Electric Shadow

Daily Grab 108: Coates

From Side by Side, a documentary/infomovie about film versus digital in cinema, which crosses a variety of strata worth of conflict. i've rewatched/listened to/soaked it in while working multiple times since its Blu-ray release in February. Soderbergh puts some stank on his opinions, as it were.

The same editor who cut Lawrence of Arabia did Erin Brockovich. I feel like I, of all people, should pretend that I knew this before now.

DC Creator Dismissal and Strife, 2009-2013

My friend John Gholson shares the best timeline I've seen for the seismic shift in DC Comics's relations with creators over at Gutters and Panels.

The abrupt announcement/unannouncement/"we never planned to do X" culture over at DC troubles me in the same ways John describes his own feelings in the article. There are some great stories being told at DC, but the treatment and respect for creators has seemed to go off a cliff.

I love DC characters, and I love a fair amount of work being done there. Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, Peter Tomasi, and Bill Willingham (and occasionally Geoff Johns) have been pulling off some outstanding storytelling, among others.

It's tough to be as excited about them as a brand when they bring in an ostensible "brand person" (Diane Nelson) who spends four years doing an abominable, high-profile job of brand management.

If I'm not careful, I might pull a Horace and do an objective comparative analysis of Marvel and DC, cross-indexing sales data, editorial shuffling, and cancellations.

Daily Grab 106: Quiet

Bob Peck is one of the greatest actors whom we've lost too soon. Jurassic Park would not have been the same without him. The 3D conversion gives his last big scene even more punch. I might do a limited career retrospective on him at some point. If you've never seen the original BBC Edge of Darkness, you're missing out big-time.

Daily Grab 105: Hold Onto Your Butts

Since full reviews are embargoed, I can't write a brief post "reviewing" Jurassic Park 3D, which my wife and I saw through extremely exacting and skeptical eyes this morning.

Instead, here's a grab of Samuel L. Jackson from the movie paired with some brief impressions like these offered by Jeff Wells last Wednesday, albeit at much shorter length. I have a great deal more to say about this, but I'll observe the insane "embargo" for now. Based on Jeff's piece being out there unreprimanded, I honestly consider the "embargo" as dead as a goat in a T-Rex paddock.

JP3D exceeded all expectations possible, with the new depth of field revealing detail that neither me nor my wife had caught previously. This is our mutual favorite movie, and we've seen it dozens and dozens of times each. The new sound master, presumably the same 7.1 mix from the Blu-ray, is also a crisp, clean, hiss-free revelation. Previously muffled or mumbled lines and sound effects are now clear as a bell. As big a deal as the original release's surround sound was, this was an immensely pleasant surprise.

This may sound odd, but foliage is where the 3D shines most. Trees, brush, blades of grass: these are less obtrusive "popups" than new depth of imagery that make me wish I had a 3DTV. The 3D only enhances, and never detracts from the experience. The car in the tree? Forget about it. The Brachiosaur sleepover? Breathtaking. The Run of the Gallimimus? More thrilling. "Clever girl"? More harrowing, and a grander moment for Muldoon.

The only minor picture quality issues I had were a few takes that are similarly soft in the Blu-ray. It's been 20 years since I saw this in its original 35mm incarnation, so I can't say for sure that it's DNR rather than softer focus in one take versus the one following (specifically where Grant finds the dino eggs).

I plan to see JP3D at least three times during its run, and Universal would be smart to try to keep it on screens throughout the summer, even alongside the big, soon-to-flop tentpoles we get each year. If a theater has a DCP sitting around and Explosionfest XXtreme 3D has sold no tickets, they should drop it for what could be a strong repeat hit.

You'd be amazed how many people out there have never seen Jurassic Park. Judging by the audience this morning, there are many more than one might assume.

Daily Grab 104: Afraid to Hit Back

From this week's wonderful Criterion edition of Michael Powell's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. It includes all of the features found in the Region B disc I imported late last year, plus a half hour interview with Thelma Schonnmaker-Powell and a meaty introduction piece with Martin Scorsese, on top of the carried-over Criteiron commentary track. A full review and comparison are in the works.

Ducktales Remastered

One of the best games made for the NES is coming back with pretty new HD graphics, and allegedly features the original gameplay entirely intact. From PA Report:

The original NES masterpiece was crafted by a super group of game designers and creators, including Keiji Inafune, character designer of Mega Man and producer of Lost Planet and Dead Rising. Yoshihiro Sakaguchi composed the game's music, which is not being replaced in the remastered version. Instead, it will be updated by developer WayForward. Likewise, the game's visuals have received an overhaul.

Characters will be hand-drawn in 2D, while the world is 3D, but Capcom promised the game will play “just like you remember.”

It had impressive level design, balance, and mechanics that have very rarely been approached. Combine that with the massive goodwill from love of the cartoon, and that made for a monster hit. It's still a little weird for me that I've not just once, but now have twice interviewed the casting and voice director behind the TV show, Andrea Romano (The New Radio Theatre, Queen of Gotham).

