Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Looks cool.



C.I.: TOH

UPDATE: More on the WETA wizards.

Serkis pics.



Armond White:
More than a prequel, better than a reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the most exciting installment of that series since its beginning in 1968 and—are you ready?—it is easily the best American movie of this corrupted summer. Rise succeeds on modest B-movie terms (terms confused by Hollywood’s blockbuster mentality, where action-exploitation films now carry the weight of exorbitant budgets, studio expectations and adolescent notions of prestige). Director Rupert Wyatt brings glory back to the B movie.

9 comments:

Tulkinghorn said...

Raises the question: Why does Tintin look so lame?

Am I confusing two different types of animation or are there people who are better at this than others?

David Chute said...

Supposedly humans have much more sensitivity to the details of human faces than to anything else. Mu guess is that the more cartoony characters in Tintin will look OK.

Tulkinghorn said...

Raises the question: Why animate ALL the characters?

Raises the ultimate question: When every tentpole movie requires technical and physical effort like that of building the pyramids, do any of these people have any idea what they're doing anymore?

David Chute said...

The executives maybe not. By definition these are guys who don't know how to DO anything. The people on the crews of Hollywood films are are another story. Hugely skilled -- the best in the world, probably, at whatever it is. Deciding whether it's worth doing in a particular case is not their job. (In this case it looks like it might be.)

Tulkinghorn said...

You're right. The crews did not make the decision to have Tintin played by a puppet, but two of the smartest people in the business did....

I'm sure the WETA guys -- probably many of the same people who are in this promo -- did everything they could.

But what a dumb idea.

David Chute said...

Speaking of smarts, what does it tell you about ours that of all the cool issuess raised here over the past few weeks, THIS is the post that's developed the longest comment thread? How smart can we be?

GoJoe said...

But Tintin is not played by a puppet. He is played by Jamie Bell, quite a fine actor, via motion capture technology. I'm not the biggest fan of this technique either, but given the project and the talent involved, I'll give it a chance to see how it plays. Case in point, I enjoyed RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES far more than expected...

Tulkinghorn said...

I should have been clearer. Jamie Bell is not a puppet. But he's been turned into one (Pinocchio in reverse) by the technology.

He would have been fabulous (if a bit fey) in a real live action Tintin movie.

Like you, though, I hope that it works. Very disappointed in the trailer, though.

David Chute said...

Very up to date in its approach apparently. Plot has parallels with current doc about a chimp raised as human. And Peta has demonstrated in favor of the the film! (Slogan: "Apes [heart] CG.")