Beowulf.

At a 1st glance this didn't seem really promising: the technology used for the Polar Express (which was a so-so Christmas tale, so kids only, and with fish eyed characters) was going to be used again to tell a story I had only heard of in a crappy film starring Christophe Lambert...

But that story was adapted by Roger Avary & Neil Gaiman, which is a 1st good sign.
Also, I read a few things in which director Robert Zemeckis was stating he wanted to do something more adult to follow up on the Polar Express.
A good script and good intentions are always nice things, but don't always give a good movie.
What of this?

Well it's fine example of a very succesfull epic!

Technically, it's stunning. The technique consists in digitalising the actor's performances and then recreating everything from scratch in CGI.
It therefore frees the camera (which is then virtual) completely and make possible the wildest movements.
It also enables a lot of liberties on the characters, as you can see with Beowulf, a young buffed up colossus that is originally played by Ray Winston, a 50-something actor.

The textures are amazing (especially skins and hairs) and the characters movements also, which is no real surprise as they're "real".
There are still a few things that feel strange (the horses in particular).

Having said that, and eventhough the point is more or less "photorealism", I don't think the point here is to recreate "real" in CGI.
It's just a hybrid between animation and live action. It's an animation movie, but instead of having only voice acting it also captures physical acting.
So as such it's neither, it's just another way to make pictures, to tell stories.

And that's actually there that Beowulf is, in my opinion, the most succesfull: the story is truly engaging.
It obviously treads on 300 ground, being a sort of bedtime story, the kind that gets bigger each time it's told (you actually get a nod to this at the beginning of the picture). It's firmly centered around its main character, but whereas in 300 couldn't really identify with the main characters (unless you're a wild warmonger), Beowulf is a very human character, despite being a hero.
He's faillible and his pride will lead him to his fall, but ultimately his redemption.

All this takes place in a pure medieval fantasy setting, meaning brutal fights and epic set pieces, magnified by the possibilities of the virtual camera.

So not only this is a technology leap, it's also an emotionnal journey doubled with an amazing ride...

Quote of the day.

"The only term I won't accept is "genius." The term "genius" gets used far too loosely in rock & roll. When you hear the melodic structures of what classical musicians put together and you compare it to that of a rock & roll record, there's a hell of a long way rock & roll has to go. There's a certain standard in classical music that allows the application of the term "genius," but you're treading on thin ice if you start applying it to rock & rollers. The way I see it, rock & roll is folk music. Street music. It isn't taught in school. It has to be picked up. You don't find geniuses in street musicians, but that doesn't mean to say you can't be really good. You get as much out of rock & roll artistically as you put into it. There's nobody who can teach you. You're on your own and that's what I find so fascinating about it." Jimmy Page (in the 70's)

Context

Citation du jour...

"(...) le concept de «marque amie», «marque choisie» que propose l'offre publicitaire de Facebook est géniale. Elle revient à assimiler personnes physiques et personnes morales. La marque se définit comme une personne et l'internaute lui-même, lorsqu'il s'inscrit sur Facebook, livre ses caractéristiques comme une marque. Même s'il n'en est pas conscient ! » Christophe Lambert, coprésident de FFL.

On oubliera peut-etre la pub, mais la pub, elle, ne nous oubliera pas...

Contexte.

J'en profite pour passer un autre article de Libe sur l'utilisation du telephone portable dans les pays en voie de developpement: maintenant que les portables sont aussi puissants que les ordinateurs d'il y a 10ans, avec en plus la connectivite sans fil, c'est un outil inestimable pour le developpement des pays pauvres!
Ca fait du bien d'entendre de bonnes nouvelles de temps en temps...

Zombiiiiies!

L'on m'a fait passer (merci Ninoune!) un article tres interessant sur la survie en milieu zombie.

C'est tres tres informatif et didactique, avec des videos d'information et meme une simulation en cas d'epidemie!
C'est avant tout tres drole. :)

Pour la simu, j'ai trouve la solution: faut les nuker d'entree... (^_^)

Culture pub!

Vu sur Le Monde.fr (merci Guigui), Culture Pub, l'emission culte de M6 qui recensait les pubs les plus remarquables, en France comme a l'etranger, va retrouver une nouvelle jeunesse sur le net!!
Une emission hebdomadaire sera proposee, ainsi que les archives! Le tout gratuitement!
En voila une idee qu'elle est bonne!
Ca va pas faire monter la productivite par contre... ^^;

www.culturepub.fr

La citation du jour...

"(..)contrairement à une idée reçue, le smic français n’est pas le plus élevé: il est inférieur à ses équivalents belge, néerlandais, irlandais ou encore britannique."

Pour nous francais qui sommes persuades d'avoir le meilleur systeme social au monde, c'est une sacree claque!

Contexte.

30 Days Of Night.

The pitch of this one was what caught my eye: an American town in Alaska gets each year 30 days during which the sun doesn't show up (as often happens in those northern lands) and that's the time that a bunch of vampires choose to go downtown and enjoy themselves a bit...

Now vampires movies are cool already, but when properly handed, you can reach some pretty awesome levels. That material was properly treated.

