Michael Gates

Husband, father, filmmaker, protestant, film score nerd.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

This scene absolutely baffled me in the theater—such dedication to details and authenticity in the film, so much effort working the audience with incredibly intense, even oppressive, editing, sound design and music, culminating in the most resounding moment of silence ever to film… while the accompanying visual is painfully obviously just a big gasoline bomb. The exploding tanker in Speed 2 is more impressive. I am astounded that not only Nolan, but anyone else on the film or at the studio thought this would play. For me, it severely undercuts an otherwise mostly impressive film.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@MikeyDiMercurio Have to disagree on this one. The size of the gates are purely an aesthetic choice, and a very good one. They don’t actually keep the dinosaurs in; the dinosaurs are held inside separate paddocks behind the gates and within the perimeter fence.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

Agree on every point. Love Nolan’s work, but chasing the IMAX magic is a real Achilles heel, because I think what he’s looking for is not defined by either the IMAX aspect ratio or screen size.

I remember seeing the IMAX movie Special Effects: Anything Can Happen in 1996, and the opening King Kong section felt incredible because it was specifically created for IMAX, meaning it was all wide angle lenses and shots designed to make the scene envelope you, much like How The West Was Won in Cinerama. Henry Hathaway hated shooting the Cinerama format because he recognized the restrictions in out in his storytelling language. This can be great for a spectacular set piece like Kong atop the Empire Stare building, but the full language of narrative film also relies on intimate closeups, which work at odds with that spectacular scale. A lot of modern action shooting, including Nolan’s, tends to use close cameras, shaking, and blurs to create chaos, but the “IMAX magic” demands clarity and scale.

I think if you truly want to shoot an IMAX movie, you would have to deliberately work in a visual language that plays to it: mainly wide lenses and few closeups. It would take discipline and commitment that aren’t possible when you’re constantly switching aspect ratios and/or shooting for multiple formats. In a way, I think shooting for multiple formats is even more restrictive.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

I don’t know that it’s just leitmotifs—film music used to actively draw out emotions in a way that it rarely does now. For me, that theatricality was a huge part of the magic and why I fell in love with film in the first place. The modern style just plain doesn’t connect to me in the same way much of the time, with some notable exceptions (Master and Commander, for example). Do most people really feel the opposite? I don’t know.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

Shiny new rear rotors and calipers on and torqued to spec! Finally getting to work on the car again after almost a month of being sick. Next, front calipers, master cylinder, and then the final brake bleed. Biggest hurdle is that the new driver side caliper is too narrow, so I have to file down the pads a whole bunch to fit.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

Delorean work finally continues! For the last two months, I’ve been systematically learning the brake system and pulling it apart for a complete overhaul, since most of it was seized and/or rusted up—new master cylinder, calipers, rotors, flexible lines, and of course, pads. Turned out the lower speedometer cable was missing and the angle drive seized, took, so those are also being replaced. Finally, I’m at the point of putting it all back together. A couple more weeks and we’ll see if I’ve messed it all up. 🤣 The hardest part by far was getting down underneath to replace the rear flexible lines; the connections are half-hidden behind the transmission, so I had to buy some crow foot wrenches.

If this goes well, I’m seriously considering doing the necessary engine rebuild right here at home. May take another year or two, but after so many years, I really want to get this thing on the road.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@USN_Submariner It’s cracking me up how disheveled Jurgen Prochnow looks next to everyone else. 🤣

I do wish Glenn Ford was there instead of Gerard Butler. 🤪

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

He is risen!

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@realhomerhickam I don’t mind a bit of dated, so I’m sure I will!

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@VegasKJ @jbillinson I thought the exact same thing when I saw it! But even that makes an odd kind of sense, at least for me; my favorite songs by a given artist are often not the most popular ones.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@maxwell06170 @ThatMoviePage It’s actually a standalone cue that Goldsmith composed exclusively for the trailer for Judge Dredd (1995), but got reused in this and I think a couple other trailers.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@imPenny2x Try to find a church that focuses on preaching the word of God more than on an entertaining worship service with a band. But start with the word yourself: grab a Bible and compare what you read with what you hear. John’s gospel, proverbs, and psalms are a good start.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

Northern lights from Pueblo, CO

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@MikeyDiMercurio I loved these sketches; for me, this really made your books stand out.

In general, I think it’s great when authors include a layout or maps that give the setting a sense of geography.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@MikeyDiMercurio Don’t know if he’ll BE an AI, but I’ve no doubt he’d use it…

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@MikeyDiMercurio @Industries61135 Fantastic Story about Nautilus and K-19. Makes me want to go back and read about them again.
The story about Seawolf makes me sad, because I always wished a film had been made of it. Naive, college age me read it back then imagining the movie it could be made into.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@Osric_ @LaLaLandRecords The movie that got me into movies, and the score that got me into scores.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@CynicalPublius Easily The Hunt For Red October for me. By miles. Seeing it in the theater at age 7 was formative: the movie that got me into movies, the score that got me into scores, and then the grown-up novel that got me into grown-up novels.

[Michael Gates @michaeljaygates]

@DavidGArnold The first Bond score I ever bought, before my parents even let me see the movie. I heard a sample of Company Car and had to have it!