The Painting (Le Tableau)

by Stewart Smith on April 20, 2013

Still from The Painting

The Painting is an animated independent film made in France in 2011. Telling a story of life in an unfinished painting, it tells a Shakespeare-esque story of a world plagued by racism in which a band of sketches and paintings searches for their painter to ask him to return and fix their world.

Rich with color and liveliness, it covers a lot of recurring themes in modern life, such as tension between completed and unfinished characters. The biggest theme, however, seems to be the use of religious metaphor. The characters feel abandoned by the painter, search for the painter, have faith in the painter, and pray for the painter. While the story itself is a nice change from the modern clichés you find in blockbusters, one can’t help but notice a few discrepancies, including a couple plot lines which are more or less abandoned as the film goes on. Some of the dialog and flow of the movie also felt a little clunky, and some of the characters seemed a bit empty.

The key aspect of the film’s allure is, quite obviously, its artistic style. Presented in a beautifully painted format with impressive color choice and form, it is a remarkable example of human expressionism.

The movie has a little bit of nudity, which may cause some giggles upon less mature audiences, but rest assured that it is all in the interest of recreating the feel of a painting, and that it’s generally no worse than that of Titanic.

All in all, the movie presents a moderately structured story with creative religious undertones in a style which breaks the modern cultural trend of paintings and turns the movie into less of a blockbuster and more of, well, a work of art.

This movie was reviewed as part of the American Cinematheque‘s Los Angeles Children’s Film Festival. 

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Frankenweenie

by Stewart Smith on February 22, 2013

Frankenweenie PosterNominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film,  Frankenweenie is director Tim Burton’s latest divulgence into the world of stop-motion animation after working on titles such as Corpse Bride (2005) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

The movie follows the story of a young boy, Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan), as he attempts to reanimate his recently deceased dog named Sparky. After succeeding in his attempt, he must try to keep Sparky’s existence a secret from his parents and friends.

In case you haven’t realized by now, Frankenweenie is an homage to Frankenstein, the 1931 classic based on the novel by Mary Shelley. The film is shot entirely in black and white with many nods to its inspiration as well as other films of the era such as Dracula (1931) and The Mummy (1932). It really manages to keep up an atmosphere in this way. The monochromatic tones compliment the characters and sets of the film, and the references don’t feel overdone or distracting to an audience new to the original films. It’s spooky atmosphere is only amplified by its fantastic music composed by Danny Elfman.

One of the most well sculpted things about Frankenweenie is its diverse cast of characters. Each one has a different design and personality which really makes the story feel like more than a bunch of talking humanoids. The plot also manages to tell a fairly nonlinear story without going too far off the deep end with attempts to explain each somewhat bizarre happenstance.

Being a Tim Burton film, one might expect it to be a little alarming to children below a certain age. While this may be true, its really up to the parent to know their kid. The nature of the film isn’t to make jump scares, it’s to tell a story about a boy desperately trying to revive his dog, which is something most of us can relate to. While the film gets a little more scary near the climax, it hardly feels like too much.

Age Recommendation: Frankenweenie was made to be a little chilling, but it’s also a lovely story which kids above that age-line will full-heartedly enjoy. Again, know your kid. 9+

Final Verdict: A lovely homage to the era. 9/10

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Speed

by Stewart Smith on December 20, 2012

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted a review! My New Year’s resolution – post new reviews more often!  There will be more reviews coming soon but, in the meantime, here’s a review for an older movie I recently watched on Netflix.

In the action-thriller film Speed (1994), a terrorist (Dennis Hopper) rigs a city bus to explode if its speed goes under 50 mph. Let’s say you’re hurtling down a street at 50 mph alongside a line of 13 kids (average height at age 13) lying end-to-end in a straight line. Your car would race past them within a second.* So you can imagine how difficult it would be to maneuver the bus, diffuse the bomb, and move people on and off the bus.

In the film, L.A. cop Jack (Keanu Reeves) manages to get on the bus, with help from a passenger Annie (Sandra Bullock) to stop the bomb from exploding. The two stars of this film were really “accelerated” in their acting careers by this sudden hit. (Bullock has since won a Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side. Reeves went on to star in many other hits including The Matrix.)

Directed by Jan de Bont, Speed is full of remarkable excitement, and action is kept at a quick pace. The cinematography (Andrzej Bartkowiak) is sublime, and the music keeps up a flamboyant tension. Some things did seem a bit cliche, however. There were a few plot holes that confused me greatly. For instance, nobody even considered the option of paying the bomber his ransom. It wasn’t even mentioned.

At the start of the film, several people are trapped in an elevator for ransom. The officers who are trying to free them say that in three minutes they will all be killed. Well, if there are really three minutes left, then wouldn’t the negotiators be going crazy? Or at least, thinking about options like delivering the money?

I thought of the film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) about a hostage situation in a subway tunnel. What I liked about that film is that it covered all the bases. Unlike Speed, that film really made me feel the awkward position of a hostage negotiator. It felt realistic and was heavy on the emotional side of storytelling more than the action side.