In essence, it's pure 1st degree no-nonsense survival movie. A bunch of mismatched people are being hunted and they try to survive, as they see everyone else being killed.
In that sense the movie doesn't sport anything very ground breaking in the sense that you get the usual freak outs and surprise kills. Nothing madly original in concept but no disappointment as it's still very solid stuff.

And anyway with this genre, what matters is how the material is dealt with. It's all about style and atmosphere and it's truly here that the movie delivers.
First of all the vampires are really scary. They're beasts, only looking for humans to feed and despising them as mere cattle. Danny Huston who plays their leader is truly creepy here.

The tension starts building up straightaway and never let go, even during the ending credits, a sort of patchwork of torn pictures reminding of the massacre. You only get a few jump shocks to keep you on your toes and the movie concentrates on distilling a creepy atmosphere that does the job as well!

It is also beautifully shot. It might be a strange thing to say about a horror movie, especially considering the amount of violence and the number of shock moments, but it is! Each frame manages to convey the creepy atmosphere and also to remind of the comic book source. It's not as stylised as Sin City but still plays on a tasteful palette of black, white and red.

Overall what we have is one of the best survival horrors in years, coupled with one of best vampires movies in years!

Deathproof.

I've just realised I hadn't posted this, what a shame!

Last september, I was lucky enough to catch a preview of the latest Tarantino movie, followed by a very interesting and entertaining Q&A with Tarantino himself along with Zoe Bell (which I had never heard of before... ^^; ).

That was the actual cut of the movie, not the Grindhouse cut, so compared to the latter it was 30min longer.

It would be difficult for me to descibe this something else than "pure fun".
You know it's one of those movies that has no depth (other than style-wise) but that is however is purely enjoyable and deeply satisfying.
As usual, Mr QT starts on a fairly simple basis of trying to recreate a genre-film (here a slasher movie) but delivers something that is a lot more than that, that feels fresh and ultimately personnal and unique.
You always go to see a QT movie expecting something and come out having seen more. Also, you don't really have to "get" the references in order to enjoy the film...
So it's starts off as the usual chatty Tarantino flick, then turns into a slasher (kind of) and then becomes a car chase movie. In the intervals, you get to know the characters better, a gruesome car accident and a cool lap dance... It's amazing to see how he can fill empty space with just "random" dialogues without actually be boring. He makes the simplest girly chitchat almost as exciting as the ation bits...

As usual, it's perfectly cast, the obvious highlight being Kurt Russel masterfully portraying a twisted character that reveals to be surprisingly multilayered.
The soundtrack, unsurprisingly, is also top notch.

It's a movie you have to give in to. It's gripping and thrilling and you also get some tongue in cheek "defects" as if it was an "actual" grindhouse movie, whih add to the fun.

Maybe a "minor" Tarantino (then again you could argue he only makes "minor" movies) but he can make more like that as much as he likes, I won't complain!

Bottle Rocket.

It was such a long time since I didn't take the time to watch a movie!
Man that's good! :)

I had planned to watch Dune (which I have never seen) tonight but I saw that was on TV, so I had to watch it as I've been wanting to see it for a while now.

This is Wes Anderson's first movie and I'm quite a big Wes Anderson fan, from Rushmore to Life Aquatic.

So what else to say that this is definitely a Wes Anderson movie. In a sense he always makes the same movie. Or more to the point, if the stories and environments are always different, the characters are similar. They are lost. And dysfunctionnal.
The good thing about this is that he always creates interesting characters.
They're tragic and funny.
They can behave like gits, but you still can't help to sympathise...

Here, the context is that of a capper movie. But it's obviously no Heat. They're small time and not really good at it. So you follow them from failure to failure...

It's smart, funny, subtle, off-beat, touching.

It's beautifully shot (especially taking into account that it most likely was shot on a shoestring budget) and the cast is excellent, with Luke & Owen Wilson as the leads.

As a 1st movie, it's quite amazing how already it established Anderson's style with such confidence...

Citation du jour...

« Voici donc le moteur du commerce. Ce cortex préfrontal nous fait aimer ce qu’aiment les autres. Arriver à le stimuler pourrait donc être un objectif majeur d’une parfaite campagne publicitaire». (Annette Schäfer, dans la revue Cerveau & Psycho)

Contexte ici. Ou comment les vendeurs mettent a profit notre connaissance toujours plus grande du cerveau pour mieux cibler leurs pubs... Ca fait froid dans le dos, car c'est imparable...

Citation du jour...

"Vous pensez vraiment que je vais laisser Facebook m'utiliser pour faire la promo de la Préparation H (anti-hémorroïdes) auprès d'autres écrivains? Jamais de la vie!"

Contexte ici (Rue89).

Human nature.

A negative image of Facebook (aptly named Hatebook) has been created.
Here, you just mention what you hate and find angry people that hate the same things that you do. Who knows? You might hate them too!!
Such a very human feeling...

Anti-social networking had to come after social networking. After all, internet was said to drive people anti-social anyway, since it removes you from the "real" world...

Original article (in French).

Yet another Dilbert...

But again, it's spot on...