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Back from the dead ...?
General | Posted 14 years agoHey! Been a long, LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGG time, but I figured it was about time I came back. Been super insanely busy, and of course far more active on my deviantArt account, and I've undergone one MAJOR leap in my artistic quality/output/stuff since I disappeared off of here ... so I'm gonna have PLENTY to show off on here. Gonna start posting fresh stuff when I can this week, at least when I have time, that is ... but I promise THERE WILL be fresh material VERY SHORTLY. I'm open for commissions now, too, and I'll be posting some information about that soon too. Meanwhile, sorry I've been away for so long, and I'll try not to vanish again if I can help it ...
NEW YEAR SHOUT!
General | Posted 16 years agoHappy New Year everybody! Here's hoping 2010 is quality after crapness of the year we just killed off ...
XMAS SHOUT!
General | Posted 16 years agoMerry Christmas everybody! Hope you're all well, an' I trust you'll all have a good one. May you all get everything you wish for!
Avatar!
General | Posted 16 years agoYeah ... I know, mosta you lot've already seen it, but I was delayed, all right? But I finally got to see it today, and in the intended 3D, so ...
I've been a fan of James Cameron's work for a while, so of course his return from the decade+ wilderness has certainly been long-anticipated for me. So I was REALLY worked up about seeing this ... but after a year of really impressive releases I couldn't help wondering if it would really measure up. And then there was the 3D angle - inspired, or cheap gimmick?
Well, I think it's safe to say my patience, as with MOST of the long-awaited movies that came out this year, was well-rewarded indeed. This is an EXCELLENT film. I am a big fan of the cinematic experience, and indeed there are times when I can be initially wowed by a big-budget "experience" only to later become disillusioned once I see past the cosmetic glamour to whatever shoddy gimmickry and cheap emotional manipulation there was underneath. Certainly that was the case with Cameron's LAST extravaganza Titanic ...
Not so here. There's a REAL STORY here, not some flimsy, candy-floss lite love story tacked-on to a larger, more impressive backdrop. Okay, so there IS a love story, but it's so unique and FRESH that it actually works really well. And it's actually INTRINSIC to the story too ...
Granted, on paper it probably shouldn't work. A paraplegic marine goes to a remote mining planet and falls in love with a ten foot tall blue alien through a remote-controlled body ... but by the time that happens you're so deeply involved you completely buy it. It helps that Cameron the Writer is firing on all cylinders again, reminding us (for example) why the Abyss worked really well in spite of all the flaws ... Neytiri's a real character, not just a digital ... well, AVATAR, to quote the industry parlance. She's got balls, she's courageous and stubborn and you've gotta love that, but she's also got realistic vulnerability (particular in the latter half of the film, when she's "betrayed" when the truth is revealed). You can definitely see why Sam Worthington's marine Jake Sully falls for her even though she's so very alien. (And, to be honest, she is actually kinda hot ... am I a bit weird for admitting that?)
Again, much like with Terminator Salvation in the summer, Sam Worthington's the real revelation here. This guy's got real gravitas, pure talent, easily enough that, even though a good two thirds of the time he's on screen he's all digital like, he dominates the film. And Jake Sully's another brilliant, well-rounded character - he's damaged, and not just physically, in search of a place in his world and finding it in the most unlikely form ...
And as for the effects? Well that could well have been this movie's downfall - we haven't seen a movie THIS full-on digital since the last Star Wars movie, and yet it's done so well that within the first five minutes you're in so deep you don't even realise. The 3D isn't a gimmick at all - it's INTRINSIC to the film, because it totally immerses you in this world, makes you part of it. Weta have done it again, there ...
So overall, just what was promised. It's visually stunning, but also extremely powerful, exciting and surprisingly thought-provoking too. And it probably has one of the year's best villain's too ...
Anyway ... next up, SHERLOCK HOLMES! Which apparently is also very cool ... the year's ending very well INDEED ...
I've been a fan of James Cameron's work for a while, so of course his return from the decade+ wilderness has certainly been long-anticipated for me. So I was REALLY worked up about seeing this ... but after a year of really impressive releases I couldn't help wondering if it would really measure up. And then there was the 3D angle - inspired, or cheap gimmick?
Well, I think it's safe to say my patience, as with MOST of the long-awaited movies that came out this year, was well-rewarded indeed. This is an EXCELLENT film. I am a big fan of the cinematic experience, and indeed there are times when I can be initially wowed by a big-budget "experience" only to later become disillusioned once I see past the cosmetic glamour to whatever shoddy gimmickry and cheap emotional manipulation there was underneath. Certainly that was the case with Cameron's LAST extravaganza Titanic ...
