Spoiler alert: this breakdown divulges information about the plot of the film. Mad Max: Fury Road is nuttier than a fruitcake. It’s also the second best Action movie in history, behind Seven Samurai, which happens to be the best movie ever made. Fury Road doesn’t have anywhere near th

Spoiler alert: this breakdown divulges information about the plot of the film.  When I did a structure breakdown of Casino Royale, I focused on the single most important technique the writers used to kick that story to a whole new level: they gave Bond a psychological and moral weakne

Spoiler alert: this breakdown contains crucial information about the plot.  The Avengers is why Disney bought Marvel and paid them so much money. It’s all about the character bank. In a worldwide market, companies put a premium on branding, which is selling an already recognizable pro

“What a drag it is getting old.” Yes, Mick, it is. Cultural icons are supposed to be immune from old age. But actors, even action heroes like Harrison Ford, are not. And that has a ripple effect through this entire movie. Try as he might, Ford can’t convincingly do t

It’s an easy bet to say that Iron Man will be the best action picture of the ’08 summer. Some of the credit has to go to the casting and performances of Robert Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow. They’re so good it makes us realize these two actors should be in a lot more mo

The Bourne Ultimatum is the best action film of the year and is a textbook case for how to write in this very popular form. Let’s look at just a few of the techniques writers Tony Gilroy, Scott Burns, and George Nolfi use. The first element that stands out in The Bourne Ultimatu

Movies based on comic book super-heroes are more difficult to write well than they appear. These stories are a sub-form of the action genre, with a number of fantasy and horror elements thrown in. Mixing these three genres properly is tricky, which is why most super-hero films are hug

It’s tough to say that a movie franchise generating revenue in the hundreds of millions per picture is in need of an overhaul. But the Bond pictures have been stale and predictable for years. In certain ways this is unavoidable. Bond is a super-hero, and the action genre, of whi

Spoiler Alert: This review gives away plot information. Jarhead shows maleness in the extreme better than any film I’ve ever seen. And yet it is painfully dull. The reason is found in the most basic of all story structure steps, the desire line. The hero and his fellow soldiers

This film is textbook Tom Clancy. He is the master of the funnel effect. He starts by cross-cutting around a huge circle worldwide. He tells us the general endpoint fairly early and adds a ticking clock. The cross-cutting spirals tighter and tighter, in both space and time, with all t