Saturday, 30 November 2013
RIP Paul Walker, 1973 - 2013
I doubt anyone would try and argue, even now, that Walker was one of the great actors or noteworthy movie-stars of his day. He was always one of those performers who seemed to have come up in the wrong era, and would've worked continuously in the 50s or early-70s when essentially looking like a walking Ken Doll and affecting unironic sincerity garaunteed you steady leading-man work (see: Alan Ladd.) By all accounts he was one of the good guys, and the FAST movies were among those that (eventually) knew exactly how to put him to good use - it's very possible that Vin Diesel's "exotic" pan-racial ubermensch character wouldn't have "popped" so notably in that franchise without Walker onhand as the "regular guy."
But he had an active career beyond that series, one that yielded as couple of bona-fide (if little-seen) classics that suggest he would've had a strong career heading into middle age as a character actor "handsome mature badass" type;" the unquestioned masterpiece of which was 2006's mind-bending pitch-black crime thriller RUNNING SCARED:
I'm also very partial to "EIGHT BELOW," where he played the main human component in what's effectively a wilderness-survival movie primarily starrting a group of dogs trapped alone at the South Pole.
He also had HOURS due out for mid-December, which if nothing else features a particularly novel twist on the "ticking clock" in the form of a baby hooked up to a life-support device that needs to be manually re-charged once every three minutes:
He was also active advocate for the preservation of endangered shark species, and operated the humanitarian aid group Reach Out World Wide.
Friday, 29 November 2013
Escape to The Movies: FROZEN
Spoiler-free review HERE (and embedded below.)
And here's where we start spilling ink on all those BIG SPOILERS:
WRITTEN REVIEW: Skull Forest
Thursday, 28 November 2013
All Three AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Villains (Possibly) Revealed...
I'm putting the actual image (which if fake is a pretty good fake scooped from Twitter by ComicBookMovie) after the jump, because one of the three is still not "officially" announced even if it's the least surprising thing possible. Suffice it to say, sanding The Rhino and Electro - two of the most interestingly-designed iconic Spider-Man villains, easily - down to "Man In Hoodie" and "Boring Robot" is kind of an accomplishment in and of itself. "Different" is one thing - this is just boring.
Hit the jump for the "spoiler"...
Part of why I'm disinclined to think of this as a fake is the work that'd have to go into it: Make the fake image, print it out onto parchment-style poster and hang it in a plausible location.
In this case, the wallpaper screams "hotel conference room," which would suggest this was probably snapped at a merchandising meetup - i.e. "here's what you'll be putting onto lunchboxes and party-plates." Therefore, it's possible for this to be a "real" poster but not a final poster. I imagine it's pretty close, though.
The less said about Electro the better, at this point. I know that Rhino is here being drawn from Ultimate Marvel's R.H.I.N.O. concept... and I don't like it here, either. It really is amazing that the entire "Ultimate" experiment didn't yield a single not-shit new idea outside of the Samuel L. Jackson gag. Speaking of which, it looks like you can see a closer shot of Green Goblin's face on the billboard/screen in the upper right-hand corner - the gossip on this one is that A.) it's actually Harry Osborn who becomes the Goblin this time, and B.) this will be "Ultimate" Green Goblin - who's basically a less-interesting version of The Abomination.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
PODCAST 75: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls & Mudhoney [Russ Meyer Edition]
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
86th Academy Awards Live Action Shorts Shortlist
The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in Los Angeles. Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December.
Only one really calls my attention for the images, Helium but know story will be hard to see; perhaps worth watching are the shorts from Canada and UK.
The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Shorts in alphabetical order.
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me), Esteban Crespo, Spain,23 minutes
The short film tells the story of Paula y Kaney, two characters -an African child and a Spanish woman- who don´t have anything in common, but who will unite their lives due to a gunshot. Kaney is a child soldier from an African country. Along with many other children, he obeys a man´s order that has become a father, the General of the Rebel Army. Paula (Alejandra Lorente) is a Spanish volunteer worker who goes to Africa with his boyfriend, Juanjo (Gustavo Salmerón) with the goal of helping and rescuing the child soldier who live there. At a border post Paula and Kaney meet for the first time and that is the starting point of this dramatic story, in a fear, violence, terror and redemption scenario.
TRAILER Aquel no era yo from quieneslala on Vimeo.
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything), Xavier Legrand, France, 29 minutes
Grand Prix winner at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
A young boy pretends going to school and hides under a small bridge. A teenager in tears waits at a bus stop. A woman picks them up and drives them to the parking lot of a supermarket. They step out of the car. The woman takes a big trash bag out of the trunk. All three rush inside the store...
Making of
Tournage AQDTP from bertrand PICAULT on Vimeo.
