Just watched Wall-E. Totally bril and totally hil.
And one of those movies really crying out to be watched in HD. Every single frame is sooo rich visually.
There's a whole documentary about the lengths they went to, to make things look like they were actually filmed, like how do out-of-focus areas look like in an anamorphic Panavision lens and so on. Amazing.
I loved it, except toward the end. It seemed to me that those people shouldn't have been able to walk at all, considering their obesity and inadequate skeletal structure. One critic also said that the ending implies that they return to Earth and everything's hunky dory.
ReplyDeletePersonally I thought the movie was at it's strongest up till they leave Earth.
Those are only minor flaws, and I'd still say that it was about as close to perfect as you'll get - 99%.
Those are all fair points, which also occurred to me, all of them.
ReplyDeleteI think though that the "hunky dory" ending was not so much that there were no problems left, but more the victory of humans starting to take responsibility of the planet.
But all in all, certainly no more flaws than in the average Hollywood film.
Those are all fair points, which also occurred to me, all of them.
ReplyDeleteThat's super.
I was just looking at some of the reviews on Amazon. I don't usually read them but sometimes will click on the one star reviews out of curiosity (how could anyone give this movie one star?!). There's this dude claiming that WALL-E is just a remake of Short Circuit. Admittedly Wall-E looks somewhat similar to Johnny 5, but that's as much as you can say. The stories don't begin to resemble each other. Sometimes I wonder about people. (Actually, I'm forced to wonder about people more often than I'd like.)
ReplyDeleteThose are all fair points, which also occurred to me, all of them.
ReplyDeleteIt probably occurred to everyone who saw the movie, even kids. They make a point of showing and describing the change in the skeleton over the centuries because of "micro gravity" and we can see that these people are of a level of obesity that would make them bedridden without their antigravity chairs.
I agree that this doesn't spoil the movie, which was technically brilliant at least. I too thought the movie was at its most interesting when it was on Earth and involved only WALL-E and EVA. It was till pretty good after that and most of the humor came into it only after they went into space.
I agree.
ReplyDeleteIf one wants to get technical about it, how about the gravity changing when the ship tilts... ? :-)
Certainly the first act is the most ground-breaking, and the most visually stunning, but I doubt it could really keep interest going for a whole movie. For one thing it had a depressing aspect.
I'll watch it again today, it was so rich visually I must have missed many things.
ReplyDeleteI'm rather embarrassed that I've seen Wall-e 4 times. Yes 4. Like the host, I'm just amazed by the sheer amount of artwork. Somebody designed every piece of garbage, every detail was thought of, considered, edited, adjusted. The virtual camerawork, just wow.
ReplyDeleteHow about the emotion conveyed by Eve, where the only adjustments possible are to the "eyes"?
Definitely a good movie.
"But all in all, certainly no more flaws than in the average Hollywood film."
ReplyDeleteIrony or not irony, that is the question. :-)
"There's this dude claiming that WALL-E is just a remake of Short Circuit."
The Pixar guys LOVE to include classic nods and tributes in their films. The inspirations behind the Incredibles, were pretty transparent, and I don't just mean Violet's invisibility powers. ;-)
But here's the thing: the creators of WALL-E themselves stated that Johnny Five was an inspiration for the adorable trash compactor. According to an article in a Disney-published magazine, no less.
You mean a nod, a parody, and some people will yell "PLAGIARY!".
The same loveable jokers revealed that the wussy T-rex in Toy Story was a direct and all-out parody of the very scary one in Jurassic Park. They even redid the chase scene when you see it in the rear-view mirror.
No reason to wonder about people, Brian. It's quite simple, really: there are always some narrow minds who love to bash at the world. I call it "the bathtub syndrome": they come out of their bathtub, and love nothing better than to contemplate the dirty water to make them feel clean.
Johnnie Walker said something.
Hey! And aren't YOU a blatant ripoff of both Short Circuit's Johnny 5 and WALL-E? Not so subtle, that stolen name of yours!
(And I should know, I've been posing as a famous philosopher for decades.)
"these people are of a level of obesity that would make them bedridden without their antigravity chairs."
Maybe that's PRECISELY why they can consider returning to Earth. They have the technology that'll allow them human whales to move about on dry land.
Expect the aquatic sequel : SAVE WALL-E!
Neutralday confessed...
"I'm rather embarrassed that I've seen Wall-e 4 times."
Only 4 times? You're right, that IS embarrassing!
And you dare call yourself a fan? ;o)
"Somebody designed every piece of garbage"
Yeah, that movie was the most impressive piece of trash I've seen in a long time. ;-)
And believe me, in Lebanon, all you have to do is walk along the road and look at the sides to see plenty of top-quality trash. People are so dirty.
But... didn't you guys feel it was a bit polygonal, angulous... even cubic at times?
Maybe it's just me.
"How about the emotion conveyed by Eve, where the only adjustments possible are to the "eyes"?"
You're forgetting her very cute laugh. (^_^)
"You're forgetting her very cute laugh."
ReplyDeleteI logged in just to say exactly that! (Except I'd planned to use "giggle".)
Those bots are more expressive than most human actors.
How about the irritation the little cleaning bot MO? Hil nth.
Yes, "giggle" is much more fitting. :-)
ReplyDelete"More expressive than most human actors"? (Gasp!) Surely not Steven Seagall! ;-p
Hey, I know LOTS of very expressive human actors. Dolph Lundgren! Arnold Schwarzenegger! Roger Moore! Leonard Nimoy! Sly Slick Stallione! John-Clawd VanDal! Chewbacca! The Rock! Jojo Dubya! Ben O'Samaladen! Oh, wait: these last two are on TV, but they're not actors. Not syndicated in Hollywood, anyway. Still, they make a most expressive duo, even better than Laurel & Hardy.
I haven't watched the film yet, but I know the story from playing the entire video game. MO is MOST irritating because in the earlier spaceship levels, he keeps attacking (probably mumbleeping something racist about WALL-E being a "dirty" foreign body or something...). I found a way to get rid of it, though. A laser blast only stuns him for a while... unless you repeatedly blast it/him into a pit! (Aaaaaah! What a relief!!!!)
That PS2 game was rather fun to play for an experienced adult gamer. Just the right level of challenge and tricky puzzles, not too easy, no too hard. Good overall entertainment.