Finally, between finding a wee bit of inspiration and a few minutes of free time, the stars have aligned for me to make a post. I saw WATCHMEN last night at the 2nd-run theater, and was pleasantly surprised. It never occurred to me to see it, largely due to the trailer toting it as being "from visionary director Zack Snyder." You know him as the director of "300," which could be described using many words...visionary is not quite what I would use.
10 things that WATCHMEN has going for it:
1. It is wonderfully self-contained. This is one of the greatest things lacking in high-concept cinema today. It DOES NOT SET ITSELF UP FOR A SEQUEL, thus allowing it to tell a COMPLETE story.
2. Fantastic visuals - not just from the visual effects. Nearly every shot is interesting & different (yet each one flows into the next with great ease), which is an absolute requirement for such an off-beat concept of a movie. Lots of camera movement too, which tickles me in all the right places ;).
3. It does something seemingly impossible: it takes itself seriously and not seriously at the same time. I don't know how on earth you can do that! It's like being a responsible goof (my greatest struggle). It's tongue-in-cheek yet it never goes so far as to parody itself. Comical without being a comedy. I think that's quite inspiring.
4. Non-linear narrative structure. Especially the fact that it uses the entire movie to introduce & offer back-stories on all the main characters. It's really tough to construct a movie this way and still keep everything relevant to the plotline. Each flashback was sort of a self-gratifying showcase piece for the characters, but each one played a very direct part in moving the mystery along.
5. Keeping it set in the 1980s. Brilliant.
6. Even though every sci-fi flick attempts to address this (except the new Star Trek, interestingly), WATCHMEN offers a strong allegory for human nature & social justice...in a very slick way. Not sure whether this theme was a direct translation from the graphic novel, but the way the movie did it had me convinced. Nice work, fellas.
7. Not afraid of nudity, female and male alike (although most of genitalia shown is computer-generated, which is probably how they got away with it). Even though some scenes are meant to be very sexy, their nudity is most definitely not gratuitous. I mean, c'mon, people are naked sometimes! Especially when they have sex! If you disagree with me then you should consider sewing your clothes onto your skin.
8. None of the dialogue seems overly-theatrical... the main characters talk like normal people (I'm mainly comparing it with other graphic novel movies, like Sin City). Even the gruff male diary voice-overs don't use too big of words. Yet every spoken line is quite intriguing.
9. It effectively dealt with the cosmic (apocalypse, space/time-travel), and the small (micro-stories of love or crime-fighting). Both very cool things, but hard to combine.
10. Another seemingly impossible feat: it did for comic books & super hero movies what I though Rodriguez did for zombie flicks with Planet Terror. It took most of the bad & campy things from its genre, and somehow made them GOOD.
While watching WATCHMEN I had to say to myself, "this has to be one of the greatest comic book movies ever made." No shit. Definitely check it out...I know I'll be watching it again, multiple times. If I had to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine even one more time, I would shoot myself.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, October 27, 2008
Max Payne, and defining character
Just saw Max Payne (trailer #1 is below). There were some great sequences, and personally I thought the critics were overly brutal (18% on RT - consensus including that it suffers from an illogical plot and overdirection...whatever that means). A plot is only as illogical as its premises. In world with different physical structure, there should be different physical possibilities, no?
Anyway, it's sad they didn't include more the Russian & Italian mob constituencies like in the game...most might think we've had enough of that in recent blockbusters (ehem, Dark Knight), but I thought that that's what defined it as an ACTION game. As an ACTION movie, there could have been more bloodshed, more killing (I can't believe I'm asking for this), but obviously this was not what the direction and budget allowed. They tried to make the story more humanistic, more real, but why spoil a great story (Max Payne has one of the best stories for a video game in recent and not-so-recent memory) for reality?
Also, I just read people really liked the character the games presented. The truest sense of a hard-boiled cop... I suppose that would be hard to pull off within the confines of a movie, but what do I know? Giving him a perpetual frown doesn't necessarily sell that he's "complicated." A wider range of emotion is necessary for exploring any character's dimensions. Otherwise, what category does he fall under? That's right: a one-dimensional character!
A friend / former instructor of mine asked me to post a brief bio of myself for a crew list he's putting together for a film grant. It took me a while, but here's what I came up with:
"Raised by the movies, John easily found his calling at an early age. Since receiving a BA in film/video from Pacific University, John has been working as freelance crew in Portland, OR, and has countless independent projects in the works. His favorite genre is cinematic nonfiction. While continuing to gain experience and pursue new challenges, he'll never stray too far from the viewfinder."
I think that was pretty accurate, as far as the film side of me is concerned. But self-identity is tough, especially for me. I don't know why, but sending a signal to my fingers to type something about the brain that is sending a signal to them to type is a little strange to me. I think I'm pretty introspective, but my whole life has been largely defined (and I mean literally, like spoken aloud) by those around me. I have to strain myself to find coherent thoughts that define me, and even those are constantly in check against my shadow, or the alter-ego, whatever you wanna call it. With two sides to everything, I represent everyone, but at different times. Sometimes I'm on time, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm reliable, sometimes I'm not. Consistency is quite foreign to me. I can't say I'm even a percentage as focused as I'd like to be. But that's another story. What were we talking about? Max Payne? Oh brother, I need to get back on the horse, quit talking about the way other people make movies, and make them the right way myself.
Anyway, it's sad they didn't include more the Russian & Italian mob constituencies like in the game...most might think we've had enough of that in recent blockbusters (ehem, Dark Knight), but I thought that that's what defined it as an ACTION game. As an ACTION movie, there could have been more bloodshed, more killing (I can't believe I'm asking for this), but obviously this was not what the direction and budget allowed. They tried to make the story more humanistic, more real, but why spoil a great story (Max Payne has one of the best stories for a video game in recent and not-so-recent memory) for reality?
