-Homer, there's someone here who can help.
-Batman?!
-No, he's a scientist.
-Batman's a scientist.
-It's not Batman.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
A Day at the Movies
So I decided to take a trip back to my juvenile days and sneak into the movies yesterday...sort of. With nothing better to do, I paid to see Pineapple Express and made my way into Tropic Thunder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars afterwards. Three movies - $6.25. Awesome. I don't really feel like writing full reviews, but here's a little about each:
Pineapple Express - Judd Apatow has already made a career's worth of comedy hits with Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up and Superbad. I was, consequently, expecting quite a bit from his latest venture. It is funny, but Pineapple Express doesn't quite know what type of comedy it wants to be. At times it's grounded and realistic, and at others it's overtly wacky and over the top. It'll make you laugh but leave you puzzled in the end. The humor could have successfully gone in either direction; it's a shame, however, that it chose no direction.
3 of 5 stars
Tropic Thunder - The movie opens with a fake commercial and three fake trailers that leave the audience rolling. Ben Stiller's first production, Zoolander, has become a cult hit with my generation. With Tropic Thunder it seems like he's attempting to bring his brand of humor to the mainstream. I don't know if it will be a big hit, but it's pretty damn funny. Tropic Thunder suffers from some a fragmented story and doesn't utilize its cast to its full potential, Jack Black's role is largely unfunny and unnecessary, but who cares? Funny is funny, and in a movie like this, unlike Pineapple Express, you let some things slip.
3.5 of 5 stars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Though this was the worst of the three movies I saw this weekend, it has probably provoked the most thought on my part. As I understand it, most critics didn't realize that this was supposed to be a TV series. A 19% on Rotten Tomatoes has made this perfectly clear. Here's the lowdown: The Clone Wars was made with a TV budget and timeline, and was intended to be shown in half-hour installments on Cartoon Network. George Lucas and company then decided to recut the first few episodes into feature-length film and show the remaining episodes as planned.
This was a movie/series definitely made for kids. The humor is extremely unintelligent, and there's even less story than the prequel films. The animation is also bad by modern film standards. That being said, kids will love it. It's action packed, and there's nothing that's over their heads. It's pretty good for a TV series, but bad for a movie. I have a feeling that critics would have been much more receptive had The Clone Wars debuted completely on TV as planned.
On a different note, the designer and artist in me loved the look of this movie. Terrible animation aside, the character designs, taken from Genndy Tartakovsky's 2D animated series, are beautifully stylized. Sharp lines and exaggerated silhouettes give the characters and environments a unique, artistic touch. Also, and this detail will probably be lost in the translation to the small screen, The characters' textures are done in such a way that they look like they have been painted on and scratched into clay maquettes. This is a drastic turn from the hyper-realism we are used to seeing in the Pixar films, and one that I welcome.
2.5 of 5 stars
Best line of the weekend (with loads of irony attached) - James Franco - Pineapple Express - about to be forced into an underground jail cell:
"What's down there? Rancor?"
Pineapple Express - Judd Apatow has already made a career's worth of comedy hits with Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up and Superbad. I was, consequently, expecting quite a bit from his latest venture. It is funny, but Pineapple Express doesn't quite know what type of comedy it wants to be. At times it's grounded and realistic, and at others it's overtly wacky and over the top. It'll make you laugh but leave you puzzled in the end. The humor could have successfully gone in either direction; it's a shame, however, that it chose no direction.
3 of 5 stars
Tropic Thunder - The movie opens with a fake commercial and three fake trailers that leave the audience rolling. Ben Stiller's first production, Zoolander, has become a cult hit with my generation. With Tropic Thunder it seems like he's attempting to bring his brand of humor to the mainstream. I don't know if it will be a big hit, but it's pretty damn funny. Tropic Thunder suffers from some a fragmented story and doesn't utilize its cast to its full potential, Jack Black's role is largely unfunny and unnecessary, but who cares? Funny is funny, and in a movie like this, unlike Pineapple Express, you let some things slip.
3.5 of 5 stars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Though this was the worst of the three movies I saw this weekend, it has probably provoked the most thought on my part. As I understand it, most critics didn't realize that this was supposed to be a TV series. A 19% on Rotten Tomatoes has made this perfectly clear. Here's the lowdown: The Clone Wars was made with a TV budget and timeline, and was intended to be shown in half-hour installments on Cartoon Network. George Lucas and company then decided to recut the first few episodes into feature-length film and show the remaining episodes as planned.
This was a movie/series definitely made for kids. The humor is extremely unintelligent, and there's even less story than the prequel films. The animation is also bad by modern film standards. That being said, kids will love it. It's action packed, and there's nothing that's over their heads. It's pretty good for a TV series, but bad for a movie. I have a feeling that critics would have been much more receptive had The Clone Wars debuted completely on TV as planned.
