Reign of Assassins turns out to be a superb martial arts period
piece. While starting with a pretty energetic rate to setup what is to
become the heart of the story, things soon settle down for a well-paced
film. The characters are well developed and well cast, and the story itself has its twists and it is quite entertains from beginning to end. The martial arts sequences come in
spurts and they are definite high points of this picture. The sword
play & fight scene choreography is superb and the cinematography is perfect.
Michelle Yeoh (who hasn't missed a beat since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Jung Woo-Sung play a married couple (each unaware
the spouse is a world-class assassin - sort of like 'Mr and Mrs. Smith'). Without heavy resorting to heavy visual
effects, and without going too far down any one stylistic road, the film
gives new life to the genre. Reign of Assassins is full blown of fantasy/martial arts film, yet
still has a nice romantic aspect to it as well.
This is also a return to form from famed director John Woo who has gone
on record stating that now he wants to make many more films in the
booming Chinese film industry.
The ending is moving and poetic, and John Woo replaced his usual guns and bombs with flashing swordplay
and fantasy effects. It gets better as it progresses and the plot has a few surprising twists
and turns. The sets, costumes, acting, and performances are nearly perfect, I highly recommend it.
Here's one of the great action sequences in the film:
Troll Hunter is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that
set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their
existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. A
thrilling and wildly entertaining film, the film delivers truly
fantastic images of giant trolls wreaking havoc on the countryside, with
darkly funny adherence to the original Norwegian folklore.
It's shot in the style of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield, in
which we watch video shot by characters in the moviein that hand-held-camera style. The idea here is that 283 hours of mysterious footage has been
found, and after extensive investigation, is concluded to be authentic.
It blows the lid off the Norwegian government's cover-up of the troll
problem plaguing the country, accounting for rampant livestock carnage,
felled trees and random devastation, usually written off by the shadowy
Wildlife Board as the work of renegade bears.
During a series of frightening encounters we get a glimpse of the
various species of woodland and mountain trolls, learning their quirks
and vulnerabilities. Needless to say, they are nothing like those cute
tuft-haired '70s trinkets. With life spans of up to 1,200 years, these
remarkably stupid predators range from towering three-headed ogres to
galumphing cave dwellers.
When power lines (the secret purpose of which is to keep the giant
Mountain Kings fenced in) are knocked down, the rogue crew ventures
north toward the most dangerous showdown of all, with the Wildlife Board
giving chase. When the creatures are
finally seen, the CGI work is actually VERY impressive.
Here's a progression reel showing the visual FX breakdown:
Overall it was a very enjoyable film, I found myself always wondering what would happen next. The genre of sci-fi mockumentaries is very small, and for that alone, it's quite original and entertaining.
Cast: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Hans Morten Hansen,
Johanna Morck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Knut Naerum, Robert Stoltenberg
Director/Screenwriter: Andre Ovredal
Producers: John M. Jacobsen, Sveinung Golimo
Director of photography: Hallvard Braein
Production designer: Martin Gant
Costume designer: Stina Lunde
Editor: Per Erik Eriksen
Visual effects supervisor: Oystein Larsen
He is primarily known for being the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, but first and foremost he's an animation writer and voice-over talent.
MacFarlane began his career studying animation and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he created the animated short film, "The Life of Larry". Impressed with his ideas, executives at Hanna-Barbera encouraged MacFarlane to move to Los Angeles in 1995 to create and direct a short film for them. After moving to L.A., he went on to work on numerous animated series, including Ace Ventura, Jungle Cubs, and Johnny Bravo.
Executives at Fox recognized his talent and offered him a chance to create a primetime animated series of his own. Over the next six months, MacFarlane created, animated, wrote, directed, and provided all the main male characters' voices for what became the hit animated TV series Family Guy. MacFarlane went on to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as 'Stewie Griffin,' and Family Guy has garnered two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Animated Series. In 2002, he also received an Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for the show. In 2009, Family Guy was only the second animated show since The Flinstones in 1961 to be nominated for a primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Comedy category.
The show's producer, Spike Jones, Jr., once said "...of all MacFarlane's talents, Everyone knows his extraordinary voiceover skills, but we’re only beginning to see him as a versatile live performer. He can sing, dance, spin plates…and we’re going to put him to work."
No matter what you think of the man and what your opinions are of the work he's created, you can't deny the fact that he's distinctive animated character voices have left a mark on television.
See his full credit list here.
The extraordinarily complex draughtsmanship from Katushiro Otomo’s 2182-page manga masterpiece “Akira”. The volumes are available over on Amazon http://is.gd/dxk1Q.
