Movies

[Peter Murray]

The AOL site sulked and wouldn't believe I can play the trailer, so I sulked back at it and went to play the WETA featurette on Apple's site instead.

"For generations, the enchanted kingdom of Narnia has existed only in the mind's eye" - well, yes. Apart from the animated film, and at least three television adaptations of it...

Ailsa Berk, playing part of Aslan, was in the most recent TV version (as was Warwick Davis, playing Reepicheep) and she's in the Prisoner of Azkaban as part of Buckbeak.

[Birdhead]

I think Kiwi and Aussie accents sound alike.

*sigh* It pains me to admit it, but we really do. It's like the whole Canadian/American accent thing- the difference is distinct to you, especially Canadians, but I can't really tell at all so. :P

I don't think the CGI looks all that bad... it's not the most fantastic, but I don't really care, because the casting at least looks okay, and some of the costuming is great (proper mail and the lion on the tunics! woo)

Lucy's supposed to be eight, and the actor is nine. So, well, I don't know, really. She maybe looks a tad young. *sigh*

And peter- you're not alone with the trailer. We ended up having to download the "high-res" version and play that, which was pretty crappy but still quite exciting. (My hopes aren't as dashed as Kathy's )

[Wilf]

Originally posted by Birdhead:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I think Kiwi and Aussie accents sound alike.

*sigh* It pains me to admit it, but we really do. It's like the whole Canadian/American accent thing- the difference is distinct to you, especially Canadians, but I can't really tell at all so. :P </div>[quote]

I totally agree there... Kiwi and Aussie accents do not sound similar. I live about as far as is possible from those two countries (in the UK), and I can tell them apart. Canadian and US accents are more similar than Aussie/Kiwi, but they are clearly distinct. To me Candian and US are about as similar as Scouse / Geordie, whilst Kiwi and Aussie are about as different as Welsh / Scottish. Interestingly, whilst in the US (in Colorado), the locals tended to ask if I was Australian.

I was going to make a seroius point realted to the topic (!), but I've forgotten it.

[Kathy Li]

I do remember instantly recognizing someone as Canadian by their accent when I was in England, once. But once I came back to the US, and accent-distinction was no longer a social-survival trait, I think I lost the ability.

Tui: I agree that the casting and costuming looks spot on, so I do still have hope. But there are some films where bad animation in the CGI just tunes me right out. And Aslan's pretty central. Oh, well. It's early days, yet. Time enough to see when it comes out.

In another weird FX-related note, I read Barry Purves's board, and it sounded as if they were doing King Kong with stop-motion animation. I love that idea. Maybe it won't be such a comedown from LoTR for Peter Jackson, after all.

[Cress]

Actually, I'm American, and I'm listening to a CD right now that is a Canadian band, and they're talking, and truly I would have no idea whatsoever that they're Canadian if I didn't know anyway. I can't tell Canadian accents, but I can tell southern and New York accents. It's a little bit funny. Maybe because I live so close to the border. I mean, I'm closer to Canada than I am to say, Arizona.

[Birdhead]

I can tell southern and New York accents. It's a little bit funny. Maybe because I live so close to the border. I mean, I'm closer to Canada than I am to say, Arizona.

*nods* Proximity is probably it- linguistic differences aren't border lines, or anything. (Although we still have isoglosses. *does the Linguistics Major dance of doom) Mind you, I can sure tell, say, a very New York accent and a "general American" and a Southern accent apart. :P

Wilf- *jokes* maybe it's because you're from the UK, and there are lots of expat Kiwis in the UK? (I mean, something like a fifth of New Zealand's population actually lives overseas, and I think probably quite a lot of those would be in England. )

I agree that the casting and costuming looks spot on

Except for non-blonde Lucy and I'm having this major Problem with the White Witch not having dark hair. Er, what? But the rest looks good, I agree. And wrt Kong- back in Welly we have Jackson-watch. I kid you not, what paparazzi NZ has (um. Not much.) spends half its time creeping around the sets of Kong (while it was being filmed) and stalking Jack Black, etc etc. :P it was pretty funny, actually. But what's stop-motion animation??

ETA: okay, kathy, I totally understand your reservations... but tell me this and thisAND THIS don't make you excited??!!