The villain’s backstory in Speed is left largely unaddressed. They mention little details – only those that point towards his location, but we never get a motive or any kind of painful instance that would be traumatic enough to make a man so violent. I think villains in films like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight are a lot more interesting, an absolutely wonderful film with a terrific antagonist.

Although Speed isn’t a very insightful film, it still has an active, exciting tone that really builds up suspense in a unique and unpredictable manner, which is absolutely brilliant.

Age Recommendation: Speed is very dramatic, and feels very intense. I would have children who watch it to be old enough to understand the course of events without panicking too much. Everyone else should take some time beforehand to really get to know the idea of such fast motion – such as I did with my schoolchildren analogy – so that you panic even more!

Final Verdict: As a thriller, it certainly kept pace, though it lacked in some key plot aspects. Still, it’s a worthy watch. 7/10.

*My mathematical standpoint – Feel free to correct any mistakes: 50mph is about four-fifths of a mile per minute. A mile is 5,280 feet. So if you multiply 5,280 by four-fifths, and then divide that by 60 (seconds in a minute), you get the number of feet per second covered at 50mph, which just happens to be a little more than 70 feet.

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Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

by Stewart Smith on July 14, 2012

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted posterDreamworks Animation’s second big franchise Madagascar is continuing on its merry way. The most recent film in the series – Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted – was released last month, after two predecessors and a very successful television spin-off. Things seem to be going great for our batch of castaway characters.

But then again, it all sounds rather familiar, doesn’t it? Anyone who’s read my review for Puss in Boots knows that I feel that the overall quality of the films in the Shrek series began slipping with the third film. The depth of the story started leaving and it began taking a more greedy, “please the child” sort of position.

Therefore, I was interested to see whether the Dreamworks team would manage to improve the franchise based on critiques of previous features. At first I feared that there would again be a further drop in quality, but for once, I wasn’t entirely correct.

Picking up where we left off, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted tells of the lost travelers Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), along with the elusive self-proclaimed lemur ‘King’ Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his entourage as they continue on their journey back to New York’s Central Park Zoo.

In search of a method of travel, they stowaway on a circus train, meeting new animals and exploring new environments all over Europe. Rich, 3D adaptations of cities such as Paris, Rome and Monte Carlo set the scene impressively.

The primary antagonist is a quirky Animal Control Worker – Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand) – who seems to be the absolute corniest thing about this film. She fills the gap of something for the animals to fear, although as far as stereotypes go, she appears to be the fierce French general, with a hint of outback hunter. As a character, she is weak – nothing is explained about her, and she has no personality aside from obsession over the thrill of the chase. She comes over as a poor imitation of Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau.

Interestingly enough, this episode captures the spirit of movement and action instead of the stationary surroundings of the others. One of the things I always admired most about the Madagascar series was its animation style. It was just so vibrant and everything kind of popped! Even the television series employed this in some way. And the action sequences really showed off this strength. So, since this film tries to be more active, it meets the standards of its style and therefore can be critiqued as a children’s film rather than as a childish movie with adult references that confuses the heck out of me and makes me lose my viewing platform.

And I know you might think, “Wait a second! The wit was childish and corny, the characters weren’t developed any further (although in Escape 2 Africa they did an admirable job of this), the story was standard and predictable, and yet for some reason this is supposed to create a more enjoyable experience? How?”  The answer lies in the fact that this movie is aimed towards kids, rather than trying to create a movie that tries to appeal to both kids and adults.

Dreamworks Animation has been criticized for being crude and aiming more towards adult entertainment. They were trying to make an experience all could enjoy, a real party! However, as it gets more and more apparent that the 3D animation market is primarily for children, and no longer for adults taking wonderment in the technology, the company chose to start catering towards kids more. And they have been going through an awkward transition with that. Movies are being made that don’t know what place they belong in.

To put it simply, I liked this film because it was straightforward enough for me to know what to expect and experience it accordingly. After all, you wouldn’t go to see Sleeping Beauty and expect Black Swan.

 

Age Recommendation: This is a children’s film. I wouldn’t even give it a bump for crude humor. This is fine for all ages.

Final Verdict:  6/10. An improvement on the original, with fine animation and a clear story. Not bad.

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The Amazing Spider-Man

by Stewart Smith on July 1, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man posterI will admit – I have not seen any of the original Spider-Man films. It was a while ago that the last film was made – 2007 to be precise. I was eight years old at the time, and that really wasn’t the time to get into a franchise.

To be completely honest, I never really got into the whole superhero genre until I saw the recent and acclaimed The Avengers. So, with a reboot of the Spider-Man series on the verge of release, I figured: “Why not?”

The Amazing Spider-Man opens in the USA on July 3rd. I was lucky enough to see an advance press screening, and it is safe to say, that I do not regret this spontaneity.

Being a Spider-Man virgin I didn’t dwell on story comparison while seeing this film and I will not in this review.

The Amazing Spider-Man follows Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), abandoned by his parents and sent to live with his aunt and uncle. He finds a clue to his father’s work that will take him on the adventure of his lifetime, becoming the elusive vigilante known as Spider-Man. Along the way, he has many encounters, including an electric sexual chemistry with teenage classmate Gwen (Emma Stone), who just happens to be the daughter of chief of police Captain Stacy (Dennis Leary).

