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Bee Movie (2007)
Capitalist propaganda galore
What might have been an interesting premise to explore has been quickly transformed into a capitalist propaganda . Every minute of the second half of the movie proved me wrong just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. At one point I was like - Wait, wait... Ooooh, it's going to be a revealed as a tongue in cheek feat! It wasn't. A great companion to that Thomas train "children's animation" going by the credo "you are either useful in work or deserve to be disposed of."
Next Gen (2018)
I thought it was a Big 6 clone about a spoiled brat. I was wrong.
It's actually about a child's psyche and trauma caused by a broken family. The main protagonist is also fed up with everyone being obsessed with robotic gadgets. The psychological sie of the movie was more akin to Inside Out rather than to Big 6.
With this out of the way...
Visuals:
The animation and visuals are stellar, with a mix of Wall-E like plastiky feel with far more photorealistic shots. The most interesting bit to me was the use of combinations of 2D and 3D effects, in case of beam weapon effects for example. But it's only one example of an effect I saw in Next Gen for the first time. There are much more original implementation unique to this movie, which is surprising considering how many 3D animations has been produced so far. And by the way, this is not a Pixar movie! In fact, it's a movie by Tangent Animation. You can watch a lecture by their co-funder on the entire process of creating the movie in Blender 3D by looking up "Blender and Next Gen: a Netflix Original" or #bcon18
Audio:
Most notable:
1. The lead protagonist voice acting (Charlyne Yi)
2. The soundtrack containing lots of punk-ish tracks with some hit ballads by the shooting star Grace VanderWaal
Story:
I admit the robot friend is a weak link in all this. It's pretty generic and lacks any background story. It's just there wanting to make friends. But the rest is solid. The most satisfying part of the story to me was how dark the writers went with some parts of the movie. And the humor! Oh man, if you haven't seen the tooth brush scene, you've seen nothing! :)
Insidious (2010)
When a real horror turns into "Ninja Turtles"
Maybe the title of my review is an exaggeration but it's really how I felt after watching this film.
It starts very climatic and the story is simple yet solid. "Solid" is a good word to describe the first half of the film. It may resemble many other horrors from the past, but it did well in telling its own story at its own pace. Maybe it wasn't an icon to "the most scary is what you don't see" philosophy but it did well. Unfortunately something broke down along the way...
Such a great potential to make a good horror in the era of torture porn trash thrown away by the creators that gave up to the urge "to show more". Not only they shown too much, they can't even show it properly.
Pencil Face (2008)
This 3 minutes long film from SCAD shorts leaves you more stunned than many acclaimed cinematic movies of the last decade!
Most horrors and thrillers nowadays are just full-blown 'cliches' with both - predictable plot and what I call 'atmosphere spoilers'. Actually very few have something to spoil in the first place. Exceptions are really hard to find.
I would divide their weaknesses into 3 groups: 1. Constrained humorous (?) dialogs in the least appropriate moments. 2. Predictable. 3. (The most important) Lacking the ability to mirror even a fraction of basic human behaviors in the face of death. Or worse fear for that matter... (related to point 1). Three people are facing dangerous creature in the forest/basements. What is usually their brilliant idea? Oh, yes - 'Let's split.' A character being hunted by something is walking alone in the dark... backwards. A man facing a despicable horror is not stunned nor paralyzed a bit and he is able to freely say 'Oh, s*' with an expression more appropriate for crying after a failed exam. On top of that a music track more appropriate for Benny Hill chase scene. You get the idea.
Now, Pencil Face can't be an example of all of the above not happening because there's simply no darkness (per se) and no dumb teenagers. But it represents a certain BRAND of movies. A BRAND that you feel wouldn't allow any of the above happen if it had been a cinematic movie. A brand that guarantees an atmospheric, unreal and intelligent experience. If you ever see a movie poster with a 'From the creators of Pencil Face' and the ticket price is $50 don't hesitate - go see it!
Of course the brand itself it's not enough. Coming up with a story like that required a great deal of imagination for sure. Maybe even a slightly distorted but brilliant mind, who knows :) When I was watching it I had a feeling that I see someone's dream. That is strengthen by a certain...
Just don't miss it and it might be that this short film will be a start of your search for a completely new...something.