Never Has My Imagination Been Teased To This Extent!

Watched an AMAZING staff picked video on Vimeo. Never has my imagination been teased, chewed and spat out quite like this before! 

Directed by Jodeb, 'Language' is surreal and bursting with juicy animation that serves it's purpose and delivers. 

Porter Robinson - Language from Jodeb on Vimeo.

Is it Contagious? - My thoughts on 'CONTAGION'

So evidently I just watched 'Contagion' directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Z. Burns; Rated it 4/5 stars on Flixter and reviewed it as follows: 

"Contagion will do for shaking hands what Jaws did for swimming. It's THAT effective!"

I'm going to assume that I don't exaggerate my opinions because it's true, Contagion was one helluva movie. I had heard about the film when I was at Ryerson during Fall 2011; there were a bunch of volunteers going around with banners titled, 'Nothing Spreads Like Fear - Contagion'. An interesting way of advertising this film seeing as how it has everything to do with informing others with what YOU know and how it may concern them. Of course I didn't realize this until I saw the movie a couple of days ago. 

It's unique style of cutting away scene after scene and covering all corners was the most appealing aspect of the movie. After all, it's not your everyday sci-fi thriller where you have a viral outbreak wiping out the mass population of the earth. It's more than that. Contagion's viral outbreak brings it's characters together and in some cases changes those characters. The suspense never stops as you're never given that 'It's over' feeling, in fact you're made to expect more chaos to occur. 

There's politics in the movie. Period. You've got families struggling to stay intact, a freelance journalist who's more than meets the eye, a medical official who's willing to test vaccines upon herself, and a WHO worker determined to save a village from being eaten alive by the virus with no means to protect themselves. Take all of this, and the fact that each of these characters have a personal life of their own and what you get is a society much like our own. With that in mind, it suffices to say that Soderbergh's 'Contagion' delivers on so many levels. A few puzzling questions left unanswered but it's not a good thriller if everything is made obvious.  

Without giving anything away, this was the gist of what I felt about Contagion. If you want to be a part of this crisis and want to indulge in the glass case of emotion this movie builds around you, then feel free to purchase your own copy from Amazon (that's what I did). 

'Once more into the fray...' - The Grey

A controversial film that has so much to offer. When The Grey was unleashed at the box office it sparked the interest of many people, including animal's rights activists - arguing about the violent (perceived as false) portrayal of wolves. Which is, however a very invalid point. The Grey seeks to accomplish on land what Jaws did at sea in that nature can sometimes dominate over man while taking it's course. 

Ottway (Neeson) after surviving the plane crash

Liam Neeson is part of a stellar cast in this ode to the survival genre, making The Grey one of the most thrilling movies of the year. The characters are so carved out that you will know everything there is to know about them before the credits start rolling. This makes The Grey a bit more than just a thriller as it explores all the different features of the Human when facing the inevitable - death. 

Lack of excessive special effects make The Grey a convincing film to watch, that will keep you at the edge of your seat since the very beginning. It's as meaningful to watch as it is brutal. 

Once more into the fray

Into the last good fight I'll ever know 

Live and die on this day

Live and die on this day

Above are, what I deem to be some of the most touching words I've ever heard in a film. This is the poem, written by director Joe Carnahan himself for the movie, that Ottway recites in the movie. Particularly [SPOILER] the last scene before the Alpha Wolf lunges at him. The final showdown being the decisive factor in 'Live and Die'. 

As I interpret, The Grey highlights the area between black and white. In other words, both sides are equally part of the problem. The wolves aren't killing these stranded humans because they're savage beasts, on the contrary it's because these humans are trespassing in their territory (accidentally). And as it is in their nature, the wolves must defend their territory. John Ottway, played by Liam Neeson, at one point himself says, 'They were killing him' - as one of the men is killed by a pack of wolves. Which means that they're not eating him (obviously) - which highlights the fact that they aren't savage beasts but rather intelligent creatures just defending themselves. 

Again, this isn't a review - just a few points I felt that should be noted as they movie went through plenty of scrutiny after it's release for 'negatively' portraying nature. 

Overall, the Grey is a gut-wrenching movie that is effective and praise-worthy. If Liam Neeson isn't nominated for an Academy Award for his role as John Ottway, I will be one unhappy land-lubber. 

And if you'd like to see Liam Neeson vs. The Wolf Pack, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of The Grey today! 

[SPOILERS!] 

Here's an excerpt from an interview with director Joe Canahan at ScreenRant about the controversial ending - If you haven't seen the movie, STOP - RIGHT NOW!

