Movies 'based on a true story'

[Hybrid-Of-Souls]

I just really get annoyed by movie ad claims that do this. Especially when it's done by horror, drama, or sci-fi movies, the typical culprits. Cliche hook indeed.

If there's recent evidence to be had, then there's 'The Fourth Kind', a movie based on 'psychiatric interviews' with people who 'have been abducted by aliens and lived to tell the tale'. For all anyone could know, the interviewees could be schizophrenic or something, and the only thing prying people from their money is that they just want a good scare, with nothing to care about regarding the 'real life story'.

Yeah, then it turns out that the validity gets investigated throughout the film. So much for being based on a true story if there's investigatory stuff within a movie that probably should've been confirmed pre-production or pre-release.

For the record, I'm reading this part off the IMDB site, so yeah

Gah, sometimes I realize why I'm not an avid moviegoer kind of person.

[Athlas]

Crap like that is there to ignore. Don't let it get to you, there's a lot of art out there.

[BabiesAteMyDingo]

Yes, okay I see what you mean. But there's a thin line between staying faithful to true-life events in a movie, and making an accurate, albeit mundane documentary.

At the end of the day movies have to make money, so they sell what the audience is buying. So I'm guessing the majority of cinema-goers are happy with the way things are.

[Tonsil-Hockey]

I dunno it looks alot better than paranormal activity, which was a middle class annoying couple talking, talking, screaming, talking, talking, talking, talking, screaming, talking, talking, talking, sleeping, sleeeping, talking.... Why do movies suck so bad now?

[metropolis342]

Ever seen The Pursuit of Happyness?

Well, here's some revelations on the protagonist (Kevin Gardner-played by Will Smith) for you:

1. He did LSD.
2. He didn't know where his son was for 4 months.
3. The son in question was conceived when he was married to another woman.
4. He was arrested for domestic violence.

Lesson learned: even non-scary movies are guilty of placing "Based on a True Story" moniker on things that are obviously not so true.

Then again, they are movies, so we can't necessarily hate them.

[Kanon]

I know what you mean, The Blaire Witch Project!!!! based on true events!!!, yeah fucking right. if it was based on true events where is the real stone-cold evidence that tells us the truth.

and no that piece of shit acting at the end isn't the evidentual video.

[tarahloveshentai]

What percent of movies that advertise the "Base on a True Story" actually have a movie that almost tells the right on story without adding too much bullcrap?

That new movie, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" says it's, "Based on an unbelievable true story."

[Krbyfan1]

At 10/30/09 01:22 AM, tarahloveshentai wrote: That new movie, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" says it's, "Based on an unbelievable true story."

And it has More Than A Feeling as the song in the trailer. This makes any historical inaccuracy void and nullified.

When they say based on a true story, it has some truthful elements, but not entirely true.

[Fifty-50]

They say that it's only "based" on the actual story. That means they already altered most of the happenings or events that took place in the original story. So technically, you should just ignore these things because they are pure crap.

[Industriel]

Some movies that "claim" they are real kinda suck, like Paranormal Activity.

But movies like Jimmy and Judy pull it off really well. It looks like real events, even though you know it's scripted, yet it is still a fantastic movie.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Paranormal activity considered a mockumentary?

[ratchetrockon]

The Lords of Dogtown was based on a true story..Though some parts were made up.

[All-Hallows]

They don't even do famous people right.

A Beautiful Mind, for example. Bitch didn't even have visual hallucinations, he just heard voices sometimes. And they conveniently left out the part where he has gay sex. And the part where he abandons a girl he got pregnant, or the part where he gets divorced.

[Frank]

I remembered this phenomenon going on last year when Milk came out. What a load of shit!

[Frank]

At 10/30/09 03:50 AM, BlackClown wrote: Milk is a BEVERAGE.
We are talking about MOVIES.
Those pictures of lost children on milk cartons are REAL, please call them if you see them. Besides, milk has been around for almost 300 years it did not come out last year.

I like you.

Although the line is considered a marketing technique more than anything (at least, in the general sens;, I hate the view that the only thing the film industry is concerned with is profit, but I'm rambling), as the audience, we should keep in mind that there's a world of film, and the world we live in. Some facts have to be distorted for the sake of entertainment in film (someone mentioned A Beautiful Mind, a textbook example of this I'd say). Techniques can be used to really capture a sense of "realism" in film, but it's a sketchy argument all the same. EclecticEnnui mentioned Man Bites Dog, a good example of a sort of "fake realism". I don't really know the film you're referring to Mr. H-O-S, unfortunately.

Actually, most films with a historical examination would fall into this, and suffer as a result via immense (and sometimes poorly devised) revisionism, like The Deer Hunter, or a similar film. Westerns tend to pull this off a little easier because the conventions are laid out a little clearer. I digress, I think.

Some films can pull this off as a result of people passing the message around. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre for instance, is barely true at all when you look at the details, despite claims otherwise (in the same way that many other barely-true horror films using elements of Ed Gein's personality as part of the monster are not). As much as it might sound like a cliche when it's just thrown off the back of a promotion, I think it's effective, at least to some, in extreme circumstances.

And Fargo does it hilariously, again off of bizarre/extreme events. The main issue now, is that when a film might use this phrase tongue-in-cheek, they'll be "ripping off Fargo". That makes me sad.

[RandomFreak]

There's three levels of this.

There's "A true story" which indicates the closest to the recorded truth, usually reserved for biographical movies where the makers worked closely with the subject or the family and friends of the subject.

There's "Based on a true story" which is slightly more removed. This is one you'll find alot in sports movies which will keep the basics true but add in all sorts of romance or personal drama tht has no baring on reality.

Then there's "Inspired by true events" which is the one that horror movies like to use. This is the most removed and basically means "this guy said this happened to him once and we made a movie that was kind of like that."

[ScytheCutter]

At 10/30/09 12:57 PM, RandomFreak wrote: There's three levels of this.

There's "A true story" which indicates the closest to the recorded truth, usually reserved for biographical movies where the makers worked closely with the subject or the family and friends of the subject.

There's "Based on a true story" which is slightly more removed. This is one you'll find alot in sports movies which will keep the basics true but add in all sorts of romance or personal drama tht has no baring on reality.

Then there's "Inspired by true events" which is the one that horror movies like to use. This is the most removed and basically means "this guy said this happened to him once and we made a movie that was kind of like that."

I like to think that the second and third criterion are essentially the same and in general if you see the words "true story" or anything similar to that, unless it's a biography, 99% of it will be outright fabrication and the only "truth" being that the names are the same.