Now for my fourth review I will be reviewing the 2nd installment in the famed Alien saga! The aptly named Aliens is most likely one of the most famed and influential science fiction films ever made. Directed, produced and written by the multi-talented James Cameron, creator of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar (not in that order), Aliens remains a land mark in the sci-fi and creature film genres and has influenced countless imitations and monster movies since its release in 1986. The story begins with Lieutenant Ellen Ripley floating through endless space for as she later discovers fifty three years! Until she is picked up by a company search craft and taken to a secure settlement. Later we see that there has been a colony of people living on Acheron (the place where the original nest was discovered) for the past few years but when a small family is sent to "investigate" the nest, things start to get pretty hairy. Later on we see that Ripley isn't doing so well either. She's been having nightmares about "chestbursters" quite frequently now and to make things worse no one believes her account of the alien. Yet then, she is called to assist a team of colonial marines in a rescue mission to Acheron. The company has lost contact with the colonists and what with Ripley's account, they thought it might be good to play it safe and hire her to provide guidance.When they arrive things immediately start to go bad. As it happens the human colony has been overrun by aliens. In the first rescue attempt, half the team is wiped out in a matter of seconds.Thus begins the macabre game of cats and mice, as the team races to escape the aliens. Top that off with the fact that the planet is extremely unstable and is in fact about to explode,and that the present company employee sets a pair of face hugger aliens after Ripley and the little girl Newt in an attempt smuggle alien embryos back to earth,and you've got a pretty bad situation. To complicate matters the aliens cut the power and launch a second attack savagely murdering all of the remaining marines, save for Ripley, Newt, and Hicks. Then Newt is captured by the aliens and Ripley goes down into the alien nest in a last ditch rescue attempt. After killing the face hugger and saving Newt, Ripley finally discovers what lays the alien eggs: a 19 foot tall uber-alien, a queen if you will. And thus begins the exiting conclusion! Aliens was a massive success, grossing 86 million dollars in the US alone, making 131 million worldwide! The special effects of this film are perhaps it's most incredible aspect, including both the miniature models of the colony and of the space ships, and of course the wonderful alien effects by Stan Winston studios.The fantastic alien suits were created for mobility, doing away with the fragile see-through head cowl and constructing them by gluing foam rubber pieces to a black unitard. The effect is disturbingly realistic and truly merits it the best visual effects award it received. The film is also if I'm not mistaken, a prime example of neo-film noir, what with it's dark, surprisingly moody, cavernous locale, and extremely well lit scenes. In short Aliens is the complete package,combining great story telling, awe inspiring special effects, awesome creatures, and intense action all in one film. And now on to the score! Overall:5 out of 5 Special effects:5 out of 5 Story:4 out of 5 Visuals:5 out of 5 Dialogue:4 out of 5.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Aliens
Now for my fourth review I will be reviewing the 2nd installment in the famed Alien saga! The aptly named Aliens is most likely one of the most famed and influential science fiction films ever made. Directed, produced and written by the multi-talented James Cameron, creator of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar (not in that order), Aliens remains a land mark in the sci-fi and creature film genres and has influenced countless imitations and monster movies since its release in 1986. The story begins with Lieutenant Ellen Ripley floating through endless space for as she later discovers fifty three years! Until she is picked up by a company search craft and taken to a secure settlement. Later we see that there has been a colony of people living on Acheron (the place where the original nest was discovered) for the past few years but when a small family is sent to "investigate" the nest, things start to get pretty hairy. Later on we see that Ripley isn't doing so well either. She's been having nightmares about "chestbursters" quite frequently now and to make things worse no one believes her account of the alien. Yet then, she is called to assist a team of colonial marines in a rescue mission to Acheron. The company has lost contact with the colonists and what with Ripley's account, they thought it might be good to play it safe and hire her to provide guidance.When they arrive things immediately start to go bad. As it happens the human colony has been overrun by aliens. In the first rescue attempt, half the team is wiped out in a matter of seconds.Thus begins the macabre game of cats and mice, as the team races to escape the aliens. Top that off with the fact that the planet is extremely unstable and is in fact about to explode,and that the present company employee sets a pair of face hugger aliens after Ripley and the little girl Newt in an attempt smuggle alien embryos back to earth,and you've got a pretty bad situation. To complicate matters the aliens cut the power and launch a second attack savagely murdering all of the remaining marines, save for Ripley, Newt, and Hicks. Then Newt is captured by the aliens and Ripley goes down into the alien nest in a last ditch rescue attempt. After killing the face hugger and saving Newt, Ripley finally discovers what lays the alien eggs: a 19 foot tall uber-alien, a queen if you will. And thus