Dva (Two), Mikey Nedimovic, Croatia and Germany, 26 minutes
Croatia, 1993. Two marksmen - Robert, a Croat, and Stojan, a Serb - wander aimlessly through the desolate countryside. When their paths unexpectedly cross, the enemies immediately try to shoot each other. The first 'click', however, is not coming from a gun barrel, but from the ground beneath them: the enemies stepped on a landmine at the same time. One foot in the grave, they are involuntarily bound together by common destiny - the death of one means the death of the other. But not just their apparent differences make it difficult for them to overcome their dilemma. Nature, too, offers some challenges to test the soldiers' solidarity and survival skills.
Helium, Anders Walter, Denmark, 23 minutes
"Helium" is the story of the young boy Alfred who is seriously ill in the hospital. He becomes good friends with the eccentric cleaning man Enzo and together they develop a magical fantasy world named Helium.
Kush, Shubhashish Bhutiani, India, 20 minutes
Winner of Best Short Film at 2013 Venice Film Festival Horizons Award.
Inspired by a true story: In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, causing anti-Sikh riots to erupt throughout the country. A teacher travelling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?), Selma Vilhunen, Finland, 7 minutes
A comedy about a chaotic morning in a family with kids, and a mother who is determined that it’s best to take care of everything herself.
Record/Play, Jesse Atlas, USA, 11 minutes
A malfunctioning cassette tape captures more than just audio.
Teaser
RECORD/PLAY: TEASER from jesse atlas on Vimeo.
RECORD/PLAY from jesse atlas on Vimeo.
Throat Song, Miranda de Pencier, Canada, 15 minutes
Throat Song takes place in the small Arctic town of Iqaluit, Nunavut. In the snowy and mystic landscape of the Arctic, Ippik, a young Inuit woman, is caught up in an abusive relationship with her alcoholic husband. When Ippik gets a job with the Department of Justice, prepping victims of crimes for court, she connects with others in her community who are also suffering from pains of abuse. In hearing their stories, Ippik finds the strength to leave her husband and discovers that her voice is not yet entirely diminished.
Tiger Boy, Gabriele Mainetti, Italy, 20 minutes
2013 Nastro d'argento Best Short Film winner.
Matteo, a nine years old kid, builds a mask identical to the one of his hero: a wrestler of a roman suburb called The Tiger. Once the mask is on, Matteo never wants to take it off. What simply appears as a tantrum is in reality a call for help that nobody seems to hear.
The Voorman Problem, Mark Gill, UK, 13 minutes
Doctor Williams is called in to examine the enigmatic Mr Voorman, a prisoner with a peculiar affliction: he believes he is a god. The Doctor must decide on the sanity of Mr Voorman - is he a faker or a lunatic? Diagnose him insane and they can ship him off to the asylum. But before making a decision, the Doctor has several questions in relation to Voorman's claims: why would a god choose to be straitjacketed in a prison, is there a way he can validate his boast and what has any of this got to do with Belgium?
SON OF GOD Trailer Will Make Your Morning
Monday, 25 November 2013
INTERMISSION
Between the upcoming holiday, pressing family matters, and the usual pre-holiday work crush, it looks like blogging will be light this week. You can always head over to Aleteia to see what I thought of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and I’ll try to keep the cartoon schedule intact, but otherwise, you’ll mercifully be spared my ramblings for a few days. I hope everybody has a happy Thanksgiving and a great start to Advent. See you in a bit.
That Was Unexpected
So... yeah. Prevailing theory seems to be that this is a long-ball gag to pay off next new episode or maybe some sort of lead-in to the rumored Family Guy feature film.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
More November Expirations (2013)
Also of note: two '70s classics�Carrie and Saturday Night Fever�both of which have been mentioned here before and both featuring John Travolta�along with the tense, borderline exploitative Larry Clark thriller, Bully, which is based on a true story and, despite its tossed-off, documentary feel and casual, underage violence and sexuality, sneaks up on you by building some genuine, nail-biting tension by the time it's over.
That's all for now. Other titles worth a look can be found on the Expiring Soon list. Here's wishing you a happy, movie-filled Thanksgiving!
Read more �
Friday, 22 November 2013
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
UK ROBOCOP Trailer Is Slightly Better...
Catching Up
SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD - REVIEWED for The Escapist (yeah, I'm doing this now)
AGENTS OF SHIELD: "THE WELL" - RECAPPED.
MARVEL'S NETFLIX SHOWS - Um... Talked About For Pageviews!!!
"CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS" - On The Game OverThinker!
