naturalborndirector

Both Dariusz Wolski and Arthur Max are underrated. Both masters of their craft, both outstanding visionaries and their talents collide here guided by great Ridley Scott. Visuals are always stunning and 3D is used as a powerful tool to underline the mesmerizing sets. The critics as often have no idea what this movie is really about. They keep blathering about lack of philosophy (what philosophy?). Make no mistakes, this is pure Alien franchise (read the header). I really don't get how can anyone, let alone movie critic can miss this. That is why Scott succeeds here, he reprises the perfect combination, which he has pioneered many years ago of Sci-Fi and Horror genre. What philosophy? The summer has just started, you movie critics. This movie is closer to ALIEN than ALIENS ever was. Ridley Scott's direction here should be taught in film-making text books. It starts off as an adventure, progresses into the thriller and ends up a hard-core gore monster horror, all the three inside the science fiction genre. Never it is an action movie, like ALIEN and unlike ALIENS. Never it is boring or outdated. Some scenes are if not revolutionary then unique in their technique of execution as well as their dramatic impact. During the birthgiving scene, I actually was dangerously close to fainting. Basically, if you prefer ALIENS over ALIEN, then I got nothing to say to you, but if you don't, then you are in for a ride you will never forget. What philosophy?

I was 8 when I first read Winnie Pooh, I had the book until recently I gave it to now 8 year old child. I would get into a fight with anyone who offends Winnie. I don't even think I will see Cars 2. I can't enjoy 3D computer animation. It feels so dead and distant, especially compared to cel animation which in contrast feels so alive and immersive. There simply can be no comparison. 3D computer animation ends with your popcorn, sweet, xxl, extra butter, ewwww. Hand drawn animation stays with you. Computer animation can amuse you, while hand drawn animation has ability to enchant you, mesmerize you, transform you to another world where extraordinary things happen. I don't mind employing Toon Boom as long as it doesn't overshadow the magic touch between the artist's crayola and the paper. What is done on this cartoon is pretty amazing. They capture the sense of Milne's original and translate it into array of frames brilliantly. It is an outstanding experience. I still remember the immaculate excitement I would get from reading the book, and this cartoon has brought me that feeling, it made me feel like I am 8 again and I take in the adventures of Winnie Pooh like oxygen. Disney has done a terrific job, I am so glad they still put out traditional animation to the big screens, nothing can substitute the feeling of a drawing come alive. If you still have that 8 year old kid in you, if you still remember that feeling of ultimate innocence, then go see this one and get the shot of the childhood serum, trust me, you won't get this kind at any other screening.

I've never been to Scotland, but I will be there, thanks to this film. This is what Cinema should be like, no dialogue, no storytelling, no plot, but the flow of intra-atomic magic. Yes, magicians do exist, and Sylvian Chomet is one of them. No illusion here, only the pure magic. It is not simply about the rural and urban sets, but how Chomet makes us move around them. The backgrounds are rarely static, we have characters moving around the city and then we simply leave the characters on the street and continue our journey through the city ourselves, the background becomes the foreground, the city becomes the character. Simply outstanding animation, brilliant and beautiful. Chomet designs most of his characters himself, and boy, are we in luck. This is when he gets a real cartoonist, every single character including the 'extra's has a soul behind their fantastical features, every single one of them looks like Chomet has put his horcruxes into them. They simply awaken the desire in me to collect them, like Pokemon creatures. And just when you think this is about the mesmerizing visual experience, you realize that the film is already inside you, you never noticed it entering, but it is there, filling you with the sensation only exclusively moving pictures can produce.

Chomet is the Exupery of Animation and I am off to the streets now.