Pacific Rim – “If you HATE it for non-Australian reasons, your inner child is dead.”

The above quote is from a fellow visual effect pro, in regards to his viewing of Pacific Rim with his Australian actress wife who took issue with the two Aussie characters being played by non-Aussies.  I took issue with them too, but for other reasons.  I do agree with him, however, that if you hate Pacific Rim, your inner child is dead — or you are too young to have an inner child because you are perhaps…still a child.

Man of Steal Stole My Clothes

I would like to preface this review with the statement that there is a lot of talent behind this film. A LOT!  And this is what makes me so sad.  I WANTED Man of Steel to be a good film, and promote sequels that will keep people busy.  It’s just

Jack The Studio Slayer

Its difficult to say why this film didn’t work.  It could have been too many cooks in the kitchen.  The release date was pushed by nearly a year for re-shoots, and re-doing visual effects – much to the chagrin of all the hundreds of artists working at predominantly Digital Domain and MPC who were on 15-hr days, 7 days a week trying to make the FIRST deadline, only to have the studio say, “Oh, sorry, you know that finish line?  We’ve moved it… BUT KEEP RUNNING!”  So, I can only guess that the studio didn’t like the first cut, or it tested poorly, so they asked for changes.  This process, when done improperly and haphazardly, causes the majority of watered down movies that are so worried about catering to the largest demographic that they end up being

Oblivion ~ As in, where the story was lost.

My biggest issue with Oblivion, outside of two hours that seem like four and a film score that sounds like a hybrid of Legend and Ladyhawke, is that it doesn’t seem to really know what it is.  It is a sci-fi flick, that’s for certain.  But is it post-apocalyptic? Is it an alien invasion story? A space travel movie? A last-man-on Earth story? A clone movie? Robots versus man?  And the “All of that AND MORE” answer doesn’t do it for me.  It shows indecision and an inability to hone and focus the story.

Superman: Man of Steel. Support the Artists! Wait a week!

EVERYONE loves to be adrenalized by movies like The Avengers and Iron Man. Right? The films that create new worlds or recreate old worlds that we can lose ourselves in for a couple of hours.  These films are in jeopardy.  At least the quality of them are.  Do you want to continue to be able to see these kinds of films?  Do you want to be riveted by the mind-blowing realism of Richard Parker?  The thrilling battles of Iron Man?  The invisible transformation of time and worlds that allow Daniel Day Lewis to BE Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s?

Or do we want everything to regress back to the mid-90s level effects of Olympus Has Fallen?

HFR – Hobbit Frame Rate

One moment of silence for Eileen Moran, Executive Producer at Weta Digital and one of the producers on The Hobbit.  She led Weta to many Oscars, including three consecutive ones for the Lord of the Rings series.  To the occasional consternation of the artist, she was one to always say “Yes.  Absolutely.  We can do that.”  And then, we did.   She passed away after a long bout with cancer, just shy of the premiere of The Hobbit in Wellington.

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It’s been nearly a decade since we were last in Middle Earth.  Peter Jackson provided for us a window into a world that we had previously only imagined.  His vision of Middle Earth was everything I could have hoped for, and beyond.  So when the announcement arrived that The Hobbit was going to production it became a roller coaster of anticipation and trepidation.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon certainly is the dark of something…

I can’t abide by Michael Bay, and less by this trashy series that is solely meant to make money.  And in that capacity, it succeeds.  It also succeeds in keeping many visual effects artists busy with OT as they create absolutely wonderful animation.  Animation that is completely ruined by lazy screenwriting, acting that boils down to yelling and screeching, overblown direction by a megalomaniac director, and unnecessary camera moves that would make a 12-year-old first-person-shooter vet nauseous.

Soul Surfer — better than some biopics this year, but still misses some waves.

An inspiring story of an inspiring young lady, but once again, doesn’t really inspire as a film.

The New Zealand Chronicles:Part 4 – Movie Watching

My design for the cover of MC2

*** First written June 15, 2002***

Woke up at 11am.  Pretty late for us since we’ve arrived.  I think Jennifer woke up earlier.

Still working on Midnight Club 2 cover.