threedbomb Reviews

Gulliver's Travels (2010)

Special Effects Lost Opportunity

[3/10 · 6 February 2011]

I'm not going to focus here on the story or Jack Black. It's dire, Jack tries his best with a bad lot and everyone goes home a bit sad. The end.

What screamed out at me throughout this whole movie was the missed opportunity for bringing realistic, physically accurate effects to the giant in a land of tiny people idea. For instance, when Jack is talking to the little peeps, his voice is at exactly the same volume as their voices. Despite the fact he has a set of lungs the size of a cathedral. Just his breathing alone should have been wreaking havoc with the little peeps surroundings. Just picture a helicopter landing and that's close to what his breath should have been doing.

Am I being overly picky? Yes of course I am, but with the level of effects we can achieve today, there was just no excuse not to tackle these real world problems a giant would face trying to live amongst action figure sized people. The possibilities this would have brought to the story would have been delightful to watch.

Everything about the effects were just lazy. From the giants perspective everything was wrong. From the little peeps perspective Jack was all wrong too. There was nothing even close to attempting to get the scales right at either end, and what we ended up seeing was a cheap special effect that wasn't even impressive in the 80's. Ray Harryhausen was doing this better back in my childhood with the Sinbad movies.

Big boo and a hiss to the complete lack of decent physics but a huge hurrah for the opening credits using the camera trick to get the effect of the real world in miniature. Whoever did the opening credits should have had more say in the films main effects.

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (2010)

A solid attempt at a full length feature

[6/10 · 9 January 2011]

If you're a Warhammer fan, you'll probably appreciate this movie a lot more than most. I'm a fan but a picky fan. I loved just seeing the marines come to life in animation. They are such strong iconic designs. What I didn't love so much was the fact they didn't have the budget to raise the render settings. The film suffers badly from being rendered too quickly. The quality of the animation varies from really very good indeed to OK-I'll-pretend-I-never-saw-that-bit.

As a bit of an animation fan, it looked to me like the rendering was lacking realistic area shadows, global illumination and much more complex shaders on the character skins. I know including all that would have pushed the rendering through the roof and probably made the film impossible to complete with their budget.

So fair enough, the animators obviously did the best they could, with the time and budget they had.

Now where the film falls down a bit for me is that it takes itself so seriously. Warhammer for me was always a bit tongue in cheek. Ludicrously over the top armour and zombies in equally over the top armour as enemies. The movie doesn't seem to recognise any of this. Even the religion is pushed forward with such solemn respect that you're left wondering if this was actually a documentary about real Space Marines who fought in the war. They aren't, they are glorious comic book like creations and just a little humour would have gone a long way. A marine moaning about having to carry that big ass heavy flag, another joking about how he has to turn sideways to get through doorways with these shoulder pads, really just some little touches like that would have lifted the whole production from stale and very serious to something I could start to care about. You want to care about these hulking marines that are kicking ass in the name of justice but they are all so dead pan serious that its almost impossible.

I know I sound like I hated this and I really didn't. I thought there was great potential. I enjoyed it. Actually enjoyed it more as the plot developed. I want to see more animation like this. There is a place for sci-fi animation like this that appeals more to adults than children. I just think a little tweaking here and there and a bit more budget and we'd have something delicious for sci-fi fans.

Despicable Me (2010)

The best animated movie of 2010

[10/10 · 9 January 2011]

First off, where on earth did Steve Carell pull this performance from? Sure he's great in the office and I really like the guy. But here we have such a powerful performance from him in voice only that just doesn't sit well with anything I've seen him in before. He went from a funny guy that you can't help liking to a powerhouse of a performer dragging you by the scruff of the neck into the movie. I loved the voice he came up with for Gru so much. Everyone else puts in just faultless performances too. Russell Brand isn't a fave of mine, I avoid movies he stars in, just not my cup of comedy tea but he's superb here. Even bit parts like the fat Texan? lady that runs the girls home, the performances were superb.

And then we have the animation itself. I'm not sure whether it's the software that just took a technical leap in 2010 or not but the animation here is just Pixar perfect. You cannot fault it on any level. Everything from the imaginative, colourful set design, the brilliant character designs and the silky smooth emotion rich animation itself, it all just impresses the hell out of me.

The story while simplistic enough for younger children to follow, has such warmth and heart that you really can't poke holes in it either.

I adored this film and fell in love with the minions, the little girls and Gru. I'd happily have minion plushies on my couch and I'm an old fart of a guy. I keep saying "It's so fluffy!" to people and they look at me like I'm mad. I care not, they will eventually learn the line from the movie and if not, well there loss.