PODCAST 74: Shriek & Brutal Massacre [Comedy Edition]
Sunday, 17 November 2013
November Comings and Goings (2013)
What else would you call 8 1/2, The Bicycle Thief, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? All of these, surprisingly, expired on 11/15 (note: The Bicycle Thief has since returned). Meanwhile, on 11/20 we'll lose a number of former Netflix mainstays, including the intriguing, Memento-like romantic drama, Novo (2002), starring a very easy-on-the-eyes cast headed by Eduardo Noriega and Anna Mouglalis; Russian Dolls (2005), Cedric Klapisch's sequel to his young-bohemians-in-Barcelona ensemble comedy, L'Auberge Espagnole; Jean-Claude Brisseau's controversial, sexually explicit Exterminating Angels (2006); and a personal favorite, Sex Is Comedy.
Sex Is Comedy (2002)
A kind of hothouse, female version of Truffaut's Day for Night, Sex Is Comedy is Catherine Breillat's witty look behind the scenes of a sexually charged coming-of-age film not unlike her own Fat Girl. Getting to the heart of the dynamic between a director (Anne Parrilaud) and her emotionally needy actors, the film displays in hand-wringing detail the games and manipulations that become basic currency in the negotiations surrounding a movie sex scene. The performances are excellent and subtle all around (especially Parrilaud's channeling of Breillat herself), the humor is smart and sly, and the emotional resonance by film's end comes as a welcome surprise. This is one of the few Breillat films that feels less like an exercise or political statement and more an honest-to-goodness movie, with an actual beating heart. Yet it still gets across its message, in some ways making it the lighthearted antithesis of Brisseau's above-mentioned Exterminating Angels, a semi-autobiographical fantasia that follows a similar, more explicit�and potentially more inflammatory�path. Come to think of it, these two films would make an excellent double feature. But be warned: Angels can be pretentious and a bit baffling in that French arthouse way, and the line between sexual exploitation and commenting on said exploitation has never been dicier. Prepare to squirm.Read more �
Saturday, 16 November 2013
NOW SHOWING AT A BLOG NEAR YOU
I felt like I needed a break from all the planet shattering destruction to be found at the local cineplexes (at least for a day or two), so I decided to take in Giacomo Campiotti’s Mary of Nazareth for Aleteia this week. It’s probably not going to make the list of ten best biblical epics of all time, but it’s a decent movie with a few nice touches. Marya Jauregui from Catholic Mom has pretty much the same impression of The Christmas Candle, the first movie produced by former Senator Rick Santorum.
Now if you’ve just got to have a religious epic, though, then you’re probably going to have to wait for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, coming out in March 2014. Peter Chattaway has an exhaustive frame-by-frame breakdown of the first trailer over at Film Chat.
As for non-biblical epics, you might remember that a few weeks ago I reviewed Ender’s Game, the adaptation of Orson Scott Crad’s classic sci-fi novel. Well, some other folks have finally gotten around to seeing it, and as I expected, those who were really big fans of the book were a little disappointed in some of the things left out of the movie. If you want to know just how much didn’t make the transition, then look no further than Jimmy Akin’s review for all the disappointing details. Jordan J. Ballor over at the Acton Institute, however, still managed to find some good moral lessons in what was still left in there.
Speaking of recent releases people are still talking about, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is still impressing people, as this piece by Daniel McInerny illustrates.
But enough of all that serious stuff, let’s have some fun. Otaku Catholic recently watched the anime series, The Devil Is a Part-Timer, in which an extra-dimensional Satan gets trapped in our world and decides to get a job at McDonald’s. Meanwhile, in other comic related news, Matt Archbold has a post up about Catholic with capes, those super-heroes with strong ties to Rome. And if those guys aren’t Catholic enough for you, there’s always Father Dangerous: Bionic Priest whose first trailer is up and running at YouTube (h/t Mark Shea).
Finally, if you haven’t had enough goofiness, Donald R. McClarey takes a little time at The American Catholic to discuss Shakespeare in its original Klingon.
And with that, we’ll leave you until next time. See you then.
FXX To Essentially Become THE SIMPSONS NETWORK (Plus Other Stuff) In 2014
And just like that, the basic cable landscape just got shook the fuck up.
Okay, briefly: A few months back, the magic-number of years and money passed for 20th Century Fox to put THE SIMPSONS up for cable syndication deals. This previously wasn't possible, because the syndication deals for the series were struck long enough ago that it was still not uncommon for network syndication contracts to include agreements that kept the series off of cable competitors. Hence why you haven't seen, say, TBS, TNT or USA using this show to fill rerun-blocs like they do with LAW & ORDER, HOUSE, FAMILY GUY, NCIS, etc.
But now that's over, and FXX has won the very competitive bidding war and can now run all 530 episodes from THE SIMPSON's first 24 season (subsequent seasons will become available as they conclude on Fox) whenever and however they wish on the channel. Even if you're in the "it hasn't been good since Season 10!" camp, even just that would a crop of well over 200 episodes to work with. And they have precisely zero incentive to not run this massive backlog of content from one of the most recognized and popular multimedia properties of all time as often as they possibly can.
