The Movie Overdose attempts to contain the apocalypse with a review of Roland Emmerich’s 2012. We chat about how we would change Eddie Murphy for the better, what kind of sequel we want for Star Trek and whether we are glad to see Sean Connery coming back, if only in voice form. Tom slightly dampens the praise given to An Education and Sam revels in the madness of Running Scared and the flawed ambition of Dogma. The conclusion involves a discussion of actors that, no matter what, we always look forward to seeing on screen.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 42

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Tenía esta entrada en borrador desde hace tiempo pero sólo hasta hoy que me la repito, como por tercera vez, me animo a publicarla formalmente. En fin, peli de John Stevenson y Mark Osborne de 2008, nominada al Oscar como mejor película animada, con doce premios, veinte nominaciones más y ratificando a Jack Black como un héroe de los niños en los Kids’ Choice Awards.

Es una historia sencilla con una moraleja de crecimiento personal y sobretodo de autoconfianza, de fé en uno mismo y en los sueños que lo caracterizan como individuo único. Bonita.

Sin embargo, hay aspectos realmente delirantes en la peli que la hacen particularmente excelente. Lo primero, Dreamworks saliendose del esquema de Shrek, que le dió tantos triunfos y reinventándose con un excelente producto.

Dos, Jack Black como un enorme oso panda llamado Po, un gordo lleno de ilusiones y sueños, su papel de toda la vida, con esa voz de Black tan característica de él, tan entusiasta y llena de falsos logros, de superación y adoración de héroes imaginarios; esta vez con la personificación de un niño de diez años, muy trabajador, muy responsable pero con la cabeza llena de fantasías.

Tres, Ian McShane, actor que recordamos en la exitosa Deadwood, poniendo esa voz profunda, oscura y macabra en el lado antagónico de la historia sobre un tigre de bengala dominado por su orgullo y descarriado al lado oscuro del Kung Fu. Esta voz y la del comandante Vachir a cargo de Michael Clarke Duncan me parecen realmente sobresalientes.

Cuatro, los apuntes de David Cross y Seth Rogen.

Cinco, la dirección de arte a cargo de Raymond Zibach combinado con las cámaras y cinematografía de Yong Duk Jhun (obviamente este dato me lo bajé de IMDb) hacen que la peli sea consistente, interesante, divetida, entretenida, un buen plan para pasar el rato así uno ya se la haya visto.

Seis, la secuencia animada del principio, en una simulación 2D bien interesante. Un sueño de Po describiendo un estado épico del equipo de los 5 Furiosos y El Guerrero Dragón, una secuencia de katas del más fino arte marcial y después contrastado con la caricatura en la que se convierte al final esta secuencia me parece el premio mayor.

Obviamente, un trabajo impresionante de todo ese equipo técnico, tan grande pero que logran resolver de una manera sencilla todo el tema del 3D, el matte painting, los mapas, los esqueletos, las animaciones, los sostenidos, las secuencias, etc… Y sumado al impresionante resto del reparto como son Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Randall Duk Kim, el legendario James Hong y hasta Wayne Knight, hacen de esta obra un paquete sin igual.

Nota. Me volvió a suceder que no encontraba un afiche que me gustara completamente y me tocó hacer el mío. Ojalá les guste.

Prompted to rescue ten-year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) from her parents after allegations of abuse suggest that the child is not safe in her own home, kind-hearted social worker Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) discovers to her horror that the situation is far deadlier than she ever suspected. Ian McShane and Bradley Cooper also star in the thriller from Antibodies director Christian Alvart.

Coraline is a visually stunning film with a dark, but entertaining story.

My rating

One of the great things about film is that you can create any world imaginable. You are only limited by your imagination. Very few directors understand this, however Henry Selick is a master at creating worlds that both amaze and scare the color out of you. He creates worlds out of thin air using a very old method of movie production, stop-motion animation. It is a real shame that this is a dying art. Stop-motion animation is rapidly being replaced by faster and easier rendering CGI. While I have nothing negative to say about CGI, there is something to say about the elegance of stop-motion animation. With this style of filming the audience can relate more to the characters because they feel real. People know fake when they see it, they may not know it, but they feel it. That’s why you don’t see many good movies like these done with CGI, it just doesn’t have the same reaction with the audience.

When I sit down to watch a movie like Coraline, I like to give it the special attention that directors like Henry Selick give to their movies. It may sound silly, but these people put their hearts and souls in these movies and it shows. Coraline is stunning! It’s a beautiful picture. The level of detail is remarkable. When I watch a movie like this, I always put myself in the director’s shoes, then I quickly take them off. I cannot imagine the daunting task it is to take on a project like this. So when a movie like Coraline comes along, I savor every scene, every character and every single detail. This is movie making at its core and at its best. Bravo!

Of course a movie’s look and feel wouldn’t be any good if it didn’t have a great story to go along with it. You must have both and Coraline does have both. The story is a little off the deep end. It’s not quite a kid’s story and it’s not quite an adult story either. To be honest, it isn’t really anything in between. Coraline is something completely different. This film is for film lovers. Henry says that this movie’s audience are brave children. I couldn’t agree more.

