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Holiday Catch-up/Back to School
15 years ago
Lotta stuff to go over, sooooooo...
FIRST AND FOREMOST, A NEW ARTIST FOR "SEA3ON" HAS BEEN CHOSEN!!!
Congratulations to deviantARTist and FUS member saber16 (www.saber16.deviantart.com), who has been chosen as the new main Artist for the SatAM Sea3on Comic.
Second, I am now starting my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE, so you can bet I'll be quite busy over the next few months, but I promise I'll keep as active here as I can.
Lastly, I've seen quite a few movies over the Holiday season 'n' wanted to share my thoughts on them with all of you. So, in order of when I viewed 'em...
TRON: Legacy
Full disclosure? I've never seen the original "TRON"; what I know of it has come through general pop-culutral osmosis and the "Space Paranoids" segment of "Kingdom Hearts II". With that in mind, I dug the living hell out of "TRON: Legacy". Its story, in which Sam Flynn, son of the original "TRON"'s main protagonist Kevin Flynn, finds himself transported into a digital universe called the Grid in search of his long-missing father and must fight for survival against the tyrant program CLU (who is a digitized clone of his father), is no great shakes; it has sufficient scale to excite and enough strong character moments that it is far from awful, but it never really explores the ideas and depths of its universe or characters with sufficient skill to be particularly outstanding either. But the TELLING of that story is another matter. The visuals of "TRON: Legacy" are among the best I have seen in recent memory; not only is the effects work outstanding, the underlying design sensibilities are breathtaking. There is a real internal logic to everything we see, and every new visual that pops up to astound succeeds not only by its technical execution but also by its creative construction. It is to the film's score, written by techno-band duo Daft Punk, however, that the most credit for making this story work so well must go. A truly divine mixture of techno and orchestra, combining the tools and spirits of both in surprising and compelling combinations, the score serves to punctuate the movie's already-strong visuals quite powerfully, imbuing the moment-by-moment story with a visceral charge that makes the viewing experience an absolute blast. There is enough story potential within "TRON: Legacy" that I do not wish to say that the visuals and soundtrack carry it completely, but the latter does do a great deal to bring out the best aspects of the former moreso than its script. Definitely worth a watch, though.
True Grit
Oh hey look, ANOTHER film starring Jeff Bridges which builds upon the legacy of a notorious and significantly older film, though in this case this movie is trying more to do an adpatation of the original novel on which said older film was based. It doesn't really matter, though; "True Grit" is a Coen Brothers movie, and like all Coen Brothers movies, the thing that really matters most is a sleek and effective story told by way of some of the best danmned directing and cinematography you are likely to see in a theatrical film right now. Set in the Old West, the plot concerns a 14-year old girl named Mattie Ross who seeks to apprehend and see executed Tom Chaney, a vicious outlaw who murdered her father; to this end, she hires the drunkard, one-eyed U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (for his "true grit, y'see), and, alongside a peculiar Texas Ranger named LaBeouf, they set out on a hunt across the land. It is, as I said, a sleek story; the emotional arc that eventually binds Mattie, Cogburn, and LaBeouf together is told more through action than contemplation, and as a result it actually feels surprisingly effective and organic to the plot, rather than overly saccharine and intrusive. The acting is all-around fantastic; not a single lead character is played poorly, and Bridges absolutely nails the balance of drunken swagger and genuine power that is the central contradiction of Rooster Cogburn. As well, Hailee Steinfield is simply wonderful as Mattie, imbuing her with a sincere character that you cannot help but root for. As mentioned, the Coens do their usual excellent work with the visual storytelling, and it is all rounded out by a pleasant score that captures the mood of the era and the adventure quite nicely. "True Grit" is fairly unambitious, but it is that very lack of amibition which I suspect allows it to work so well; unburdened by a need to be anything more than a story, it succeeds at being a story incredibly.
Black Swan
By contrast, THIS is a film that is all about ambition. And obssession, too, but that is rather par for the course when it comes to the film output of director Darren Arronofsky. Up until now, I have only known of Arrenofsky's work through reputation, having seen bits and pieces of his seminal work "Pi", likewise "The Fountain". I do not truly know what to make of the man's talent purely off of "Black Swan", though, because frankly I do not entirely know what to make of "Black Swan" itself. The story is centered on ballet dancer Nina Sayers, who wants more than anything in the world to be cast in her company's upcoming production of "Swan Lake" as the Swan Queen", but though she fits the role of the White Swan perfectly she is unable to muster up the lustful elegance of the Black Swan, much to the annoyance of her director Thomas. As the intense pressure Nina feels becomes all the greater, she quickly finds her grip on reality slipping, a fact made all the worse by her perceived rival, another dancer named Lily who proves to be every bit as good a Black Swan as Nina is White. Thus does "Black Swan" reveal itself as a labrynthian psychological horror film, for the nature of Nina's on-screen psychosis tends most often to come in the form of what would seem to be either horrific delusions or genuine moments of Lovecraftian horror twisting all reality. The result is a double-edged sword; on the one hand, "Black Swan" will absolutely hit you, and hit you hard, when it most needs to, and you will be pulled right into Nina's world as a result, feeling a bit closer than comfortable to these horrific events; the emphasis on Cronenbergian body horror that comes out during the later parts of the film in particular honestly made me close my eyes more than once. On the other hand, the film also feels very, VERY heavy-handed, like being smacked around over and over by a big musuclar guy shouting "DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?" at you over and over again, and at least for me, I recognized the movie's game early on enough that it got a touch tiring after a while. Nonetheless, "Black Swan" is definitely a well-made, well-performed film, and it will definitely stick with you well after it's over.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, A NEW ARTIST FOR "SEA3ON" HAS BEEN CHOSEN!!!
