"9", upcoming Tim Burton animated movie. [Thanks to Alex.]
Looks like Terminator meets The Matrix, meets A Nightmare Before Christmas. An odd mix. Now, I've liked some of Burton's movies a lot (Batman and Beetlejuice for example), but just as I was never sure musicals with puppets was a really good idea, I'm not sure an action thriller with puppets (though CGI it seems) is a good idea. I'm not really sure I'll be emotionally invested in whether a little walking hand puppet can escape the robot spider.
It looks really good though. The design of the buildings and machines and so on, I like.
10 comments:
How did you cope with "Small Soldiers"? There toys came to life in a live action + animatronics movie. Sounds cheesy, and being that the lead roles are kids you'd think it terrible, but it's a pretty good film overall. Enough politics and humour to offset the cheese.
"9" turns out has Burton as a Producer, and some other guy as the director/writer. Still, I'm going to see it for Jennifer Connelly.
Granted, she is Jennifer "Comely", but this is her voice only... ?
I didn't see "Small Soldiers".
Toy Story was great, but it was a comedy, not a thriller.
I guess it's my warped sense of humour. I liked seeing her in "The Day The Earth Stood Still", but I don't recall her voice being that special. I'm not sure I've seen her in anything else. It was Jennifer Garner in Juno, and Jennifer Saunders in "Supergrass", which may be a good one for Cracker and Hott Fuzz fans.
I finally saw the movie with ol' Jack Skellington just yesterday.
Very weird, no doubt, but me I really liked that "musical with puppets". Found it literally inspiring.
Same goes for Small Soldiers. Do watch it, Eo. It's got lovely redhead Kirsten Dunst in one of her early roles as a teen!!! (If THAT doesn't motivate him, nothing will.)
Can't chat for long, my network's acting REAL whacko tonight.
Must be post-electoral turbulences... ):-P
Ah well, at least I haven't lost access to Blogger and Domai.
OK, I give in, I will watch Small Soldiers. But only to shut you up, it has nothing to do with Kirsten, I swear!
I seem to remember there was a better shower scene in Arachnophobia, and in the Dukes of Hazard movie.
KST was good in this film, though she did seem fairly fresh to acting at the time.
Old whatsisface, the Canadian from "News Radio", "Simpsons" and "Kiki's Delivery Service", did well in this, but he was a little camp for what the film needed.
Look out for those Gwendy dolls!
Interesting, to me, your comment about becoming "emotionally invested" in it if it involves "puppets." It's really the graphic art element, isn't it? I mean, if we look somewhere among the rationale... Maybe not you in particular, but I think there's something archetypal that gets in the way for most people (less and less, with time).
Parallels: Some people have trouble relating to graphic novels (not "taking them seriously") because of the graphic/artwork's intrusion. (Sure, some may not be worthy but some are.)
Some people have trouble with "sci-fi" (hate that newism) movies because of the special effects intruding on their ability to empathize/relate/care (emotional engagement).
You might be onto something there.
I could never understand why comics is so little used, it is simply words and pictures combined, it's such a powerful medium in theory.
... sep 7:
OK, finally got Small Soldiers" in the mail from the DVD rental. Yes, very good and entertaining, and technically impressive.
And funny.
Also, the people at danger were humans, not puppets. I never worried too much about the Gorgonites, cute as they were.
"I never worried too much about the Gorgonites"
Well spotted: the's still a huge stock of them in all the unopened boxes, after all. "Mom & Dad can just buy you another collection if they get scattered to pieces." ;-)
Caricatural as the basic plot may seem, I find it most significant today. A real metaphor. The US entertainment industry seems to be focusing more and more on brutal violence. I never "got" what can be interesting in the "sadism porn" of the Saw series, for instance. A few days ago, I finally watched Mission Impossible 3. The beginning almost got me to quit. Effing Survivor fad, now everybody's appealing to people's lowest instincts of morbid voyeurism. Me, I never liked gratuitous gossiping.
Small Soldiers made good, healthy bashing against that trend in kids' toys. Not to mention the unabashed use of videogames aimed (pun intended) at advertising for the Army.
I wonder how much of it was caused by 9/11?... Maybe they *love* to be afraid. So many brutal "action" movies these days. In the "good old times", they were b- or z-movies starring Seagall or Van Damme. Now they're all highly publicized "blockbusters". Methinks more like aimed at blockhead busters. :-P
Speaking of gossip, suddenly I wonder: would Michael Jackson's death have received as much media coverage if it hadn't occurred in the summer, when news are slow? Possibly, yes. It's called "drowning the fish": distracting the people from the important issues with panem et circenses.
Maybe it's time to carpet-bomb Lebanon now... ;-)
Post a Comment