(no subject)
S_M_I_T_H_’s SUPER SECRET CODE OF THE WEEK:
14-2-6-26 3-8-10- 4-23-65-3 5-1-25-18-6 9-26-16
(Last week’s message decoded: “HELP FIGHT FASCISM, KIDS!”)
There’s a German animated short film - called Fast Film, I think - that uses the frames of various movies cut up and folded into origami shapes; the ever-shifting characters and backgrounds end up telling a sort of proto-movie - a condensed Hollywood flick made from a plethora of Hollywood flicks. Archetypal characters confront each other in archetypal situations: Hero and Girl captured by The Evil One, Escape, Pursuit, Rescue At The Last Second by Maverick/Han-Solo, and The Kiss.
I was reminded of that animation while I watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The film references so, so many other films, and follows such a tried-and-true formula that it actually transcends cliches. There are so many cliches in the film that at some point - instead of being merely predictable - you start to wonder which cliche they’re going to spring up on you next.
This is a film buff’s movie. Sit down with your film student friends and watch this movie: whisper to each other what’s being referenced. See that moss-covered log spanning the gorge? That’s totally from King Kong. See the Entrance to the Hidden Fortress? Son of Kong. From Terry and the Pirates to the Three Stooges, from The Wizard of Oz to Lost Horizon, this film takes such joy in trying to capture the flavor of those classics that it synthesizes something new and bold.
It’s a visual masterpiece .... does that really need to be said though? It looks like a Colorized black-and-white film, drawing visual cues from 1930's pulp comic books and adventure serials. The first five minutes is an exercise in montage - a fluid introduction to the story that would make Fritz Lang and Eisenstein nod their heads in approval.
The characters are really, really likable. There’s such an innocence to the characters that it’s hard not to like them. The relationship between Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t so much a love story as a prolonged quarrel between a Boy Scout and Tomboy who have a thing for each other. It’s refreshing to watch. The much hyped Angelina Jolie is in the movie for a full ten or twelve minutes I think. Supporting characters come and go - not so much cameos of celebrities, but of classic characters - while Joe and Polly guide us through an alternative Thirties where zeppelins dock to the Empire State Building, and the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf (played by a digitally reconstructed Lawrence Olivier in yet another nod to The Wizard of Oz) has made a Mysterious Island home to his dastardly plans ....
Do I really need to explain the plot? You know it already. You’ve seen it a thousand times before. You know what has to happen for the film to reach an aesthetic dramatic balance. And it does. Yup, you guessed it. They’ve got to find the equivalent of the “main reactor” to stop the doomsday device. And nevermind why a Death Rocket would have escape pods - it needs to happen, and it does. It’s satisfying.
If you’re looking for a drama that explores the dark conduits of the human heart, don’t see this film. If you’re looking for a fun movie (PG, kids!) with a sense of globetrotting adventure that may or may not be a postmodern masterpiece, then see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
14-2-6-26 3-8-10- 4-23-65-3 5-1-25-18-6 9-26-16
(Last week’s message decoded: “HELP FIGHT FASCISM, KIDS!”)
There’s a German animated short film - called Fast Film, I think - that uses the frames of various movies cut up and folded into origami shapes; the ever-shifting characters and backgrounds end up telling a sort of proto-movie - a condensed Hollywood flick made from a plethora of Hollywood flicks. Archetypal characters confront each other in archetypal situations: Hero and Girl captured by The Evil One, Escape, Pursuit, Rescue At The Last Second by Maverick/Han-Solo, and The Kiss.
I was reminded of that animation while I watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The film references so, so many other films, and follows such a tried-and-true formula that it actually transcends cliches. There are so many cliches in the film that at some point - instead of being merely predictable - you start to wonder which cliche they’re going to spring up on you next.
This is a film buff’s movie. Sit down with your film student friends and watch this movie: whisper to each other what’s being referenced. See that moss-covered log spanning the gorge? That’s totally from King Kong. See the Entrance to the Hidden Fortress? Son of Kong. From Terry and the Pirates to the Three Stooges, from The Wizard of Oz to Lost Horizon, this film takes such joy in trying to capture the flavor of those classics that it synthesizes something new and bold.
It’s a visual masterpiece .... does that really need to be said though? It looks like a Colorized black-and-white film, drawing visual cues from 1930's pulp comic books and adventure serials. The first five minutes is an exercise in montage - a fluid introduction to the story that would make Fritz Lang and Eisenstein nod their heads in approval.
The characters are really, really likable. There’s such an innocence to the characters that it’s hard not to like them. The relationship between Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t so much a love story as a prolonged quarrel between a Boy Scout and Tomboy who have a thing for each other. It’s refreshing to watch. The much hyped Angelina Jolie is in the movie for a full ten or twelve minutes I think. Supporting characters come and go - not so much cameos of celebrities, but of classic characters - while Joe and Polly guide us through an alternative Thirties where zeppelins dock to the Empire State Building, and the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf (played by a digitally reconstructed Lawrence Olivier in yet another nod to The Wizard of Oz) has made a Mysterious Island home to his dastardly plans ....
Do I really need to explain the plot? You know it already. You’ve seen it a thousand times before. You know what has to happen for the film to reach an aesthetic dramatic balance. And it does. Yup, you guessed it. They’ve got to find the equivalent of the “main reactor” to stop the doomsday device. And nevermind why a Death Rocket would have escape pods - it needs to happen, and it does. It’s satisfying.
If you’re looking for a drama that explores the dark conduits of the human heart, don’t see this film. If you’re looking for a fun movie (PG, kids!) with a sense of globetrotting adventure that may or may not be a postmodern masterpiece, then see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.