Coraline is about a bratty little girl whose parents are workaholics and never have time for her. She’s an only child, but she struggles to make friends because of her nature to be mean to new people. The family just moved in to a new house and the new neighbors are really strange. Coraline prefers to be left alone so she explores the house instead of playing with one of the kids in the neighborhood. When she finds a strange door that just happens to be blocked she is very taken and puzzled by it. Later in the night while she slept, she was woken by sounds coming from that door. However, when she opened it this time, it wasn’t blocked. This time it had a tunnel that took her to the same house, but in some sort of alternate universe where everyone had buttons sewn into their eyes.

At first everyone was very nice and pleasant to Coraline and she enjoyed stopping by to say hello every night. She felt as though these were her real parents instead of the others in the real universe. However, one night a secret was revealed that changed Coraline’s perception of this new world. She now saw that this new world was a jail, a slave camp and if she stayed she would be trapped for ever.

The story is quite gripping and dark. It is like nothing you have ever seen. However, the most fascinating feature of this movie it’s the detail, the film making aspect of this movie. While the average movie goer might think Coraline was just okay, the film enthusiast will love this film, especially if he or she appreciate stop-motion animation.

One of the great things about film is that you can create any world imaginable. You are only limited by your imagination. Very few directors understand this, however Henry Selick is a master at creating worlds that both amaze and scare the color out of you. He creates worlds out of thin air using a very old method of movie production, stop-motion animation. It is a real shame that this is a dying art. Stop-motion animation is rapidly being replaced by faster and easier rendering CGI. While I have nothing negative to say about CGI, there is something to say about the elegance of stop-motion animation. With this style of filming the audience can relate more to the characters because they feel real. People know fake when they see it, they may not know it, but they feel it. That’s why you don’t see many good movies like these done with CGI, it just doesn’t have the same reaction with the audience.

When I sit down to watch a movie like Coraline, I like to give it the special attention that directors like Henry Selick give to their movies. It may sound silly, but these people put their hearts and souls in these movies and it shows. Coraline is stunning! It’s a beautiful picture. The level of detail is remarkable. When I watch a movie like this, I always put myself in the director’s shoes, then I quickly take them off. I cannot imagine the daunting task it is to take on a project like this. So when a movie like Coraline comes along, I savor every scene, every character and every single detail. This is movie making at its core and at its best. Bravo!

Of course a movie’s look and feel wouldn’t be any good if it didn’t have a great story to go along with it. You must have both and Coraline does have both. The story is a little off the deep end. It’s not quite a kid’s story and it’s not quite an adult story either. To be honest, it isn’t really anything in between. Coraline is something completely different. This film is for film lovers. Henry says that this movie’s audience are brave children. I couldn’t agree more.

Coraline is about a bratty little girl whose parents are workaholics and never have time for her. She’s an only child, but she struggles to make friends because of her nature to be mean to new people. The family just moved in to a new house and the new neighbors are really strange. Coraline prefers to be left alone so she explores the house instead of playing with one of the kids in the neighborhood. When she finds a strange door that just happens to be blocked she is very taken and puzzled by it. Later in the night while she slept, she was woken by sounds coming from that door. However, when she opened it this time, it wasn’t blocked. This time it had a tunnel that took her to the same house, but in some sort of alternate universe where everyone had buttons sewn into their eyes.

At first everyone was very nice and pleasant to Coraline and she enjoyed stopping by to say hello every night. She felt as though these were her real parents instead of the others in the real universe. However, one night a secret was revealed that changed Coraline’s perception of this new world. She now saw that this new world was a jail, a slave camp and if she stayed she would be trapped for ever.

The story is quite gripping and dark. It is like nothing you have ever seen. However, the most fascinating feature of this movie it’s the detail, the film making aspect of this movie. While the average movie goer might think Coraline was just okay, the film enthusiast will love this film, especially if he or she appreciate stop-motion animation.

No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy in "The Simpsons".

October 17, 2009

by Joel Crary

After getting up early to see “Where the Wild Things Are” at South Keys I made my way back downtown and got on a shuttle headed for the Museum of Civilization, where I was promptly far too early to see writer/director David Silverman in conversation as part of the Ottawa International Animation Festival. In addition to co-directing Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.” and Dreamworks’ “The Road to El Dorado”, Silverman is best known for his directorial work on “The Simpsons”, where he has 23 episodes to his credit in addition to “The Simpsons Movie”.

I went to high school during the 4th-8th seasons of “The Simpsons”, the prime cut of Silverman’s time spent there and in my opinion the best years of the series. Without “The Simpsons”, I’m not sure how my friends and I would have carried on conversations. The first words out of our mouths every Monday morning were Simpsons quotations from the new episode that aired the night before. We laughed at the same jokes over and again and never, ever seemed to get tired of them.

That’s why I understood it when Silverman brought out his laptop and played examples of show clips from episodes that everyone in the auditorium had seen a thousand times and they were met with brand new laughter. It was to show appreciation for the work of Silverman and the early writers of the show in person. The “land of chocolate” bit or the Halloween episode where “no beer and no TV make Homer go crazy” are seen in a different light when the guy who directed and animated them is sitting right there after all these years.

