Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
The Incredibles - May Contain Minor Spoilers
I finally went and saw The Incredibles last night. (Why'd it take so long? I guess that the usual crowd I got to the cinema with just assumed that being the rabid Pixar fanboy that I am, that I would have seen it on Boxing Day. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.)
Let me preface my discussion with the opinion that the film was indeed very wonderful.
Many people have commented that the first hour is a bit slow. Maybe I was forewarned and forearmed, but I had no problems with the pacing of the first act. This was not laugh-it-up action cinema. This was about poor Bob - born to be a superhero, yearning to fight for the common good, yet forced to live a mundane existence, working in insurance and towing company policy about the bottom line.
Which did make the second half of the film all the more exciting.
My only real gripe with the film, I think, was that a couple of plot elements where too predictable - the point about capes on costumes was hammered home a little too heavily (but still gave me a good laugh when I figured it out) and Violet. But it's not her fault. She's the shy, gawky teenager, who hides behind her hair and is the ultimate invisible girl in a film that's essentially about not hiding and being true to who you are to the best of your abilities. There's really only one way she can go. But unlike many films with these sort of thematic elements, The Incredibles is very genuine and emotionally engaging.
From a technical perspective, The Incredibles is flawless. Particularly during the Island scenes. Jungle and rocks and water that you have to look twice at to realise it's not real. Fantastic cloth and hair modeling. WET hair modeling. And cinematography that beats the pants off a number of live action films and visually gives the film so much more depth. (unlike say, Shrek 2 and other Dreamworks offering that noticeably lacked depth in their visuals and textures. And plot and character for that matter. How do they make so much money?)
But the most important thing about the film and what makes all the Pixar movies great (that Disney and others doesn't seem to understand) is that the writing is King. You can have all the flashy CG you want, but character and plot, as ever, are what make an emotionally engaging and satisfying film. And The Incredibles is one such film.
I finally went and saw The Incredibles last night. (Why'd it take so long? I guess that the usual crowd I got to the cinema with just assumed that being the rabid Pixar fanboy that I am, that I would have seen it on Boxing Day. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.)
Let me preface my discussion with the opinion that the film was indeed very wonderful.
Many people have commented that the first hour is a bit slow. Maybe I was forewarned and forearmed, but I had no problems with the pacing of the first act. This was not laugh-it-up action cinema. This was about poor Bob - born to be a superhero, yearning to fight for the common good, yet forced to live a mundane existence, working in insurance and towing company policy about the bottom line.
Which did make the second half of the film all the more exciting.
My only real gripe with the film, I think, was that a couple of plot elements where too predictable - the point about capes on costumes was hammered home a little too heavily (but still gave me a good laugh when I figured it out) and Violet. But it's not her fault. She's the shy, gawky teenager, who hides behind her hair and is the ultimate invisible girl in a film that's essentially about not hiding and being true to who you are to the best of your abilities. There's really only one way she can go. But unlike many films with these sort of thematic elements, The Incredibles is very genuine and emotionally engaging.
From a technical perspective, The Incredibles is flawless. Particularly during the Island scenes. Jungle and rocks and water that you have to look twice at to realise it's not real. Fantastic cloth and hair modeling. WET hair modeling. And cinematography that beats the pants off a number of live action films and visually gives the film so much more depth. (unlike say, Shrek 2 and other Dreamworks offering that noticeably lacked depth in their visuals and textures. And plot and character for that matter. How do they make so much money?)
But the most important thing about the film and what makes all the Pixar movies great (that Disney and others doesn't seem to understand) is that the writing is King. You can have all the flashy CG you want, but character and plot, as ever, are what make an emotionally engaging and satisfying film. And The Incredibles is one such film.
Ragnarok
"... Fenris will swallow the moon and the dead men's ship shall slip its moorings. And the ancient enemies will seek each other out for the final battle..."
Norse version of the Apocolypse, or accurate prediction of the Australian political landscape? (Amongst speculation that Kim Beazley will rise once more to take the reins of the Australian Labor Party.)
"... Fenris will swallow the moon and the dead men's ship shall slip its moorings. And the ancient enemies will seek each other out for the final battle..."
Norse version of the Apocolypse, or accurate prediction of the Australian political landscape? (Amongst speculation that Kim Beazley will rise once more to take the reins of the Australian Labor Party.)
Monday, January 17, 2005
Hyperbole
I caught a Tsunami Relief appeal ad on telly this evening that claimed that the Asian Tsunami "has devastated a continent".
China is so devastated that they're expected to be pushing their steel industry to record high outputs this year.
India, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia do not a continent make. But who wants to let the facts get in the way of good copy?
I caught a Tsunami Relief appeal ad on telly this evening that claimed that the Asian Tsunami "has devastated a continent".
China is so devastated that they're expected to be pushing their steel industry to record high outputs this year.
India, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia do not a continent make. But who wants to let the facts get in the way of good copy?
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Ouch
Apparently the data centre where LiveJournal is hosted had a sudden, unexpected and massive power failure. A on-going write-up by the techies can be found here. There's only four of them and they've been working on getting the systems back for 24 hours straight. I've been in similar situations to this. (Not quite to the same scale, thankfully) I feel their pain. And I know how much thanks they'll get from the whinging users for their heroic efforts.
Apparently the data centre where LiveJournal is hosted had a sudden, unexpected and massive power failure. A on-going write-up by the techies can be found here. There's only four of them and they've been working on getting the systems back for 24 hours straight. I've been in similar situations to this. (Not quite to the same scale, thankfully) I feel their pain. And I know how much thanks they'll get from the whinging users for their heroic efforts.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Cool Shit
I was playing on the BBC website today. And I found the Radiophon-a-tron. It's Flash, and it takes some time to load, but you can make some incredible sounds. Well, if you like the sound of the Doctor Who theme, anyway.
I was playing on the BBC website today. And I found the Radiophon-a-tron. It's Flash, and it takes some time to load, but you can make some incredible sounds. Well, if you like the sound of the Doctor Who theme, anyway.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Happy New Year
Well, 2004 is over. 2005 has begun.
A whole new year. A whole new realm of possibilities. And this year could be very exciting indeed.
Once again, I'm struck by the whole psychological effect that an arbitary measure of time can engender, but it's so interwined into everything, it's just damned unavoidable.
Well, 2004 is over. 2005 has begun.
A whole new year. A whole new realm of possibilities. And this year could be very exciting indeed.
Once again, I'm struck by the whole psychological effect that an arbitary measure of time can engender, but it's so interwined into everything, it's just damned unavoidable.
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