JC: “I’m more interested in your interpretation. The very basic thesis is, ‘As important as it is how you live, it’s equally important how you die.’ People say, ‘What does the title mean?’ That’s it, it’s the grey. It’s the grey area. It’s between life and death, this nebulous thing that you don’t really understand. There’s an Easter Egg, there’s one shot at the very end, post-credits. So what does this mean? You tell me. I have one word; I think it’s harmony. That’s what that shot is, and whatever you want to extrapolate from that is up to you. It’s something my wife said early on: They thought that everybody died in that crash and all those guys were just facets of Liam’s personality, and that all those conversations were imagined. He’s the only one that lived. I thought, that’s brilliant. Great! [Laughs] When people start making their own attachments, that’s brilliant. My only hope for the film is that it plays beyond the two hours it takes for you to watch it.” 

Enjoying My New Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet

So I just bought my new (and first) Wacom graphics tablet, called the Bamboo Capture. [Wacom Bamboo Capture Pen and Touch Tablet (CTH470)] I mainly bought this to relieve myself of the heavy use my mouse has been going through doing Stereo and multi pass compositing, and a graphics tablet is a more ergonomic and efficient way to go about your business and navigating through your computer. 

It really is phenomenal! After seeking advice from various artists on whether a Bamboo would be right for me - it just so happens that the Bamboo is Wacom's low-end line, mostly for non-business purposes but it is just as sturdy and usable as their more professional Intuos tabs. 

I've been using for a while now (it's been almost a day since I bought it) and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. It is fast, easy to set up, and does more than just acts as a substitute for your mouse.

In fact, it's also capable of being used as a multi-gesture touch pad for your laptop. 

It has 4 buttons that you can customize and point to various tasks on your comp - such as having shortcuts for programs that you use most often - all done through a very easy to use and intuitive control panel (comes on DVD). It also has 1024 levels of pressure, which I believe is twice that of the Bamboo Fun tablets they previously had. Wacom has gone ahead and upgraded their low-end line to meet the needs of 'the everyday artist/photographer'. It ships with a DVD with 3 programs - including Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Autodesk Sketchbook Express and NIK Color Filters (for Photoshop Elements). 

As an artist told me the other day that you're really paying for the tablet not the software it ships with so make wise decisions as your tablet will stick around for a long time. You're expected to replace your PC more than your tablet. And I think he was right because this is one durable device. 

I think this is a great start to a meaningful relationship with my Bamboo. Looking forward to exploring more and more everyday and putting it to good use. In fact I'm using it right now to go through all these buttons on my dashboard! - Best $99 I've spent yet! 

Contraband - A Convoluted Mesh

After trying to avoid it for a while, I finally saw Contraband last night. Needless to say, I saw it merely out of pity for the poor thing.

It wasn't all that bad, but was quite disappointing. I gave it 2.5/5 stars on Flixter. Contraband's only strength may be the presence of Mark Walhberg alone.

I dunno who that guy is (right) even now!

He's as charming as ever in this thriller as he tries to run a smuggling operation to save the lives of his loved ones. His moments on screen are gut-wrenching. The rest of the characters, I cannot say the same. It's not the actors that blemish the movie but the lack of properly crafted characters. For one thing, I found myself trying to actually use my brain cells to comprehend the events as they occurred.

This experience, fortunately, can be best described as 'spaghetti'. Why? Because there're things in this movie you will never know the starting off. We're never introduced to the characters very well in the first place, apart from the fact that Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) is a former mastermind smuggler who now has a Security System business and a family. The others, however vital to the plot are never given proper exposition or background.

I dunno who THAT guy is (left) either.

I'm not a reviewer or anything, but I do love taking things apart, especially when it comes to choppy vfx. And this nails it! Awkwardly there was this one slow-mo shot of a henchmen being blown away by a detonating bomb set on an armored vehicle. Having this 3-4 second shot being suddenly thrown at you with all the fast-paced action and guns-blazing, this is no walk in the park. In fact, it's annoying. The shot is followed by a close-up of an upside down Wahlberg...also in slow-mo (which I was able to deal with 'cause now that's 2 slow-mo shots consecutively and it wasn't jumpy). 

Apart from that, it's not an entirely unique film. You've seen all of it before but in different pieces. Contraband is just a convoluted mesh of what could otherwise have been a lengthier, more explanatory and touching movie.  

If you feel the need to partake in this Wahlberg flick, do pick up a copy at 

- Posted using BlogPress - Follow me on Twitter @TeenageVFX

The Lorax and The Massive Amount Of Boredom I Had To Face...

Don't get me wrong, the Lorax did have it's moments throughout, but that doesn't take away from the sheer boredom it has to offer alongside it. 


Despite being an ambitious adaptation of Dr. Suess' book, The Lorax delivers on only one standpoint - it's gorgeous. But in this day and age, the audience (I speak for myself when I say this) has had enough of gorgeous! We've seen everything from spectacular film like Finding Nemo and Wall-E to just plain dumb animated features like Mars Needs Moms. 

