(no subject)
I owe Spielberg and Jackson an apology for doubting them over this whole "Tintin in mo-cap" thing. Okay, so my suppositions weren't wrong per se: the faces did look weird a lot of the time, and while the Uncanny Valley wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment, it was a not quite subliminal distraction throughout the film. I do hope they're working on this for the sequel, which is predictably yet pleasingly being worked on already.
However, seeing the film in full, I don't think it could've been made any other way and worked. The action scenes were kinetic, hyperreal and neverending while still being engaging; the cinematography was dynamic and took full advantage of not having the restrictions of real-world filming; to get anywhere close to the same effect in a live action film you'd have to render long sequences in CGI anyway, which would have been jarring and fake-looking interspersed with real footage. A more traditional 2- or 3D animation style would've worked acceptably, but wouldn't have given the film its sense of simplified-but-exaggerated reality that's very much in the spirit of ligne claire, though definitely not the style.
Other complaints? Well, I could quibble a little about the score. Besides the title theme, the music was all generic John Williams (and even the title theme is arguable, but it worked wonderfully with the brilliant opening credits sequence). There are many points in the film where the score sounds like it was spliced in unedited from either Star Wars or Harry Potter. Also, you could tell the screenwriters were struggling a bit with how to portray the sensitive issue of Haddock's alcoholism while keeping the humorous elements of the original material, without which he's not really Captain Haddock.
But apart from that the film was just about everything I could have wanted. The streamlined plotline still hung together perfectly, and the pacing was notable for keeping that serialized-strip continuous action of the original. All the characters were spot on - Frost and Pegg as the Thom(p)sons were unfortunately not at their best, but I've never been that fond of the characters anyway so it didn't bother me too much. Jamie Bell's Tintin played beautifully off of Andy Serkis' Haddock, who competed with Snowy for best moment in any given scene. Professor Calculus was sadly absent, presumably so he can be introduced in the sequel, but Castafiore made a hilarious cameo which was even plot-relevant. The film was action-packed and funny, and E., a complete Tintin novice, was so enthralled he told me afterwards that he didn't even hear the chatter of the kids in the audience (who also loved it, quite audibly at times, but I didn't mind because I was cracking up and gasping at all the same moments).
xannoside, when it comes out in the US we should see it together.
In other media news:
Ultimate Spider-Man: Possibly fringe opinion: I'm still enjoying it, but the last two issues have definitely gone into a middle-of-the-arc slump both writing and artwise. (Granted, Pichelli in a slump is better than many other artists at the top of their game, but still.) We've now had the bulk of Miles' origin story -- where he comes from, how he got his powers and most importantly why he chose to become a hero -- and yet his personality and motivations remain nebulous around the edges, which they shouldn't be after four issues of decompressed storytelling, the benefits of which are supposed to be more page space to delve into characters' thoughts and feelings versus action.
It's a problem when Miles is meant to be the successor of one of the most clearly-defined characters in comics. True, there's also a vast disparity in amount of canon to account for, but I think a Spidey novice reading the first four issues of Ultimate Spider-Man vol I would have a clearer idea of who Peter is than an equivalent reader of this volume. Actually, pretty much every solo teen hero I like (Blue Beetle, either Spider-Girl, either younger Batgirl) was much more crisply defined after four issues than Miles, as are most of Miles' supporting cast members (Ganke, obviously, but also his dad and uncle -- his mother not so much). Here's hoping the end of the arc will tighten things up a bit!
I have some thinky thoughts about Ult Spidey and creation vs. synthesis, but I still need to parse them out in my head before I start putting them to pixel.
Avenging Spider-Man: Forgettable good fun, minus the whole "abusive boyfriend" joke. Most of the good moments were in the preview. Art meh. I'll
Point One: I mostly read this for the Kaine story, which was filler but executed well enough to keep my attention until Scarlet Spider comes out. After his work on X-23 I'm sure Chris Yost can handle Kaine's redemption story, but Ryan Stegman's art seems like it might be too cheerful for a good fit. I felt similarly about Ed McGuinness's art in the Nova segment, without accompany confidence for the writing ("epic fail," Loeb, really? Rich, if that's you and not someone else in the Nova suit, I'm so sorry). I'm suspending judgment on the Watcher plotline, as it's the type of epic plotline in the making that could become one of my favorites or make my eyes roll out of my head.
