8/24/2004

So, I'm back from my trip to Cornell U, to see my brother who's gonna be a junior there this Fall. Ithaca, NY is a very nice place, and on the last day, we went to the cinema and saw Aliens vs. Predator and Collateral (with one ticket/person... *eep*). The latter was simply a really good movie, although I must echo Roger Ebert's sentiment, in that I wish it didn't end with a (somewhat generic) subway chase scene. As for AvP... As a fan of both Alien and Predator, I nevertheless can't give the movie more than 2 stars. I've heard much bitching about how, by being PG-13, it was guaranteed to suck, etc. etc., but interestingly enough, none of the things that really sucked about the movie had anything to do with it being PG-13. And the reason I'm so excited is because I firmly believe that I, Ixat, if I was on the production team, could have managed to make AvP a 3-star movie hands down, PG-13 or no PG-13! (incidentally, there was one very clear instance of the word "fuck" in the film. Isn't that supposed to put a movie square in R-rated territory...?)

Here are some of the things that were cocked up, even though it would have taken no additional effort to do them right:

1) Music. What is music used for in movies? To set mood, of course. If, during a scene, calm music is playing, it will create an atmosphere of calm. If the music is energetic, then the scene will take on an exciting quality. So, to continue this line of reasoning, if during the entirety of a movie, the music is really generic and forgettable, what happens then? It's a good bet that, no matter how mind-blowing the graphics, the scenes during which this music is playing will start seeming generic and forgettable as well. The solution is, obviously, to get original and interesting music!

2) Fight scene photography blew ass. That is especially apparent during the scene where one of the Predators is fighting mano a mano with an Alien. All you see is just quick shots with flashes of various body parts; you can't tell how the two are fighting, who is winning, and why. In a dark movie like AvP, it is essential that scenes like this one be shot in long shot, and choreographed well; it would also help if the creatures' movements are given an immense power and momentum. Otherwise, these scenes seem more like an onanistic perfunctory exersice than a titanic clash of the two fiercest creatures in the known universe.

3) The pacing was completely amateurish. In the opening setup, every scene was meant to convey plot points, and every line of dialogue was meant to set up the plot and characters; and once the action started, it never let up till the end of the movie. In fact, during the entire movie, there was not a single dull moment; and that is one of its biggest problems. The director seemed pressed to utilize every second of screen time in some "constructive" way, forgetting that what made the greatest action movies wasn't just the action, but also the absence of it at certain points. What made Terminator 2 an epic movie, and why was Terminator 3 not? Because T2 wasn't rushing anywhere. Cameron took his sweet time developing the characters, and there were some very quiet and contemplative moments throughout the movie, moments that were longer than the standard Hollywood half-beat reserved for such scenes - and those were absent in T3. By making the movie only 2-3 minutes longer, it would be possible to intersperse such moments with action and dialogue, like commas in a sentence, and give the film some "rough edges" - these days, way too many movies are so smooth and glossy that when you're done watching them, you barely know you did it.

By now you probably noticed that I omitted obvious criticisms like "flat characters" and "cliched plot." Of course those are also valid, but the point that I was trying to make was that even with these shortcomings, you could spice up a very dull movie and make it seem interesting and in some ways original.

So, to apply all of this reasoning to the movie itself, let's take a look at the scene where the research party first lays eyes on that Ziggurat thingy, and which fails to create much of an impression. Now imagine that the camera, instead of just cutting to a view of the tower, started with the charaters' absolutely astonished faces, then pulled back, slowly, slowly, while the sparse instrumental electronica of Bjork's "An Echo, A Stain" played in the background, until the people were nothing but specks on the ground, and only after many seconds would the mute monolithic top of the pyramid come into view from the bottom of the frame.

Elementary, my dear Watson. Just tell me where to send my resume.


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8/11/2004

This one is for Haibane Renmei, a recent anime series and some of the most beautiful drama I've ever seen. Here's something exceedingly rare - a series where nothing blows up and nobody gets killed, where there aren't even any villains, and yet by the end you're moved literally to tears. This is also probably the only series I've ever seen, animated or otherwise, where I just wanted to hug every single one of the major characters.

After serial experiments lain, Niea_7, and now Haibane Renmei, I officially put kissing Yoshitoshi ABe's butt on my "to-do" list.



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OK, there's changes in town!

Along with trying to uphold the principles of the Comment Revolucio'n, I will hereby include a star rating in all meaningful comments.

-- Here's an idea - why don't you take a steaming crap on your scanner, and post that? It'd be a marked improvement, trust me.

-- The hard drive space would have been better employed to house $jark 's porn collection. Waste of space and effort.

-- There is one (1) thing that hasn't been done completely wrong in this pic.

-- Why don't you check out this awesome Photoshop layer tutorial?

-- The road before you is long and torturous, my friend, but you have already taken the first steps.

-- Half good and half shitty.

-- Solid, but needs quite a bit of work before you start blowing minds.

-- There is still at least one glaring flaw, but overall, a very nice effort.

-- A worthy entry to DA, something I would consider putting up as desktop wallpaper.

-- Only a tiny technical shortcoming keeps this one from being Daily Deviation material.

-- Flawless. Even *enayla couldn't have drawn it better.

-- Absolute masterpiece. Not only flawless in technique, but transcendent in concept.


At *j4m3sb0nd's unspoken suggestion, here I'll list all the Deviations that I have given the Superman rating:


Below the Rust by ~zancan

Rolling Through by *takitus

The Arrival by *alyn

Dark Side of the Heart by * n05feratu