Issue 194
News: Three Books I've read to be turned into films. Trailers reviewed here.
The Adventures of Tintin. Relatively recently, I rediscovered the Tintin comics (specifically, Crab with the Golden Claws, Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure), and around the time I started college, I learned that there would be a film based on some of the comics, with filming apparently imminent. What was surprising is that, around the same time that I graduated from Oakton, three years later, only now has the trailer finally been released. I must admit that, while I really hate it when classic cartoon characters are given an unusually realistic look (see the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks reboot, and then see the 1980s series for a good reason why). What really surprised me was that, from what I've been able to see from the trailer, the filmmakers seem to have put a lot of effort into making the CGI that many studios seem to prefer to the "Hand-drawn" style these days look a lot like Herge's original drawing style. As for the casting, I was pleasantly surprised when they announced Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Hot Fuzz as the "twin" detectives Thomson and Thompson, and I can't see any major problems with the casting. So far the only cons I can think of would be that Professor Calculus isn't in the film (he was introduced in Red Rackham's Treasure), and that Steven Moffat has evidently decided that the best books to adapt into a sequel would be the two volumes about Tintin and Co.'s adventures in Peru, because I personally think that, of the official 21 volumes that the Herge estate acknowledges, they are the two weakest, due to the climactic moment, which, apart from being a blatant rip-off of the eclipse scene in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, makes less sense in the context of real history (especially jarring considering Herge's commitment to accuracy,) since the real-life Incas were certainly not the kind of people who thought eclipses were signs of the gods like medieval Europeans. My personal pick would be the two volumes dealing with the moon mission; they actually contain some of the strongest plots of the series, with a story arc long enough to sustain a feature-length film, and, on top of all that, would provide a good place to introduce Professor Calculus. Release Date: Christmas 2011.
We Need to Talk About Kevin- Shortly after I read this in November 2009, I discovered that there was to be a film adaptation of the novel. I was apprehensive about the way that the plot could be handled, as I had a fear that the story would be handled as a straight horror film, about a bad seed who hates everyone and everything and decides to take it out on the people in his class one day. The fact is, that the novel is fundamentally a family drama that just so happens to include some genuinely horrifying scenes. There is actually no trailer on Youtube, but there are three short clips, each less than two minutes long, which showcase the style: Simply put, the film feels quite spare, quite possibly a reflection of people trying to recover from a disaster, and also reflecting the relative tranquility of the scenes in the book that aren't horrific. At this point, of the three films I've put here, it's the only one I can find that critics have already seen and been able to post reviews of, due to its being screened at Cannes, and its rating: 92% positive. That said, the ranking will probably be lower, but as of right now, there is only one negative review, and that one was written by somebody who hated the source material. Release Date: None at the moment, but in Britain, it's apparently hitting screens on September 2.
Mr. Popper's Penguins: I only learned about this film's being released this weekend. There doesn't seem to be anything too spectacular about it, though, and I don't really have too many emotional ties to the book at this point. Release Date: June 17.
Film Idea of the Day: Skating Away. A Burned-out composer and a PTSD sufferer on the brink of mental disaster form a friendship (just how they meet, I'm not sure, but I would think that their meeting has something to do with an attempted assault committed while flashing back.) My current climax has the sufferer blowing himself up, and the Composer finally getting some of his creative spark.
Film Review: Moon. I can only speculate that this could very well be part of the reason Moffat hasn't decided to adapt the moon albums of the Tintin series into film. The fact is, that both of the films are amazingly accurate looks at what life would be like for people who go on lunar expeditions (in the Tintin case, the accuracy was especially exceptional due to being published in the days before space travel). However, unlike those albums, Moon tends to have a feel very similar to 1970s Sci-fi films, especially 2001 and Solaris. In the proper plot, Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut who is harvesting Helium for a company on earth, and he meets his clone. I wish I could go into further detail.
Link of the Day: A Death Note Fanfic read aloud.