Speaking of the latter, the X-Men's mangling of social justice issues appears to be continuing. So what else is new? I really could not care less about Ultron, having long since observed that the bigger Bendis' plots are, the harder they fall. But Hitch does draw a nice scruffy!Peter. I like how grounded the Dr. Strange story was in its Greenich-Village-ness without being able to attest to the accuracy of its portrayal, but again, Dodson's art seemed much too soft and lacking in angles for the subject matter. S'funny, I don't remember him being quite this un-gritty in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man.
New Avengers: It was such a struggle trying to parse the uninspired storyline through the hideous, hideous art. I had some faint hopes that this story wouldn't be entirely terrible, but so much for that. I'm even dreading what looks to be an upcoming Spidey vs. Norman confrontation next issue (assuming the cover's not a total lie), despite how much I love their showdowns. The only good thing about this issue was that Ai Apaec and June Covington at least won't disappear into limbo immediately, though I'm not sure their new roles as Dark!Spider-Man and Dark!Ms. Marvel 2.0 are much of an improvement.
There was other stuff as well (Black Panther, Wolverine) but nothing that grabbed me in any particular direction.
FYSW posts of note: a brief history of that time Mary Jane Watson dated Bruce Wayne; MJ, frivolousness and internalized misogyny; an awesome sketch of MJ in the spider-suit by John Romita; Paolo Rivera does his usual magic. Also, mizzmarvel wrote a great profile of MJ over at her blog Dimestore Dames.
In other MJ news, I really appreciate Saturday Night Live and Emma Stone fueling the fire of fandom's misogynistic shipping wars -- wait, that's a lie. Both depressing on an abstract level and from the pain of what might've been if only the new movie's team weren't so desperate to distance the new trilogy from the old. Also, since I don't live in the US I don't watch SNL much; is it always this unfunny? The transcripts going around Tumblr (which was missing the Dunst!MJ snark) seemed funny enough, but the execution is as dull as ditchwater.
However, seeing the film in full, I don't think it could've been made any other way and worked. The action scenes were kinetic, hyperreal and neverending while still being engaging; the cinematography was dynamic and took full advantage of not having the restrictions of real-world filming; to get anywhere close to the same effect in a live action film you'd have to render long sequences in CGI anyway, which would have been jarring and fake-looking interspersed with real footage. A more traditional 2- or 3D animation style would've worked acceptably, but wouldn't have given the film its sense of simplified-but-exaggerated reality that's very much in the spirit of ligne claire, though definitely not the style.
Other complaints? Well, I could quibble a little about the score. Besides the title theme, the music was all generic John Williams (and even the title theme is arguable, but it worked wonderfully with the brilliant opening credits sequence). There are many points in the film where the score sounds like it was spliced in unedited from either Star Wars or Harry Potter. Also, you could tell the screenwriters were struggling a bit with how to portray the sensitive issue of Haddock's alcoholism while keeping the humorous elements of the original material, without which he's not really Captain Haddock.
But apart from that the film was just about everything I could have wanted. The streamlined plotline still hung together perfectly, and the pacing was notable for keeping that serialized-strip continuous action of the original. All the characters were spot on - Frost and Pegg as the Thom(p)sons were unfortunately not at their best, but I've never been that fond of the characters anyway so it didn't bother me too much. Jamie Bell's Tintin played beautifully off of Andy Serkis' Haddock, who competed with Snowy for best moment in any given scene. Professor Calculus was sadly absent, presumably so he can be introduced in the sequel, but Castafiore made a hilarious cameo which was even plot-relevant. The film was action-packed and funny, and E., a complete Tintin novice, was so enthralled he told me afterwards that he didn't even hear the chatter of the kids in the audience (who also loved it, quite audibly at times, but I didn't mind because I was cracking up and gasping at all the same moments).
xannoside, when it comes out in the US we should see it together.
