fish animation

Just seen

films, tv

The Overcoat - Gecko Theatre

I rate this top of the stuff we saw in our several-day stay at the Edinburgh fringe at the end of August this year. A vigorous physical theatre piece with a large stage, an international cast of nine (speaking a range of nonsense languages) and a strong atmosphere which livened up the underlying bleakness of the plot.

Moon

Saw 'Moon' at the Cornerhouse in Manchester. Another home cinema screen, like FACT (though that has trendy sofas) and the cinema in Oban (not trendy at all). 'Moon' was ok, enjoyed it. Not mindbogglingly new but perfectly acceptable, like a reasonably good Twilight Zone episode. Started out hinting at Solaris, went on to Space Odyssey, finished up a bit like a cross between BladeRunner and The Truman Show. With a hint of that Arnie film - no, not that one, the unmemorable one, 'The 6th Day'.

Primeval

I miss Primeval, the weekly hope that someone might get eaten by a dinosaur. The premise wasn't all that subtle: Walking with dinosaurs did well - lets do running from dinosaurs. It did better as a kids show in spite and probably partly because of not being initially aimed at kids. Once evil Helen stopped flashing her cleavage and just started being Cruella de Ville, and the scripts started mixing in slapstick and sibling bickering in that old Scooby way it started to pick up.

Blade Trinity

Here's my basic categorisation scheme for movies: A is obviously top stuff; B is typical B-movie material ie I like it but I'm not saying it's especially good. C is just about passable, D is dreck. I put Blade 3 at C, along with Chronicles of Riddick. The titles are great, but then they often are in bad films, as if someone realises the product isn't so hot and ups the budget on the packaging.

Tales of Earthsea, Miyazaki jr

Atmospheric but confusing. It's a long time since I read the Earthsea books, and this animation doesn't bother with explaining plot points. Why are the dragons there, and how is the girl a dragon? Who is Sparrowhawk and why is he involved?

It's nearly very good. The architecture is lovely, great pillared halls, castles and ancient crumbling towns. In one scene Sparrowhawk comes over a rise onto a great deserted beach strewn with the huge hulls of abandoned warships. What is lacking is the strong storytelling heart, that would have us care for the folk that inhabit this impressive world.

Escaflowne

I have to admit the giant robots nearly put me off to start with. Not that I've got anything against them, but in the end I don't really get them either. Maybe it's a boy thing. These ones are well animated and fight almost like real swordsmen. But why have giant robot swordsmen? Why not just swordsmen? Anyway.

Susan Blackmore talking about memes

A reasonable crowd turned out, though not as many as came to see Richard Dawkins the previous year. I understand, when it was described as 'heaving'. Blackmore has a book out on cultural evolution via 'memes', and that was the theme of the lecture.

The basic premise was, if I've grasped it right:

Mischief Night

Penny Woolcock has previously made two films for Channel 4 using the same characters - Tina Goes Shopping (1999) and Tina Takes A Break (2001). I havn't see either, but will now if I get the chance. This is her first feature in the series apparently. She started on documentaries and moved into fiction, and this shows in the gritty style. It's not doomy though, in spite of being set on a Leeds sink estate where every other person is on drugs - in fact it's really funny.

Zorro meets the vikings

Directed by John McTiernan 'The 13th Warrior' was made in 1999, based on a Michael Crichton novel that was itself based on the Beowulf saga. It's unusually foreign-feeling for a Hollywood movie, having Antonio Banderas playing the chief character, who's Arabic, and featuring Russians and Norwegians in the supporting cast.

Pom Poko

It seems that in Japanese folklore, the local raccoons (these are large, badger-like creatures, with the familiar raccoon 'mask') share with foxes ('and some cats') the ability to create illusions, including making themselves appear human. Unlike the foxes, these raccoons are peaceful, simple types.
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