Film Term Definitions

Mofo Rising · July 21, 2009, 03:57:13 AM

I am sure we are all familiar with Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary. Well, why not apply these to all those film terms we hear bandied about. Yes, these will and should be more than a bit unfair.

To start:

Character study - Boring story with unlikable characters.

dean · July 21, 2009, 07:23:46 AM

Period Piece: Boring story with unlikable characters set in the past.

indianasmith · July 21, 2009, 08:43:35 AM

Imndependent Film - Someone is gay, uses drugs, or has a disease. Or all three.

ghouck · July 21, 2009, 02:04:11 PM

Lifetime Movie: Some woman gets abused, then exacts revenge and meets a better man.

Jim H · July 21, 2009, 02:05:41 PM

Art film: A film that uses technical shortcomings to disguise pretentiousness.

Saucerman · July 21, 2009, 02:20:40 PM

Quote from: dean on July 21, 2009, 07:23:46 AM

Period Piece: Boring story with unlikable characters set in the past.

I watched a "period piece" once and was very confused. There was no blood, no bloating, no men making mad dashes to buy chocolate to soothe the beast.

3mnkids · July 21, 2009, 02:30:49 PM

Popcorn movie~ has no storyline, usually has terrible dialogue and acting and exists only to make you go eww, ahhhh, look at the pretty colors.

LilCerberus · July 21, 2009, 02:43:34 PM

Quote from: Jim H on July 21, 2009, 02:05:41 PM
Art film: A film that uses technical shortcomings to disguise pretentiousness.

2: or vice versa

3: Uses ridiculously long runtime, one-liners, pontifications, & overuse of exploitive elements to disguise an otherwise incoherent script.

The Burgomaster · July 21, 2009, 04:36:43 PM

Disaster Film: 12 washed-up actors and actresses portray characters who cheat on their spouses, drink too much, run for political office, and try to save a terminally ill child . . . all while running away from a lava flow caused by a plane that crashed into a research station on the side of a volcano.

The Burgomaster · July 21, 2009, 04:39:33 PM

Cult Classic: Move that was so bad that it was despised by critics and lost tons of money at the boxoffice, but 517 people have seen it 50 times each and have memorized all the dialogue.

Kester Pelagius · July 21, 2009, 04:56:31 PM

Horror Comedy - <oxymoron> These movies are usually neither horrific nor funny and, 9 times out of 10, star former porn stars (with the inevitable cameo by rug monster Ron Jeremy) or up-n-coming porn starlets (meaning actresses willing to appear nude without any plot justification) and are oten produced/directed by former porn directors. These movies suck, but not in a good way.

ghouck · July 21, 2009, 10:19:41 PM

Summer Box-Office Hit!: Paper-thin storyline and overpaid household-name actors that the sheepish masses quote whenever they can because others of the sheepish mass did and the rest of the sheepish mass laughed.

Trevor · July 22, 2009, 01:29:04 AM

Political consciousness-raising film:

Boring piece of crap that makes the viewer lose consciousness.

akiratubo · July 22, 2009, 01:31:57 AM

Romantic comedy - a woman ~~with a laundry list of neuroses~~ quirky character traits eventually ~~breaks a man's will~~ breaks through a man's outdated notions of gender roles and ~~forces him to completely change his life to suit her~~ comes to make him accept her for who she is.

Action movie - f**kING EXPLOSIONS! EXPLOSIONS ROCK! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU ASK WHY A CAR EXPLODED JUST BECAUSE A GUY SHOT ONE BULLET AT IT? WHAT THE f**k ARE YOU, SOME KIND OF MOVIE CRITIC? EXPLOSIONS, f**k YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! BOOOOOOOOBS! YEAHHHHHHHH!

Ash · July 22, 2009, 01:35:21 AM

Black Comedy: May or may not star actual black people.