On a different note, the designer and artist in me loved the look of this movie. Terrible animation aside, the character designs, taken from Genndy Tartakovsky's 2D animated series, are beautifully stylized. Sharp lines and exaggerated silhouettes give the characters and environments a unique, artistic touch. Also, and this detail will probably be lost in the translation to the small screen, The characters' textures are done in such a way that they look like they have been painted on and scratched into clay maquettes. This is a drastic turn from the hyper-realism we are used to seeing in the Pixar films, and one that I welcome.
2.5 of 5 stars
Best line of the weekend (with loads of irony attached) - James Franco - Pineapple Express - about to be forced into an underground jail cell:
"What's down there? Rancor?"
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Swimming and Track
After seeing Michael Phelps obliterate the swimming world this week, people were calling him the greatest olympian of all time. On PTI, Rick Reilly reminded us not to discount a hundred years worth of athletes because swimming hands out medals more graciously than other sports. I started to think about it compared with track, it's obvious counterpart. Not to take anything away from swimmers, they are fantastic athletes and deserve the praise, but wouldn't it be strange to have the backwards (backstroke) or hopping (butterfly and breaststroke) 100m dash? Just a thought.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Skiing Bug
I've got it bad right now, so, for anyone who feels my pain, at 2:50 is the coolest thing ever done on skis.
New Honda Accord
I've been a few fan of Honda's designs over the last few years. Of the non-luxury brands, they seem to be the only ones not turning out piss poor cars that look more like Hot Wheels (see everything from GM over the last five years.) The Accord has moved on from the past roadster look, which I also love, to a longer, tougher and more elegant luxury styling. See for yourself at Honda's website.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
New portfolio online
I've finally gotten around to updating my portfolio it can be viewed here:
http://daapspace.daap.uc.edu/~engelhjs/Jeff_Engelhardt.pdf
Here's a taste of my latest project, illuminated running apparel:
http://daapspace.daap.uc.edu/~engelhjs/Jeff_Engelhardt.pdf
Here's a taste of my latest project, illuminated running apparel:
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Handicapped defication
Am I a bad person for always using the handicapped stall when pooing in a public bathroom?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
sorry
I realize that my last few posts have not been the most well-written reviews in the world. I'm simply writing as I go, rather than taking the effort to think things out ahead of time. Eventually, I hope to sit down and really think about what I have to say. We'll see how that works out...
The Dark Knight Review: Part 3 - Heath Ledger as the Joker
What's worse than a pile of a thousand dead babies...?
The live one in the middle eating its way out.
I know, it's a horrible joke, and there are plenty of others (appropriately called, Dead Baby Jokes.) You hear them, laugh and then hate yourself for doing so. This is the best way I can describe Heath Ledger's performance of The Joker in The Dark Knight. He is as scary and menacing as Hannibal Lecter, but you can't help but hate yourself for chuckling at him every now and then.
Ledger's performance is one of the the great examples of an actor becoming completely lost in a character. From the first moment he is on screen, the audience forgets everything they were thinking about Ledger and his unfortunate death. Only The Joker is on screen, and he is as original and frightening of a character as has ever been seen.
His origins are not explored in the film, something Nolan explains by saying that he wanted to depict the character as an "absolute." This works perfectly in the film, as the Joker is a pure agent of chaos that jumps in and out of the story. Yet, much to the credit of Ledger, he is completely believable. The way he walks, licks his lips and tells stories (stressing the plural) about how he got his "smiling" scars is completely within the realm of human possibility, which makes him that much more frightening. Without any explanation for his existence, the audience is scared to death that, in a world as grounded in reality as Nolan's Gotham City, this man could exist. As for his humorous aspect, he's as funny as Steve Buschemi being fed into a wood chipper. Each time I've seen the film, the entire audience can't help but laugh as an entire hospital is razed to the ground. We hate that we're choosing to laugh, and The Joker will play the same joke on our heroes.
As I have said earlier, The Joker is the catalyst for the emotional changes within the film's main characters. It isn't unusual for heroes to see themselves in their villains. Nolan, in fact, employed this technique wonderfully in his previous film, The Prestige. It is, however, unusual for an entire cast to be so affected in so many ways by one person. Just as his basic plans seem to be foiled, he forces them to make impossible moral choices, mocking, all the while laughing at, their personal struggle. Sick as it may be, he finds it funny that people can so easily be manipulated.
Earlier, I suggested that Ledger's Joker was much like Hannibal Lecter. He is not the film's main focus, but he is easily what will last in the mind of the audience. His evil is horrifying, but completely believable (which makes him that much more horrifying.) The Joker, though "absolute," is a complex character explores the nature of good and evil in a completely original manner.
