Freyburg

Part of my day job at Greedy Productions was working on this top secret documentary about the making of the Metal Gear saga, including Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which comes out this week. Everybody at Greedy knocked their asses off to make this, so if you have any desire at all to own MGS4, spring for the collector’s edition and make me happy.

Dissent in the ranks this week, as the Third Guy forsakes a life of marital bliss with Who scribe Stephen Moffat and rips “Forest of the Dead” a new one. Steven and Warren, on the other hand, were charmed and entertained by the concluding episode of the two-parter that began with last week’s “Silence in the Library,” and thus did vigorous debate and pointless digression occur for about an hour and change.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #86 - Forest of the Dud?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (90)

Tonight I’ll be going to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is notable not because it’s the first time in nearly twenty years that Harrison Ford will don the whip and fedora, but also because the movie is part of a move away from computer generated effects and back to real effects, and more importantly, real stuntmen. An article in the San Francisco Chronicle explains how stuntmen in movies allow a film that was made decades ago to still appear fresh, while the latest computer generated epics look out of date a year or two after they’re released.

Even though I love computer and visual effects, I’m compelled to agree. And not only are new movies using too many CGI elements in lieu of good old fashioned, clunky but lovable “real” effects, they aren’t even paying attention to the rules of yore regarding editing and composition. I recently stumbled upon “The Black Hole,” a forgettable B-grade sci-fi movie from Disney made in 1980. I was immediately struck by the fact that, despite the overall cheapness and second-string nature of the production, they went out of their way to create a decent pace and to make every shot look as cinematic as possible. And back in the old days, every movie had to at least try for that goal, because they weren’t able to fall back on the easy answers afforded today’s films with digital editing and fancy VFX tools.

….and not a moment too soon. Heather Mallick points out that the ultimate “girlie” movie is less about female liberation than about rampant consumerism and empty, shallow competition to secure a rich husband. I can’t possibly match Mallick’s lovely bile, so check out her article yourself. She also name-checks and quotes professional misanthrope Toby Young’s post about the SATC movie, which is OK by me. Time Out New York also points to the movie as unleashing a new wave of douchification on unsuspecting NY neighbourhoods, and how the show created the creature known as Julia Allison.

I for one will probably never see the SATC movie, but my sympathies go out to all those dragged to the film by a significant other. That just ain’t fair, and I recommend dragging that significant other to as crappy a revenge flick as possible. One of the Saw movies should do the trick.

Oh, there are some bad ‘uns here. I’m glad they took 10,000 B.C. out for a solid spanking, as it’s an affront to anyone with the slightest interest in world history.

With the release of Be Kind Rewind (which i didn’t think much of), the phenomenon of “sweding” films has gripped Internet videographers like a VHS-fueled fever. “Sweding” is the art of remaking famous film scenes in as clunky and obviously lo-fi way as possible. Most of these efforts fall kind of flat, but this remake of Tron is absolutely beautiful.

M dot Strange made a really weird animated film called “We Are the Strange” which, frankly, I didn’t much care for. But enough people dug the film that he was able to completely bypass Hollywood and sell DVDs of his film online thanks to a substantial presence on YouTube, and at a recent conference in Berlin he explained his experiences and what he’s learned about the Internet and the film industry.

M dot Strange: Berlin Talent Campus 08 from M dot Strange on Vimeo.

Much as I loathe to advertise on behalf of my competitors, I think these people have the Kelowna video production market locked up tight:

Electro group Justice created an awesome video that consists of nothing but faux 70’s and 80’s production company logos comprised of the lyrics of the song. Eye-poppingly cool.

Blasphemy? Perhaps. Obviously Stanley Kubrick is a far better director than hack-for-hire Peter Hyams, and the original film’s imagery and effects are visionary (if tinged by the 60’s and not anywhere near where we actually ended up in 2001). But check out io9’s list, inspired by the passing of Roy “Heywood Floyd” Scheider, of why 2010 is actually more enjoyable and comprehensible than 2001. Clarke has since gone on to write a bunch of crappy novels focused on the 2001 universe, so if you’re going to level criticism, be sure to spread it around to the creotr of the whole shebang.