The new version will run about $15 USD. Sounds about right to me.

Kurosawa's Birthday: Free Movies on Hulu

From an email received from Criterion earlier:

Celebrate Akira Kurosawa’s March 23 birthday with Hulu and the Criterion Collection. Until midnight on Sunday, all twenty-four of the legendary Japanese director’s films on Hulu are free of charge to nonsubscribers (with commercial interruptions, and only in the U.S.). It’s a great opportunity to watch both the iconic classics, like Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, and lesser-known but enormously moving gems such as No Regrets for Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday, and Dodes’ka-den. Also available is Kurosawa’s beautiful final film, Madadayo, not on Criterion Blu-ray or DVD. And remember, if you sign up for Hulu Plus for just $7.99 a month, you can see them all the time, ad-free!

It's much, much better to watch these movies without commercials, but if you can only do free, it's better than nothing.

If you haven't tried Hulu Plus and its loads of Criterion movies, recent TV shows with shorter-than-broadcast commercial breaks, and so on, try it free for two weeks. I'm a very happy and at once very hard-to-please customer.

Daily Grab 103: Facing Notre Dame

While I'm assailing critics: I like Russell Crowe very, very much as Javert in Les Mis, even with his throaty, swallowed singing. He's the right guy for that part, more so than he's been the right guy for any other thing he's done.

This grab could be considered a companion to Daily Grab 96: Out There, where Quasimodo sang in the general direction of where Javert is standing. Thinking of those two songs played back to back seems weird at first, but there's an interesting dichotomy there, worth a couple moments of abstract thought.

Daily Grab 102: Valjean the First

I choked up and cried the moment I saw Colm Wilkinson appear onscreen as the Bishop in Les Mis. I've spent a couple of decades shaped by his creation of the role and person of Jean Valjean as he's been known within the world of the musical. Look him up. You can spend an afternoon on YouTube watching clips of him singing.

Daily Grab 101: Wandering and Pondering

I thought I'd banked enough of these in advance to cover my being entirely out of commission following sinus surgery last week (more on that soon in some form).

Now that I've finally seen it, I'm an all-in Les Misérables movie fan. As a young performer, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" was the first showtune I learned and performed in front of an audience. I know this material very, very well, and I'm in love with all the changes, alterations, and sacrifices of material made in this absolutely towering adaptation. Were a lesser producer than Cameron Mackintosh behind it, I'm convinced this would not have happened or come out so exacting and so well.

Tom Hooper has his detractors it seems, many seeming to come from the camp who would prefer he make a movie in their preferred visual style. These people should go make their own movies and not disguise their job envy in the clothes of film criticism. Saying this movie is not "cinematic" is a thin, impotent critique akin to saying "this would have been more impactful (a word I hate) if they did it the way I had imagined".

The tone, look, and general approach taken here are why the movie works so well and isn't some glossy pageant play music video. The musical has needed a harsh scrubbing and reinvention for some time, and I hope this means movies of shows like Ragtime and Parade are possible in the future. Ragtime, in particular, could be three and a half hours long and would also win every Oscar in existence.

Daily Grab 99: Ned Again

As we near the 100th of these (usually) Daily (if I don't forget to schedule it) Grab entries, I thought it only appropriate to come back to an as-of-now-recurring figure in these posts: recently inducted Texas Film Hall of Fame member Stephen Tobolowsky.

Daily Grab 96: Out There

Yes, goofy talking gargoyles are an awful thing to add to Victor Hugo's classic. Yes, it's dishonest to radically change the ending to make this a story suitable for kids, but boy howdy did they do it for The Little Mermaid too.

Those songs by Stephen "Wicked and a ton of other amazing musicals" Schwartz aren't too shabby either.

I never watched the sequel to this one. Am I fuzzily remembering a promo for said sequel that talked about how they cast Jennifer Love-Hewitt in it as a sorta-kinda-but-not love interest girl, or did they do something moderately sane and not creepy?

Like I said, I never watched it.

Daily Grab 95: Making Men

I've regularly fought defining Mulan as a "Disney Princess" movie, regardless of how toys and licensed products are marketed. It just so happens to be one of my favorite (possible my very favorite) of the "Disney Animated Classics that features a female heroine inheriting some sort of duty".

One or two of its songs might also happen to be among my karaoke go-to's.

Did I mention that Mulan II is surprisingly not half bad at all, and in fact, is actually pretty outstanding? No?

Ok, let's act like I didn't.

Daily Grab 94: Eddie

Bob Hoskins is one of the great actors in cinema. He'll end up remembered that way at some point, one should hope. I was very sad to hear about his retirement due to the onset of Parkinson's Disease.

Key memories from my childhood (and adulthood) as well as my development as a performer are directly tied to work he's done. Go back and watch Mona Lisa, or even Hook.

Yes, Hook. I don't remember it through as rose-colored of glasses as many of my contemporaries seem to, but yeah: Hook.