[Peter Murray]

Seriously? Stop-motion animation is the technique Willis O'Brien used to animate King Kong in the original film.
A model gorilla was built which could be posed. (Lots of other models, like the dinosaurs, were also made, of course.)
The gorilla was put in a scene and posed, one frame of the film was exposed, then the gorilla was moved slightly, another frame was exposed, etc. Takes ages.
Ray Harryhausen is noted for using stop-motion (renamed Dynamation to sound better) and the Star Wars people use it with computer-controlled models (renamed go-motion in an attempt to make people think they're better at it). Go-motion was used to make the walkers in the original SW films move, plus the Taun-taun. The chess game was done without the computer controls.
For some reason, a lot of British children's TV is done using stop-motion rather than cel animation. The Wombles, Bob the Builder... and a lot of others in between I can't remember now.

Afterthoughts: Doh! Of course - Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, the Cosgrove-Hall Wind in the Willows (I want that on DVD, but the series is still not out, except for the first TV movie). Plus the two-headed dragon (Ebersisk) in Willow and everything Will Vinton's ever done (unless he's switched to CGI now - I don't know). And Barry Purves with animations like Next.

And, of course, everything in King Kong. Including Fay Wray...

[Birdhead]

Oh, okay. *vaguely amused/interested* So it's better because it's traditional and interesting in a modern movie?

[Kathy Li]

Stop-motion isn't necessarily better than CGI. It's just different. And more in keeping with the traditional 1933 King-Kong. Stop-motion animation is still being done all the time (cf. Corpse Bride and Wallace & Gromit: Attack of the Were-Rabbit, but its special-effects use (cf. Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans) have mostly been replaced by CGI.

Then again, Jackson brought back forced perspective shots in LoTR, which had mostly been abandoned for blue/green-sceen.

Re-using older Hollywood tech can also recapture a specific period feel. The entire soundtrack for The Incredibles was recorded on tape the way it was done in the '60s (most movie scores are recorded digitally these days); which is why that big brass section has that '60s/James Bond feel.

Plus, Jackson might just be trying to avoid comparisons with the remake of Mighty Joe Young.

Oh, and sorry. No, those shots of the Narnia movie don't make me excited. Hopeful, maybe, but not excited (sigh). I'm glad they do for you, though!

[Peter Murray]

There's also the half-and-half approach. Much of the dinosaur work (barring a full-sized sick triceratops) in Jurassic Park was done as CGI.
The animators, Phil Tippett and others, were used to stop-motion work, though, and so armatures like the ones used in stop-motion figures were built for the film. Instead of then adding bulk and skin textures as they'd normally do, measuring devices were added. The animators therefore posed the dinosaur figures as if they were doing a single stop-motion character, and the measuring devices did the motion capture that the CGI animation was based on.

[alla]

Well Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. (warning spoilers contained within)

<span class="ev_code_WHITE"> As some of you will know, I attended a midnight session of this last night. It was... good I have to say. Hayden Christensen's acting has gotten better, and the lightsabre fights are awesome. The storyline, I would have to say is probably the best one since Return of the Jedi (which will forever be ny favourite). Although, they left out a lot for those of us who have not actually watched the cartoon of the Clone Wars. I recommend that you watch these before you see it, as otherwise you might be a little lost for a while. It jumps right in off the deep end.

Now, all I really have to say storyline wise, so I don't spoil too much for you guys, is that I feel so sorry for Anakin, and Palpatine is an evil... thing. He plays on Anakin's worry for Padme, and thats what turns him, the worry that Padme will die in childbirth... And... and... I don't really want to think about this, but he goes and kills all the Jedi in the Jedi Temple, including... including the young Padawans....

This is definitely the best movie of the Prequel trilogy , I would not say the best overall, but that is because I am partial to the original trilogy.</span>

Alla

[Cress]

Yeah, I'd heard about the <span class="ev_code_white">scary phsyco child killing scene</span> and that some people thought it should be rated R because of that. I hope that wasn't a spoiler since I'd heard about it without seeing the movie. Anyway, I hope I can remember what's going on in the storyline when I actually get around to seeing it (I won't be queing up this weeking) because I haven't seen the last one forever and I think I only saw it once. Maybe if I completely forget someone could fill me in.

[Lisa]

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

The most awesome movie ever.

I cried. For most of the movie. Partly, because it was the last Star Wars movie ever. Partly, because I didn't want it to end. But a great deal of it was the emotion I felt, the hatred towards Anakin and what he'd done, the heartbreak of poor, poor Padme, the gut-wrenching acts Obi-Wan was forced to do. I started crying about halfway through, and if I stopped, it must've been for a very, very short while.

