Sunday, February 26, 2006

This week's movie reviews

We've seen some interesting movies lately. Domino, starring Keira Knightley as a beautiful bounty hunter (based on a real person) and directed by Tony Scott. It was very artistically edited and colored, and one would assume that it was done digitally, but as the featurette on the DVD explained, he actually uses the film itself as an art medium. He uses various methods such as hand-cranking the camera to achieve special effects like double exposures, and the film itself very creatively is processed with chemicals that produce many bizarre colorations. So it's like he's making a hand-dyed scarf with acids and waxes, there's no starting over and you don't know exactly how it will turn out. Really fascinating. I didn't realize he worked that way.

We enjoyed the movie and the actors. Some good paraphrased quotes:

TV Exec assistant referring to her boss: He's like a ferret on crystal meth.
Bounty hunter: I've seen that.
TV Exec. assistant: What?
Bounty hunter: A ferret on crystal meth.

TV Exec (played by Christopher Walken): [watching one of his shows and screaming into the telephone] They changed the font? THEY CHANGED THE FUCKING FONT!!! WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE FUCKING FONT??? [then to the bounty hunter team] I've got font issues!!

Being a graphic designer, I guess the font rant was particularly amusing to me.

The next fun rental was The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Really recommended if you love bad sci-fi and horror from the 50s and 60s like we do. It's a new movie with good actors doing bad acting on purpose, and there is one scene at the dinner table that made me laugh so hard I was crying. Can't even explain it. Just see the thing for yourself.

The third one was Walking on the Moon in 3-D, which is playing at the IMAX. You've really got to experience seeing a movie in 3-D at the IMAX theatre. It's unbelievable how totally well this works, and with a screen that size you are completely transported by it. Looking forward to the deep sea IMAX 3-D movie coming in March, looks really great, and has Johnny Depp (and Kate Winslet) narrating. That has *nothing* to do with me wanting to see it. ;-)

2 comments:

Neil Shakespeare said...

A Ferret On Meth With Font Issues...

That IS Christopher Walken, isn't it?

Blueberry said...

...with a fever for more cowbell!!!