All this being said, his case for an Oscar is a complicated one. While the academy is normally prone to liberal guilt, see: the bullshit that is a Best Picture award for Crash, they seem hesitant to be so for the deceased. At this point in the year Ledger's Joker is the best supporting role I've seen. Whether or not this is true when the final votes are cast, I hope the academy will evaluate his performance in the same manner that they do the rest.
The live one in the middle eating its way out.
I know, it's a horrible joke, and there are plenty of others (appropriately called, Dead Baby Jokes.) You hear them, laugh and then hate yourself for doing so. This is the best way I can describe Heath Ledger's performance of The Joker in The Dark Knight. He is as scary and menacing as Hannibal Lecter, but you can't help but hate yourself for chuckling at him every now and then.
Ledger's performance is one of the the great examples of an actor becoming completely lost in a character. From the first moment he is on screen, the audience forgets everything they were thinking about Ledger and his unfortunate death. Only The Joker is on screen, and he is as original and frightening of a character as has ever been seen.
His origins are not explored in the film, something Nolan explains by saying that he wanted to depict the character as an "absolute." This works perfectly in the film, as the Joker is a pure agent of chaos that jumps in and out of the story. Yet, much to the credit of Ledger, he is completely believable. The way he walks, licks his lips and tells stories (stressing the plural) about how he got his "smiling" scars is completely within the realm of human possibility, which makes him that much more frightening. Without any explanation for his existence, the audience is scared to death that, in a world as grounded in reality as Nolan's Gotham City, this man could exist. As for his humorous aspect, he's as funny as Steve Buschemi being fed into a wood chipper. Each time I've seen the film, the entire audience can't help but laugh as an entire hospital is razed to the ground. We hate that we're choosing to laugh, and The Joker will play the same joke on our heroes.
As I have said earlier, The Joker is the catalyst for the emotional changes within the film's main characters. It isn't unusual for heroes to see themselves in their villains. Nolan, in fact, employed this technique wonderfully in his previous film, The Prestige. It is, however, unusual for an entire cast to be so affected in so many ways by one person. Just as his basic plans seem to be foiled, he forces them to make impossible moral choices, mocking, all the while laughing at, their personal struggle. Sick as it may be, he finds it funny that people can so easily be manipulated.
Earlier, I suggested that Ledger's Joker was much like Hannibal Lecter. He is not the film's main focus, but he is easily what will last in the mind of the audience. His evil is horrifying, but completely believable (which makes him that much more horrifying.) The Joker, though "absolute," is a complex character explores the nature of good and evil in a completely original manner.
All this being said, his case for an Oscar is a complicated one. While the academy is normally prone to liberal guilt, see: the bullshit that is a Best Picture award for Crash, they seem hesitant to be so for the deceased. At this point in the year Ledger's Joker is the best supporting role I've seen. Whether or not this is true when the final votes are cast, I hope the academy will evaluate his performance in the same manner that they do the rest.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Dark Knight Review: Part 2 - The Characters
Characters define their films. Plot can be thrown away if the audience does not feel some kind of bond with lives that inhabit a story. Be it love, hate or something in between, an emotional connection with character is the key to great film making. The Dark Knight combines stellar writing with an equally able cast to create a rich film filled with deeply layered characters.
Batman - Christian Bale: Bale's portrayal of The Batman in Batman Begins was spot on. He was brooding, intelligent and introspective. He made it believable that a real man could find reason to begin a personal crusade against crime, striking fear into the hearts of his enemies by dressing as a giant bat. In The Dark Knight, Bale builds on his performance.
Through his admiration of Aaron Eckhart's character, Harvey Dent, and his relationship with love interest Rachael Dawes, played my Maggie Gyllenhaal, we see how deeply he yearns to become a normal man and give up his role as the caped crusader. We also see, however, how the Batman begins to dominate his psyche. Right or wrong, he truly believes that Gotham city needs his "alter" ego regardless of the consequences he must face. The idea that he is the Batman more than he is Bruce Wayne has been explored thoroughly throughout the comic book world. Bale, once again, makes us believe that a real man could become such a person.
Alfred Pennyworth - Sir Michael Caine: Always a class act, Caine reprises his role as Bruce Wayne's butler and confidant. Though only working with very few lines, Caine stands out in the film as the voice of reason - the voice that Bruce Wayne and the Batman turn to at their lowest.
Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman: Just like Caine, Freeman is a fantastic actor in a lighter role. Fox serves mainly as a plot device by developing the Batman's crime fighting technology. He does, however, become a pivotal part of tone of the film's major themes, though this does not occur until the final act.
Even with limited screen time, Caine and Freeman provide us with yet another example of their stellar talents.
