Screen Education issue 65 out now
The fear of flopbusters and a clockwork homage
In ‘The Bigger They Come, the Harder They Fall’, Peter Gutiérrez’s Blockbuster Central column in the autumn issue of Screen Education, he discusses the lessons learned from the ‘flopbusters’ – films too big to fail but too clumsy to succeed – that seem to populate our cinemas every summer. ‘We all seem to enjoy the perennial punchlines that these duds provide,’ Gutierrez writes, ‘and evidently this enjoyment is in direct proportion to their blockbuster aspirations. It’s as if we’re collectively repaying them for the hubris of unjustified marketing hype.’
Two recent films that managed to avoid such an ignominious fate were Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, and these two films lead off the latest issue of the magazine. In her study guide for Scorsese’s much acclaimed film, Katy Marriner discusses Hugo’s engagement with the magic of silent cinema and an orphan’s search for identity. Myke Bartlett’s discussion of Tintin, meanwhile, looks at the pitfalls and opportunities of adapting such a beloved strip cartoon for the screen, coming to terms with fan expectations and visual wrangling that comes in moving from two dimensions into three.
Also in the latest issue are in-depth articles on the life of Shakespeare as represented in Anonymous, and on the classic children’s film Matilda, based on the adored Roald Dahl story. Brett Lamb suggests tips and tricks for shooting effective action sequences, while Lee Burton offers informative and practical ideas for discussing the problems of raunch culture and pornography with students – surely one of the most pressing issues facing teachers and parents of teenagers.
Other highlights in the issue include:
Screen Education 65 is now available. To read selected articles and subscribe to the magazine, visit http://www.metromagazine.com.au/screen_ed/.
Enquiries:
Peter Tapp
ATOM
(+61 3) 9525 5302
editor@atom.org.au