begins the exiting conclusion! Aliens was a massive success, grossing 86 million dollars in the US alone, making 131 million worldwide! The special effects of this film are perhaps it's most incredible aspect, including both the miniature models of the colony and of the space ships, and of course the wonderful alien effects by Stan Winston studios.The fantastic alien suits were created for mobility, doing away with the fragile see-through head cowl and constructing them by gluing foam rubber pieces to a black unitard. The effect is disturbingly realistic and truly merits it the best visual effects award it received. The film is also if I'm not mistaken, a prime example of neo-film noir, what with it's dark, surprisingly moody, cavernous locale, and extremely well lit scenes. In short Aliens is the complete package,combining great story telling, awe inspiring special effects, awesome creatures, and intense action all in one film. And now on to the score! Overall:5 out of 5 Special effects:5 out of 5 Story:4 out of 5 Visuals:5 out of 5 Dialogue:4 out of 5.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Lost World
The Lost World Jurassic Park is the topic of this next article. The Lost World is a sequel to the 1993 film Jurassic Park. It concerns a second island a.k.a Site B, that contains an even greater variety of dinosaurs than the first one! This movie's dinosaurs include Velociraptors, T-Rexes, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus and many others! Now this film sadly did not enjoy the success of its predecessor because the critics believed it to be boring and repettitive. Though I in fact do not share they're negative view and it remains my favorite JP film to this day. Jeff Goldblum's sarcasm, the awe inspiring special effects, and the fast paced action mesh together well and the result is a clean cut well made film that is full of visual advancement over the original and plenty of action to spare.
Overall score: 4 stars Visual Effects: 5, Visuals:4, Story: 4, Dialogue: 3, Music: 5.
Overall score: 4 stars Visual Effects: 5, Visuals:4, Story: 4, Dialogue: 3, Music: 5.
Planet of the Apes:2001
For my next post I will be reviewing the 2001 reworking of Planet of the Apes. Planet of the Apes is a loose adaptation of Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel of the same name and of the 1968 version also called Planet of the Apes. Sadly Planet of the Apes fails to equal the original film and book due to poor dialogue, shallow characters and an incoherent plot.Yet in my humble opinion it does have certain qualities that merit it a higher rating than a 2, such as its visuals. I was awed by the first look at the ape village and at the ship that the apes arrived in and by the beautifully designed ape costumes such as this one below
Colonel Attar in full costume with makeup by Rick Baker.
Another good aspect of this film is the fantastic ape masks by Rick Baker. The suits are so realistic that some critics said that the non-human rolls were made uninteresting because the stars were so buried in makeup! Yet my opinion is that the makeup is fantastic and remains the best aspect of the film!
The score by Danny Elfman is also another merit that this film possesses. It is unusally good jungle type music and quite well captures the essence of what Planet of the Apes is all about. The story concerns an astronaut that flies through an interdimensional portal of some sort and crash lands on a sort of counter earth where great apes are the dominant lifeform. I wont spoil the rest of the film though because quite honestly the desciption above really encompasses the story quite well.
Time for the score!: Overall:3 Visual Effects:5 Music:4 Story:2 Dialogue:2 Visuals:5
Up next: The Lost World Jurassic Park!
Welcome & Paperman!!
Well this is my first blog post! As you can probably see by the title and blog description this blog will be focusing on the art of animation and special effects in the film and short film industry. To start out I will be writing about a recent film that has caught my attention: Academy Award winning Disney short: Paperman. Paperman is a revolutionary animated short which makes use of an all new 2D/3D hybrid animation process. Now if you, dear reader recall the Oscars animated short film award, you may be wondering what makes Paperman so special? Well that can be explained by actually viewing the film. Paper Man It's a wonderful visual paradox of a film, combining cutting edge computer animation and classic cell animation with great music and a well written (if unlikely) storyline. SPOILER ALERT! The story itself concerns two normal people who share an all to brief moment on a train platform only to apparently never to see each other again. Though later at work the man notices that the woman he met is sitting in a room in the building across from him! He tries to get her to notice him by throwng paper airplanes out of his window. Unfortunately none of the airplanes make it into the other building and the only one that did get in the room landed in the waste basket. He then tries using a special piece of paper with the womans lipstick on it but to his horror it blows out of his hand before he can throw it. Thus begins the exciting reunion! The film is a triumph in animation utilizing a new software called Meader to take a CG model and draw over it carrying the lines into the final picture creating a hand drawn feel while keeping the sophistication of CG.
I give Paperman 4 out of 5 stars overall. 5 out 5 stars for animation. 4 out of 5 for visuals. 4 out of 5 for story. 5 out of 5 for music.
Up next: The remake of Planet of the Apes!
I give Paperman 4 out of 5 stars overall. 5 out 5 stars for animation. 4 out of 5 for visuals. 4 out of 5 for story. 5 out of 5 for music.
Up next: The remake of Planet of the Apes!
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