animation

I Wanna Be Like You (The Jungle Book review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

In computing language, source code is meant to be instructions for computers, often in an executable format. But sometimes a programmer will include the source code so that other users and programmers might benefit from the information – to study it and hopefully modify the results.

Where technology intersects with human biology, that’s when it gets interesting. And conveniently, that’s what today’s film review is all about.

 

 

 

The Jungle Book (2016)

Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong’o, Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Jon Favreau
released on blu-ray August 30, 2016
********* 9/10

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IMDB: 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%, Audience Score 88%
The Guardian: ****/*****

Jonathan (Jon) Kolia Favreau is an American actor, director and comedian. He’s acted in many of the films he has directed, with the exceptions of Zathura and Cowboys & Aliens. Favreau has also directed Chef, Elf, Iron Man 1 & 2, and most recently The Jungle Book remake – If you haven’t seen him acting in any of those movies you might also recognize him as Monica Geller’s boyfriend Pete from TV’s Friends. Favreau also produces movies under the banner Fairview Entertainment.

He’s been in the film industry since the early 1990s, but it wasn’t until his first financial success directing Elf that Favreau really became a big name. Which is why it’s not that surprising that he was able to land the directing role for Disney’s live-action/CGI reboot of The Jungle Book. Especially after having a hand in launching the MCU.

Filmed mostly with digital animation, and featuring a real-life Neel Sethi roaming around the jungle as Mowgli, this movie takes some cues from the book, but quite a number from the original animated adaptation from the 1960s.

I’m not going to spend a bunch of time hashing out the story as you’ve likely already seen the original movie. I mean who hasn’t? One of the major differences is that the animations are stronger and more tied into real depictions of animals – with the exception of King Louie who is much larger than life and definitely took me out of the story, even if Christopher Walken did an excellent job voicing him. On the positive side of things, the danger is made more real and the movements of Mowgli inside this world are so fluid, that you sometimes forget it’s all made up.

Pros: It manages to retain it’s humanity, while having almost no elements that exist in the real world. Exploring nature and the laws of the jungle haven’t seemed this fun in a long time.

Cons: There are some moments where the story feels mechanical, and I suspect that has something to do with the absence of ties to real environments, and when you see a 30ft ape, it’s a little disappointing.

Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

Points of Interest: Kaa the snake is portrayed as a female, rather than a male, which is a first and intentional as Jon Favreau felt there were too many male characters in The Jungle Book. Reference shots of remote jungle locations in India were used to help construct the settings for the movie.

I went into this movie somewhat sceptical that it could recapture the entertainment value of the original film, and when I heard “The Bare Necessities”, “Trust In Me” and “I Wanna Be Like You” I was quickly comforted, though it could have easily been the opposite. These riffs off of the original Disney movie were important to take, because the nostalgia factor remained high throughout, evening knowing how the story was going to end. This is an example of a movie where the remake is both excellent and respectful, allowing us to revisit the original or perhaps even expose new viewers to the source.

 

 

 

This technology driven re-imagining of The Jungle Book is amazingly faithful and yet it is a distinct property which can be consumed and shared with all of it’s strengths intact. As a case study of where animation is come from and where it’s headed. Much like how life cycles through and changes with each new generation, never changing so much that it is unrecognisable, but that it is distinct and authentic. You should definitely watch this movie, it gives I Wanna Be Like You a new meaning.

Tim!

Bunnies Are Not Cute (Zootopia review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

In talking about movies with a good friend of mine, I get to exercise my movie trivia pretty regularly. This means that I can tell him why I prefer Mulan over Frozen AKA why it’s an under-appreciated film, and we can both walk away with our opinions intact, because of mutual respect and celebrations of diversity. But sometimes there are perfectly loved movies out there that can do just as good of a job showcasing tolerance, empowerment, and everyday humour.

Conveniently enough, today’s movie review does exactly that.

