and Jack is a writer. He thinks he’ll spend the whole winter writing his novel while making some easy money.

Of course, that amount of quiet and isolation is often the last thing a writer needs. It’s also the last thing a struggling alcoholic needs, especially when his spirits are replaced by, well, spirits. 

Dead Poet’s Society

(Note. This movie deals with teen suicide.)

A good teacher can make all the difference in a young person’s life. Especially the life of a young artist. Such is the case with John Keating, played by Robin Williams. He inspires a group of teenage boys to not only read poetry but to care about it. To care about their own writing as well. Keating reminds them, and us, that a poem is not a dry dead thing. It is a moment in time, an emotion, a spark, captured in words on a page. 

It’s a passionate movie about living for what makes you feel alive. 

Moulin Rouge!

Yes, I do love this movie, and not ironically. Is it a good movie? No, not really. Is it a really fun movie with a wonderful soundtrack and a fun main character? Yes, yes it is. 

Christian is a writer looking for work. He wants to write a play for a dance club called the Moulin Rouge. Its star is a woman named Satine, who is dying of consumption. Through his writing, Christian makes her last days magical. Even as he struggles to protect her from the evil Duke. It’s full of music, wild characters, and absinthe. It is, I think what a lot of us thought the writing life would be like, full of drugs and interactions with wild artists. Spoiler, it’s actually full of coffee and editing manuscripts while turning down social invites because you’re on a deadline. 

Misery

This will be the last time I talk about Stephen King in this post, I swear. But you know I had to talk about Paul Sheldon, Annie Wilkes, and Misery. 

Starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, this is the terrifying tale of an obsessed fan who saves her favorite author from a car crash. All is going fine until she finds out he’s going to kill off her favorite character. Then, things get not fine real fast. 

On one hand, I love the thought of having someone obsessed with my writing. On the other hand, I hate the idea of having someone that obsessed. Either way, it’s a dark and gruesome tale, told well. 

Also, Kathy Bates is a queen. 

Finding Forrester

This is easily my favorite movie about writing of all time. It stars Rob Brown and Sean Connery. This is the tale of a reclusive writer who is, frankly, an asshole. Through a series of events, he starts mentoring a young writer named Jamal. 

A lot of topics are discussed here. Racism, of course. Poverty, and how it impacts the opportunities of young people. When it is and is not okay to approach a famous person. In the end, though, it’s a story about a friendship built on a common passion. A passion for writing. If you’ve never seen it, go watch it right now. It is incredible. 

Now, I want to hear what you think. What is your favorite movie about a writer? Let us know in the comments. 

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Some Thoughts On Disney

I guess everyone’s got something to say about Disney. I guess this shouldn’t surprise anyone. No one, not a single person on this planet, doesn’t know Disney and Micky Mouse. They really do have something for everyone, especially someone like me. I am, after all, a lover of the dark and twisted. Oh, you didn’t realize there was plenty of that in there? There is.

Bu Disney is not a friend to the feminists. In fact, the company is not a friend to a lot of people. I’ve gone through a roller coaster of emotions with Disney in my lifetime. I had, literally, every Disney movie ever made as a kid. I went through a phase where I wouldn’t let them in my house. And now, I’ve made my peace. If you will, let me share with you what caused this love, hate, love relationship.

Also, let me add that I have had none of these issues with Pixar. They are fantastic, and every movie they make is golden.

Ridiculous sexism

This is the very textbook definition of beating a dead horse, but I’ll go ahead and take a few wacks at it anyway. My favorite Disney movies growing up were The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beat, and Cinderella.

The Little Mermaid pisses me off because it’s the story of a young girl making stupid choices because she’s stupid, and she then has to be rescued by her daddy and new boyfriend.

Beauty and the Beast is all about a super smart girl who falls in love with an asshat. I don’t care about his appearance. Let’s face it, that might be kind of a turn on for some people. He’s a controlling douche. He does not treat Bell how I would expect a man to treat my daughters.

Cinderella, I guess I shouldn’t have to break this one down. But her whole life is shit, and all she cares about is finding a ‘prince’. The prince, by the by, wouldn’t have looked twice at her if she hadn’t been all decked out. Isn’t that what the Fairy Godmother, read representation of a maternal figure, teaches her. Is this what we teach our daughters, to focus only on our physical qualities so that we attract a boy? Look, when I make my face up and put on a killer pair of jeans, that’s for me.

Bastardization of dark stories

I love Grimm fairy tales, love them. I used to read the originals to my kids when they were babies. Cinderella, when the evil step sisters cut off parts of their feet. Ariel in The Little Mermaid turned into sea foam after Eric married someone else. (It’s not a Grimm story, but still, sea foam.)