The "dirty" secret of minor cable nets like FX/FXX (or USA, TNT, TBS, etc) is that they pull serious ad revenue by booking blocs of familiar "comfort food" TV reruns (either one show or similar shows, see: USA's daily LAW & ORDER: SVU marathons) largely on the calculation that people who keep their sets on all the time just for background chatter will just leave that channel running as they go about their home-stuff. THE SIMPSONS - whatever you may think of it now or previously - could not be more perfect for this: It's colorful, it's immediately recognizable, it's family-friendly and thus can be on at any time of day, etc. Hell, add in the obvious 90s Nostalgia factor and it's also the most ideal possible fit for the college/stoner/work-from-home "overnight programming" time-slots... which is why if you've got money tied up in Comedy Central or Adult_Swim, you are not about to have a happy morning.
The "special" programming possibilities are staggering, from ratings/ad-rev perspective. Consider: On Halloween, FXX could run all 23 "Treehouse Of Horrors" specials as a day-long marathon - I could see people building Halloween parties around that. Every Sideshow Bob story? Do-able. Smithers-centric marathon on Secretaries Day? A Moe Marathon? Holiday episodes? Hell, you don't think legions of devoted SIMPSONS fans wouldn't make lucrative "live tweet this" events out of, say, Bumblebee Man Night? Any half-decent programmer should be salivating at how easy this would make their jobs.
The deal also gives FX's On-Demand arm, FXNow, exclusive streaming rights to every episode - which, yes, likely means you'll be able to watch any of the 530 whenever you want on TV, mobile, PC, whatever.
My only immediate question is what (if anything) they plan to do about the significantly large number of episodes that were produced pre-HD. That handily includes all of the "Classic Seasons" and a good deal of the Silver Age, and its apparently why some network syndicators have dialed back on re-airing those because they worry people will be turned-off by non-HD visuals. Will they do an optimizing-pass on the classic seasons to make them HD-ready?
Friday, 15 November 2013
Heaving Is For ReEEaauggGgGGhhLlll...!!!
Oh, and not that you should read ANYTHING into this minor detail, but Coulton's dad Todd is a pastor (shocker!) who transcribed the kid's "account" into a bestselling book, which (amazingly!) the Burpo Family has been able to expand into a hugely successful ministry movement; because apparently American "pop-Christianity" wasn't embarrassing enough without stadiums full of clueless twits literally swaying in thrall to a not-even-Biblically-Correct spew of pablum from an oxygen-deprived 3 year-old.
And now it's a movie, starring Greg Kinnear (why?) as Todd. Interestingly, the trailer (maybe also the movie?) seems to leave out the detail of this guy already having been on Heaven's marketing team - which is kind of a weird detail to leave out of something like this...
I like how the trailer, while downplaying the proselytizing aspect (presumably the film will take a "true or not, isn't it INSPIRING!!!???" track since it's aiming to be a mainstream sort of thing) none the less manages to cram us much Christian Movie stock-iconography into the frame as well: Heartland sunsets? Firefighters? Soldier funerals? All that's missing is Kirk Cameron and a 1-800 number.
Yesterday on Twitter I got into a bit of a "thing" with the Reddit Atheism crowd, suggesting that they might want to ease up on their typical behavior (and maybe while they're at it those obnoxious "nyah nyah!" holiday-themed billboards) when it comes to Aronofsky's NOAH movie. Well, regardless of how I feel about Internet Atheists... even the douchey-ist of douches can have a purpose, and stuff like this is theirs. Have at it, fellas.
Escape to The Movies: MAN OF TAI CHI
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
MALIFICENT Teaser
Someone is going to have to explain to me how an infodump of background-detail actually helps this particular character beyond getting her Disney Store merch to move a bit faster. The idea of giving Disney bad guys franchises of their own to go be entertainingly evil in - PG-rated versions of slasher/monster "villain as main character" series, basically - is a good one... but Malificent's whole appeal in this pantheon is that she's really the only straight-out Satanic "evil for evil's sake" major heavy Disney ever bothered to generate.
Seriously. Even Scar, Ursula and Jaffar at least have political "seize the throne" power as goals. Cruella DeVille had vanity. The Wicked Queen had both. Captain Hook wants revenge. Malificent is their "pure evil" baddie - there's no motivation for what she does in the story beyond what's played as feigned-outrage over a minor sleight, and she never seems to have a bigger goal beyond "feels good to be bad." That black-pit lack of depth and nuance is entirely where the interest lies.
