A little soapbox for me to stand on and rant from.
Just came across this animated movie due for release end of next year. Its called “9”. It is based on a short animated film and is been produced by Tim Burton. The voice cast includes Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, John C Reilly, and Christopher Plummer.
I really love the animation style and the design of the rag doll characters. Here is the trailer:
This was much better then I anticipated. The acting was good, the storyline was more or less believable and the SFX were very good.
Having said that it is incredibly gory with body parts and blood sprays everywhere. The Jeep mounted heavy machine gun that Rambo commandeers is particularly messy (the poor driver!).
This move is set sometime after Rambo III.
Synopsis:
When a group of missionary aid workers in myanmar disappear into the vast green inferno vigilante vietnam veteran john rambo leaves his job as a salween river boatman behind to accompany a group of mercenaries on a daring rescue mission.
Ok I knew this wasn’t going to be good but oh boy was it bad.
I’m not sure why exactly, it had the same writer as the first two, actually Starship Troopers 2 was pretty awful too, I’d even go as far as to say it was worse then number 3.
The acting was very flat and the plot had some terrible setups. The SFX were OK but some of the CGI was noticeable, unlike the original which did a good job of making the bugs blend into the live action.
If you liked the original then you will probably enjoy this one just don’t get your hopes up.
Synopsis:
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder explodes with mind-blowing man-on-bug combat! Col. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is back to lead his team on a secret mission to rescue a small crew of troopers stranded on the remote planet of OM-1. Battling bugs, both new and old, the new “Marauder” advanced weapons technology may be their only hope against a treasonous element operating within the Federation itself. As Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and the rest of the starship crew fight to survive in the harsh conditions, it begins to dawn on them that something on OM-1 is very, very wrong. This time the bugs have a secret weapon that could destroy humanity. Join the Mobile Infantry in this intergalactic action-packed adventure.
Ok now that is just a bit upsetting. One of my favourite films gowing up, Wargames was released twenty-five years ago !
Wired has an interesting article on the film that “That Turned Geeks and Phreaks Into Stars”
Here is the orginal trailer for the movie:
And of course because Hollywood cannot leave the classics alone, the new Wargames: The Dead Code trailer. Which is released this year sometime:
Feeling really old now, so I’m off to get some coffee to jumpstart my creaking bones….
Watched this over the weekend. Its very very good and very thought provoking. Its a documentary by Al Gore on global warming. Has some very shocking graphs and statistics. I did find it a little personal, very US centric and perhaps a bit too sentimental in places but very good overall. I’d urge everyone to watch it.
Checkout http://www.climatecrisis.net for more information and for things you can do to help.
Serenity Rocks ! I got tickets to the preview show here in New Zealand and the film is awesome. I’m not sure how someone who has not seen the series will take it as they will miss a lot of the tie-ins to the series and they won’t empathise with the characters as strongly but I reckon the film will do well.
Cannot say more without spoiling the story but go watch it when it is released !
Watched King Kong last night. Its not LOTR but it is not bad.
I was really disappointed with the CG in the first 3rd of the movie. It included lots of floaty/cartoon animation especially with the human figures. However the CG in the later parts of the film was very good other then some very glaring green screen bits.
Kong was very well rendered and the animation was great.
The only other problems were the pace which was all wrong and the overuse of dramatic close ups.
Overall a good film.