Also, I just read people really liked the character the games presented. The truest sense of a hard-boiled cop... I suppose that would be hard to pull off within the confines of a movie, but what do I know? Giving him a perpetual frown doesn't necessarily sell that he's "complicated." A wider range of emotion is necessary for exploring any character's dimensions. Otherwise, what category does he fall under? That's right: a one-dimensional character!
A friend / former instructor of mine asked me to post a brief bio of myself for a crew list he's putting together for a film grant. It took me a while, but here's what I came up with:
"Raised by the movies, John easily found his calling at an early age. Since receiving a BA in film/video from Pacific University, John has been working as freelance crew in Portland, OR, and has countless independent projects in the works. His favorite genre is cinematic nonfiction. While continuing to gain experience and pursue new challenges, he'll never stray too far from the viewfinder."
I think that was pretty accurate, as far as the film side of me is concerned. But self-identity is tough, especially for me. I don't know why, but sending a signal to my fingers to type something about the brain that is sending a signal to them to type is a little strange to me. I think I'm pretty introspective, but my whole life has been largely defined (and I mean literally, like spoken aloud) by those around me. I have to strain myself to find coherent thoughts that define me, and even those are constantly in check against my shadow, or the alter-ego, whatever you wanna call it. With two sides to everything, I represent everyone, but at different times. Sometimes I'm on time, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm reliable, sometimes I'm not. Consistency is quite foreign to me. I can't say I'm even a percentage as focused as I'd like to be. But that's another story. What were we talking about? Max Payne? Oh brother, I need to get back on the horse, quit talking about the way other people make movies, and make them the right way myself.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Mission Statement + CEDs
Ok. I have a new goal, actually an old goal that I am finally implementing, that I'm going to post something every week. Either it's got to have some sort of video/multimedia or be about film/video related material.
Many things have been plaguing my life over the last few months, both negative and positive, but my default "my life is great" catch-up topic is that I've come into possession of almost 600 CEDs. Don't know what they are? Probably before your generation (and sadly, nobody's). Capacitance electronic discs - also dubbed 'videodiscs' - these analogue home movies were first on the scene in the early 80s, and rapidly declined after the general populace realized how ridiculous and cumbersome they were compared to VHS. At 13"x10" or so, the casing for these things is enormous, and with six hundred, my garage is filled to the brim. God forbid I have to move. They are identical to vinyl records, except they just have video on them. And it's read from a stylus, a freaking stylus! I will post a video soon of how they work in the player (sort of like an a-track, which is also something I knew zilch about before a few years ago).
In organizing these beasts, my excitement level has only risen. I've come across (and already made it through) movies like "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - both versions, and "Playboy: 1983." From film noir to music videos to Bond to Star Trek TV episodes, I own more movies & videos than I would ever think to rent from Movie Madness down the street. For the first time ever, I have my own film library that isn't limited to my favorites. They're shitty quality (and God help us, 4x3), granted, but that doesn't mean I'm not still watching the movie, experiencing the story, and absorbing the audiovisuals.
Suffice to say, next time you see me, you can expect that my English will have devolved completely into movie lines. There's simply no time for books when you've got a year-long education in the world's most collective medium. If I start transitioning into Quentin Tarantino, please, stop me, for the sake of anyone who has to watch MY movies.
Many things have been plaguing my life over the last few months, both negative and positive, but my default "my life is great" catch-up topic is that I've come into possession of almost 600 CEDs. Don't know what they are? Probably before your generation (and sadly, nobody's). Capacitance electronic discs - also dubbed 'videodiscs' - these analogue home movies were first on the scene in the early 80s, and rapidly declined after the general populace realized how ridiculous and cumbersome they were compared to VHS. At 13"x10" or so, the casing for these things is enormous, and with six hundred, my garage is filled to the brim. God forbid I have to move. They are identical to vinyl records, except they just have video on them. And it's read from a stylus, a freaking stylus! I will post a video soon of how they work in the player (sort of like an a-track, which is also something I knew zilch about before a few years ago).
In organizing these beasts, my excitement level has only risen. I've come across (and already made it through) movies like "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - both versions, and "Playboy: 1983." From film noir to music videos to Bond to Star Trek TV episodes, I own more movies & videos than I would ever think to rent from Movie Madness down the street. For the first time ever, I have my own film library that isn't limited to my favorites. They're shitty quality (and God help us, 4x3), granted, but that doesn't mean I'm not still watching the movie, experiencing the story, and absorbing the audiovisuals.
Suffice to say, next time you see me, you can expect that my English will have devolved completely into movie lines. There's simply no time for books when you've got a year-long education in the world's most collective medium. If I start transitioning into Quentin Tarantino, please, stop me, for the sake of anyone who has to watch MY movies.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Battlefield Realism
My best college buddy is getting back today after a solid year in Japan. To introduce him, here he is explaining the Battlefield Realism mod for Battlefield 2 back in the Spring of '07.
play - ipod (m4v)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
First Post: not my stuff!
Yet again, I've chosen to spend my time visiting cinematic worlds other than my own. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else ;). Here are some of my spoils:
Max Payne play - wmv 720p download - wmv 720p
The Day the Earth Stood Still
play - QT 720p download - QT 720p **(now that I've seen TDTEST, I can advise you not to. An incredibly weak story, and generally unexciting. You're 100x better off watching the old one again.)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
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