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March 7, 2010

Carl’s Movie Mini-Review: Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton’s take on the Alice story seems to have all the right parts: A vibrant, committed, perfect-fit cast, spectacular costuming, and a focused end-point from the get-go. But somehow all these parts didn’t seem well-edited together. Taken individually, the scenes are fine, but I often found myself asking “is this what I’m really concerned with right now?”

In that vein, let me continue this post with a disjointed series of random thoughts:

1. Just how much incomprehensible, demented madness can you tolerate? This movie embodies weirdness, and an example of such is that much of what the Mad Hatter says is like a completely foreign language (though that’s not exclusive to him).

2. As I said before, the costuming is amazing. Alice goes through numerous costume changes as she grows/shrinks and changes company, and even some of the minor characters don’t adhere to the cartoon-character same-clothes-every-day standard.

3. I get Johnny Depp is a bankable name, but I think it’s completely strange that this is being sold as his movie. Which is not to say he doesn’t play a prominent role in it–which he does. I never read the original stories and it’s been a decade or two since I last saw the original Disney cartoon adaptation, but I don’t recall the Mad Hatter being such a central character. Still, in this politically-charged story, his role as a leader in the “tea party” revolution makes sense. Make no mistake, though, this is still Alice’s show all the way through.

4. I think all this movie needed was some cool-down time. Everyone was always rushing around, determined, almost every scene a little too urgent. Can we have a little time to simmer and reflect over what’s going on before throwing the next beat at us?

5. Avril Lavigne. I’ve been wondering what you’ve been up to. Did they not invite you to perform at the Olympics? (If they did, I didn’t follow the games, so I plead ignorance.)

6. Crispin Glover seems as tall & lanky as ever. But then again, almost everyone is caricaturized by CG augmentation. I think I only saw three untouched humans in Wonderland. It works, though.

7. I loved all the side/minor characters except the Mad Hatter. That dude’s just disturbed/disturbing.

It’s not the most easily digestible movie, but I think this is one of those times where the effort is worth appreciating.

Carl @ 1:27 am
Filed under: Film,Reviews — Tags: adaptation, disney, johnny depp, tim burton —

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May 30, 2009

Carl’s Movie Mini-Review: Up

Pixar remains untouchable with their latest film, especially when led in by a trailer for Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which, in its first minute looks like a total Jimmy Neutron rip-off. The last time I read the book was in first grade or so, but I don’t recall a kid inventor making non-sensical contraptions.

One of the themes of Up seems to be that misery loves company. The cast of hereos consists of outcasts, misfits, or sad-sacks in various forms. Through their mis-adventures together, each starting off with seperate goals for journey, they eventually learn to lean on each other, making a whole new family of their own.

The movie is full of laugh out loud quirks which work for both kids and adults. Note I said “and.” Normally there’s jokes for kids and jokes for adults. Many of the jokes in Up are truly multi-layered with an extra kick for those with more life experience.

Humor aside, the opening montage in itself is a wonderfully developed, touching, impactful beginning-middle-end story and could easily have been its own short. More sensitive folks may want to pack tissues; many in my theater were audibly tearful.

Pixar is known for tackling very specific technical challenges with each film. In A Bug’s Life, it was crowds. In Monsters, Inc., it was hair. In The Incredibles, it was humans. Between the front-attached animated short Partly Cloudy and the iconic balloons lifting a house, I think their challenge here was complex soft-body collisions. However, the balloons are far from always on screen, so maybe I’m just imagining the showcase because it was far from highlighted.

What is masterfully showcased is the use of depth. Normally when you see CG films in 3D, all layers are more or less in clear focus. The primary method of funneling the viewer’s attention is by popping something out of the screen. Up utilizes traditional camera lense techniques (the “imperfect lense” seen in Wall-E) to make sure that the viewer is not overwhelmed and unsure of what to look at. The clouds, fog, light/shadow, and frame composition also noticably contribute to the incredible sense of dimensionality. I’m 100% certain that it would still pop without the glasses.

Back to talking about people, I noticed there were numerous elderly couples or small groups attending my showing. They weren’t accompanied by families or grandchildren, and several groups stayed through the credits. I don’t recall any similar situation in other family movies, and I wonder if the turnout had anything to do with the protagonist.

Highly recommended.

Carl @ 12:37 am
Filed under: Film,Reviews — Tags: audience, disney, movie, pixar, review —

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April 12, 2009

ARG without the “arrrrggghhhh”

ARG stands for “alternate reality game.” The basis behind this is to break through the “fourth wall” of a game’s own self-contained universe into the real world. You may have heard of ARGs with the Halo 2 “I Love Bees”promotion or EA’s short-lived life-invading Majestic. ARGs usually take the form of a scavenger hunt where you need to scour the internet for coded information or “hack” through websites designed specifically for the game. Sometimes you’d be directed to be at a specific payphone at a certain time to receive some information. Majestic was known for harassing you through email, phone, fax, and IM, and would often scare those unfortunate to inadvertently receive the messages but not be in on the game. (Speaking of which, check out the Michael Douglas movie The Game.)

As you may see, the experience can be invasive, whether into someone’s personal life or some public space. Half the fun could be the aspect of playing the role of a covert agent, and acting suspiciously in public aids in that.

But what if everyone’s in on the act? What if the “puppetmaster” doesn’t have to worry about planting hints and clues without setting off some federal watchdog alarm? Remember what happened with Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Boston.

It looks like Disney is doing just that with the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure in Epcot. Teams are assigned a “Kimmunicator” (read: Verizon/LG cellphone) that delivers them location-aware clues for their scavenger hunt as they “roam the globe” in the World Showcase. I’m not sure if it uses RFID or GPS, but I’m guessing the former as the device also allows you to activate certain exhibits. There are seven different villains from the show you can chase after, and your immediate mission can change depending on what’s nearby.

It sounds like fun and a more pro-active tour guide than the interactive Mickey Mouse dolls they’ve had for the past few years. Between the numerous family vacations, school trips, and random trips thanks to going to college in Orlando, I’m pretty much all theme-parked-out. But with all my years of of Epcot visits and no rush to cram in rides/attractions into a short day, I think this would be something very much worth checking out.

[ A blog post w/ pics about the attraction @disunplugged.com ]