Here are some bits from David Mamet's films. Mamet's dialogue can sound like wooden acting but it's a deliberate device to create a rhythm of words and ideas.
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Things you're tired of seeing in movies
- Thread starter Joosh
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Here are some bits from David Mamet's films. Mamet's dialogue can sound like wooden acting but it's a deliberate device to create a rhythm of words and ideas.
Zombie_61
Master Member
They did film some of the first season of Dexter in and around the Miami area, but once they decided it was a hit and were given the green light to start on the second season it was more cost effective to film in California. Movie and television productions count on the fact that most of their viewers wouldn't know the difference.
Impossibly witty dialogue is overrated IMO. In fact I feel it's closer to a cheap tactic than an impressive skill for many writers.
When writing scripts I always find it's easier to write everything overly sharp/funny/etc than buckling down & working it out in the traditional sense. Staying realistic, keeping different verbal patterns & vocabularies for different characters, serving the story & tone of the scene . . . now THAT is a challenge.
When writing scripts I always find it's easier to write everything overly sharp/funny/etc than buckling down & working it out in the traditional sense. Staying realistic, keeping different verbal patterns & vocabularies for different characters, serving the story & tone of the scene . . . now THAT is a challenge.
p51
Sr Member
Didn't he write the screenplay for "The Untouchables"? Good stuff, there, made great by good acting and directing as well.
I used to think the acting made a movie, but now I think it's the writing, because crummy writing can't be recovered by an actor, no matter how good they are.
People showing up just in the nick of time - to watch someone die. Run in the room, there's a minute, maybe two before they pass away, usually with just enough time to speak some words of advice, help, or wisdom. Never enough time to allow for help, but just enough for small talk before the end.
p51
Sr Member
How about the idea that someone, knowing they're at their death, is going to even think of the words of wisdom at all?
Sorry, but if I know I'm dying right now, you're on your own, pal, because I have all the issues I need right now!
p51
Sr Member
How about the same screech and crash sound that has been pretty much used since God knows when?
Geez, all a foley person needs is to plant a mike on a turn on one of these races and they'd get dozens of good skid-crash sounds! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvUaBIQnY8A
Geez, all a foley person needs is to plant a mike on a turn on one of these races and they'd get dozens of good skid-crash sounds! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvUaBIQnY8A
I think Eddie Murphy sums it up nicely when someone gets shot... And I think this applies to everybody!
WARNING - explicit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWDXdUChTFc
PHArchivist
Master Member
"The Galaxy is on Orion's b-b-belt..."
Malphas
Well-Known Member
To be fair he was an alien. Maybe English wasn't his first language.
(That was the little guy right? Haven't seen MiB in over a decade.)
PHArchivist
Master Member
Yeah but the conceit is pretty much the same - a plot-enhancing mystery.
p51
Sr Member
I need to listen to this. I got shot on active duty and I sure wasn't eloquent afterward! I was on Battalion coms at the time and I got a ration of grief later on:I think Eddie Murphy sums it up nicely when someone gets shot... And I think this applies to everybody!
WARNING - explicit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWDXdUChTFc
Me, answering a question I've long forgotten, over the radio: "Uh, rog, we're shifted the indirect and just moved up to - SON OF A [BLEEP]!"
Solos blaster
Sr Member
p51
Sr Member
Yeah, but for Connery's character, that seemed plausible. And he wasn't being cryptic, he was just hurting so much he had problems getting the info out.
I once talked to a Marine from WW2, and he said a scout for the unit got hit while looking for a open-topped Japanese bunker. He got to the guy just as he was dying and with his dying breaths, the other Marine pointed to the bunker and said how many people he saw in it.
Way different than the riddles that dying people give as they croak in movies.
Solos blaster
Sr Member
Lol, that's what I'm saying. Connery didn't talk in riddles.
Pattyk77
Active Member
I wouldn't say I hate this cause it's needed. Two friends break apart/fight 3/4 into the film only to reunite in the end. We can all see it coming. Sometimes the excuse for the break up is so stupid too, a silly pet peeve pisses the person off or a line that they get sensitive over. Movies need this but it's so played.
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