Needless to say, Silverman was shown a lot of love. Clad in jeans and a light blue, long-sleeved Simpsons t-shirt featuring a classic Homer quotation (“You’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel”), he took the crowd through his early work at UCLA, where he went to grad school only in order to finish the film he started in his undergraduate years. He showed some of his old work while talking about his influences, which include poet Ogden Nash. He reminisced on what it was like to work with paint on cells and adopted an old man “back in my day” Grandpa Simpson-esque delivery when he knew he was showing his age.

Clips of the Tracy Ullman Simpsons shorts were shown to illustrate how the original drawings developed significantly over a very short period of time. Lacking a design team, the animators and writers were dramatically deadline driven until the show took off as a series, which thankfully caught on right away. Silverman talked about his early days with creator Matt Groening and mentioned that he was about to give up on animation altogether before the Simpsons came along.

He talked about his move after the show to Dreamworks, a company where he had no sooner accepted a job than Steve Jobs called him up on the phone to offer him a place at Pixar. That move finally happened for Silverman about two years later, when he was given “Monsters Inc.” to work on, grateful for how visually alive its concept was. Silverman took a round of questions (“Simpsons 2″ is not currently in the works; he is currently at work on a live action project) and it was easy to tell that his heart was in his craft as he gave young animators pieces of invaluable advice. One piece of advice: Make it up as you go along. That was the reason he gave for “The Simpsons”‘ continued success, a show he thought might make it a year or two in the beginning, tops.

Coraline has a front row seat to a parallel world of wonders in "Coraline".

I took the shuttle back downtown afterward and caught the gala screening of Henry Selick’s “Coraline” at the Bytowne Cinema. It was my first time viewing the picture and Selick was in attendance, taking a brief bow before the lights went down. As recent readers will know, I’m a huge fan of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Coraline” offers more astounding stop-motion work with a much brighter colour palette overall.

Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline (Dakota Fanning) has just moved out to the Oregon sticks with her parents. Mom (Teri Hatcher) and Dad ( John Hodgman) are too busy putting work into writing a garden catalogue and Coraline is looking for ways to entertain herself. She stumbles across an old well and a young neighbour named Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.), who comes barreling out of nowhere looking like an undead Hell’s Angel. He has found a doll that looks oddly like Coraline, with giant buttons for eyes and her unmistakable blue quaff.

No one seems to pay attention to Coraline long enough to even pronounce her name correctly, including her kooky neighbours, a Russian gymnast named Bobinsky (Ian McShane) and aging theatre mavens Spink and Forcible, who are voiced by the British comedy team of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French. They live in the basement of the Pink Castle apartment complex with their lineage of deceased Scottish terriers and collections of decades-old taffy.

Coraline discovers a small doorway in the new house that opens to a brick wall until nightfall, when it provides passage to an alternate world. In that “other” world, her “other” mother and “other” father are expecting her enthusiatically, with luxuriant meals, rousing songs and a heavenly garden. In the other world, Bobinsky’s trained mice put on intricate circus acts, Wybie isn’t nearly as mouthy and Spink and Forcible reveal their aging bodies to be disguises as they swing to and fro reciting Shakespeare over extravagant dance numbers. Even the cat talks, and if I had a cat that was able to speak, I’d damn sure want it to sound like Keith David. To Coraline, the other world has everything her normal life lacks. So what if its residents all seem to have buttons for eyes?

Coraline’s wish to remain in the other world backfires once she realizes that there is a pretty morbid catch. This is where the film derails somewhat, as the other world begins to seem not so ideal and Coraline must go through the motions of a plot comprised of too many tangles. Though I found the narrative needlessly complicated, the film is undoubtedly awe-inspiring to look at. The animation surpasses certain elements of Selick’s previous work and treads some truly dark and scary territory. Most impressive is when the crew strip away their model landscapes, leaving a completely blank canvas for their characters to inhabit one moment and a torturous concave spiderweb for them to escape the next.

There’s a lot of beauty to “Coraline” that makes up for its puzzling developments. I’d think twice about showing it to young children, who might be frightened by its more intense scenes. However, for the kid inside us, it’s quite the visual collision of wonder and nightmare.

“Coraline” movie trailer:

Totally amazing cartoon, with some of the BEST voices in the business.  I have personally LOVE Dustin Hoffman’s voices in the past, and this movie definitely doesn’t disappoint.  Lucy Liu… Jack Black… man.. *toke* *toke..* What more could you ask for?

I HAD THE NOODLE DREAM!   The animation definitely isn’t Pixar.. but it rocks nonetheless….

Check out this quick interview we dug up on YouTube with Lucy L!

THREE BONG TOKES!

TSAAM

Stylesearch is a long one. 6 exercises in all. So I’m going to break it in two.

Barbara starts us out slowly with the “Pick a Color” game. The exercise is to write about being the color. I am Lavender. I’m a little girl’s bedroom. I’m lacy and pretty. Soft and gentle. I like to surround others in a cool embrace. Draped in Lavender, I am sensitive and caring. I’m a writer, so I make stuff up and am never satisfied. So, I did another, deciding that I had initially been drawn to Orange. I am Orange. I am sunny and bright, warm and charming. I sparkle and glow. I am healthy and strong. Not quite as fun, I grant you. Her take on all this is that we choose from our style. And that it’s difficult to talk about ourselves in a positive way. This is supposed to be a description of ourselves. Otherwise, we’re labeled subjective. Or worse yet, self centered. Why is that? You’re only being objective about yourself if you criticize. Weird.