PODCAST 73: Pumpkinhead 2 & Maniac
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Honest Trailers does MAN OF STEEL
Apparently, yes we did:
Saturday, 9 November 2013
CUTAWAYS: GHOSTBUSTERS
One of the more noticeable things in Thor: The Dark World (which I just so happened to review for Aleteia this week, plug, plug) is how the filmmakers go out of their way to explain that the Asgardians are not gods, but rather just really, really powerful and long-lived aliens instead. I don’t know, maybe they had an aneurysm or something, because it seems like somebody on the screenwriting staff completely forgot about this scene from Ghostbusters…
So, yes, if somebody asks you if you’re a god, you say yes! Besides, the Catechism says it’s okay to do just that, doesn’t it? You know, right there in paragraph 460 where it quotes 2 Peter 1:4, as well as the writings of St. Irenaeus and St. Athanasius…
The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."
See, we’re gods. Gods I tell you! Or maybe not.
What Peter and the other saints are talking about here is the concept of Divine Filiation, aka Divine Sonship. As Fr. Joseph Ponessa, S.S.D., co-author of the “Come and See” Catholic Bible Study Series, explains it, “While St. Athanasius’s quote might be easily misunderstood, the previous line in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism), from St. Irenaeus, provides the appropriate context… To be the Son of God and to be a son of God are therefore two very different things: Christ is Son by nature (the “only Son” in John 3:16), while we are sons by grace (“sons in the Son” according to Gaudium et Spes, 22). Further, since man is a creature and there is only one God, man can never be God in the proper sense. Within the context of this paragraph, we see that St. Athanasius’s statement means something other than a man becoming the one God.”
So, what does it mean exactly? Well, basically, it all has to do with God making Himself accessible to us. As Fr. Ponessa puts it, “When God created Adam and Eve, He desired them to participate in His divine nature—to be able to love Him in an intimate way that exceeded the normal ability of human nature. So in addition to their human nature, God bestowed on Adam and Eve the supernatural gift of grace of original holiness (Catechism, no. 375). He thereby invited Adam and Eve to love Him as He loves Himself—that is, in a divine way. However, when they sinned, Adam and Eve forfeited this ability to love God supernaturally. Christ became flesh in order to restore our union with God. In Baptism, we are united to Christ (cf. Gal. 3:27)—sharing in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection (cf. Rom. 6:3-4)—and so become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). Because there is only one divine nature and this nature is God, we are said to “become” God.”
So, no, we don’t become all powerful gods, or even really powerful Asgardian type gods for that matter. But what we do get when we “become God” is the chance to spend an eternity basking in the light of the one true God’s love. That’s a pretty good deal.
Friday, 8 November 2013
Is This GRIMLOCK?
I'll say this much: You have to be pretty bad at... well, everything if you can fuck up as simple a concept as Robot Dinosaur (car-robots are actually quite easy to fuck-up: just look at the Go-Bots) ...and it doesn't look like they fucked this up. I mean, I'm sure his robot mode looks just as bad as all the other live-action Transformers, but this looks about like it should look.
Assuming that this isn't just crappy merch-art that couldn't be assed to keep to scale, by far the most interesting thing about this is that Grimlock appears to be about 2 1/2 to 3 times larger than a real T-Rex, which Prime (going by the previous films) would be either at eye-level with or a bit taller when it's hunched-over like that. All the Autobots are supposed to be getting major design-overhauls for this one, which is supposed to be a break from the story and human characters from the first three (no one has seen a good image yet, but the chatter has been more solid-looking bots with fewer moving-bits and exposed parts and they've said Prime is blue now) but Prime was confirmed to still be a truck and even if not it's hard to believe they'd be shrinking him down to near human size. The simpler answer is likely that Michael Bay is exactly the filmmaker who would look at dinosaurs and say "No, no - we need to make them BIGGER!"
Against my better judgement, I'm holding out a certain amount of hope for this one. I really do regret the immature cheap shots I took at Bay (absolutely as a person and, to a lesser extent, as a filmmaker) back when Escape to The Movies was still finding it's voice; and "PAIN & GAIN" was a potent reminder that whatever you think of his aesthetic predilections he really is something when he wants to be. The previous three Transformers movies all failed at least in part because of the tug of war between the Amblin-wannabe Sam story he was stuck with and the stuff that actually seemed to interest him - maybe (maybe!) now that that's over with (Mark Whalberg is the new human lead) this will finally "work," even if it still won't likely be the Transformers movie some are still hoping for.
86th Academy Awards Animated Shorts Shortlist
After watching all available materials my first impression is that Feral and Mr. Hublot are the ones that absolutely call my attention for the story and the execution.
The following are the shortlisted films.
Feral, Daniel Sousa, director, and Dan Golden, music and sound design (Daniel Sousa), USA, 13 minutes
A wild boy is found in the woods by a solitary hunter and brought back to civilization. Alienated by a strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest.