I could go on and on. Good, dark stories, watered down to a flavorless nothing. They took the dark and grit and replaced it with singing animals and lovely dresses.

Insane internet theories

Did you know Walt Disney was anti Semitic? Do you know that there’s a penis on the cover of The Little Mermaid, or that if you freeze The Lion King at the right time some leaves flutter up in the air and spell out sex?

I could spend a whole day just reading crazy Disney crap online. Some of it’s true, I actually had that Little Mermaid cover. Some of it’s crap. Some of it’s funny as hell. For instance, there’s a story about the Small World ride being shut down because there was a kid’s body hanging from the ceiling. One of my favorites.

Modern attempts to improve their image, both good and bad

Frozen was awesome, I have no complaints. Brave, also good. Even Tangled was good, it’s what I’d call the first of a new wave of Disney movies that don’t piss me off.

But I’ve got to complain for a minute about The Princess and the Frog. Yes, she was the first African American princess. (Not the first white princess, mind you. Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, even Nala if you’re feeling generous.) Does anyone else get pissed that she’s also the first poor Disney Princess? Yes, many came from humble backgrounds like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. But they were supposed to be rich, they were stolen away from their family.

There’s also the fact that Tiana wanted a restaurant more than anything else. She didn’t get one when she saved up all of her money and worked hard for it. She got it when her rich husband bought it for her. Great moral for the girls, let me tell you. Hard work won’t matter unless you marry rich.

But I still let my kids watch Disney movies, and here’s why.

I love Disney now, for a very personal reason. They saved Marvel and Lucasfilms. So, for all the whiny, useless, pretty Disney princesses, we’ve been rewarded. The Avengers, this whole new Marvel franchise, it’s all them. Also, Episode VI.

Now we’ve come, though, the real reason I wanted to talk to you about this today.

We, give creatives too much power over how our kids end up. I know, I’m a writer. My stories have never been accused of being a bad example, yet. #lifegoals! Writers and creatives get blamed all the time for people behaving badly. I don’t need to make a list for you. But no matter what I write, I am only ever going to be responsible for how two kids in this world end up, mine.

Yes, I point out all sorts of strong female characters on shows to my kids. Science Fiction is full of them, thank God. But those aren’t my girls heroes. I point to Elizabeth Warren, a brilliant politician and Economist. Natalie Portman, who I guarantee is smarter than you. I point to Tina Fey, Amy Pholer and Sarah Silverman as examples of women who can be funny as hell. Then there’s Tamora Pierce, Philipa Gregory, JK Rowling and Mary Shelly. Oh, and also Malala.

And also myself, by the way. Not to brag, but I am a smart woman with a good career. Then there’s my mother in law, a former naval officer and an amazing nurse. And my grandmother. I think I was pretty clear about how awesome she is. Then there’s my great grandmother, who emigrated here from Hungary as a child. Don’t think that’s scary as hell? You try moving somewhere everyone speaks a different language and hates you on basic principle.

So, yeah, I don’t care if the Disney princess is frail, and wussy. I don’t care if they watch all the silly, stupid, vapid girls in their pretty dresses. I’m the example my daughters will follow. And so I work hard, because I want them to work hard. I don’t participate in girl hate, but at the same time I don’t bash men for their gender. I don’t practice self hate, that’s a big one. (My girls will never hear me call myself fat, I promise.) If you’ve got kids, maybe you should be their example. Just saying.

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The Best Movies for Storytelling

I’m low key in love with movies. Okay, not low key. I really love movies. And I’m as crazy eclectic with my movie love as I am with music. (Remember, I’m the weirdo that has Eminem, Sugarland and Elton John on my tablet, right along with Cher and Panic! At The Disco.)

It goes further than that, though. As I say over and over, my whole life is about good stories. I write them, read them, watch them and listen to them. But, part of PBW is that I also love to share them. I’ve also been watching a lot of top ten videos with my kids. So, with that spirit in mind, here are ten movies every writer can learn from. It’s surprising to me that most people haven’t heard of a lot of these. If you haven’t seen any of them, and you’re looking for something to do this weekend, here you go. And if you’re so inclined, please share with us your favorite movies in the comments below.

Saving Mr. Banks

This is probably the most popular and newest of the movies on this list. It’s the story of how the Disney movie, Mary Poppins, was made. A highly dramatized version, mind you.

At it’s core, though, it’s the story of a young woman with a sad childhood who becomes a writer. Then, she has to watch her story turn into a movie with dancing penguins. (According to the movie, she hated that.) This also makes her come to terms with her past.

Maybe don’t watch this with your smaller kids, but my older daughter loved it.

