Beowulf
Kelly was nice enough to be interested enough in Beowulf to get us IMAX 3D tickets last week (thanks, babe!) - I don't have the hour I could go on about it, but here's a short review:
Basically - if anyone hasn't been to a IMAX 3D show, and likes fantasy, SEE THIS FILM before you miss the film experience that you may never get a chance to again.
It's a wonderful mess - it's a commendable experiment, flawed and beautiful at the same time.
There are a couple scenes (with Angelina, of course) that actually reach photo-realism - no, scratch that ..... HYPER-realism. They actually did it with this film - they made a CGI model that can be zoomed in to fill a 100 ft wide frame and stare at any spot on the face, with moisture droplets on her skin, visible pores... it's PERFECT.
Don't blow this off, fans of the CGI artform - this may well be the last time anyone as enthusiastic and well-connected as Robert Zemeckis will try this kind of movie again.
It is simply too (comparatively) cheap to put real actors in front of a green screen and make movies ala Robert Rodriguez' great films. To make CGI acotrs is basically flawed from the start, since a feature-length film has too many frames that have to be polished to perfection to work for the average audience to be successful.
And many scenes in Beowulf didn't get the extra time and care (and money) that the Angelina Jolie scenes did, and it shows. You have to be able to look past some pretty glaringly-different scenes and focus on the breathtaking, spectacular scenes (fights with rotted-flesh giants, sea monsters, air and water battles with dragons, etc) and marvel in the depth of the 3D direction. Robert Zemekis made this film to be seen in IMAX 3D, with many sequences deliberately staged solely for the 3D effect.
Should only be seen in IMAX 3D, and is a must see for any fan of fantasy action films, CGI animation, or 3D effects.
Basically - if anyone hasn't been to a IMAX 3D show, and likes fantasy, SEE THIS FILM before you miss the film experience that you may never get a chance to again.
It's a wonderful mess - it's a commendable experiment, flawed and beautiful at the same time.
There are a couple scenes (with Angelina, of course) that actually reach photo-realism - no, scratch that ..... HYPER-realism. They actually did it with this film - they made a CGI model that can be zoomed in to fill a 100 ft wide frame and stare at any spot on the face, with moisture droplets on her skin, visible pores... it's PERFECT.
Don't blow this off, fans of the CGI artform - this may well be the last time anyone as enthusiastic and well-connected as Robert Zemeckis will try this kind of movie again.
It is simply too (comparatively) cheap to put real actors in front of a green screen and make movies ala Robert Rodriguez' great films. To make CGI acotrs is basically flawed from the start, since a feature-length film has too many frames that have to be polished to perfection to work for the average audience to be successful.
And many scenes in Beowulf didn't get the extra time and care (and money) that the Angelina Jolie scenes did, and it shows. You have to be able to look past some pretty glaringly-different scenes and focus on the breathtaking, spectacular scenes (fights with rotted-flesh giants, sea monsters, air and water battles with dragons, etc) and marvel in the depth of the 3D direction. Robert Zemekis made this film to be seen in IMAX 3D, with many sequences deliberately staged solely for the 3D effect.
Should only be seen in IMAX 3D, and is a must see for any fan of fantasy action films, CGI animation, or 3D effects.