Negative Example Posts: The Archive

Hey guys, I’m going through old posts as I think about the next book, and something occurs to me: A few of you have asked for me to do some “how not to” checklists on bad movies, but I’ve done a lot of deep-dives into bad movies over the years that have never gotten spotlighted in the sidebar, so I figured I’d devote a post to archiving those. (I have a bit more to say on “Educated”, and I need to do my end of the year round-up, but I haven’t figured out what I’m doing next, so I’ll just do this for today.)

Green Lantern and John Carter:

• Beginning Tomorrow: Truly Terrible Movies Week…
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #142: Audiences Don’t Actually Care About Stories
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #143: The Difference Between an Action Movie and a Thriller
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #144: Women Shouldn’t Have To Have It All
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #145: Say No Way To Melee

Oblivion:

• Storyteller's Rulebook #198: Everything You Know About “Everything You Know is Wrong” is Wrong

Pacific Rim:

• Storyteller's Rulebook #199: Never Stop Asking “Why Don’t They Just…”
• Rulebook Casefile: The Need to Simplify It in Pacific Rim
• Rulebook Casefile: The Muddled Metaphor of Pacific Rim
• Podcast AND Storyteller's Rulebook #200: Don’t Ignore the Irony Inherent in Your Premise
• What's the Matter With Hollywood: Those "American" Accents
• Rulebook Casefile: Writing for 3D and CGI in Pacific Rim
• Two Rulebook Casefiles: The Villain Need a Goal and Clash of Personalities in Pacific Rim
• Rulebook Casefile: Hypocritical Invocation of National Pain in Pacific Rim
• Storyteller's Rulebook #201: Closure is the Opposite of Emotion aka Don’t Let Your Characters Read the Script!
• Storyteller's Rulebook #202: The Internal Conflict Must Climax at the Same Time As (or After) the External Conflict
• What’s the Matter With Hollywood: Empty Emotion, Consequence-less Sacrifice
• Rulebook Casefile: Morally Descending in The Avengers and Pacific Rim

Bridge of Spies:

• Rulebook Casefile: The Way the World Worked in Bridge of Spies 
• Rulebook Casefile: Selfless Motivation in Bridge of Spies 
• Rulebook Casefile: Predictable Dialogue in Bridge of Spies

Edge of Tomorrow

• Edge of Tomorrow Meddler Week, Part 1: It Ignores Its Own Meaning
• Edge of Tomorrow Meddler Week, Part 2: The Hero is An Everyman
• Edge of Tomorrow Meddler Week, Part 3: We Always Come In Late
• Edge of Tomorrow Meddler Week, Part 4: The Ridiculous (and All-Too-Familiar) Phony-Sacrifice Ending

What's the Matter with Superheroes?

• What's the Matter with Superheroes, Part 1: The Klan Problem
• What’s the Matter with Superheroes, Part 2: “This is Not A Good Concept” Cannot Be the Concept
• What's the Matter with Superheroes, Part 3: The Villain Problem

What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013 (Man of Steel, The Hobbit, Star Trek Into Darkness, etc.)

• What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013, Part 1: High Stakes Can Get Boring
• What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013, Part 2: The Golden Geese are Dying of Exhaustion
• What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013, Part 3: Filmmakers Despise Their Idealistic Source Material
• What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013, Part 4: Villains are Dehumanized and Lionized at the Same Time
• What's the Matter with Hollywood in 2013, Part 5: Hollywood vs. The Hobbit

Tintin:

• Rulebook Casefile: Tintin’s Tiny Motivation

Gone Girl

• Gone Girl Meddler Week, Part 1: Where the Movie Blows It
• The Meddler: Gone Girl (Book and Movie), Part 2: Amy’s Nonsensical Plan
• The Meddler: Gone Girl (Book and Movie), Part 3: The Three Big Pregnancy Problems