Get a Horse!, Lauren MacMullan, director, and Dorothy McKim, producer (Walt Disney Feature Animation), USA, 6 minutes
Get a Horse! begins traditionally enough: Mickey and friends are enjoying a ride through the great outdoors when they are waylaid by antagonist Peg-Leg Pete. Till this point, the picture mimics the look and feel of vintage, Steamboat Willie-era Disney: black and white, simple shapes, and a rubbery consistency to the limbs and movements of the characters. This portion of the short features hand-drawn animation supervised by veteran Eric Goldberg, who designed the Genie in 1992's Aladdin, and the picture is intentionally degraded with artifacts and filters to give it a vibe of authentically aged film stock. Completing the illusion is Walt Disney himself as the voice of Mickey Mouse, a feat accomplished by piecing together audio recordings from studio archives. Shortly after Pete arrives on the scene, the fourth wall is broken, and things really get interesting. As Mickey and his cohorts jump off the screen, out of their black-and-white world, they dive into a widescreen universe of color where they become fully realized as CG-animated characters. A series of chase scenes finds them quickly alternating between the two realities, with the hand-drawn and CG elements deftly mixing in a surprisingly seamless way.
Gloria Victoria, Theodore Ushev, director (National Film Board of Canada), Canada, 7 minutes
Recycling elements of surrealism and cubism, this animated short by Theodore Ushev focuses on the relationship between art and war. Propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7), the film presents imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to Star Wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.
Hollow Land (Terre d'écueil), Uri Kranot and Michelle Kranot, directors (Dansk Tegnefilm, Les Films de l’Arlequin and the National Film Board of Canada), Denmark, Canada and France, 14 minutes
With their old bathtub in tow, a displaced couple arrives in a new land, where all is not as they expected it to be. Awaiting the birth of their first child, and in their effort to adjust to an oddly oppressive environment, they are challenged by cultural/gender roles and customs. “Hollow Land” is a brilliant animated film that captures the disruptions, and corrosive anxieties that are part of daily life for so many immigrants, refugees and misfits around the world. Asburd, dark and awkardly playful; it is an insightful story about humans.
Watch full short here.
The Missing Scarf, Eoin Duffy, director, and Jamie Hogan, producer (Belly Creative Inc.), Ireland, 7 minutes
On a quest to find his missing scarf, Albert the squirrel unearths problems far beyond his own.
The Missing Scarf – Teaser from Eoin Duffy on Vimeo.
Mr. Hublot, Laurent Witz, director, and Alexandre Espigares, co-director (Zeilt Productions), Luxembourg and France, 11 minutes
Mr Hublot is a withdrawn, idiosyncratic character with OCD, scared of change and the outside world. Robot Pet's arrival turns his life upside down: he has to share his home with this very invasive companion...
「九十九」 Tsukumo (Possessions), Shuhei Morita, director (Sunrise Inc.), Japan, 14 minutes
One night in the 18th Century, deep in the mountains, a man loses his way and comes across a small shrine. As he enters, the space transforms into a room of a different world. (Short is part of Katsuhiro Otomo and Sunrise's anthology Short Peace at Annecy film Festival)
Requiem for Romance, Jonathan Ng, director (Kungfu Romance Productions Inc.), Canada, 8 minutes
A modern-day couple’s secret love affair comes to a bittersweet end during an evening phone call. Cell phone static creates distance between them as they anguish over details of their relationship. But the visuals of the film reveal something entirely different: the epic re-imagining of their relationship set in feudal China, where family influence, cultural pressures and their lust for adventure makes more sense. Coming this spring, love goes to war over art.
Room on the Broom, Max Lang and Jan Lachauer, directors (Magic Light Pictures), UK, 25 minutes
To the annoyance of her cat a kindly witch allows a dog,a bird and a frog who have helped her retrieve things she has lost to ride on her broomstick,making it top heavy. The broom is destroyed by a fire-breathing dragon who threatens to eat the witch but the creatures band together to impersonate a monster and save her. As a result she fashions a luxurious new broom with seats on which they can all ride comfortably.
Watch full short here.
Subconscious Password, Chris Landreth, director (National Film Board of Canada with the participation of Seneca College Animation Arts Centre and Copperheart Entertainment), Canada, 11 minutes
In this short animation, Oscar®-winning director Chris Landreth uses a common social gaffe - forgetting somebody’s name - as the starting point for a mind-bending romp through the unconscious. Inspired by the classic TV game show Password, the film features a wealth of animated celebrity guests who try (and try, and try) to prompt Charles to remember the name. Finally, he realizes he will simply have to surrender himself to his predicament.
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Here's The American MISS UNIVERSE Contestant Dressed As OPTIMUS PRIME
Well, pictured at your right: Miss USA Erin Brady in her national costume interpretation of... Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots faction of The Transformers. Which were, of course, were Japanese toys - but that's really the least silly thing about this, isn't it?
The pageant itself will be held on Saturday, so there's presumably some time for them to possibly get her into something else... but I kind of hope they don't. This is us, America. Might as well just wear it.
