Saturday, March 14, 2009

Let The Right Watchmen In

Tallyho good sirs, ya know what I learned recently I'm really not fond of? rotoscoping. It's far too much tedious work and I'm not a good drawer or tracer or whatever. An interesting thing about tho, even bad rotoscoping takes forever.

I was talking to a friend at work today on my lunch break (not that I don't talk to people when I'm supposed to be working too), and she asked if I hang out with anyone in my class. Her class does stuff all the time, their like an extended family. Let's not even get into that....

Anyway, on to business, most of my posts are likely gonna be about movies I've seen recently since I don't really have anything to talk about.

One quick sidebar though, a hearty salute is in order for one Andrew "Test" Martin who unexpectedly passed away during the last couple days. I wasn't a big fan of his (no, not one of his "testicles", he was doin a gimmick trying to get the fans to like him and was told by stacy keibler to say in a promo: I love my testicles, on live tv.) You never want to hear about wrestlers, or anyone for that matter I suppose, dying before they should at a young age.

RIP

Two quick movie reviews, you don't want this to be too long.


Watchmen: The book is a good read and the movie is a good watch and at the end of the day, both are still pretty awesome. Sure there's differences in between the two, some small, some bigger. and yes the giant squid monster is far cooler (which really isn't much a spoiler calm down) but I can understand how it wouldn't have worked. How they did it instead works better from a storyline perspective. It's got good action, an engaging story, some very nice cinematography and pretty good music. Don't let the length (clocking in at 2 1/2 hours) or the male nudity (probably the worst case of blue balls in the history of mankind. anybody? no? wasn't funny? ok.) keep you from seeing this movie.

Let The Right One In: There's two types of vampire movies: intense action-packed bloodfests and arthousey dramatic flicks. While not an action-packed bloodfest per se, this film does include parts of both. It's a swedish movie about a young boy, Oskar, who gets bullied and picked on constantly, who meets his newly moved in neighbour Eli, a strange girl who he doesn't know is a vampire.

I can't really describe what it is about this movie that I liked. I like to compare it to Twilight even though beyond both having vampires, they have no nothing in common and there's no comparison. It's like comparing Neil Young to Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. Let the Right One, in a way, accomplishes what Twilight set out and tried to do. It's an unconventional love story, involving vampires and social issues.

Anyway, the two become friends and she teaches him how to stand up to the bullies. As bodies start piling up tho, it soons becomes apparent that the current situation, as it stands right now, can not last.

Technically, I thought it was really well done. The acting of the two leads was great, the atmosphere set by the exterior shots of a cold, snowy sweden was slightly unnerving and shot well. The climax includes a shot underwater that is just ridiculously awesome. loved it.

It's not a movie for everyone, it's deliberately slow paced and more focused on story and character development than flashy vampires with capes and protruding fangs. Who knows, you may enjoy it though.

4 comments:

Jake Hammell said...

I think I will definitely look at Let the Right One In. Especially since as you recommended it based on story and character development. I think too many movies try too hard to develop character, or spend more time on a story that just isn't that interesting.

And rotoscoping is pretty hard. How much time have you spent on it and how much actual footage time have you cranked out?

Chelsea Ribbon said...

I don't even remember what rotoscoping is... induldge?

BC said...

rotoscoping is when you take footage and draw over top of it in photoshop. then draw everything again for every frame. I don't think you guys had to do it last year.
Jake- I have spent probably 5 hours on it so far. I don't have any actual footage done yet but that's because I'm doin each layer all the way through one at a time.

Jake Hammell said...

Let The Right One In was just featured on CBC Edmonton AM this morning as "The Hidden Gem on DVD." The guy f*cking loved it and told everyone to go out and see it, post haste

Looks like you beat them to the punch by like three weeks!