John’s Movie Musings

Robert Zemekis is a madman.  Yes, the same director who gave us Back to the Future has now established residence in the Uncanny Valley (wiki) with the insane task of bridging it.  For three films in a row (Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol), the loonies at ImageMovers have used a process that morphs real actors into 3D avatars with the intention of making them look real.  Madness, I tell you.

For A Christmas Carol, Jim Carrey gets lured into the wackiness.  And you know what?  Zemekis is getting good.  Each successive movie displays great strides in the animation quality as well as the 3D effects.  Carrey plays/voices Scrooge and all the ghosts (plus a few others) and every character looks more human than anyone in Beowulf or Polar Express.  That’s not saying much, since Zombie Tom Hanks is looking frighteningly dated these days

The only reason to see this in the theaters is for the 3D.  Directors are now out of the gimmick phase of 3D (well, most of them), and starting to use the extra dimension in artistic ways.  The Toy Story 3 trailer makes the characters go dark when they pop out of the screen.  This looks like they have left the bright light of the screen world, and into the darkened theater.  It’s awesome if you haven’t seen it.

For A Christmas Carol, Zemekis also tackles light and shadow effects to great effect.  Watching a light fade “down” a hallway creates an effect I have never seen in film.  On the other end of the spectrum, the shadow of the Ghost of Christmas Future is used to create fascinting scenes of dread.  Pay attention if you go see this.

One word of caution.  This is the scariest version of the story, by far.  It’s animated, so you may be tempted to bring your little ones.  One couple did the same in my showing and had to leave early.  If you’ve got kiddos who scare easy, avoid this.

Overall, A Christmas Carol is a hard movie to review.  You know the story, so that’s not much of a draw.  There were enough technical feats to satisfy my inner geek, but he’s probably crazier than Zemekis.

Grade: B-

If you didn’t know, Hollywood is remaking Clash of the Titans.  I grew up on that movie and I still stop and watch when I see it on TV.  Ain’t it Cool News has some teaser posters for the film and they look incredible.  My ten-year-old inner geek is leaping with anticipation.

See the rest here: (Ain’t it Cool News)

Instead of some pusillanimous Prime Directive governing our actions, what if future humanity will explore the final frontier in the same manner we explored the New World?  Alien civilizations would have no defense against the entitlement bestowed upon us by our flag.  Battle for Terra takes a look at this possible (plausible?) human future into the stars.

Terra, as you might have guessed, is the name of a planet inhabited by a race of peaceful, anthropomorphic tadpoles.  They’re intelligent and live in communities very similar to the Ewoks.  Soon enough, the humans show up and bring sin to Eden.  During the titular battle, some of Terra’s past is uncovered and black & white fades to gray.

After watching Battle for Terra, I had to go online and seek out some reviews.  I found pretty much what I expected: some people enjoyed it, while others hated, no, despised it.  You see, the movie has a message or two to hammer home.  There is no subtlety.  Imagine if Al Gore started writing science fiction movies (And yes, I hear those of you who say he already has.  Hey-oh!).

Having an environmental message is not a valid argument for a crappy movie in my opinion.  Wall-E had a very similar message (with an equally unpopular view of humanity) and I heard the same complaints, but it is still one of the greatest animated movies of all time.  Battle for Terra is nowhere as good, of course, but just because it takes a look at the darker (historically accurate) side of humanity, don’t completely discount it.  Uncomfortable messages may be exactly what we need to hear.

I’m not sure if you’ll like Battle for Terra.  I enjoy most Sci-Fi movies, even the bad ones.  Sometimes it felt like sitting through a sermon, but there were some unexpected scenes that will stick with me for awhile.  Moments like that are the reason I watch so many movies.  And this blog exists to share them.  Give this one a rental.

Grade: B+