Not so here. There's a REAL STORY here, not some flimsy, candy-floss lite love story tacked-on to a larger, more impressive backdrop. Okay, so there IS a love story, but it's so unique and FRESH that it actually works really well. And it's actually INTRINSIC to the story too ...
Granted, on paper it probably shouldn't work. A paraplegic marine goes to a remote mining planet and falls in love with a ten foot tall blue alien through a remote-controlled body ... but by the time that happens you're so deeply involved you completely buy it. It helps that Cameron the Writer is firing on all cylinders again, reminding us (for example) why the Abyss worked really well in spite of all the flaws ... Neytiri's a real character, not just a digital ... well, AVATAR, to quote the industry parlance. She's got balls, she's courageous and stubborn and you've gotta love that, but she's also got realistic vulnerability (particular in the latter half of the film, when she's "betrayed" when the truth is revealed). You can definitely see why Sam Worthington's marine Jake Sully falls for her even though she's so very alien. (And, to be honest, she is actually kinda hot ... am I a bit weird for admitting that?)
Again, much like with Terminator Salvation in the summer, Sam Worthington's the real revelation here. This guy's got real gravitas, pure talent, easily enough that, even though a good two thirds of the time he's on screen he's all digital like, he dominates the film. And Jake Sully's another brilliant, well-rounded character - he's damaged, and not just physically, in search of a place in his world and finding it in the most unlikely form ...
And as for the effects? Well that could well have been this movie's downfall - we haven't seen a movie THIS full-on digital since the last Star Wars movie, and yet it's done so well that within the first five minutes you're in so deep you don't even realise. The 3D isn't a gimmick at all - it's INTRINSIC to the film, because it totally immerses you in this world, makes you part of it. Weta have done it again, there ...
So overall, just what was promised. It's visually stunning, but also extremely powerful, exciting and surprisingly thought-provoking too. And it probably has one of the year's best villain's too ...
Anyway ... next up, SHERLOCK HOLMES! Which apparently is also very cool ... the year's ending very well INDEED ...
OUTLANDER - support this movie!
General | Posted 16 years agoJust watched this again on DVD ... MAN this is a great film. The problem is, in all likelihood hardly any of you lot have even heard of it, outside those I've already touted it to. And even then ...
So anyway ... for those of you not in the know (most of you, of course), Outlander was one of this year's pre-Summer releases that got criminally overlooked on its release. It's wonderfully high-concept - Jim Caviezel (yeah, him who was once Jesus Christ under Mel Gibson) stars as Kainan, an alien astronaut who crash-lands in Dark Age Norway, inadvertently bringing with him a stowaway monster that sets about massacring the local population, which means Kainan has to join forces with the local Vikings to stop it ...
I know, I know, it sounds so super-cheesy and throwaway - indeed writer/director Howard McCain had this screenplay on the slow-burn ever since the early 90s before it finally got picked up for MUCH LESS than his intended budget - but it WORKS. This is a FUN FILM, pure and simple. It's from the Conan the Barbarian school of fantasy film-making - subtle as a brick, enjoyably violent without ever being gratuitously nasty, and it never takes itself too seriously ... and yet, at the same time, it features some truly memorable characters, played with gusto by a proper high-quality cast. This movie has a substantial, on-his-game turn from John Hurt for God's sake! And Hellboy's Ron Perlman shows up halfway through to be his usual charmingly broody self ...
But it's Caviezel's central turn as Kainan that really sells this film. He's the hero, certainly, but he's not particularly likeable - this is a man out for revenge, pure and simple - the beast, Morwen, slaughtered his whole settlement, but there's more to his aggro-angst than just grief (but I won't give anything more away because that would spoil one hell of a cool twist). Caviezel's always been a really watchable actor, but I don't think I've ever taken to one of his characters so easily.
And the monster's class, too. It's not a classic Xenomorphesque spindly spider-beasty like you'd get from a Giger-style sci-fi horror flick - Kainan gets the idea of the Morwen across to the Vikings by calling it a dragon, and that's a pretty apt description. This beasty's a quadruped for starters, all taut muscles and arched, predatory back, but more than that it's got this really cool thing with a built-in bioluminescence that gives it a really unique look ... best movie monster this year for me, so far at least ...
This movie really has been massively short-changed this year. It snuck into the cinema well under the radar and maybe did a week or two of business before disappearing again, then we didn't hear anything from it again until it came out again on DVD, once again with very little fanfare. If there's any justice it's destined for future cult greatness, but it could just as easily vanish without a trace ... SO HERE, NOW, I RULE WE BEGIN TO CAMPAIGN FOR SOME RECOGNITION FOR THIS GREAT FILM! Seriously, check it out. Track it down on DVD, watch it. A few times. Really get to love it. Then tell your friends. Blog it something rotten ... we need to save this film from obscurity!