Now the big question on everybody’s mind is, “Why do a reboot of a film that came out so recently? Was it worth it?”  Well, believe me, it was, and let me tell you why.

Peter Parker is the tech-savvy, nerdy type. The main appeal of the films lay in the idea that that even if you are a social outcast, you can still succeed by using your intellect. But this is a new age for computer geeks. They are being included more and have actually risen to a pretty high status. As Sherlock put it, “Smart is the new sexy.”  So Marvel adapted, and now Spider-Man is more relatable than ever.

Looking at the few superhero films I’ve seen thus far, this one is… different. It does things in an alternative way. Firstly, it’s a lot darker, and yet doesn’t verge into the blackness of the latest Batman films. Secondly, there’s less action, which actually lets the story flow more smoothly and vastly improves the film. Unlike The Avengers, this movie has a bit more depth to it.

Speaking of depth, I was lucky enough to see the movie presented in IMAX 3D, and let me tell you, the 3D work on that film was rather impressive, especially on the gargantuan IMAX screen.

Although this is a PG-13 film which contains blood and violence, the lighter parts of the film have certainly received a Disney-style treatment, as there is a certain atmosphere that can be felt in various live action Disney hits, especially those with kids going through the high school system. Yes, I just compared The Amazing Spider-Man to High School Musical. Please don’t send too much hate mail.

Age Recommendation: The Amazing Spider-Man is a serious film, with some dramatic moments. All in all, I would take an 11 year-old to this, maybe even a 10 year-old.

Final Verdict: A fine example of threading story and action together. As an unbiased viewer, I’ll give it 9/10.

Check out the pictures from the red carpet at the world premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man.

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Indie Game: The Movie

by Stewart Smith on June 28, 2012

Indie Game: The Movie posterYes, I am a gamer. A gamer and a nerd. And you may find that odd or different, but when you think about it, it really isn’t. A great many of my generation spend considerable time playing games. The thing is, they play games in a different way than those that grew up in, say, the 1980s. Those kids took an interest in the way things worked, how the technology changed, how things progressed. Nowadays, children just try to shoot the head off of Nazis and monsters, sometimes even as the Nazis or monsters themselves!

Games are an art form, or rather, they can be. This is why I spend much of my time occupied with a completely different gaming community – the indie gamers. Indie games are, as their name suggests, games produced by an independent publisher. Independent games, much like independent films, are made completely separate from any kind of gigantic corporation – although they often rely on the large corporations’ platforms for distribution.

Usually indie games are the efforts of just a few people, and can be incredibly time consuming. When the creation of a game takes away years of your life, and becomes the single thing that an entire career is balanced upon, a lot more heart goes into it. Therefore, we revisit the idea of games as an art form.

Indie Game: The Movie is a documentary film that was released on June 12. Much in the spirit of its content, it is an independent film that relied on online sources such as crowd-sourced investment giant Kickstarter.com for funding. Following the long and endearing process of making indie games, this film focuses on the experiences of developers Edmund McMullen/Tommy Refenes (Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish (Fez), and Jonathan Blow (Braid).

These developers – nay, these artists – meet some tough times and some rough patches as they attempt to not only provide a wholesome gaming experience, but to tell a story directly from the heart.

The documentary has been met with overwhelming success, and sports a “100% Fresh” ranking on Rotten Tomatoes. As an indie gamer myself, I can safely say that the documentary not only excelled at capturing the medium, but also at capturing the very spirit of those involved. And it isn’t a movie made for gamers exclusively. Ordinary people may benefit from these stories as well. There are morals to be taken from the way that each character deals with hardship and even success, morals which can be applied to everyday life.

 

Age Recommendation: There is some swearing and some intense scenes – of course, programmers are like that. With puberty looming and the dawn of a new age, I recommend this film to anyone about my age and above. (13+)

Final Verdict: Indie Game: The Movie is an incredible documentary which demonstrates lessons that everyone should learn. I strongly urge anyone who can do so to watch it. 10/10

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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

June 2, 2012

Hey guys! I know that I haven’t done a review in a while – mostly because I’ve been working on my independent film of EPIC proportions! – but I’ve taken a little time to write a small review to remind you that I haven’t forgotten about the site. Anyway, it’s good to be back. To [...]

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Moneyball

March 7, 2012

Nerds like me are usually turned off by movies like this, because they appear to be entirely sports based. I mean, I personally show little interest in basketball or football, so I always tend to avoid these sorts of films. I realized from watching this, however, that there are several quite important sports movies out [...]

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Hugo

February 20, 2012

When I was much smaller, I had a really good school librarian. She worked hard on her library, and you could tell that she loved her job. She would always be ready to give out book recommendations to her students, young and old, and would oversee weekly trips to the library for all classes, as [...]

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The Artist

February 17, 2012

The Artist is one of the nine movies in line for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is also in the race for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay…  And it’s silent! You heard me [...]

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