7/25/14: FILMMAKER ATTRIBUTES!

As a movie geek, I've noticed that certain filmmakers/directors start to get noticed for something, such as a specific movie style, using a particular movie star, or using a technique that they get known for and people except when watching their work.

These are commonly called trademarks, but I like to call it attributes since "trademark" sounds bland and boring.

Here are a few filmmakers/directors you'll probably recognize and their attributes that make them unique:

Quentin Tarantino-Graphic Violence
Although many Quentin Tarantino films are good, they certainly come with extreme graphic violence as well. I really just wonder how big the cost for "fake blood" is with his movies. But with the sliced limbs, dismembered bodies, and decapitations in the Kill Bill series, bloody gunfights in Pulp Fiction and Resvoir Dogs, and beating and murdering in Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained, it's something that people expect with Tarantino.

Michael Bay-Bad Movie, Great Action
You don't watch a Michael Bay movie for the acting and writing, because it's never good. You watch it for the action, and in the sense of the Transformers series, special effects. Most famous for bullets and explosions, it's best to think that Bay doesn't even try to make a good movie, he just tries to make an entertaining movie, and there's a handful (Armageddon, Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor, The Island) to choose from.

David Fincher-Dark Tone
You'd never except a film focused on the creation of Facebook (The Social Network) to be dark, but it is, in terms of the tone. David Fincher's film are made in darker lighting and for intense thrillers like Se7en and Fight Club, it works, and you wouldn't except a movie like The Social Network to have a dark tone, but that's the way it's made, and Fincher proves it a good method. Dark in tone and, usually, dark in theme as well, with suspense in Se7en and The Girl with the Dragon Tatto and brutal fighting in Fight Club.

Tim Burton-Johnny Depp
In Tim Burton's recent stretch of films, from Edward Scissorhands to Alice in Wonderland, we've seen our fair share of Johnny Deep, primarly in the staring role. They seem to work well together, so no one's complaining, but we don't really understand their relationship. Johnny Depp likes to act with elloborate makeup and costumes, which is Burton's style, so it's kind of a match made in Heaven.

Christopher Nolan-Dead Women

Just be cautious for any lady married or wanting to marry one of my favorite directors, Christopher Nolan, because apparently, in the majority of his movies, the female characters die. In Memento, the story centers around a man with short-term memory loss investigating his wife's murderer. In The Prestige, an illusion gone wrong results in a magician's wife's death. In The Dark Knight, the Joker kills Rachel, and in The Dark Knight Rises, Miranda (played by Marion Cottilard, who's character Mal started off dead in Inception) dies. Man Mr. Nolan, are you doing this on purpose? 

Wes Anderson-Symmetry and Bill Murray

Director Wes Anderson's eccentric but unique and brilliant filmmaking style includes myriad attributes/trademarks including cooky characters, attention to detail, generic shots and random slow-motion scenes, but he's most famous for his symmetrical sets and his actor-director relationship with Bill Murray. If you watch one of his movies, he always features several scenes throughout that you can divide in half equally, and you can expect a Bill Murray appearance, whether large, small, or a cameo, from The Royal Tenenbaums to The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou to Moonrise Kingdom. 

J.J. Abrams-Lens Flares
Although he hasn't made much, we still have been blinded by a lot of lens flares provided by J.J. Abrams. Although they get annoying and repeative sometimes, they add style to his films, especially since he mostly makes sci-fi movies with dark lighting such as Star Trek and Super 8.

Peter Jackson-CGI

Okay, so the CGI in The Lord of the Rings trilogy is outdated now, but it dazzled many when they came out. Still, Peter Jackson's new Hobbit trilogy has some beautifully-made and hauntingly-real computer animation, really making the fantasy worlds and magical creatures less cheesy and cheerful and more dark and realistic. Amazing CGI is always expected with Peter Jackson. 

M. Night Shamalyan-Plot Twists

Unfortunately, in recent years, M. Night Shamalyan has failed to keep us intacked and intrigued by his movies, because he spends more time constructing a plot-twist-driven story than a good movie. But we'll all remember the plot twist in The Sixth Sense that took the breath away from many. That I cannot tell you for the sake of containing the sacred work of Shamalayn. Like I said, his filmmaking career is jumping the shark, but always prepare for that twist. 

Martin Scorsese-Profanity and Gangsters

Let's name some great modern classics: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. All cinematic masterpieces, all loaded with swear words back as forth  as well as involving crime and the mob, and all made by Martin Scorsese. You can also count in Casino, Gangs of New York, and Best-Picture-winning film The Departed. There's just something about bad words and gangsters that Scorsese loves, and in recent years, Leonardo Dicaprio, but it's not like we're complaining. 

The Wachoswkis-Special Effects
Andy and Lana Wachoswki, sibling directors, have recvolutionzed special effects, especially with their legendary "bullet time," as seen prodominantly in The Matrix trilogy. Although their latest stretch of films haven't been that good, they're still loaded with uniquely-styled slow-motion, sound effects, and computer animation only these two can offer to cinema.