Film Roar

I finally got around to going through all these. I especially like a lot of the commercials, though I don't think they stand up to a lot of past commercials. I have a feeling they were watching their budgets.

I'm kind of worried about The Hulk. The CG animation looks very cartoonish -- in a bad way. Feels like a video game. Of course, I'm harder on CG than a lot of people. I think there's a certain level of realism that CG doesn't seem to attain, especially in action. I guess it's because they're never truly interacting with the earth, whereas puppets and guys in suits are always interacting with the earth. There's a trade-off. Though it doesn't make or break most movies with me, it does detract. Even the sequences in, eg, Spiderman, where he's flinging himself across the city feel too unnatural often for me. I'd prefer them, in most cases, to cut to a real person landing, eg, just to feel his true weight. I don't know if that makes sense. I guess if you don't feel the same aesthetic it's hard to explain.

Nick

I think you are quite right Nick.. The lack of weight takes credence away from the characters. You should also keep in mind (and it seems that you do) that you and I both worked at a fine animation studio for many years and got to see some exquisite intergration of live action and animation.

Leopoldo, I had no idea you worked in animation! Tell me more!

About the Hulk:
I was surprised, and not pleasantly. The CG looked downright awful, not as bas as, say...
Island of Dr. Moreau, but not nearly as good as older films like Jurassic Park. SIGH, when will they learn hype doesn't make a movie good.

Well, I graduated from The Evergreen State College [http://www.evergreen.edu/] with BS and a BA. I studied computer science and film, spending my last year making movies including stop motion animation (clay puppets and stuff like that). I was recruited out of college by Will Vinton Studios [http://www.vinton.com/], a commercial film studio in Portland (that is how I ended up in Oregon) to work as a systems administrator taking care of their computers and computer networks. The job was in many ways perfect for me since I got to use my computer training in a creative setting. I was there for five years from 1996 to 2002. While there I worked on a number of "M&M" commercials, set up networks for the "PJs" and "Gary and Mike" TV shows and even got to do some voice work. You can also hear my voice as the narrator on the short movie 'The Testament of Tom Jacoby' and as the Ingok captain in the upcoming animated movie 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' [http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html]. I have a short dimensional animation movie I made while in college with my friend Camron called 'Spare Parts' that I have yet to digitize.

Sounds like a blast, one of my dreams was to join up at the Academy of Art for computer animation, but things never worked out and I got into fiber optics instead. Ah well, there are plenty of ways to enjoy animation these days now that every form of it is working it ways into the theaters these days. I'll always have a speacil love for all things animated....sigh! Thanks for the info, kudos Leopoldo!

I remember a previous posting of an article about the Fantastic Four movie which was "in the can", but the powers that be decided not to release it, but shoot another one. Their thinking arose from the idea that a bigger budget would make a bigger film (the first budget for the "Fantastic Four" was 2 million dollars, while the new, proposed budget is 50 million)

Well, I was able to view the 2 million dollar version first hand in it's entirety:

It was....well....good for 2 million.

It really was. In a quirky way, knowing
the history of this troubled film, I did indeed like it. Of course, any movie based on a comic book is bound to appeal more to the 5 percent of the population who are *die hard* Fantastic Four fans, but it was watchable and enjoyable on different levels. There was more I would have liked included (I am not a Fan Four lover, but simply because comics were never my "thing")

Take for instance:

1) Better voice acting for the villains.

While the costuming was adequate, the "evil Dr. Doom" had a voice like "Dr. Average Joe trying his best to sound evil"

2) Special effects were not up to date.

Hey, I understood going in that 2 million was the limit and most of the "light and magic" would be "candles and card tricks". Hehhehe, Industrial Light and Magic formed a low budget sister company "Corporate Candles & Card Tricks."
The stretching arms of Mr. Fantastic, the flames of Johnny Storm...it was slightly too out of date, but I am not complaining. The Thing was remarkable. Think "Ninja Turtles". The costuming was exceptional and the Fantastic Four were decked out in their uber-cool retro uniforms.

3) Plot could have been thicker. Whaddaya want, it's based on a comic book, it's not Shakespeare in Love. Like Spiderman was the MacBeth of comics or something? Come on! (Forgive me Sam Raimi)

Pluses include the fact that I can see the effort put into the work, I am sorry for the director and the actors involved. The acting was solid, as well as the photography. No big name actors, even Punky Brewster's adopted dad snuck in a teacher's role at the beginning of the film, but somtimes it's the average joe's who actually can pull this stuff together. If you can, see this one before "Hollywood" gets a hold of it.