The Incredibles

I really love Pixar in general. It’s widely understood that Pixar is a creative powerhouse. And The Incredibles is a great example. Being a huge comic book fan girl, I jumped on that movie to start with, but if you’ve never read a comic book or seen any super hero movie, you’ll still love this. Even if you don’t have kids, watch it.

It’s all about super heroes that are being sued, so that they need to be placed in a relocation program. That is, until a super jealous genius decides to look up his childhood hero.

Star ship Troopers

This movie is amazing, and it’s based on the book by the same name. It’s a dark, dystopian future story about a future where people are only considered citizens if they serve in the military. Which is a little worse than it would be right now, because Earth is at war with a scary bug alien race. It’s also got Neil Patrick Harris as a psychic with a pet ferret.

Children of The Damned

The original black and white, not the remake. Based on the book, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, this is probably one of the coolest Science Fiction story ever. Everyone in a small town suddenly falls asleep. When they come to, every woman who can be pregnant is. The children who come from this weird rapey situation are all blond with blue eyes. (I don’t think this is a Nazi reference at all, do you?) The kids all have weird manipulation powers. Very dark, and very emotional. Imagine knowing that this child you carried is actually evil, and probably not human. (I know my kids have those days, but still.)

Shaun of The Dead

Is it a little low brow? Yeah, kind of but watch me care. Shaun of The Dead is a zombie movie, but it’s a comedy. It’s about a man named Shaun who is kind of a loser. He’s got a crappy job, two asshole flatmates and his girlfriend is getting ready to leave him. Oh, and some shitty pens that leak red on his shirt. Then zombies start attacking people, and it actually takes people awhile to realize that there are zombies around. The thing I like about this movie the most is that the government acted like I would expect the government to act. They didn’t suck!

House on Haunted Hill

Again, I’m talking about the black and white original, not the remake. Now, before we go to far, the special effects are terrible! At one point there’s a skeleton walking around with fishing line holding him up. You can see it.

Despite this, the acting is super awesome. Vincent Price, my goodness I love that man, played his snooty and rich character to perfection. Of course, being an old school horror movie, only the bad wife and her lover die. Even so, it’s a creepy movie. I’m a little biased, though, because the darling husband and I went on our first date at a local movie house. They played some old black and white horror movies during one awesome summer.

Looper

I want to be careful talking about this movie, because despite the awesome stars who were in it (Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jeff Daniels) a lot of people haven’t even heard of it. And the ending is killer.

Basically, the story is based in a world that has two big differences from ours. Time travel is real, and illegal, and telepathy is real. Mobsters send people back in time to be assassinated. Eventually, the people who are in the past who are assassinating for the mob will kill themselves, thereby closing their own loop. This is the story of one man who is trying really hard to close his own loop, but his future self is just too damn fast.

Jakob The Liar

This movie is why I’m in love with Leiv Shcriber. He’s in it with Robin Williams, who plays the main character, Jakob, who lives in a Jewish Ghetto in Germany during WWII. I guess I don’t have to tell you what sort of life that is. He accidentally finds out a bit of news about the war, and spreads it around. When people start wondering how he found this out, he makes the mistake of telling his friend Mischa, (Mr. Schriber) that he has a radio. This all gets even more dangerous when a little girl, who snuck into the ghetto to save herself from going to a concentration camp. It’s a Robin Williams movie, so I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you’ll choke on your own spit from laughing, then cry your eyes out at the end.

Dogma

This might not be the movie for you if you’re easily offended. But it is a very deep movie, if you can get past the sex jokes. Some of my favorite religious quotes come from this movie, such as, “Catholics don’t celebrate their faith, they mourn it!” Love that.

It’s a story about a woman who works at an abortion clinic who finds herself responsible for saving the world when two fallen angels are trying to get back into Heaven. What they don’t know is that if they get back into Heaven, all of Heaven, Earth and Hell will cease to exist. Again, not one to watch with the little ones. But a good one if you feel like getting some good ideas. Also, a great example of getting a religious message across without being an ass.

Pleasantville

This is, and has been, my favorite movie ever. It’s the story of a boy who’s parents are divorced. He’s a big old nerd who is totally obsessed with his favorite show, Pleasantville. His sister, a rather slutty girl and not the smartest, has a date on the same night as a marathon of his favorite show. They end up in the show, a creepy black and white world that rather resembles Stepford. But as Bud and Sue, the two main characters, start teaching people about ‘the real world’ things start turning color.

I don’t have any way to explain the beauty of this show. If you, like me, wish you’d been born in the fifties so you could have been involved in that cultural explosion, you’ll love this. Imagine a little micro society evolution, decades of sex and rock and roll shoved into a tiny town all in a few days.

I’m sure I didn’t mention all of the amazing movies that writers can learn from. If you know one I missed, please share it with us below.

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