WRITTEN REVIEW: 7th Day
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Here's Another ROBOCOP Trailer
At least we've now got some kind of new-ish story to work with: In this version, OCP makes it's money selling drones to every country but the United States; which apparently has either a law or at least a big cultural apprehension toward the use of robotic security within its borders ("Robophobia" waka waka waka fuck you.) and Robocop is a way around that: Ostensibly an augmented-human with bonus "second lease on life for a cripple" sob-story that's actually little more than a corpse being remote-controlled by OCP and tricked into thinking it's making its own decisions. But then he remembers to be human in time to get in elaborate (and PG-13 friendly!) CGI battles with other robots - i.e. exactly the sort of stuff the original movie devoted two entire sequences to making fun of.
Amusingly, the idea that near-future America is still considered a really important consumer market to "crack" immediately makes this a more optimistic movie than Verhoeven's film. This will be out next year, so everybody remember to get just as psyched as you did for "The Thing" and "Total Recall," both of which I'm sure we all have on fondly-displayed Blu-Ray and watch at minimum once or twice a week.
MARVEL'S DEFENDERS To Netflix
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
PODCAST 72: The Descent & Doomsday [Marshall Madness]
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
THE B-MOVIE CATECHISM: THE B-LIST: QUESTIONABLE MUSICAL MOMENTS #15 – DONNIE & MARIE: MONSTER MASH
Okay, so this clip isn’t actually from a movie, but it has Michael Landon reprising his role as the Teenage Werewolf (and singing while doing it, no less) and Don Knotts & Billy Barty belting out a rendition of the Monster Mash, so frankly, who cares where it came from? Plus, on top of all that, there’s a couple of Mormons running around dressed up as vampires. No, no, not Bella and Edward, I wouldn’t be so cruel as to do that to you. I’m talking about those other two Mormon vampires…
I’ll admit, Twilight notwithstanding, vampires and werewolves aren’t normally the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Mormons. Usually the first image that pops into someone’s head is probably that of well-dressed men riding around on bicycles and knocking on your door way too early in the morning. Alright, so there’s also polygamy and magic underwear, but to be fair, the former has been officially discontinued by the LDS and the latter is just a snarky term for one of their religious customs. For my part, I won’t cast any stones at their Mormon long-johns as long as they lay off my Catholic “magic amulets” (yes, I know and you know they’re not magic, but that’s what some people who don’t understand sacramentals call them anyway). I say, let the LDS wear whatever they want to wear.
When it comes to doctrines of faith though, well, there I suppose I’m going to have to give the Mormons a bit of a tough time simply because the differences are just too great. True, it doesn’t always seem that way on the surface, but once you dig around a bit, it becomes more obvious. For instance, back in 1994, a gathering of well known Christian theologians released a document entitled Evangelicals and Catholics Together which was basically an ecumenical attempt to reach a minimum level of agreement on the basics of the Christian faith. After a lot of thoughtful debate (and the requisite amount of yelling at each other), they finally settled on the Apostles’ Creed (the one we say with the rosary) as the minimum standard for an agreed upon Christian doctrine. Oh sure, they haggled over stuff like whether or not the Creed meant “catholic church” or “Catholic Church” (those capital letters can make a big difference), but in the end they all accepted the wording.
Now the LDS weren’t a part of ECT, but some of their holy writings would seem to indicate they wouldn’t have been able to accept the group’s conclusions even if they had been. After all, according to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, when he asked God which church he should join, he writes, “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith – History 1:19).” But apparently things have softened up a bit out in Salt Lake City these days, because most modern Mormons appear to have little trouble with the Apostle’s Creed. In a response to a fan’s question regarding the subject, Donnie Osmond claims that “If we were to insert The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in place of ‘The Holy Catholic Church’, it would define our beliefs about God and Christ very well.”
That sounds pretty good, until you get into specifics. The trouble starts almost immediately with the first words of the Creed, “I believe in God the Father…” Obviously the Mormons believe in God, that’s not the problem, but they do have an entirely different concept of who and what God is than does traditional Christianity. The LDS believe, for example, that “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s… (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22)”, a belief that stands in stark contrast to the orthodox teaching that God is pure spirit. So, everybody can say the first line of the Creed together, but they don’t really mean the same thing as they’re saying it.
But so what, right? What does it matter as long as Mormons are good people? I mean, Donnie & Marie may have been guilty of putting on a silly variety show, but offstage they seem like decent folks, so why worry about their beliefs? Well, because the kinds of differences we’re talking about actually get to the heart of the purpose of religion. You see, religion isn’t just about making good people. Any good course on ethics, even perhaps an atheist one, can manage that. Religion is about responding to God’s call “to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength” so that we may eventually “share in his own blessed life.” That would seem to indicate that a false knowledge of God might just have some pretty big consequences.