The next exercise, as we find out more about ourselves, is the “Private Eye” Game. In this, we are to take a look around our environment – our home, our office, our car – with a fresher eye. A writer in my critique group wrote a piece recently about how when you first move in somewhere, you are constantly moving things around, changing, rearranging. But eventually, you settle into a comfortable rut. In that rut it’s hard to see what is all around you. So, it’s a fun exercise to sharpen your eye and look at your surroundings in a new light.

I learned a few things about myself. There is a lot more color in my life than I realized. I tend to be loyal to a musical artist, rather than an eclectic mix of various bands. Also, I use a whole lot of paper! It’s clear I’m into spirituality with spiritual books, sacred texts and objects abounding. I see a lot of creativity in how things are arranged. There’s a deep love of family I hadn’t realized, with all the pictures. I’m also more organized than I give myself credit for. There is a fair amount of clutter, but it is well ordered. It’s a fun game that is good to do every once in a while. It also helps you to keep a cleaner house. Like how all of a sudden you notice the smudges and dust bunnies when company is coming.

Exercise 6 is “Seeing Yourself as Others See You.” I’ve had the opportunity, recently, to collect some testimonials for my new web site. So I’ve read some really nice things about me and my writing. I also have a great support team who frequently tell me what’s good about me. I can’t say, though, that I sit and listen to it, taking dictation and not discounting as Barbara suggests. I think I can arrange that, though I haven’t yet. I see this as an important piece of life that we, as a culture, discount. We should all endeavor to tell everyone what we think is so wonderful about them, all the time. Maybe we could start with one day a year – Praise Day!

Barbara offers a second version for those that are not as blessed with a team as I am, or perhaps shy about asking for such things. Instead she says, create your own cheering section. The family that you didn’t have. You may choose from anyone, living or dead, fictional or real, in your life or distant. I had a whole lot of fun with this.

I used her grid for the perfect family to create my own ~ My mother is Brenda Ueland, a marvelous writer and writing teacher who believed that there is genius in everyone. She would see the unique genius, surely, in me, her daughter and would love and respect me for it. She would encourage the writer in me and help nurture that in any way she could. She would be endlessly delighted by me and whatever I came up with next. Following me, day by day through my dreams, interests and excitements.

My father, Ian McShane, with his beautiful British accent would explain things to me. Help me explore and find out about everything from antiques, to British Parliament, to the American Goldrush, architecture or archery. He would protect me, too. And always stand up for me. A formidable man to have on your team. A King.

My brother would be Johnny Depp. He would tell me I could do anything I wanted and that I would still be loved and admired no matter what it was. A man of many talents and interests himself. Johnny always does what he’s passionate about and never lets anyone tell him he’s no good. He would teach me endless belief in myself and remind me never to listen to critics, but keep following my passion.

My sister would be Marianne Williamson, spiritual teacher extraordinaire! A beautiful woman, with a past. She knows all the heavy-hitters in this spiritual growth business and would let her little sister (I’m pretty sure I’m older than she is in real life) sit in on her meetings with these people. As long as I stay quiet and listen. As her sister, I would certainly be invited to join their circle when I was old enough. She would be there to listen to me complain, sympathize, because she’s been there, too, but never let me give up.

I needed someone to bail me out and never reproach me. That was a tricky one. I felt there needed to be an element of magic in this person, too. For he must know, intuitively, when I need him. I guess I can do whatever I want, so I chose Captain Jack Sparrow. (I am a big fan of Johnny Depp in all his forms!) Captain Jack, being rather a rogue himself, couldn’t reproach me for the innocent scrapes I get myself into. His cleverness and speed, swooping in and saving the day is just what I need.

Enjoying this so much, I got into thinking about a Nanny or babysitters. Mother Brenda is a strong, confident woman with a life of her own, so she sometimes must leave me in the care of others. Wanting to nurture my talents, I think she’d like to leave me with someone like SARK who has the biggest sense of fun I’ve ever known. What a great person to hang with as a child! There might be others, carefully chosen to provide me with fun and the proper kind of education and creative soil.

Certainly I feel surrounded by winners! These will be my cheering section to tell me what I need to hear, to go to when I’m feeling defeated or scared. I got frustrated today because I couldn’t find the e-mail address of someone I want to contact. Marianne sympathized with me that it was a drag. Who does this person think she is? A rock star? But, Marianne reminded me, even rock stars have Business Managers. Surely, I can find out how to get in touch with this person. Don’t give up! Use who you know. How cool is that?

The investigation of Stylesearch continues. Until next week.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: New Emmy-owner Justin Timberlake has joined the cast of The Social Network, director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin’s take on the invention of Facebook …

TIMBERLAKE: Facebook friend

Heather Locklear, one of the stars of the original Melrose Place, will reprise her role on the current re-invented series … stage and screen favourite Eric Peterson, already slated to pick up an Earle Grey Award later this month at the Geminis, will receive the 2009 Gordon Pinsent Award Of Excellence this week when The Company Theatre fetes him Thursday night at the Windsor Arms. Seamus O’Regan and Allan Hawco will co-host the gala evening … and speaking of excellence, award namesake Pinsent plays the Archbishop in The Pillars of the Earth, the epic drama based on Ken Follett’s bestseller, currently shooting in Hungary and Austria. Also appearing

PETERSON: getting Gordon & Earle

in key roles are Ian McShane and Donald Sutherland.

