224 - the fall

okay, i think i have a favourite movie.
i love everything about it. good design, shots, story, humour, animation, etc.

trailer

214 - District 9

so the buzz around the studio is that distric 9 is doing well. Admittedly after my comments on invictus, i have to say that the 'apartheid' theme in this movie is well used. i hope we see more of this sort of film making coming out of south africa.

anyway, here's the flick that caught peter jackson's attention.

live in joburg

210 - gentlemen broncos

so anyway, i want to watch this movie.

209 - fantastic

so here's the trailer for fantastic mr. fox.
what do you think?
honestly i was really looking forward to this and now after watching the trailer i'm put off immensely. i can understand wes anderson being faithful to his cast and no offense to americans but this is a story set in england with english animals and english country culture except it's american accents and american humour and frankly the trailer comes off as an all american summer comedy for the whole family. i'll have to watch the movie as sometimes the trailer is deceiving but i have a hunch that wind in the willows and the wallis and gromit films will out shine this by far.

095 - Jean-Dominique Bauby

Bushi and I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly last night. I think we were both stumped as to what to think of it. It wasn't bad and it wasn't that uplifting either. The cinematography was amazing and the first half of the film (as you'll see in the above clip) is shot from his perspective and it does make you feel frustrated by the confinement. There were some good parts, in particular was the dialogue with his father who is losing his memory and a few bits of genuine humour that did break up the heaviness of the subject. All in all it was more of an actual portrait of his life and the inspiration that you gain from his life is something you either get or don't get but I'd say it isn’t presented with a spoon full of sugar. Fantastically asthetically pleasing but not one for the whole family.

026 - the only comic movie

*click the pic for the link*

019 - Waltz with Bashir

Here's an interesting kind of film, the animation isn't really that impressive as far as the acting and motion. Although that may be my bias towards what is good animation but the treatment is well crafted. I haven't watched the whole film but by the trailer it sounds like a good storyline.

It' about a guy (Ari Folman) who keeps on having a reoccurring dream about being chased by twenty-six dogs. He relates this to a friend who suggests that it may have to do with his duty during the first Lebanon war in the eighties. He decides to explore this but finds that he can hardly remember what happened during that time. So he goes around finding the people he used to serve with and find out what happened in his life surrounding those circumstances.

013 - James- Dean

Now I know that some people do go on and on about James Dean but truth is there is a reason for the fuss. He was an intelligent actor. He approached scenes in a way that seems so obvious but somehow escapes the minds of actors when they play out the scene. It’s easy to know what to do and then do it (fair enough, many scenes can be well acted out this way) but to take what your instructed to do and act it out as though you have no idea of the out come or what follows second after second is a step of ingenious.
In this particular clip Jamie boy hits the nail on the head. The way he says, “I don’t want any trouble”, and his honest approach to the knife being thrown in his direction. He acts as if he has no idea what to do. He knows its ‘bad’ (probably due to popular culture that he’s exposed to) yet he contends with it, picking it up, moving it along the edge. Still not sure if he should actually use it for what it’s intended for in this situation. He’s obviously nervous but still puts up his fists in a very clear act of trying not to show he’s a wimp even though he’s extremely anxious. He also shows more of this when he puts up this hands on the wall and exposes his chest as if he’s trying to show he’s not worried but fidgets too much that it holds no weight to the pursuer. He then crosses his arms and slumps over showing such an internal struggle painted all over his body language. Even though I’ve see more intense fight scenes, this one still gets me nervous for him. He brings out just the kind of response someone of his generation and upbringing would do.



As animators or even illustrators we should be approaching this in the same way. There’s far too many over acted animations out there. Now I’m not talking about Looney Toons or Ren and Stimpy kind of over acting (that kind of exaggeration complements the style and scope of those characters). I’m talking about that unnecessary over acting that looks almost like it was a rotoscope of some bad acting silent film actor. As if the animator found it necessary to preach the emotions of the character because he/she firmly believes that the audience is stupid. Although this is terrible, what’s even worst is seeing animation that is so to the point that it looks like the animator just drew it one time and thought “that’ll do”. That’s like asking the Runner or Grip to go on set and just, “Walk over there, and then sit there, ok, now pick up the knife and wave it around like you just don’t care.” Every animation, every still picture has to be approached in a way that complements its subject according to it's essence. A character that is crafted by a hand that cares and looks after its character causes the viewer to stop and see the character for what it projects. If you value your character and be honest with it, people will show an interest in it. Good produce doesn’t come from farmers that look 3ooyrs old for nothing.

09 - Madame Tutli-Putli

This is a fantastic short film called Madame Tutli-Putli. Directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. It was released a year ago (May 2007) and took five years to make. The filmmakers researched the film by traveling on 'The Canadian', living on the train for two weeks, collecting stories, getting the feel of it, and how people live on a train.
The camera movements are fantastic, it almost feels like actual live footage at times. The most haunting for me is her eyes, and there's a fascinating technique. Portrait artist Jason Walker composited human eyes to the stop motion puppets. How did he do it? Here's an article where Walker explains his process:

They say that stop motion is slowly dieing away or will become obsolete but this film's makers seem to have pushed stop-motion to another level. I think the medium is far from extinct, even Corpse Bride has stood out proudly. There is still more to refine and more boundaries to break.