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Reviews
Arrested Development: Colony Collapse (2013)
The episode that made me come and rant on IMDb
Is this the best thing we've ever seen on TV? It doesn't beat Wire or Mad Men at it's best but oh boy is it pure comedy at it's best.
The acting at the scene where Gob tries to split with Ann and goes mumbling about a tuxedo prices and morning gowns for about a minute finally made me realise how good of a comedy actor Will Arnett really is.
This episode proves also which one of the AD characters has the most comedic power - Gob. Because he is SO extreme and SO stupid in his actions. Buster is probably even less intelligent but he can do less damage than his dis-illusioned brother, Gob. And extremity makes a good comedic character. Of course, Gob might not be the best spin off character for his own TV- show because he might in the end fall flat after a season or two but granted one episode like this really let's him shine.
Thank you, thank you thank you.
Darn it, I might have to check this episode again even though I just saw it yesterday!
Iron Sky (2012)
Outsiders must have made the trailer.
One of the producers, Samuli Torssonen was responsible for the amateur Star Wreck animated short films in the 90's, which I remember watching as a child in wonder, and I wasn't even a Trek fan. They were horribly crudely made but they had this certain appeal to them which made the so called "comedy" work. Later, recognizing the name, I saw the feature Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning and absolutely loathed it. It felt like 12-year old schoolboys acting out a school-play, which only their own class mates laugh to. What worked on a silly 2d-animation didn't on a feature.
Later on seeing the Iron Sky trailer, I was astonished. I actually got interested again and was hoping they had learnt the lesson, after all they had foreign actors and an outsider to write the script this time.
But the sad truth is that as the film progresses, it just gets duller and duller and starts to feel like a student film with lots of money... And since it is not well written comedy, but relies on single occasional jokes here and there but not quite becoming a crazy-comedy - which it should've been - but fails in being a moralising satire, it just makes you laugh once or twice. So the need of a well told story becomes even more important.
The outer space CG is delivering, but why bother when other areas, especially the chroma keying was so horribly done. You can actually see the blur added to the silhouettes of characters. Nothing fits, the background compositing looks fake. I know it's a B-movie but then make cardboard sets and lose the disturbing edge transitions. They alienate the viewer.
What works on Iron Sky is the professional actors. Without them, it would have been another In The Pirkinning. But even they have their weak moments because of the clumsy scenes and dialogue.
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the power of crowd funding, making a huge effort with a small budget etc - but all you fan boys and girls out there have to acknowledge that in all storytelling, the story -- and telling -- come first.
No amount of CGI or references to pop-culture will make a movie great. If that would be all we'd need, we'd just be watching demo reels and music videos.
But maybe the third one will be the charm. I guess the makers might read these reviews so I'd recommend them to make the next feature with less weight on the CGI and all the weight on storytelling. Robert McKee's book called Story would be a great place to start.
Ratatouille (2007)
Feel it. Don't argue against it.
May contain minor spoilers!!
I believe as perhaps David Lynch would, that movies should be felt. I believe that movies are like mirrors, we watch them and we reflect our life, our thoughts from it. We pour our soul open and have an invisible discussion with the events on the screen.
When I was a child, I thought that the "bad older boys in the neighbourhood" who used to pick me were always on the side of the bad-guys in TV (makes sense when you are 5 years old). I still remember the day I figured out myself that perhaps the bad bullies are on McGyver's side too, just like me. That changed my thinking, my perception of life. That is who I am now as an adult, I believe that there is good in every one of us.
Why is it that so many of us think that all 3D animations nowadays have to have non-stop humour, entertainment value on maximum - fun-run for 2 hours..? Why so many of us are keeningly commenting on all the "morals" and realism that these films are suppose to present? Why couple of times saying "Don't steal" has to be taken so seriously? I personally don't think it is the main theme or "lesson" of this film at all. That sentence is needed for the story to evolve and to be happening in the first place! Remy wouldn't make a go for his chef-dream if he would be satisfied in thieving just like the rest of the rats! There are reviews here commenting on things like "how come a rat can understand speech and walk with 2 feet" etc... Of course everyone realises that animation has and is able to make reality more magical, but no one seems to notice the possibilities in story-telling this brings us.. For instance did anyone notice how Remy walks proudly on two feet when his co-operation with humans works well - and when he has his crash with Linguini he admits that he is just a rat and starts to go by fours again..? How the typewriter (shaped like a skull) of Mr Ego seems so much more natural after he has had his revelation? Brilliant little details like these are scattered all over this film! For me the best gag and most remarkable event in this movie is when the so-obvious-baddie turns out to have that good side in him after all. That the bad food-bullie who rips down restaurants for fun is deep inside an understanding and kind human being.
Tears came into my eyes again during that scene - Because I reflected, I mirrored what I saw on the screen through my own life. That in every one of us there lives a good soul - a happy child, instead of that angry selfish adult.
And this is not probably what the makers of this movie wanted to preach, nor probably was it their aim, but for me it was a great ending.