FilmRoar

The Guess Which Movie game is a fun game for movie nuts. They show you scenes taken from movies and you have to choose from 12 titles the correct one. I completed the 13 rounds that are posted thus far and got a score of 81%. How about you?

The first trailer for the Werewolf vs. Vampire sequel Underworld Evolution has been posted. So far it looks like a whole lot of the same, which should be good news for fans of the original.

I had another long day of shooting yesterday, this time on the Ars Mortis project. We started at 7am and wrapped production just after 1am, two hours after our projected end time but not bad given we started three hours late. The production was awesome with a very professional and dedicated crew and a full set of very well behaved extras. Today I am recovering. I love filming but while on set sometimes forget to sit down or eat and tend to pay for it the next day. I think Heather was right when she pointed out this is a young man’s game we old thirtysomethings are playing. Funny thing though is that I so enjoy the art that I have previously gone three, four days of working all-day and shooting all night and seem to have no qualms about it.

Sven just alerted me that the warehouse that stored the sets and props from the first three Wallace & Gromit movies burned down this morning destroying the contents. This has to be a huge letdown for the crew, specially after the high of the successful release of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). My sympathies go out to Nick, Peter and the rest of the crew.

It bugged me at first that the trailers for the new Tim Burton animated film Corpse Bride (2005) used music from his previous creation The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), but after seeing the movie I realize the construction of the trailer is very appropriate as Corpse Bride is little more than a poor sequel to Nightmare. Or rather it is what would happen some Hollywood exec were to decide they could make a few bucks by marrying Nightmare and the much earlier Vincent (1982) to produce a bastard child with the look of both but none of the originality or charm of either.

The story of Corpse Bride is utterly predictable. Young Vincent… err I mean Victor has grown up (some) since his ‘82 debut and is bethrowed to the very Victorian daughter of a very proper family. Both Vincent’s fishmonger parents and the delightfully designed parents of young Victoria (Helena Bonning-him Carter) break out into a song on the upcoming wedding at the beginning of the movie. Not that either the music or the lyrics are memorable, an unfortunate problem that will prevail through the rest of the film. Soon after Vincent… god I mean Victor sings a depressed song and accidentally marries a corpse instead. You can imagine the rest, and in doing so will probably do a better job than the writers.

Interesting set and character designed are overshadowed by a pathetic Peter Lorre impersonation, cheap puns and moments of unnecessary slapstick. The Danny Elfman score sounds like an uninspiring regurgitation of previous work that is quickly forgotten. On the plus side there is a moment were Vince… I mean Victor plays a beautiful melody on a ‘ Harryhausen‘ piano and is accurately animated to hit the correct keys. I would generally recommend a title like this only to Burton fans, but in this case must insist that even the fans steer clear in order to retain an idealistic image based on the more deserving previous works.

A good example of a movie very well represented by it’s trailer is the new graphic novel adaptation A History of Violence (2005). If you see the trailer and find it interesting enough that you think it could hold your attention for two hours go see the movie, but be warned the violence is intense and bloody.

The story of the movie is pretty simple: Tom (Viggo Mortensen) foils the armed robbery of his small town diner and is made a local hero. Gangsters from Philadelphia see his picture on the news and come to the small town claiming he is an organized crime assassin living under an assumed name. When he refuses their claims the gangsters threaten his family in an effort to coerce him to… well it is not exactly clear what they want but in any case they are clearly ‘bad guys’ and are not shy to make demands. The rest of the movie deals with the uncertainty of Tom’s identity and the tension of brought about by the uncertainty of his identity and of his (and the gangster’s) intentions.

The story, however, is not the reason to watch A History of Violence. The movie should be watched and enjoyed for the subtlety and finesse of the acting and the direction. At one point in the movie where Tom is forced to defend himself and ably disarms a dangerous killer. In the moments immediately following the confrontation Mortensen’s face morphs into a disturbing mask of… is that satisfaction? worry? worry over the act of violence or the implications on his identity? The moment is superbly executed and disturbing and made me feel the price of admission had been more than returned.

The meaning of the title is never fully clear. Does it refer to the uncertain history of Tom? Is it the passive / violent tendencies that are reflected in his struggling teenaged son (Ashton Holmes)? Or maybe it is a reference to the disturbing history of screen horror perpetrated by director David Cronenberg (Videodrome (1983), Dead Ringers (1988), Naked Lunch (1991), Crash (1996)). Whatever the ‘real meaning’ might be, it is intriguing and beguiling enough to make A History of Violence well worth watching.