 

 

 

Zootopia (2016)

Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, J.K. Simmons
Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
released on blu-ray June 7, 2016
********* 10/10

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IMDB: 8.2
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%, Audience Score 94%
The Guardian: ****/*****

Zootopia was directed by Americans Byron P. Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush. Howard is known co-directing Bolt and Tangled, whil Moore is known for his work on TV shows like The Simpsons, The Critic, and Futurama, as well as directing Wreck-It Ralph. Bush is less known but he did co-create the Disney animated series Penn Zero and write the script for Zootopia.

I’m not entirely sure why Disney needed 2 directors and a co-director to round out the leadership on this project, but I suspect it had a lot to do with all of the animation updates they made for the animals, Frankensteined from the movies Bolt, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen. Regardless, this is now easily in my top 10 Disney movies of all-time, maybe even top 5.

But you’re probably wondering what Zootopia is about aren’t you? Well, if you haven’t seen it yet, then it’s definitely time to buckle up.

 

Zootopia is a buddy-cop movie, that often feels like a romantic comedy similar to North by Northwest or Roman Holiday – A classic story with anthropomorphic animals and current technology.

Early on we are introduced to the story of Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young bunny who wants to become the first ever bunny police officer, though she is from rural Bunnyburrow and met with conflicting advice from her parents. They tell her to have dreams, but not to believe in them too much. And to settle because settling isn’t so bad. We also learn that the world has evolved so that predators and prey all get along and don’t eat each other.

But that doesn’t stop Judy’s parents from warning her about foxes before she heads off to the big city of Zootopia. And thus we get into the meat of the story. We quickly learn that Zootopia isn’t a utopia at all, there is a missing predators case which the police force are struggling to solve and then the police chief (Idris Elba) reminds Hopps that she isn’t in an animated fantasy with musicals. So he makes her a meter maid.

Of course Hopps sets out to prove him wrong, and in the process uncovers fox con artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and his schemes to earn quick money. The stakes continue to escalate and eventually Hopps puts her new career on the line, just to solve the missing predators case and prove herself, tricking Wilde into helping her out.

The humour and topical ideas are what make the movie stand out, and while the animation is top notch, I found myself consistently watching to see what would happen with our two leads. That Disney was able to construct such an excellent story about conflict and the subtleties of prejudice that exist currently, is nothing short of amazing. I can’t say enough good about this story and it’s characterizations.

Pros: Between the message of tolerance and acceptance, to the hero’s journey which seats a minority at the front, to the excellent animation, to the topical humour, Zootopia is brilliant and empowering to all.

Cons: If you think about it too much, the use of animal behaviour to describe classes, ethnicities and culture is a difficult pill to swallow – And ironically creates generalizations itself. Also the Shakira song is kinda weak. You’ll hear what I hear after repeated listens.

Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes.

Points of Interest: Originally the story was set up for Nick Wilde as the protagonist, but test audience didn’t connect with him easily and were more interested in Judy Hopps, so the script was changed. Also, the film consists of only mammals. There are no reptiles, amphibians, birds or fish to be found.

I might be biased, much like Bryon Howard, because my all-time favourite Disney movie is the 1970’s Robin Hood. Which if you haven’t seen it, is a travesty.  That movie is also centred around animals as well, but then again with a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and glowing reviews everywhere, it’s difficult not to believe that a tale of animals isn’t just good fun.

I’ll make this final point, if you’re worried about this movie being too preachy, it never feels like that message is being driven incredibly hard, the humour is often on point and capable of referencing AMC’s Breaking Bad is not something to shake an elephant pop stick at, otherwise you might end up with red wood. But that’s just a theory.

Tim!

Knight Time (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Sometimes a person falls out of favour with their circle of friends, and sometimes they find a way back into social graces. Timing, humility, and quality of interaction all play into this result.

If you were to travel back in time to the mid-nineteen eighties, you wouldn’t have though much of The Batman. He wasn’t particularly cool and people weren’t that interested in what he was doing.

