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Horton Hears a Who!:
"Who are these
adults for whom sitting through Horton
Hears a
Who will be made more palatable by the
fact that a line from Apocalypse Now
is reworked to refer to bananas
rather than napalm? I would have hoped that adults might be more likely
to
respond to the qualities of Seuss’ book: the beautiful purity of its
visual
style; its sense of aesthetic harmony between message and imagery; its
touching
moral; and the endearing loyalty and patience of its protagonist."
2001: A Space Odyssey: "2001's influence extends well beyond the occasional self-conscious attempts to replicate it (such as Contact or Sunshine). This isn't just because it opened the door to smarter Hollywood science fiction, but also because it combined those high brow concepts with more pulp-ish, enjoyable aspects of the genre." Cloverfield: "There are no doubt a whole host of film academics working on books and theses about the post-traumatic psychology of post-9/11 Hollywood filmmaking, but watching Cloverfield you almost see their work becoming redundant. There's nothing really to analyse: all the post-traumatic themes are right there on the surface, to the extent that you could barely call the 9/11 imagery here a subtext." The Darjeeling Limited: "What’s really interesting and impressive about Anderson’s style is the way he combines those freewheeling and (seemingly) semi-improvised performances with a visual style that obviously requires rigid planning. An actor-oriented style usually concentrates on simple camera movements and loose blocking to give the actors as much freedom as possible, but Anderson’s style is much more tightly controlled." Enchanted: "In an age of smug Shrek-style parody, Enchanted's genuine fondness for the source material is its chief distinguishing feature, and some will find that enough. Ultimately, though, it feels like a good idea not developed far enough." Rescue Dawn: "The film is sufficiently mainstream that it may cause some to have the critical equivalent of jungle hallucinations: when the film ran at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the program described the final scenes as “an ironic comment on the Hollywood happy ending.” I don't think so – the end of the film is just a normal Hollywood happy ending, sans irony." Bee Movie: "If slipshod plotting and insincere characterisation are given a passing grade in a film aimed at kids, we risk simply defining kids movies as those too bad for adults to watch. And that is what bothered me most about Bee Movie. It feels like more of a kid's movie than Antz not because it's aimed at a younger audience – indeed, most of Seinfeld's comedic patter will be lost on children – but because it's just not very good." Eagle vs Shark: "Waititi and actor Jemaine Clement keep confounding your expectations that Jarrod's nerdish exterior hides a heart of gold: he really is an irredeemably dislikable man-child. In saying that, I'm not trying to put you off seeing the film. On the contrary, this is a big part of why Eagle vs Shark is worth your movie-going dollar." Beowulf: "Beowulf gives the distinct impression that Zemeckis, while fiddling around with the computers, has fallen off the crest of the wave creatively. Every scene in Beowulf is spectacular, but in a manner that recalls another spectacular scene in a recent movie." Ratatouille: "Ratatouille is far and away the best-looking computer animated film I have seen.... and a reminder that there’s no longer a need to skew the subject matter of computer animated films to objects that look good in the medium. Everything looks wonderful here." Dr Plonk: "I suspect the film might work better on DVD, where there is more ability to pick and choose the sequences to watch, or to see it in short bursts. Those kinds of distracted viewing patterns might normally be frowned on by film purists, but in this case, they would effectively help turn Dr Plonk into the short film that it probably should have been." The Simpsons Movie: "One of the main symptoms of the show’s decline has been the devolution of Homer, to the point where he has become a completely self-involved moron. His journey of redemption in the movie is therefore effectively a quest by late-season Homer to rediscover the better qualities of early-season Homer." Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: "The pink and frilly fascist Umbridge, easily the most memorable character in the book, is played with relish by Imelda Staunton and is satisfyingly despicable. This is the Harry Potter series’ Revenge of the Sith, the episode where the forces of darkness manage to cause society to rot from the inside through misdirection and fear." Spider-man 3: "I thought the original Spider-man reversed the usual trend of Hollywood films in that it had good plot and characterisation but not enough action; the second was so good because it managed to keep the affinity for the characters while adding some really good action set-pieces. Spider-man 3 sees the balance tip the other way, with action sequences aplenty but a completely dysfunctional plot." Other recent additions: Tideland, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Hot Fuzz, Rocky Balboa, Little Children, The Thin Blue Line, Happy Feet, Rififi, Flushed Away, Casino Royale, Time to Leave, Mad Max, Cars, Network, Brokeback Mountain, Munich, King Kong (1933 and 2006), The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. Or see the full list. |
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Odds & Ends Stills: "For popular
review type websites, use of publicity stills is usually
harmless enough, but in the case of academic books, it's another subtle
factor that seems to encourage authors not to worry about close
analysis of what is actually on screen (the primary factor in this
remains laziness)."