FOOTLIGHTS: Mimi, or A Poisoner’s Comedy, the controversial new Allen Cole-Melody A. Johnson-Rick Roberts musical, continues its ribald run at the Tarragon Theatre … Bob Martin’s Tony-winning hit musical The Drowsy Chaperone tap-dances into Ottawa next week for a two-week run at the National Arts Centre … Carrie Fisher opened her one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, at Studio 54 last night. Sez Fisher: “Basically, I talk about myself behind my back.”
 Her Broadway stint will run ‘til January … and Monty Python alumni Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and John Cleese are set to appear in a rare reunion at the Ziegfeld Theater next week. Did you know that the Pythons have

FISHER: on stage

their own YouTube channel? Seriously! … and tickets are now on sale for the new National Ballet Of Canada season, which kicks off next month with the perennially lavish Sleeping Beauty. To check out the new NBOC season, just click here.

OUR TOWN: The 14th edition of Eat to the Beat, benefitting Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada, takes over Roy Thomson Hall tomorrow night with culinary creations from more than 60 chefs,  including the Food Network chef Anna Olson, Fiona Lim of George and Dufflet Rosenberg of Dufflet Pastries. And you can still buy a ticket! For more info, click here … also tomorrow night: Royson James moderates a Toronto Star panel discussion on what it takes to create a workable city, with Susan Eng, Kevin Stolarick, Sudz Sutherland and Rahul Bhardwaj, at the new Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library … Jack Rabinovitch and jurors Russell Banks, Victoria Glendinning and Alistair MacLeod will announce this year’s Giller Prize finalists tomorrow morning at the Four Seasons … and yes, those still-sensational Jersey Boys are still winning standing O’s every night at the Toronto Centre For The Arts.

NEMESIS GAME

Brendan Fehr, Carly Pope & Adrian Paul

Sara Novak is an introverted college student with a few skeletons in her closet. Shying away from her classmates, she prefers to spend time with Vern, a comic store owner who shares her passion for mind games and riddles.

But when the puzzles she solves lead to the deaths of those around her, she realizes this is much more than just a simple game.

Rated 15

Best. Show. Ever. And what did David Milch give us after it was over? John From Cincinnati. Well… it was just a black day for television. The below promo ran before Deadwood’s third season, and is probably one of the best commercials I’ve ever seen. *sniff* I’m getting a little teary just thinking about it. I’d like to be alone now.

Expediente 39

Suntuoso thriller del señor Christian Alvart.  Inquietante a más no poder. Te sentirás intranquilo, te asustarás, te alborotarás, te agitarás en la butaca como nunca. Pero sobre todo, disfrutarás de una buena película de terror.  Esta noche, mi hermana y yo hemos ido al cine a ver este film y hemos salido gratamente sorprendidos. Se que puede resultar un maldito cliché o un repetitivo tópico lo que voy a decir a continuación, pero para nada me esperaba que fuera así, no me esperaba gran cosa, lo juro. Ya sea porque no leí la sinopsis y apenas vi el trailer una sóla vez o bien porque ya estoy curado de espanto debido a la cantidad de malísimas y repetitivias películas de terror o pseudo-terror que me he tragado.

Recomiendo el visionado de esta película ¡desde ya!.

Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger), es una atractiva trabajadora social que conoce a una pequeña niña llamada Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) la cual han intentado matar sus propios padres. Emily, aterrada y apenada por la pobre Lilith, decide llevarsela a su casa temporalmente, y ahí comienzan los sucesos… mezquinos.

Si el papel de Renée Zellweger es de sobresaliente, el de la preciosa Jodelle, es de matrícula de honor. A esta jovencísima actriz, la conocímos todos por la película Silent Hill, película basada en el infinitamente galardonado videojuego que lleva el mismo nombre. ¿Es que Jodelle no crece? Es lo primero que pensé al verla. Recoerdemos que Jodelle tiene actualmente catorce años, y cuando hiciera Silent Hill, tenía doce. Pues bien, fisicamente, esta igual. Pero memeces aparte, el papel de Jodelle, es asombroso. Para quién quiera ver la película, o para la persona que la haya visto, le recomiendo y le recuerdo, que preste atención al momento en el que el psicólogo infantil mantiente una entrevista con ella. ¿No es brillante? Pocas niñas trabajan así en el cine. Estoy deseando ver el film en versión original nada más que por contemplar ese espléndido momento.

Por cierto, con respecto al título del post…Cuando veas la película, ya lo entenderás

Un abrazo.

Inquietante a más no poder. Te sentirás intranquilo, te asustarás, te alborotarás, te agitarás en la butaca como nunca. Pero sobre todo, disfrutarás de una buena película de terror

Álvaro R.