But today’s Theatrical Tuesday entry tells the story that got him back at the cool kids table? That’s right, you guessed it, we’re reviewing…

 

 

 

The Dark Knight Returns (2013)

Cast: Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, David Selby, Wade Williams, Michael Emerson, Mark Valley
Director: Jay Oliva
re-released on blu-ray w/graphic novel on February 24, 2016
********** 10/10

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IMDB: 8.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Audience Score 94%
The Guardian: N/A

Jay Oliva is a Filipino-American artist, producer and animated film director; one who happens to work for Warner Brothers Animation.

He got his start on the FOX Spider-man series of the 1990s, and has been involved in animated versions of Ghostbusters, Godzilla, Starship Troopers, and He-Man. Since then he has worked on numerous animations for both DC and Marvel and numerous years before he was assigned the task of creating the two-part animated movie The Dark Knight Returns.

If it it isn’t clear by now, Oliva has a good track record when it comes to creating comic book inspired worlds or adapting already written stories like The Dark Knight Returns mini-series.

For the sake of the review, let’s go over the story, if somewhat briefly.

Taken from Wikipedia and edited,

Set in a dystopian near-future version of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne, at 55, has retired  for ten years after the death of Jason Todd. Wayne has a breakdown and assumes the role of Batman again. He first confronts Harvey Dent, who was thought to be cured after therapy and plastic surgery (which Wayne financed).

Batman saves 13-year-old Carrie Kelley from an attack by a gang called the Mutants. Kelley buys herself an imitation Robin costume and searches for Batman, seeking to help him. She finds Batman at the city dump, where he fights an army of Mutants. Though Batman defeats the Mutant army with his weaponry, the Mutant leader beats him in combat. With the help of retiring Commissioner James Gordon and the new Robin, Batman defeats the Mutant leader on his own terms. The Mutants disband and some rename themselves the Sons of Batman.

At the White House, Superman and the president discuss the events in Gotham, with the latter suggesting that Superman may have to arrest Batman. Superman is then deployed by Washington to the Latin American country of Corto Maltese where he fights Soviet combat forces in a conflict that may ignite WWIII.

Batman’s return stimulates The Joker to awaken from catatonia at Arkham Asylum. With renewed purpose, The Joker manipulates his caretakers to allow him onto a television talk show, where he murders everyone with gas and escapes. Batman and Robin track him to a county fair, where he is already killing people. Batman defeats The Joker in a violent confrontation, nearly killing him. To incriminate Batman for murder, The Joker seemingly commits suicide by breaking his own neck. A citywide manhunt for Batman begins.

Superman diverts a Soviet nuclear warhead which detonates in a desert. The United States is hit by an electromagnetic pulse, and descends into chaos during the resulting blackout. In Gotham, Batman realizes what has happened, and he and Robin turn the remaining Mutants and Sons of the Batman into a non-lethal vigilante gang. He leads them against looters and ensures the flow of essential supplies. In the midst of electromagnetic pulse, Gotham becomes the safest city in the country. The U.S. government sees this as an embarrassment, and orders Superman to remove Batman. Superman demands to meet Batman.

Superman tries to reason with Batman, but Batman uses his technological inventions and mastery of hand-to-hand combat to fight him. During the battle, Superman compromises Batman’s exoframe, while Green Arrow shoots a kryptonite-tipped arrow to greatly weaken Superman. Batman reveals that he intentionally spared Superman’s life by not using a more powerful kryptonite mix; before he can finish his monologue, Batman suddenly has a heart attack, apparently dying. Alfred destroys the Batcave and Wayne Manor before dying of a stroke, exposing Batman as Bruce Wayne, whose fortune has disappeared. After Wayne’s funeral, it is revealed that his death was staged. Clark Kent attends the funeral and winks at Robin after hearing Wayne’s heartbeat resume. Some time afterward, Bruce Wayne leads Robin, Green Arrow, and the rest of his followers into the caverns beyond the Batcave and prepares to continue his war on crime.

I tried to edit that down as much as I could folks, but it was important to include all of those details for the next part of the review.

I will start by saying this, if you like animated films, but don’t know a lot about the Batman mythology, start here. The Dark Knight Returns is a great Batman story and because it is set in an alternate future, it won’t screw up or confuse you with subsequent readings of other books. The animation is well done, and echoes the source material as well.