Rachael Dawes - Maggie Gyllenhaal: Katie Holmes' Dawes from Batman Begins was little more than the damsel in distress as playing the part of a hard-nosed DA didn't suit her. Gyllenhaal provides a more convincing portrayal of a woman that has managed to ascend to the upper ranks of her field. Though her main purpose in the film is simple, she is a catalyst for the emotional changes within the Batman and Harvey Dent, she plays it well. She is given just as much as Holmes was and does a far better job with it.
Aaron Eckhart - Harvey Dent: With all the buzz surrounding Heath Ledger's performance, which will get its own post, Eckhart's fantastic portrayal of both a hero and a villain should not be overlooked. As the film takes great lengths to point out, Harvey Dent is the white knight to the Batman's dark knight. Dent suffers through the onslaught of media criticism, attempts on his life and personal loss, and it is his reaction to these events that becomes the main theme of the film: how good men can rise and fall when confronted by true evil.
We have seen Eckhart play the silver tongue before, which does with as much moxie as anyone; this time he plays other side as well. He is a tragic figure, and his portrayal of a fall from grace should not be overlooked.
Lt./Commissioner Jim Gordon - Gary Oldman: Along with Alfred and and Lucius Fox Gordon is another supporting player brought to life by a fantastic thespian. With a larger role than in the first film, Gordon collaborates with the Batman to rid Gotham of crime and corruption. His voice is not always that of the law, as Dent's is. It is the voice of what is right. Gordon is a decent man in an indecent world. Oldman provides us with the film's swan song, and his tragic soliloquy approached that of cinematic greatness.
While by no means an ensemble cast, the incredibly talented actors of The Dark Knight are interwoven by a story that allows each to support the others. They have created a stunning emotional drama.
Batman - Christian Bale: Bale's portrayal of The Batman in Batman Begins was spot on. He was brooding, intelligent and introspective. He made it believable that a real man could find reason to begin a personal crusade against crime, striking fear into the hearts of his enemies by dressing as a giant bat. In The Dark Knight, Bale builds on his performance.
Through his admiration of Aaron Eckhart's character, Harvey Dent, and his relationship with love interest Rachael Dawes, played my Maggie Gyllenhaal, we see how deeply he yearns to become a normal man and give up his role as the caped crusader. We also see, however, how the Batman begins to dominate his psyche. Right or wrong, he truly believes that Gotham city needs his "alter" ego regardless of the consequences he must face. The idea that he is the Batman more than he is Bruce Wayne has been explored thoroughly throughout the comic book world. Bale, once again, makes us believe that a real man could become such a person.
Alfred Pennyworth - Sir Michael Caine: Always a class act, Caine reprises his role as Bruce Wayne's butler and confidant. Though only working with very few lines, Caine stands out in the film as the voice of reason - the voice that Bruce Wayne and the Batman turn to at their lowest.
Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman: Just like Caine, Freeman is a fantastic actor in a lighter role. Fox serves mainly as a plot device by developing the Batman's crime fighting technology. He does, however, become a pivotal part of tone of the film's major themes, though this does not occur until the final act.
Even with limited screen time, Caine and Freeman provide us with yet another example of their stellar talents.
Rachael Dawes - Maggie Gyllenhaal: Katie Holmes' Dawes from Batman Begins was little more than the damsel in distress as playing the part of a hard-nosed DA didn't suit her. Gyllenhaal provides a more convincing portrayal of a woman that has managed to ascend to the upper ranks of her field. Though her main purpose in the film is simple, she is a catalyst for the emotional changes within the Batman and Harvey Dent, she plays it well. She is given just as much as Holmes was and does a far better job with it.
Aaron Eckhart - Harvey Dent: With all the buzz surrounding Heath Ledger's performance, which will get its own post, Eckhart's fantastic portrayal of both a hero and a villain should not be overlooked. As the film takes great lengths to point out, Harvey Dent is the white knight to the Batman's dark knight. Dent suffers through the onslaught of media criticism, attempts on his life and personal loss, and it is his reaction to these events that becomes the main theme of the film: how good men can rise and fall when confronted by true evil.
We have seen Eckhart play the silver tongue before, which does with as much moxie as anyone; this time he plays other side as well. He is a tragic figure, and his portrayal of a fall from grace should not be overlooked.
Lt./Commissioner Jim Gordon - Gary Oldman: Along with Alfred and and Lucius Fox Gordon is another supporting player brought to life by a fantastic thespian. With a larger role than in the first film, Gordon collaborates with the Batman to rid Gotham of crime and corruption. His voice is not always that of the law, as Dent's is. It is the voice of what is right. Gordon is a decent man in an indecent world. Oldman provides us with the film's swan song, and his tragic soliloquy approached that of cinematic greatness.
While by no means an ensemble cast, the incredibly talented actors of The Dark Knight are interwoven by a story that allows each to support the others. They have created a stunning emotional drama.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
