November 08, 2009
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (End Credits)
Todd Hemker: We took our cues from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who wanted to end the film on an absurdly happy note set in a utopian trippy wonderland made out of food. We worked from story ideas already developed by them that would help provide some sense of resolution with the storytelling of the film (i.e. food did NOT destroy the planet, the formation of a tight bond between father and son, the corrupt mayor getting his just desserts, etc…). The unpredictable nature of the titles was already “built-in” by the directors’ original vision for the piece. However, when you know the story and characters from the film, you see that the titles are a mix of tying themes from the film together with things that are just plain silly. Our inspiration in many ways mirrored that of the directors and designers at Sony. At our initial meeting with them they referenced the Muppets, the film Twice Upon a Time, the illustrator Miroslav Sasek, Yellow Submarine, Monty Python, Schoolhouse Rock, and Xanadu.
Bacon!
Some examples:
In the event of a grizzly bear attack, throw bacon to distract the bear and make your getaway. If your bacon is too precious to throw to a bear, eat it quickly to enjoy a last meal as you are being slaughtered.
Attach bacon to your hard drive. Every time you download a large file, the smell will be glorious.
Click Here ->How To Use Bacon To Make Your Life Incredible And Amazing.
Some examples:
In the event of a grizzly bear attack, throw bacon to distract the bear and make your getaway. If your bacon is too precious to throw to a bear, eat it quickly to enjoy a last meal as you are being slaughtered.
Attach bacon to your hard drive. Every time you download a large file, the smell will be glorious.
Click Here ->How To Use Bacon To Make Your Life Incredible And Amazing.
November 06, 2009
Watch "Moon"
I finally got the chance to see Moon today... and I loved it... a lot! Okay, this is directed by David Bowie’s son, who changed his name from Zowie Bowie to Duncan Jones. Now that’s out of the way, I think we can safely say that, based on this remarkable low-budget debut, Mr Jones has come into his own. Making a smart genre film can be a house of cards. You want your film to be different and intellectually stimulating, but the lure to add layers can lead you pile on one to many levels and topple the whole enterprise. (See this year’s Knowing for a prime example.) Of Moon’s praiseworthy elements, I am most impressed with this: for a movie so rich and complex, it is wonderfully simple.
It also has a second act twist that would turn a traditional summary into a major spoiler. What Moon accomplishes so well is a slow burn. There is a specificity of purpose driving the film forward that is so basic it is hard not to read the entire film as a metaphor for the human condition. The wonderful flip of this, however, is that the clothesline on which the picture’s philosophy is hung is based on specific, real, and “hard Sci-Fi .”
It ruins nothing to say the film begins with Sam Rockwell (as Sam Bell) two years and eleven months plus into a three year contract to man an outpost on the moon. His job is to monitor four moon rock munching machines (called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – although the malfunctioning Luke has been given the nickname Judas), collect the dust and fire canisters back to earth. The payloads are rich in Helium3, a very real substance that could, if harnessed properly, be an energy source better than anything Exxon is rockin’ right now. Bell’s only companion is GERTY, a computer system voiced by Kevin Spacey and manifested physically by a few ceiling-tracked robotic arms (think Fortress) and a clunky main processor unit that displays emoticons.
Okay, so the “just a few more days til retirement” is a plot device older than the celestial bodies themselves, but there’s more to this (and all of Moon) than meets the eye. This cliché is deftly used as a psych-out to keep you from recognizing what is actually going until the film wants you to.
Sam Rockwell, in 99% of the shots of Moon, is sublime and outstanding in his performance. Moon’s director, Duncan Jones has been referring to this film as “Blue Collar Sci-Fi”. While this film may appeal to people who normally don’t care for (or gave up on) Sci-Fi, it is still Sci-Fi. The art direction is breathtaking, from the Lunar rovers to the perfect typography, and the music is crisply elegant yet unnerving.
Moon is on the opposite side of the galaxy of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and yet, in its own way, it is equally successful. Maybe that's to the credit of the film itself. Moon is a provocative and compelling sci-fi parable of sorts that deserved far more marketing than it received. In an era when grey-shaded Hollywood drudge can cost hundreds of millions and deliver nothing, Moon stands out –and it does so with dignity, on a chump-change budget.
Rent it. Buy it. Download it.... now!
30 Extraordinary Black And White Tilt-shift Photos
Tilt-shift photography is a creative and unique type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model.
Black and white tilt-shift images, which are surprisingly uncommon, have a classic, vintage quality that can be truly stunning. Here you'll find 30 of the best.
Wallace & Gromit: 20 years Old
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wallace & Gromit, Aardman asked members of their website to submit questions to Nick Park. Twenty of the best were selected and put to Nick in this special video interview.