For instance, the Mormon belief that God has a physical body implies that something, somewhere, at some point in time, must have created God. If that’s true, why bother worshipping God? Why not worship the even more omnipotent thing that made him instead? Worse yet, if that larger thing is unknowable (the Mormon’s certainly haven’t said what it might be), then why bother worshipping anything at all? See, bad knowledge can lead to bad results. Now contrast that idea with the traditional understanding of God whom the Catechism describes as “the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.” Now that’s a God worthy of worship.
So let the Mormons keep their itchy underwear and their non-threatening vampires, those things are no big deal. Some of the other stuff, though, I’m afraid we’re just gonna have to keep butting heads over. The stakes (sorry, vampires, no pun intended)are a bit too high.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
PODCAST SPECIAL: A Conversation About Horror with the "Erie Listener"
Tyler Perry Has Made a Christmas Movie With Larry The Cable Guy
In all seriousness, though - this is sort of interesting in the way that some of Perry's projects are once you stop regarding them as films and start regarding them as "found art;" or some kind of anthropological discovery. Drafting Larry The Cable Guy into this (the story: Madea tags along with a friend to surprise-visit her daughter at Christmas, where they're surprised to find said daughter has a white boyfriend with wacky redneck relatives) sound ridiculous for approximately 30 seconds, then it makes perfect sense.
Also, this (teaming with Dan Whitney aka Larry) seems to be the first time I've seen Perry acknowledge or actively court the unexpected crossover-appeal his movies have had with some more conservative white/rural audiences that typically wouldn't have "black films" on their radar. And his presence will be (literal) Christmas Present to white hipster movie-geeks who're "ironic fans" of Tyler Perry movies but might sometimes worry that they might unwittingly slip from "clever urbanite snarking at bad movies" to "clueless white person who doesn't get some idiom of black culture OMG I'M TURNING INTO MY PARENTS AND I MOVED ALL THE WAY TO WILLIAMSBURG TO PREVENT THAT NOOOOOO!"
This will be out December 13th, with another round of "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!!??" reports on it's "unexpectedly" large boxoffice take from industry news sites who still haven't grasped that there are indeed large economically-significant audiences outside their immediate readership to follow on Monday the 16th.
Saturday, 2 November 2013
NOW SHOWING AT A BLOG NEAR YOU
Yes, I know we did a Now Showing recently, but every time Halloween rolls around the big shots in the blogosphere can’t seem to help dipping their toes in the murky waters we splash around in on a weekly basis, so there’s lots of fun stuff to be found out there.
First up, we have our review of Ender’s Game, the much anticipated, and much protested (to the disgust of John C. Wright), adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic sci-fi novel. Fans of the book will likely wince out how much has been left out of the story, but at least they can console themselves with the fact that the finished product doesn’t stink. But let’s face it, no matter how good the adaptation, the book will (almost) always be better. For instance, as much as I love Robert Wise’s 1963 movie The Haunting (and equally loathe the 1999 remake), nothing will ever top Shirley Jackson’s original novel The Haunting of Hill House, as Scott and Julie over at A Good Story Is Hard To Find will attest to.
Speaking of that proposed protest of Ender’s Game, early indications from the box office are that the movie will probably earn a few million more than originally projected, so it looks like all that fist raising on the Internet will have a minimal effect on its success. Regardless of how well Ender’s Game does, though, it still won’t come close to Gravity, the hands down runaway blockbuster of the season. As you might remember from our review of Gravity, we found the film visually stunning and emotionally immersive, but perhaps a bit light on philosophy. Others have not had that problem, however. Sr Helena at Hell Burns found the movie a bit more spiritual than I did, and CatholicSkywalker found it even more so. And then there’s Kathryn over at Aleteia, who dug really deep and managed to find in Gravity an allegory for botched abortions. So there you go.
Maybe people are just hungry for any hint of real spirituality in movies these days. And really, it’s hard to blame them. After all, it’s not like religion, especially Christianity, has gotten that fair a shake from Hollywood over the past few decades. As evidence, just take a look at Donald R. McClarey’s review of Dr. Peter Dans’ book Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners, which chronicles the portrayal of Christians and Christianity in films made between 1905-2008. I’ll give you a hint. Starting in the 60s, it ain’t a pretty picture.
Speaking of which, I can’t imagine an uglier spectacle than Spears The Musical: The Gospel According To Britney. That’s right, some intrepid playwright is proposing a mash-up of the gospels with the pop princess’ performances. As ridiculous as the idea sounds, I’m sure it will find an audience. Liturgical dancers everywhere are probably already salivating.
I suppose we’ll just have to try and laugh that one off. If you’d rather look at something intentionally funny, however, you can always head over to Sword of Peter, where Jeff has his latest cartoon up.
And with that, I’ll stop living off of other people’s posts for the moment and try to get to work on my own stuff. Until then, see you next time.