Un film del 2009, regia di Christian Alvart, con Renée Zellweger / Jodelle Ferland / Ian McShane / Kerry O’Malley. Prodotto da Universal Pictures ()

Horror / Thriller

Un’assistente sociale lotta per salvare una ragazzina di dieci anni dai genitori che la molestano, ma scopre presto che la situazione è molto più pericolosa di quanto si sarebbe aspettata.

As this heady run of movie reviews draws to a close, we have a movie utterly incomparable with any of the previous entries. No, the visually stupendous Coraline has no point of comparison with Czech cinema, gory werewolf transformations or Paul Rudd. Despite this, however, this charming little movie was excellent; a wonderful change from the CGI-laden kids’ films of the last few years, its handcrafted appearance more Wallace and Gromit than Shark Boy and Lava Girl.

Coraline is based around the titular young lady, voiced by Dakota Fanning, whose family have just moved to the countryside. With no friends and little to do before school starts, Coraline meets the neighbours and tries to make her work-centric mother (Teri Hatcher) and father (John Hodgman) entertain her, without success. Then, one dreary day, she discovers a tiny door in the wall of the house, and that night discovers a secret nocturnal passageway, the other side of which is a parallel universe. Her ‘other’ mother and father are caring, funny and loving, and everything about this other world is perfect, except that everyone has buttons instead of eyes. The only way for Coraline to stay is to swap her eyes for buttons, and the movie starts its sinister descent from there.

The dark second half of the movie is really what makes this picture stand out from the others. The animation is reminiscent of the equally macabre The Nightmare Before Christmas (whose director, Henry Selick, also helmed this movie), and when the Other Mother’s intentions to trap Coraline become clear, all the beauty of this other world is gravely turned on its head as Coraline tries to save her parents and herself. The animation is wonderfully suited to this darker tone, with spidery limbs and dissolving characters every bit as menacing as they should be.

Coraline herself, en route to discovering the parallel world.

Coraline herself is a fairly typical heroine for this type of film – plucky, intelligent and curious – but the challenges she faces in this film make Draco Malfoy seem about as threatening as some sour milk. The menace with which the animation imbues the film’s surroundings does wonders, whether revealing the cruel truths of Coraline’s other world or the strange ones of her real life, and the film’s characters really benefit from some inspired writing.

The parallel universe Coraline visits is weird, certainly, but her real life is every bit as odd. The giant Mr. B (Ian McShane) is training a mouse circus and simultaneously stretching his gymnastic muscles, whilst downstairs neighbours Mses. Spink and Forcible (Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders) are retired stage actresses who keep their deceased terriers stuffed and mounted on the walls. Wyborn, the only kid of Coraline’s age, is similarly odd, constantly accompanied by his haughty black cat and bike.

Mses. Spink and Forcible, no doubt arguing a miniscule point.

However, whilst all these characters fail to achieve in the real world, in the film’s twisted alternate reality Coraline’s dreams for them are entertainingly achieved: Mr. B’s mouse circus is in full swing, Spink and Forcible are still performing outrageous showtunes and Wybie can’t talk so he doesn’t annoy Coraline. The thrilling set-pieces we witness in this other reality make us realize why a young girl like Coraline would be so drawn in to this dreamlike world. But when all turns sour, the beauty of this world is chillingly turned on its head, making the film’s final third pretty disturbing for what is notionally a kids’ movie.

Far from being a pretty-looking but emotionally vapid picture, Coraline is one of the most refreshing, enjoyable children’s movies made in the last ten years. The movie’s opening half will entertain pretty much everyone, with some surprisingly adult jokes slipped into the script (Coraline frequently calls Wyborn “why-were-you-born”, for example), and when the disturbing truths of the ‘other world’ come to light, kids are sure to be scared but grown-ups thrilled. Coraline never takes the easy way out – every character is totally explored and the ending will not leave anyone feeling cheated or short-changed. It’s a visually brilliant picture backed up by an extremely clever plot and well-acted voices, and definitely worth hunting down.

8/10: A charming little movie as unflinching and determined as its heroine, Coraline is not a kids’ film in any normal sense. Rather, it’s a clever, funny and visually brilliant picture which is certain to entertain anyone with a heart, whether aged 6 or 60. One of very few non-Pixar movies made in the last decade to carry a cross-generational appeal, Coraline is a great film whose craftsmanship and guts loft it high above the usual dross of children’s cinema.

Before I even begin to mention the film, I thought I should state that I am a fan of Jason Statham. Yes he is not the best actor in the world but there is just something about him that I find so attractive about him. Isnt it a shame though that he does films like this which are just not good at all.

This film was really just lacking quite a few things, the big gaps between the action and actually thinking that convicts would be allowed to race cars against each other for the sake of a TV Show is just so off the page. It was hard to even imagine that this type of thing could happen. I know in quite a lot of action films you think that it would not be possible for situations to happen, however I think the better action movies have a few instances which could actually happen in real life.

I cannot even seem to write a long review for this film, as it really was not memorable. I will say that this is a film which I will not be watching again any time soon.