I don't review movies but this was a
chore to sit through!

To be fair, I won't compare the Lorax to any other animated movie because, like I said before, there are some really good parts in this and most films of this kind tend to be on either one side of the scale or the other. On the other hand, the Lorax had me sitting on the fence. Now, bare in mind that I don't watch movies just to find negative points in them. I start watching with positive thoughts only!

So on account my friend Zain's constant persuasion that I should watch the Lorax if I have time (seeing as how he enjoyed it) I went ahead and watched it - again, with positive thoughts only. It isn't considered fresh on Rotten Tomatoes since only 54% of the audience liked it. But then again, in my years of film-going I've learned to prevent ratings and reviews from clouding my judgement before sitting down and watching a film. Just to add, personally I feel that ratings and reviews are there only to tell you whether a movie is worth your time, or the ticket price. It does not all speak for how good (or bad) the film may be overall. 

So here we go, did I enjoy the Lorax? Uh...yeah. A little. 

Apart from being utterly stunning (as I said before), it is also utterly flawed. At times I wondered who the hell this movie was made for. The character 'Once-ler' being my greatest pet peeve. He says things like, '...undeterred by reality.' < - HELLO! WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THAT MEAN?! - Okay maybe you know what that means, but I highly doubt that a 12 yr old would understand this. The Lorax is full of dialogue like the one above. 

The Lorax (left) and The Once-Ler (right)

I'm pretty sure that after it's release, Dr. Seuss probably turned over in his grave (No offence!) because this movie is drenched in comedy that never delivers - both due to it's corny dialogue and thinly written script, and because the terrible pacing. Now, I've complained about the issues I've had with pacing in movies these days on several occasions - refer to my post on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - but this one surely isn't an exception. I wouldn't have minded if it were made a tad bit longer and add in a little more dialogue for clarity if it meant understand what the heck was going on before the next scene. 

The movie's plot is never really made as prominent as it should be. By prominent I mean, you shouldn't have to think about what to focus on. The Lorax jumps back and forth between two distinct plots. One about a teen trying to impress his crush and the other about an ashamed old man hoping to make things right again. 

Coming to an abrupt conclusion because this is becoming really lengthy - enough to be called a movie 'review' which I'm not capable of writing, I'd just like to add that Dr. Seuss' books are centered around things that you can actually relate to. While this movie does a not-so-average job of delivering that, 'unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot... nothing is going to get better. It's not.' - Dr. Seuss

How Immortals Lowered My IQ...

Here is number 1 out of the 3 movies that I've watched recently -  released between last year and present, that I found intolerable, pathetic, and perception-distorting. 

Immortals

I saw this film on a friend's suggestion. The guy said that he absolutely loved it. I mean...this is a guy who slept through gut-wrenching (in a good way) films like The Grey - so did I take his word for it? No. In fact, my only motivation to watch the movie came from (as I heard) it's stunning visuals. Well, did that turn out okay? Hell FREAKIN' NO! 

It seems that the only asset Tarsem Singh's got at his disposal to impress his audience is his somewhat bland and boring visual style. But that didn't exactly work because all the time I was looking at a massive chunk of land in sepia tone. And then at the corner of the frame there's a little 'village' carved into a mountain -- let me just shove it in between and ask, 'What the heck is John Hurt doing in this movie?' -- But really, that is all it has to offer. 

Tarsem Singh tries to deliver but obviously can't due to the terribly-written script that boasts lines that are pointless. And the nerve of these actors that don't know how to deliver them. Save for Luke Evans, he's just brilliant, even though he has a knack of appearing in some of my most-hated films ... and John Hurt. 

Oh and by the way, the whole idea of making the 'gods' all buffed up and having perfectly-sculptured abs made for a horrid depiction of the mythical Greek Gods. 

...Get it?

The Story? Simply put, there's an ancient godly weapon that finds it's in the hands of an evil dude, Hyperion, who hates the Gods and goes around destroying temples and pretty much kills everyone in his way. Like...everyone. To the point where it just gets annoying. So the hero dude, Theseus, is apparently the chosen one and goes to out to kill Hyperion and avenge his mother's death. Trust me, it's not all that exciting but it's filled with hilarious instances (though they're not meant to be) - Like one scene where this guy get's his bollocks smashed. That's right, this movie is ball-smashing fun to watch. It made me twitch, not gonna lie! 

Prepare for loads of this! 

If anything, watch Immortals ONLY if you've got too much time on your hands or if you can tolerate being marred by overly-slowed action sequences with gallons of blood on screen ... and limbs.