Seen any good films lately? [3]

{{It was on the bbciplayer over the xmas/new year period, I watched it there. Dunno if its still available. }}

{{ Fire and Ice- this animated fantasy film is from Bakshi- he who gave us the LotR's animated film. I have always viewed this film as a sort of what could have been.
In terms of the film itself its a standard post Conan D&D style LotR's derivative (among other things) type affair from the pre-cgi animation days. But what it did have over Bakshi's LotR's was time and the money he needed. So where the rotoscoping he wanted to do in Lotr's often degrades on screen into a horrendous mismatch of footage, here he gets just about right throughout (the exception of a few wide shots which seems to be a particular bugbear of the technique). Letting the technique give him vastly superior character movement, but still keeping a coherent animation style and look throughout as he had intended for LotR's.

If you dont fancy the whole film (and I cant say its a great film story wise, its generic fantasy fare story wise. And as the characters were designed by Frank Frazzeta its skimpy loincloths all round, muscled men and buxom big bottomed girls abound for the most part. And the stand in orcs, the sub-humans have been accuse din modern times of being racist of course. ) but here's some moments of animation that I think are worth a nosey just to appreciate the work really. Spoiler sof course, but wont matter if you dont plan to watch the whole thing anyway. Enjoy.

The opening escape - 7.43- 12.22
Princess Teegra gets captured- 14.48-16.30
Medieval Batman/John Wayne being baddass in a misty fight!- 41.46-43.58
Icy fighting 1- 1.00.37-1.03.16
Crashing a dragon- 1.10.58-1.11.26
Icy Fighting 2 and 'Why don't you die!'- 1.12.28-1.14.21  }}}

Neat, all I knew of Bakshi's was that stupid Heavy Traffic or whatever it's called, and the LotR of course.

Hey not to jump topics all fast but I saw They Shall Not Grow Old tonight and I wanted to recommend it. It is an incredible bit of film-making and you should see it. After the melodrama of shows like Birdsong, I really appreciated hearing from actual veterans and seeing the actual soldiery. The film footage isn't just restored, it's transformed with colour and foley and voice-acting and frame-rate correction. It's technically excellent, emotionally powerful, and makes you think pretty deeply about what British (and a little bit of German) soldiers felt at the start of, during, and after the War.

Really, check it out. I think it's come and gone in the UK, but I could be wrong. It's here in the US at least.

(Skip the post-credits making-of though if you can help it. I waited and sat through it, and the experience would have been better if I had left right after the credits ended. It's just PJ going through all the steps of making the movie, and I know for some of you his voice will probably provoke a minor-crabbit attack. You can always look up the making-of online later.)

Just been watching some of that video. That ass-grab at 10:24

Glad to hear you enjoyed They Shall Not Grow Old, Forest. I understand your point about skipping the "making of" stuff so as not to dilute the impact, but for me there had been so many technical "how the F*** did he do that?" questions piling up in my mind as I watched, that I wouldn't have slept that night if I hadn't gotten to see how the magic trick was done.

Mixing threads again, I'm not recommending Bakshi's film "Coonskin",.... Really I'm not!... BUT... if you ever should want see a really offensive parody of every racist, anitsemitic, homophobic stereotype in the book.... it's out there....

Just been watching some of that video. That ass-grab at 10:24- Forest

{{ Ass-physics! Think they are very proud of those, they choose to highlight them! Bit like the game Dead or Alive- who were equally proud to show of their new wobbly physics

And there is the scene, which I didn't highlight, where the sub-humans throw Princess Teegra in the Lake for a good perv at her being all wet in her skimpy outfit. Still if you were around her on a cold night you'd never be short of somewhere to hang your hat or for that matter somewhere to park your bike }}

I watched the whole thing. I kept yelling at the screen: "Cover your frickin' butt!" That whole school of fantasy-art, as exemplified by Frazetta, is impossible for me to get on-board with.

You, sir, are clearly no longer a teenager.

{{I used to copy a lot of Frazetta art work when I was practising my sketching back in my teenage years

But reagrdless of loin cloths and butt physics I do feel Bakshi perfected his rotoscoping technique in this one and its a huge shame he could not do so for his LotR's. }}

Yes, it is clearly improved!

I recall teenage-me being more prudish than current-me, actually. I can't help but feel for how scratched-up, cold, and sun-burnt these people would be without clothes. I mean, how can you look at some bimbo in a skimpy chainmail bikini and say, "Yeah, that looks about right. That is the flavour of fantasy that I am into." It's utter nonsense from beginning to end.



It's just as bad as the crap you get in fantasy-anime.

{{One has to bear in mind the times Forest. As a teenage boy with an interest in fantasy  books, films and ladies Frazetta hit a lot of nerves. And this was pre-internet, you didn't gave access to looking at a million pieces of fantasy art on a whim (or scantily clad ladies for that matter). You saw these things, maybe it was a wall poster at a market stall, more likely it was an album cover, or a magazine cover or even a film poster. It was rare to see them in the flesh as it were, and so they stood out all the more against the bland marketing of the time when you did see his work.

