STRANGE SPANNERS being an accounting of strangeness of the warp and woof of my mind For those of you new here, think of this as 1/2 "Night Gallery" Our Motto: Nos somnium quisnam es futurus fatum quod insolitus tutus vos!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Epic
Well I admit I was not impressed when I saw the trailer for "Epic." First Thought: "They've gone and done a computer animated version of 'Ferngully,' fracking wondaIdon'giveableepful." Second Thought: "Are they trying to make comedy relief that is worse than Jar Jar Binks?" Third Thought: "I wish film makers would stop banking on parents wanting the kids out of the house for any excuse."
Now excuse me if I find myself a huge heaping of crow before me. I'll chow down on it discreetly as we talk I promise. See, I was wrong. Epic is actually a fairly decent film. It has some good characters, good chemistry, and a decent sense of relationships between the characters. It's not the best script ever but it's engaging. A young girl gets back to her estranged father who lives in a spooky house in the middle of the woods. They obviously love each other but his obsession with finding little people drives a wedge between them. Meanwhile, there are little people and they are fighting a war against the forces of rot. Their queen is about to pass on her power to the next generation and her guard, including the man who loves her, try their best to protect her. Ronin, her lover, is also finds himself responsible for a dead friend's son who's gifted but truly irresponsible. These two stories collide when the rot makes their big play to take over the woods. Now the girl is shrunk to little person size and the queen is dead. People have to work out their feelings on the run though as they try to keep the balance of the forest.
I like that this film does take the time to process the character's feelings over these events. A lot of film the death of a father or mother or wife is something of a maguffin. It's a reason to action but never a reason to feel. Here, you really do feel the loss of the queen among her subjects. Even the main bad guy feels the loss of his own son which powers him to even greater evil.
Oh, and the animation is pretty darn good. Just had to say that.
So ignore the snail and slug comedy relief and watch Epic. It's a pretty good film whether you are a child or not.
Now excuse me if I find myself a huge heaping of crow before me. I'll chow down on it discreetly as we talk I promise. See, I was wrong. Epic is actually a fairly decent film. It has some good characters, good chemistry, and a decent sense of relationships between the characters. It's not the best script ever but it's engaging. A young girl gets back to her estranged father who lives in a spooky house in the middle of the woods. They obviously love each other but his obsession with finding little people drives a wedge between them. Meanwhile, there are little people and they are fighting a war against the forces of rot. Their queen is about to pass on her power to the next generation and her guard, including the man who loves her, try their best to protect her. Ronin, her lover, is also finds himself responsible for a dead friend's son who's gifted but truly irresponsible. These two stories collide when the rot makes their big play to take over the woods. Now the girl is shrunk to little person size and the queen is dead. People have to work out their feelings on the run though as they try to keep the balance of the forest.
I like that this film does take the time to process the character's feelings over these events. A lot of film the death of a father or mother or wife is something of a maguffin. It's a reason to action but never a reason to feel. Here, you really do feel the loss of the queen among her subjects. Even the main bad guy feels the loss of his own son which powers him to even greater evil.
Oh, and the animation is pretty darn good. Just had to say that.
So ignore the snail and slug comedy relief and watch Epic. It's a pretty good film whether you are a child or not.
Things You Need To Know #440
High Concept Ltd., is a rather shadowy non profit group. It seeks nothing less than redirecting reality through meta philosophical means. That leads to such divisions as Thought Experiment Theater (TET). TET tries to actualize famous thought experiments repeatedly. They hope to provoke a reaction in the local space time but so far all they have done is run up a ten million dollar bill in cats for the box.
This was something you needed to know.
This was something you needed to know.
Monster of the day: Space Scorpions
Source: Pinocchio in Outer Space
Location: Mars
Threat Assessment: 7. Gigantic with claws and oddly enough jaws.
Limitation: Dumb.
Location: Mars
Threat Assessment: 7. Gigantic with claws and oddly enough jaws.
Limitation: Dumb.
Today's Secret Code:
I have a beetle in a box. Don't touch my box! Again: I have a beetle in a box. Don't touch my box! Today's Colour is metallic green. Today's Author is the toast of the metagenic scene. That is all Charlie X so don't think so hard, maho maho.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
World War Z
Some projects are nearly impossible to adapt. Dune comes to mind with its far ranging plotting and characters. World War Z is nowhere near as dense but it would I believe just as hard to adapt since it is a multiple protagonist view of world wide zombie plague.
I was proved right.
Instead of trying to tell separate stories with different characters they bring in Brad Pitt as the cypher to hold it all together. Trouble is that a cypher is a cypher, Brad woks with what he has but there's both too much and much there. On the one hand he has to be able to do everything the separate stories now combined demand of the main character, and on the other the cross of both being an everyman/superman just in the end doesn't work well.
Now there are some arresting visuals, and there are some suspense scenes. Certainly the money is on the screen. I, however, don't like that they are not only fast zombies but they practically have a hive mind going on. With an onset time of seconds there should be no humans left for all practical purposes within 24 hours. I still don't see how they could have spread via planes as is claimed when in just 30 seconds or less folks go totally zombie. But I suppose that's just picking the nits.
Anyway it's not bad and I'm sure it will elicit discussion only for the scene of mindless zombies attacking Israel. So it's worth a watch.
I was proved right.
Instead of trying to tell separate stories with different characters they bring in Brad Pitt as the cypher to hold it all together. Trouble is that a cypher is a cypher, Brad woks with what he has but there's both too much and much there. On the one hand he has to be able to do everything the separate stories now combined demand of the main character, and on the other the cross of both being an everyman/superman just in the end doesn't work well.
Now there are some arresting visuals, and there are some suspense scenes. Certainly the money is on the screen. I, however, don't like that they are not only fast zombies but they practically have a hive mind going on. With an onset time of seconds there should be no humans left for all practical purposes within 24 hours. I still don't see how they could have spread via planes as is claimed when in just 30 seconds or less folks go totally zombie. But I suppose that's just picking the nits.
Anyway it's not bad and I'm sure it will elicit discussion only for the scene of mindless zombies attacking Israel. So it's worth a watch.
Things You Need To Know #439
Montrose the Mysterious is indeed very, very mysterious. So much so in fact, that he is retro editing this message as we speak though the power of Cryptomancy. Great is the power of Montrose. And his secrets shall never be revealed.
This was something you cannot know.
This was something you cannot know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)