Although I had a rough time emotionally, Stephie was having just a hard time physically. When it got intense, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it so hard that there are bruises forming, albeit small ones. She had to remind me to breathe a couple times.

Spoilers to follow:
<span class="ev_code_WHITE">I began crying about ten minutes before Anaking becomes Darth Vader. I knew what would happen, and I couldn't stand it. Those cute, innocent little Younglings, all slaughtered in cold blood. The worst one was when the young boy asked Anakin "There are too many of them. What do we do?" The child looked around five or six years old. In response, Vader turned on his lightsaber. Then the scene changed. The next worse was when Bail Organa (for those of you who aren't good with names, it's the guy who adopts Leia) steps out of his ship and a boy around 13 is holding off ten or fifteen clone troopers, but it's too many, and he gets shot.</span>
___
<span class="ev_code_WHITE">Everyone in the theatre laughed when Yoda stepped into the room with Palpatine, and with a dismissive gesture he slammed two Red Guards into the wall. Very hard. They crumpled to the floor. Two of the teachers we brought with us were sitting next to Steph, who was sitting next to me. They were cracking up the whole time, and at one point made a joke about Padme's ship: "Man, that's a hot ride." --' Men and their cars. Ugh. After the movie, Stephie and I ran out of the theatre and went straight to the bathroom, due to the two sodas we shared. My mother, however, stayed and talked to the teachers. She said "Don't talk to me about it. It was too emotional. I was crying so hard." The teachers were like "You too?" and she asked "Who else was crying?" They answered: "Lisa was bawling half the movie." Which is so true. My teacher rocks, and it's too bad I'm not in his class anymore.</span>
___
<span class="ev_code_WHITE">I hated when Vader was on the stretcher, burnt to the edge of death, and far away Padme was in a sterile room, dying from the lack of will to live. It's not right that such a heartless, cruel, evil manipulator should live, while the pure, sweet girl should die because of his betrayal. Those were well-planned scenes, though. They kept switching back and forth between the two. What came before that, however, is THE most intense scene I've ever watched. I was seriously sobbing at that point, when Darth Vader and Obi-Wan were dueling, while Vader was choking Padme, and when Vader was burnt alive. My heart almost stopped as Obi-Wan yelled out to the monster, who by this point only had one mechanical arm left and no legs, "You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to bring balance to the Force, not darken it!" He paused for a while, then said "You were my brother! I loved you!" Vader then screams "I hate you!" so viciously that you can barely understand it. I was whispering to myself "It shouldn't end like this. He shouldn't die like this. No...no..." And Steph replied "Lisa, hon, he's not gonna die." I thought to myself, as tears streamed down my face, "He's already dead."</span>

All in all, the movie is a must-see, even if (like many people I've spoken to) you've never seen any of them, you don't like them, or you just don't get it. It's the movie of the century, in my opinion.

Oh yeah. This boy--my friend's twin brother--had 12:01 tickets, on a school day, with SOLs. He stayed up until 3 a.m. Hehe. Silly boy.

Darn it, Steph said SOMETHING funny, but I can't remember now. Oh well.

Later: God, this movie is so good. Either that, or I'm really emotional. I just saw the trailer, and the "A Hero Falls" music video-like-thing, and I started crying again. (Every time I see Padme cry...or think about her crying...I break out in tears.) Just thinking about it now is making my eyes well up.

Someone needs to save me from myself. Or at least from my obsession. I just downloaded like 50 Star Wars pictures. *slaps self* Bad girl!

[Peter Murray]

After spending six hours loading the Narnia trailer page, I have finally seen the trailer.
<LI>I'm not convinced by Aslan yet.
<LI>The first time through I thought there were people in Narnia, but when I paused it on the second viewing, I realised they're all dwarves and centaurs, so that's Ok.
<LI>Lucy is definitely blonde in the books, at least as an adult, and definitely not in the trailer.
<LI>That bit with Lucy and Tumnus does look right. Hopefully, in context, the rest of it will look as right.

If not... the books are still there, they've been adapted before, and they'll be adapted again.

[Fox]

PM Ive just this second looked at the trailer for Narnia on http://www.narniaweb.com/news.asp?id=266&dl=2842210 and I have to say it looks great! Im sure Ive heard Narnia somewhere before? Cant think where?!? I suppose this is when PM says "Fox DD wrote some of the film, we have been talking about it for weeks!!" hahaha Sorry. If you go to the link above it will stream the trailer to you!
Thanks for the heads up on this film PM!!
Fox