And whilst its easy to see his work as just a lot of oiled half naked people there is real talent in his work and use of airbrushing and other techniques that set him apart as one of the best of that generation- and there was a lot of high quality competition in the days of album and magazine cover art.

I also find these days that there is something rather Lovecraftian in a lot of his work }}

I mean, how can you look at some bimbo in a skimpy chainmail bikini and say, "Yeah, that looks about right. That is the flavour of fantasy that I am into." It's utter nonsense from beginning to end.

But the thing is, if the art is done right, your brain switches right off. Sure, there's some detached intellectual circuit floating off in the back of your head muttering about her armor strangely leaving her heart wide open and how scratched up her thighs are gonna get, but it hasn't got a chance once those thighs rebound off your glandular systems.

It's straight up porn designed to get you to buy the book. And if the cover embarrasses you, rip it off and....stuff it under your pillow for future reference.

That is a pretty cool painting at least.

Damn... I was worried that Andrei Tarkovsky's 1962 war-film Ivan's Childhood would be too slow-moving or strange for me to enjoy. But it's great! The main character, a child actor, is really good, the film is artistic, expressionist, visually beautiful. I happily recommend it.

The only problem I had with it is that the copy I got from Netflix started skipping towards the end! I ordered a replacement. Might even rewatch the whole thing.

yeah, disks of older films from netflix are almost always scratched beyond usability these days, but I gather the streaming service doesn't even have the older films.

Sometimes I have success wiping them with mineral oil. But you have to use just a touch and wipe them really well with a clean cloth afterwards so only the scratches have oil in them. Takes me several tries and I'm not sure if the oil is doing it or I just finally get lucky.

"disks of older films from netflix are almost always scratched beyond usability these days,"

Not in my experience. It happens rarely to me. You can report if a disc is damaged and they send out a replacement. It's not like they keep crap discs in circulation.

You've reminded me of all the fixes people used to use for scratched discs. Toothpaste, peanut butter, light sanding...

I tried toothpaste once, don't remember if it helped at all.

Naw, toothpaste just makes it worse.

It may depend on your machine - perhaps some handle scratches better than others. It's also possible that because I'm in a higher density area my disks are just more worn that what you get. There's usually a network of fine scratches all over any film put out before 2000 or so.

is anyone keen to watch Endgame?

Bien sûr! I'm looking forward to it.

I finally got round to watching "Venom" & it was ok I liked Tom Hardy's acting in this one

I am strangely looking forward to Endgame, I never watched any of the other movies apart from the last one and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

...You've not seen any other Marvel movies, but you come in for the last two?

Well, I watched Deathly Hallows 1 with someone who hadn't seen any of the other movies, so, there you go I guess.

I didn't want to watch Venom because the story puts me off. I don't like anti-super-heroes very much.  Too edgy, or something.

Tom Hardy is very enjoyable, indeed. I remember thinking how good he was in Locke, which takes place entirely over the duration of an architect's commute back from work.

yes, Locke was a good film & considering he was the only character in the whole film he played it off beautifully

Forest Shepherd wrote:...You've not seen any other Marvel movies, but you come in for the last two?

Well, I watched Deathly Hallows 1 with someone who hadn't seen any of the other movies, so, there you go I guess.

I didn't want to watch Venom because the story puts me off. I don't like anti-super-heroes very much.  Too edgy, or something.

Tom Hardy is very enjoyable, indeed. I remember thinking how good he was in Locke, which takes place entirely over the duration of an architect's commute back from work.

not keen on blockbuster superhero films, but I did see parts of Guardians and Dr Strange, and I thought Black Panther was a spoof at first, dunno why the last one grabbed me but it did. Its quite sombre in parts and I liked the Red Witch and The Vision and little tree boy/teenager

Shoot. Shoot shoot shoot. Shoot-dang. Blech. Why? Why did they make Gråns? And why the heck did I watch it? I'm avoiding any kind of profanity at the moment because of the overpowering need I have at the moment to try and cleanse myself of... moral decline? I don't know. This is like that time I watched one of those death videos. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

I am disturbed. I wish I had not seen this movie.

I strongly discourage anyone else from watching it. The english title is "Border". It's a swedish-danish movie I think. One thing in particular is really, really bothering me. But the rest of the movie is not all that great either. Heavy prosthetics on your lead actors and bullshit-shock-writing-tactics do not a good movie make.

I was going to include a spoiler tag and mention the extreme unpleasantness of which I spoke, but forget that. No-one on this site needs or wants to know. Or anyone at all, actually.

Now I'm thinking I should delete this so no-one even has to hear about the movie. Well...

Screw it: