Kunio Kato from Robot is a director/illustrator from Japan who recently won the Academy Award for best short film, La Maison en Pettis Cubes. He has very delicate stlye of illustration and most of his animation does not include dialogue. Just like his speech at the Oscars, his animation is very sweet. You can view entire La Maison en Pettis Cubes on YouTube by clicking part1 & part2.

A March 5th midnight show, 3 screens 2 sold out, surrounded by comic book fans from my local comic shop, I saw The Watchmen.  So what did I think of it.  Quite simply I liked it.  It was good.  If I had to pinpoint one problem the movie had was its runtime.  Clocking in at 165 minutes, it is just too short to completely capture the soul of the graphic novel.  It novel is very dense.  An average comic book will take me between 10-15 minutes to read, an issue of The Watchmen (the graphic novel is a collection of the 12 issue mini-series) can take me closer to 20-25 minutes, just because there is so much information, not only in the words but in the art as well.  Of course some things were cut or truncated for the adaptation, which I expected, but there was only so much you could omit.  It is the volume of content combined with the runtime that makes a good portion of the film is rushed, robbing certain scenes of their emotional impact and character development.  However, I will add that the changes made to the big climax of the movie did not lessen the impact of the events and the message of the story, making me very happy.

One place where the movie excels is the acting on the part of Jackie Earle Haley was spot on.  He brought is character of Rorschach to life, and I challenge anyone to read (or re-read) the graphic novel and not have Rorschach sound like he did in the movie.  I know that as I finish up my fourth re-read I have that voice in my head.  Another outstanding performance came from Patrick Wilson’s Dan Dreiberg, Nite Owl II.  When I do read The Watchmen, this is how I picture Dan Dreiberg.  Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan (he actually did act the part, he was replaced in post-production just like Andy Serkis was in the Lord of the Rings movies), was cold, withdrawn and a bit scary, so he also did a good job.  There were some issues with the CGI.  I did read a review in which did confirm one of my thought while watching it, that the mouth movements were sometimes iffy.  Malin Akerman definitely looked the part of Laurie Juspeczyk (she was Laurie Jupiter in the movie, but in the novel she makes it a point to correct people so, so will I), but there were times her performance was stiff.

Sadly, in the end the legendary creator Alan Moore, was probably right, it is “unfilmable”.  However, I do not think it is because of the material in the novel, but that Hollywood won’t give it the time it needs to tell the story.  It needs at least 2 3hour movies, or even better a 12 episode mini-series on HBO or Showtime to come close to being able to tell the story the right way.

I could go into more detail as to where I felt the movie went south or excelled, and I may later on, but I do not want to so until more people have a chance to see it.  What I will say is that in the graphic novel there is a comic within the comic which Zack Snyder has turned into an animated direct to DVD feature called “Tales of the Black Freighter” (out on March 24th), and the reports are that Warner Brothers has Snyder cut down the original runtime of the movie to under 3 hours.  I am hopeful that the eventual extended directors cut (which will include the Black Freighter cut within the movie) will be better than the theatrical release and become the standard (just like the Blade Runner Director’s Cut), but that doesn’t mean you should wait for it.  Go out and see The Watchmen, hell I am even going to see it again, and by all means if you haven’t read the graphic novel, go and read it.

Someone wants to be my friend on Facebook - I think they know I’m on my way to Shake Shack.

The Beeb are so bloody on point.

The No. 1 Detective Agency is Alexander McCall Smith’s novel series set in Botswana, featuring the first lady detective to solve mysteries, everything from infidelity, kidnapping and mistaken identity.  BBC1 adapted the book for a mini series, shooting it last year; threw in songstress Jill Scott to play Precious, Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) to screenwrite and (the now late) Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) to direct the whole shabang.

America, it’s coming -  HBO March 29th.  Watch the trailer.

This spot conjures up memories of me sitting in my grandparents living room watching cartoons. why they were advertising during cartoons is another story that the coked up media planners of the ’80s will have to answer… all i know is that any training that lets you leave w/ your own set of tools is kinda awesome.

i’ve enjoyed barcelona’s alex trochut’s work for a while now. this image is from an old beautiful/decay cover he did… the new video he just dropped w/ some other killers from europe is serious. just watch it.

I don’t usually post about my comings and goings over the weekend, because well… I just don’t think them to be ‘blog worthy’.

This must be the exception. I just had the privilege of watching Coraline this weekend, and was at a loss for words. I believe it to be the most amazing, animated, visual, and creative motion picture experience in this medium I have ever seen.

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umm, for real. if someone ever showed up on american idol or other equally shitty american talent show in black face, they would be crucified. that said, the wayan’s brothers dressing up in ‘white face’ and pretending to be horribly unattractive white girls was somehow acceptable. after seeing the trailer for that film i couldn’t get an erection for weeks. then you’ve got the long list of film debacles that put white dudes in black face… from the low point of C. Thomas Howell in Soul Man - to Robert Downey Jr. in his recent film Tropic Thunder (which other than the faux trailers was sort of a snooze)… the long story short, everyone stick to their own skin tone. it never really works out and usually only nets out in uncomfortable laughter from those around you.

This is a fanmade trailer for a Thundercats movie.  This is awesome, I would love to see this movie.