That being said, it is an incredibly long story which includes what seems like almost every single detail of the original mini-series. So be prepared for a narrative which expects you to pay close attention.

Pros: As is the case with most of the DC line of animated films, it’s faithful to it’s source material and very entertaining. Peter Weller does a great job as Batman, as does Michael Emerson as The Joker. You have to follow the entire story through to appreciate everything, but it’s well worth it.

Cons: It is difficult to sit through 2 hours and 30 odd minutes of an animated feature. TBH, I blame Disney for conditioning us to expect animated films to wrap up in 90 minutes or less.

Runtime: 2 hours 32 minutes

Points of Interest: The Joker visits the David Endochrine Show which is based off the David Letterman Show. However the David of the animated movie is voiced by Conan O’Brien and as such resembles him. Though not explicitly stated, the POTUS in the film looks like and sounds like Ronald Reagan.

What I find  most interesting about this story is not that we get to see how Batman would act if he returned to crimefighting after a hiatus, but that he is clearly themed around a fascist messiah, and most people who read the book, watched the animated film or went to see Batman v Superman didn’t really care to recognize that. Which says something about humanity even now in the wake of Batman v Superman.

This Batman is one who “realizes” the world is broken and that only he can judge it properly, so after cleaning up his city, he fakes his death, and builds an underground army while he waits for an opportunity. Almost 20 years later, Frank Miller wrote a follow up to this story titled The Dark Knight Strikes Again which details how Batman goes about “savining” the United States from rule by Lex Luthor. A third mini-series, The Dark Knight: The Master Race is also currently in the works, and makes me wonder about the conclusion of this Batman story.

You should definitely watch and/or read The Dark Knight Returns, IF you want to better understand how easily fascism can crop up in society; because we all want a hero to save us, but maybe that’s not the best solution. This story definitely helped drive Batman back into pop culture, and incidentally, tomorrow’s post has some wisdom about Buzzworthy content. I’m out of theories for now, please comment, subscribe, and share this post if you liked it!

Tim!

Set The Stage (Akira review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I grew up on a lot of interesting anime cartoons. Dragon Ball Z, Samurai Pizza Cats, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and lots of live-action Japanese themed shows like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Super Human Samurai.

The one thing in common with most of these shows though, is that they didn’t really have an audience over here until the early 90’s, when I was a kid, because we just didn’t know the art existed. Thankfully we have a particular movie to thank for ushering in this culture before globalization was a thing.

Hence we are starting off this years movie reviews with a classic…

 

 

Akira (1988)
Cast:Cam Clarke, Jan Rabson, Lara Cody, Tony Pope, Lewis Arquette, Michelle Ruff, Bob Buchholz
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
rereleased on blu-ray November 12, 2013
****** 8/10

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IMDB: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%, Audience Score 90%
The Guardian: *****/*****

Akira was a groundbreaking animated film (or anime) which was directedby Katsuhiro Otomo. Akira the movie is a variation on it’s manga namesake which was also written by Otomo.

The movie focuses heavily on the first half of the book, and takes key elements from the second half in order to tighten the story up and fit it in a two hour window.

But is it any good?

On July 16, 1988 we see an atom bomb destroy Tokyo.  Roughly 30 years the resulting WWIII, a Neo-Tokyo has been built and is both beautiful and desolate. The Capsules gang is hanging out at a bar and getting ready to take on the Clowns. Kaneda (Cam Clarke), is the leader of the group and heads outside where Tetsuo (Jan Rabson) is admiring his red bike.

After meeting, they chase the Clowns through the city, eventually knocking most of them out. Tetsuo loses control of his bike during this fight and is abandoned when the police show up.

Elsewhere a man is wounded and leading a small green skinned child through the streets. He shoots a dog during this run and is gunned down by the police. A building collapses and the crowd disperses, revealing a mustached man and a young lady named Kei (Lara Cody), who are are split up.

