graph-o-mat 1.0

Photograph © Copyright by Reiner Pfisterer. Courtesy of fmx/08.

That’s me (center) attending the screening of Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf” (2007) on the third day of this year’s fmx/08. (I already wrote about this screening in an earlier post.) After about ten minutes or so, I moved to a now vacant seat, only to realize that the 3D effect was much more impressive there. Robert Zemeckis was present himself and gave a short introduction right before the screening.

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In his article “CG on a Budget: A Zen Art “, J. Paul Peszko wrote

“Unlike feature animation, where major studios spend money hand over fist trying to outdo one another [ … ]”

— Quote © Copyright 2007 by J. Paul Peszko/Animation World Network. —

and this is imho exactly the state of affairs Jean Detheux complained about in “Notes from the Underground”. Although I do not agree 100% with what he wrote (I just can’t help but finding certain fx cool), and although it is imho not the point to abandon the superficial altogether, I also perceive a gradual demise of the “substance” in much (not all) of today’s visual fx/animation, if not in our culture in general. What I particularly find so annoying about this tendency are a) fx for the sake of fx, and b) the “loud” approach we encounter so often (especially in advertising; this is what I personally call the “smiling banana effect”).

Is subtlety out of style? Not necessarily, but it would require courageous (and preferably independent) directors who know about the possibilities of state-of-the-art visual fx/animation and how to use them properly. We really have had enough of superficial fx by now. This is not a contradiction to what I wrote farther above; my point is simply, not to abandon depth altogether and to venture into new, yet unexplored territory instead—and not just technically. Directors such as Alfred Hitchcock made it clear that it is indeed possible to combine avantgarde art (“Spellbound”; “Psycho”; “The Birds”) and financial success.

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After seeing “Iron Man” (2008) today, I’m completely enthusiastic about this movie, which was a big surprise for me! After having read some of the reviews, I was basically prepared for everything. Taking this into account, the first thing that took me in for this movie was the well-written dialogue, and this confirms my hope that quality-conscious actors such as Jeff Bridges and especially Gwyneth Paltrow, whose performance in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999) I found so sympathetic, would guarantee for some quality. (I have to admit that I didn’t know Robert Downey Jr. before, who imho really is the perfect cast for Tony Stark/Iron Man.) Right now, I simply cannot follow critics who were writing about “inconsistencies” in the script of “Iron Man”. (It seems that two separate teams of writers worked on this script, but it surely doesn’t show!) I am regarding myself as very critical and quality-conscious, but this was one movie I could have seen again right away!

Summary: Paramount hit it really big time with this one!

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Now, that this year’s fmx is over, and while I am waiting for the responses to various inquiries of mine about posting stills/images here, I suddenly find myself more and more preoccupied with “film”.

One particularly interesting site I stumbled upon today is Great Directors - a critical database, located at sense of cinema. This site covers (in alphabetical order) basically any important director from Peggy Ahwesh to Fred Zinnemann.

Another site I personally find interesting (this is basically about movies which are currently running), is FirstShowing.net.

Finally (to get back to visual fx), after reading some of the reviews about Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” (this was via Rotten Tomatoes) I’m determined to go and see it (the English version) and share my impressions here afterwards.

Related: “Must-See!”

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