In other media news:
Ultimate Spider-Man: Possibly fringe opinion: I'm still enjoying it, but the last two issues have definitely gone into a middle-of-the-arc slump both writing and artwise. (Granted, Pichelli in a slump is better than many other artists at the top of their game, but still.) We've now had the bulk of Miles' origin story -- where he comes from, how he got his powers and most importantly why he chose to become a hero -- and yet his personality and motivations remain nebulous around the edges, which they shouldn't be after four issues of decompressed storytelling, the benefits of which are supposed to be more page space to delve into characters' thoughts and feelings versus action.
It's a problem when Miles is meant to be the successor of one of the most clearly-defined characters in comics. True, there's also a vast disparity in amount of canon to account for, but I think a Spidey novice reading the first four issues of Ultimate Spider-Man vol I would have a clearer idea of who Peter is than an equivalent reader of this volume. Actually, pretty much every solo teen hero I like (Blue Beetle, either Spider-Girl, either younger Batgirl) was much more crisply defined after four issues than Miles, as are most of Miles' supporting cast members (Ganke, obviously, but also his dad and uncle -- his mother not so much). Here's hoping the end of the arc will tighten things up a bit!
I have some thinky thoughts about Ult Spidey and creation vs. synthesis, but I still need to parse them out in my head before I start putting them to pixel.
Avenging Spider-Man: Forgettable good fun, minus the whole "abusive boyfriend" joke. Most of the good moments were in the preview. Art meh. I'll
Point One: I mostly read this for the Kaine story, which was filler but executed well enough to keep my attention until Scarlet Spider comes out. After his work on X-23 I'm sure Chris Yost can handle Kaine's redemption story, but Ryan Stegman's art seems like it might be too cheerful for a good fit. I felt similarly about Ed McGuinness's art in the Nova segment, without accompany confidence for the writing ("epic fail," Loeb, really? Rich, if that's you and not someone else in the Nova suit, I'm so sorry). I'm suspending judgment on the Watcher plotline, as it's the type of epic plotline in the making that could become one of my favorites or make my eyes roll out of my head.
Speaking of the latter, the X-Men's mangling of social justice issues appears to be continuing. So what else is new? I really could not care less about Ultron, having long since observed that the bigger Bendis' plots are, the harder they fall. But Hitch does draw a nice scruffy!Peter. I like how grounded the Dr. Strange story was in its Greenich-Village-ness without being able to attest to the accuracy of its portrayal, but again, Dodson's art seemed much too soft and lacking in angles for the subject matter. S'funny, I don't remember him being quite this un-gritty in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man.
New Avengers: It was such a struggle trying to parse the uninspired storyline through the hideous, hideous art. I had some faint hopes that this story wouldn't be entirely terrible, but so much for that. I'm even dreading what looks to be an upcoming Spidey vs. Norman confrontation next issue (assuming the cover's not a total lie), despite how much I love their showdowns. The only good thing about this issue was that Ai Apaec and June Covington at least won't disappear into limbo immediately, though I'm not sure their new roles as Dark!Spider-Man and Dark!Ms. Marvel 2.0 are much of an improvement.
There was other stuff as well (Black Panther, Wolverine) but nothing that grabbed me in any particular direction.
FYSW posts of note: a brief history of that time Mary Jane Watson dated Bruce Wayne; MJ, frivolousness and internalized misogyny; an awesome sketch of MJ in the spider-suit by John Romita; Paolo Rivera does his usual magic. Also, mizzmarvel wrote a great profile of MJ over at her blog Dimestore Dames.
In other MJ news, I really appreciate Saturday Night Live and Emma Stone fueling the fire of fandom's misogynistic shipping wars -- wait, that's a lie. Both depressing on an abstract level and from the pain of what might've been if only the new movie's team weren't so desperate to distance the new trilogy from the old. Also, since I don't live in the US I don't watch SNL much; is it always this unfunny? The transcripts going around Tumblr (which was missing the Dunst!MJ snark) seemed funny enough, but the execution is as dull as ditchwater.