Have you ever shot yourself in the foot before? I haven’t. Not literally, anyway. I assume it’d be a horrible and intensely humbling experience that would leave you with massive amounts of self-confidence issues. Every time someone says, “Dude, why are you limpin’?”, the memory of that day pops back into your head like a lightning bolt with a bum foot, and whenever you go into the specialty sock store and the clerk gives you that icy “What the fuck happened to you?” look, you’d slowly and silently collapse into the fetal position. Luckily, that has never actually happened to me, but I can only imagine. Now, when it comes to figuratively shooting myself in the foot, I do it all the time; possibly on a daily basis. Minor things here and there, nothing too spectacular. I’m nowhere near the outrageous ignominy of New Line Cinema, a company that has continuously shot itself in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars. They’ve taken extraordinary risks throughout the years, and while some have paid off big time (The Lord of the Rings), others have been simply catastrophic. Today’s feature, The Golden Compass, has often been blamed as the source of New Line’s death as an independent studio and is one of the most controversial family movies ever made. Why is it so controversial? Well, a bunch of people (i.e. Catholics) read the book (i.e. read reviews on the book), digested it the wrong way (totally misread the idea in a religious stupor), and made the false accusation that the film is ATHEISTIC (i.e. made an irresponsible and uninformed judgment call for America). And whenever the word ‘atheist’ comes up in Hollywood, it doesn’t take too long before the religious bloodhounds come out of the woodwork to wreck everybody’s good ol’ time. So, because most of the US don’t want my kind ’round here, it was clouded by a sea of protest and American controversy that killed its box-office potential. I take great offense to this, but only because it was killed in the US for its secular nature, and not its average quality.

Based on a Young Adults novel by Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate reality, where Earth is Earth, but there are some major differences. There is a North Pole and an Oxford, for instance, but all humans have souls that exist outside the body in the form of a dæmon, or a spirit-animal. It’s kind of different. So in this alternate-Earth, the entire planet is controlled by an authoritative theocracy called the Magisterium. The theocracy has banned the study of a substance called “Dust”, a mystical substance that has potential to threaten the Magisterium and its grip on the world. But a scientist named Lord Asriel is studying the effects of this substance nonetheless, and departs from Oxford to the North Pole to do further research on the matter. His niece, Lyra, stays at Oxford to be a ward of Jordan College. Things get crazy, however, when a representative of the Magisterium named Ms. Coulter offers to take Lyra to the north to be her assistant with things here and there. She agrees, and departs the college, but before she leaves, she’s entrusted by the college headmaster with the possession of a peculiar and powerful object called the althiometer, or the Golden Compass. It can answer any question about any topic posed by the owner, but Lyra cannot operate it. Regardless, she graciously accepts it, but as she does, things start to happen that she cannot explain, such as the disappearance of children around town and Ms. Coulter’s suspicious and sudden hesitation to go to the north. Lyra, aided by her dæmon named Pan, must uncover the secrets that the Magisterium, and perhaps Ms. Coulter herself, are hiding from her as things go from magical, to mysterious, to magical again in this wild winter-themed secular fantasy that features both an anti-superstitious agenda as well as talking bears!

Honestly, I feel a little overwhelmed. Once again, a fantasy film goes out of its way to cram a bunch of stuff into a relatively short amount of time. Everybody wants to emulate the dense mythology of The Lord of the Rings movies, but people tend to forget that the theatrical cut of The Fellowship of the Ring was 178 minutes!!! You have to sacrifice brevity for density, but The Golden Compass makes a misstep by thinking that they can do both. You can’t have your cake and eat it too! At 113 minutes, its not even 2 hours, and while I can see that this might be a boon to the PG audience, who want to get their fidgety kids home as soon as possible, it overloads any logical person who is trying to immerse themselves in the fantasy. It just needed a little more substance to substantiate the exposition.

The world is pretty cool, though. Populated with all kinds of magic and ornate filigree on all the metal, this is a fantasy-lover’s dream. The special effects, appraised at near the $120 million mark, are pretty damn cool as well. Magic here is the kind that people don’t cast at the slightest whim, so when magic happens, you fall for it. It is spaced out pretty well, and I can appreciate it for its own sake, to be sure. The magic insect robots were in particular a highlight, and the talking polar bears, while totally fake, weren’t bad compared to my initial reaction to the idea of talking animal CG effects. The dæmon, Pan, could have used some work, but all in all a passing grade for anyone who loves the idea of an immersive visual experience.

Although any notion of getting into the movie is crushed when the adult actors hit the screen. URGHHH! What the hell, Nicole Kidman?!? You are not good at what you do! Ms. Coulter’s character flounders under the strain of Kidman’s robotic aversion to natural human emotion. While I understand that she may not have been wired by her manufacturers to exhibit human emotions, perhaps that means she needs to be in a different line of work, like vehicle assembly line work or trying to terminate Sarah Connor. She’s one step away from getting on Cinematronica’s least Wanted List, so I hope for her sake that she shapes up soon. Daniel Craig and Ian McShane also receive failing grades in their respective roles, although McShane does DO a lot more than he did in my previous feature, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising. They could have made me care but didn’t. Whoopsie! Oh, well. The children almost make up for their adult counterparts, though. Dakota Blue Richards plays Lyra, and she nails it with a precociousness that doesn’t seem to come from a manufactured Hollywood place, but from a real curiosity and joy that I found refreshing. She makes for someone worth caring about, even when she’s being mouthy and anti-establishmenty towards the end. I hope to see her in a lot more in the near future. Ben Walker also excels as Lyra’s friend Roger, and although his screen time is tragically short, he performs admirably. I enjoyed his street-smart character immensely, and I hope to see him in the next movie (oh, wait… never mind…). An adult I did like in this movie was Sam Elliott, who plays Texan (?) Lee Scoresby. He’s typical Sam, the straight-talkin’ Southern gentleman, and that’s good enough for me. He was in Road House, you know.