Meanwhile, the Capsules continue to fight the Clowns. During this Tetsuo gets into it with one Clown in particular and beats on him. When Tetsuo looks up, he sees the green person standing in his path and narrowly misses him, causing a crash and explosion. Tetsuo is unconscious and Kaneda and friends arrive to see the green person leave. Another green person in a hoverchair tells the fleeing person there is no escape and a tall military man, Colonel Shikishima (Tony Pope), emerges from a helicopter, picks up Tetsuo, while the Capsules are taken into custody. The Colonel then leaves with the two green children.

At the police station, Kaneda and his gang are interrogated, but eventually released. Kaneda notices Kei and arranges to have her released as well. It turns out she is part of a terrorist group, but teases him for flirting with her.

At the hospital Tetsuo is examined by  Doctor Onishi (Lewis Arquette), who realizes that Tetsuo has similar psychic potential to Akira, a young esper like the green children. Akira caused the explosion 30 years prior. Shikishima is informed by Onishi that Tetsuo is the key to solving the problem of Project Akira, a secret mission that was organized by an underground terrorist group. However, Shikishima is not convinced and will kill Tetsuo if he gets out of control.

Tetsuo wakes up and heads back to school. The rest of the Capsules are chatting with their girlfriends about the fight, the arrest and their messed up hideout. Kaori (Michelle Ruff), is concerned about her boyfriend, Tetsuo. He decides that they should run away and they steal Kaneda’s bike. But Kaneda and the others see this.

The bike eventually stalls. Then Clowns appear and assault Kaori. Luckily Kaneda and the others show up just in time. Tetsuo, is upset about being rescued yet again. And decides to beat on a Clown who is on the ground already. Tetsuo then gets an intense migraine and hears the word “Akira.” Military people suddenly appear and Doctor Onishi has Tetsuo taken back to the hospital. The gang is visibly confused.

Almost simultaneously we see another building explode and a group of men flee the scene. Kaneda then sees the mustached man and Kei fleeing. He follows her as the police close in. Kaneda then aids Kei in her escape and is taken to the terrorist headquarters where the leader, the mustached man named Ryu (Bob Buchholz), reveals the plan to capture the first green esper child has failed. He wants to capture the newest government subject, Tetsuo. Kaneda has been listening in and explains that he and Tetsuo are friends, he can help them out.

There is a lot more to it, and I’m not stopping to avoid spoilers – the statute of limitations on spoilers is a year or two tops, and this movie is over 25 years old. I’m stopping because there is a lot of plot left and your appetite should be whet by now.

 

Pros: It is so tightly packed with plot, action, and interesting ideas, it was incredibly ambitious for it’s time. And it still holds up today. You’ve got cyberpunk visuals aplenty too.

Cons: Because it moves at such a quick pace, is content heavy, and visually dense. If you don’t pay close attention it can feel rushed and you’ll lose interest.

Runtime: 124 minutes

Points of Interest: It cost over a million dollars to re-dub and layer in a new soundtrack when the film was rereleased in 2001. There have been talks of putting together a live-action version of the film, but it’s been difficult to get it off the ground.

If you enjoy The Matrix series, Kill Bill and many other sci-fi action films, this is the anime that brought these ideas to western culture and influenced the makers of those movies. The plot is great, the visuals are stunning, and it is just as interesting today.

 

 

 

Sure there have been other brands like Studio Ghibli that offer anime in a digestible format, but if it had not been for Akira, we wouldn’t have seen the darker and more mature side of animated film. When CGI is the hot topic of the day, anime continues to let us see hand drawn art come to life.

My hope is that we learn from the eastern culture and begin to marry the 3D content with the traditional 2D artwork and move forward with awesome stories.

Similar to what the big studios are doing by reintroducing practical effects into film and combining it nicely with computer effects. *Cough* Star Wars The Force Awakens *Cough*. Our eyes enjoy it better.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about that folks. I hope you take some time to check this classic out.

Have a good night, and I’ll see you tomorrow for some wisdom.

Tim!