Avery, Jones, Clampett: "A really interesting bit of animation history has appeared over at Thad Komorowski's blog: the infamous 'Jones-Avery letter.' " The Other Jones: "Because obviously I'm now officially part of the hype machine, here is the new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Iron Man 2: Early Review: "I'm excited about Iron Man 2 (Iron Men?), assuming the first film does well enough to warrant a sequel, and that they can keep Robert Downey Jr interested and out of jail. I fully expect to better than Iron Man." Location, Location, Location: "I've felt for a long time now that location is one of the most critical elements in a film; it often seems to me that the places and locations we see in films deserve much more primacy in discussion about movies." The Casting of Tintin: "Thomas Sangster has been cast as Tintin in the upcoming Steven Spielberg / Peter Jackson mega-series." Other recent posts: Round-Up
of the Frivolos Things, Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Quicktime Trailer, Franchising,
Sweet,
Close
and Choppy, Blade Runner Keeps Running, Indiana
Jones and the Endless Jokes About Harrison Ford's Age, The
Beowulf Express. Or
see all the most recent. In DepthIs Film Theory
Bullshit? "...if we presented many
of
these arguments to the 'person on the street' I’m sure the verdict
would come
back pretty quickly: 'Bullshit!' The question is: are they right to
react this way? Does
this kind of instant reaction perhaps give a true indication of the
merit of
film theory? Have those who pursue academic theory constructed a giant
artifice
that simply isn’t sustainable?"
Beowulf vs Animation: "What is the point of an artform that aspires, through the application of highly advanced computer technology, to successfully duplicate the impact of the century-old technology of live-action film?" "This Never Happened to the Other Fellow:" Bond, Vesper, and Tracy: "...to actually throw out Bond’s history is a first, and creates a seismic shift in who we understand Bond to be, by changing the crucial romantic relationship in Bond’s life." Kael: "Kael’s writing still wins me over whenever I return to it. Perhaps it’s that Kael is the rare critic who retained such enthusiasm, rather than being washed out into fatigue by the sheer averageness of most of what they have to review. Kael might have been too eager find extremes of quality, but that did at least mean she was alert to the truly exceptional things that she did see." For more in depth pieces click here. Books The Animated Man: "The first
book-length result of Barrier’s years
of work
was Hollywood Cartoons: American
Animation In Its Golden Age, which
quickly staked a serious
claim as the definitive book on the subject. Yet in many ways The
Animated
Man is the superior book."
Other book reviews: Blockbuster, Silent Echoes, The Jaws Log, Final Cut, Hollywood Cartoons, Bond Films. Or see the full list. EssaysLife Reproduced in
Drawings - Realism in
Animation:"Writing
on animation largely bypassed the realism debate. This is despite the
intriguing
differences between the ways in which live-action and animated cinema
relate to
the real. Animation, after all, is cinema that belies the founding
assumption
of realist theory: it is not based upon photographic reproduction of
the real
world."
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Published You can read my essay
"False L.A.: Blade Runner & The Nightmare
City" in Will Brooker's anthology The Blade Runner Experience. For more
information about my contribution to this book, click
here. Shop
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