The Adventures of Tintin. Relatively recently, I rediscovered the Tintin comics (specifically, Crab with the Golden Claws, Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure), and around the time I started college, I learned that there would be a film based on some of the comics, with filming apparently imminent. What was surprising is that, around the same time that I graduated from Oakton, three years later, only now has the trailer finally been released. I must admit that, while I really hate it when classic cartoon characters are given an unusually realistic look (see the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks reboot, and then see the 1980s series for a good reason why). What really surprised me was that, from what I've been able to see from the trailer, the filmmakers seem to have put a lot of effort into making the CGI that many studios seem to prefer to the "Hand-drawn" style these days look a lot like Herge's original drawing style. As for the casting, I was pleasantly surprised when they announced Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Hot Fuzz as the "twin" detectives Thomson and Thompson, and I can't see any major problems with the casting. So far the only cons I can think of would be that Professor Calculus isn't in the film (he was introduced in Red Rackham's Treasure), and that Steven Moffat has evidently decided that the best books to adapt into a sequel would be the two volumes about Tintin and Co.'s adventures in Peru, because I personally think that, of the official 21 volumes that the Herge estate acknowledges, they are the two weakest, due to the climactic moment, which, apart from being a blatant rip-off of the eclipse scene in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, makes less sense in the context of real history (especially jarring considering Herge's commitment to accuracy,) since the real-life Incas were certainly not the kind of people who thought eclipses were signs of the gods like medieval Europeans. My personal pick would be the two volumes dealing with the moon mission; they actually contain some of the strongest plots of the series, with a story arc long enough to sustain a feature-length film, and, on top of all that, would provide a good place to introduce Professor Calculus. Release Date: Christmas 2011.
We Need to Talk About Kevin- Shortly after I read this in November 2009, I discovered that there was to be a film adaptation of the novel. I was apprehensive about the way that the plot could be handled, as I had a fear that the story would be handled as a straight horror film, about a bad seed who hates everyone and everything and decides to take it out on the people in his class one day. The fact is, that the novel is fundamentally a family drama that just so happens to include some genuinely horrifying scenes. There is actually no trailer on Youtube, but there are three short clips, each less than two minutes long, which showcase the style: Simply put, the film feels quite spare, quite possibly a reflection of people trying to recover from a disaster, and also reflecting the relative tranquility of the scenes in the book that aren't horrific. At this point, of the three films I've put here, it's the only one I can find that critics have already seen and been able to post reviews of, due to its being screened at Cannes, and its rating: 92% positive. That said, the ranking will probably be lower, but as of right now, there is only one negative review, and that one was written by somebody who hated the source material. Release Date: None at the moment, but in Britain, it's apparently hitting screens on September 2.
Mr. Popper's Penguins: I only learned about this film's being released this weekend. There doesn't seem to be anything too spectacular about it, though, and I don't really have too many emotional ties to the book at this point. Release Date: June 17.
Film Idea of the Day: Skating Away. A Burned-out composer and a PTSD sufferer on the brink of mental disaster form a friendship (just how they meet, I'm not sure, but I would think that their meeting has something to do with an attempted assault committed while flashing back.) My current climax has the sufferer blowing himself up, and the Composer finally getting some of his creative spark.
Film Review: Moon. I can only speculate that this could very well be part of the reason Moffat hasn't decided to adapt the moon albums of the Tintin series into film. The fact is, that both of the films are amazingly accurate looks at what life would be like for people who go on lunar expeditions (in the Tintin case, the accuracy was especially exceptional due to being published in the days before space travel). However, unlike those albums, Moon tends to have a feel very similar to 1970s Sci-fi films, especially 2001 and Solaris. In the proper plot, Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut who is harvesting Helium for a company on earth, and he meets his clone. I wish I could go into further detail.
Link of the Day: A Death Note Fanfic read aloud.
posted by DerekAxe at 2:05 PM
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