Congratulations to deviantARTist and FUS member saber16 (www.saber16.deviantart.com), who has been chosen as the new main Artist for the SatAM Sea3on Comic.
Second, I am now starting my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE, so you can bet I'll be quite busy over the next few months, but I promise I'll keep as active here as I can.
Lastly, I've seen quite a few movies over the Holiday season 'n' wanted to share my thoughts on them with all of you. So, in order of when I viewed 'em...
TRON: Legacy
Full disclosure? I've never seen the original "TRON"; what I know of it has come through general pop-culutral osmosis and the "Space Paranoids" segment of "Kingdom Hearts II". With that in mind, I dug the living hell out of "TRON: Legacy". Its story, in which Sam Flynn, son of the original "TRON"'s main protagonist Kevin Flynn, finds himself transported into a digital universe called the Grid in search of his long-missing father and must fight for survival against the tyrant program CLU (who is a digitized clone of his father), is no great shakes; it has sufficient scale to excite and enough strong character moments that it is far from awful, but it never really explores the ideas and depths of its universe or characters with sufficient skill to be particularly outstanding either. But the TELLING of that story is another matter. The visuals of "TRON: Legacy" are among the best I have seen in recent memory; not only is the effects work outstanding, the underlying design sensibilities are breathtaking. There is a real internal logic to everything we see, and every new visual that pops up to astound succeeds not only by its technical execution but also by its creative construction. It is to the film's score, written by techno-band duo Daft Punk, however, that the most credit for making this story work so well must go. A truly divine mixture of techno and orchestra, combining the tools and spirits of both in surprising and compelling combinations, the score serves to punctuate the movie's already-strong visuals quite powerfully, imbuing the moment-by-moment story with a visceral charge that makes the viewing experience an absolute blast. There is enough story potential within "TRON: Legacy" that I do not wish to say that the visuals and soundtrack carry it completely, but the latter does do a great deal to bring out the best aspects of the former moreso than its script. Definitely worth a watch, though.
True Grit
Oh hey look, ANOTHER film starring Jeff Bridges which builds upon the legacy of a notorious and significantly older film, though in this case this movie is trying more to do an adpatation of the original novel on which said older film was based. It doesn't really matter, though; "True Grit" is a Coen Brothers movie, and like all Coen Brothers movies, the thing that really matters most is a sleek and effective story told by way of some of the best danmned directing and cinematography you are likely to see in a theatrical film right now. Set in the Old West, the plot concerns a 14-year old girl named Mattie Ross who seeks to apprehend and see executed Tom Chaney, a vicious outlaw who murdered her father; to this end, she hires the drunkard, one-eyed U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (for his "true grit, y'see), and, alongside a peculiar Texas Ranger named LaBeouf, they set out on a hunt across the land. It is, as I said, a sleek story; the emotional arc that eventually binds Mattie, Cogburn, and LaBeouf together is told more through action than contemplation, and as a result it actually feels surprisingly effective and organic to the plot, rather than overly saccharine and intrusive. The acting is all-around fantastic; not a single lead character is played poorly, and Bridges absolutely nails the balance of drunken swagger and genuine power that is the central contradiction of Rooster Cogburn. As well, Hailee Steinfield is simply wonderful as Mattie, imbuing her with a sincere character that you cannot help but root for. As mentioned, the Coens do their usual excellent work with the visual storytelling, and it is all rounded out by a pleasant score that captures the mood of the era and the adventure quite nicely. "True Grit" is fairly unambitious, but it is that very lack of amibition which I suspect allows it to work so well; unburdened by a need to be anything more than a story, it succeeds at being a story incredibly.
Black Swan
By contrast, THIS is a film that is all about ambition. And obssession, too, but that is rather par for the course when it comes to the film output of director Darren Arronofsky. Up until now, I have only known of Arrenofsky's work through reputation, having seen bits and pieces of his seminal work "Pi", likewise "The Fountain". I do not truly know what to make of the man's talent purely off of "Black Swan", though, because frankly I do not entirely know what to make of "Black Swan" itself. The story is centered on ballet dancer Nina Sayers, who wants more than anything in the world to be cast in her company's upcoming production of "Swan Lake" as the Swan Queen", but though she fits the role of the White Swan perfectly she is unable to muster up the lustful elegance of the Black Swan, much to the annoyance of her director Thomas. As the intense pressure Nina feels becomes all the greater, she quickly finds her grip on reality slipping, a fact made all the worse by her perceived rival, another dancer named Lily who proves to be every bit as good a Black Swan as Nina is White. Thus does "Black Swan" reveal itself as a labrynthian psychological horror film, for the nature of Nina's on-screen psychosis tends most often to come in the form of what would seem to be either horrific delusions or genuine moments of Lovecraftian horror twisting all reality. The result is a double-edged sword; on the one hand, "Black Swan" will absolutely hit you, and hit you hard, when it most needs to, and you will be pulled right into Nina's world as a result, feeling a bit closer than comfortable to these horrific events; the emphasis on Cronenbergian body horror that comes out during the later parts of the film in particular honestly made me close my eyes more than once. On the other hand, the film also feels very, VERY heavy-handed, like being smacked around over and over by a big musuclar guy shouting "DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?" at you over and over again, and at least for me, I recognized the movie's game early on enough that it got a touch tiring after a while. Nonetheless, "Black Swan" is definitely a well-made, well-performed film, and it will definitely stick with you well after it's over.
