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.
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.
The BBC threw us a nice softball by releasing a “cinema-exclusive” season 4 trailer on February 1st, which someone promptly uploaded to Youtube. The RFS crew took much delight in analyzing and dissecting this tasty morsel, speculating wildly on what are likely innocuous shots of no real relevance. We also discussed the newest episode of Torchwood, hashed over Russell T Davies declaration that he keeps fans at arm’s length, and of course went our trademark off-topic ramblings as per usual. (feed, web, direct download)
The BBC released a trailer for Series 4 of Doctor Who today in England…but only in movie theatres. Presumably this thing will hit the net in a day or two and look much better than this version shot on someone’s camcorder (or even their phone)…but me wantee now! And so do you, so watch it.
According to a recent article in Slate, movies appearing at the Sundance film festival by and large don’t get pirated, and instead wallow in obscurity. The author’s contention is that pirates only pay attention to big releases, but I think it may have more to do with the fact that the average Sundance filmmaker probably isn’t tech-savvy enough to get their film onto torrent sites in the first place. After all, 90 percent of the films at Sundance and other film festivals go on to virtually no distribution, so why not at least try to get some eyeballs on all that hard work?
So last night we went to see Cloverfield, the much-vaunted “Blair Witch meets Godzilla” mishmash of home video and huge effects. I’ll start with the good…the effects are top notch and the monster is pretty cool. Where the film falls apart is in dialogue, plot and character. The alleged protagonists are all self-absorbed hipster douchebags, and not nearly enough of them get eaten or otherwise butchered for my liking. I don’t think I was supposed to laugh at this film or cheer on the monster, but I did anyway. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, because it was cool to see Manhattan get menaced by a giant whatsit…but I wish they’d picked somewhat less retarded individuals for me to root for.
After scheduling snafus and real life intruded to keep us from recording last week, the RFS crew returned to discuss the first two episodes of Torchwood (verdict: pretty decent), speculate on the latest round of rumours, and digress as always into realms nonsensical. And for once we actually came in at under an hour. Enjoy!(feed, web, direct download)
Prolost, the blog of author and special effects whiz Stu Maschwitz, has an excellent feature on how a BBC program used four graphic designers, greenscreens, color correction, and some clever thinking to more or less reproduce the opening of Saving Private Ryan. The video is below, but go to Stu’s blog post, as he has plenty of things to say about the process.