Sunday, August 10, 2008

 

R.I.P.

Bernie Mac, Bernie Brillstein, Issac Hayes. . .

Aw, man, this is some of the saddest news I’ve heard in a very long time. In a row, at that.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

 

All Pictures (c) 2007, 2008 Studio Ghibli.


It seems that Miyazaki’s latest film is aimed at very, very little kids. It’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, and it’s premiering at the Venice Film Festival in competition apparently. I emphasize “in competition" because usually Miyazaki-san’s work is beyond the reach that his contemporaries need to have to even be considered rivals.


And this stunning work is no exception.

Still, I can’t help but have this George Lucas feeling, that aesthetically Miyazaki’s (Studio Ghibli) product is beyond reproach--but substantively, story-wise, something’s feels lacking in a way that a movie like Spirited Away, by comparison (or even Howl’s Moving Castle) seems made all the brighter.



What I’m trying to illustrate is way Miyazaki-san and Co.’s present efforts suffer in comparison to their earlier ones, and while none of their efforts will suffer when being compared to the efforts of their American animator countrymen, the level of quality in the storytelling and characterizations we’ve come to expect may be falling by the wayside.



I hope, and sincerely that is, that this is not becoming a thing of the past, that maybe the young generation will pick up where the older ones left off.
Thanks to Ghibli World for these tips.

 

The Post Below THE BATMAN ONE Premieres the ALLENPOV Widget!

I've always wanted to make my own widget, but didn't know how until I went on Spring Widgets. Now, you can either post mine to your blog or download it to your desktop.

I find Widgets to be fun and cute. More websites and bloggers should have widgets, because with all the new social networking websites popping up all the time, who has the time to keep up with it all?

Monday, August 04, 2008

 

Batman: The ________ and the _________

I’m sorry, guys, but what the hell is this? What the hell have they done?


All photos copyright (c) 2008 Warner Bros.


Ok. Ok. I’m willing to forget about launching a castration endeavor against WB animation for Teen Titans, but what the Frak is this monstrosity?



One: don’t like the design. It looks like they cut one too many corners with their overseas animation house firm. I know the economy’s bad guys, but. . .Two: Diedrich Bader as the voice of Batman? Huuuuuuuh?



Three. The villains. The theme music. I’ll be damned to hell--it sounds retarded! I don’t recall having these feelings since I put myself through Flutemaster nearly six years ago. While the animation is a step above, the trailer for Batman: The Brave and the Bold just indicates that all involved had this “It’s a kiddie Batman for the kids, let’s not try too hard with this” attitude. Sad, just sad--and if the pilot for this crapulence is anywhere near like the retch-a-thon I think it’s going to be, I’m gonna rip into this show the same way that most mainstream critics are ripping The Mummy 3 right now.

Come to think of it, I’ll probably rip this show worse than I ripped MarVista’s Flutemaster, simply because it’s a Batman property and they (Warner Bros. Animation) couldn’t be bothered to give it the same TLC they gave the other Bruce Timm/Paul Dini produced animated shows.

All photos copyright (c) 2008 Warner Bros.


Saturday, August 02, 2008

 

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