All right, let’s get something straight here; this movie has little to no trace of atheism in it, not that it should be a problem if there is. If it were really a thoroughly atheist work, there wouldn’t be, oh, I don’t know, TALKING POLAR BEARS AND MAGIC! Atheists don’t believe in anything supernatural, so to come out and say that a movie featuring spirit-animals and magical insect robots is a secular work only makes me laugh heartily. Certainly there is a touch of humanism in the work, and a little even bleeds through to the film (thankfully). But it portrays the Magisterium, the thinly-veiled Catholic Church allegory, as actually having powers, magic, and, in the book, a living, breathing God! If an atheist REALLY wanted to make a book for children, he or she would state very plainly that there is no God, never was, and superstitions like magic and talking animals are figments of the imagination. Instead, we have Pullman throwing more fantasy out at us than C.S. Lewis after a particularly wonderful Anglican service. Pullman is not trying to convert anyone, obviously, and this work was only SLIGHTLY influenced by his godless heathen ways, but the religious powers that be felt the need to dish out a powerful lesson to what one Amazon reader calls “completely Anti-Christian” and what I call “completely NOT worth the controversy”.

It’s a toss-up. On the one hand, I enjoyed parts of this “disturbing atheist fantasy”. It has an undeniable British charm to it that rises above its droll presentation. It does have some anti-religious themes, mostly involving organized religion, and I think that’s something we can all get behind. And it has Sam Elliott in it! But it’s another case of too much info, too little run-time. It can get a little silly sometimes with all the talking animals, and not silly in a “ha-ha” kind of way, but silly in a kind of “ha-ha I can’t believe a talking polar bear is giving out serious battle plans to a Texan, a witch, and an ermine spirit-animal!” And it has Nicole Kidman in it! It’s a toss-up, as I said, so I’ll go ahead and give it a middle-ground rating since this movie lost so much money for New Line that the likelihood of there being a sequel is slim to none, which is close to the same probability of there being a God. I give The Golden Compass 5 kinda not-really atheist messages out of 10.

Tomorrow I continue the Failed Franchises theme with Wing Commander! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot until then!

My sister told me I had to watch Kings. She’s fairly picky when it comes to TV shows so I agreed to try it (just as soon as i caught up on all of Psych, which i finally did). So I watched all 13 episodes over the last few days (they’re all available on hulu for now). I can see why she likes the show.

Kings tells the story of a modern day monarchy. King Silas rules Gilboa by the will of God (annointed by Reverend Sammuel) and the love of the people. He created a prosperous city called Shiloh. At the start of the season, Gilboa is at war with Gath, a neighboring country and the war is not going well because Gath has tanks, called Goliaths, that are easily outgunning the GIlboans. To make matter worse, the king’s son, Jack, is captured. Enter the hero: David Shepherd. Shepherd singlehandedly saves Jack and destroys some of the Goliath tanks. The country hails him a hero and it is decided that David will remain in the capital as military liaison because of his charm. While there he falls for Michelle, the king’s daughter and a passionate activist. But what seems like a dream for David soon turns to nightmare as he must maintain his footing in a place where politics and hidden maneuverings rule. And plots against peace, and against the king, threaten all. David, an ever loyal subject, is tested.

Any of that sounds familiar? It should, what with it mostly being a not so veiled allusion to the Book of Sammuel. These allusions are one of many reasons why my sister loves the show. It’s smart. It seamlessly combines the old (flowery language, biblical stories, and monarchies) while maintaining the new world (electricity, guns, and other modern inventions).

I have always been a fan of retellings. Wicked (the broadway show) is fantastic as a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs was a favorite twist when I was younger. So Kings’ twist on the story of King Saul and King David was a pleasant, and well orchestrated, surprise.

But even without the biblical references, Kings it still a high-quality show. The characters are compelling and believable, certainly well acted. The story with it’s twists and turns are ever surprising and gripping. There was a lot going on and all of it was interesting to watch.

My only regret: that we will never get to find out what happens next. There will be no second season.

This is another show that had a lot of potential but wasn’t given the proper attention and effort needed by the network. Perhaps it would have faired better on cable (like Rome and the Tudors). I only wish I had known about the show earlier so that my friends and I could have watched it when it aired.

“The Grieving Season Continues: Mourning the Loss of Last Season’s Sci-Fi Shows Cut Down Before Their Time.”

Following in the vein of my last column that summer is the season for grieving over lost science-fiction characters, I now want to honor and recognize the sci-fi television shows that were brutally cut off at the knees last year.

While the death of a favorite character is hard enough to bear, it is even more devastating when a whole show is killed off. In fact, my heart still grievously aches over this past season’s savage cancellation of so many brilliant sci-fi shows.

Continue reading article at:

LINK http://www.airlockalpha.com/feature/6530/tv-watchtower-the-grieving-season-continues.html