Recommended for anyone who has a heart, a love of animation or just digs really well made comedies.

Tangled (2010)

Animation excellence

[10/10 · 9 January 2011]

This review won't really be useful to many people as I come at this film as an animation student. There have been precious few 2D or 3D animated productions that cam capture your heart and mind. We have the giants like Spirited away and Grave of the Fireflies in the 2D world and really anything from Pixar except Cars to love. Precious few others. Ice Age nailed it but most Dreamworks productions fail to capture the sheer brilliance that can be a character in motion. Despicable Me is another that just brought the characters to life and here with Tangled, we have that same excellence in character animation. Every character from the adorable chameleon to the angry horse are characters you'll love, not because of the story but simply because of the level of animation at play here.

There's an extra level of realism in this movie that you don't normally see too. There are moments during the movie where a characters face isn't seen and you lose sight of the fact it's just stylized 3D animation. The water scenes are particularly stand out brilliant cinematic moments with incredible realism. These scenes must have been globally illuminated to death. I dare not guess how long these frames must have taken to render.

But just like any special effects heavy movie, without a great story and equally great performance, you'll soon tire of it. Tangled doesn't disappoint there. The story is great fun, inventive and very much a wild spin on a very old fairytale. The performances from the real voice actors are devilishly good. It's surprising there weren't more BIG names doing the voices but satisfying to know that this really doesn't matter. The actors aren't phoning in these lines, they are nuanced, operatic and multi layered really helping give the animated characters much more depth.

For me it's the tiny moments that make the movie, not just the great slapstick moments but the way the characters emote. Rapunzel isn't sure of a new character entering the scene? Sure she has that look of trepidation and fear but the emoting is so dynamic and rich that you can almost see the characters thinking their emotions through from moment to moment. It's quite intense and I found myself a number of times being drawn towards the screen, feeling what Rapunzel was feeling. Almost mirroring the emotions as you might do with while talking to a great friend or partner.

So as I said at the beginning, this review probably not going to be so good for the average viewer wanting to find out whether to take the kids to see this but if you appreciate animation as an art form or even appreciate the technical skill involved in animation as pure entertainment. You must see this, you must go and see it again and then you must buy it, download it or otherwise get your hands on this and have it in your collection for happily, ever, after.

Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Amy Poehler need(ed) a committee to improve the script (but not anymore)

[8/10 · 10 April 2009]

I'm editing my review which is now into season two. Time has changed my opinion. So I'll edit this paragraph only and leave the rest to stand as what I felt about the show when it began. Right now I'm bordering on loving this show, the way the characters are starting to flesh out is great and the writing has definitely improved a lot in season 2. One of my favourite comedies now and I'll sorely miss it if it gets cancelled. Shame on me for reviewing it so early and hating on it.

I find Amy Poehler to be one of the funniest women in comedy today but she deserves so much better, than to try and carry this poorly written and badly cast show. I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, having only seen one episode, but already it seems clear the mockumentary that worked so well in the Office, is falling flat here.

The problem I think stems from the lack of understanding as to why the Office is funny. Having a great lead is part of it, and they nailed that. Some of the writing is pretty good, with moments designed to make you laugh, feel pity and embarrassment, which are all key ingredients in the Office but mostly the script is poor.

Where things really fall down are in the setting, the casting and the script.

The Office appealed to me because it was set in a generic workplace that I could relate to. More importantly it was an open plan space where the camera could relate moments from character to character around the office, which felt natural. Parks and Recreation relies on staging groups of employees from scene to scene which feels just like any other situation comedy. The documentary feel is lost.

The casting was truly dire, despite the talents of Amy leading the show. The rest of the cast are mostly strange stereotypical blobs that really do not work at all. I'm just not interested in them, they don't come across as real people with all the vulnerabilities you need to mimic that Office mockumentary feel.

And then there is the script. I do wonder if some of the people that worked on the US Office, who are working on Parks and Recreation actually understand why the scripting is so funny in the Office. Clearly when great UK comedy moves to the US, it often falls flat on its face, as the British sense of humor gets lost in translation. With the Office US, Ricky Gervais was there to help it transition, and while I feared the show would still be terrible, I was so wrong and now rate the US version much higher than the UK one. I guess without Ricky behind it, Parks and Recreations script has just run off down its own US centric situation comedy path.

Maybe later in the series, the writing will shine through. I'll probably be sticking around to find out, if just to see where Amy Poehler takes us.