where ideas go to die
Academy: Give this man more Oscars this weekend.
[UPDATE: And so they did. Ratatouille won for best animated feature. I must confess to not having seen Persepolis yet, but I did enjoy Ratatouille enormously.]
[UPDATE 2: It would seem the videos linked in this post are no longer available. Oh, well.]
![The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z5QXPGE3L._SL75_.jpg)
The Spiderwick Chronicles‘ credits read like a who’s-who of 80s and 90s film-making. The flick was produced by Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (Stevie Spielberg’s regular producers), it was shot by Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff), one of the writers was John Sayles (The Howling, Eight Men Out), the composer was James Horner (Star Trek II, Aliens) and the creatures were done by the incomparable Phil Tippett (The Empire Strikes Back, Jurassic Park). That’s quite a roster of talent, and you know what? It shows in the finished product. Here we have a kids’ film with a coherent plot, some earned pathos, and enough action and wonder to keep the young un’s and their folks thoroughly engaged. (With a caveat, however: I wouldn’t take a kid younger than ten to this one. “Chronicles” does have its fair share of scares).
I don’t mind telling you that I just don’t get the Harry Potter phenomenon. To me, it’s a lot of gobbledygook with characters I neither relate to nor care about. The Spiderwick Chronicles, on the other hand, I found accessible and fun. I hope this flick does well at the box office. Kids deserve more films like it.
…and this time he’s bringing his… son?
Click on the picture below to go to the first official trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Hey, call me a doof if you want, but I got chills when he picked up the hat and you saw his shadow.
I stand in awe of Ray Bradbury. His writing is so simple and clear, and yet so powerful that he makes what he does seem effortless. It’s unfair to level such a dusty cliche as “he makes it look easy” at the man, but what else can I do? He really does make it look easy. Having done some writing myself, I know that economic prose that speaks to the heart (despite its simplicity) is hard. Damned hard. And to boot Ray does it all without a strict adherence to genre. To call what he writes “science fiction” does it a disservice. The Martian Chronicles takes place on Mars and it’s got rockets and ray guns, but it’s not sci-fi per se. It’s more a portrait of 1950s America wrapped up and presented as a fable (or a cautionary tale). The structure of the book is brilliant. “Chronicles” isn’t a traditional novel. It’s actually a collection of short stories with a shared context and one or two recurring characters. Taken as a whole, these keen little stories tell an epic tale with powerful themes — and all in the space of a slight 268 pages. I reread the book partly out of nostalgia. The last time I went on this little trip with Bradbury, I was in my teens. Well, the book is just as good as I remembered it — maybe even a little better now that I’ve got a few years under my belt and I’ve actually lived through more of the things that Ray’s talking about. Anyway, if you haven’t already read it, read The Martian Chronicles. It’s damn fine.
And God bless Ray Bradbury. May he live forever.
Wow, I’ve gotta say that Stardust was really a pleasant surprise. I know it didn’t do particularly well in theaters, but I have a feeling this is going to be one of those perennials that takes on new life on home video. Here was a movie that showed me things I’d never seen before and it kept me guessing all the way through. I can count the movies that do that for me in a given year on one hand — sometimes on one finger. There’s adventure for the fellas, sincere romance for the ladies and a humdinger of a villain in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer.
Seriously, check this one out.
[Actually, I should have realized I'd dig this one since it's based on a book by Neil Gaiman. I've enjoyed Gaiman's stuff for years; he truly is one of our finest writers. I'll confess right here and now to having a little man-crush on Neil Gaiman -- he's that good.]
I really couldn’t have asked for more with To Infinity and Beyond!. It’s well-written, nicely illustrated, and, well, kind of inspiring. The book tells the story of the Emeryville, California animation studio’s first twenty years. From their early forays into (non-paying) short films to the billion dollar powerhouse they are today. Through the history lesson (which is engaging enough on its own) shines the passion and dedication of the people working on these motion pictures. You have to respect the fact that, if one of their films isn’t working, they do the only sensible thing which is to shut it down and fix it (costs be damned). At the end of the day, no one’s going to remember that you made your release date and you came in under budget. They’re only going to remember whether or not your movie was any good, and the folks at Pixar have a tremendous track record as far as that goes. “Infinity and Beyond” renewed the admiration I had for people like John Lasseter and Steve Jobs. Pixar must truly be a helluva place to work.
One cautionary word for the folks at Pixar (you are listening, aren’t you, folks at Pixar?): In your early films, you played to the strengths of your medium. Computers do hard shiny surfaces well so, hey, let’s do plastic toys and bugs. Makes perfect sense. But then Brad Bird came in and challenged you. He had an idea for a film that contained all of the things that computer animation doesn’t do well — flesh, hair, etc., etc. Well, Pixar, you rose to the challenge and The Incredibles is a damn good movie. But what did we get after that? John Lasseter gave us cars and now Andrew Stanton is about to give us robots. Two things that computer animation does inherently well. I’m being slightly cute here. I know these movies have a long lead time and the changes that Mr. Bird hath wrought might not have trickled down through the studio yet. How about for that next round of flicks you guys push the envelope a bit? Your first priority is to tell a good story, of course, but go on and stretch yourselves while you’re at it…
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