God knows it deserves it ...
So anyway ... for those of you not in the know (most of you, of course), Outlander was one of this year's pre-Summer releases that got criminally overlooked on its release. It's wonderfully high-concept - Jim Caviezel (yeah, him who was once Jesus Christ under Mel Gibson) stars as Kainan, an alien astronaut who crash-lands in Dark Age Norway, inadvertently bringing with him a stowaway monster that sets about massacring the local population, which means Kainan has to join forces with the local Vikings to stop it ...
I know, I know, it sounds so super-cheesy and throwaway - indeed writer/director Howard McCain had this screenplay on the slow-burn ever since the early 90s before it finally got picked up for MUCH LESS than his intended budget - but it WORKS. This is a FUN FILM, pure and simple. It's from the Conan the Barbarian school of fantasy film-making - subtle as a brick, enjoyably violent without ever being gratuitously nasty, and it never takes itself too seriously ... and yet, at the same time, it features some truly memorable characters, played with gusto by a proper high-quality cast. This movie has a substantial, on-his-game turn from John Hurt for God's sake! And Hellboy's Ron Perlman shows up halfway through to be his usual charmingly broody self ...
But it's Caviezel's central turn as Kainan that really sells this film. He's the hero, certainly, but he's not particularly likeable - this is a man out for revenge, pure and simple - the beast, Morwen, slaughtered his whole settlement, but there's more to his aggro-angst than just grief (but I won't give anything more away because that would spoil one hell of a cool twist). Caviezel's always been a really watchable actor, but I don't think I've ever taken to one of his characters so easily.
And the monster's class, too. It's not a classic Xenomorphesque spindly spider-beasty like you'd get from a Giger-style sci-fi horror flick - Kainan gets the idea of the Morwen across to the Vikings by calling it a dragon, and that's a pretty apt description. This beasty's a quadruped for starters, all taut muscles and arched, predatory back, but more than that it's got this really cool thing with a built-in bioluminescence that gives it a really unique look ... best movie monster this year for me, so far at least ...
This movie really has been massively short-changed this year. It snuck into the cinema well under the radar and maybe did a week or two of business before disappearing again, then we didn't hear anything from it again until it came out again on DVD, once again with very little fanfare. If there's any justice it's destined for future cult greatness, but it could just as easily vanish without a trace ... SO HERE, NOW, I RULE WE BEGIN TO CAMPAIGN FOR SOME RECOGNITION FOR THIS GREAT FILM! Seriously, check it out. Track it down on DVD, watch it. A few times. Really get to love it. Then tell your friends. Blog it something rotten ... we need to save this film from obscurity!
God knows it deserves it ...
First off ... and I'm moping from the start ...
General | Posted 16 years ago'Kay ... so I've been here for a little while and it's taken me all this time to do this. I think when I first came here I wan't really sure what I wanted - I'd already been at deviantArt for a while and I was so used to that experience I think maybe I just wanted to hit my stride here the same way I did there.
But things were different when I got here. Val will know this already of course but I am suffering steadily worsening problems with my internet connection, and have been ever since I joined FA. Fair enough, when I first got here it was just an occasional glitch, but it's grown steadily worse since and it's curtailed A LOT of what I've wanted to do online. And unfortunately FurAffinity has been one of the casualties. I just haven't been able to spend a FRACTION of the time around her I would have liked, or worked on HALF the artwork I would have liked to submit here ... and as for socialising, browsing and generally checking out all the goodies? HA ...
It's not that I love deviantArt any more, I've just been there a lot longer, I have a much more established presence there. I tend to gravitate there first. But I try to get back here as much as I can. I'm sorry if I've seemed like a bit of an empty chair since I first turned up. I will do better from here on.
I think you guys can kind of thank our Val for that too ...
But things were different when I got here. Val will know this already of course but I am suffering steadily worsening problems with my internet connection, and have been ever since I joined FA. Fair enough, when I first got here it was just an occasional glitch, but it's grown steadily worse since and it's curtailed A LOT of what I've wanted to do online. And unfortunately FurAffinity has been one of the casualties. I just haven't been able to spend a FRACTION of the time around her I would have liked, or worked on HALF the artwork I would have liked to submit here ... and as for socialising, browsing and generally checking out all the goodies? HA ...
It's not that I love deviantArt any more, I've just been there a lot longer, I have a much more established presence there. I tend to gravitate there first. But I try to get back here as much as I can. I'm sorry if I've seemed like a bit of an empty chair since I first turned up. I will do better from here on.
I think you guys can kind of thank our Val for that too ...
